Town Talk


Little house of horrors is big on fundraising


A HOME and garden in Saltings Road, Snodland, was turned into a Halloween House and raised £1,157 for charity. It is the fourth year that Andy


Damms and Helen Clark have given their house over to the weird and wonderful creatures of Hal- loween and there was a huge crowd on the two nights ofOctober 30 and 31. They used their house, conser-


vatory, four gazebos, a flat pack shed and their garden for the dis- play. “We used to do the house and


garden up for Christmas when the kids were small,” said Andy. “Then we decided nobody does Hal- loween so four years ago we did the front garden. The next yearwas better and we decided to do it for charity and raised about £260 for Children in Need. “Last year, we went even further


with gazebos in the back garden and raised £573 for Cancer Re- search.” It takes months of planning for


the pair to come up with ideas for their garden, but it was worth the effort. “We start planning in January


and this year we went on the inter- net and bought props and dollswe could afford fromAmerica,” Andy said. “We had hot and cold


drinks, refreshments and a raffle. We have no idea howmany people came and on the second night people were queuing to get in. “Helen did 200 goody bags for


the children and they went before we closed.” Andy is a landscape gardener


and Helen works at Tesco. They have lived in Snodland for 30 years. They have a week off work to pre- pare for Halloween and pack away afterwards. Everything goes in the


Andy Damms and Helen Clark outside their Halloween House in Snodland, where they raisedmore than £1,00 for charity


loft space and garage. And what do the neighbours


think of it all? "They are fine about it," Andy


said. "Everybody rallies round and helps out with refreshments." He added: "We are hoping to do better next year!"


How writer turned a


page in driving career VISITORS to Snodland Library were inspired by an author who told how she took a com- plete change of path and started writing at the age of 38. K i m b e r l e y


Chambers had worked on mar- ket stalls and been a taxi driver, but


then, two


years before turn- ing 40, decided she wanted to write a book. And so she did


– she wrote Billy Joe and told the audience during a highly humorous evening that she has now written 12 others – all by hand, as she is not good with computers. "At the grand age of 38, an idea came to


Warren andAnnita Bowman and their children, Sonny (10), Toto (7) and Primrose (4),with ZoeOak- well and Ashley Buckland


Ghosts and ghouls treat tricksters to sweets


CROWDS of trick or treaters took over Snod- land town centre on October 31 – and they certainly got plenty of treats for their efforts. The fantastically dressedHalloween trick


and treaterswalked awaywithmore than 200 packets of sweets from CWB estate agents in Holborough Road. Owner Warren Bowman, said: "We were


dressed as Dracula, a ghost, a scary clown and a sugar skull. The shop had a ghost walking round – from a projector – and we had a smoke machine pumping mist out through the door. "Our grass was decorated like a graveyard


and the whole evening was a great suc- cess."


me," she said. "I'm going to try and write a novel, and that's when it all started." She held a question and answer session


with the audience before signing copies of her last book, Backstabber. In answer to a question she said she was froma very work- ing-class background and wherever she went she was not recognised as an author. Her new book will be available in January. Mallika Bhaduri of Kent Libraries, who or-


ganised the event, said: "It was a great evening. Kimberley dazzled the audience with her wit and great sense of humour. “About 30 people attended the evening


and itwas really lovely to receive such a pos- itive feedback."


Local news for Snodland and Halling


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