downsmail.co.uk 


last joining the fast broadband speedsters. We have pressed in rural East Farleigh


for years and now, in our part of Lower Road,we have been informed by BT it is available. I have limped along on a speed of


At last, I amup to speed MailMarks


IT has taken a long time but I amat


DENNISFOWLE President dfowle2011@aol.com


4.5Mb but nowI ampromised between 35Mb and 53Mb. That’s a big jump. I look forward to testing it. Taking this divewas not easy.We enjoy


awide range of Sky TV services; phone line, calls and TV sport fromBT; andmy internet providerwas TalkTalk (since it took overAOL).All costs kept growing and friends said Iwas seriously overpaying andmust sort it out, recommending a single provider. I had to comparewhat BT, Sky,


TalkTalk and others offered – not a simple process. I startedwith BT and a pleasant


representative said it could provide the lot, including (following a recent business arrangement) all themany Sky channels we use.Allwould come through a new smartbox it provides andwould be available too on our computers. Total cost would be just short of £100. I requested and received details of the


offer by email and discussedwith savvy friends. I replied se�ing out all the Sky channelswe expected and requested confirmation. Despitemy reminder emails nothing came back. I phoned BT again, spoke to a different


representative andwas toldmy Sky programme packagewould be restricted on this deal. Tomeetmy requirements I needed to retainmy rooftop dish and Sky


Have your say on practice


HERE is the latest update fromtheWest MallingGroup Practice Patients ParticipationGroup (PPG) The purpose of the Patient Participation


Group Commi�ee (PPG),who are all volunteer patients, is to support the practice by liaising between the patients and the practice, and to ensure that patients and carers are involved in decisions about the range, shape and quality of services provided by their practice. Wemeetwith the practice six times a year


and discusswith themthe biggest issues andwork hard to support the practicewith themanyNHS struggles and funding issues that exist for the practice. We seek to be active in our support, for


example: improving communication channelswith peoplewhomay not otherwise be reached through the usual electronic channels (hence thisDownsMail article); assisting in surveyswhere required or agreed by the practice. For example,we are currently asking patients to saywhat music theywould prefer to listen towhen on hold to the surgery. Samples are provided on our Facebook page (if you have a view– please let us know).


40 Malling April 2018


TV box,which includes BT sport, and receive justmy fast broadband through the smartbox. The cost of allmy BT services still led to a useful saving overall. Iwanted to retainmy current email


address – andwas advised by local professionals I could. TalkTalk said ‘no,’ itwould last only 30 days after I switched. I had several phone conversationswith


Sky and negotiated amuch tighter deal for its services. Thewhole process took severalweeks.


But I think it should beworthwhile. Iwill have fast broadband and look like saving overallmore than £50 amonth.





Voting against MY vote is firmly against votes for 16


year olds. I see this as yetmore political shenanigans. Voting requires amature, rounded,


experienced brain prepared toweigh up somany considerations. Past experience shows toomany 18


year olds do not vote and use this important privilege.What hope for 16 year olds? Iwould notwish the fate of our nation to be in their hands. Let themenjoy their


Also, therewill be a number of open


meetings for patients to discuss directly with the practice the plans for improving services and standards. Thiswill include an opportunity for patients to ask questions about the sale of theWestMalling site and any other concerns. The dateswill be released soon on the


WMGPwebsite, displayed in all reception areas, on our Facebook page and by email to all PPGmailing listmembers.Wewill also be sending notices to local print publications such as parish news. The future of theWestMalling surgery has been in the press recently.Here iswhat the practice says: “As published on our website in January 2018, the site has been up for sale since July 2017 andwe have three serious buyers preparing tomake offers.We intend to keep a presence for appointments onWestMallingHigh Street after the sale, untilwe have an ideal location forWest Malling patients of all ages. “Our vision is for a practice and facilities


thatwe can all be proud of, that caters for everybody’s needs and is rated as outstanding by our patients. “We hope that aswe communicate and share our thoughts, thenwe can share the





Happy Hazlitt I WOULD not regard us as pop


enthusiasts butwe have a�ended four concerts at The Hazli� Theatre in the last fewmonths and they have given us a lot of fun. They startedwith an old crooner


favourite in the lateMa�Monro,with his son telling the story. Then itwas the Nat King Cole story, followed by the very popular Opera Boys,with theirmix of classic opera and songs fromWest End shows. But the bestwere The Upbeat Beatles, a


group of fourwho really had the Hazli� dancing, singing and clappingwith so many favourites.What a phenomenon the Beatleswere. Keep an eye on the Hazli� programme


nowParkwood Theatres have taken over its operation. You toomay find some very pleasurable surprises.





For the birds THE Arctic snowand coldwere very


challenging – but therewere several memorable rewards. We have about six bird feeders outside


our kitchenwindowand the endless display of beauty fromdawn to duskwas enchanting. We had no ideawewere so popular!At


times therewere 30 or 40 birds all challenging for positions. I hope they all survived.Whatwouldwe dowithout them?


challengeswe face together.We are on our way tomaking our vision a reality. “In order to create the dreamprimary care


servicewe are happy to look into questions you have and any site options youmay wish us to consider.” The PPGis here to help get your views


over to the practice. Please let us have them by email. One You aims to encourage adults to take control of their health to enjoy significant benefits nowand in later life.One You Kent offers fantastic local support and information to help you achieve a healthier lifestyle. There is information in surgeries and online atwww.oneyoukent.org.uk. TheNHS is asking for people’s views on proposals to establish new24/7 hyper-acute stroke units. There is information in surgeries and online at www.kentandmedway.nhs.uk/stroke. SinceNovember,measles outbreaks have been declared in Leeds, Liverpool, Birmingham,Manchester and Surrey that are linked to large outbreaks in Europe, with Romania, Italy andGermany being the worst affected countries. All of the cases have been reported in children and adultswho have not received


downsmail.co.uk


two doses of the MMR vaccine. Call the surgery if you feel you or your


family members may be at risk. I hope this first update is helpful to you.


youth and prepare formore important times ahead.


The PPG can help, but only if you tell us. We get feedback from patients by email. If you wish to be added to our list to obtain updates by email or give us feedback, please send a request to us at wmgpppg@gmail.com. You can also get updates from our Facebook page (search for WMGP Surgery Information Page in the Facebook search window). For those who prefer not to use email, le�ers handed into surgeries and addressed to the PPG will reach me. Finally, we have a number of vacancies on


our commi�ee and we are now looking for patients with a wide range of skills and the time available to join us. Application forms are available at all


surgeries or can be obtained by sending me a message at wmgpppg@gmail.com. Bob MacDonald, Chair of West Malling Group Practice Patients’ Participation Group


Madness of ‘modal shift’


SHOULD the proposed M&S superstore come to pass at the Eclipse Park, which is very likely, does it not sound the death knell for the town centre? The county town is choked with traffic


due to increased vehicle use and the council’s crazy housing plans without the roads to support them. The parking charges in all the car parks are already far too high, yet the council wants to ramp up the ticket costs even higher. Small businesses find it hard to compete


while they are being stung for ludicrous rents and business rates. Meanwhile, another national chain seems to go to the wall each week because of all of the above – and more. This council, like many around the


country, are not run by people who have ever known what it is like to run a business. It is driving people away from our town. Every week, I seem to read yet more


about the muddle-minded madness that is ‘modal shift’, the council’s ludicrous notion that we can persuade people to leave their


cars behind and go by bus (what buses?), cycle or walk. You’d have to be mad or borderline suicidal to make a journey on foot or on a bike at rush-hour in this place. It seems that Maidstone is on the road to


nowhere. R Jackson, Maidstone


Eco warriors update


BACK in January, we wrote to Cool Milk, our school milk provider, and Innocent Drinks expressing our concerns about the use of plastic straws in their cartons and we explained to them about why and how the straws affect the environment. Since then, we have wri�en to Helen


Whately, our local MP, who is also encouraging people to give up using plastics wherever possible. We sent her copies of our le�ers to the companies and were delighted when she replied and informed us that she, too, had contacted the above companies on our behalf. At the end of February, we received a


reply from the managing director of Cool Milk, who explained to us that the company is working with the dairy and packaging supplier to find a solution. He will shortly be starting a trial period


with paper straws and has asked us to take part in the initial trials, so we are very excited. Watch this space to find out how well the trials work. Eco Warriors, Plas Heath School


Taxes wasted by the billion


MANY claim we are a rich country, while our national debt climbs past £1,700,000,000,000 – £26,000 for every man, woman and child – and our personal debt is about the same again. It costs more to service this debt than we pay for defence. Meanwhile, we’re told, as taxes rise, that


they can no longer afford to provide a proper police service, repair potholes, keep public toilets open, etc. So what I want to know is ‘Where has all


the money gone'? Especially if you factor in the millions made from pe�y fines. We are now paying more and more, for


less and less, while some people actually pay privately for services supposedly provided by the state, such as health.


Something is very wrong as billions are


wasted and so-called ‘public servants’ pay themselves lo�ery win salaries, bonuses and pensions, often for poor service and sometimes complete failure. Phil Granger, West Malling


Less secular than it seems


EVEN for an agnostic, albeit one with a love of religious music and architecture, Dennis Fowle’s recent piece chronicling local Anglican decline (‘What is future for our Churches?’) made melancholy reading. But perhaps this country is less secular


than it seems. Surveys of people’s beliefs used to show that many individuals, while not churchgoers, continued to believe in God, in life after death and to a much lesser extent, hell. This suggested that, privately at any rate, Christianity continued to be a source of meaning and consolation for significant numbers of people. Others professed to having had mystical experiences at some point in their lives, of sensing a spiritual connection with nature, say, or feeling you were in the presence of the dead. Possibly it is to this segment of the


population Anglicans need to be appealing. That said, the closure of a church is not necessarily to be lamented. Holy Trinity in Maidstone, one of just four


churches built in Britain to celebrate and commemorate the allied victory at Waterloo in 1815, is now a hostel for troubled 16-24 year olds, a role which arguably means it is closer to the teachings of the carpenter of Nazareth than ever. K G Banks, Maidstone


Woodcut ruling questions


REGARDING your story about Woodcut Farm’s judicial review being refused by a High Court judge, I would like to know: 1. Has Mrs Justice Lang visited the site? 2. Has she been briefed about the history of refusals of planning on this site, including a public inquiry? 3. What are her reasons for refusal? 4. Why are we subject to her scrutiny in the first place? 5. Do we have to just accept this refusal? Derrick Rowe, Bearsted


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