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downsmail.co.uk Missingmarks ‘a risk to safety’
KENT County Council (KCC) has come under fire for failing to protect youngsters at an “out- standing” school in Ryarsh.
In October, the road outside
Ryarsh Primary School was re-sur- faced, covering a red high-friction strip either side of the school en- trance that had effectively alerted drivers to children crossing and re- duced vehicle speeds. However, while KCC reinstated
the zigzag no parking lines in Bir- lingRoad, they say the rumble strip will have to remain hidden because of the cost of reinstating what it claimswas purely “aesthetic”. The school has now been forced
to launch a concerted effort to im- prove safety for its 210 pupils – aged four to 11 – involving both the parish council and local MP Tom Tugendhat. Headteacher Ruth Austin said:
“In the last two months we have had a number of nearmisseswhere parents with children have only just avoided being hit by cars. We do notwant there to be an accident simply to prove a need. The high- friction strip served a very useful
school, calling for the reinstatement of all previous road safety meas- ures, or a zebra crossing. A KCC spokesman said: “We
have to identify specific safety is- sues and in this instance, Birling Road has not had any pedestrian collisions in the last three years. “Birling Road already benefits
from a number of traffic-calming measures, including traffic build- outs and school ‘keep clear’ mark- ings. We cannot prioritise any changes at this time.” He suggested: “If local residents
Head teacher Ruth Austin, right, with concerned parents and pupils outside Ryarsh Primary School
purpose by alerting drivers and providing a distinct crossing point for parents and children. Ifwe can’t get the strip back, we feel there needs to be a zebra crossing,which would be far less simple for the
council.” During negotiations between the
school and KCC, both Ryarsh ParishCouncil and TomTugendhat have raised safety concerns about children crossing the road to the
SOUTHEASTERN will be brought to book over train changes that will leave com- muterswith aworse service from Sunday,May 20. The timetable changes are the
result of Thameslink services being introduced elsewhere on the network.
MP to challenge operator on train changes MP TomTugendhatwas due to
meetwithSoutheasternrepresen- tatives, four days ahead of the timetable changes, with what he describes as a “very long list of complaints”. He says thedecisiontodelaythe
introduction of Thameslink serv- ices inMaidstone will result in a
are concerned about vehicles speeding in the area they can con- tact the Kent Police Speed Watch Team who can provide training on community-led speed enforcement; they act as a link with the local po- lice regarding speed enforcement.” MrsAustin said: “In terms of traf-
fic calming measures, the county council referred to a school warn- ing sign thatwas so overgrown that no one knewit even existed.”
“doublewhammy” for commuters from West Malling and Borough Green,with two trains rather than three running intoVictoria andin- creased journey times, depending on the train caught. He said: “I will be making rail
users feelings very clear to the op- erator.”
All-rounder Neal has a cool way with words
A SNODLAND school played host when students from five schools were entertained by comedian, poet and author Neal Zetter. The year 5-7 pupils came from St Katherine’s and Snodland C of E
schools in the town, as well as Five AcreWood, InvictaGrammar and Sir Joseph Williamson’s Mathematical School in Rochester. The audience was treated to poems fromLondon-basedMr Zetter
on subjects as far ranging as ketchup, orangutans andwhether, or not, he should be voted in as the next PrimeMinister. He also kept the pupils enter-
tained with his rendition on how dads think they are cool – much to the amusement of both children and the adults – and answered ques- tions and signed copies of his books. Emma Foreman,The Holmesdale
School's learning resource centre manager, said: "Neal's style of rap and rhyme poetry just lends itself to getting the audience to join in. “The children loved the way they
could also participate in the per- formance by shouting out key words and by using sounds and ac- tion. "Hewould definitely appeal to any
Neal Zetter entertains local school pupils at The Holmesdale School 8 Malling May 2018
audience whether they were five or 95. We hope to haveNeal join us for another performance next year."
End of era for Corvee Tom
THE owner of a Corvette show- room has thanked his customers after his retirement. Tom Falconer has called time
after 41 years atClaremontCorvette inMalling Road, Snodland. In the letter sent to customers, he
wrote: “I have sold over 1,500 Corvettes, many more thousands of parts,written 12 Corvette books and enjoyed every singleminute of it along the way. After all these years, the time has finally come for me to retire. “Thank you so much for your
business over the last 41 years. I started Claremont Corvette be- cause ofmy love for the excellence and style of GM engineering and design and have had the privilege to travel the world talking about, seeing and driving Corvettes thanks to the business. “The people I have met have
been wonderful and I will always look back onmy time as a business owner fondly. In retirement, I look forward to relaxing, travelling and, obviously, drivingmy Corvettes.” MattDavison,who startedwork-
ing for Tom as an apprentice, has taken over the workshop at the back of theMalling Road building andwill continue to service and re- pair Corvettes under the name CCMVettes.
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