News


River patrols to help revellers


WATERBORNEemergency teams willpatrol theMedwayduringthe festive season to prevent revellers falling to an icy death. Kent Search and Rescue (KSAR)


will field two boats, land-side res- cue crews and medical response vehicles throughthenight inMaid- stone on two weekends before Christmas. It will be the second year the


charity has deployed trained vol- unteersto rescue inebriated party- goerswho fall in the river. The patrols, alongside the edu-


cational Safe and Dry campaign, were launched in 2017 following three fatalities around water in Kent. There were no alcohol-re- lated drownings last Christmas. KSAR search manager Stewart


Baird said: “This year we will be concentrating on Maidstone, with double the number of crews.” Rescuers at KSAR help Kent Po-


lice, South East Coast Ambulance Service,Kent Fire andRescue Serv-


ice, HM Coastguard and Kent CountyCouncilduring emergency operations and campaigns. In the last two years alone,


they’ve been scrambled 200 times. As part of the Association of


Lowland Search and Rescue, the charity specialises in foot, dog, river bank, mountain bike, boat and floodmissions. Mr Baird says the best to stay


safe is to steer clear of water alto- gether after a night on the town. “Don’t rely on us,” he said. “If


you’re out enjoying yourself, avoid water on the way home and don't walk home alone. Look after your- self and look after your friends." The Royal Life Saving Society


says that about a quarter of all the UK’s adult drowning victims are found to have alcohol in their bloodstream. Between 2012 and 2016, there


were 366 deaths of this nature across the country, which works out to an average of 73 per year.


Video firm’s success


START-up Maidstone company vidbuild has successfully signed contracts with three globalmedia image suppliers after only a year in business. The Bearsted firmhas dealswith


Getty Images, iStock and Story- blocks as digital content providers. The online videomaker was cre-


ated in November 2017 with its website released in February. Co-founder Steven Lloyd-Barlow


said: “We are excited to be work- ing with these brands and very proud to have themonboard.” The video creation platform al-


Growing day by day


“I have been Advertising with Downs Mail since 2014’ since then I have seen my business grow by the day. Downs Mail staff are always very friendly especially TANYA who I have Dealt with every month, she helped me through better advertising and making the right choices.


I am glad and happy that DOWNSMAIL is there for me. Thank you”


ZERAN Connecting with local people Call us today and discuss how we can help you grow your business 01622 630 330 www.downsmail.co.uk 12 Maidstone January 2019


lows users to make branded mar- keting videos online, with the help of a built-inmedia library. Vidbuild was awarded the Cre-


ative Digital Award at the Kent Business Awards in Maidstone in July and the won the Best Visual Content Tool at the Social Media Marketing Awards in London, beating other global brands in- cluding Canva, Adobe Spark and Photoshop. Shelley Grierson, marketing


chief, said: “We’re very much a local company, enjoying the ben- efits of having a base in Bearsted.”


downsmail.co.uk


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