News
downsmail.co.uk Church campaign for newloos
ANALLINGTONchurch hopes that its fund-raising campaignwill leave it flushwith enough cash to afford newloos by the end of the year.
St Nicholas’s is embarking on a
majormakeover, and parishioners have identified the pressing need formore conveniences. At present, the church has just
one, which was installed when it was built in 1975. If all goes to plan, however, three new toilets will be constructed, including one with easy access for thosewith dis- abilities. RevChris Lavender toldDowns
Mail the fundraising drive, which will also bankroll the fitting of kitchen facilities, is the largest of his tenure at the Poplar Grove church. “There has been a lot ofwork to
bring the church up to 21st century standards,” he said. “A few years back we changed
the pews to seats. And the old 1970s storage heaters have been re- moved –we’ve got central heating now!”
work will make the church a bet- ter space forworship and commu- nity events. “By upgrading our technology
recently,we’ve been able to put on free community film afternoons. Our Loos and Lights Campaign is the next step in thatmodernisation process.” Both the church and parish-
ioners are already planning a suite of fund-raising drives this year, in- cluding a ceilidh onMarch 1. But despite St Nicholas’s im-
St Nicholas’ Church and the Rev Chris Lavender The toilets and kitchen will be
integrated into the existing office and vestry area. The bill is ex- pected to come in at about £35,000. In addition to the privy work,
the church council is also keen to rip out StNicholas’s “severe” halo-
Charity needs help
A MAIDSTONE-based charity is hunting formore people to bolster its army of volunteers. Kent Association for the Blind
(KAB) says it needs specialists and supporters tounderpinservices for more than 11,500 sight-impaired people across the county. At present, it has more than 800
volunteers, but recruitment andre- tention of aworkforce that size is a constant andmajor operation. A spokesman for KAB, which
celebrates its centenary next year, said: “More and more people are diagnosed as visually impaired, we’re all living longer, and the more we do as a charity, themore volunteerswe need.”
Alook at love LOVE will be in the air north of MaidstonenextmonthwhenNew Allington Players stage their pro- duction “For Better or forWorse”. The show is show packed with
sketches, songs and duets that “provide a light-hearted look at love” to tie in with St Valentine’s Day. Curtainrises at 7.30pmonSatur-
day, February 16, at St Nicholas’s Church Hall in Poplar Grove, Allington. Call 01622 764063 for tickets.
4 Maidstone February 2019 The charity runs more than 50
leisure, social and sports clubs, three rehabilitation centres and a range of support services from its College Road headquarters. It has slots for fundraisers, event
organisers, befrienders and driv- ers. More specialist vacancies in- clude Braillists –who produce and check Braille text; public speakers willing to give talks promoting the charity’swork; and IT specialists. The association is also looking
for volunteers to helpwith its talk- ing news, audio and transcription services which are based atMaid- stone Sight Centre. For more information, visit
www.kab.org.uk
Archers’ aims ONE of the oldest archery clubs in Kent celebrates its 50thanniversary this year. Allington Castle Archers have a
large andactivemembershipcover- ing all bow types – recurve, com- pound, longbowand barebow. The clubis alreadyplanninga se-
ries of events to mark its five decades, starting with a Medieval shoot on Monday, May 6, on the archers’ field at Allington Castle. For more details of the club, visit
www.castlearchers.org.uk.
Trucks put Brexit to test
TRUCKERS were each paid £550 to take part in a pre-Brexit dress re- hearsal atManston Airport. The airfield is to be used as a
massive HGV holding area if there are problems on the M20 after March 29, when Britain is due to leave the EU. Only 89 of the 150 lorries which
had been invited to take part in the logistics experiment actually showed up on the day of the trial in early January. It was meant to test timings
fromManston to the Port ofDover along the A256 and A20. The use ofManston is phase two
of Operation Brock, designed to keep freight flowing to the Chan- nel ports and to combatOperation Stack, pictured above. Phase one is theM20 contraflow
between junctions eight (Leeds Castle) and nine (Ashford)which is due to be in place by the time Brexit happens. The Department for Transport
declared itself happy with the trial and said the number of trucker s who took part “exceededwhatwas required”. Thanet MP Roger Gale claimed
that the pre-publicity of the event meant that the trial was not test- ing reality. The test showed a travel time of
90 minutes between Thanet and the Port of Dover, which handles over 10,000 freight units daily. Tonbridge and Malling MP Tom
Tugendhat continues to fight the M26 being turned into a tempo- rary lorry park in the aftermath of Brexit.
gen lighting and replace it with more environment-friendly LEDs, to providemore flexible illumina- tion for services and community events. However, that will add a further £10,000 to the bill. Rev Chris said: “We hope this
pressive track record for staging events – last year’s included a beer and bangers festival and a jazz concert – Rev Chris concedes the church will also need to secure grant funding and donations. To support the Loos and Lights
Campaign or find out about fundraising events at the church, go to the church website at
www.stnicholasallington.org.uk.
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