Library hours


facing cutback KENT County Council proposes to cut the opening times of its Snodland library in the High Street from40 hours a week to 28 – a reduction of 12 hours. The council operates 99 li-


Town Talk Jeweller reflects on 125th anniversary


braries and is proposing to re- duce the overall number of library opening hours across the county by 20%. This proposal ensures the councilmakes the best use of its resources and would save KCC up to £1 million. Cllr Paul Hickmott told Snod-


land Town Council's amenities and recreation committee that Snodland library's hours would be cut by 30%. Members pointed out that the library provided valu- able resources from books to the use of computers for children and young people.


Call to repair


the pavements SNODLAND Town Council has asked Kent County Council for an urgent meeting to discuss issues of repair and maintenance to pathways. Cllr Alan Keeley told a meeting


of the town council's amenities and recreation committee that he had attended a meeting with a Kent Highways engineer to dis- cuss the urgent need for repairs andmaintenance to the damaged pavers in the town. He reported that the poor state


of the loose pavers around Snod- land were trip hazards and the pavers in the area of the Co-op would be replaced with tarmac. Councillors thought damaged


pavers should be replaced with pavers and not tarmac.


Fair postponed


SNODLAND Church of England Primary School in Roberts Road has been forced tomove the date of its summer fair this year. Planned for Saturday, June 15,


it has been put back a week to Saturday, June 22. Teachers say themove was necessary because the first date clashed with a num- ber of other local events, includ- ing the Church open day. The fair will open its doors from noon to 3pm.


A SHOP in Snodland is cele- brating its 125th anniversary, selling the same line of goods since the day it was built. Snodland Jewellers of Malling


Road has been a jewellery shop since 1894. Graeme Thorpe and his late father, Doug, bought the shop fromEdith and David Jackson in April 1984. Graeme started work at a jew-


ellers in Tunbridge Wells after he left school, and later man- aged a shop in Maidstone be- fore moving to Snodland. "I wanted to be my own boss


and the shop came with a flat, so I could move out of my par- ents' house," he said. "There have been many ad-


vances in engineering and tech- nology during those years, but it does make me wonder what the people who first opened as a jewellers in 1894 would make of the changes. "It's very unlikely that they


would have any strap watches on display as, while there were a handful of ladies’ watches being made, their rarity and cost would havemeant only the very well-off could have af-


forded to buy them. Men didn't start wearing strap watches generally until 1917 when the British war department started issuing them to servicemen. Prior to that, a makeshift strap would have been fitted to a pocket watch." Graeme went said his own in-


terest in watches began when he attended a two-year day re-


lease course in horology in Bethnal Green, London. "Times and attitudes may


have changed but I would like to think that 125 years ago they had as many friendly and gen- uinely good-hearted patrons as I continue to have now," he said. "My passion for the jewellery


business keeps growing even now, 35 years on."


Katie reaches for the skies


A 15-YEAR-OLD girlwhowas diag- nosed with type 1 diabetes when shewas10is toholdasaleof cakes ather school and take part in a sky- dive for charityafterher16thbirth- day in April. Katie Sutton, of Busbridge Road,


saidshehaswantedtodoaskydive since her diagnosis but had towait until she was 16. She hopes to raise £500 for Diabetes UK when she sells her cakes on February 14, so she will not have to pay for her jump. "Being diagnosed with diabetes


in 2013 didn't stop there," said Katie. "In 2017, I was diagnosed with


hypothyroidism and polycystic ovary syndrome. I have to take


medication everyday for theseand in 2018, I was diagnosed with raised albumin creatinine ratio, which is leaking kidneys.Again, this ismedication daily. "I am on the omni-pod pump


and I have to test my blood every two hours, including during the night and evenmorewhen it's hot or cold,when I'mexercising,when I'm unwell and so on – which, as you can imagine, is quite a lot of blood testing." Katie'smother, Justine, said that


her daughter has not moaned abouther illnesses once. Her father is Richard and her brother, Oliver, aged 12, is "her young carer." Justine has approached a num- ber of local businesses for support.


Local news for Snodland and Halling


A Downs Mail supplement produced in conjunction with the Snodland Chamber of Commerce.


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48