MaidstoneExtra

Emergency kit for school

authour@pressmart.com (authour) — Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

IT'S one gift school managers hope they will never use, but that doesn't mean they're not grateful.
The Friends of St John's Primary School in Provender Way, Grove Green, thought a defibrillator was an important piece of kit to have to hand. So they raised the money and handed it over to the school last week.
Kate Naylor, a parent and former chairman of the Friends, said: "It is the one pi

£4.2m cuts in council's staff costs

authour@pressmart.com (authour) — Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

THE salary bill for staff at Maidstone council has been slashed by £4.2m, but the council is not ruling out further redundancies.

Staff costs reached a high of £18.6m in 2008-09 and the saving represents a 23% reduction.

In a response to our Freedom of Information request, the council said the latest available figures were for the 2011-12 financial year, and the bill had reduced to £14.4 mil

Mayor looks forward to his year in office

authour@pressmart.com (authour) — Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

A MAN who has lived in the town for the most of his life has been elected Mayor of Maidstone.

Cllr Clive English was handed the chains of office by outgoing mayor Cllr Rodd Nelson-Gracie at a ceremony at Maidstone Town Hall, having spent the past year learning the ropes as his deputy.

The retired Post Office worker is thoroughly looking forward to representing the borough that is so close to

Charity run in the park

authour@pressmart.com (authour) — Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

A FAMILY-friendly fun run is taking place later this year to raise funds to fight meningitis.

The Big Fun Run at Mote Park takes place on Sunday, September 15.

It is one of 18 5km runs taking place throughout the country this summer.

All those taking part in the Big Fun Run will get a charity running vest or T-shirt.

An information pack will also be provided, which includes tips on how

Woodland gift for village

authour@pressmart.com (authour) — Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

A HOUSING developer has given a plot of woodland to Bearsted Parish Council.

Taylor Wimpey acquired the five-acre site when it secured planning permission to build The Chimes estate, off Ware Street, but left the space undeveloped.

Chris Moore, land and planning director for the firm, said: "After several discussions with the parish council regarding the area's importance to Bearsted, we fel

A trip to the Big Apple...in Maidstone

authour@pressmart.com (authour) — Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

MADGINFORD pupil Izzy Worgan is pictured with a cast of the world's biggest cooking apple at The Living Land show, held at the Kent Showground in Detling.

The exhibition about the countryside and healthy eating was open to Year 3 and 4 children from across the county.

Picture: Martin Apps FM2584844

Sewage water could be recycled back into taps

authour@pressmart.com (authour) — Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

by Anna White awhite@thekmgroup.co.uk RECYCLED sewage water could flow through our taps in the future if plans to top up reservoir levels fail to flourish.

South East Water has revealed there is an option to pump treated waste into thousands of homes to help reach its target of producing an extra 145 million litres by 2040.

If introduced, cleaned toilet fluids would run from Aylesford Wastew

Battle on to save Kent's ash trees

authour@pressmart.com (authour) — Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

THE fight-back has begun against ash dieback disease, and Maidstone is playing a key role.

The Forestry Commission has planted up to 10,000 ash trees on two acres of land at the Hucking Estate near Hollingbourne, in an attempt to identify disease-resistant varieties of the species. Just 100 trees are predicted to survive.

Forestry Commission head of tree breeding Steve Lee said: "Ninety-nine

rapid spread of disease

authour@pressmart.com (authour) — Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

ASH dieback has been making its way across western Europe at a rate of 30 kilometres a year, according to the Forestry Commission.

It was first spotted on these shores last year, although the Forestry Commission's Steve Lee said it probably arrived some time before that.

Nurseries across the country were left with stocks of about 1.5 million ash saplings when demand slumped after the outbrea

Thousands more tuning in to kmfm

authour@pressmart.com (authour) — Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

THE number of people listening to Kent's radio station kmfm has increased by 15,000 over the past six months.

Official figures released by industry body Rajar show the kmfm breakfast show hosted by Rob Wills and Emma Saint, which launched in September, has added 10,000 listeners in its time slot.

These represent the highest audience figures for the station since 2011.

KM Group managing di

Author tries out life with the living dead

authour@pressmart.com (authour) — Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

by Tim Collins tcollins@thekmgroup.co.uk A ZOMBIE-OBSESSED author who wrote a guide to surviving the rise of the living dead has put his money where his mouth is by spending a week in an underground bunker.

Sean T. Page released his first book, The Official Zombie Handbook in 2010. It prepares survivors for the first 90 days after an apocalyptic zombie onslaught.

To experience some of the

Off the Record

authour@pressmart.com (authour) — Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

Behind the scenes at County Hall with political editor Paul Francis, Regional Press Awards UK's weekly newspaper journalist of the year THE promotion of Canterbury county councillor John Simmonds to deputy leader of KCC signals a full rapprochement between him and leader Paul Carter.

Mr Simmonds was sacked back in 2007 as education cabinet member after a fallingout with the leader and came

Paul leads bid to feed rescue dogs

authour@pressmart.com (authour) — Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

TV PERSONALITY Paul O'Grady is spearheading a campaign to feed one million meals to rescue dogs.

The dog-loving star, who lives in Aldington, near Ashford, has teamed up with pet food manufacturer Pedigree to pledge to provide grub for rescue dogs across Britain.

New research by Pedigree and the Association of Dog and Cat Homes (ADCH) has revealed that half of rehomingcentres are seeing an

New car sales up on 2012

authour@pressmart.com (authour) — Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

New car sales raced ahead last month, according to official figures that maintain the UK's especially good performance compared to the rest of Europe.
There were a total of 163,357 new registrations in the UK in April 2013 a 14.8% rise on the April 2012 figure, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders said.
The April 2013 increase was the 14th successive monthly rise. It took the tot

Drivers face higher fines

authour@pressmart.com (authour) — Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

Sending a text message or making a phone call while at the wheel will land drivers with harsher penalties.

In a move to crack down on dangerous driving, Patrick McLoughlin the Transport Minister, has indicated that fines for a variety of offences would rise by 50%, from £60 to £90.
The number of penalty points offenders receive on their licence will remain at three. The cost increase will co

Thieves are making their marque

authour@pressmart.com (authour) — Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

Mercedes-Benz is one of the most popular marques with car thieves, according to new data. Last year more than £2 million of Mercedes-Benz were recovered by Tracker, the stolen vehicle recovery firm. In the UK a car gets stolen every five minutes, with half of them never being seen again. In total over £12.5m worth of cars were recovered by Tracker in 2012, and the six most-commonly recovered vehic

We had more questions than answers

authour@pressmart.com (authour) — Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

THERE are some questions that we can all answer "What is your favourite colour?" "Where would you love to go on holiday?" and "Would you rather be stuck in a lift with Holly Willoughby or Mila Kunis?" OK, tough one, that one.

On kmfm Drivetime during the `Top 5' I was asking: "What questions have you always wanted the answer to?" From your suggestions a top five is then compiled. Some great que