Times of Tunbridge Wells 30th June 2021

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Wednesday June 30 | 2021

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unveils plans to attract more doctors Nearly 150 students will come to study in the town

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plan to ‘attract future generations of doctors and medical students’ to the town.

It will feature a six-storey accommodation block, that will include a learning hub, private study and offices, next to the existing hospital in Pembury.

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The initiative by Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust [MTW] has been given the green light by Tunbridge Wells Borough Council [TWBC].

When completed, the campus will accommodate 145 medical students and trainee doctors.

Construction is expected to start at the beginning of August and be completed by next March. The new building will welcome the first intake of Kent and Medway Medical School (KMMS) students in September 2022.

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The Southborough Centre KMMS, which itself opened in September 2020, will provide the Trust with approximately 40 students in the first intake.

Once fully established, it will place 120 additional medical students with MTW each year – a 315 per cent increase in the total number of students the Trust currently takes.

The students and junior doctors will be

split between the Trusts’ two hospitals, Tunbridge Wells and Maidstone, with slightly more based at Pembury due to the wider range of specialities on that site.

Students undertake their clinical placement with the Trust in years three, four and five of their degree and have a need

See more on page 2

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GP teams play a vital role in vaccination programme

By Robert Forrester

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STAFF working at GP surgeries were yesterday praised for their role in the fight against Covid-19.

Dr Navin Kumta, Clinical Chair of NHS Kent and Medway Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), told the Times: “General practice teams have played a critical part in the life-saving vaccination programme while continuing to care for their patients throughout the pandemic.

“Practices are continuing to recruit more clinicians in a variety of roles, from pharmacists to advanced clinical practitioners who are specialists in managing long-term conditions, to make sure patients are seen by the most appropriate person.”

He made the comments after reports from local doctor surgeries who say they are under increasing pressure to cope with backlogs brought about by the pandemic.

One of which has asked patients to avoid making GP appointments unless really necessary as they deal with ‘unprecedented demand’ and a backlog of cases.

The Clanricarde Medical Centre in St John’s Road, say they are so under pressure, they warn of ‘unsafe working and burnout within our team’.

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Wednesday June 30 | 2021

this week… Force confirms it is okay for its

police officers to take the knee

By Johnathan Banks

NEW LEGAL APPOINTMENT Tunbridge Wells’ law firm, Thomas Mansfield welcomes a new partner to its offices on Mount Pleasant P8

STUDENTS RUN FOR FUN Tunbridge Wells Boys Grammar School’s final challenge to raise money for YoungMinds, the local mental health charity P14

ANTIQUE EMPORIUM OPENS TV personality and antiques expert, Eric Knowles (left) on launching a new shop in The Corn Exchange P28 AN OPEN BOOK The Times’ resident bookworm, Hannah Kirsop, shares her top reads this week, including some cinematic titles.

P33 CONTACTS EDITORIAL DIRECTOR RICHARD MOORE richard.moore@onemediauk.co.uk | 01892 779615 DEPUTY EDITOR EILEEN LEAHY eileen.leahy@onemediauk.co.uk.co.uk | 01892 576037 CHIEF REPORTER RICHARD WILLIAMS richard.williams@onemediauk.co.uk |01892 240626 DESIGN/PRODUCTION LEE SMITH lee.smith@onemediauk.co.uk.co.uk ADVERTISING 01892 779580 advertising@onemediauk.co.uk FIND US ONLINE facebook.com/timeslocalnews www.timeslocalnews.co.uk twitter.com/timeslocalnews

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POLICE officers in Kent can continue to take the knee in support of the Black Lives Matter movement at their ‘discretion’.

That’s the message from the force and it came after the Times asked for clarification of its policy following comment from the new Greater Manchester Chief Constable Stephen Watson that he would ‘absolutely not’ sanction such action as it ‘could undermine impartiality’ of the police.

He told a newspaper he would ‘probably kneel before the Queen, God and [his wife] Mrs Watson’.

Mr Watson said he was ‘getting a little bit fed

‘It’s vital the public has trust in Kent Police and all officers must treat everybody with fairness’

BENDED KNEE: Chief Constable Alan Pughsley pictured in Gravesend last year

up with virtue-signaling police officers’ and would rather they ‘just locked up burglars’.

Britain’s most senior officer, the Met Police Chief Cressida Dick, has gone on record as saying she would not take the knee and ordered officers not to do so during protests.

Kent Chief Constable Alan Pughsley was filmed taking the knee during a Black Lives Matter event in June last year.

Taking the knee, as seen by the England football squad, is a symbol of solidarity with Black Lives Matter which rose to prominence last year with mass protests following the murder of

George Floyd by US police officer Derek Chauvin, who was later handed a 22-year prison sentence.

However, it has been labelled ‘gesture politics’ by some, including the Home Secretary Priti Patel.

Deputy Chief Constable Tim Smith of Kent Police said members of the force were able to take the knee but are advised to use their ‘discretion’.

He told the Times: “Officers are advised to use their discretion should they wish to ‘take the knee’ as part of their daily policing duties.

“Should officers find themselves in a situation where doing so could jeopardise their safety, or

that of the public, then they should not.

“In all other situations we encourage officers to use their discretion in deciding if they wish to ‘take the knee’.

“It is vital that the public has trust and confidence in Kent Police and all officers and staff must treat everybody with fairness, respect and dignity, irrespective of who they are.

“This is reflected in the fact, that for four years consecutively, Kent is the only police force in the country who have been graded as ‘Outstanding’

by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Service for the way it treats the public.”

Hospital to build student campus on site Continued from front page to live close to the hospital so they have direct access to a wide range of medical and surgical services to complete their studies.

The Trust says by living on site it also removes the need for students to travel by car to and from the hospital . A free staff bus service is also available should they need to travel to Maidstone Hospital.

Dr Peter Maskell, Medical Director at Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust, said: “We are looking forward to building work starting and welcoming the first intake of KMMS students next year.

“Providing high quality student accommodation and teaching space within the grounds of the hospital will help attract future generations of doctors and medical students to MTW as they can live, learn and work close to their clinical placement.

“By providing students with a good experience during their training it is hoped they will stay

with the Trust once they have qualified. This will lead to an increase in the number of medical staff employed by MTW and provide an essential boost, not only to improving local health and care but also contributing towards the future resilience of the NHS.”

Communal The ground floor of the building will house the academic space as well as two six-bedroom flats.

Floors one to five will be entirely student accommodation made up of six, five or four bed flats, all of which will have a communal kitchen, dining and living area and en suite bathrooms attached to each bedroom. In addition, eight wheelchair accessible flats will be provided - two on each floor - from the first to the fourth floors.

On the roof there will be solar panels plus a green roof on the southeast wing of the building.

Chris Holland, Dean of Kent and Medway Medical School, said: “The development of a student accommodation and teaching campus at Tun-

bridge Wells Hospital makes it clear how committed to high quality education the Trust is.

“Providing an excellent placement experience is a crucial part of our shared vision to train and retain doctors in our region. This building will give students from Kent and Medway Medical School, and students from other medical schools and health programmes, the facilities and accommodation they need to support their studies.

“The school and our placement provider partners from across the region are focused on enabling our graduates become the future doctors we are working together to train.”

Tunbridge Wells Borough Council Leader Tom Dawlings welcomed the new student campus.

He said: ‘‘If nothing else the past year or so has reminded us of the vital role the NHS plays in our lives.

“This development is important as it will have a long-term positive impact on staffing in the NHS and I am very pleased that the Council’s planning team got the application processed and to the committee as quickly as possible.”

Underpressure GPs ‘vital’ in Covid fight Continued from front page The surgery has appealed to patients for their help in maintaining the surgery, by considering other services, such as pharmacies before they contact the GP. The statement read: “Since March last year it has been a very challenging time for patients and the team at the surgery; we have adapted to deal with the changing circumstances.”

It continued: “Our team has been working hard throughout the pandemic but with the easing of lockdown demand has increased to unprecedented levels.

“We receive more calls than ever before, are being asked to deal with minor issues on an urgent basis, patients are wishing to discuss multiple problems within one appointment or are

BACKLOG The Clanricarde Medical Centre

asking about hospital related matters such as the long waiting time for a response to a referral rather than the correct route of contacting the hospital directly.”

The statement continued: “All of this has the potential to lead to unsafe working and burnout within our team. “ The surgery then appealed for help from patients, saying: “We ask for your help to provide the best service we can and ensure we can support those patients in most urgent clinical need. For minor ailments and injuries please consider other services, such as the pharmacy before you contact the surgery.

“When a receptionist asks for details about your symptoms please provide these and when offered an alternative to a doctor, please consider this.”

Wednesday June 30 | 2021

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Public consultation on dog ban in parks THE public are to be asked whether to ban dogs from a Tunbridge Wells sports ground and if the animals should have to remain on leads in a local park.

Last week, cabinet members at Tunbridge Wells Borough Council agreed to consultation on whether the authority should extend Public Space Protection Orders [PSPO] when it comes to dogs.

The move would see the pets banned completely from the Nevill Ground, home to Tunbridge Wells Cricket Club, while the animals would have to be kept on a lead in Dunorlan Park.

The measure comes following a number of complaints of out-of-control dogs in several local parks and green spaces. The penalty for failing to comply with a PSPO is a fine up to £1,000.

The Cabinet is also asking the public on approval for plans to close St John’s Park at 10pm to prevent anti-social activities from occurring during the night.

The consultation is to take place ‘no later than mid-July’ and details will be made available on the Council’s website: tunbridgewells.gov.uk

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By Robert Forrester THE mass Covid-19 testing centre in Tunbridge Wells has closed as home testing kits become the main method of detecting new cases of the virus.

Testing was moved to the Camden Centre in Royal Victoria Place in April after the Assembly Hall Theatre, which had been providing mass testing for the town since the start of the crisis, reverted to putting on live performances.

Popular Now this will also close from today [June 30].

As more and more home kits become available, Kent’s health chief says there is now less need for these testing sites, and nearly all of them, except for centres at Maidstone County Hall and Ashford’s Eurogate Business Park, have now closed.

Kent’s interim Director of Public Health,

TUNBRIDGE WELLS MP Greg Clark has said he understands why Matt Hancock has had to stand down and has called for his replacement to end the current Covid restrictions as quicky as possible.

Greg Clark commented on the decision by the former Health Secretary to resign after the Secretary of State for Health was caught on leaked CCTV in a romantic embrace with aide Gina Coladangelo, breaching lockdown rules.

Speaking to the Times, The Tunbridge Wells MP said: “Matt Hancock has worked hard doing a very difficult job throughout the pandemic, but I understand his decision to step down.

“I hope that Sajid Javid, who has considerable experience, will use it to decisively put the current restrictions behind us.”

PARENTS who would like their children to be considered for a grammar school place in Kent from September have until tomorrow to register them for the Kent Test.

Registration needs to be completed by midnight on July 1 and, to be eligible, children must be resident in the UK and expecting to start their final year in primary school in September 2021.

This year’s test will go ahead in September, as is normally the case – unlike last year when it was delayed by a month in line with Department for Education Covid-19 guidance.

The test is expected to be held on September 9 for children who currently go to school in Kent or the weekend of September 11 for those attending school outside Kent.

Recognised by Lotto A TUNBRIDGE WELLS park has been mentioned in a report highlighting its heritage and the role it plays in the local community.

The National Lottery Heritage Fund’s says in its evaluation of Parks for People that Grosvenor and Hilbert Park was evidence for the value of investing in parks.

The park, designed by landscape gardener Robert Marnock, was also acknowledged for its ecological importance.

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Testing centre closes as virus battle moves to the home front Allison Duggal, encouraged residents across the county to continue to test themselves regularly for Covid-19 despite the closures.

She said: “I cannot thank the residents of Kent enough for their part in locating the virus and driving down infection rates through regular testing.

‘As we start to get out and socialise more, it is so important that everyone keeps testing, testing, testing’ “Home testing, with testing kits available both at pharmacies and online, has been extremely popular. It’s quick and easy to do and so it’s not surprising that many residents of Kent have now made regular home testing part of their weekly routine.

MP speaks on Hancock

Kent test deadline

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TESTING TIMES The Camden Centre next to RVP will no longer offer Covid tests

Council wants residents who spend a penny to pay more in local taxes

By Richard Williams THE Council in Tonbridge & Malling is proposing to make residents in some towns pay more in their Council Tax to meet the costs of providing public toilets.

The move, if approved, could see other councils follow suit meaning householders in areas that benefit from certain extra services, such as public toilets, will have to pay a ‘special expense’ on their annual tax bill.

‘Special expenses’ are currently used to fund things like local parks, playgrounds and allotments, but Tonbridge & Malling Borough Council [TMBC] now want to expand the scheme to cover services such as public toilets and Christmas lights.

The Council says the plan will make it fairer on taxpayers, as those in areas that do not benefit from these services will not have to pay for them.

Residents in Tonbridge, Tunbridge Wells and Wealden have already been asked to pay for some extra services previously included in Council Tax, such as the disposal of garden waste.

And if the new scheme goes ahead, it could see other Councils begin to charge for other services, although Tunbridge Wells Borough Council have said they are currently ‘not considering’ meeting the costs of the public toilets from special expenses.

Tonbridge Council says its proposal, which has opened to consultation from residents, would mean people in most areas would see a slight reduction in council tax bills, although those who live in Tonbridge and West Malling will have to pay more.

TMBC’s Cabinet Member for Finance, Innovation and Property, Cllr Martin Coffin, said: “We want to make sure that charging for additional services

“As we start to get out and socialise more, it is so important that everyone keeps testing, testing, testing to identify any positive cases and continue to prevent the spread of the virus. Please remember to register your test result online so we receive a record of how many people are taking tests and thank you again for your continued efforts to keep everyone safe.”

COVID RATES RISE THE number of people infected with coronavirus in the local area has nearly doubled over the last seven days.

A week ago, there were just 48 cases reported in Tunbridge Wells but in the latest figures for the seven days to June 24, 79 positive tests were reported, with the rate per 100,000 of the population now standing at 66.5.

Tonbridge & Malling has also seen case rates rise from 62 to 106, with the rate per 100,000 now at 80.2.

There were 74 cases in Sevenoaks [61.3 per 100,00] and 83 in Wealden [51.4].

Similar rises have been seen across Kent where there were 918 cases for the last seven days of data putting the rate per 100,000 at 58.

The national rate per 100,00 people in England is 128.7. Of the 315 local areas in the country, 291 (92 per cent) have seen a rise in rates but hospitalisations and deaths remain low.

In Tunbridge Wells Hospital there hasn’t been a death where Covid-19 was mentioned on the birth certificate since February.

According to Public Health England, seven people have been admitted to either the Pembury hospital or Maidstone with the virus over the last seven days.

At the pandemic’s peak in January this year, there were more than 330 patients at Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust in hospital with Covid-19.

which benefit some parts of the borough more than others is as fair as possible.

“These changes would mean bills are more closely aligned to the provision of public toilets and Christmas lights where they are provided.

“We are genuinely interested in hearing what residents have to say about these proposals and hope as many people as possible take the opportunity to share their views. It’s also worth emphasising that the consultation is about how these services are funded and not whether they are provided.”

The consultation, available on TMBC’s website [www.tmbc.gov.uk], is open until Tuesday July 20.

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Some bin collections suspended as driver shortage hits the contractors

By Richard Williams A NATIONAL shortage of HGV drivers is one of the reasons that almost 2,500 bins are not being collected each month in Tunbridge Wells and Tonbridge.

The situation has got so bad that Tonbridge & Malling Borough Council [TMBC] has now suspended the collection of recycling from households.

Last week, the Times reported how the Councils in both Tonbridge and Tunbridge Wells had written an open letter to residents explaining how they were still in talks with waste contractor, Urbaser, to resolve poor service issues.

It came after the contractor, which was handed the £3million a year joint contract for both councils in 2019, has seen a backlog of bin collections.

would like to apologise to residents for this disruption to their recycling service and reiterate that we remain committed to recommencing collections as soon as possible.

“A significant upturn in waste and recycling volumes, combined with a national driver shortage exacerbated by the lack of driver training and testing during the pandemic, means that we are struggling to address the current shortfall.

“However, we are taking positive steps to address the issue and this brief suspension of the service will help us to consolidate our resources and resume recycling collections.”

If the company cannot catch up, collections in

Fined Around 1,500 missed collections a month are being reported in Tonbridge and almost 900 in Tunbridge Wells.

Last year the councils fined waste contractor Urbaser following continued poor services. Now TMBC has been forced to suspend all collections of recycling bins, and householders in the borough are being asked only to put out the normal household waste bin.

The Council hopes full service will be resumed from Monday July 12.

Urbaser has apologised for the disruption, which it blames on a national shortage of HGV drivers.

Javier Peiro, Managing Director, said: “We

Tunbridge Wells could also be suspended, but they have not been affected by the driver shortage.

Cllr Matt Bailey, head of sustainability in Tunbridge Wells told the Times: “We have no plans to suspend any part of our waste and recycling service.

Dialogue “However, the same staffing pressures experienced by TMBC are causing problems and delays for the Tunbridge Wells service.

“We’re in constant dialogue with the contractor and are monitoring the situation very closely.”

He added that he will be writing to local MPs Greg Clark [Tunbridge Wells] and Helen Grant [Maidstone] to make sure they’re aware and to urge them to do all they can to lobby the government for action to address the issue.

RUBBISH SERVICE Bins are going uncollected in Tunbridge Wells and Tonbridge

Wednesday June 30 | 2021

BREXIT BLAMED FOR LACK OF DRIVERS HAULAGE organisations have attributed the national shortage of HGV drivers to a combination of Brexit and the Covid-19 pandemic.

The situation is said to be affecting a number of councils across the country as well as national supermarkets and delivery firms.

Tunbridge Wells based Logistics UK, which represents the country’s freight industry, says there is a national shortage of more than 70,000 HGV drivers, causing issues for a range of industries.

They say the problem has been exacerbated by a backlog in HGV driving tests and is affecting a range of industries reliant on qualified drivers.

Struggling David Wells, Chief Executive of the St John’s Road logistics organisation, formerly the Freight Transport Asssociation said: “During the Covid-19 pandemic, understandably, all driving tests were suspended.

“At the same time, 79,000 European logistics workers returned to their home countries.

“This, combined with an existing shortage of HGV drivers of more than 76,000, has meant that haulage firms are now struggling to recruit new drivers – a problem which will be exacerbated by summer holidays for those who have worked so tirelessly throughout the pandemic.”

He said the group was now calling on the government to introduce a seasonal visa for European HGV drivers while the UK catches up with this backlog.

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Cycle lane planned in a last ditch attempt to keep £600,000 funding and Scrutiny Committee the plan has been sent to KCC, and a decision is due on Friday [July 2].

The Lib Dem, whose party raised the issue at the committee, says KCC is going against national policy of supporting active travel schemes.

“There seems to be a disconnect between TWBC which is supportive of National policy and KCC, which after seven years is sending £632,000 back.”

Kent County Council were approached for comment but did not to respond.

By Richard Williams MORE than £600,000 of public money earmarked for road improvements in Tunbridge Wells could be lost this week after a seven-year battle involving red tape.

Tunbridge Wells Borough Council [TWBC] has now made a last-ditch attempt to get the cash for a new cycle lane initiative.

It all started when the Government’s Local Growth Fund was given more than a billion pounds to distribute to local authorities.

Some of it was handed to the South East Local Enterprise Partnership [SELEP] back in 2014 and they considered applications for local authorities for funding.

Initiatives Kent County Council [KCC] was part of this process and was used to channel £1.4million to Tunbridge Wells for a new roundabout at the junction of Speldhurst Road and Yew Tree Road.

But KCC later deemed the roundabout unworkable and instead created an enhanced traffic light scheme, which meant there was £623,000 left over.

This money, which can only be spent on transport initiatives, has been held by KCC ever since, with County Hall refusing to hand it over despite TWBC coming up with a number of transport initiatives in the borough that it could be spent on.

These included a number of improved cycle routes including a new route from Paddock Wood to Tunbridge Wells, and a route linking Five Oak Green and the A26, which were rejected by KCC. One final scheme has now been submitted,

WHAT IS SELEP?

PEDAL POWER: The cycle lane is proposed to run from Southborough on St John’s Road which if approved, will see the current A26 cycle lane extended from Southborough Common to Mabledon – just before the junction with the A21 in Tonbridge.

The cycle lane project, which would be delivered in September, would mean the A26 carriageway – which is a main throughfare from Tunbridge Wells to Tonbridge – would be narrowed.

Cyclists travelling in both directions would then use two designated lanes on the right side of the road heading out of town.

Councillors at Tunbridge Wells have now been told that if this final scheme is rejected by KCC this week, this money will be lost and sent back to SELEP. David Candlin, Head of Economic Development & Property at TWBC, told this month’s Overview

The South East Local Enterprise Partnership [SELEP] is one of 38 groups in the country.

Set up in 2011 by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, these enterprise partnerships are designed to help determine economic priorities as well as lead growth and job creation within local areas.

Certain funds from central government are handed to LEPs for distribution, including the £1.4billion annual Local Growth Fund that Councils can receive by bidding for it.

SELEP is the largest Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) area in England outside London, in terms of population and economic output, and cover an area encompassing the local authority areas of East Sussex, Essek, Kent, Medway, Southend and Thurrock.

It is headed by a Strategic Board that consists of chairman Christian Brodie, the former head of the Students Loans Company. Other members include council representatives, including KCC leader Roger Gough, as well as business leaders such as Jo James– the head of Kent Invicta Chamber of Commerce.

Wednesday June 30 | 2021

Artwork commissions for new cultural centre MORE than £160,000 worth of artwork has been commissioned at Tunbridge Wells’ new combined art gallery, museum and cultural hub.

Funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund and Arts Council England, seven artists have been chosen to provide works for the new Amelia Scott building, which is scheduled to open in spring next year.

The works range from a curated courtyard, decorative iron gates to several pieces destined for the foyer of the Amelia.

Creative Winners of the art commission include James Tunnard who will create the main entrance lighting, Alex Fox to create decorative iron gates, Angus Ross for a modular furniture piece in the foyer as well Catriona Rowbotham (Curated Courtyard Garden Design) and Adam Chodzko (exterior brick artwork).

Parveer Braich of Eksait Design, who won the commission for the Visitor Resource Point summed up the aspirations for the commissioning programme in her proposal. She said: “Public art offers visibility and engagement access for wider communities, supporting both emerging and established artists with their development in the creative practice.”

Councillor Jane March Cabinet member for Culture and Leisure said: “The announcement of these seven commissions is very exciting and is a tantalising glimpse into how the project is taking shape.

“I am looking forward with great interest to seeing the finished artworks and seeing how the artists have interpreted the brief and taken their inspiration from the borough.

“The accompanying programme of workshops looks very interesting and will be a fun way for residents to get more involved with the project.”

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Wednesday June 30 | 2021

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MP criticises ‘two-tier’ Covid rules after festival cancelled

By Robert Forrester AN MP has criticised her government following the cancellation of a popular music festival last week due to a delay in the easing of lockdown restrictions.

Last weekend, around 20,000 revellers should have been enjoying Americana music festival Black Deer in Eridge Park – between Tunbridge Wells and Crowborough.

But the event was cancelled at the eleventh hour when PM Boris Johnson delayed the June 21 final stage of lockdown reopening.

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Council collaborates on bus service plans THE county council is asking the public for its help in devising a new bus service plan for Kent In March, the government published a new National Bus Strategy which set a framework for recovery for the pandemic and a vision for future bus service improvement across the UK. The strategy requires all Local Transport Authorities, such as Kent County Council [KCC], to work with Bus Operators to form a Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP) to act as the local vision for buses, covering all services in the area.

Notice

Co-operating As reported in the Times last week, the delay meant Black Deer had to be cancelled for the second year in a row, resulting in a ‘massive’ financial hit for organisers.

Nusrat Ghani, MP for Wealden, says the cancellation of the festival was ‘despite the event being Covid-safe with test and trace in place and premises large enough to host quadruple the amount of ticket holders’.

She said she had been working tirelessly to salvage the event, co-operating closely with Gill Tee, the co-founder and director of Black Deer and Tunbridge Wells MP Greg Clark, making countless representations to the Government and Arts Council England.

Both Ms Ghani and Mr Clark voted for the delay to the easing of restrictions when it came

Local News

before the Commons on June 16. It has meant other than pilot initiatives, outdoor NUS GHANI events were restricted to 4,000 attendees.

However, last week in parliament, the member for Wealden criticised the government’s restrictions as being ‘two tier’ with sporting events allowed to go ahead with much larger numbers while festivals like Black Deer are not.

Speaking after the parliamentary debate, Ms Ghani said: “I raised my concerns over the two-tier system for outdoor events and why Ministers can produce data for sporting events being given the go ahead while other outdoor

Covid-safe events such as Black Deer Festival are being cancelled.

“The event was ready to go with robust measures in place to be Covid-safe and yet it had to cancel last-minute.

“I’m beyond devastated for Gill, the co-founder and director of Black Deer, and the hundreds of organisers, performers and suppliers involved in the planning for this fantastic Covid-safe outdoor event – now postponed until 2022.

“We are extremely lucky to have this unique music festival at our doorstep and I’m dreading the impact the multiple postponements have had on many livelihoods and the local economy.

“I will continue to do all I can to support the Black Deer event management team through this difficult time.”

Bus Service Improvement Plans will be used by Government as the basis on which to award extra funding which, if successful, KCC hope could be used to support some of the improvements and initiatives being developed.

The Enhanced Partnership Scheme is an agreement that enables local authorities and operators to set a shared aims and service standards to improvie bus services. KCC has published a statutory notice confirming its intention to introduce Enhanced Partnership Schemes.

KCC Cabinet Member for Highways and Transport David Brazier said: “From today we want to hear from our residents to help shape this BSIP and make sure that it reflects our communities right across the county.

“We hope to be able to attract funding for improving bus services in Kent but there is a lot to do in a short period of time so we need to develop a plan that identifies where and how we can make things better from timetables to vehicles and from information to fares.

“We want to ensure our BSIP reflects what you want to see from buses in Kent and what would help you to use buses or use them more often.”

To find out more, to see the notice and to give your views, visit kent.gov.uk/busfuture

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BUSINESS

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Wednesday June 30 | 2021

MPs brand minibond firm collapse the Banks safe from latest closures largest ‘regulatory failures in decades’

By Richard Williams THE city watchdog has been heavily criticised by parliamentarians following the collapse of the Tunbridge Wells investment firm that saw 11,500 savers lose £237million.

The FCA has come under fire ever since the Eridge based company fell into administration in 2019.

Unregulated MPs have said the there was a ‘litany’ of failures by the FCA [Financial Conduct Authority] following the 2019 failure of London Capital & Finance [LCF], which was set up by Tunbridge Wells businessman and former local Conservative Association chair, Simon Hume-Kendall.

The collapse of LCF, which sold unregulated

minibonds to savers and investors with interest rates as high as eight per cent, is currently part of an ongoing Serious Fraud Office investigation.

But MPs have now called for a ‘change in culture’ at the FCA to protect consumers and financial markets from similar scandals in the future.

Following a Treasury Select Committee hearing last Thursday, MPs asked the FCA to confirm a deadline to enact a transformation programme to improve the organisation.

It comes a month after the FCA apologised to bondholders who lost millions of pounds invested in the collapsed mini-bond firm.

In December last year, a report by Dame Elizabeth Gloster found the FCA failed to properly regulate and supervise LCF and said the regulator must focus on improving internal authorisation and supervision processes.

Mel Stride MP, chair of the Treasury Select Committee, said: “The collapse of LCF is one of the largest conduct regulatory failures in decades.

“Dame Elizabeth Gloster identified a litany of failings at the FCA regarding its regulation of LCF, and highlighted a range of changes needed at the FCA under its new leadership.

“The Treasury Committee has made some further recommendations for the regulator and the Government to help prevent another LCF. “This includes setting deadlines and milestones for the FCA’s transformation programme, expediting HM Treasury’s consultation into the regulation of minibonds, and including measures to address fraud via online advertising in the Online Safety Bill.”

New partner at expanding law firm LAW firm Thomas Mansfield has recruited the former head of Dispute Resolution and Employment at Ignition Law to extend its range of services.

Paula Kumar joins the Mount Pleasant Road solicitors as Head of Dispute Resolution, working alongside consultant, Paul Thomas.

Commerical She comes from a background focused on start-ups, scale-ups

and entrepreneurs and specialises in complex commercial, employment and media disputes.

‘With Paula’s help we plan to grow the team and develop the offering further’ Neill Thomas, Managing Partner and Co-Founder of Thomas Mansfield Solicitors said: “Through the businesses our

employment law team are working with we have found that there is a substantial demand for our advice on litigation and dispute resolution matters.

“To meet this demand, we have hired a partner, Paula Kumar, who specialises in this area and also brings considerable experience of running a successful team of litigation lawyers.

“With Paula’s help we plan to grow the team and develop the offering further.”

PARTNER Paula Kumar arrives from Ignition Law

BANKS in Tunbridge Wells and Crowborough are safe from the latest raft of closures.

Lloyds Banking Group said last week it was shutting 44 branches across England and Wales due to the changing habits of customers and the rise of online banking.

It said 29 Lloyds Bank and 15 Halifax branches would close, adding that customers were carrying out ‘significantly’ fewer transactions at these locations.

The closures come after rival Santander recently announced it will also close 111 branches in the UK by August, although none of the closures are expected to be in the local area.

Digital The moves are after HSBC made a large number of its banks, including its Mount Pleasant Road branch, counter-free earlier this year, offering only digital services inside.

The latest closures have angered unions who have accused the banks of ‘walking away’ from local communities.

But Vim Maru, retail director for Lloyds Banking Group, said: “We’ve also seen our digital banking customers grow by over four million in five years, to almost 18 million, of which 13.6 million also choose to be active app users.

“This means that, like many businesses on the high street, we must change for a future where branches will be used in a different way, and visited less often.”

He continued: “Importantly, we’ll continue to give our customers a choice in how they bank, with branches sitting alongside telephone banking, online and mobile banking, our video appointment services, cashback through local shops programme, participation in the industry BankHUB cash initiative and 11,500 post offices, at which our customers can bank and access cash.”

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Wednesday June 30 | 2021

Charity welcomes support from Duchess of Cambridge

Call Just Shutters today on

01892 575 858

SEAL OF APPROVAL The Duchess at a hospice visit

By Lottie Bulmer A WEST Kent children’s hospice charity has joined the Duchess of Cambridge in celebrating Children’s Hospice Week (June 21-27). ellenor’s Children Services, which has a shop in Camden Road, Tunbridge Wells has marked the week by raising awareness of the services which the charity offers to families facing terminal illness in Kent and Bexley.

Children’s Hospice Week is organised by Together for Short Lives, a charity which

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supports children and families with lifethreatening or life-limiting conditions.

Linda Coffey, Director of Care at ellenor said: “The Duchess of Cambridge’s personal message of support endorses the vital role children’s hospices play and helps us to celebrate and raise awareness of the specialist care we provide to life limited children and their families facing the most difficult of times.

Lifeline The Duchess of Cambridge message read: “The last year has been a difficult one for everyone, and especially tough and frightening for families with seriously ill children.

“Many started shielding long before others, worrying about the pandemic and what it might mean for their child.”

She continued: “Children’s hospices are a lifeline, and I have been privileged to see first-hand the remarkable work they do.

“They give families the care and time they need to make treasured lifelong memories – the chance to be parents, not carers.

“Vitally, they are also there when it is time to say goodbye, making sure a family has privacy and dignity so they can grieve together and are able to receive support for as long as they need it.

“I hope you will join me this Children’s Hospice Week in thanking the UK’s 54 children’s hospices and their incredible staff for the life-changing care they provide to children and families facing the unimaginable - helping them to make the most of every precious moment together.”

HOSPICE LAUNCHES SERVICE FOR CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE Hospice in the Weald, which provides support to adults in the local area, is creating a service to support children and young people in Kent and Sussex with terminal and life-limiting conditions.

The charity plans to expand its services over the coming months as Tor Edwards, Development & Communications Director, told the Times: “We have cared for adults in the local community for over 40 years now, and to provide care for

justshutters.co.uk

T2943 JS JUL 2021 SOMag 125x300.indd 1

“They give families the time they need to make treasured lifelong memories – the chance to be parents, not carers”

“It is a real honour to be recognised by Her Royal Highness for our work particularly as it has been such a challenging year”.

17/06/2021 11:32

children and their families will be a big step.

Opportunity “It will be a very different type of care; the adults we care for are usually in their last year of life, but for children this care is likely to start much sooner and go on for much longer. We’ll start by recruiting a Lead Children’s Nurse for the Service in the coming weeks – it’s a really exciting opportunity.”

Current provision of children’s care is offered by Demelza and ellenor Hospices further north, but Ms Edwards explained: “There is a great deal of unmet need in the Weald area, a large area of geography which is currently not well served.

“We will be inviting children and their families to attend engagement sessions towards the end of the year, to share their experiences and make sure the service is designed to best meet their needs.”

FOR EVEN MORE NEWS VISIT: timeslocalnews.co.uk

Wednesday June 30 | 2021

Community News

A TONBRIDGE based charity which supports those affected by juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) has won £1,000 for its services.

Juvenile Arthritis Research (JAR) received the Movement for Good award from Ecclesiastical Insurance Group following nominations from the public.

The charity is parent-led by those with direct experience of JIA and is run entirely by volunteers.

JIA is an autoimmune condition where the body attacks the joints causing inflammation, pain and reduce mobility.

MP Greg Clark makes a splash at fish habitat improvement project THE MP for Tunbridge Wells, Greg Clark visited Eridge Stream to see the work which had been done to improve the habitat for the river’s declining fish population.

The Dorset Arms Angling Club in Withyham – of which Mr Clark is Vice President, welcomed him to the tributary of the Upper Medway River on June 11 after they raised their concerns about the declining fish population and the potential connection it has with pollution in the water.

They found that the drop in numbers appears to be the result of changes to the river habitat.

These include maintenance dredging which has removed gravels needed by spawning fish and barriers like weirs which prevent the movement of fish searching for suitable spawning sites.

The Dorset Arms’ Angling Club, The Wild Trout Trust and the Environment Agency then carried

out the maintenance to river which saw around 100 tonnes of iron stone gravels deposited into the river and sections of tree trunks were nailed to the riverbed to prevent the gravel being washed away.

The work also creates ripples and faster flowing waters which fish like brown trout prefer.

Fantastic Mr Clark said: “It was great to see how everyone has worked together to make these improvements to the Eridge Stream.

“The Environment Agency will be undertaking some surveys of both the fish and other river life to see what the impact has been - initial observations from the Environment Agency’s Fisheries Team is that they are already starting to see more wildlife in the stream which is fantastic.”

Volunteer steps up for AgeUK after Council withdraws funding AN AGE UK Tunbridge Wells volunteer has taken matters into her own hands after the charity was not allocated any funding from Kent County Council this year.

Alison Tessier, 34, has volunteered at the Age UK TW centre on Wood Street for over a year and set up a Gofundme page to raise money for the charity after its contract with KCC was not renewed.

In previous years the centre would receive £230,000 of funding from the Universal Wellbeing Services contract.

Alison started volunteering at the Dementia Day Care centre to help those living with the disease and learn more about it after her father was diagnosed with the condition.

She said: “As a volunteer for Age UK Tunbridge Wells, I have seen first-hand the essential work that they have carried out over the years, even more so during 2020.

“A centre such as this one is essential to the elderly and it gives them not only essential services but also the freedom to socialise, interact and in general avoid the feeling of loneliness that many elderly people experience daily.

“The money raised will help keep the centre open, the work and services available and allow so many to continue to enjoy the work that the centre and team do.

“The amount is just a goal and obviously to come anywhere near it would go above and beyond any expectations but I would be delighted to raise even just a small percentage of the

11

Children’s arthritis charity thanks the public for nominating it for grand award

FIELD TRIP Ben Lord, EA Catchment Co-ordinator for the Medway, Andrew Brough (EA Fisheries Officer), Keith Grose (DAAC Secretary) and DAAC Vice President Greg Clark MP

By Millie Sanderson

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target, as something is always better than nothing!”

When the pandemic hit, the centre had to close and Alison and other volunteers delivered 1,500 free hot meals at lunchtimes and now provide 350 meals each week to people’s doorsteps.

At the time of print, £560 had been raised for the centre. To donate visit: https://gofund.me/ ed40430d

‘We know how tough it can be when you are told your child has arthritis’

thank all those people who nominated us for the award – we are really grateful that you took the time to put our name forward.”

There were 500 gifts of £1,000 available for donation with around 13,000 charities nominated by 210,000 members of the public.

Incredible Mark Hews, Group Chief Executive of Ecclesiastical

Insurance Group, said: “ We are owned by a charity which means all available profits can be given to the good causes that are so important to our customers.

“As a company whose purpose is to contribute to the greater good of society, charitable giving is at the heart of our business.

We know that £1,000 can make a huge difference to the incredible work that charities do and we’re looking forward to seeing how this financial boost will change lives for the better.”

MAKING A DIFFERENCE Abbie, one of the children JAR supports

The funding will enable the charity to provide direct support packs for 100 children with JIA. Richard Beesley, founder of Juvenile Arthritis Research said: “ The funding will make a huge difference to the work we can do and the families we are able to support.

“We know how tough it can be when you are told your child has arthritis, and we want to be there to support the whole family at that time.

“This award allows us to do that for 100 families. We’d like to

PUBLIC NOTICE

Licensing Act 2003 Application for the variation of Premises Licence/Club Premises Certificate An application to vary the Premises Licence/Club Premises Certificate at Chapel Place, 18 Chapel Place, Tunbridge Wells, Kent, TN1 1 YQ has been made by Andrew Over A summary of the proposed licensable activities and the proposed hours of Opening:

Monday 11.00 – 23.00 Tuesday 11.00 – 23.00 Wednesday 11.00 – 23.00 Thursday 11.00 – 23.00

Friday 11.00 – 00.00 Saturday 11.00 – 00.00 Sunday 11.00 – 23.00

Any person wishing to view details of an application can contact the licensing Team on 01732 227004 Any person wishing to make representation about the proposals should make them in writing by 15/07/2021 to: Licensing Partnership, PO Box 182, Argyle Road, Sevenoaks, Kent TN13 1GP licensing@sevenoaks.gov.uk www.sevenoaks.gov.uk It is an offence knowingly or recklessly to make a false statement in connectionwith an application. The maximum fine for which a person is liable on summary of conviction for the offence is £5,000.

ALISON TESSIER

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Wednesday June 30 | 2021

PM brands men who accosted Chief Medical Officer as ‘thugs’ THE Prime Minister has condemned as ‘thugs’ several men who accosted England’s chief medical officer.

Boris Johnson hit out after a video posted online appeared to show Professor Chris Whitty being harassed in a central London park.

Professor Whitty has been a leading face in the government’s fight against Covid-19, appearing regularly on Downing Street briefings where he often presents the latest data via slides and graphs.

The Metropolitan Police are investigating after footage, lasting around 20 seconds and apparently taken in St James’s Park, was shared on social media.

It shows two grinning men grabbing Prof Whitty as they shout “Oi oi” and say “One photo please?”

As Prof Whitty attempts to walk away, the men grab him again.

With a line of police vans visible in the background, a voice is heard saying ‘leave the gentleman alone’ before the clip ends.

PM Boris Johnson, condemned the actions of the men yesterday [Tuesday] saying: “I’m shocked at seeing the despicable harassment of Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty,” Mr Johnson said.

“I condemn the behaviour of these thugs. Our hard-working public servants should not have to face this kind of intimidation on our streets and we will not tolerate it.”

Home Secretary Priti Patel said she was ‘just horrified’ by the incident.

Asked if he needs security

measures, she told Times Radio: “I can’t speak about that but it’s important that we make sure that Chris is given the right kind of support.

“It’s terrible to see such an important public figure, someone that day in, day out, has been serving our country in the way in which he has to keep us safe, being subject to just appalling abuse.”

It is not the first time Prof Whitty has been forced to endure public harassment.

Earlier this month, he was confronted in a street in Oxford by a man accusing him of lying

to the public about coronavirus, while in February a man accosted the chief medical officer outside Westminster.

The incidents were filmed on mobile phones.

Prof Whitty brushed off the February incident, addressing it at a Downing Street press conference shortly afterwards.

He said: “The odd young lad showing off occasionally happens.

“I didn’t think anything of it, frankly. I was very surprised it was picked up by the media at all.”

German officials call UK ‘irresponsible’ as 40,000 fans head to Wembley HOPEFUL England football fans were in an optimistic mood as their team’s Euro 2020 odyssey reached a last-16 showdown with Germany at Wembley last night [Tuesday].

Pubs swelled with supporters wearing replica football strips in the hours leading up to the 5pm kick-off, while St George’s flags billowed in the midsummer breeze as die-hard and fairweather fans alike got into the feel-good spirit.

In designated fan zones across the country, and outside Wembley where 40,000 supporters would later be relied upon to create a partisan atmosphere, people cheered and sang songs in support of England manager Gareth Southgate and his team.

The match came as German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer said it was ‘irresponsible’ of the British government to increase the number of spectators at the remaining matches of Euro 2020 in London.

Contagious “I think it is irresponsible for tens of thousands of people to congregate in a small area in countries that are considered to be virus variant areas of the highly contagious delta [variant],” Seehofer told the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung, adding that German Chancellor Angela Merkel shared the view.

The interior minister pointed out that a capacity of 20 per

cent, in practice in Munich for the games the Bavarian city has hosted during the tournament, was a more appropriate measure.

With both the semifinals and final due to take place at London’s Wembley Stadium, Seehofer says he is keen on seeing fewer fans in the stands over fears of spreading the highly contagious delta variant of the coronavirus that is now prevalent in the United Kingdom.

Last week the British government announced the capacity at Wembley would be increased further to around 60,000 for the latter stages of the tournament, which is taking place a year later than scheduled due to Covid.

FOR EVEN MORE NEWS VISIT: timeslocalnews.co.uk

Wednesday June 30 | 2021

Eight years for PC who killed footballer

A POLICE officer who killed a former premiership footballer by tasering him to the ground and kicking him in the head has been jailed for eight years.

PC Benjamin Monk was cleared of murder but convicted of the manslaughter of Dalian Atkinson after jurors heard that he left two bootlace imprints on the former Aston Villa star’s forehead – following an ‘excessive’ 33-second Taser deployment.

Accepted Monk, who denied murder and manslaughter, claimed to have acted in self-defence while ‘terrified’ of 48-year-old Mr Atkinson, who had a heart condition, was undergoing dialysis treatment, and was smaller and lighter than the officer.

But images of two separate areas of head injury accepted to match Monk’s bootlaces were uncovered by forensic examinations using polarised light, proving his account was false.

Monk’s six-week trial was told he was ‘not honest’ after the death of the former Aston Villa, Sheffield Wednesday and Ipswich Town striker, claiming to have aimed a single kick at the victim’s shoulder.

Monk, who the judge accepted had shown genuine remorse, was ordered to serve two-thirds of his eight-year sentence before being entitled for release on licence.

National News

Pupil isolation is to be scrapped in autumn as 370,000 now off school SCHOOL isolation rules in England could be brought to an end this autumn, the Department for Education has confirmed.

There are growing concerns about the rising number of children who have to quarantine because they are the contacts of confirmed cases.

The latest figures show that in England there were more than 375,000 children self-isolating for the week ending June 23, having potentially been in contact with a positive case in school – an increase of more 120,000 pupils from the week before.

In Kent, almost 12,000 pupils are currently off school because they came into contact with a positive Covid-19 case.

The Department for Education said ministers have written to secondary schools asking them to prepare to potentially replace isolation rules with testing.

A spokesman said: “We are provisionally

asking secondary schools and colleges to prepare to offer on-site testing when students return for the new academic year, so that schools are ready in case it is needed to keep as many children as possible in face-to-face education.

“We will provide further details about the approach to protective measures and test and trace in education from September in due course.”

On Monday, Health Secretary Sajid Javid said he has asked for ‘fresh advice’ on the issue, adding that the policy is ‘having a huge knock-on impact’ on children’s education.

“I will hopefully be able to say more on this as soon as possible,” he said.

Mr Javid went on to say there was ‘no reason’ why the final stage of lockdown lifting in England should not go ahead as planned on July 19 and the country will have to ‘learn to live with’ the disease as there is no ‘zero risk’ option.

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Newsnight denial A MAN who called Newsnight political editor Nicholas Watt a ‘traitor’ as the BBC journalist was chased near Downing Street has denied a public order offence.

Martin Hockridge, 57, appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday accused of using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour with intent to cause harassment, alarm or distress on June 14.

Crowds had gathered in Westminster to protest against the Government’s extension of coronavirus restrictions in England by four weeks.

Hockridge was released on conditional bail by District Judge Angus Hamilton ahead of the trial at Westminster Magistrates’ Court.

President faces jail SOUTH Africa’s former President Jacob Zuma has been found guilty of contempt of court and sentenced to 15 months in prison for defying a court order to appear before an inquiry probing wide-ranging allegations of corruption during his tenure from 2009 to 2018.

Zuma was not in court for the ruling on Tuesday and has been ordered to hand himself over within five days to a police station in his hometown of Nkandla in KwaZulu-Natal province or in Johannesburg.

If Zuma fails to turn himself in within five days South Africa’s minister of police and the police commissioner have been ordered to take him into custody within three days.

This is the first time in South Africa’s history that a former president has been sentenced to prison.

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Wednesday June 30 | 2021

EDUCATION Times Fun run helps school generate thousands of pounds for charity Pupils at Tunbridge Wells Grammar School for Boys have completed their final challenge raising money for the mental health charity YoungMinds which is committed to improving well-being RACE FOR LIFE: TWGSB Sixth Form pupils took part in many fundraising events

STUDENTS at Tunbridge Wells Grammar School for Boys (TWGSB) have raised over £4,000 for YoungMinds, a charity supporting young mental health.

The beneficiary charity YoungMinds aims to leave no child, teenager or young adult feeling isolated when dealing with issues surrounding mental health and TWGSB says it pledges full support for the work they undertake in schools and other organisations.

Engagement Last month house captains led the whole TWGSB Sixth Form in a fun run in fancy dress, with plenty of silly challenges and an obstacle course thrown in for good measure raising £1,500.

Head of Year 13, Mrs Corp, said: “Congratulations to all who entered into the joyful spirit of the event. The costumes were incredibly imaginative and covered a wide range from a herd of 7ft dinosaurs, a Dumbledore and

two sharks, to a lobster, Dolly Parton and the cast of Scooby Doo.” She added it had been a real ‘tonic’ to see students all participating in the fundraising event after a year and a half of lockdowns.

“It was a real tonic to see so many smiling faces after a long year of Covid restrictions.”

TWGSB students have organised a year of charity fundraising events including cake sales, non-uniform days, a Valentine’s Pie video in addition to the fancy dress fun run. A total of over £4,500 has been raised over the past 12 months.

Commenting on the school’s fundraising efforts Julia Garden, Community Engagement Officer at YoungMinds said: “We are extremely grateful to Tunbridge Wells Grammar School for Boys for organising a fun run to support YoungMinds and raise vital funds for our charity.

“Their generous contribution will ensure we can continue our work fighting for the mental health of children and young people across the UK.”

Don’t miss the deadline

The deadline for the EU Settlement Scheme application (EUSS) is today (June 30) and the Home Office is reminding parents, families, young people and staff at all local schools that if they are an EU, EEA or Swiss citizen, they and their family members may be eligible to apply to the Settlement Scheme.

If eligible, parents must apply to the scheme themselves online and check whether they need to do so on behalf of their children. Eligible children are required to have an application in their own right and no child of any age is covered by a parent’s application to the EUSS. Applications are free. For more information www.gov.uk/eusettlementscheme.

GREG CLARK MP Hildenborough Church

Hildenborough Church

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If you have an individual problem which you think I can help with or you would like to have a chat about a more general issue, please do get in touch.

I am holding regular advice surgeries – by zoom or telephone. To make an appointment, please call:

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Wednesday June 30 | 2021

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Times of Tunbridge Wells 01892 779 580 or email advertising@onemediauk.co.uk

RECRUITMENT

STYLISTS/COLOUR TECHNICIANS WANTED Our Salon is looking for experts to join our team.

Excellent opportunities for professionals with existing clientele.

Generous rates of commission and salary offered with fantastic career development opportunities. From Salon work, product development, catwalk shows to magazine shoots, music videos and industry photoshoots. Come and join our award-winning team in our lovingly restored grade II listed Salon, located on the Pantiles Tunbridge Wells.

If you’re looking for a change in your career, bored with your current Salon or unhappy in your work environment, please don’t hesitate to contact us.

LOCAL NEWSPAPERS

RECRUITMENT

hello@thomastaw.com 01892 482176

RECRUITMENT

MEDICAL RECEPTIONIST 15hrs p/week

MEDICAL RECEPTIONIST 15.5hrs p/week

• £7500 to £8000 Depending on experience • Tunbridge Wells, Kent • Kingswood Surgery Kingswood Surgery, Medical Receptionist - Part Time 15 hours per week An opening for a medical receptionists has arisen within this 11,000 patient practice located in central Tunbridge Wells, to replace students returning to University.

This role may suit a trained medical receptionist looking for additional hours or a new applicant with no previous experience in the role, either way appropriate professional training will be given.

We are looking for a flexible receptionist to cover the following regular sessions: VACANCY ONE - 15 hours per week • Monday: 8.00pm-1.00pm • Wednesday: 8.00pm-1.00pm • Thursday: 8.00am –1.00pm In addition, the candidate needs to be aware that there will be a requirement to provide cover Tuesday morning or afternoon, in the event of absence through sickness, illness or holidays for which they will be paid for the hours worked at the contracted rate.

If you are quick to learn, have the resilience to meet the challenges of a pressurised environment, energetic but calm, people-oriented, computerliterate, adaptable and good humoured, this could be your ideal opportunity.

For further details please e-mail the Lead Receptionist lynn.denney@nhs.net or call 01892 511833 Closing date for applications: Friday 16th July

• £7500 to £8000 Depending on experience • Tunbridge Wells, Kent • Kingswood Surgery Kingswood Surgery, Medical Receptionist - Part Time 15.5 hours per week An opening for a medical receptionist has arisen within this 11,000 patient practice located in central Tunbridge Wells, to replace students returning to University.

This role may suit a trained medical receptionist looking for additional hours or a new applicant with no previous experience in the role, either way appropriate professional training will be given.

We are looking for a flexible receptionist to cover the following regular sessions: VACANCY TWO - 15.5 hours per week • Monday: 8.00pm-1.00pm • Wednesday: 1.00pm-6.30pm • Friday: 8.00am –1.00pm In addition, the candidate needs to be aware that there will be a requirement to provide cover Thursday morning, in the event of absence through sickness, illness or holidays for which they will be paid for the hours worked at the contracted rate.

If you are quick to learn, have the resilience to meet the challenges of a pressurised environment, energetic but calm, people-oriented, computerliterate, adaptable and good humoured, this could be your ideal opportunity.

For further details please e-mail the Lead Receptionist lynn.denney@nhs.net or call 01892 511833 Closing date for applications: Friday 16th July

15

16

NEWS

Weekly Comment

FOR EVEN MORE NEWS VISIT: timeslocalnews.co.uk

Ben Chapelard

Wednesday June 30 | 2021

Ben Chapelard is a Liberal Democrat councillor and Leader of the Opposition on Tunbridge Wells Borough Council. He was also the Liberal Democrat prospective parliamentary candidate for the Tunbridge Wells constituency in the 2019 General Election.

Liberal Democrat councillor for St James’

If you want a Lib Dem MP you can have one in Tunbridge Wells MUCH has been made of the Lib Dem victory in the Chesham & Amersham by-election a fortnight ago, and not without good reason - a 25% swing in the vote is truly significant. A similar swing across every seat in the country would even see an outright Lib Dem majority at the next General Election!

While we have to be careful to draw too many conclusions from this (by-elections are historically opportunities to show dissatisfaction with the ruling party), there are clearly factors at play which question how strong today’s Conservative party is, even in Tunbridge Wells.

Is the blue wall starting to show cracks?

Tunbridge Wells was the only constituency in Kent to vote remain. While the Conservatives were re-elected in 2019 on the back of their promise to ‘get Brexit done’, people are beginning to see through Boris Johnson’s ‘oven ready’ deal.

Beyond the direct impacts (Northern Ireland for example), we are seeing secondary effects.

Young Europeans were no longer coming to these shores even before Covid, leading to a shortage of key workers.

Fruit is rotting on the trees for lack of pickers.

Restaurants are reducing their opening hours because they don’t have the waiting staff. Clearly we lack the domestic recruits for these vital roles.

Closer to home, the lack of European heavy goods vehicle drivers has been one of the factors behind the poor performance of Tunbridge Wells’ refuse collector, Urbaser. The knock-on impact is felt daily in missed bin collections and messy streets.

VICTORY Sarah Green [centre] being declared winner of Chesham & Amersham earlier this month

Compelling Beyond Brexit, and onto planning; proposals to simplify the planning process, largely in favour of developers and against residents, went down like a lead balloon. The ability for local authorities to decide whether or not an application is suitable for the local area is surely a good thing.

Central government targets are forcing places like Tunbridge Wells to have to decide which areas of green belt to build on, rather than whether or not this is a good idea.

The Lib Dems support the provision of affordable homes, but this does not necessarily mean concreting over the greenbelt.

Options include disincentivising developers to land-bank (1m+ homes in the UK have been granted planning permission but not yet built) and removing tax breaks for second homeowners.

But the most compelling factor in the

by-election victory, in my mind, was the rejection of an incompetent Conservative government that has got away with ‘blagging it’ for far too long.

Recent scandals of cronyism, hypocrisy and cover-up only go to prove the old adage that an apple rots from the core.

There are parallels in Tunbridge Wells too, as we look at the election fortunes of a council who wasted over £11m on the Calverley Square vanity project. The local Council is now in no overall control, with the Tories likely to see further

losses next May. The people of Tunbridge Wells are discerning voters, and they have come to see that the incompetence, arrogance and waste of the last 20+ years means it is time for change.

Liberal Democrats need a 13.4% swing in Tunbridge Wells at the next general election to beat the Conservatives. Chesham and Amersham shows that if you want a Liberal Democrat member of Parliament here in Tunbridge Wells, you can have a Liberal Democrat MP.

PUT OUR SPECIALISTS TO THE TEST…

Eric Knowles

John Benjamin

Grant Ford

Loraine Turner

Charles Hanson

AT OUR VALUATION DAY

What’s it worth?

IN AID OF THE PICKERING CANCER DROP-IN CENTRE

Eric Knowles invites you to a valuation day to celebrate the opening of The Pantiles Arcade in The Corn Exchange, a new centre dedicated to showcasing decorative art and design from the 17th Century to the present day.

Eric and a few friends – all familiar faces from the Antiques Roadshow and Bargain Hunt and specialists in their own fields – will be donating 100% of the £10 valuation fee to The Pickering Cancer Drop-in Centre.

Please book one of the ten minute time slots with the relevant specialist and bring along your treasured item THE at the appropriate time and let Eric and his friends do the rest – if they can’t tell you all about your item on the day – they will endeavour to carry out the necessary research and let you know very soon afterwards!

AT S C O T T I S H A N T I Q U E S . C O M

THE

WHERE?

THE PANTILES ARCADE The Corn Exchange, The Lower Pantiles

WHEN? Sunday, 4th July 2021 Appointments begin at 12:00pm and end at 5.00pm

Book your appointment today!

To book an appointment call

07497 387995 or email

events@scottishantiques.com AT S C O T T I S H A N T I Q U E S

at scottishantiques.com

THE HOARD_TIMES OF TW_30-06-21 FINAL.indd 1

scottishantiques

scottish_antiques

29/06/2021 11:47

Wednesday June 30 | 2021

FOR EVEN MORE NEWS VISIT: timeslocalnews.co.uk

Letters

NEWS

17

And another thing…

This is the page where you, the reader, have your chance to express your views or comments on what’s going on in our part of the world. We like to hear from you. You can email us at newsdesk@timesoftunbridgewells.co.uk or you can write to the Editor, Times Local News, Salomons Estate, Tunbridge Wells TN3 0TG

ABC site shows we need planning law change

Chesham & Amersham was a protest vote, nothing more.

Will the Lib Dems do better than 2019 at the next election? Most probably – they can hardly do any worse than the last coupl eof elections that have seen their MPs go from 50+ to being able to fit them in a couple of black cabs.

If Mr Chapelard really believes this is the start of a Liberal Democrat resurgence that will see them with a shot of power at the next election, then I have a bridge I’d like to sell him.

David Ascot Sherwood

Why is park event allowed?

Flexible tickets just piecemeal changes I read with interest Greg Clark MP’s piece on the introduction of flexible ticketing arrangements for Tunbridge Wells commuters.

In a post-Covid world of hybrid home/office working this is the future.

Sadly what was promised does not live up to the reality of what has been delivered.

This so-called flexible ticketing is only beneficial to residents who commute exactly 2 days a week and then offers a paltry saving of 12% on the peak daily fare.

A peak fare per mile amongst the highest in the country. Is this the flexible ticketing model to support this new way of working? £35 instead of £40? I think not.

With off peak advance return fares starting at £12.80 when booked a few days before and commuter coach tickets at a fraction of the price the savings from this ‘flexible ticketing’ are nonsensical.

It delivers none of the savings promised to commuters and incentivises continuation of full-time commuting.

For those new home workers faced with a 1 or 2 day a week commute they will simply look for alternatives including where it is cheaper, the car!

at least 50 per cent of all brownfield sites which already have full planning permission have been built out?

That would set the developers at each other’s throats, rather than (as now) sitting back on mothballed sites watching their value increase – thus providing frustrated residents with a rather more edifying spectacle than that of Tory councillors (and our MP) wringing their hands, while Tunbridge Wells burns – with resentment.

Mrs Dariel Francis Tunbridge Wells

I feel the Black Deer founders’ pain Regarding your article in the June 23 edition reporting on the unfortunate postponement of

Follow Peppry on Twitter @Peppyscott

Landowners fight like rats in a sack to be given a chance to build on greenfield sites, see Tunbridge Wells Local Plan (locally, Caen Wood’s succeeded, Castle Hill’s didn’t).

Meanwhile, Leader of the Council, Tom Dawlings, has discovered an ambition to ‘unjam’ the planning process and finally get the brownfield Tunbridge Wells cinema site developed.

Here’s a radical suggestion for him: how about lobbying his party to change the planning laws, so that no further greenfield sites can be considered for development, until

On page 7 of June 23rd edition, you have a small article that announces that the Prime Minister said that the easing of lockdown restrictions prohibits any outdoor gathering of more than 4000 people until July 19th, and also that the Pub in the Park scheduled for 9 – 11 July will be going ahead.

Given that the latter is said to attract 17,000 people, the two statements appear to be in conflict or has Pub in the Park received a special dispensation? If not, can one assume that the Pub in the Park festival will NOT be going ahead?

Alexander Magnus Tunbridge Wells

Black Deer for the second year in a row, I felt unbelievably sorry for the festival founders Deborah and Gill.

I saw their interview with ITV Meridian about how “heartbroken” they felt, and thought how hard it must be to remain calm and collected in the face of another setback, when there are football matches which have been allowed to go ahead, Wimbledon is also happening this week and the cricket at Lords!

There are also the much larger festivals which are less safe which are going ahead as ‘pilot’ events, but why not the smaller, more community focused events?

On top of this, the arts industry has had very little financial support from the government, meaning that these local events are relying on other forms of funding and Black Deer said they had received no government support.

ITV said that 17,000 tickets were sold for the festival with hundreds of suppliers and thousands of people reliant on working there over the weekend and the loss is estimated to be over £1 illion.

It’s all very well the government saving the arts venues, but what about the events which don’t have a solid building to protect?

I just hope they will bounce back from these continuous setbacks and we can enjoy the local festival in 17/18/19 June 2022 like Gill and Deborah have planned.

David Philips Crowborough

PEPPY SAYS...

These piecemeal changes indicate that the priority is to protect operator season ticket and daily peak ticket income rather than offering a genuinely fair and appealing flexible ticketing approach for residents.

Government ministers and operators need to urgently go back to the drawing board.

Bjorn Simpole, Tunbridge Wells Labour Rusthall

Party is being liberal with their facts With regard your article on June 23 ‘Lib Dems believe they can win big after the by-election shock’. What utter rot.

Why do the Lib Dems always insist on stretching facts and figures to the absolute limit?

Now, I do not know whether or not the Chesham & Amersham by-election is indicative of a larger picture regarding the weakening of the Tories’ ‘Blue Wall’,.

What I do know is that it is certainly NOT indicative of showing the Lib Dems are in with a chance of winning 154 seats at the next General Election, let alone take Tunbridge Wells.

At the last election Greg Clark’s voter share remain unaffected, despite the challenge from the confident Mr Chapelard who made such outrageous claims in your paper last week.

We do our best to publish letters in full. However, the Editor reserves the right to edit any letter. Please ensure that letters do not exceed 250 words

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Homes & Interiors

Wednesday June 30 | 2021

Interiors

As good as gold Add some sparkle to your home this summer Page 24

Grand slam

How Wimbledon impacts the market

Page 21

19

TW Property Specialist estate agents for flats and apartments in

TW Property

Tunbridge Wells

If you are thinking of selling we would be delighted to come and see you for your personal property valuation STONE STREET FIXED PRICE £750,000 Rarely available, a 3 bedroom bungalow located in a quiet cul-desac close to the town’s amenities.

Sitting on a generous plot with pretty gardens on 3 sides, the property has a large modern fitted kitchen/breakfast room, lounge, 3 bedrooms, family bathroom, sun room across the back of the property. The property benefits from a single garage, off road parking and a workshop at the rear of the garden.

Freehold. No onward chain.

ST PETERS STREET GUIDE GUIDE PRICE £495,000 £525,000 A 2/3 bedroom stunning Victorian town house offering versatile accommodation arranged over 3 floors located a short walk to the town centre, mainline station and Dunorlan Park. 2 double bedrooms, recently refitted bathroom, lounge/bedroom 3, study, utility room, WC, boot room and a spectacular 27ft lower ground floor kitchen/breakfast room with underfloor heating and integrated appliances.

Pretty south facing patio garden.

CULVERDEN DOWN GUIDE PRICE £250,000 - £275,000 This 2nd floor apartment, located in the St Johns area of Tunbridge Wells, offers spacious accommodation including 2 double bedrooms, a bathroom and large double aspect lounge open plan to the modern kitchen. There is a secure allocated parking space beneath the property. Sold with share of freehold.

If you are thinking of selling we would be delighted to come and see you

r ty T W P ro p e For Sale

Sales, Lettings, Property Management 34 Monson Road, Tunbridge Wells, Kent TN1 1LU • Tel: 01892 530109 • Web: tw-property.co.uk

Homes & Interiors

Property Focus NEW S

Wednesday June 30 | 2021

21

Wimbledon makes a racket in the housing market IN YOUR COURT The annual tennis tournament impacts the local area’s housing market

By Lottie Bulmer A STAPLE of the British summertime events calendar, Wimbledon is back this year after a year-long hiatus due to Covid restrictions.

The grand slam tournament returned on Monday (June 28) as one of the events which have been approved to go-ahead for the Government Events Research Programme, making it one of the few large events to take place this summer after the extension of lockdown restrictions.

In 2019, the tournament brought 500,397

“The event is still by far the most prestigious tennis grand slam venue from a property standpoint” people the town to watch the tennis greats battle it out, but this year it is only allowed to host at half its capacity.

New research by London estate agent, Benham and Reeves has revealed the impact that the cancelled year and Covid restrictions have had on the surrounding SW19 postcode, in comparison to other tennis grand slam venues.

According to the research, out of all the

postcode of SW19 still stands at £960,561.

Not only is this considerably higher than any other tennis grand slam venue, but it’s also 72 per cent above the average of £557,445 across the wider borough of Merton.

Director of Benham and Reeves, Marc von Grundherr, said: “Wimbledon is a huge event that has an incredibly influential impact on the local housing market in the Wimbledon area and so with last year’s tournament cancelled, it comes as no surprise that property values have slumped a little.

Positive

grand slam locations, Melbourne Park remains the most affordable at an average of £295,312, also coming in -23 per cent more affordable than the wider area of Melbourne.

The US Open is the second most affordable property market, with the Flushing Meadows area home to an average house price of £387,569, again -16 per cent more affordable than the wider area of New York City.

France is one of just two tennis grand

slams where property surrounding the venue comes in at a premium. The 16th arrondissement of Paris is home to a current average house price of £674,167, 1 per cent more than the wider average across Paris.

On home turf, Wimbledon is still by far the most prestigious tennis grand slam venue from a property standpoint.

Despite a Covid-induced decline of -5.7 per cent in the last year, the average house price in the Wimbledon Village

“In fact, this echoes the wider London trend whereby a drop in both domestic and international homebuyer demand has caused the market to stutter and the rate of house price growth to cool.

“While there is an undercurrent of interest now starting to build we’re yet to see a full return to form, and a reduced Wimbledon capacity this year won’t have helped revive the local market.

“However, the signs are very positive for the year ahead and so if you can’t get centre court tickets, now is certainly a good time to buy a property within arms reach.”

Game set and match to tennis related street names HAVING a tennis related street name could boost your property by as much as 226 per cent above the national average.

Homes on roads that contain ‘Ace’ cost £860,000 on average which is 226 per cent higher than the national mean house price.

The research was conducted by the estate agency, Keller Williams UK has found that across the nation, homes along tennis-related road command a 36 per cent house price premium (£358,050) when compared to the wider average across England and Wales.

‘Wimbledon’ road names are home to a 71 per cent premium compared to the national average, but most of these roads will be located in or around the

wealthy area of the capital where prices in general soar well past the national average.

Properties on road names containing the word ‘Spin’ are on average 42 per cent more expensive that national prices, while ‘Love’ boosts house prices

by 37 per cent and ‘Court’ rounds off the top five with a median price 25 per cent above the national average.

However, not every tennisrelated road name means a premium for its properties.

Homes on roads that contain

Flying Fish hands over its lettings portfolio to focus on its sales A TUNBRIDGE Wells estate agent has sold its lettings portfolio to another letting agency, so they can concentrate on housebuyers.

Flying Fish Properties, located in Southborough has announced that VUE Lettings will be taking over its lettings properties.

Ethos In their statement the owners of the agency, husband and wife team, Bradley and Natalie Mackintosh said: “We have today transferred over our entire lettings portfolio to VUE Lettings, who share the same

ethos as us by providing a first-class service to their many Tunbridge Wells clients.

“Flying Fish Properties is now one of only a few local estate agents who specialise in residential property sales.

“By transferring our lettings business to VUE, we are now able to focus on maintaining our 5-Star property sales service in Tonbridge and Tunbridge Wells.

“We wish Debra (Manzi, owner of VUE Lettings) and her team well in growing their already successful and highly regarded lettings business.”

HOMING IN Flying Fish’s offices in Southborough

the word ‘Set’ sell for -41 per cent below the national average, roads with the word ‘Grass’ are home to house prices -17 per cent below the average, and ‘White’ property prices come in -3 per cent below average.

CEO of Keller Williams UK, Ben

Taylor, said: “Tennis is a sport that requires physical skill and mental fortitude in equal measure, the latter of which is also vital in order to navigate today’s frantic housing market.

“While you’d be hard pushed to draw a direct line between road names and the price people are willing to pay for homes, there is a thought process behind it.

“Words like ‘Ace’, ‘Love’, and ‘Court’ have all been chosen because they bring with them ideals of strength, security, and success.

“However, you never know what a tennis mad homebuyer might be willing to pay in order to incorporate their sporting passion into their bricks and mortar purchase.”

22

Homes & Interiors

Wednesday June 30 | 2021

Shimmer and shine 12 ways to luxe up your decor and give your home a summer glow up Sam Wylie-Harris puts shiny homewares under the spotlight

12 THE GOLD STANDARD Step up the luxe this summer

Homes & Interiors

Wednesday June 30 | 2021

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HERE’S nothing like the glimmer of gold or shimmer of silver for a healthy summer glow – and we’re not just talking about ourselves.

Perhaps our homes could do with a touch of sun-kissed radiance too – and when it comes to streaming some summer glow into the scheme of things, the shiny options are endless.

Best of all, a little luminosity goes a long way.

From gold decos to themed artwork, here’s how to polish up your pad…

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5

6

2

9. Vertical Wall Plant Stand With Planters, £139.99, Ivyline If you’re shelves are drowning under the weight of your #shelfie succulents, this vertical plant stand could be just the ticket. With six gold metal containers to show off your greenery, it’s rustresistant and suitable for indoor and outdoor use.

4

This fantabulous fruit bowl from the new Harper Gem utensils range at Next will pimp up your pears, glam up your Golden Delicious and make everything taste that much sweeter.

10. Gatsby Birdcage Nest of Tables, £279, Cuckooland

2. Pols Potten Hourglass Ball Sandglass Mini, Gold, £20, John Lewis

3. Golden Standing Deco, £40, Joe Browns This stunning sphere, with intricate hammered detailing looks like something you’d come across in a luxe hotel. One for your deco edit, if you’re after something divine and dramatic.

8. Large Gold Effect Winged Foot Planter, £65, Rockett St George With a nod to the Greek gods, this heavenly piece knows no boundaries and will look just as fabulous in your garden room or patio, as bookending your favourite novel. Fill will flowers, herbs or a pillar candle.

1. Harper Gem 2 Tier Fruit Bowl, £36, Next

Ah, the sands of time. Measuring up to 30 minutes, watching the golden sand flow through this globe is the next best thing to footprints in the sand.

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MIDAS TOUCH Glimmering metallic accessories will lift your decorating scheme

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4. Wild & Wolf Retro 746 Telephone, Brass, £69.95, Amazon Dial M for Minted… If you want to dial up a sideboard or retro telephone table, this push-button phone has your number.

right), from £8.42 (other artwork from a selection), Desenio For pure escapism, a ‘wellbeing’ wall panelled with your favourite prints – think floaty sundresses, wide-brim beach hats, golden sands, palm trees and artfully placed holiday trinkets – will make you feel happy, creative and channel your inner glow.

5. Summer Art: Emmaline Poster (left), from £8.42; Madam Fleur No 2 Poster (bottom

6. George Monkey Table Lamp In Metallic Gold, £45, Iconic Lights

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You can never have too many tables, especially if you’re still working from home or more ‘cluttercore’ than minimalist – and constantly in need of extra surface space to show off your things. With their antique gold finish and art deco style, these Gatsby tables will make everything look that much lovelier.

11. Metallic Fan Cushion, £12, Next Troops of monkeys are trending in interiors, and this playful little fellow is a fun find.

7. Marle Wine Cooler, £125, Ella James Beyond spoiling yourself, if you’re on the hunt for a wedding gift or want to spark up a special celebration, this classy cooler will dress up a cocktail trolley. The hammered silver brass catches the light beautifully and will sit well with anything glossy… Bring on the bubbly.

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A steal at the price, this shimmery scatter cushion is one to snap up now.

12. Gold Cowhide Vanity Stool, £250; Ariella Chevron Desk, £595 (other items part of room set), Graham & Green Sophisticated and practical, this ‘gilty’ pleasure will satisfy your inner diva and sit pretty wherever you place her. And if you really want to go for gold, the desk doubles up as a dressing table.

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H ENGINEERING PROUDLY UNDERTAKE THE RESTORATION OF CLASSIC & VINTAGE VEHICLES.

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Wednesday June 30 | 2021

Food & Culture

Eat happy

PHOTO: David Bartholomew

Vintage valuables

TV antiques expert Eric Knowles opens a new emporium in Tunbridge Wells’ Corn Exchange Page 28

The cookbook which wants its readers to taste the sunshine

Page 30

& h t l a e H g n i e b l l We TURE FEA

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Food & Culture

Wednesday June 30 | 2021

“Our new emporium will embrace the whole gamut of decorative arts - from classic to contemporary”

TV personality and antiques expert Eric Knowles is opening a new collectables emporium in The Pantiles Arcade at the Corn Exchange on July 4. Here he tells The Times why he decided to launch such an exciting venture in Royal Tunbridge Wells…

I

T HAS become readily apparent that a significant number of people who recognise my name make the erroneous assumption that I work entirely as a TV presenter. I am pleased to say that nothing could be further from the truth!

In the first instance, I am a non-executive director of Moorcroft Pottery Ltd, patron of several museums, an author and a budding documentary maker.

However, after having spent most of my working life associated with a well-known London auction house, over the last two years I have taken on the position of Chairman of The Hoard Ltd and its on-line presence, ScottishAntiques.com – a dynamic business, focused on the finest antique and contemporary porcelain, glass and silver – not forgetting Tunbridge Ware – and other facets of history.

As a result, I am now relishing the exciting challenge of opening a shop in Royal Tunbridge Wells, and retailing from the iconic location of The Pantiles Arcade at the Corn Exchange – the heart of the

world-famous Pantiles in this fair town.

Selling online is unquestionably great fun and the sheer variety of the stock we handle has dictated that I broaden my knowledge, which is no bad thing, however both myself and my learned colleagues have had to admit that we missed the benefits of meeting prospective

“The gods were smiling on us when we were ushered towards the Corn Exchange for our new venture” clients face-to-face, rather than having to interact with them as little more than a largely anonymous voice at the other end of the telephone, or by way of an email trail.

It was this lack of engagement that first prompted the idea of acquiring a retail premises where we could meet and greet

PHOTOS: David Bartholomew

arts

26

EXPERT: Chairman of The Hoard Limited Eric Knowles, in front of the Corn Exchange

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Food & Culture

Wednesday June 30 | 2021

27

Tunbridge Ware – returns to its roots

AESTHETICS With the Pantiles Arcade to be opened on July 4 with a Valuation Day, work on the preparation of the furnished room settings is nearing completion after six months of work our presently ‘disembodied’ clientele.

As for the venue for our venture, the gods were smiling when we were ushered towards the Corn Exchange which would provide the perfect interior space – and which, as many readers will be aware, began life as a theatre in 1802.

I should like to stress that it was never our intention to open something which would become known as an ‘antique’ centre – and we are in fact keen to distance ourselves from the very idea – as our diverse stock embraces the whole gamut of decorative arts from classic to contemporary.

We feel that this diversity and blend of the decorative and academic will appeal to an eclectic audience who are able to appreciate both quality craftsmanship and design aesthetics, whether by William Morris, Émile Gallé or René Lalique…

We are being joined in our new venture by John Masters of the Design Gallery, formerly to be found overlooking The Green in nearby Westerham. I first met John almost fifteen years ago, and a visit to his gallery was always a combination of delight and a free education.

We are further delighted to be joined AUCTIONEERS Eric with his friend and work colleague, Charles Hanson, review progress at The Pantiles Arcade

by David Wilkinson of Wilkinsons PLC, a Royal Warrant holder as supplier of lighting and chandeliers to Her Majesty the Queen. David is the fourthgeneration custodian of the business that was started in Stourbridge by David’s great uncle.

As a result, there will be a truly breath-taking selection of prestigious chandeliers suspended from the building’s original cast-iron vaulting

“We feel the diversity and blend of the decorative and academic items on offer will appeal to an eclectic audience” above our own room settings – an attraction in its own right.

The final addition, for the time being, is longstanding friend and colleague Charles Hanson. Auctioneer Charles is opening an office and is intent on running a minimum of four auctions per annum on The Pantiles.

We will first be opening our doors on

Sunday July 4, to host a valuation event in aid of a local charity for which we are presently taking bookings.

Along with my colleague, Mr Hanson, I am also delighted to announce that I will be joined by two Antiques Roadshow chums on the day, namely John Benjamin – a world authority on jewellery – and Grant Ford, our paintings expert formerly with Sotheby’s. I have also been able to call on the services of my former colleague and friend from my auctioneering days, Loraine Turner, who specialises in silver.

As July 4 draws closer, the ground floor of the Corn Exchange – and the rafters – will continue to witness manic activity to ensure that we are looking our best – after all, first impressions count.

To book tickets to the opening event on July 4 please call 07497 387995 or visit Scottishantiques.com for details

A Tunbridge Ware sewing box which is available from Pantiles Arcade, a short distance from where it may have first been sold some 200 years ago Early Tunbridge Ware was a means for craftsmen in Tonbridge (one time known as Tunbridge) to earn additional income from visitors to the nearby spa town and bore little resemblance to the Tunbridge Ware we know today. Prior to the mid-18th century Tunbridge Ware was largely undecorated but, as its popularity increased, along with the popularity of the spa town, several manufactories created

the mosaic type marquetry and parquetry patterns and images that have become synonymous with Tunbridge ware. Edmund Nye took over control of the Fenner company in 1840 and became one of the most popular designers along with the Wise factory founded in Tonbridge in 1746.

Tunbridge Ware items are among the most beautiful pieces of antique treen available.

Tunbridge Ware stamp boxes and Tunbridge Ware sewing boxes, writing slopes, tea caddies and jewellery boxes are beautiful and practical antiques and make fine decorative additions to any home

Food & Culture

food

28

Wednesday June 30 | 2021

Mark Diacono’s new rules for using herbs

The expert gardener and food writer’s new cookbook is dedicated to herbs.

And so far, we haven’t been doing them justice, discovers Ella Walker chucking them into dishes at varied moments embellishments on that”. He’s talking ginger during cooking could make a real impact, he rosemary, orange thyme, pineapple sage, reckons. For instance, when making mint sauce, Vietnamese coriander, the “varieties on the Diacono doubles the mint; dousing the variety”, as well as the leaves you’d just bulk of it in water, sugar and struggle to buy, like shiso, salad vinegar, and then topping it with burnet, chervil, savory. finely shredded fresh before “We tend to only have a certain serving for extra zing. amount of time and space that Another swift way to up we can dedicate to growing your herb game is to stuff,” he says, “so make it the consider how you’re flavours you cannot have unless wielding your knife. “How you grow it yourself.” we chop is really important,” says Diacono, calling it an Joy ‘ingredient’ in its own right. “If we leave the chop fairly coarse, Even a few pots by the back door, what you get is a punch every now he’s adamant, “can transform every and again, of say, coriander – it meal you eat. That’s a pretty extraordinary becomes a surprise: ‘Oh, that was coriander!’ thing and it’s very easy to achieve.” rather than if we chop it really finely and throw He’s all for just giving things a go, be it making it in, everything becomes coriander. The marjoram and chive flower salt, distilling the impression is very essence of fig leaves in different.” syrup, or infusing all the He considers herbs a way vodka he can get his hands to build, season and layer on, apothecary-like, with flavour, and fortunately, twirled stems of lovage and “it’s quite hard to overuse a stalks of lemongrass. herb I would say, so play, “We are desperate to just experiment and keep do the things we’re good tasting – people tend to at,” he muses. “So we tend taste right at the end, keep to shut down [when faced tasting, keep tasting.” with new challenges]. We Diacono is a hugely tend to do fewer and fewer successful gardener – he things. We just do the writes gardening books as things we’re good at. We well as recipes – so it’s defend them with a cricket massively reassuring to bat, you know, and it’s know how relaxed he is like: stop it, we’re here to about stuffing bundles of live for a very short time, parsley guilt-free in the do stuff you’re crap at and supermarket trolley. get good at it, if you want “My belief is, buy the to, or just be crap at it! It herbs you use masses of. doesn’t matter.

There’s just no way, unless “We’re here to live,” he you have infinite time and continues – and even the space, that you can grow all smallest jot of greenery the parsley, all the can help us remember that coriander, all the thyme you it’s the small things, be it a are likely to use if you like furry leaf of sage rubbed it,” he says. “You’ll end up between your fingers, or hammering the thyme plant chewing on a homegrown to death.” sorrel leaf. “I think we The ones you should mustn’t lose that sense of Herb: A Cook’s Companion by Mark consider sowing and Diacono is published by Quadrille, priced play. We mustn’t lose that growing from seed at home, £26. Photography Mark Diacono. sense of doing things. Of he says “are the joy.”

Available now.

‘If you get to grips with herbs then it could change your food like nothing else’

“W

E don’t need herbs,” says Mark Diacono, a man who has just written an entire cookbook about them. He goes on to call them “unnecessary” and adds, quite heartlessly, that “we can perfectly merrily eat for the rest of our lives without herbs and we will live”.

However, they are also “the thing that makes the difference between feeding and eating,” he says, turning this dark tale into a light-filled parable. “It’s the unnecessary brilliance of [using herbs] that just makes you want to eat this delightful thing and get pleasure from it.”

And so, in conclusion, we actually do very much need herbs on our plates and growing on our windowsills, and Diacono, food writer, photographer and creator of Otter Farm – a nursery designed to encourage people to grow “unusual and forgotten food” – is very willing to share his affection for herbs.

“We’re the only species on earth that cooks,” he continues. “We’re doing it for two reasons.

One is to transform foods into something that’s edible, you know, just plain old ‘I can eat that/ That’s not going to kill me and/or I’m not going to lose my teeth trying to get through it’. But once you’ve got to that point, the rest really is about pleasure.”

Herbs provide “that little tweak” that can amp up a dish or morph its character slightly – take Diacono’s bread and butter pudding. Laced with standard thyme he says it takes on a “Novemberish” feel, whereas lemon thyme connotes April.

Despite his adoration for most of them, Diacono does not indiscriminately enjoy all edible shoots. In Herb: A Cook’s Companion, the follow up to his 2019 cookbook, Sour, he rages amiably at the ubiquitous one leaf of parsley garnish (“It’s, ‘I thought about you, but I didn’t think about you enough…’”) and rails at being presented with whole mint leaves to eat (“They’re just unpleasant in the mouth,”).

Variety Poor lemon balm feels the full brunt of his ire.

“I love it in the garden; in the kitchen, I couldn’t be less interested,” he explains. “There’s no meal that can be improved by lemon balm, there’s no delight to be had from it.” According to Diacono, it’s the sherbet leaves of lemon verbena you really ought to look for.

The problem is, most of us get “stuck” with the herbs that we use. Diacono nods to the usual suspects, mint, coriander, rosemary, thyme and parsley – which in a double-whammy of going through the motions, as we also tend to use them repeatedly in the same old ways. It means we’re accessing only a “tiny little sliver” of the green fronds we could be scoffing.

“If you get to grips with herbs just a little – and they’re very easy to get to grips with – then it could change your food like nothing else,” says Diacono. “These are the clothes that dress up the plainer ingredients. You’re in for a fair bit of fun with them.”

Pairing them in different combinations, or

Fine Dining Restaurant and Lounge Bar. of St Leonards on sea in East Sussex.

On the Marina with beautiful sea views, tasteful decor and a good sized public car park nearby, makes AMA an ideal choice for a relaxed night out. AMA boasts a lovely, informal lounge bar next door (Amanti) where guests can enjoy an aperitif or digestif before and after their meal.

Chef de Cuisine Domenico Acampora is a world class Michelin star Chef. Classically trained in NYC inventive and delicious, with an almost fanatical attention to detail.

He has an impressive international CV, which includes Chef de cuisine for The Waldorf, Four Seasons, Conrad and Marriot hotels, as well as Le Cirque NYC. Domenico and his team work tirelessly to bring perfection to the plate with an enviable consistency.

The 25 seat dining room with its open kitchen make this a wonderful spot to eat, drink and relax.

A seamless service and a very special menu await you.

A complimentary Bellini cocktail each during July, when you mention this advert at time of booking.

Open Wednesday- Saturday Monday & Tuesday available for private dining Visit AMA.restaurant to view our menu

TO BOOK:

Tel: 01424 576926, email info@ama.restaurant or message on Facebook

18 Marine Court, St Leonards on Sea, TN38 0DX

Food & Culture

food

30

Wednesday June 30 | 2021

Vanessa Bolosier on Creole Caribbean cuisine, ancestry and big bowl food

CHEERS Vanessa Bolosier has published a cookbook of Creole recipes

LIVE

The London based food writer is frank, funny, and a champion of the food of Martinique and Guadeloupe writes Ella Walker...

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F EVER you find yourself caught in the gnarled pincers of a crab, you will wish you had food writer and supper club host Vanessa Bolosier by your side. “I know how to escape,” she explains sagely. “You have to press their eyes and they’ll release you; growing up I had all the training, good home training.”

Bolosier grew up on French Caribbean islands Guadeloupe and Martinique, and it was her father who taught her crustacean husbandry; in the weeks before Easter they’d farm crates of live crabs in preparation for dishes of crab callaloo and crab matete (spicy rice with crabmeat). “We’d feed them not only chillies, but spring onions, garlic, thyme, and the flesh is different. It’s slightly softer. It’s tasty. You do feel the difference. It’s the same way if you feed your animals organic, beautiful grass, or you feed them grain – it won’t taste the same,” says Bolosier.

Having been based in London for the last 16 years, her cookbook – Sunshine Kitchen – came from her experience of not finding the regional variety of Caribbean food in Britain that she was raised eating. “There’s a myriad cookery books, where you can learn about food from the north or south of Italy, and

that’s just one country,” says Bolosier, 37, but when it comes to Caribbean food, “generally everything is lumped together”, she adds, and often the assumption is that it’s “food that actually originates from Jamaica”.

Caribbean islands has been more common, so “the food I’m talking about is the food people know; no one knows what jerk chicken is in France. No one knows what ackee is. Some of the ingredients and spices, they’re the same, but the application of them is completely different.”

Factor in access to funds and how difficult the restaurant industry can be anyway, and showcasing regional varieties gets even tougher. “Being able

“Creole is the collision of histories and migrations into a plate, with a French touch”

That homogenisation, she says, is partly down to migration. “The people that migrated to the UK were people of Jamaican origin, in majority,” she explains, whereas in France, for instance, migration from French

to educate people into coming to a restaurant [to eat] food that’s quite unfamiliar, requires the ability to sustain the business long enough for people to come and see and try it,” says Bolosier. However, she does think street food traders and supper clubs are helping move things forward – which, let’s face it, is good for anyone with taste buds.

Sunshine Kitchen shares her version of Creole Caribbean food; one that

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Food & Culture

Wednesday June 30 | 2021

draws on the way her parents and grandparents cooked, traditional dishes from Guadeloupe and Martinique, with a few contemporary angles and tweaks that reflect her own style. Ask Bolosier to describe Guadeloupe and Martinique, and she can do it in one gleeful word: “Paradise!”

Defining Caribbean Creole is trickier though.

“That’s a problem because it’s Creole Caribbean, but you’ve got Creole from Louisiana, you’ve got African Creole. So it’s all about fusion,” she notes. “These cultures will be beautiful; they collapse into something that makes it even more beautiful. To me, Creole is the collision of histories and migrations into a plate, with a French touch.”

As a result, the cookbook she says, doesn’t work without the history section that precedes the recipes. “I do feel it’s very important for people to understand the sort of ambivalence

“Share the sunshine, share the joy. That’s what I want people to feel when they open this book” that happens in the Caribbean, especially on French islands that are still very much French governed,” she explains.

“There is an ambivalence in the Caribbean, just generally, because of history that has very, very unfortunate and sad elements to it from the moment it was discovered, until probably now.

But out of all of that has come such an amazing culture.

“It’s very difficult to explain to people, for instance, why nose-to-tail eating is so big in the Caribbean, because if I just gave you one of these recipes and you saw the ingredients list [pig’s tails, tripe, etc], you’ll be like, ‘Oh my God, this is disgusting. No, I will not eat that’, but [not] if you understand where that comes from, and how that has been flipped on its head and how it’s been embraced, and how it’s celebrated now.

“I think you can’t really understand Creole food and Caribbean food as a whole, if you do not understand the sort of ambivalence that lives within people’s blood,” she continues.

Bolosier learnt much of her own ancestry from her dad in the kitchen. “He was a very serious man, but the kitchen was kind of a confessional for him; the only time he would relax and smile and laugh and share stories.

“He is not here any more, but he was the best mentor you could ask for,” she says. “He loved his grandmother, she was native Caribbean, and she taught him so much that he wanted to pass that down.” He taught Bolosier how to do everything from scratch, be it picking ingredients from the garden, or scaling fish (“How often will you really need to scale a fish?

You’re gonna go to the fishmonger – but I know how to do it. I know how to gut a fish and it’s useful!”)

Throughout Sunshine Kitchen – a reformatted issue of her 2015 cookbook Creole Kitchen – Bolosier happily admits the dishes are “not sexy on the plate”.

With a laugh, she adds: “To this day, people don’t understand why I’m not an Instagrammer.”

Her food just doesn’t lend itself to looking artful on a sparse white plate. “I try, but it’s big bowls!

And a lot of it is brown, a lot of it is red and a lot of it is yellow,” she says wryly. “It’s not sexy food, but it is delicious food and it’s food that people just dig in and get at together.”

Generosity, hugeness of feeling and lots of food is far more important. “I don’t even think it’s a case of having it for yourself. It’s actually something to share,” says Bolosier of Sunshine Kitchen. “Share the sunshine, share the joy.

That’s what I want people to feel when they open this book, I just want them to feel loved and warm.” To be loved, warm and well-fed; Bolosier’s father taught her well.

Sunshine Kitchen: Delicious Creole Recipes From The Heart Of The Caribbean by Vanessa Bolosier is published by Pavilion Books, priced £12.99. Photography by Clare Winfield. Available now.

TWODS Returns - Times of TW Advert 160 x 264mm + 3mm bleed.indd 1

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Green banana and saltfish recipe (Serves 4) Ingredients:

n 4 thick salted cod cutlets (available in larger supermarkets and Caribbean stores) n 2 green bananas per person n 6tbsp sunflower oil n 2–3 garlic cloves, crushed n 1 bay leaf n 4 sprigs thyme n 2 sprigs parsley, chopped n Juice of 1.5 limes n 1 habanero chilli, deseeded and finely chopped n 2 onions, sliced n Salt and freshly ground black pepper n 1 large cucumber, peeled, grated n 1 large avocado

thyme sprigs, chopped parsley, juice of one lime and half the chilli and cook for five minutes.

Reduce the heat and add four tablespoons of water. Cook for five minutes over a low heat, then set aside.

lime over the cucumbers. Peel the avocado and cut into small cubes.

4. In a frying pan (skillet), heat four tablespoons of oil over a medium heat, add the onions and cook for about 10 minutes, until they become translucent.

Add a little salt to taste, a pinch of pepper and the remaining chilli. Tip the onions over the cod.

TIP: Traditionally, we like to have a habanero chilli and a lime wedge on the side to adjust the flavours to individual taste, and some sunflower oil to pour over the green bananas.

We crush everything together, from the fish to the avocado, and although it’s a messy plate, the flavours combine perfectly.

5. Squeeze the juice of half a

6. Drain the green bananas and serve on a plate with the cod, cucumber and avocado.

Method: 1. Put the salted cod in a saucepan, add cold water to cover, bring to the boil and boil for five minutes. Drain off the water and repeat the process.

Drain.

2. Wash the green bananas thoroughly. Cut off both ends and make a 1cm-deep slit lengthwise; once boiled, the skin will drop off easily. Boil the green bananas for 30 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, heat two tablespoons of oil in a wide, shallow pot over a medium heat. Add the cod and cook for about two minutes on each side. Add the garlic, bay leaf,

20/06/2021 21:14

Food & Culture

drink

32

Wine Special

Wednesday June 30 | 2021

Fine fizz: 7 summer sparklers to sip in the British sunshine These fabulous fizzes are worth a pop at £23 and under, says Sam Wylie-Harris

T

HERE’S something special about popping the corks on a bottle of fizz, especially when you have 250 million bubbles rising to the occasion – the average amount in a bottle of sparkling wine.

And with the summer social season finally in

1. M&S FOUND BLANQUETTE DE LIMOUX NV, FRANCE, £10, Marks & Spencer stores Deliciously inviting and fresh, summer meadow notes and uplifting flavours of ripe apples and pears alongside a very subtle biscuity note make this easy, breezy blanquette (made from the local mauzac grape) one for our gold list. Cited by Decanter magazine as a ‘Must-Try Fizz’, it’s one of 12 wines in M&S’ new-ish and nifty Found range (all £10 or under). We love it and so will you.

full swing (depending on the rules, of course) and our parks looking greener than a vineyard, there couldn’t be a better time to spark up the garden party atmosphere with a glass of something fizzy. Here’s how to style up your sparkling repertoire with a heaven-sent hiss…

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2. SOLPIANTEZ SPUMANTE BRUT MILLESIMATO 2019, Italy, £10.99, Virgin Wines For a taste of la doce vita, this fragrant spumante makes a delightful alternative to prosecco. Scented with white flowers and apple blossom, followed by charming orchard fruits, pear notes

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and a touch of lemon sherbet, it’s delicate and crisp with a fine mousse and persistent finish.

One for aperitivo drinking… bellissima!

3. FREIXENET PROSECCO DOC, ITALY, £12, TESCO This perfectly pitched prosecco from Spanish cava giant Freixenet is a fitting choice for stay-athome soirées, with its striking Insta-friendly cut glass bottle and cascade of zesty lemon fruit, with hints of green apple and peach, white flower aromas, citrus acidity and lots of lovely freshness.

Absolutely delicious.

4. JANSZ ROSÉ BRUT NV, TASMANIA, AUSTRALIA, £17.95, Slurp

COUNTRY HOUSE

SalomonS ServeS up an ace This summer our traditional afternoon tea takes centre court with a tennis twist. To celebrate the greatest grand slam tournament Salomons serves up its delicious Wimbledon afternoon tea including freshly made tennis themed cakes accompanied by quintessentially British finger sandwiches, homemade scones, strawberries and cream.

only £21.50pp or £24.50pp with a glaSS of pimm’S or proSecco

Our Wimbledon afternoon tea is available for reservations 30th June, 2nd, 7th & 9th of July, midday to 4pm.

To book please call 01892 515152 or email reception@salomons-estate.com or go to www.salomons-estate.com

Wine Special

Wednesday June 30 | 2021

A trailblazer for sparkling wine Down Under, Jansz turn out top-notch fizz in this wine lover’s paradise, where the quality rivals champagne.

Utterly gorgeous; rose petal aromas and a fine, creamy mousse lends real finesse, with tiers of strawberry and citrus fruits, the merest hint of nougat, with fresh acidity lending crispness on the finish. Beautiful and super stylish.

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5. CHAPEL DOWN BACCHUS 2020, KENT, ENGLAND, £17.99, Waitrose Elderflower season may be coming to a close, but you can still drink in the fragrant British countryside with this aromatic English fizz. With a delightful floral character and enticing aromas of elderflower and tropical fruits, freshly cut grassy notes sit alongside hints of pineapple, with elderflower nuances streaming through to the fab, fruity finish. Fresh as a daisy – or should that be elderflower blossom!

California dreaming…

1) EASY-DRINKING CHARDONNAY Kendall-Jackson Vintner’s Reserve Chardonnay 2019, California (Vinvm.co.uk & henningswine. co.uk, £17.90-£22.50) For over three decades, Kendall-Jackson has remained unremittingly dedicated to producing fine-quality wines from grapes grown in California’s cool, coastal vineyards. The first release of this famous, come-hither Chardonnay from a hugely popular American wine brand was in 1983 (the first case was sold at the Oyster Bar at Grand Central Station) when it became the first-ever winner of a Platinum award for an American Chardonnay at the American Wine Competition.

It’s a really lovely, accessible, pretty, yet fulfilling newly-landed release. All the good stuff is here: pineapple, papaya, vanilla, nutmeg, peach, ginger, honey and apple tart; the oak is integrated and balanced; the finish fresh. Barrelfermented largely sur lie, it was then aged 7 months in French (5% new) and American oak (7% new). It’s well-shaped, textured and politely

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Cape Winelands, this rosé is one of two new traditional method wines (Methode Cape Classique, MCC) from Villiera, who produce some of the Cape’s most popular sparkling wines. Elegant and complex, there’s a range of red berry fruits on show, with a beguiling, savoury, earthy note from a portion of pinotage (South Africa’s signature red grape) in the chardonnay/pinot noir blend, finishing long and fresh. Beautifully made and a must for celebratory ice-buckets.

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7. ADNAMS ENGLISH SPARKLING CLASSIC CUVEE 2015, England, £22.99, Adnams A gold nugget in Adnams’ impressive library of own label wines, this vibrant vintage fizz spends extended time on the lees and highlights everything we love about home-grown English bubbly. Bright and lifted, florals mingle with aromas of baked apples and custard, followed by attractive flavours of orchard fruits, a toasty, biscuity note and a beautifully fresh lemon curd character.

Fizz fanatics will love its straight-downthe-line deliciousness.

6. VAN HUNKS MCC BRUT ROSÉ SPARKLING WINE, STELLENBOSCH, South Africa, £20, Van Hunks Drinks A little stunner from the

HAVING a Fourth of July party or just stuck in a wine rut and wanting to try some new, tasty but affordable great American wines? Then read on as I have three top bottles from California, where Franciscan fathers planted the first vitis vinifera vines in the 1770s for Catholic mass and consumption by both themselves and explorers.

The USA is in love with wine and last year consumed the largest volume of any country – around 33M hectolitres compared to second place France’s 24.7M hectolitres – with only France, Italy and Spain producing more of it.

These readily available bottles from the Golden State, where increasingly the three Cs (cannabis, craft beer and cocktails) are also apparently big things, would make an ideal partner for any fourth of July revelries.

Food & Culture

powered, but chiefly it’s just exquisitely drinkable. Quality rarely looks this stress-free!

California dreaming. Alc 13.5% 2) PLUMP & HEDONISTIC CALIFORNIA CABERNET SAUVIGNON Frei Brothers Sonoma Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 2018, Alexander Valley, California (Waitrose & Waitrose Cellar, £18.99) From Alexander Valley, a warm interior location in northern California’s Sonoma County, north of San Francisco – between Napa and the Pacific (where Cabernet is king) – that’s hot in the day but very cool overnight, this is an exuberant, rich red with dark fruit and an intense blast of

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Celebrate Independence Day on July 4 by treating your tastebuds to one of these amazing American tipples says Times editor James Viner cassis, blackcurrant, raspberry, cedar and blueberry. The polished, silky and seamless palate unfurls layer upon layer of black fruits to escort the red; its tannins round and soft. Easy rider style. Ideal for a midsummer barbecue.

Burgers ahoy! Alc 14.5% 3) LOVELY BUBBLY FROM ONE OF CALIFORNIA’S CHILLIEST GRAPE-GROWING AREAS Roederer Estate Quartet NV, Anderson Valley, California (Hedonism Wines, The Wine Society, Majestic, ChampagneDirect, £23.70-£25.99) Let me introduce you to a super stylish sparkling wine from storied Champagne house Louis Roederer’s first-rate Californian arm in the dramatically cool, coasthugging, fog-shrouded Anderson Valley of wild and tranquil Mendocino County, California’s northmost qualitative outpost of the vine. It has just right the amount of fresh orchard fruit and citrusy flavours before it moves into more complex territory with some baking spice, creamy and toasty autolysis flavours, plus hazelnut and apple crumble.

Excellent. One for eggy brunch dishes, sushi, lobster risotto and fish/white meats with creamy sauces. The grapes are 60% Chardonnay and 40% Pinot Noir. Go get!

Alc 12.5%

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4) DRY-HOPPED AMERICAN BEER FOR JULY 4TH BBQS Brooklyn Hoppy Amber Lager 4x330ml cans, New York City (Tesco, £4 with Clubcard, until 12 July) Toasty lager anyone?

Brooklyn Brewery has been at the core of New York City’s

craft beer scene since its launch in 1988. Its piney, juicy, peppery and biscuity lager has been a runaway commercial success and is today one of the leading Vienna-style lagers on the shelves, although Brooklyn prefers to say it’s fashioned from a ‘pre-Prohibition’ recipe. An American original that’s better canned than bottled. It’s also perfect with pizzas, meaty BBQs, burgers, farmhouse Cheddar, Manchego, Stilton and roast chicken. Use your Tesco Clubcard. Alc 5.2%

The quick sip on US wine: ESTABLISHED by a cobbler named Jean Jacques, the oldest estate in continuous operation in the USA is the Brotherwood Winery (1839) at Washingtonville in Orange County, New York state, some 60 miles north of NYC. The USA is the world’s fourth-largest wine producer. There is a winery in every state, even Alaska, but California accounts for over 90% of wine production – ten times the area under vine in Washington, the next largest grower.

Follow James on Twitter @QuixoticWine

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Food & Culture

Wednesday June 30 | 2021

A garden designer explains how to reuse old concrete, paving slabs and poor soil to create a beautiful garden

gardening

You don’t have to spend a fortune on creating a stunning outside space says Amanda Grimes (below). It’s all about clever recycling ... brickwork, to create a vision of beauty.

“It came out of experience postlockdown, when everybody wants work done but they don’t know their budget. In city gardens, all the tools that go in usually

‘The whole ethos behind punk was to make the ugly beautiful’

AMANDA GRIMES

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F YOU’VE ever given your garden a makeover, you’ll know what a pain it is to take hardcore, rubble, broken bricks and even poor soil to the dump, often having to pay for the privilege.

It’s a problem garden designer Amanda Grimes has faced on numerous occasions, and which inspired Punk Rockery, her unconventional show garden in the Get Started Gardens category, aimed at new gardeners at this year’s RHS Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival.

In it, she uses all the waste products usually taken out of gardens, such as concrete, old paving and broken

PUNK ROCKERY Grimes’ show garden at RHS Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival this year

have to go through the house, while the stuff they have already in their garden has to come out, which can be a huge expense for people because of the cost of removal,” says Grimes.

“It’s difficult to get contractors at the moment, while rocks and hard landscaping materials are also hard to come by, as well as plants being in short supply,” she observes. “It was a case of responding to that and using what you’ve got to save money and save the planet.”

Here’s Grimes’ advice on how you can utilise the garden material you want to get rid of, using ideas from her forthcoming show garden…

WHAT TO DO WITH… Paving slabs “The concrete paving slabs in my show garden are remnants of a side path we’d been meaning to take up. I’ve salvaged paving slabs that would have been going in a skip which will be broken up and used

as a little crazy paving seating area, and also the edge of a scree garden.”

Chamomile is easily planted around the crazy paving. Scleranthus and sagina, both drought tolerant, are also suitable and make lovely green mounds that spread through the paving, adds Grimes.

Lumps of concrete “I’ve got lumps of concrete a friend dug out of her garden, which are going to be my rockery stones,” says Grimes.

Concrete ‘rocks’ can be used as rockery stones in rockeries as long as the plants do the work, she agrees. “There was a wonderful quote from Malcolm McLaren which said, ‘The whole ethos behind punk

was to make the ugly beautiful’. Once the planting is around the concrete lumps, it will be fine.

“If you look at Mediterranean landscapes, it almost looks like hardcore because it is this real mineral rock, but you have these wonderful plants tumbling over the top of it, dry herbs such as thyme, which spreads and softens the edges, sedums and Nepeta racemosa ‘Walker’s Low’.”

Scaffolding board Grimes is using old paving slabs to create a bench, with uniform slabs stacked on top of each other as the ‘legs’, topped with an old scaffolding board, for the seat.

Food & Culture

Wednesday June 30 | 2021

Poor soil “Once you lift old paving you usually have old hardcore and sharp sand, and underneath that the soil will probably be pretty bad as well. If you are excavating, the idea is you can lift your poor soil to make a mound to give extra height, then mix up the sharp sand and the hardcore on top and inset the rockery ‘stones’ into that.

“To make it look nicer, you can still dress it with gravel or any other stones or horticultural grit. You are essentially creating a scree or alpine garden,” says Grimes. “All the plants which are going in need really sharp drainage. They don’t need rich, fertile soil so you won’t have to buy in compost or topsoil. Plant roots will seek out their water.”

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Alternatively, create a bed with the poor soil (as long as it’s not clay or waterlogged) and top it with gravel, using drought-loving plants such as eryngium, dianthus, oregano, thyme, sedums and Euphorbia ‘Fens Ruby’, stipa, potentilla and Californian poppies, she suggests.

“You are creating a scree or alpine garden... Plant roots will seek out water”

Broken bricks “I’ve always dug broken bricks out of gardens. Any old bricks or masonry can be smashed up and go into the mix with the hardcore,” says Grimes. You can also use broken bricks as pot stands to keep them off the ground, or in ponds, to heighten pond plants, she suggests.

Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival runs from July 5-11. For details visit rhs.org.uk.

11:53

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Food & Culture

Wednesday June 30 | 2021

Striking the balance between being alone and lonely

By Lottie Bulmer THIS MONTH, organisations across the country joined together to raise awareness of people on their own.

Following the recent Loneliness Awareness Week (June 14 – 18), campaigners said it can be difficult to get used to socialising again, and many of us are still struggling with feeling a little detached from the outside world.

We often think that loneliness is a feeling reserved to older people, but a survey conducted by BBC Radio 4, nine months into Covid restrictions, revealed that 40 per cent of all 18 to 24-year-olds felt lonely during lockdown, where in comparison, 27 per cent of people over the age of 75 reported the same feeling.

“The Jo Cox Commission on Loneliness was established to help reduce loneliness ” The Jo Cox Commission on Loneliness was established to investigate ways to reduce loneliness in the United Kingdom, shortly before the MP’s death in 2016.

During Loneliness Awareness week, the current Minister for

Loneliness, Baroness Barran, said: “Although life is beginning to feel closer to normal for many people, we are still in a critical stage when it comes to tackling loneliness.

“There is a large number of people who felt lonely before the pandemic and will continue to do so as lockdown restrictions ease.

“During Loneliness Awareness Week, I urged everyone to take note of our tips to help reduce loneliness. Checking in with someone, making sure you keep in touch with family, finding organisations who can offer support via www.letstalkloneliness.co.uk, or helping out in your local community.”

Baroness Barran added that there is a new chatbot service on popular messaging app WhatsApp to provide information and advice regarding loneliness.

It provides the services through the ‘Connection Coalition’, which is a network of organisations, charities and groups which builds strong relationships and connected communities.

She said: “I’m really excited to see some of the projects launched by the Tackling Loneliness Network come to fruition.

“The new chatbot MP JO COX

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STEPPING OUT As restrictions ease, people are being encouraged to check in on others service on WhatsApp will make help and advice easily accessible to people across the country, and many more partners are carrying out work to contribute towards ending loneliness.”

Support Su Moore, Chief Executive of the Jo Cox Foundation said: “Members of the Connection Coalition are working year round to address loneliness on both a local and national level and

the chatbot brings many of their resources together enabling more people to access help, advice and support.”

To use the Connection Coalition loneliness advice chatbot, add 07902 922 908 to your Whatsapp contacts, and send a message saying ‘Hi’ to bring up the menu featuring information and resources from organisations including Marmalade Trust, Jo Cox Foundation, Age UK, The Mix, The British Red Cross and the #LetsTalkLoneliness campaign.

Food & Culture

Wednesday June 30 | 2021

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The Marmalade Trust, a charity dedicated to raising awareness of loneliness and helping people to make new friendships has outlined a three step approach to tackling the problem…

1. ACKNOWLEDGE Acknowledge it and don’t feel embarrassed Loneliness is a very normal human emotion. As human beings, we are biologically wired for social contact.

Most of us will experience loneliness at some point in our lives, regardless of age, circumstance and background. There are key life points which will increase the likelihood of feeling lonely, like moving away from home, starting uni or a new job, becoming a new parent, going through a divorce or suffering a bereavement.

Loneliness is a bit like feeling hungry and thirsty. Much the same as when our bodies are telling us that we need to eat or drink something, loneliness is a sign that we need to pay attention to the amount of social contact we’re having.

Think about how you speak about loneliness Telling someone that you’re lonely is an important step but it’s also how we talk about it.

We still use words like ‘admitting’ to and ‘suffering’ from, which can unintentionally add to the belief that something is wrong with us.

There is absolutely no shame in feeling lonely and changing the language around loneliness is a positive and liberating step forward.

The more we talk about it, the more we normalise it and we can move towards a society where it can be spoken about openly. When you tell someone that you’re feeling lonely, or someone is telling you, try to discuss it in a neutral and open manner. Remember that loneliness is normal.

We believe that loneliness should be accepted and understood more, rather than something that necessarily has to be eradicated.

2. IDENTIFY Reach out and tell someone Look at your life and try to identify the areas

SCREEN TIME Our use of technology can restrict our real life connections

where you do have support or someone to talk to.

When we’ve been lonely for a long time it can start to affect our mental health and wellbeing. If you feel that is the case, make an appointment to see your GP to make sure that you are getting the right support.

When you’re lonely it can feel like there is no one there for you but loneliness isn’t something that can always be noticed from someone’s outward appearance.

It’s not that people don’t care or aren’t there for you, it’s more likely that they don’t know how you are feeling. It goes two ways: once you start reaching out to people, they will respond accordingly and your social network can start to flourish.

Know what you need We’re all different and we all need varying levels of social contact. What does your mood feel like if you go a few days without seeing or speaking to anyone?

Work out what you need and then look at how you can fill those gaps in your life with the right amount of connections.

It’s also important to distinguish the difference between being alone and feeling lonely. Many

people are happy with their company for much of the time and find it to be a positive experience.

We might be a loneliness charity but we believe in having enough beneficial alone time!

Do you feel happier and more connected, or the opposite? Instead of scrolling through other people’s timelines, use social media to join new groups or like-minded communities so you feel part of something.

3. ACTION Build up your daily community We live in a world where a lot of the time, we don’t really connect with people for work, shopping or leisure activities. Or we might live away from friends and family and feel like we don’t have a local network or community.

Think of the ways you can build connections back into your daily life. For example, shopping locally in the same places or walking regularly in your local park or outside space.

While we’re here, what does the idea of a daily community feel like to you? All of us will have a different idea: depending on our personal circumstances and whether we live in a city, town, village or a remote rural location.

What community connections are available to

you and how can you make the most of them? If you don’t feel there is something there for you, how can you build up the contact or a sense of community that you feel you’re currently lacking?

Use technology proactively Technology has been blamed for rising levels of loneliness but it can still be good for social interaction. Social media is still a great way to connect with others but notice how it makes you feel when you use it.

In real life, try swapping communicating via a screen for a real-life interaction. Meet up with a friend or call someone for a chat, rather than WhatsApping or emailing them.

It may be time to look at different ways of communicating that suit you more (i.e more real-life interactions and fewer online ones).

If we don’t use the Internet it can feel like the rest of the world is online, which can make us feel even more shut out.

If you feel you’d benefit socially from being online, look into Internet courses at your local library or community centre. Since the Covid pandemic, there are also lots of telephone activities which you can get involved in, including reading groups, reminiscence chats and exercise classes.

Finding friends Whether you live in a bustling city or a rural village, most places have opportunities to meet new people.

Could you start a course, or do some sort of physical exercise, or take up a new hobby as a way to meet like-minded people who have similar interests?

Volunteering is also a great way to meet new people and feel part of a cause or community.

Research shows that being kind to others increases our own levels of happiness as well as theirs.

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Food & Culture

goingout 7 days of activities

Wednesday June 30 | 2021

HAPPY TIMES One Warwick Park’s happy hour is between 5-7pm

By Lottie Bulmer

ON DRY LAND Bewl Water has more to explore than just the resevoir

HOPPING ON Dressing of the toad takes place this weekend THINGS are looking up this summer with the vaccination rollout continuing across the country. While restrictions will remain for hopefully just a few more weeks, and the weather brightens, get out and take it all in…

KEEP PEDDLING The surroundings of Bewl Water is just as packed with activities as the reservoir itself.

Instead of taking to the reservoir, why not explore 12 and a half miles of wild trails around the reservoir on two wheels?

Trails are made up of forest paths, surfaced trails, country lanes and meadows and the route will take between two and three hours to complete. You can collect a map from the café or bike hire centre.

After finishing your cycle, replenish your energy levels with a visit to The Waterfront Café for snacks and drinks.

Book online at bewlwater.co.uk DRINK UP Every day is a good day at One Warwick Park hotel with Happy Hour taking place every evening this week.

In the contemporary and atmospheric bar between 5pm to 7pm, there is 50 per cent off wine and beer.

Take a trip and treat yourself to a midweek malbec or celebrate the weekend with a bottle of

Whispering Angel.

While you’re there, why not stay the night?

Based directly across from The Pantiles, the hotel is the perfect place for a staycation to explore all Kent and East Sussex has to offer.

There is the option of staying in the new self-catering town house called ‘The House’ or the hotel itself.

To book a table at The Bar, contact reception@ onewarwickpark.co.uk FANCY DRESS Since the 1800s, tourists and local people have wondered at the rock in Rusthall which resembles a toad, and on Saturday, (July 3) Rusthall will see the annual ‘Dressing of the Toad’.

The event was introduced in 2019 to coincide with local playwright, Jon Oram’s “Legends of the Rocks” community play. The Dressing of the Toad celebrates the rock in a similar way to historic ceremonies in rural parts of England in which villagers decorate their wells with flowers and blessings in appeals for life, fertility or health.

The day will also include socially distanced creative activities from 11am to 7pm in the sandy area of Toad Rock and at 12pm and 5pm there will be a procession to add the creative gifts made in the workshops, at home, or during the day’s activities to the fence around the toad.

Free creative boxes are available to include

materials and guidance to get you started with either Stick Weaving (suitable for ages 8 and above), Dream Catchers (age 6 and above), Visual Poetry (age 10 and above), or Lei and Anklets (all ages).

For more information, to collect a free creative box, and to reserve a workshop space in advance, contact Karen Gardner at Karen@ Gardnersonline.net HUNT AROUND HEVER Brave knights are invited along to Hever Castle for a magical mythical creature quest.

Adventure around the castle’s garden to find all the hidden shields which will protect you from the creatures in the castle.

After the quest, unwind from your busy day at the hunting creatures in the castles with dinner at the Waterside Bar, located at the Princes Golf Course.

The cafe has a variety of new summer dishes on the menu including Waterside salad, pan fried sea bass and fish tacos.

The quest is on through the summer holidays from July 1 to August 31 and the Waterside is open throughout the year.

Visit hevercastle.co.uk for more information or to book.

PROSECCO AND PRINTING Arty Farty is hosting a grown-up evening of

CASTLE QUEST Hever Castle is hosting a mythical creature quest bubbles and art tomorrow (July 1).

Prosecco and Printing is the next session of the Arty Farty’s Summer Season at the studio in Southborough. The workshops are run by Rachel Moore, a Kent based artist and printmaker whose clients include the National Trust and Hobbycraft.

You will receive a complimentary glass of prosecco before letting your creative juices flow by immersing yourself in Gelli printing, a type of mono printing which uses flexible printing plates.

Places cost £27.54 and to book search for ‘Arty Farty Summer Season: Print & Prosecco - Gelli Printing’ on Eventbrite.co.uk A BARREL OF LAUGHS The gardens of Trinity Theatre are the setting for dinner and a comedy show this Friday (July 2).

Taking to the stage this week are Kevin McCarthy, Joanne McNally and Adam Hess who are all sure to make you giggle.

In line with social distancing restrictions, guests will sit at a cabaret style table with seating bubbles and entrances to the show being staggered to ensure Covid safety.

Tickets include a meal and this week the options are chicken jalfrezi or spinach and chickpea curry.

For more information and to book your ticket, visit trinitytheatre.net LAUGHING STOCK Trinity Theatre is hosting an outdoor comedy show

ARTY FARTY The studio in Southborough hosts a variety of workshops

Food & Culture

Books

Wednesday June 30 | 2021

The bookcase…

Over the past year or so more people have had the chance to fall in love with reading again. Here’s our pick of this week’s top reads to enjoy

FICTION

The President’s Daughter by Bill Clinton and James Patterson

7/10

Published in hardback by Century, priced £20 (ebook £9.99). Available now

This Eden by Ed O’Loughlin

Published in hardback by riverrun, priced £16.99 (ebook £8.99). Available now Alice and Michael meet during a snowball fight as students in Vancouver, and what follows is an avalanche of twists and turns in a murky, misty world of spies, mysterious government agents and cyber warfare.

Alice is a coder genius, but when she dies Michael is recruited to follow in her footsteps, moving to Silicon Valley with no idea what he has let himself in for.

Money is at the centre of a fast moving and

dangerous adventuremeets-deadly chase, moving from the US to Uganda, Gaza and Paris and a quick brush with death in Belfast. This Eden brings spying up to date, with high frequency trading bots running amok and a cryptocurrency playing havoc with online financial systems. It’s a classic page-turning thriller.

(Review by Alan Jones)

7/10

Imagine every parent’s worst nightmare, then add a dose of terrorist activity and political intrigue. This is the premise of The President’s Daughter, the second novel from former US President Bill Clinton and prolific thriller writer James Patterson. This is a rollicking ride combining Clinton’s insider knowledge of the top echelons of US power with Patterson’s snappy pacing and forensic prose. It follows former Navy SEAL turned politician Matthew Keating after he is ousted from the White House by his conniving Vice President. Soon he is on the trail of a mysterious group who have abducted his daughter. Yes, the book has the required twists and turns, but it also illustrates the frustration and vulnerability of a capable man suddenly alone.

(Review by Alex Green)

Guest book reviewer

HANNAH KIRSOP

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The Maidens by Alex Michaelides

Published in hardback by Weidenfeld & Nicolson, priced £14.99 (ebook £9.99). Available now Following his debut, The Silent Patient, Alex Michaelides strikes again with another compulsive summer thriller. Still reeling after her fiance’s tragic death, group therapist Mariana Andros rushes to Cambridge University after a frightened call from her niece, Zoe. One of Zoe’s friends has been murdered, and she seems to know who did it. Following Zoe’s suspicions, Mariana begins to investigate the charismatic professor Edward Fosca and his secret society of female students known as The Maidens. The novel ticks a lot of boxes if you like a good thriller – fast pace, lots of misdirection and a damaged protagonist. That said, it’s one to enjoy for the ride rather than the conclusion. Clearly written for adaption, Maidens is a compelling campus thriller that keeps you on your toes, but lacks the depth and follow through of a literary read.

(Review by Scarlett Sangster)

6/10

CINEMATIC NON-FICTION #1

The Boys in the Boat

By Daniel James Brown (published in paperback by Pan, priced £9.99)

9/10

Described as “Chariots of Fire with oars”, this is the inspiring true story of the University of Washington rowing Eight which became the boat that represented the US and competed in the Nazi hosted Berlin Olympics of 1936.

Focusing in detail on one of the crew members, Joe Rantz, who

battled extreme poverty growing up in Depression-era America, it is both a story of triumph over adversity and a fascinating portrayal of this period in history.

With some thrillingly evoked set-pieces and a colourful supporting cast of crewmates, family, coaches and boatbuilders, the book feels more like a screenplay than a piece of narrative non-fiction. An inspirational and enlightening story, and one which will captivate you regardless of whether you enjoy sport.

CINEMATIC NON-FICTION #2

Wild – A Journey from Lost to Found

10/10

By Cheryl Strayed (published in paperback by Atlantic Books, priced £9.99)

Hannah Kirsop grew up in Kent and now lives in Horsmonden with her family. She loves to read and share recommendations and runs Bainden Book Club for a group of local women to discuss interesting fiction and non-fiction in a range of genres. You can find www.baindenbookshelf.com online or on Instagram: @baindenbookshelf

For fans of The Salt Path, Wild is an empowering story of healing through extreme challenge.

Cheryl is at a low point after the sudden death of her mother from cancer and the breakdown of her marriage and, in the wake of her resultant destructive lifestyle, she spontaneously decides to walk 1100 miles along The Pacific Crest Trail, on her own.

The story that follows is filled with fellow walkers, incredible sights, highs, lows, sore limbs, blisters damp sleeping bags and wet socks but shining through it all is Cheryl’s self-belief, and her

courage to keep walking and try to mend herself.

Prepare to be swept up into Cheryl’s world – you’ll be both moved by her story and fired up to do something amazing yourself. A wonderful story with a powerful regenerative spirit.

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21/06/2021 10:59