Times of Tunbridge Wells 26th August 2020

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OFF THE RAILS: Commuters faced disruption after a train came off the rails at Tonbridge Depot on Sunday night. Nobody was hurt in the ‘slow speed’ derailment but replacement bus services were in operation between Tunbridge Wells and Charing Cross on Monday and Tuesday as engineers made repairs. Normal services are expected by Wednesday morning [picture Network Rail]

Thousands of commuters avoiding the trains and working from home

By Richard Williams

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MORE than 3,000 commuters in Tunbridge Wells are shunning the railways and still working from home, the Times can reveal.

Some two thirds of season ticket holders have yet to return to using the borough’s three main railway stations – despite calls from the government for people to go back to their offices, figures show.

According to data released by the Office of Rail and Road, around 3,472 season ticket holders used Tunbridge Wells Station every day in 2018/2019.

An additional 2,400 season ticket holders a day used the stations in High Brooms and Paddock Wood.

The figures, which estimate entrances

13/07/2020 15:28

and exits to train stations, show there were around three million season ticket exits and entrances at the borough’s three main stations last year.

Two weeks ago, the Times reported on

‘Usually there would have been 50 to 60 people, but there was just five’ how rail company, Southeastern had reported that passenger numbers had plummeted to just 22 per cent of last year’s figures.

A spokesperson for the train company says while the figures were now ‘creeping up’, the number of people using its services was at 30 per cent from last year.

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Wednesday August 26 | 2020

The Times approached the rail company for a more detailed breakdown on commuter numbers and found an estimated 3,630 commuters in Tunbridge Wells are yet to return to travelling to work by rail.

Tunbridge Wells Railway Station has seen its commuter numbers fall from 3,472 a day to just 1,041.

Tunbridge Wells Borough Council say weekly ticket sales for the nearby Torrington Car Park are also down to just above a third of pre-Covid numbers.

Both Paddock Wood and High Brooms saw more than 1,200 season ticket holders every day before lockdown and are now seeing fewer than 400 daily commuter passengers each.

Around 13,400 workers in Tunbridge

Continued on page 2

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Wednesday August 26 | 2020

CHECKING IN The new Premier Inn has opened in London Road

TALK OF THE TOWN: thetncard launches a poster campaign as Tunbridge Wells and Tonbridge get back to business P7

A quarter of child migrants are over 18

By Jerome Bowman ONE in four asylum seekers who claim to be children after crossing the English Channel from France are older than 18, figures from Kent County Council show.

Kent is looking after more than 600 under-18s, and another 950 people aged 18 to 25 have had to be given temporary accommodation by the authority.

But officials have said of the 1,668 migrants who claimed they were children after landing on the Kent coast in the last five years, more than 400 were later found to be over 18.

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Hotel finally opens its doors after more than four years

By Richard Williams

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PREMIER Inn has finally opened its hotel in Tunbridge Wells, four years after plans were first submitted to the Council.

The budget hotel giant had been hoping to open the new 126-bedroom London Road branch before Christmas, but building delays forced it to put back its opening date until Easter.

However, just as it announced its opening date in March, the coronavirus lockdown occurred and the brand new £7million hotel had to be mothballed. Premier Inn owners Whitbread had to furlough around 27,000 staff on full pay.

Continued from front page

CONTACTS EDITORIAL DIRECTOR RICHARD MOORE richard@timesoftunbridgewells.co.uk | 01892 779615 DEPUTY EDITOR EILEEN LEAHY eileen@timesoftunbridgewells.co.uk | 01892 576037 CHIEF REPORTER RICHARD WILLIAMS richardwilliams@timesoftunbridgewells.co.uk | 01892 240626 DESIGN/PRODUCTION LEE SMITH lsmith8@markerstudy.com SALES ENQUIRIES RSinger@markerstudy.com | 01892 739763 FIND US ONLINE facebook.com/timeslocalnews timesoftunbridgewells.co.uk twitter.com/timeslocalnews

Salomons Estate, Broomhill Road, Tunbridge Wells, TN3 0TF

CLARIFICATIONS AND CORRECTIONS HERE at the Times Local News we strive to deliver fair, accurate and balanced reports. When we don’t meet our own high standards we will accept the responsibility and publish clarifications and corrections.

If you would like to make a comment on any aspect of the newspaper, please write to the editor at David Salomons Estate, Broomhill Road, Tunbridge Wells, Kent TN3 0TF, or email newsdesk@timesoftonbridge.co.uk Markerstudy Leisure is a trading name of One Media and Creative UK Limited registered in England and Wales under company number 5398960 with registered office at 45 Westerham Road, Sevenoaks, Kent TN13 2QB.

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Wells have been on furlough but it is not known how many used the train service.

But there is a similar picture in Tonbridge, Kent’s third busiest station, where around 4,684 season ticket holders were catching the train every day this time last year.

Post Covid, only around 1,400 season ticket holders are now using the station daily.

Tonbridge Line Commuters, the largest rail commuter organisation in Kent, says the drop off in pas-

It is not the first time the project has suffered setbacks. The hotel group first submitted plans to convert the old courthouse in London Road back in 2016.

When the Council granted planning permission early in 2017, it caused opposition from local residents for what they claimed was an ‘unlawful’ sale of Merevale House, the former courthouse.

The group even instigated a judicial review on the planning decision but withdrew their application shortly after.

Now, the new 110-bedroom Premier Inn on London Road finally welcomed its first guests on Friday [August 21].

Viv Carr, new openings manager for the hotel chain, said: “It’s a wonderful feeling to open the doors of our brand-new Royal Tunbridge Wells Premier Inn.” She continued: “The historic town is a wonderful place to spend time, the stunning countryside of the High Weald is close by and London is less than an hour by train.

“We expect our new Premier Inn will be popular with guests looking to soak up the culture and history of Royal Tunbridge Wells on leisure breaks as well as business travellers looking for a convenient jumping off point for the capital.”

senger numbers has been extremely noticeable.

“Last time I was on the platform at Tonbridge Station there was hardly anybody there,” said vicechairman, John Reynolds. “Usually there would have been 50 to 60 people, but there was just five.”

1.6 per cent.

The increase will see the cost of an annual season ticket from Tunbridge Wells to London Terminals pass the £5,000 mark for the first time, with the price rising from £4,928 to £5,007.

An annual season ticket from Tonbridge to London Terminals will increase from £3,540 to £3,596.

“The increase is too high,” insisted John Reynolds. “It should be linked to the Consumer Price Index, just like the wages of essential workers such as nurses are – and that would mean a maximum of one percent.”

Increase The news comes after the Office of National Statistics released the Retail Prices Index [RPI] last week.

Rail fares are linked to the RPI, indicating that season ticket prices are expected to rise in January by

A source at Kent county council told newspapers: “Following age assessment, around 25 percent are assessed as being 18 or over. They will then almost definitely appeal this through the courts and the council pays all the legal fees.”

The news comes as the local authority said last week that it had reached capacity for unaccompanied children seeking asylum and would not be able to accept any more.

Kent has started transferring the new arrivals to other councils across the country because it cannot cope with the numbers.

Last week, Abdulfatah Hamdallah, a purported 16-year-old, washed up dead on a beach at Sangatte, near Dunkirk.

It was later discovered he was 28 and came from West Kordofan state in Sudan, which borders the warravaged regions of Darfur and the Nuba Mountains.

People traffickers in the country use Facebook to advertise their services.

WORKING FROM HOME COULD BE SAVING PEOPLE UP TO £600 A MONTH Many Tunbridge Wells commuters who are still working from home have cancelled their annual season tickets and are saving nearly £5,000 every year – or around £400 a month.

For those that normally have to pay to park at the town’s Torrington Road car park, they are saving more than £6,400 a year on rail fares and parking charges by working from home.

And workers that needed to use the Underground to get to their London offices as well as park their car, could be saving more than £7,100 a year – or nearly £600 a month.

But the vice chairman of Tonbridge Rail Commuters, John Reynolds, says it may not be as simple as that.

“Not everybody is working from home five days a week. Some people are having to go into the office two or three days, but they are still being forced to buy a season ticket.”

He continued: “What we need is a more flexible or a discounted season ticket for these part time workers.”

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Wednesday August 26 | 2020

NEWS IN BRIEF

Just one person tests positive for coronavirus ONLY one person tested positive for the virus that causes Covid-19 in Tunbridge Wells last week, new figures show.

According to data released by Public Health England, for the seven days to August 21, there was only one positive test for coronavirus in the borough.

In Tonbridge, there was a spike of seven cases, but the borough still remains the safest area in Kent.

So far, there has been 504 positive tests for coronavirus in Tunbridge Wells and 381 in Tonbridge & Malling.

This means per head of population, there have been 424.5 positive cases for every 100,000 people in Tunbridge Wells and 288 for Tonbridge & Malling, which puts both areas well below the 501 average for England.

In Kent, there has been 8,422 positive cases and 1,116 in Medway. This equates to a rate per 100,000 of population of 532.5 for Kent and 400.6 for Medway.

By Richard Williams TUNBRIDGE Wells leisure centres are set to reopen next week but taxpayers will have to foot the bill of around £670,000 as the company that runs them has no cash.

Fusion Lifestyle, which runs centres for Councils across the UK is to open its three centres in St John’s Road, Putlands in Paddock Wood and the Weald Sports Centre in Cranbrook on September 1, with the swimming pools to be opened on September 4, after a financial deal was struck.

Fusion normally pays Tunbridge Wells Borough Council [TWBC] a management fee to operate the centres, but after they were closed in the wake of coronavirus in March, the company has not had the required funds to reopen any of its leisure facilities, and has been negotiating with councils across the UK to acquire money.

Review

CONSTRUCTION on a long-awaited £4million drainage system in Paddock Wood will begin in the autumn, Tunbridge Wells MP Greg Clark has confirmed.

Mr Clark says following concerns that the Covid lockdown would lead to delays in the plans, he met representatives of Southern Water to get an update on the status of the works.

Southern confirmed that plans were on track and that construction is expected to begin in autumn 2020 and be completed by autumn 2021.

“This £4 million pipeline and new pumping station is important to protect Paddock Wood from the risk that the new developments overwhelm the drainage system of the town,” Mr Clark said.

The agreement with TWBC is outlined in a report that will be presented to the Council’s Overview and Scrutiny Committee next week. It will not only see the waiving of the £249,634 management fee the company normally pays to run the centres, but it will also see the Council handover £420,000 of ‘interim financial support’ from Council funds to pay for the re-openings.

TWBC is already facing an £8million deficit in its finances due to the coronavirus pandemic.

But the Council is now requesting the Head of Housing Health and Environment review the options for future delivery of sports centre activities from April 2022.

A spokesperson for Fusion told the Times:

A SOUTHBOROUGH drug dealer was jailed after he bragged about making £28,000 in a month.

The boasts were found on Colin Rutty’s phone by Kent Police after officers turned up at his home with a warrant to search the 31-year-old’s Doric Avenue address.

Police later found cannabis at the house and Rutty was jailed for three years and three months last week at Maidstone Crown Court for drug offences.

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CLOSED Sports centre in St John’s Road

“Fusion Lifestyle and Tunbridge Wells Borough Council are delighted to announce the openings of the gyms and exercise studios at Tunbridge Wells Sports Centre, Putlands Sport and Leisure Centre and The Weald Sports Centre on 1st September.

“This will be followed by the opening of the swimming pools at Tunbridge Wells Sports Centre and The Weald Sports Centre on 4th September, giving residents access to a full range of leisure facilities within the area.

“The centres will be operating in line with new government guidelines and those planning to visit will be required to book and pay online, minimising contact required at the centre and allowing for the track and trace process to be implemented.”

COMMUNITY CENTRES TO REOPEN Tunbridge Wells Borough Council’s community centres, including the Camden Centre in Royal Tunbridge Wells, are reopening.

The Camden Centre, TN2 (Sherwood, Tunbridge Wells) and the Wesley Centre (Paddock Wood) were closed when lockdown was introduced in March.

Plans are being made for the Camden Centre to reopen from September 1 on Mondays and Thursdays 8.30am to 10pm and on Saturdays between 7.45 am and 5pm.

TN2 will reopen from September 1, while the Wesley Centre will reopen in January 2021.

School bus safety measures outlined COUNTY Hall has announced measures to allow pupils to travel to and from school safely when they return to the classroom next week.

From September 1, schools in Tunbridge Wells and Tonbridge will be welcoming pupils back, and Kent County Council has created a transport protocol for providers to make sure school transport is as safe as possible.

New measures include social distancing guidelines and seating plans for school bus services, a number of school-day-only services that have been restricted to be used only by school children so more space is available.

Pupils will be asked to wear face coverings, and encouraged to travel by alternative means.

KCC is also working with schools to stagger start and end times to prevent overcrowding.

KCC’s Cabinet Member for Education and Skills Richard Long said: “School leaders, teachers and support staff have been working tirelessly, supported by KCC officers, to ensure schools are ready to safely welcome all pupils back to the classroom in September and it is only right we ensure they are able to travel to and from school in safety as well.

“Wherever possible and providing it can be

done safely we would encourage pupils to walk or cycle to school, with a parent or carer if necessary, as this will free up much-needed space on public transport, while exercise can also be beneficial for both physical and mental health.

“Whichever method of transport a child or young person uses to get to school, we would like to remind all pupils in Kent to follow the relevant guidance, for your safety and the safety of those around you.”

He added that bus operators are carrying out extra deep cleaning and buses will carry around two thirds of their normal capacity.

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Music venue hopes for financial lifeline THE future of The Forum in Tunbridge Wells is still in doubt after it was unable to apply for an emergency grant aimed at protecting music venues.

Last week, the National Lottery announced recipients of the £2.25million Emergency Grassroots Music Venues Fund.

The Forum said the venue did not qualify for payments but it was hoping to apply for a second round of grants through the Culture Recovery Fund, provided by Arts Council England.

Positive If successful, The Forum would have enough financial support to get some staff back to work, helping bands and artists rehearse and record ahead of a hopeful full re-opening during 2021.

Since closing on March 17, the venue has been financed by crowdfunding, merchandise sales, the TW Lotto and money from the sales of coffee at Fine Grind, which set up a stall outside.

The Council’s head of culture, Cllr Jane March said: “The Forum is an internationally-known venue so there’s a chance they will get a grant from the Cultural Recovery Fund. We must now wait and hope for some positive news.”

MAYORAL VISIT: Tunbridge Wells Mayor Joy Podbury and escort Bob Podbury visited The Forum last week to hear about future events

FOR EVEN MORE NEWS VISIT: timeslocalnews.co.uk

Traders win fight to reopen car park closed because of social distancing

By Richard Williams A TUNBRIDGE Wells’ car park is to reopen following a campaign by local traders, despite concerns over its safety in the wake of coronavirus.

In June, Tunbridge Wells Borough Council [TWBC] reopened several of the town’s car parks, including Crescent Road – next to the Assembly Hall Theatre – and the Royal Victoria Place car park.

However, Meadow Road Car Park remained closed, with the Council insisting that due to Covid-19 it was not safe for customers to use.

At the time, Leader Alan McDermott said: “We took the decision to close Meadow Road Car Park because, unlike other car parks in the borough, it is difficult for the public to maintain social distancing with everyone using the same entrance and exit.”

Bookings Keeping the multi-storey closed was also understood to have saved the Council around £20,000 for the first three months it was closed.

But traders in that part of town have argued keeping Meadow Road closed was badly affecting their businesses.

Sedat Zorba, who runs Zorba’s Meze Grill says the closure was resulting in customers cancelling their bookings to his restaurant.

He told the Times: “It is not just me, other traders in the area are losing money. Tesco Express say their takings are down 20 per cent.

“Royal Victoria Place car park closes at 7pm, so it is no good for us, and the nearest place to park is in Camden Road, which is on the other side of town.”

Last Thursday [August 21], Mr Zorba held a

REOPENING Meadow Road car park was closed because it wasn’t deemed safe

meeting at his restaurant attended by a number of other traders, several local Conservative councillors and the town’s MP Greg Clark to discuss the issue as well as other ways of boosting footfall in the area.

Following the meeting, the Council announced it would reopen the car park permanently.

Tunbridge Wells MP Greg Clark welcomed the news. He said: “It is very important that we do everything possible to encourage people to support our local businesses.

“For customers to be able to park close by is important for many traders. So I am very pleased Tunbridge Wells Borough Council has listened to the case made by businesses to reopen Meadow Road Car Park.”

Jane March, the Council’s Deputy Leader and head of Economic Development, Culture and Tourism said: “Businesses in the area have

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expressed concern about the closure of the car park on their operations, and have said they need all the support we can give them to help them get back on their feet.

“I am delighted that there is a possibility that some of the costs associated with making the car park Covid-secure may be met by the BID.” But the opposition Liberal Democrats said the decision was ‘very odd’.

Cllr James Rands, who represents Culverden ward – the area that covers the car park – said: “I am in favour of reopening the car park. Local businesses want it open and it isn’t actually that big an expense.”

He continued: “But either the health concerns were legitimate, in which case we need to ask what has changed to enable this, or it was wrong, in which case the car park should have opened earlier.”

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Campaign sees dozens of businesses bouncing back EARLIER this month, the Times launched its own initiative called Back in Business to help local companies trying to bounce back from the ravaging impact of Covid-19.

We offered to start profiling them on these pages by way of support and free of charge and have had scores of local firms contact us. Here are some of these profiles and we would urge readers to support them along with all other local businesses – together we can get through all of this.

If you would like your business highlighted, particularly if you are a smaller independent, then see the details on this page.

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Here’s how to sign up for our initiative aimed at helping businesses, particularly smaller independents, bounce back. Just send us the background details of your company, in no more than 400 words, telling us: Who you are ... where you are... what you offer... and how you believe raising your profile in the Times might help. Relevant images of you and your product will also be appreciated.

We’ll do our best over the coming weeks to profile your business along with your website site, at no cost to you.

Details to: newsdesk@timesoftunbridgewells.co.uk

Former pre-school teacher hopes to clean up after being made redundant

Fine art service goes online after facing a Covid blank canvas

BACK IN BUSINESS: A TUNBRIDGE WELLS resident who was made redundant in March has set up a home cleaning service.

Dilys Midwinter lost her job as an early years educator at a preschool following a difficult year in which she suffered ill health, but decided to set out on her own.

“I had only just made it back on my feet after a challenging few months last Christmas,” she said. “So being made redundant just as I was gaining good health was a bit of a shock.”

She continued: “But I have remained resilient. I am healthy and well and I have instead thrived during this strange time. I have felt inspired and driven and so I decided to set up my own business.”

BACK IN BUSINESS: A FINE art service that promoted individual artists and galleries has re-emerged from lockdown with a new business approach.

The coronavirus crisis nearly ended the Fine Art Services, based in Bayham Road in Tunbridge Wells, when all art galleries were closed down.

The business had represented artists and helped them create their prints and frame their pictures, as well working with galleries to promote artists’ work.

But owner Neal Scrase’s said: “Covid-19 could have easily spelt the end of my small business.

“As a trade business serving the arts community via individual artists and galleries the sudden closure of all the outlets and art fairs for

She said her business, The Home Cleaners, was set up with a small amount of funding through a government scheme.

The business, based in Tunbridge Wells, serves the town as well as the surrounding areas within Kent and East Sussex.

“I have had a great response so far, but I’m of course always looking for new customers. The plan is to grow the team and hire another member of staff to keep up with the demand I hope to see,” she said.

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Wednesday August 26 | 2020

their work spelt possible disaster.”

He said he decided to become more ‘retail led’ and created ArtRoamer – an online shop that connects individual artists and their work to customers.

He explained: “My business had to change direction. I have done well with a raft of new retail customers from the town coming in as they have been redecorating and need new frames or new images for their walls. This was the catalyst to ArtRoamer.”

He says he started the website in June, adding: “Within four days I had fourteen clients wanting to be included which means my marketing budget is now fourteen times bigger and will continue to grow until I reach the ceiling that I placed onto the concept.

“The concept of an online art shop is certainly not new, but most platforms are too big. These sites completely swamped you with images, tens of thousands of them.

“From a buyer’s perspective you are overwhelmed and spend hours browsing and never buying. From an artist perspective you never get seen by the buyers unless you are extremely lucky.”

He added that ArtRoamer is restricted to 50 artists and around 500 images.

“Already I have clients from Australia and the Far East who have signed up, because I can handle their distributions as well as their sales and prints,” he said, “But I also want to help build an art hub within the Tunbridge Wells community and to grow the area as an arts centre.”

Back in Business

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ART LOVER Neal Scrase

LOYALTY: Jess Gibson [left] with Grace owner Janice Walker and Tonbridge Council Leader Nicholas Heslop

Relaunch of the loyalty card helps boost support for local businesses BACK IN BUSINESS: A LOYALTY card scheme set up before lockdown to support local shops in Tunbridge Wells and Tonbridge, has begun a new poster campaign thanks to funding from the local council.

Thetncard, brainchild of Tonbridge mum, Jess Gibson, was launched in February.

The card costs £20 and offers 20 per cent discounts for customers of stores taking part – 10 per cent of all membership fees also goes to the charity West Kent Mind.

But just two months after launching the card coronavirus lockdown arrived and many high street stores closed.

During lockdown Jess used her contacts to set up a Covid-19 support group on Facebook, but now she is back promoting thetncard, which more than 200 stores have signed up to, with a new poster campaign funded by Tonbridge & Malling Borough Council and the Business Rate Retention Pilot for Tonbridge.

WHO ARE THEY? Fine Art Services and ArtRoamer WHAT DO THEY DO? Fine art retail and fine art services for artists and galleries HOW TO CONTACT THEM: https:// shop.artroamer.com/ art@nealscrase. com

She said: “The tncard now has fantastic new signage at independent retailers Flowers by Enchantment and Grace Fashion Accessories.

“Both shops have been with thetncard from the start, and now sell memberships for us so that people may join our scheme and take advantage of member rewards whilst out shopping. You can also join via our new app and our website, thetncard. com.”

She added that a similar poster campaign, funded by thetncard, is being launched in Tunbridge Wells this week at the Geography Bar on the High Street, Whirligig Toys and Biggie Best on Mount Pleasant Road.

WHO ARE THEY: thetncard WHAT DO THEY DO? Loyalty card that supports independent local businesses in Tunbridge Wells and Tonbridge HOW TO CONTACT THEM: thetncard. com jess@thetncard.com

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Wednesday August 26 | 2020

‘Outlying’ Tunbridge Wells car dealership to be sold despite a UK surge in car sales

By Robert Forrester THE Cooper BMW and Mini dealership in Longfield Road is poised for a takeover by Maidstone-based Arden.

The acquisition of the dealership, currently owned by the multinational automotive distributor Inchcape, is set to be finalised by the end of this month.

The move will double Arden operation’s representation with the German premium car brand, adding to the £77.6million turnover of business’s existing site at Quarry Wood, Aylesford.

The sale comes amid reports that car dealerships across the UK have seen a jump in both new and used vehicle sales as buyers rushed to secure alternatives to public transport following the easing of the UK’s coronavirus lockdowns.

Two of the UK’s dealership chains, Lookers and Vertu, saw year-on-year sales leap in July by 17 per cent and 18 per cent respectively.

But Inchcape’s UK chief executive, James Brearley, said the sale of the Tunbridge Wells site was part of the firm’s continued ‘strategic

withdrawal from the South East and Kent’.

It comes a year after the business disposed of seven other sites worth £21million to Group 1 Automotive and Motorline. It also sold its Fleet Solutions business to Toyota last October.

Mr Brearley said: “It’s just part of our strategic withdrawal from the South East and Kent.

“BMW remains a very important partner for the business, but the Tunbridge Wells franchise had become an outlying operation.”

SOLD Maidstone-based Arden are to take over the Cooper BMW and Mini dealership this month

Decline He continued: “We still operate businesses down in that South East region and we are quite happy to continue operating those businesses.

“There were a few raised eyebrows when we started to sell some of the sites we did in the South East last year, but there were businesses down there that we were struggling to make money from.

“We’ve started this year in better shape and with a headcount that we are more comfortable with and is more sustainable for us as a business.”

Inchcape’s 2019 annual financial results, released in February, revealed a revenue decline

of 1.6 per cent year-on-year to £3billion and trading profits decline by 0.6 per cent to £17.5million.

In a trading update last month, the group said

that its actions in the UK market during 2019 had been centred on ‘optimising our portfolio of retail sites where we were less able to leverage costs efficiently through a local scale presence’.

Pizza Express reopens as chain confirms site will not be closed

STAYING OPEN The High Street’s Pizza Express will not close

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Darren Austin at Synergee

Darren Austin is a director of Synergee Limited, a firm of Chartered Accountants & business advisers based in Tunbridge Wells.

If you have any questions you'd like to ask Darren he can be contacted on 01892 772960 | www.synergee.org.uk

TUNBRIDGE Wells’ Pizza Express will not be closed, the chain has confirmed.

The High Street branch has finally reopened after it was closed for more than four months following lockdown.

But the struggling pizza giant is to close 73 of its other restaurants across the UK, with the potential loss of 1,100 jobs, as it tries to stay afloat in the wake of the coronavirus shutdown, the chain has announced.

The company, which currently has around 454 branches in the UK, said last week that it has finalised a proposal to reduce its restaurant and rental costs via a company voluntary arrangement (CVA).

But the Tunbridge Wells branch was not among the restaurants earmarked for closure, a spokesperson confirmed.

The company said that although the majority of its restaurants were profitable before lockdown was imposed, earnings had been declining across the Pizza Express estate for the last three years.

It added that the reduction in revenue caused by the enforced closure of all restaurants, the cost of reopening and the UK’s uncertain economic future meant its rental costs were no longer sustainable.

Pizza Express, which is majority owned by Chinese firm Hony Capital, also confirmed it had hired advisers from Lazard to lead a sale process for the business.

Tough Zoe Bowley, Pizza Express’s managing director for the UK and Ireland, said: “Unfortunately, the impact of the global pandemic has meant that we have had to make some incredibly tough decisions to safeguard Pizza Express for the long term.

“We have confirmed that 73 of our pizzerias are proposed to close permanently.”

Ms Bowley said that in most cases, the stores selected for closure are near to another Pizza Express that has already reopened.

cracks,of but to get a scheme up and running in a The last 5of months have seen morethe challenges for are some In place the usual Q&A, following the support packages that have month is pretty good going. HMRC processed 67,000 business than I can remember in any other time of been made available to help businesses deal with the Coronavirus: my near 40-year career. The reduction or complete

Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme: HMRC will cessation of income coupled with the raft of new reimburse 80% of wages paid to workers who have be support packages with complex criteria, grants and laid off due to the coronavirus crisis. This is capped at operational restrictions have caused many a £2.5k per employee per month. headache and likely a few tears. One thing has shone VAT Deferral: Theisdeferral will apply of from 20 March through and that the adaptability business toowners 30 Juneand 2020.

There is perseverance. a lack of clarity on the Gov. their sheer the early I saw businesses from ukIn website anddays, we are interpreting thistransform as payments facebyto30 face to rather onlinethan and quarters from eat ended in to take away or due June 30 June. delivery. one enterprising who has This meansI have that May quarter VAT client Returns, where morphed supplying barstill services at private payment is from due by 7 July, will be payable as functions topayments selling cocktails online which are normal.

Any deferred will become payable delivered throughout the UK. by the end of the tax year (31/3/21 Company or 5/4/21 The Government also stepped up to the mark. Mr Unincorporated) Sunak played a blinder with the timely introduction

Income Tax Deferral: The self-assessment second of the Coronavirus Job Support Scheme and the payment on account, dueSupport by 31 July 2020, will be are Self-Employed Income Scheme.

These deferred to 31 January 2021.

No penalties or interest not perfect, and many people have fallen through the will be charged.

claims in the first hour that the portal was open, and

Cash Grants: A grant of £10k will automatically be some 9.4 million employees had been supported on provided to all businesses currently entitled to Small furlough up to 30 June.

Business Rates Relief. A grant of £25k can be claimed In addition to the two schemes above, we have had for businesses in the retail, hospitality or leisure industry grants, mortgage holidays, VAT and PAYE deferrals ifand their rateable value is between £15k and £51K. government backed loans.

Business Rates Holiday: is a 12-month business Whilst this support has There kept many businesses afloat, I think we are(April in the20 eye the storm rather than rates holiday toofMarch 21) for all retail, through it.and Theleisure furlough scheme is hospitality businesses inwinding England.down and

will cease byArrangements: 31 October and In theaddition current second Time to Pay to the SEISS grant is scheduled to be the last. The VAT deferred will deferral schemes noted above, if you have outstanding need to be paid by March 2021, and the various loan tax liabilities (Corporation Tax, VAT or Income Tax) repayments will continue over several years. due to coronavirus, you may be able to agree a time To all the businesses that have pivoted and made to pay arrangement. Arrangements will be agreed on phenomenal efforts to remain trading, please keep an aeye caseonbyyour caseforecast basis. Toprofits discuss your options, contact and cash flows. Ensure HMRC on 0800 0159 559. you are making adequate provision for the inevitable

Further info and updates bethis found here: https:// outflows that will result can from turbulent period. www.synergee.org.uk/press-releases/coronavirus-update

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Fire station Tunbridge Wells pub that defied online events venue critics shortlisted for ‘continuity’ award to close down

By Richard Williams

ONE of the oldest pubs in Tunbridge Wells has been shortlisted by The Great British Pub Awards.

The Grove Tavern in Berkeley Road has been made a finalist of a Business Continuity award for its efforts to remain trading during the Covid lockdown.

In March, the Times reported on how landlord of the Grove, Steve Baxter, hit back at online critics after he decided to lawfully offer takeaway beer from his pub from a self-serving

‘The risks are continually evaluated, whilst also taking into account such things as the low number of confirmed cases in the area’ hatch when lockdown was announced.

A ‘self-opinionated’ Facebook user unfairly condemned the practice, saying Mr Baxter was being ‘irresponsible’ and ‘putting everyone at risk to line his own pockets’.

But the landlord, who has run the pub for nearly 20 years, hit back and said: “The decision to do this was not lightly made and is completely within the revised government guidelines, which I constantly monitor, along with this everevolving situation.

“The risks are continually evaluated, whilst also taking into account such things as the low number of confirmed cases in the area.”

Now his endeavours to keep on serving the community throughout the pandemic have been recognised by the Great British Pub Awards – the hostelry industry’s leading awards programme.

PHOTO: Lee Smith

THE Old Fire Station [TOFS] in Tonbridge is to close, four years after it was converted into an events venue, coffee shop and restaurant.

Owner Sam Goode said the landlord of the former fire station was selling the building.

Announcing the news on his Facebook page, Mr Goode said: “It’s been an interesting four years being a tenant in The Old Fire Station.

“We started with an empty building and went on to host some of the best chefs in the UK including some who have since won Michelin Stars plus 3 professional MasterChef winners.”

He continued: “TOFS has enjoyed being part of Tonbridge and the community over the last 4 years and has helped (we hope) put Tonbridge back on the map as a great town and everyone should be proud of what the area can offer to visitors and families.”

He added: “Our landlord is selling the building.

“We will still be running the popup coffee site and street food events (Covid allowed) until told we have to go.”

FINALIST The Grove Tavern in Berkeley Road Mr Baxter said: “Just because the pub had to close its doors, it didn’t mean the Grove Tavern couldn’t still play a part in the community.”

A spokesperson for the awards added: “Despite being on their knees, we’ve been proudly blown away with stories of how operators have stepped up to perform vital community services, and it’s only right that we recognise and celebrate those incredible acts.”

Award winners, which are chosen by a public

vote, will be offered the opportunity to submit an application for up to £10,000 to fund a business improvement or upgrade or to put towards a community project, courtesy of sponsors Coca-Cola.

You can vote for the Grove Tavern at https:// www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/GBPA-BusinessContinuity Voting closes at midnight tonight [Wednesday, August 26].

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Wednesday August 26 | 2020

Budding photographers capture ‘stunning’ shots of the Common

By Jerome Bowman THE natural beauty of the Tunbridge Wells and Rusthall commons has inspired three ‘fantastic’ images from the winners of a local photography competition.

Competitors were challenged by The Tunbridge Wells Commons Conservators to capture a view on either common that made them think ‘Wow’.

Inspired by the lockdown, the Conservators said that they wanted people, ‘to help us share a little bit of magic for those self-isolating and stuck at home’.

[L-R] Jenny Woodward and Deputy Mayor Chris Woodward and Mayor Joy Podbury, Escort Bob Podbury

BEE’S NEST

By Nicholas Sander The judges said ‘the close up of the stripes was in contrast to the texture of the bark. The pattern was striking and captured such a fascinating subject’.

Alyson Howard took a ‘fantastic’ shot of Happy

HAPPY VALLEY

By Alyson Howard Valley to win the Adult Category.

“We loved the composition, with the angles created by the light and the steps. It really captured a wow moment on Rusthall Common,” the judges told her.

Charity to boost mental wellbeing FREE online mental wellbeing courses are being offered by a local charity to help people cope with the challenges of coronavirus.

The weekly group sessions, run by charity We Are With You in Kent, begin this month and are based on Cognitive Behaivoural Therapy (CBT).

CBT is a widely recognised practice that uses real-life techniques to change unhelpful thought patterns.

Evidence shows this can help with stress, insomnia, anxiety and depression.

We Are With You’s new online courses are free and available for anyone aged 17 years plus. You don’t need a referral from your GP to participate, but you must be registered with a GP surgery in Kent.

GIVING BACK Mark Batley plans to raise money for the hospitals that cared for his son

Anxiety Becky Wartew, a psychological wellbeing practitioner for We Are With You in Kent, explained: “Not everyone whose mental health is being affected by coronavirus is aware of it.

“People may be experiencing sleep problems, general anxiety, stress at work or low mood – or a mixture of these. Our mental health staff can help people to process and challenge these feelings.”

“CBT has been proven to give people practical ways to change their thought patterns going forwards.”

Becky added: “We hope our new courses will reassure participants they are not alone and that they can feel better.

“We can’t change the challenges faced by coronavirus, but we can change how we respond to them.”

We Are With You’s online courses can be accessed via phone, tablet or laptop in a quiet place with good internet connection. You do not need a referral from your GP, but you will need to be registered with a surgery in Kent.

To register your interest, visit: wearewithyou.org.uk/mental-health-courses.

A SPONTANEOUS 12-hour hike through the South Downs taken by a teenager and his uncle raised £475 for charity.

Joe Palmer, aged 17, and his uncle Robert Veitch set out from Crowbrough with the intention of walking as far as they could in half a day, keeping supporters updated with Facebook posts, starting at 6am and finishing 12 hours later in a bus stop in Piddinghoe near Newhaven. They went over 32 miles in total.

Dreams

Original The judging panel, consisting of local wildlife photographer Heidi Crundwell, self-taught hobbyist photographer Steve Baker and the Commons’ Warden Steve Budden, met on Monday August 10 to decide the winners.

Tunbridge Wells Mayor Joy Podbury presented the award to the three winners at Wellington Rocks.

Joe Refet won the Junior Category with a close-up shot of a spider hanging onto a dandelion. The judges said that it was a ‘cool and original image’.

They added: “The light was very interesting and concentrating on such a small object was clever.”

The winning picture for the Teen Category, an image of a bees nest, was taken by Nicholas Sander.

Hike raises money for children’s charity

Dad’s charity walk for hospital that saved his baby son’s life A FATHER is planning to walk 33 miles to raise money for the hospital that saved his newborn baby – who weighed less than 2lb at birth.

Mark Batley’s ten-hour journey will follow the route of his son Thomas’s first ambulance ride from Tunbridge Wells Hospital at Pembury to the William Harvey in Ashford, where he was transferred after being born 14 weeks early.

He is hoping to raise £2,500 for East Kent Hospitals Charity’s Tiny Toes appeal, which supports the neonatal intensive care unit where Thomas was cared for.

Mr Batley said: “Simply saying thank you did not seem enough.

“This is so big that we couldn’t just say thank you, so I wanted to raise a bit of money to give something back to the hospital that saved

Thomas’s life.”

Thomas weighed just 1lb 13oz when he was born on February 29, and spent three weeks in the neonatal intensive care unit at the Ashford hospital before he could be transferred back to Tunbridge Wells Hospital.

He was eventually discharged after almost three months in hospital and is now a happy and healthy six month old.

“We are so grateful for all their care and we will never be able to adequately thank them for everything they have done,” added Mr Batley.

“But I hope raising money will go some way to saying thank you.”

The walk is planned for the end of September.

To donate, visit justgiving.com/fundraising/ mark-batley1

They raised the money for Taylor Made Dreams, a charity that helps children with life-limiting illnesses achieve their dreams.

Robert said: “We live in Crowborough and Taylor Made Dreams is a charity based in the town.

“It made sense to try and help others with life-limiting illnesses fulfil their dreams because Joe couldn’t fulfil his. We had no plan, just an impulse to walk towards the coast.”

Suzi Mitchell, the founder of the charity, said: “We knew nothing about Joe’s effort until it was almost all over.

“The spontaneity of it, and the way people supported it was amazing. These donations enables us to continue to do our work.”

Free art packs for children in Kent CHILDREN in Kent have enjoyed thousands of free packs of art materials sent by KCC to help with being stuck indoors during lockdown.

The packs included paints, brushes, coloured pencils with a sharpener and eraser, marker pens, sketch books and craft shapes so children could get really creative, as well as arts and crafts activities.

KCC joined forces with Arts Council England to distribute “Let’s Create” packs and distributed 4,500 in Kent with different packs for primary and secondary school age children, together with 500 additional packs for older people.

More than 450 boxes were distributed to district councils so the packs could be delivered to individuals locally.

KCC funding for the packs was matched by the Arts Council Bridge organisations ROH Bridge and Artswork with National Lottery funding and additional support from the Crafts Council and Art Fund.

Mike Hill, KCC Cabinet Member for Community and Regulatory Services, said: “I am delighted that so many Kent schoolchildren and older people have been able to enjoy the result of those efforts to give them extra activities to enjoy during this difficult period.”

The Let’s Create packs included an activity sheet created by art teacher Andria Zafirakou, winner of the 2018 Global Teacher Prize, a set of Art Rebel activity cards made in a collaboration between Turner Contemporary and award winning illustrator Alex Foster, the Art Builders at Home activity booklet created by Animate Arts and six Art Builder Toolkits designed by a national team of award winning artists.

ART ATTACK KCC have been helping children get creative

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PM calls for end to the ‘wetness’ as BBC chief says its Proms decision was right PRIME Minister Boris Johnson has called for an end to “self-recrimination and wetness” as the BBC’s chief said it was “right” to remove lyrics from some traditional anthems at the Last Night of the Proms.

The BBC’s director-general Lord Hall said the decision to perform new, orchestral versions of Rule, Britannia! and Land Of Hope And Glory was a ‘creative’ one.

recrimination and wetness.

“I wanted to get that off my chest.”

There will be no live audience to sing along and wave flags at the September 12 concert because of coronavirus restrictions.

Lord Hall said it was a ‘miracle’ that Proms boss David Pickard had put together a fortnight of live

performances amid the pandemic.

“The point is they’ve come to the right conclusion, which is it’s very, very hard in an Albert Hall that takes over 5,000 people to have the atmosphere of the Last Night of the Proms, where a whole audience normally sing along,” he said.

Cringing But he confirmed that the issue of dropping songs because of their association with Britain’s imperial history had been discussed.

His interview aired after the Prime Minister voiced his concern over the issue, saying he wanted to get his thoughts ‘off my chest’.

Mr Johnson said during a visit to Devon yesterday [Tuesday]: “I think it’s time we stopped our cringing embarrassment about our history, about our traditions, and about our culture, and we stopped this general fight of self-

SILENCE There will be no singing at this year’s Proms

Ofqual chief quits after exam results controversy Ofqual chief regulator Sally Collier has quit in the wake of the A-level and GCSE results U-turn in England.

She will be replaced by her predecessor Dame Glenys Stacey, the exams regulator said.

In a statement on Tuesday Ofqual said Ms Collier had decided “that the next stage of the awarding process would be better overseen by new leadership”.

It follows a Government U-turn away from awarding students in England grades based on an algorithm which appeared to boost private

schools’ performance, and instead to award pupils their teacher assessed grades.

The controversial algorithm had led to many students having their results downgraded earlier this month.

Regulator Ofqual said: “The Ofqual Board supports Sally in this decision, and thanks her for her leadership and service over the past four years, which has included overseeing the successful

introduction of an entirely new set of GCSEs and A-levels, and a new grading system.”

Dame Glenys, who was chief regulator between 2011 and 2016, has been asked to take on a temporary leadership role as acting chief regulator until December.

Education Secretary Gavin Williamson, who has also faced calls to resign, said: “Following Sally Collier’s decision to step down as Ofqual’s chief regulator, I’d like to thank her for the commitment she has shown to the role over the last four years and wish her well for the future.”

Harry Maguire is found guilty MANCHESTER United captain Harry Maguire has been found guilty of repeated bodily harm, attempted bribery, violence against public employees and insult after his arrest on the Greek island of Mykonos The England defender was arrested in Greece following a brawl last week on the island of Mykonos.

Maguire spent two nights in a police cell following the incident, which reportedly was sparked after he was taunted by rival supporters.

However, the defence claimed the brawl erupted after Maguire’s sister was injected with a substance they feared was a rape drug by two ‘Albanian’ men.

The Premiership star had denied all charges and was released from custody after an incident involving police and two other defendants on Friday evening and was not required to return for Tuesday’s hearing on the island of Syros.

Maguire was earlier included in Gareth Southgate’s England squad.

Face mask u-turn BORIS Johnson has hinted that guidance which says face coverings are not required for schoolchildren in England could be changed amid reports that a U-turn has already been agreed by the Government.

It follows growing pressure on ministers to review the guidance from teaching unions, while Holyrood confirmed secondary school pupils in Scotland will be required to wear face coverings in between lessons from Monday.

According to newspaper reports both Public Health England and the Department for Education (DfE) have signed off on a policy that wearing face masks will be near-mandatory in communal areas.

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CONFRONTATION Survivor Mirwais Waziri in court yesterday [Tuesday]

Solar space jump A SWISS team working to take a solarpowered plane to the edge of space says it has performed the first jump and freefall from an electric aircraft.

The SolarStratos team said its experimental plane took off from an airfield in western Switzerland with two people on board early on Tuesday and climbed to 5,000 feet before its founder, Raphael Domjan, jumped out of the aircraft.

It said Mr Domjan remained in freefall for several hundred meters, reaching speeds of over 93mph before releasing his parachute and landing safely.

Poisoning denial

New Zealand mosque attack victim calls gunman ‘loser’ A MAN who was shot and wounded in the New Zealand mosque attacks had a simple message for the mass-murderer responsible: “You are the loser, and we are the winners.”

Mirwais Waziri was among the survivors and family members who spoke on the second day of a four-day sentencing hearing for white supremacist Brenton Harrison Tarrant, who killed 51 worshippers at two mosques during the March 2019 attacks.

Mr Waziri said Tarrant had not shown any remorse during the hearing and so instead of giving a victim’s impact statement, he wanted to deliver the gunman a message.

Freed Coming from Afghanistan, Mr Waziri said, he was sometimes associated with terrorism – but now he has been freed.

“You took that name from me,” Mr Waziri said.

“Today, you are the terrorist.”

His comments elicited spontaneous applause

from other victims in the courtroom.

Others told Tarrant during their statements that he was a coward, a monster, and a rat.

Tarrant broke his impassive facade a couple of times to smirk at survivors when they made fun of him – one told him he should read the Quran during his plentiful free time, while another said he was still alive because Tarrant did not know how to shoot, except from point-blank range.

In March, the 29-year-old Australian gunman pleaded guilty to murder, attempted murder, and terrorism, reversing an earlier not guilty plea.

He could become the first person in New Zealand to be sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole, the toughest sentence available.

Tarrant has dismissed his lawyers and is representing himself during the sentencing.

The attacks targeting people praying at the Al Noor and Linwood mosques shocked New Zealand and prompted new laws banning the deadliest types of semi-automatic weapons.

TERROR SUSPECT POSTED VIDEOS A man accused of suspected extreme right-wing terror offences in the UK posted videos apparently celebrating the Christchurch mosques terror attack.

Michael Joseph Ian Nugent, 37, appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court via videolink from Southwark police station on Tuesday afternoon after being charged by the Metropolitan Police.

He is charged with two counts of encouraging terrorism, one of disseminating a terrorist publication about how to carry out a silent assassination, and nine counts of collecting information likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism.

He allegedly posted a video of the Christchurch terrorist attack – on the one-year anniversary of the New Zealand atrocity in March this year.

THE Kremlin has rejected accusations of involvement in an alleged attack on Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny who is in a coma in a German hospital, a day after doctors said tests indicated that he was poisoned.

The politician’s allies say the Kremlin is behind the illness of its most prominent critic, with some demanding an investigation into whether Russian President Vladimir Putin was involved.

“These accusations absolutely cannot be true and are rather an empty noise,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. “We do not intend to take it seriously.”

Police victim paralysed THE father of a black man who was shot by police in Kenosha, Wisconsin, says his son has been left paralysed from the waist down.

Jacob Blake’s father told the Chicago Sun-Times that he was told his son was shot eight times during the confrontation with police on Sunday evening, which was captured on mobile phone video and led to two nights of unrest in the city between Milwaukee and Chicago.

The father, who is also named Jacob Blake and who was driving from Charlotte, North Carolina, to Kenosha to be with his son, told the newspaper that he learned on Sunday night that officers had shot his son eight times and that he saw the now-viral video of it online a few minutes later that appears to show police shoot his son in the back.

He said his son now has ‘eight holes’ in his body and is paralysed from the waist down, though doctors do not know if the paralysis will be permanent.

Africa is set to be declared polio free HEALTH authorities are expected to declare the African continent free of wild polio.

The declaration would leave Pakistan and neighbouring Afghanistan as the only countries thought to still have the virus, with vaccination efforts against the highly infectious, water-borne disease complicated by insecurity and attacks on health workers.

The announcement by the African Regional Certification Commission for Polio Eradication comes after no cases have been reported for four years. Polio once paralysed some 75,000 children a year across Africa.

Health authorities see the declaration as a rare glint of good news in Africa amid the coronavirus pandemic, an Ebola outbreak in western Congo, the world’s worst measles outbreak in Congo and the persistent deadly challenges of malaria, HIV and tuberculosis.

The World Health Organisation says it is just the second time a virus has been eradicated in Africa, after the elimination of smallpox four decades ago.

But sometimes patchy surveillance across the

vast continent of 1.3 billion people raises the possibility that scattered cases of wild polio still remain, undetected.

The final push to combat wild polio focused largely on northern Nigeria, where the Boko Haram Islamic extremist group has carried out a deadly insurgency for more than a decade. Health workers at times carried out vaccinations on the margins of the insecurity, putting their lives at risk.

Vaccine Africa’s last reported case of wild polio was in Nigeria in 2016. The country had been removed from the global list of polio-endemic nations a year earlier, a step towards being declared polio-free, but new cases were then reported in children in the north – a stark example of the difficulties in combating the disease.

This new declaration does not mean Africa is polio-free. Cases remain of vaccine-derived polio virus, which is a rare mutated form of the live virus contained in the oral polio vaccine.

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AstraZeneca gives patients first doses of its Covid-19 drug trial PHARMACEUTICAL giant AstraZeneca has said the first volunteers have now been dosed in its clinical trial of a new drug to help prevent and treat Covid-19.

The group, which is also separately developing a Covid-19 vaccine together with scientists at Oxford University, said the drug – known as AZD7442 – is a combination of two monoclonal antibodies.

AstraZeneca said the trial, which will include up to 48 volunteers in the UK aged 18 to 55, will look at the safety of the treatment, as well as the body’s reaction to the drug.

The Cambridge-headquartered

group said the phase 1 clinical trial is an “important milestone” in the development of the drug, which has the potential to act as a preventative for people exposed to the virus, as well as to treat patients already infected with Covid-19.

Infected A so-called monoclonal antibody combination works by mimicking the body’s natural antibodies.

The antibodies come from patients infected with coronavirus and were discovered

by Vanderbilt University Medical Centre and then licensed to

AstraZeneca in June.

Astra then boosts the combined antibodies so that they ‘afford at least six months of protection from Covid-19’.

Mene Pangalos, vicepresident of biopharmaceuticals research and development at Astra, said: “This combination of antibodies, coupled to our proprietary half-life extension technology, has the potential to improve both the effectiveness and durability of use, in addition to reducing the likelihood of viral resistance.”

If the trial is successful, Astra said it would look to move the treatment to late-stage phase 2 and phase 3 trials.

Jobs to go at the Co-op Bank THE Co-operative Bank plans to cut around 350 jobs from up and down the country as it closes 18 branches and slashes middle management and head office roles.

The bank said it has not been immune to the effects of recent months, as low interest rates hit the income of all lenders.

More customers are also choosing to bank online, and making fewer transactions in branches, chief executive Andrew Bester said.

Bosses promised to try to redeploy staff where possible, and will consult with them and the unions.

Rob MacGregor at Unite said that the union is “deeply disappointed” by the decision to cut staff and close branches.

“Job losses are always unwelcome, however, given the repeated restructuring exercises that this workforce has been through over the past 10 years the news today will be particularly painful,” he said.

“During these extremely testing economic times, Unite wants all employers to work with the trade union to avoid job losses and protect the livelihoods of our members.

“Unite will continue to press The Co-operative Bank to put

strategies in place to secure as many jobs as possible and avoid compulsory redundancies.”

The 18 branches will be closed

by December 1 this year.

Co-operative Bank said it had chosen the sites after analysing their footfall over the last 12 months.

Commitment It will write to affected customers to let them know what alternatives are available.

Mr Bester said: “Our people have shown great dedication and commitment to our customers over the past few months, so we are very sorry to announce this news today.

“Unfortunately, we’re not immune to the impact of recent events, with the historically low base rate affecting the income of all banks and a period of prolonged economic uncertainty ahead, which means it’s important we reduce costs and have the right-sized operating model in place for the future.”

Google’s tax defence US and China talks TECH giant Google will ‘always pay the tax it is required to pay’ in the United Kingdom, the company’s UK managing director has said.

Ronan Harris told ITV’s Good Morning Britain on Tuesday that the firm paid “around the same amount” of tax globally as other similar-sized companies across all

industries.

But he said a ‘bone of contention’ around the issue appeared to be with the ‘vast majority’ of its tax being paid to the US state of California, where the company’s head office is located.

He said the amount of tax the firm should pay in the UK was a ‘matter for the UK Government to set’.

THE US and China have held talks over their so-called ‘phase-one’ trade deal after the discussion was delayed earlier this month.

Both sides saw progress and are committed to the agreement, the US Trade Representative said.

Negotiations had been expected to take place on 15 August but

were postponed by President Trump.

In an election campaign speech earlier this month, Mr Trump said: “I don’t want to talk to China right now.”

The talks come amid growing tensions between the two nations and the early phase of the US presidential election campaign.

FOR EVEN MORE NEWS VISIT: timeslocalnews.co.uk

Wednesday August 26 | 2020

EDUCATION Times Testing times ahead for future GCSE students After GCSE results were published last week for the first time in history when pupils had not sat them – due to them being cancelled because of coronavirus– we look at how Covid-19 will affect those students preparing for future exams EARLIER this month it was announced that GCSE students in England will be able to drop subject areas in English literature and history exams next year as a result of not having enough time in school this year to study for certain subjects.

Poetry is one of the topics that will become optional following concern that schools may not be able to cover all areas because of the pandemic.

But head teachers said it amounted to ‘tinkering at the edges’ amid ‘widespread ongoing disruption.’

Exams watchdog Ofqual has yet to decide if 2021 exams will be delayed, to give teachers more time to prepare students.

This summer’s exams were cancelled and following the government’s U-turn on A-levels, exam boards will now issue GCSE grades based on student’s predicted results, or results based on previous exams and the performance of the school in previous years – whichever leads to the highest mark.

Having originally proposed that there would be no changes to the English literature exam in 2021, Ofqual said it had decided to offer students a choice of topics after schools expressed

“significant concern” about their ability to cover all of the subject areas that form the basis of exam questions.

Nearly half of people who responded to a consultation opposed plans to leave the exam unchanged, saying it was hard for students “to get to grips with complex literary texts remotely”.

Local News

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15

considering the best approach.

Exam season generally finishes a few weeks before the end of the school term, so there is room for manoeuvre at that stage of the year.

But Ofqual said that while there was some support for doing this to provide an extra couple of weeks of teaching time, there was concern about the knock-on effect it would have on the marking process.

At the moment, GCSE results day in England happens in the latter half of August each year.

If it was pushed any later, it would risk running into the start of the new academic year when many of those GCSE students would be planning to start A-levels or vocational qualifications – but may need to know their results so they can decide on the best path for them.

SIT AND WAIT Will Covid-19 change GCSEs for good?

Considered The government has agreed students will be given a choice of topics on which they will be asked questions, so schools can focus on a smaller number of texts.

All students will have to write about a Shakespeare play, but they can choose two out of the three remaining content areas: poetry, the 19th Century novel and post-1914 British fiction and drama.

A similar choice of topics will be available in GCSE history and ancient history to allow schools more choice over the content they teach, Ofqual confirmed.

The exam regulator had also considered delaying the start of the GCSE exam season to June 7 instead of mid-May, but said it is still

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16

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Letters

FOR EVEN MORE NEWS VISIT: timeslocalnews.co.uk

Wednesday August 26 | 2020

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 newsdesk@timesoftonbridge.co.uk or write to the Editor, Times Local News, Salomons Estate, Tunbridge Wells TN3 0TG

Cultural hub another disaster in the making With barely a sod of earth turned, the Amelia Scott centre is nearly 25 per cent over budget: yet another total disaster in the making and another nail in the coffin of Tunbridge Wells Borough County’s ability to manage projects.

Donald Rumsfeld spoke of ‘known unknowns’ and ‘unknown unknowns’ –

Tunbridge Wells Borough Council appears to have the monopoly on the latter. How can scaffolding costs – scaffolding for goodness’ sake – increase by six hundred percent?

Do I have any votes for leaving the thing as it is as a monument to councillors’ vanity and overweening sense of competence?

Ben Hardy, Tunbridge Wells

PHOTO: Lee Smith

WORK IN PROGRESS The Amelia Scott

Let’s go spectacular this Christmas Full marks to Victor Bethell and Carolyn Gray (Covid no excuses to cancel Christmas and Let’s go big and bold at Christmas, Times, August 19).

The Christmas decorations in the High Street have been poor to the point of embarrassment and much derision.

They are barely up a week before numerous light bulbs go out giving the impression of a sad, depressed and under-funded seaside resort instead of a prestigious town such as Royal Tunbridge Wells.

The Christmas lighting display in Tonbridge and Sevenoaks were far and away more impressive.

If ever there was a time to support our shops (particularly the independent ones), cafes and restaurants after months of uncertainty, and encourage the people back into the town, it’s with a spectacular display of bright luminosity this coming Christmas.

Claire Roberio Tunbridge Wells

Taxpayers don’t pay LCF compensation We appreciate your coverage of FSCS’s latest announcement about compensation for customers of London Capital and Finance (LCF).

However, I’d like to clarify an important point mentioned in both the headline and a couple of times in the article itself.

You’ve indicated that the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS), is funded by the taxpayer and this is not correct.

We’re able to pay our customers compensation because we are fully funded by the financial services industry.

Firms authorised by the Financial Conduct

Authority (FCA) and Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) pay us a compulsory annual levy which funds the cost of running our service and paying compensation.

Each firm pays an amount that relates to its size. For example, a deposit taker like a bank pays a levy according to the number of protected deposits (such as current and savings accounts) it holds, compared to the total of the industry.

Suzette Brown Financial Services Compensation

There should be a Woodford inquiry Peter Casson made an important point last week [August 26] about the trusteeship of the KCC’s pension fund.

If I was a beneficiary, or a future one, of this fund I would be demanding an investigation into the lack of prudence by the investment committee and a lack of oversight by the trustees.

The rules of trusteeship are very clear.

Investments in high-risk mini-bonds should be beyond the Pale.

Ralph Steerpike Tunbridge Wells

not acceptable.

In May 2021, at the local elections, they have the opportunity to fight back with votes and show the nation that they have a collective power. I would love to see the younger generations of Tunbridge Wells show up, vote and fight for each other.

Mike Tapp, Labour Member Tunbridge Wells

heritage railway in the area.

There are two major flaws to this, since the Sainsbury’s and Homebase site in Tunbridge Wells would need to be cleared, as would the housing development next to the line at Groombridge.

I do not think this would be feasible.

John Humphrey Tunbridge Wells

One way is wrong way

Lib Dems should look in the mirror

When I am travelling south I always go down the High Street but I never return on it.

I am therefore confused as how traffic will be anything other than a disaster as the High Street tries to cross with Vale Road.

Yes, it’s about time – I have only lived here since 1971 – it was made one way but not this direction.

Richard Forth Tunbridge Wells

I read with interest in Times of Tunbridge Wells the Weekly Comment piece by one of the local Liberal Democrat Borough Councillors complaining about many things [August 19], including how the Council is run.

I know from my own experience that politics is full of ups and downs, so I appreciate it can’t be an easy time to be a Liberal Democrat.

Nationally the party is short of both a leader and any policies, and sits rock bottom in the opinion polls.Only one in 20 people would currently vote for them in a General Election, its lowest level of support in 30 years.

The situation is equally rudderless at local level. The party recently lost its most experienced Borough Councillor, David Neve, who quit the party in disgust and now sits as an Independent.

And their leader, Cllr Ben Chapelard, came a poor second to Greg Clark in the General Election eight months ago and hasn’t been seen or heard since.

It is of course down to the Liberal Democrats themselves to decide how to react to the crisis within their own party.

But I don’t believe the electorate want to hear them complaining about others when they would be better served taking a long, hard look in the mirror.

David Elliott Former Chair of Tunbridge Wells Conservatives

Proposed mainline is not feasible There is a proposal (which seems to have semi-official status) to create a second main line to Brighton by reinstating the line between Uckfield and Lewes with considerable engineering work in the vicinity of Lewes so as to give access both to Brighton and Eastbourne, along with a new route connecting the London end of the line directly with Docklands.

A further strand of the proposal would be effectively to evict the Spa Valley Railway and to covert their line (from Eridge to Tunbridge Wells) back to main line status, including reinstatement of the link between the stations at Tunbridge Wells, thus creating yet another alternative route from London to Brighton via Sevenoaks and Tonbridge.

Presumably the Spa Valley would be found an alternative site, or else it would have to be encouraged to amalgamate with another CARTOON BY PEPPY: (Follow her on Twitter @Peppyscott)

Younger generations should stand up The last year has made me feel upset and deeply sorry for our young people, in Tunbridge Wells and nationally.

First, the Tory Government deprived them of the opportunity to travel freely, live and work in 27 other countries, and now they have dished out A-Level results using a dodgy algorithm straight out of the Dominic Cummings play book.

It is important that our younger generations stand up and show the Government that this is

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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Weekly Comment

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Greg Clark Conservative MP for Tunbridge Wells

Wednesday August 26 | 2020

Greg Clark was first elected MP for Tunbridge Wells in 2005.

He has held a number of positions in Government, including Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. He is currently Chair of the House of Commons Science and Technology Select Committe.

Covid has dropped to low levels in Tunbridge Wells but testing is crucial THROUGHOUT the coronavirus pandemic I have been briefed every week by the Chief Executive of our local NHS hospital trust, Miles Scott.

During the most tense days of the lockdown, when infections were rising exponentially and no-one could know whether capacity would be overwhelmed, Miles’ calm reports of the heroic efforts that the whole staff at Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells Hospitals were successfully applying were tremendously reassuring, and I was able to convey this to constituents each week.

So it was a particular pleasure to be able to have last week’s briefing face-to-face – at the Pembury Hospital – for the first time since coronavirus emerged.

We were able to meet in person because the incidence of Covid has dropped to such low levels in the Tunbridge Wells area.

I see the daily test results and most days recently not a single person has tested positive for Covid in the Tunbridge Wells area, and at the time of writing the hospital has no Covid positive patients and has not for some time.

We should not let this good news stop us remembering the extraordinary professionalism and dedication that was deployed weeks past, nor the people who lost their lives to Covid in our area.

It is clear that as we move into the autumn, we are entering a new phase, in which testing will be absolutely critical to keeping the virus under control, at least until a vaccine has been

successfully developed.

In Parliament I have been Chair, since the beginning of February, of the Science and Technology Select Committee.

We are preparing our next report to Parliament, having taken evidence from leading scientists in this country and around the world, and testing will feature prominently in it.

Settings The good news is that after a start that was too slow, we now have the testing capacity to test more people each week than almost any other country in the world.

And given that the majority of people who contract Covid may display no symptoms at all, that capacity is particularly important to be able to test large numbers of people who may be feeling fine but are in a place where an outbreak of Covid has been detected.

Some scientists have expressed the view that in certain settings, such as hospitals, everyone should be tested routinely every week whether they have symptoms or not.

So far the advice of the Chief Medical Officer is that this should not be done where there is no reason to think there has been an outbreak, but this is something my Committee will be probing further in the weeks ahead.

When I met the hospital Chief Executive last week, we did so at the laboratories at the Tunbridge Wells Hospital.

Archie Mitchell Coordinator of West Kent Young Greens

It was particularly relevant and informative to discuss future Covid testing strategy and their other work, with the biomedical science team, led by their Clinical Director, Dr Supriya Joshi.

The laboratory work in hospitals is hidden from view but is foundational to the work of clinicians and it was fascinating to meet members of the team and see at first hand their work in detecting and analysing everything from the earliest signs of cancer in cells to the presence of infections like Covid.

This 24/7 service, working behind the scenes, has operated with total dependability

throughout the crisis and has saved lives day after day.

The advances in analytical and diagnostic technologies are among the most exciting in life sciences, with ever more powerful instruments combined with artificial intelligence that can put findings in the context of thousands of previous results.

Covid has brought to wide public attention how important medical testing is to the health of the nation, and it is so pleasing to see that at Tunbridge Wells and Maidstone hospitals the service is so strong.

ADVANCES Greg Clark meets Dr Supriya Joshi [centre] and a member of the science team

Archie is an A-Level student and Green Party activist. He is a keen campaigner for his local community, fundraising for and maintaining a defibrillator, and organising several annual community events.

The time to invest in sustainable transport is now TRANSPORT is the source of almost 30 per cent of climate-changing gas emissions in Kent.

KCC and TMBC have both declared a Climate Emergency but if they wish us to become carbon neutral before 2050, the problems of traffic congestion and pollution need to be tackled urgently.

Traffic congestion and pollution not only harm the climate, but also our health. Poor air quality is linked to asthma and a host of other illnesses and is responsible for up to 36,000 premature deaths a year in the UK alone.

The government has become aware of the crisis and is promoting ‘active transport’.

Active transport involves you walking or cycling to your destination and helps reduce obesity and improve fitness and mental well-being.

During Lockdown, many people walked and cycled and commented how much they enjoyed the clean air, quiet streets and absence of traffic noise.

Bike shops sold out and Tonbridge Bicycle Users Group attracted many new members.

For longer journeys the Green Party proposes a localised, reliable public transport network. Active transport, and a sustainable public transport network would significantly reduce the number of car journeys and thereby improve road safety.

We welcome the introduction by KCC of 20mph speed limits on residential roads, but we also need to see segregated cycle lanes on main roads such as Quarry Hill.

KCC have put forward a plan for a cycle route between Tunbridge Wells and Tonbridge but those who have seen the proposal feel it is unsafe, as the cycle route is not segregated from traffic with solid physical barriers.

Cycle routes on pavements beside busy roads, where cyclists are separated from pedestrians by a mere white line, are not sufficient to promote cycling.

anyway (Interestingly, research has shown that over the same journey a cyclist will breathe in less pollution than a car passenger).

Where Greens become elected, we ensure that both active and public transport are at the forefront of our policies.

A Green government would spend £2.5billion a year on new cycleways and footpaths, subsidise public transport so it is always cheaper than driving, and improve bus services, especially to

more isolated areas.

Judd ward’s Councillors Mark Hood and April Clark have been working hard to deliver the Green party’s vision for a sustainable transport revolution, proposing new ideas in the council chamber, and engaging all bodies to help deliver this transformation.

With a long-term public health crisis upon us and the looming Climate Emergency, the time to invest in sustainable transport is now.

Traffic Walthamstow Council has introduced bold changes to its road layouts, making the streets more pleasant for pedestrians and resulting in an increase in active travel and a reduction in car traffic. Small retailers have also found that this change has been good for their trade.

When schools re-open in September there will be a huge surge in traffic because parents will not feel their children are safe on overcrowded buses.

One solution would be for more children to cycle. However, busy roads are unsafe for cyclists, so many parents may decide to drive

CHOKING Poor air quality is linked to asthma and a host of other illnesses

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Property Focus NEW HO MES

Stunning old for new If you are on the search for a new home, in these days of expert and enthusiastic renovation and refurbishment don’t miss out on older character properties that are now as good as new. Bracketts have two such properties on their books at the moment – a truly standout barn in the country, and an eye-catching villa in town Henrietta House In the centre of Tunbridge Wells, immediately opposite the Common and a few hundred yards from the station, a familiar Victorian villa has undergone a truly surprising transformation – at a high level.

The Grade II-listed Henrietta House in London Road is on the market at a guide price of £1,295,000 after its stylish remodelling, and also mixes old with luxurious new.

Most impressive is the glass enclosure on the roof allowing sheltered views of the sky, and opening out on to the magnificent roof terrace with its a 360-degree view of Tunbridge Wells, including the Common.

Inside, there is a large, open-plan kitchen/dining/family room as well as three further reception rooms, plus a small additional kitchen. Of the four bedrooms, two are masters with walk-in dressing rooms. And there are four bathrooms, three en suite.

The property also has the benefit of a Control 4 system, which allows security, heating, lighting, audio and television to be controlled remotely via phone, computer or tablet.

Another bonus for this prime town centre location is that it comes with two parking places!

Contact Bracketts, Tunbridge Wells, on 01892 533 733 or visit bracketts.co.uk

Croust Barn Sitting just outside the thriving village of Mayfield, Croust Barn, in Hadlow Down Road, Five Ashes, is on the market at a guide price of £895,000, and has been designed to enjoy westerly views to the rear across the neighbouring Wealden countryside.

Full of character, it has been renovated to an exacting standard from two old barns and now forms an individual, four-bedroom, detached family home ready for immediate occupation.

With beams and vaulted ceilings throughout, the barn also enjoys modern comforts, with three luxurious bath/shower rooms (two en suite), and a high-spec kitchen that includes integrated appliances, a central island and underfloor oilfired central heating.

Best of all is a central wrap-around balcony that allows you to soak up the wonderful views from the vast showcase windows in the reception room. Several other rooms have access to the balcony, too.

Outside, the half-acre plot includes an entrance with double electric gates, plenty of parking, and a rear garden that again captures those wide-open rural views.

n o t a e h e h t p u n r Tu t n u h y t r e p o r p r u yo th i w r e m this sum rty e p o r P J KM

WADHURST

£500,000

LANGTON GREEN

£825,000

TUNBRIDGE WELLS

£400,000

Fantastic semi-detached country cottage with recently fitted hardwood sash windows, set in semi-rural location and within 1/2 an hour walk from Wadhurst Station (*according to Google). Double aspect living room with log burner, dining room with log burner, country kitchen with butler sink and sun room. Two double bedrooms with built in storage cupboards, and a family bathroom. beautiful front and rear gardens, detached garage and a workshop EPC D

Substantial 5 bedroom detached family home with garage and driveway; Entrance hall, living room open through to the dining/family room with vaulted ceiling, rooflights and bifold doors onto the rear garden, fully fitted kitchen and utility area with integrated appliances, downstairs cloakroom and guest suite. Master suite, 3 further bedrooms and a family bathroom. Extensive rear garden and insulated home office. EPC D

A chain free character 3 bedroom end of terraced house, that has been lovingly maintained by it’s current owners and is situated within a short distance of shops, schools and the mainline stations. Accommodation comprises : Cosy living room with fireplace, dining room, modern kitchen and bathroom and 3 bedrooms.

Outside offers a garden to the front, and a rear lawn garden with patio area and timber shed. Floorplan and EPC to follow.

CRANBROOK

LANGTON GREEN

RUSTHALL

OIRO £375,000

A charming Grade II listed 2 bedroom cottage, close to shops and cafes. This beautiful home with exposed beams is within a short walk of Cranbrook School and comprises : Entrance lobby, cloakroom, spacious living room with inglenook fireplace, generous modern fitted kitchen, two double bedrooms one with en-suite shower room, bathroom, and large top floor landing with space for a desk. Garden to the front, and a good size courtyard style rear garden. There is a free car park opposite the property. EPC E

£436,000

Would you like to live in Langton Green? Are you looking for something a bit quirky? Then this could be the property for you! In the same ownership for the past 30 years, the current owners have loved living here. Period family home with detached garage, lounge with bay window, dining room with a charming inglenook fireplace, fitted kitchen, downstairs shower room and downstairs W.C., 3 double bedrooms and a family bathroom. Pretty garden to the side with a paved patio area for alfresco dining, EPC D

www.kmjproperty.co.uk

01892 515188

£550,000

Extremely well presented detached family home with garage and driveway. Lounge, dining room, newly fitted kitchen with crushed glass worktop, conservatory, downstairs shower room, 4 bedrooms and upstairs family bathroom. Garage and driveway giving plenty of off road parking.

Compact but well maintained garden with raised paved patio area and lawn with areas of planting with mature shrubs and plants. Double glazing and gas fired heating. EPC D.

sales@kmjproperty.co.uk

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Best BuysFOR EVEN MORE NEWS VISIT: timeslocalnews.co.uk

Wednesday August 26 | 2020

This week’s best property buys…

Since estate agents were told they could start selling properties again after the government eased lockdown measures, the housing market has experienced a bounce – both in terms of buyers and sellers. Here are our top picks of what’s on the market locally this week

Bedford Terrace Tunbridge Wells GUIDE PRICE

£790,000 CONTACT

Savills, Tunbridge Wells 01892 507 000 • savills.co.uk Location, location, location! Don’t miss a rare chance to buy a handsome, historic townhouse within this iconic Georgian terrace in the heart of the ‘Village’ area of Tunbridge Wells.

Not only does it lie within a highly desirable, traffic-free pedestrian area, but the open green spaces of the Common and the wonderful shops and cafés of the Pantiles and High Steet are just a few steps away.

n A meticulously finished home with timeless character n Period features mix well with contemporary styles, with high ceilings and tall sash windows giving generous light to every part of the house n Entrance hall that also leads through to the courtyard n Stylish open-plan, front-to-back kitchen/ dining room with a bespoke Krieder kitchen, a handy home office space in the dining area and a bay window seat n Delightful first floor sitting room with original fireplace n Two bedrooms with original fireplaces and views to the south and north of the town n Luxurious, newly appointed bathroom n Charming, private courtyard garden with established planting n Under five minutes’ walk from Tunbridge Wells Station

Wednesday August 26 | 2020

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Pelham Hall

High Street, Burwash GUIDE PRICE

£950,000 CONTACT

Knight Frank, Tunbridge Wells 01892 772 946 • knightfrank.co.uk A beautiful and historic, Grade II*-listed Sussex Hall House in the tree-lined High Street of the pretty village of Burwash – which sits on a ridge with views over the High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Commissioned by the Pelham family, and dating back to the 14th century, the hall was originally built to house the local bailiff.

Over the years there have been many changes, including complete refurbishment by the current owners, but this family property still retains a wealth of period features, including hammer beams and wattle and daub walls. It also boasts pretty private gardens and a roof terrace.

n Well-proportioned reception rooms n Impressive, spacious entrance hall with wooden flooring and exposed timbers n Raised dining room with wooden flooring and wood-burning stove n Arched doorway to sitting room with tiled flooring, built-in bookshelves and inglenook fireplace n Second floor contemporary-style kitchen/ breakfast room with wooden worktops and door to balcony/terrace providing access to the garden and offering superb views over the Weald n Five bedrooms, three en suite. One bedroom has the added benefit of private access from outside and its own sitting room n Fourth bathroom n Good-size garden with lawn, terrace, well-stocked borders and a lower lawn fenced on all sides

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FOR EVEN MORE NEWS VISIT: timeslocalnews.co.uk

Wednesday August 26 | 2020

out&about 7 days of activities

PARK LIFE There are plenty of great parks around Tunbridge Wells

By Jerome Bowman

Following the ongoing easing of the Coronavirus lockdown many of our favourite beauty spots, galleries, museums and places of interest are now open. Here’s where to go this week...

Attendance is free, and the gallery is open. from 11-4pm on Thursdays and Fridays and 10-5pm on Saturdays. The exhibition runs until September 8.

For more information, go to fairfaxgallery.com GNOME THAT TUNE Gnora the gnome, and her alliterated brothers Gnorman and Gneville have been stuck underground for months, but now it is time to party. Take the little ones to EM Forster Theatre this Monday for disco dancing and smash hits in Gnora the Gnome’s Daytime Disco. This outdoor performance will get the whole family boogying, so to book tickets, which cost £13, go online to emftheatre.com

PLAYING DETECTIVE See Sherlock at Trinity Theatre MYSTERY AND INTRIGUE Join Sherlock Holmes and his elementary-blind Watson for action and adventure at Trinity Theatre tonight [August 26] from 7.30pm. The pair must solve their most fiendish case yet in a performance for all ages. Featuring live music, audience interaction and mysteries, the show will take place in Trinity’s back garden, in between the old washing machine and the broken swing set. Tickets cost £17.50 and you can book as a bubble online at trinitytheatre.net

PICTURE PERFECT The Fairfax Gallery will be holding its 25th Summer Exhibition at its gallery on the Lower Walks of the Pantiles. The exhibition will feature original contemporary art by established, award-winning and emerging artists. In accordance with current Government guidelines, special care has been take to ensure that the gallery is extra clean and well ventilated, and any art depicting crowd scenes has been retouched to express proper social distancing guidelines.

DISCO FEVER Gnora the gnome brings the fun to the EM Forser Theatre

COME FLY WITH ME See marvellous flying displays and the Orion Orchestra at Hole Park’s annual Proms Spectacular this Saturday [August 29]. The evening kicks off with a parachute display by The Kent Tigers Army, before the iconic spitfire display set to World War 2 film themes. The event will continue with performances of all your favourite Proms music including the 1812 Overture, the Hornpipe, Land of Hope & Glory, Rule Britannia and Jerusalem along with a whole host of other fantastic classical pieces. This is as an outdoor concert, so grab your picnic blanket

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9.30am – 5.30pm Daily (Garden open until 6pm daily)

Admission to garden also gives admission to the craft fair.

Free entry for Hever Castle Annual Members but advanced booking required.

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30/07/2020 09:23

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Wednesday August 26 | 2020

Section

A GRAND DAY OUT Enjoy the distinctive gardens and play areas in Groombridge Place, which is now open every day.

Except for the tree-top walk and the maze, the whole site is open. There are plenty of fun areas for the children to explore, including the giant swings, pirate ships and the Board Walk, and the grounds and gardens make for a pleasant stroll.

The cafe will be open and the Birds of Prey display will also be on twice each day. You will need to pre-book to visit, so for more information on available time slots and tickets, go online to groombridgeplace.com

AN ENGLISH COUNTRY GARDEN Penshurst Place is open to the public again

HISTORY AND HERITAGE We have so many beautiful National Trust properties on our doorstep and most of their gardens and grounds are open again. Bodiam Castle, Igtham Mote and Emmetts Garden are just some of the places you can visit. Like most places

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of interest though you have to book your slot before going along. Visit nationaltrust.org.uk to see the relevant details for the aforementioned as well as other National Trust places of interest in Kent and Sussex.

ALL THAT JAZZ The town’s favourite summer event, Jazz on the Pantiles, is back in a new socially distanced format. You must book to attend Dinner Jazz, but at just £5 per person you get seating, service and to see the wonderful Kate Daniels Quintet. The group features the eponymous Kate and guitarist Nils Solberg, who has worked with many famous starts including Brian Ferry. The Tunbridge Wells Hotel, The Kirthon Indian and the Casa Vecchia are all taking part, so grab some dinner and enjoy the Jazz. The fun starts at 7pm on Thursdays. For more information, visit Facebook.com/ JazzOnThePantiles

WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS The Proms Spectacular returns to Hole Park and flak jacket and enjoy the figurative fireworks, as well as the literal fireworks at the end of the night. The gates open at 4.30pm and tickets cost £40 for adults and £15 for children. For more information, go to holepark.com PLEASANT PENSHURST The historic manor and gardens of Penshurst Place are open again, and there’s plenty to see and do for all the family. The Baron’s Hall in the main house is open to visitors, as well as the formal gardens, woodland trail and the adventure playground. When you are done exploring, you can stop at the Porcupine Cafe for a hot drink and a snack. You will need to pre-book for the day you want to visit, and choose a morning or afternoon arrival. Please check the website as some attractions are unavailable. For more information, visit: penshurstplace.com

FISHY ON A DISHY Once again you can combine deep-fried staple foods and a trip on the industrial revolution’s most charming invention. The Spa Valley Railway Fish and Chip Lunches are returning, with Covid-19 measures in place. Enjoy a classic British meal and a scenic trip from Tunbridge Wells West to Groombridge. To see menu options and book tickets for either Sunday or Monday [August 30-31], visit spavalleyrailway.co.uk PARKS AND RECREATION As always there’s always plenty to discover on our doorstep here in Tunbridge Wells courtesy of our many beautiful park spaces including Dunorlan, Grosvenor & Hilbert and also Calverley Grounds’ adventure park, which is just great for little ones. There’s plenty to enjoy and you don’t have to pay or book.

Exclusive club membership Once you’re inside, you’ll experience a world of blissful serenity; a tranquil escape from life’s hustle and bustle.

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arts

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HITTING THE RIGHT NOTE The orchestra playing at Sevenoaks’ Pamoja Hall

Arts & CultureFOR EVEN MORE NEWS VISIT: timeslocalnews.co.uk

Wednesday August 26 | 2020

Tuning up for a return to playing soon...

The Lydian Orchestra is the South East’s number one independent youth orchestra which has been going for 44 years. Here its publicity co-ordinator Chris Jutting tells Eileen Leahy how they have got through the past few months doing what they do best: making music

T

HERE’S no denying that lockdown has been tough on most of us but the arts community has been particularly hit hard. But it’s not just theatres in the West End or gig venues that have suffered, many orchestras have also had to suspend their usual practice and concerts due to Covid.

One of the area’s most important and successful ones is the Lydian. Now in its 44th year, the orchestra is run with the core aim of giving young musicians the opportunity to experience a broad orchestral repertoire. The Lydian’s social side is no less important.

ONLINE PERFORMANCE Alex Trigg rehearsing

‘During a week when they would ordinarily spend preparing for their summer concert we have been uploading daily recordings’ “During week-long courses, players have many opportunities to interact with their fellow orchestra members, often forming lasting friendships,” explains Chris.

The orchestra tours every second year, most recently to western France in July last year. While on tour, the orchestra gives performances at multiple venues before returning to Sevenoaks for their Summer concert.

According to Lydian’s publicity co-ordinator Chris Jutting since lockdown came into force he and the orchestra’s members have been on a mission to keep ‘music alive.’

This has been done by keeping in touch with members but recently the orchestra managed to ‘perform’ a ‘Keeping youth music alive in HOW TO CONTACT THE LYDIAN ORCHESTRA lockdown’ online concert on a Lydian accepts new players providing that date when one of their famous they are proficient to grade 7-8 standard summer concerts was due to (strings)/grade 8 standard (wind and take place. brass). Courses take place in spring, “Lockdown has hit the arts summer and winter and cost £20 per hard,” Chris says. “Not least player. Contact play@lydian.org.uk for the music industry, which has further details or visit www.lydian.org.uk. seen live concerts cancelled across the board.

“So far this year, two of the

Lydian Orchestra’s concert dates have fallen under lockdown. This has prevented our young musicians from taking part in courses where they would usually learn, socialise and perform together.

However, Chris adds, not to be deterred, players have recently been using social media to share their musical talent instead.

“During a week when they would ordinarily spend preparing for their summer concert we have been uploading daily recordings of solo performances to the orchestra’s Facebook page,” continues Chris.

“This has resulted in some wonderful playing from soloists across all sections of the orchestra.

“In all, ten players shared recorded performances throughout the week, covering a varied repertoire from the likes of Bach, Brahms, Debussy, Rachmaninoff, Gershwin and more.”

Chris adds that players were also able to get ‘feedback’ on their individual performances during the virtual concert held earlier this summer.

“Students were able to get feedback from conductor

Brynly Clarke as they usually would during a music course. Each performance required a great deal of practice and musicality, so we’re very proud of them for what they’ve all achieved!

“We know that music is a vital part of our young players’ lives, so we’re glad that we’ve been able to provide them with an opportunity for music-making. We now look forward to getting the orchestra back together as soon as we can.”

Originally the government said that some music venues could reopen on August 1 with the correct social distancing and safety measures in place but with less than a day to go it said this had been put back by a minimum of two weeks.

At the time of going to press the Lydian was still waiting to hear whether it could resume playing together but the hope is that it can eventually once the powers that be decide that the time is right. Which is why it is forging ahead with its future.

“Regarding our plans, Lydian is now building towards concerts in October and December,” says Chris.

FOR EVEN MORE NEWS VISIT: timeslocalnews.co.uk

Wednesday August 26 | 2020

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SIMPLY CHILD’S PLAY: We speak to a couple of Lydian’s talented members about their passion for playing…

Thomas Winrow-Campbell plays violin with the orchestra and in the recent concert his chosen solo piece was J. S. Bach’s Violin Partita No.2 in D minor, BWV 1004: IV. Gigue (1720)

Why did you choose to learn the violin?

I chose the violin as my first instrument because it gave me a challenge which I enjoyed. I also play the piano and sing and have recently taken up the organ.

What does music mean to you?

Music and Maths are my favourite things to do.

Playing music makes me feel really happy and gives others enjoyment too.

What do you love about the Bach piece you’ve chosen to perform?

I like the complexity of this piece by Bach; I’ve tried to put in lots of detail whilst playing it at speed. It’s the first time I’ve recorded myself playing!

What does the Lydian Orchestra mean to you?

It always plays exciting music and there’s a great concert at the end of the course! My teacher says it’s really helped me improve.

What’s the best thing about Lydian?

Everyone I’ve met at the Lydian is very friendly and supportive. It’s always good fun too.

ELBOW WORK Thomas Winrow-Campbell FLAUTIST Ellen Roff Ellen Roff, 14 plays flute with the orchestra and in the recent concert she chose a solo piece: Albéniz—Suite Española No. 1, Op.47: III. Sevilla (1887) What does music mean to you?

Music is a huge part of my life because I’ve simply grown up with it. Most people in my family play musical instruments so I’ve been surrounded by music from day 1!

What does the Lydian Orchestra mean to you?

I’ve always enjoyed going to concerts and now

Lydian has given me the opportunity to play in a high-standard orchestra myself. It’s so nice to be with people who share the same interests. My first concert experience with Lydian was so exciting and I can’t wait for more!

Why did you choose to learn the flute?

I don’t remember choosing the flute as I’ve always wanted to play it!

What do you love about the Albéniz piece you’ve chosen?

I chose to play the Albeniz because it’s fun with lots of character.

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food

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Wednesday August 26 | 2020

Tom’s having a drive-in garden party and you are all invited After having to postpone his very popular Pub in the Park event this year, favourite celebrity chef Tom Kerridge has come up with a clever Covid-19 safe alternative event: a ‘Drive In Garden Party’. Eileen Leahy discovers the driving force behind this new socially distanced gathering...

KEEP THE PARTY GOING Last year’s Pub in the Park was a smash success

F

dates at Hever Castle in June. Tom OR the past three summers and his team served up a whole foodies, fans of artisanal host of tasty treats and delivered produce and music lovers them direct to the car doors of have gathered at Dunorlan visitors, while they watched a Park for Tom Kerridge’s three-day classic movie. celebration of gourmet Thanks to that food and groovy event’s success tunes. So popular Tom decided has this event that he’d roll proved to be it out a similar was coming one – this back bigger time though and even at Eridge better for Park and 2020 - until with a Covid-19 number of put paid to ORGANISER live music all that.

Tom Kerridge acts too.

After having Taking place to postpone from September seven Pub in the 19 – 20 the ‘Drive Park events around In Garden Party’ is a the country to 2021, chance for people to enjoy celebrity Michelin star chef Michelin quality food and music in Tom Kerridge decided that the a comfortable and socially party still had to happen – albeit in distanced format. Tom will also a more considered way due to stage garden parties at Henley and coronavirus.

Knebworth earlier in September.

First up was a series of ‘drive in’

THE WARREN RESTAURANT IS ALIVE AND KICKING AND OPENING ITS DOOR AGAIN ON Wednesday 2nd. September from 5:30 PM!

Our fantastic team is well prepared Our fantastic team will safeguard our clients Our fantastic team will make sure that every one of our clients has a truly fantastic time ***** BUT to enjoy this YOU need to book online or contact us by email

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Headline acts include local lads Keane, Groove Armada, Gabrielle, Soul II Soul, Stereo MCs and Squeeze.

Who is Tom looking forward to seeing?

“There’s an incredible music line up at Garden Party but one of my favourites are the Kaiser Chiefs. They played at Marlow Pub in the Park last year and they are so great and always such a laugh. And Groove Armada will be epic!”

A Garden Party spokesperson added: “It’s an event that’s designed for these unusual times: an innovative way of enjoying amazing food, a great line-up of live music and all from the safety of your own private enclosure!”

Visitors simply ‘park up, pop out and party’ with a car-full of friends and family, whilst enjoying delicious food and top music in their very own socially distanced ‘garden’ in the SPICING IT UP Atul Kochhar will be returning with tasty treats

Food & Drink

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grounds of Eridge Park which boasts 3,000 acres of stunning grounds, thus ensuring social distancing can still be adhered to.

Each visiting party has a private enclosure in which to park their car, spread out and enjoy food and tunes ‘Pub in the Park style’.

Fantastic Earlier this month organisers of the Drive In Garden party announced that ‘walk in’ tickets would also be possible to purchase for those who didn’t want to bring a car.

The pedestrian passes will have access to a socially distanced private garden so they can enjoy the atmosphere, music and delicious food.

Chris Hughes, CEO at Brand Events, the company that runs Tom Kerridge’s external events told the Times: “We’ve had a fantastic

‘Now we can offer walk-in tickets and we couldn’t be happier. It is set to be an unmissable event this summer!’ response to those wanting to come to Pub in the Park’s drive in Garden Party this year, but we kept facing the same question – what do we do if we don’t want to drive?

“So, you asked, we listened and now we can offer walk-in tickets and we couldn’t be happier.

It is set to be an unmissable event this summer!”

And although there won’t be as many epicurean offerings as usual there will still be a top quality choice of five different restaurants; courtesy of Michelin starred chefs including Tom Kerridge, Atul Kochhar and Paul Ainsworth.

So what’s Tom hoping to achieve by doing all this? “For people who have been to our Pub in the Park festivals before, Drive-In Garden party will have a really similar vibe.

“It is really great food, brilliant music acts and at Garden Party you get to drive into your own private area so you can hang out in the garden, have a dance, and eat some incredible food. And most importantly you can feel safe whilst you are doing it too.

“We remain committed to providing great food and drink events throughout these difficult and complicated times. But we’re also looking forward to returning to a full tour in 2021.”

And how would Tom describe his drive-in garden party in three words? ‘Fun, foodie and safe,’ he smiles.

HOW WILL THE DRIVE IN GARDEN PARTY WORK? n Each session provides three hours of feelgood live music and DJ sets from acts including Keane, Becky Hill, Gabrielle, Soul II Soul, Stereo MCs and Squeeze. n Hampers of drinks can ordered before or during the event and will be safely delivered to each enclosure by waiting staff. n Guests will be able to wander the perimeter of the giant main arena to soak up the atmosphere, experience and shop from our Pub in the Park family of brands; including our small producers at our Artisan Car Boot Sale!

Tickets are priced from £45 from www.driveingardenparty.com

September at Salomons It’s back!

Salomons Sunday Lunch

Traditional English Afternoon Tea

To celebrate the return of the Great British Sunday Lunch, you can now enjoy our traditional three course lunch for the price of two courses, just £24.50 pp. Includes a delicious choice of three dishes for each course.

Children always welcome, just £13.50 per child* for three courses.

Reservations available on Sunday 20th September only, midday to 5pm.

overlooking our picturesque grounds Just £17.50 pp, available every Monday in September only midday to 4pm.

To book please visit www.salomons-estate.com call 01892 628187 or email reception@salomons-estate.com *Children’s menu available for guests aged 10yrs and under.

To book please visit www.salomons-estate.com

or call 01892 628187 or email reception@salomons-estate.com

CONFERENCE AND EVENTS VENUE

All events and tour locations are subject to ongoing licence and government guidelines and approvals during these unprecedented times. As such, they are subject to change

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Wednesday August 26 | 2020

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travel

Wednesday August 26 | 2020

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Travel

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An ancient murder mystery shines a spotlight on Suffolk One thousand years since the Abbey of St Edmund was founded, Bury St Edmunds edges closer to uncovering the body of England’s first patron saint

ANCIENT CRIME SCENE A saintly burial is believed to lie in the abbey grounds

“I

T’S believed the body may lie beneath the old tennis courts,” states John Saunders. “The truth of where he is or whether he will ever be recovered is difficult.”

John may be a former police officer, but this is far from a routine missing person case.

Weaving between medieval ruins and flowerbeds in the tranquil Abbey Gardens of Bury St Edmunds, we are on the trail of the man who gave his name to the town following his brutal murder more than a thousand years ago.

Edmund, England’s first patron saint and king of East Anglia, was martyred in 869AD at the hands of rampaging Danish invaders for refusing to renounce his Christianity.

White-haired John has led tours of his hometown for the past three years and paints a grisly picture. “He was tied to a tree, peppered with arrows to the extent he apparently looked like a porcupine, and then beheaded,” he says.

“If we found him, it would eclipse Richard III, totally.”

This year marks 10 centuries since King Canute founded the now-desecrated abbey as a shrine to Edmund, and I am on a weekend pilgrimage to Suffolk as part of the anniversary.

While Richard III, the last Plantagenet monarch, was remarkably discovered more than 500 years after his death under a Leicester car park in 2012, mystery surrounds the final resting place of Anglo-Saxon King Edmund.

His skeleton was guarded by Benedictine monks until the vast abbey – among the largest in Europe – was ransacked in 1539 on the orders of Henry VIII during the dissolution of the monasteries.

I am told an unremarkable expanse of grass in front of us could hold the key to the riddle.

Surrounded by temporary metal fencing, it is a former monks’ graveyard which, until early this year, was covered by the crumbling tennis courts John refers to. “The reason Edmund could have been put there is because when the (royal) commissioners came here, the monks would have hastily moved him into their burial ground,” he explains. “There’s some logic in that thinking.”

Ironically, Edmund is also the patron saint of pandemics. A series of celebratory events to commemorate the abbey’s landmark occasion – dubbed ‘Abbey 1000’ and scheduled to start on St Edmund’s Day on November 20 – have been postponed until 2021 due to the coronavirus outbreak.

John’s multicoloured face covering is a constant reminder of the chaos caused by Covid-19. But Bury is determined to recover, emphasised by numerous signs declaring it ‘back open for business’.

I find one such message located in the charming heart of the town outside the grade II listed Angel Hotel.

Splendidly covered in green Virginia creeper, the former coaching inn was a favourite haunt of author Charles Dickens and is my luxurious home for a two-night stay.

A blue plaque, unveiled on the Victorian writer’s 200th birthday in 2012, provides a lasting legacy to his three visits, although it had to be temporarily removed when the Angel was used as a filming location for the 2019 film, The Personal History of David Copperfield.

I discover Dickens’ description of Bury – published in his 1836 debut novel, The Pickwick Papers – has stood the test of time.

‘We’ve got to encourage people to come here and try. Abbey 1000 has rekindled the desire to do something’ “The coach rattled through the well-paved streets of a handsome little town, of thriving and cleanly appearance, and stopped before a large inn situated in a wide open street, nearly facing the old abbey,” he wrote. “And this,” said Mr. Pickwick, looking up, “is the Angel! We alight here.”

Adjacent to the historic hotel is The Athenaeum, where the likes of Dickens, William Makepeace Thackeray and Oscar Wilde gave readings, while opposite is the imposing abbey gate.

Complete with modern

portcullis, it leads to manicured gardens and is one of two remaining gate towers, albeit having been completely rebuilt following a destructive rebellion from disgruntled townspeople in 1320.

St Edmundsbury Cathedral looms large over Angel Hill and dominates the view from my bedroom window. A little further down the road is the Greene King brewery, while at St Mary’s Church I see the modest tomb of Mary Tudor, Henry VIII’s younger sister.

After a brief spell as queen consort of France, the Duke of Suffolk became Mary’s second husband in 1515. Her body was moved from the abbey to the church around the time Edmund’s disappeared.

Arrivals from overseas may have led to Edmund’s demise, but they have also created one of the region’s premier culinary attractions.

French restaurant Maison Bleue is a stone’s throw from Bury’s 12th-century Norman Tower, the other remaining abbey gate.

It has repeatedly been named among Britain’s top 10 fine dining establishments in TripAdvisor’s travellers’ choice awards. Based on my memorable evening visit, understandably so.

Breton couple Karine and Pascal Canevet have run the restaurant for the past 22 years and recently reopened having run a ‘collect and dine’ service during lockdown.

Host Karine, sporting a plastic safety visor, serves delectable dishes of crab meat and caviar, seared tuna, roasted saddle of Suffolk lamb, and Norfolkreared Aberdeen Angus beef, each expertly prepared by her chef husband.

Given plenty to digest on day one, I visit Moyse’s Hall Museum the following day seeking to further my knowledge of the compact market town formerly known as Beodricsworth.

A short walk from the Angel takes me to the Pillar of Salt – erected in

1935 and thought to be the country’s first internally-illuminated road sign – past the masked shoppers of Abbeygate Street, and outside The Nutshell, Britain’s smallest pub with a bar measuring just 15 feet by seven.

Housed inside a medieval building in the marketplace, Moyse’s Hall first opened as a museum in 1899 and requires around an hour to explore.

The attraction details the lives of Mary – after whom the Tudor warship the Mary Rose is believed to have been named – and Edmund.

Another exhibit features the gruesome Red Barn Murder of 1827, complete with a grisly book bound with the skin of Suffolk killer William Corder, who was dissected after his trip to the gallows.

On the subject of execution, I find a legendary tale relating to Edmund’s death. With his lifeless body remaining tethered to a tree, folklore suggests his missing severed head was retrieved after a guardian wolf guided his followers by repeating ‘hic, hic, hic’, Latin for ‘here, here, here’.

Assistance from another ethereal creature would undoubtedly be most welcome for the modern-day search. Excavation work is likely to be extremely expensive, while the use of LiDAR technology – light, detection and ranging – is being considered.

“I don’t think it’s going to happen but it’s a lovely story,” concedes John. “But I don’t want to be negative. We’ve got to encourage people to come here with buckets and spades and try.

Abbey 1000 has rekindled the desire to do something about it.”

The exact location of Edmund may well prove elusive. Nevertheless, the quaint town that proudly bears his name is back open for business and has a wealth of history to unearth.

HOW TO PLAN YOUR TRIP Stay at The Angel Hotel (theangel.co.uk; 01284 714 007) from £139 per night for bed and breakfast for two people.

Book ahead for Maison Bleue restaurant by calling 01284 760 623, further details available at maisonbleue.co.uk.

Guided tours of Bury St Edmunds cost £7 per person. Call 01284 764667 to book or visit visit-burystedmunds.co.uk/directory/ bury-st-edmunds-tours for further details.

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Books

The bookcase…

Life in lockdown has given many the chance to fall in love with reading again. Here’s our pick of this week’s top tomes to enjoy…

FICTION

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

Published in hardback by Canongate, priced £16.99 (ebook £11.99). Available now

9/10

Between life and death, there is a library. When Nora Seed finds herself in the Midnight Library she has a chance to live all the lives she’d always regretted not pursuing.

With the help of an old friend, she feels she can now track down her perfect, so far elusive, life. The Midnight Library is arguably Haig’s best work to date; once inside the library, you really won’t want to leave.

Life-affirming without falling into cliché, the plot draws on Haig’s own mental health battles, and experiences around suicide and depression.

It is a work that will resonate with so many, is thoroughly thought-provoking and beautifully written. It fully lives up to the hype that surrounds it. (Review by Megan Baynes)

All Men Want To Know by Nina Bouraoui

Published in paperback

by Viking, priced £12.99 (ebook £7.99). Available now An introspective work of autobiographical fiction, Nina Bouraoui’s narrative shifts seamlessly between a confused 18-year-old in 1980s Paris, and the narrator’s childhood in Algiers, Algeria, which became independent from France in 1962.

Offering disjointed snapshots of a life torn

between two competing identities, All Men Want To Know is a deeply personal exploration of cultural and personal identity, sexuality and belonging.

Written in a dreamy, lyrical style, the narrative gives a sense of unravelling as much as it does coming together. Raw and sensual, readers will be enraptured by the narrator’s intense evocations of guilt, desire and longing, delivered in passages of beautiful, erotic poetry disguised as prose. (Review by Scarlett Sangster)

NON-FICTION

Published in paperback by Viking, priced £10.99 (ebook £7.99). Available now

This newly translated collection of articles by Gabriel García Márquez, who died in 2014, reminds us the Nobel-laureate novelist wanted to be remembered foremost as a journalist.

In the Hispanic world, his Foundation for New IberoAmerican Journalism sustains that reputation. In fact, reading these articles spanning four decades

8/10

Sisters by Daisy Johnson

7/10

The Scandal Of The Century by Gabriel García Márquez

7/10

Wednesday August 26 | 2020

Published in hardback by Jonathan Cape, priced £14.99 (ebook £9.99). Available now Booker-shortlisted Daisy Johnson’s second novel is a darkly disquieting thriller.

It features two teenage sisters, distinctly different from each other but intertwined, living in a crumbling house on the edge of the North York Moors that seems to embody a family’s distress.

Older by 10 months, September wields a disturbing influence over her sister July, leading to an incident which causes their depressive mother to seek refuge from their former home in Oxford, taking them with her.

The minutiae of young July’s off-kilter existence are relentlessly evoked with a closeness that at times feels almost claustrophobic. The descriptions are vivid enough to stop you in your tracks, and the narrative draws to a psychologically apt conclusion. (Review by Lucy Whetman) demonstrates he was both novelist and journalist at once.

The reportage of events ranging from petty crimes to the US embargo on Cuba, shows his ability to find a compelling story in any situation.

The later articles are more reflective and personal. Márquez’s matter-of-fact accounts of remarkable things will be familiar to fans of his novels, such as One Hundred Years Of Solitude.

This collection offers English readers a more intimate acquaintance with the journalist, which enhances, rather than rivals, his fiction. (Review by Dan Brotzel)

AUDIOBOOKS (FICTION AND NON-FICTION) 1. Midnight Sun by Stephenie Meyer

3. Cage of Souls by Adrian Tchaikovsky

2. Finding Freedom: Harry And Meghan And The Making Of A Modern Royal Family by Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand

4. Bad Dad by David Walliams

CHILDREN’S BOOK OF THE WEEK

The Mega Magic Teacher Swap

by Rochelle Humes, illustrated

by Rachel Suzanne Published in paperback by Templar Publishing, priced £6.99 (ebook £2.99). Available now

Best recognised as a television presenter and popstar, Rochelle Humes returns with her second book for young kids after 2019’s The Mega Magic Hair Swap.

Best friends Mai and Rose, accompanied again

by Coco, their trusty wish-granting coconut, are now moving into a new school year. Saddened to be leaving their beloved teacher Mrs Bee, they ask Coco to magic her back – a wish that doesn’t turn out as hoped.

Colourful illustrations by Rachel Suzanne are a delight and captivating for young eyes, but it is unlikely to electrify adults acting as reading copilots.

This is all about helping little ones feel confident about moving into a new school year. Given the turbulence of 2020, that’s an essential message reflected perfectly. (Review by Edd Dracott)

5. Dirty Little Secrets by Jo Spain 6. Mythos by Stephen Fry 7. The Flatshare by Beth O’Leary 8. The Midnight Library by Matt Haig 9. Where The Crawdads Sing

by Delia Owens 10. The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out Of The Window And Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson (Compiled by Audible)

7/10

CODEWORD 4

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A B C D E F GH I J K L MNO P QR S T U VWX Y Z 18 26

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SPORTS COVERAGE SUSPENDED Because of restricted local sport due to Covid-19 the decision has been taken, with much reluctance, to temporarily suspend the regular sporting news that would appear on these back pages. Normal service will be resumed soon.

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9 4 8 8 3 5 1

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Numbers are substituted for letters in the crossword grid. Above the grid is the key with two letters solved. Try to complete the first few words to give you more letters, or look for a frequent number that might reveal a common letter. As you find letters, enter them in the key and into the grid. Cross off the letters in the A to Z list.

Greg Clark MP’s

1 7 4 8 7 9

Thursday

27 AUG

28 AUG

10:00–11:00

10:00–11:00

10:00–11:00

11:30–12:30

11:30–12:30

Hawkhurst – Outside the Kino Cinema

13:30–14:30

Kilndown – Outside the Village Hall

15:00–16:00

Lamberhurst – Outside the Memorial Hall

16:30–17.30

Goudhurst – By the village pond

Horsmonden – Village Green Brenchley – The triangle opposite Terry’s Butchers

13:30–14:30

Matfield - Village Green

15:00–16:00

Five Oak Green / Capel – Village Hall Car-Park

16:30–17.30 Pembury – Village Green

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5

3 2

@GregClarkMP

2 1

5 3

Rusthall – By Library entrance

15:00–16:00

01892 519854

Greg has been holding regular virtual advice surgeries throughout the Covid-19 crisis. As things are beginning to return to normal, he is now meeting people faceto-face. Further details about Greg’s advice surgeries can be found on his website:

gregclark.org

B R R A Z H I E H R Q U R A S M I

I F F L Y E D E F T Y OW H U I S N K E E R

N P Y E

1 8 2 5 9 3 6 4 7

9 4 6 7 2 1 3 8 5

8 5 7 3 6 9 1 2 4

4 6 9 2 1 7 8 5 3

2 1 3 4 8 5 7 9 6

3 7 8 9 5 2 4 6 1

8 4 9 7 6 5 3 1 2

9 2 4 6 3 8 1 7 5

4 5 2 1 8 7 9 3 6

6 9 1 8 3 4 5 7 2

5 2 4 1 7 6 9 3 8

Jigsaw Sudoku:

Just turn up!

13:30–14:30

Ashurst – In front of the Village Hall

7 3 5 6 4 8 2 1 9

6 9 1 4 7 2 5 8 3

2 7 3 8 1 6 4 5 9

5 1 8 2 9 3 7 6 4

Come along and chat to Greg at the following locations – no appointment necessary.

Speldhurst – Opposite Community Shop

16:30–17.30

I S O D E S H O I R E T H X E E R E A N R S T R V E Y T I R B E S S E T T E A N N E R C A I L E M P R E

Sudoku:

Puzzle solutions will be published in a forthcoming issue

11:30–12:30

Langton Green – Village Green near War Memorial

A B O T A S I T

In this Sudoku, the normal 3x3 boxes are now strangely odd shapes – but all the rules and logic of normal Sudoku apply.

Fill the board by entering numbers 1 to 9 so that each row, column and box contains every number uniquely.

Bidborough – Outside Bidborough Stores

If weather is bad, please call to find out alternative venue gregclark.org

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E P L G A T J E A S U

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Friday

26 AUG Sandhurst – Village Green

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Summer Village Tour Wednesday

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To complete Sudoku, fill the board by entering numbers 1 to 9 so that each row, column and 3x3 box contains every number uniquely.

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Codeword:

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© 2016 Syndicated Puzzles, Inc.

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DIFFICULTY RATING:★✩✩✩

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© 2016 Syndicated Puzzles

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LAST EDITION’S ANSWERS

SUDOKU & JIGSAW SUDOKU

DIFFICULTY RATING: ★★★✩

CLASSIFIEDS

Life&Times

Puzzles

3 6 7 5 4 9 8 2 1

1 8 6 3 5 4 2 9 7

7 3 5 9 2 1 6 4 8

© 2016 Syndicated Puzzles

FOR EVEN MORE NEWS VISIT: timeslocalnews.co.uk

Wednesday August 26 | 2020