Emergency Road Closure - South Bush Lane, Hartlip

It will be necessary to close South Bush Lane, Hartlip from Wednesday 17th March 2021 for up to 2 days.

The road will be closed between the junctions of Meresborough Lane and A2 Moor Street.

The alternative route is via A2 Moor Street, Spade Lane and Meresborough Lane.

It is planned that the road will be closed between 09:00 hrs and 15:30 hrs each day.

This is to enable restoration of customers services to be carried out by BT Openreach.

Kent County Council 24hr Contact Centre: 03000 418181

For details of roadworks see: https://one.network

Kent County Council - Highways, Transportation & Waste

Swale Borough Council’s 1920s Weekend to go Ahead in July

Swale Borough Council’s 1920s weekend is set to go ahead in July after being postponed last year due to lockdown.

The weekend will be a celebration of the 1920s in Sittingbourne High Street from Friday 16th to Sunday 18th July and will feature music, dance, theatre and entertainment for everybody to enjoy.

Cllr Richard Palmer, cabinet member for community at the council, said:

“We’re delighted to be able to plan ahead and put the 1920s weekend back on that we had originally planned for last year.

“As long as the government’s roadmap out of lockdown remains the same, we’ll be able to put on the weekend and give local people a fun event to look forward to.

“We’ll have a pop-up venue behind Swale House that will host an old-time music hall, children’s entertainment, 20s dance classes, 20s music and dance evening and a murder mystery.

“We’re also hoping to have a steam train from Sittingbourne and Kemsley Light Railway on display with vintage cars and street entertainment.

“We’ve been working with more than 70 businesses, charities and local community groups to put on a great display with interactive fun for all ages, and as long as all is well and we come out of lockdown as planned, we’ll be on track to put on a terrific event.”

Cllr Mike Baldock, deputy leader and cabinet member for planning, said:

"The 20s weekend will be an opportunity for residents to get together after the pains of the last year to celebrate the new decade and remember the colour and vitality of the 1920s.

"We are keen to support our local businesses and high streets coming out of Covid and this is part of that drive to get people supporting the local economy again.

"As we mix Valentino with the Charleston, and cocktails and gin with the writings of Agatha Christie, let's make the 2020s in Swale as exciting as the Roaring 1920s!”

Tickets go on sale in May and people can Email: tourismsupport@swale.gov.uk to get involved.

For more information visit: www.visit-swale.co.uk/events/1920s-weekend-a-celebration-for-the-20s-sittingbourne-july-2021-57265

Swale Borough Council

New Greener Mobile Libraries Roll Out Across Kent

The first of Kent’s new mobile library vehicles have hit the county’s roads, bringing a range of books to residents eager to nourish their love of reading during lockdown and beyond.

KCC’s Libraries, Registration and Archives service has invested in five new vehicles to cover all the routes across Kent - including the surrounding areas of Ashford, Dover, Maidstone, Northfleet and Sturry. The vehicles carry a great range of books and crucially offer greater reliability, reduced maintenance costs, and are more economical to drive than the older vehicles.

Wheelchair access is available thanks to the access steps being part of the wheelchair lift and, teamed with the rear air suspension, the entry and exit is kept comfortable for all customers.

The most recent figures available, for 2019-20, record that KCC’s mobile libraries assisted more than 28,000visitors and issued nearly 80,000 items.

Mike Hill, Kent County Council’s Cabinet Member for Communities, said:

“I am delighted that the first of our new mobile libraries is being enjoyed by our customers. There was a real need to replace the older vehicles so that we can maintain the excellent customer service residents expect from Kent Libraries.”

“We know from customer feedback that the mobile service has been a real lifeline to many residents during lockdown, and I am pleased that our new vehicles will be reliable, comfortable and improve customer experience.”

“Close attention had been paid to the need to provide mobile libraries that were as efficient and environmentally friendly as possible. Their “green” specifications include:”

• A lighter chassis than the current libraries with better aerodynamics, producing lower emissions and improved fuel economy.
• An auto gearbox that analyses the load in the vehicle and the road conditions to put the vehicle in the correct gear, making multiple decisions instantly to get the smoothest, most comfortable and most fuel-efficient drive, maximising the running costs of the vehicle.
• A smart pack that provides a monthly report showing data on fuel consumption and driver behaviour, journey profiles, and tips to improve driving style for fuel consumption and vehicle optimisation; and 
• Roof-mounted solar panels providing a clean green method of running the internal features of the library. If required, the vehicles can be plugged in overnight to give whatever charge may be required, and this will auto shut off when the batteries reach 100%, thus reducing the need to pull power from the national grid.

For more information on Kent Libraries and the mobile service, visit: www.kent.gov.uk/libs

Kent County Council

Swallows Leisure Centre Roof Fixed and Ready for Re-opening After Lockdown

Work to replace the severely storm-damaged roof of Swallows Leisure Centre has been completed.

The roof of the leisure centre in Sittingbourne was damaged in storm Ciara last year, causing significant damage.

In July, the council agreed to provide £800,000 to replace a large area over the pool, sports hall, café and part of the gym.

Cllr Angela Harrison, cabinet member for health and wellbeing at the council, said:

“I’m glad to see the works have finished, so the centre can now plan for reopening as lockdown restrictions are relaxed in coming weeks and months.

The last year has been a tremendous challenge for the centre, with the damaged roof, national lockdowns, and adapting how they operate to make sure people could exercise safely.

We know how important Swallows is for local people’s health and wellbeing, which is why we’ve invested a significant amount of money on the repairs.

We’ve invested now as we don’t want to cut corners and just patch over issues as they crop up. It needed to be done properly so we can prevent more unnecessary closures which don’t just have a direct financial impact, but also have a significant effect on the health and wellbeing of local people.”

Dave Harcourt, Chief Executive Officer at Swale Community Leisure who run the leisure centre, said:

“It’s fantastic news that after a lengthy construction period, overcoming the constraints of Covid-19 and the inevitable winter weather, that the Swallows Leisure Centre roof project is finally complete.

This is great news for our customers, and also for our staff, who are looking forward to the pool and sports hall being operable again.

It is thanks to the investment and ongoing support from Swale Borough Council in bringing this about, that when we re-open following the Governments ‘Road-map to Recovery’, we anticipate the return of so many wonderful people to the centre.”

Plans are being prepared to reopen the centre in line with Government guidance, and further announcements will be made in due course.

Swale Borough Council

£100,000 Grant Awarded to Educate Children on the Importance of Air Quality in Kent

A council scheme to help children think about the air they breathe has been awarded a government grant of more than £100,000.

The funding will be used by Swale, Maidstone, Tunbridge Wells and Canterbury district councils, along with Kent County Council, to develop and build an educational resource with an interactive story book, animations, and digital games to help improve air quality.

The resources will encourage children to learn why air quality is important, as well as teach them what they, and their parents, can do to help improve the air they breathe.

They will be taught things like how much air pollution is created by a stationary vehicle with its engine running, as well as how to let grown-ups know they need to change their behaviour and switch off their engines at the right times.

Cllr Julian Saunders, cabinet member for environment at Swale council, said:

“It's great news that we've been awarded government funding for this project.

“Children are particularly vulnerable to the dangers of air pollution and we've been working to address this through things like our Clean Air for Schools campaign where we’ve been working with local primary schools to speak to pupils and encourage No Idling Zones around school gates.

“This funding will help us build on the work we’ve done so far and engage with children to encourage healthier day-to-day behaviour.

“Home schooling has shown us how children can effectively learn using technology, and this scheme will use that with interactive gaming to teach them about how we can improve air quality.”

The funding of £103,770 comes from the Air Quality Grant Scheme run by the Department for the Environment, Farming and Rural Affairs.

Swale Borough Council

Centenary of The Royal British Legion

THE ROYAL BRITISH LEGION CELEBRATES ITS CENTENARY THIS YEAR

Formed in 1921 to provide welfare to soldiers returning from the First World War, the Royal British Legion is today the UK's leading military charity. In May 2021 the Legion celebrates its centenary. We Are the Legion is the first book to look at the whole hundred years, telling the extraordinary story of support to servicemen and women in the UK and around the world - from finding jobs and housing to healing the injuries and trauma of conflict.

In recent years the Legion has quietly transformed itself from an organisation of old soldiers to a modern media-savvy charity leading the country in remembrance but also lobbying the government on pensions and researching state-of-the-art rehabilitation while working alongside other leading charities on welfare provision.

We Are the Legion covers every aspect of the Legion's work: the history of the poppy, the Legion's international links, its role in fostering peace between countries and its latest work on rehabilitation and support. But the book also pulls together lesser-known aspects of the Legion's history, whether of the villages set aside for rehabilitation or the misguided trip to Germany in the 1930s as an attempt to foster friendship between nations.

Richly illustrated with over 350 images, including an extraordinary collection of early poppy designs, Legion posters and unseen archive shots, the book also includes original photography specially commissioned for the project.

We Are the Legion - Julie Summers.

We Are the Legion is available for pre-order on Amazon. The book, richly illustrated with more than 350 images, looks at the Legion’s 100 years, telling the extraordinary story of support to servicemen and women in the UK and abroad while covering every aspect of the Legion's work. The edition is offered at £16.71 reduced from £18.99 and pre-orders will be shipped on the publication date of 6th May.

The text above is copied from my RBL membership newsletter.

“WE WILL REMEMBER THEM”

Hon. Ald. Gerry Lewin - Poppy Day Appeal Organiser 

Telephone: 01634 366113 - 07946 996789

Email: lewing135@btinternet.com