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TOP TV CLIPS
SEEOURSISTERPAPERS KENTONSUNDAY ANDTHE SATURDAY
EDITION FOR ALL THE WEEKEND'S COUNTY NEWS AND SPORT
1 Kent's new high speed trains are improving travel, says
Regional Minister Jonathan Shaw. Search `Shaw'
2 Our firemen return home and talk to Yourkenttv.co.uk
about their rescue mission to Haiti . Search `Haiti'
3 Julie Maddocks visits Locate in Kent to talk about new
business opportunities. Search `locate'
yourmaidstone
SINGLE charity supporters have bro-
ken the world record for the biggest
speed dating event.
The current record stood at 252 con-
testants, but on Friday, 260 volun-
teers packed into the Ramada Hotel,
in Hollingbourne, to support for
Demelza House and smash the figure.
As well as setting a record the par-
ticipants raised �2,860 for the chil-
dren's charity in Sittingbourne.
Area fundraising manager Hayley
Richardson said: "To break the world
record was a brilliant feeling for
everyone involved.We are truly grate-
ful for everyone's support."
Record speed-daters
raise cash for hospice
A NEW multi-million-pound hotel
has been opened by Ann Widdecombe.
The Maidstone and Weald MP cut
the ribbon of the town's new riverside
Travelodge, on the bridge one-way
system, yesterday.
The �4.2million building boasts 113
rooms and has created 20 jobs with
the JobCentre Plus scheme for the
long-term unemployed.
To mark the opening, Travelodge
commissioned an art project with St
Francis Catholic Primary School, in
Queens Road. Ms Widdecombe was
called in to judge the art work and the
winner won a family weekend break.
New hotel provides
jobs for unemployed
POLICE have confiscated cannabis
plants worth �48,000 after a raid at a
house in Maidstone.
Officers on foot patrol raised the
alarm when they smelled cannabis at
the property in Heathorn Street and
noticed condensation on the windows.
A squad raided the house in the
early hours of Sunday morning and
found the top floor had been convert-
ed for the cultivation of cannabis and
seized more than 600 plants.
Police Sergeant Richard Owen of 4
Section said: "Officers followed their
training and their noses on this one,
leading to an excellent seizure."
Police officers sniff
out cannabis farm
NEWS IN BRIEF
THE fight against changing
Maidstone's maternity
services has been backed by
the Conservative Shadow
Minister for Health, who
has now called for a fresh
consultation.
Maidstone and Weald's Tory par-
liamentary candidate Helen Grant
met with Anne Milton MP to discuss
the mass objection to moving the
town's consultant-led maternity unit
to the new Pembury hospital.
The Conservative hopeful took the
opportunity to show the Shadow
Minister the thousands of signatures
she and her fellow parliamentary
candidates have collected against
the plans, and share the feeling from
concerned residents that the original
2004 proposal needs to be reviewed.
Mrs Milton, 54, and mother-of-four,
said: "I gather there is huge concern
locally about the restructuring of
maternity services in Maidstone,
which is based on a consultation that
is six years old.
"I hope that these plans are looked
at again with current information.
"We need to give women real
choice, and consequently we need to
offer a range of services in a range of
locations to meet their needs.
"Any maternity unit that is proven
to produce good outcomes should be
congratulated, not penalised, and
under Conservative policy commis-
sioners will be incentivised to keep
successful units open."
The original consultation for the
plans was held when disgraced for-
mer health boss Rose Gibb was still
in charge of Maidstone and
Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust.
Gibb resigned in 2007 ahead of a
damning report which linked the
hospital's poor hygiene with lethal
outbreaks of Clostridium difficile.
She was later replaced by current
chief executive Glenn Douglas.
At a meeting last year between
Douglas, the NHS Trust board and
Maidstone council's external
overview and scrutiny committee,
councillors expressed concern that
the consultation was flawed.
Despite calls for a fresh review, Mr
Douglas continued with plans for the
new Pembury Hospital and last
week told this paper he thought the
first consultation was "well noticed"
and received thousands of responses.
Mrs Grant and her parliamentary
opponents � Liberal Democrat Peter
Carroll, Green Party's Stuart Jeffery
and Labour's Rav Seeruthun � pre-
sented a petition of more than 20,000
signatures to Number 10 Downing
Street and now hope to meet with
Health Secretary Andrew Burnham.
The move is expected to take place
by the end of this year, leaving
Maidstone Hospital with a mid-
wifery-led birthing centre.
Opposition to
maternity plan
wins support
s BY ANNA WHITE
SUPPORT: MP Anne Milton and Helen Grant
yourmaidstone.co.uk2 Telephone advertising: 01303 817110 Email advertising@kosmedia.co.uk
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