Candidates announced for the Medway Local Council Election on May the 7th

News from Medway Council website

A full list of candidates for each of the Wards in Medway can be found here

For Rainham Central click on Rainham Central

English Festival fun for all the family at Riverside Country Park in Medway

Medway Matters

Get ready to meet Winston Churchill and Charlie Chaplin, take a look at giant tractors and even watch a Shire horse display and ride a donkey at this year’s English Festival.

It’s a fun-packed free day out for the whole family celebrating St George’s day and the most iconic and ironic English traditions – including appearances from St George and his dragon.

Riverside Country Park in Rainham will transform into a trio of exciting zoned areas for the annual festival to be held on Saturday, 18 April from 11am to 5pm.

There’ll be a countryside experience zone where baby farm animals will be ready for snuggles in cuddle corner, or if you’re after some more action how about watching sheepdog and duck herding displays?

The seaside area will offer visitors a chance to sit back and relax on the specially created sandy beach with fish and chips, while being entertained by the Punch and Judy show. Or for more fast-paced fun head to the rides at the funfair.

The third zone is the village square where there’ll be plenty of farmers’ market goodies to purchase. And while the adults browse, children can hop aboard the little red bus for a mini journey around the stalls.

While all that’s going on the Kent Police Band and Swingtime Sweethearts will be performing live, so be sure to pop to the bar for a drink while you sit back, relax and enjoy the music – you may see Winston Churchill or Charlie Chaplin bopping to the beat.

Parking at Riverside Country Park is very limited, so to avoid being caught in traffic it’s best to take advantage of the free Park and Ride service from Dockside Outlet Centre, which will run all day. Or try the Park and Walk from Bloors Wharf (at the bottom of Bloors Lane) and take a riverside stroll to the park.

Verne Sanderson, Events Operations Manager at Medway Council, said: “The English Festival is a free family event and there really is something on offer for everyone to enjoy. I’d urge people coming along to make the most of the Park and Ride or Park and Walk facilities.”

Countdown to the Elections on May 7th

With the Elections on May the 7th fast approaching it is still possible to register to vote.

The deadline for registering to vote is Monday the 20th April.

If you wish to use a postal vote then the deadline to apply to vote by post is 5pm on Tuesday the 21st April.

It is important to remember that not only is there a Parliamentary Election but also a local Medway Council Election and Parish Elections (where applicable) as well.

Your vote matters graphic by courtesy of www.gov.uk/register-to-vote

A marvellous visit to Mid Kent College

Rounding off a wonderful Wednesday I visited Mid Kent College today to meet with the Principal Simon Cook.

After meeting to discuss College and Education matters Simon kindly showed me around the College and in particular the Media and Art and Design Departments.

We are pictured above and below with an old colleague Nick from my previous Lecturing days at Canterbury College , here Nick is showing me the super control panel used by Music Technology students.

 

I also had the opportunity of chatting to students who were completing a really interesting Applied Science class.

 A fantastic visit and my thanks to the Principal Simon Cook , all of the staff and students, I look forward to returning after May.

First a Mexican Assembly at Mierscourt Primary School then to Bradfields Academy to help celebrate its First Anniversary

A wonderful Wednesday today, first I visited Mierscourt Primary School in Rainham to attend their Mexican Assembly. We were treated to Mexican singing and of course, the Mexican Hat Dance!

Regretfully I wasn’t able to join the parents who attended at the Mexican food that had been laid on as I then had a quick trip across Medway to Bradfields Academy in Chatham to help them celebrate their First Anniversary of becoming an Academy.

Each year group gave a presentation and all of the children epitomised the Academy motto : Excellence and Enjoyment.

Readers of my blog will know that I am trying to encourage schools to teach Mandarin and I was really impressed to hear pupils from Key Stage 4 delivering a faultless presentation in fluent Mandarin!

It was a joyful occasion and I am particularly proud of being an Honorary Academy Council member.

I am photographed above with some of the Guests and pupils including Tracey Crouch and the Chair of Governors Peter Martin.

Also included is the fantastic Head Teacher Kim Johnson.

Thank you to everyone at Bradfields Academy, now I am off to Mid Kent College.

A Fantastic Production of the Sound of Music

I had the pleasure of being invited to attend the opening night of the Strood Academy 6th Form Production of the Sound of Music this evening.

Really clever use of backdrop electronic views to make us feel that we really were in Austria and excellent acting and signing from the pupils.

It is difficult to believe that the Sound of Music has been performed since 1959!

It only seems like yesterday that we were watching Julie Andrews in the main role, this evenings Maria gave a spirited and professional performance, as did all of the cast.

Well done to all the pupils and staff that were involved.

The next and last performance is tomorrow evening (Wednesday)

I am pictured above with some of the cast.

Sharing the optimism for Medway UTC

Jaye Nolan

Medway UTC opens in September – a few spaces remain for students entering Years 10 and 12.

With construction well underway, the new University Technical College for Medway is on track to open its doors to Year 10 and 12 students on September 7.

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Opening a fantastic Sensory Garden at New Road Primary School

I was given the honour of opening a fantastic new Sensory Garden at New Road Primary School today.

The garden, funded, designed and built by young people who make up the Princes Trust Team 12 was overseen by Medway Youth Trust.

The young people raised their own funds by bag packing at Morrisons Super Market and worked together as a team with the Reception year children at the school painting and making sculptors, planting both flowers and vegetables.

The garden will be a super asset to the children at the school and I know will give them many hours of fun and learning in the future.

Congratulations to the Princes Trust, Medway Youth Trust and of course to the pupils and staff at New Road Primary School.

Palm Sunday Procession

A truly wonderful service with the added blessing of Dave the Donkey coming right in to the Church.

Non-local representation in local elections

Jonathan Primett - Political comment & review

Following on from their manifesto launch, it was inevitable that Labour would launch themselves into a campaign frenzy and social media avalanche regarding their activities. Unfortunately for them, they are still struggling hugely in certain areas, and in a couple of wards where I have close contacts, there is resentment towards the fact that Non-Local candidates have been selected to stand in these particular wards for council.

We all know that this is not a single-party issue, but Labour are the main culprits for this by some way, for example, the Chatham council wards are quite baffling actually as I shall explain.

In Chatham Central, Labour have 3 councillors, only 1 is from the ward, the other 2 are from Princes Park and Luton & Wayfield respectively. In Luton & Wayfield of the 3 councillors only 1 is from the ward, the other 2 are from Rochester East, and Princes…

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