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Catch up with all the News around Kent on the 8th of December, 2025
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00:00Hello and welcome to Kentonight Live on KMTV.
00:26I'm Kristen Hawthorne and here are your top stories on Monday the 8th of December.
00:32Fighting back, estate management company booted from Greenhive over skyrocketing bills.
00:3728 days to pay which was brilliant for somewhere with so many families right at Christmas time.
00:44It's just ridiculous.
00:45And one rep at a time, anxiety friendly gym to triple in size as demand grows.
00:52Most people, especially starting out, kind of got a clue what they're doing.
00:55So they're going into a gym, seeing all this equipment, they haven't got a clue how it
00:59works, how to set it up.
01:00Letter or lyrics, Luton Road sees trash being sorted by beatboxing bins.
01:06There are little messages from the primary school and little beatboxing notes from the
01:11primary school children in the bins.
01:12So as people put stuff in, they get a new message from the school.
01:18Great show ahead of us this evening, but our top story tonight, a Greenhive estate has set
01:32an estate management company packing after seeing their bills double just before Christmas.
01:38Hundreds of households saw their bills skyrocket at St. Clements Lake, prompting residents to
01:43take control for themselves. But outgoing company Firstport say the money is used for looking after
01:48the area rather than for profit. Local democracy reporter Olly Leader went down to find out more.
01:55It's a grey day out at St. Clements Lake, but there is a glimmer of sunshine on the horizon for
02:02Gary Clements, who has finally managed to oust management company Firstport after hundreds of
02:10households saw their bills skyrocket across the Greenhive estate last November.
02:18And the bill almost doubled from, you know, just over 700 to just under 1300. So we kind of knew
02:25something wasn't right. So I'd done some, you know, rough sums and I worked out they were massively
02:31overcharging and saying something completely wrong, but they just wouldn't listen every time I told
02:37them it was a problem. Despite their bills going up by hundreds of pounds, residents here say the
02:44idea that money went back into the estate is simply for the birds. We was having problems with the lake
02:51and just the way it was looking. We was having, you know, problems with just general wear and tear.
02:56You know, the gazebo roof was falling off a little bit. They were just patching it in roughly.
03:02The estate was looking a little bit tired and, you know, the grass cutting was getting to be a
03:08little bit less existent. The bins were overflowing and we had a lot of rubbish everywhere.
03:14Teaming up with the residents is XL Property Management, who will be taking over from the housing
03:21giant later this month. They say they've already found £40,000 in savings in comparison with Firstport.
03:31If I look at the estates that we've taken over from management companies, typically we're saving
03:36between 15% and 50% on the estates that we're managing and we're able to do that whilst we're
03:42improving the service. So it does go to show that a number of estates across the whole of Kent
03:49are paying excessive fees and they're not getting value for money.
03:52A spokesperson for the property management company said they take matters raised by residents seriously
03:59and they work with them to resolve problems as quickly as possible.
04:05They also say that service charges cover the actual cost of maintaining a development and are not a source
04:13of profit. The battle may be won here but worries persist about whether their accounts could be
04:20left in debt by the outgoing company. But hope remains that they may at last be out of murky
04:29financial waters. Olly Leader in Greenhithe.
04:32Now all properties in Tunbridge Wells affected by a water outage should now have their supplies
04:39restored according to provider South East Water. It comes a week and a half since the town lost its
04:44drinkable tap water after a repeated chemical fault at Penbury Treatment Works. Schools, businesses and
04:51health services were all forced to close and a boil notice remains in place. Our reporter Chloe Brewster is
04:57with us now to tell us more. So Chloe, surely things are back to normal now? So all 24,000 properties
05:03that were affected in the outage have water back but that water still isn't drinkable. The water is
05:09chemically safe but the boil notice remains in place until further notice. So that means any water that
05:14you'd be using to drink, to brush your teeth and to cook, that all needs to be boiled before you consume it.
05:19But the bottled water stations are remaining open from 9am until 9pm in all the usual places you can see
05:25those details online so you can choose whether you want to boil your water and cool it down or whether
05:30you can go and get some bottled water for free. And a question that many residents will probably
05:35be thinking, will South East Water be held responsible? So South East Water say they are
05:41fully committed to compensating customers for the disruption. Sunday evening they released a
05:45statement saying we know how incredibly difficult and disruptive the last week has been for everyone.
05:51dealing with a water outage combined with the current boil water notice is a major stress on
05:56our customers daily lives, families and businesses. They say they want to ensure every customer receives
06:01exactly what they're entitled to. And in terms of that it's quite difficult to work out but what sort
06:06of compensation are people in Tunbridge Wells entitled to? Give us a ballpark. So under South East Water's
06:12guaranteed standards of service it says that if they don't restore supply within 12 hours of an
06:17unplanned interruption compensation will be automatically paid plus another automatic payment
06:22for every 12 continuous hours that your water supply is not restored. That's £50 compensation
06:28plus another £50 for every subsequent 12 hours. It's quite complicated so bear with me.
06:32It is. In addition to this due to there also being a water boil notice in place for over the 48 hour
06:38threshold you're entitled to compensation for this also. Obviously that is continuing as the boil notice
06:44continues. For a family that saw their water go off on Sunday at 12am and did not see it again until
06:50midday on Thursday they're still operating under the boiling notice so that is still continuing
06:57but they may be entitled to around £600 but of course that is a ballpark figure and
07:02I encourage people to check out the guaranteed standards of service to see how much exactly they
07:07might be owed. Of course and with people's bills coming in just recently this might be quite a relief to
07:12those people who have been affected. Thank you so much Chloe. Now Kent Police have issued a renewed
07:20appeal to solve a more than 40 year old murder in Tunbridge. 85 year old Esme Hoad was found dead in
07:29her home with injuries from a blunt object and a stab wound to the chest on the 8th of November 1982.
07:36The police had suspected an unknown couple driving a blue mini traveller and were thought to have stolen
07:41from Esme's home however after an extensive investigation no further leads turned up.
07:48Now 43 years later Crime Stoppers is offering a £20,000 reward to anyone with information that leads
07:55to the arrest or conviction of those responsible so take a good look at those pictures there.
08:01Next Kemp Police have recovered two stolen puppies reuniting them with their mother after they were
08:07found separately in Woodham and Sidcup. The Spaniels were amongst four taken during a burglary earlier
08:15this month prompting a major search by officers and the owners. While two have now been returned home
08:21the remaining puppies are still missing. Detectives say their investigation is ongoing and are urging anyone
08:27who may have seen the dogs to come forward. And next Mind and Muscle Fitness in Folkestone will soon
08:35be tripling in size after seeing great success with its welcoming gym set up. With an aim to combat gym anxiety and
08:43help more to get into fitness the gym has ended up having to cap their member numbers. Our reporter Chloe Brewster
08:50who you've just seen with me here now got her trainers on and headed down to check it out for herself.
08:57Do you go to the gym? I've got a gym membership put it like that. For many people going to the gym can
09:03be easier said than done. I think it's a crazy situation that you go to a gym and you're kind of
09:07stressed. The only thing it could be easier is when you can't always get on the equipment you need. A lot of
09:13people maybe there's a barrier in your head rather than actually in the gym and if you if you go and you
09:19show up and and you get busy then then I think like they're much less intimidating when you first think.
09:25At this gym they want to make it easier for people to get fit. Mind and Muscle Gym in Folkestone
09:31opened two years ago after owner Steve Brenner decided he wanted to create a safe space for
09:35people who may feel intimidated by the normal commercial gyms. Geared towards health and wellness
09:40the gym just off Folkestone Seafront has seen such demand that it'll soon be expanding into the
09:45building next door tripling in size. Most people especially starting out haven't got a clue what
09:51they're doing so they're going into a gym seeing all this equipment they haven't got a clue how it
09:55works how to set it up and by coming here because we're a small member base and it's relatively empty
10:01all the time we've always got staff on board so we're here to do inductions do PT sessions and just
10:06to help people in general figure out the machines we've got a great app as well where we give all of
10:12our members a basic training plan to follow from start so they're not coming in sort of trying to
10:17figure out what they're supposed to be doing there's always something there for them to follow.
10:20Most gyms the size of the new building offer over a thousand memberships but here Steve says keeping
10:26numbers down to 250 is paramount to keep the values of the business. So the area we're in at the moment
10:32is going to be the upstairs gym area is going to be predominantly resistance machines as you can see
10:38we've already had big delivery over in the corner. This is our downstairs area which is going to be
10:44more resistance machines more plate loaded equipment. Steve says he hopes the new space
10:48will remain a judgment-free zone for local people wanting to get fit. I mean going from my own sort of
10:55story if you like I was very overweight and very unhealthy as I mentioned completely changed my life
11:02and being able to do that for other people as far as job satisfaction it's fantastic. Getting more people
11:09moving can never be a bad thing so let's hope the expansion here helps others take that first rep
11:14towards self-improvement. Chloe Brewster for KMTV in Folkestone. Now unfortunately it's time for a quick break but
11:22don't go anywhere as we have a great show coming up. Firstly we'll be speaking to Kent Wildlife Trust as they'll be
11:28joining us to tell us about their new charity an emergency fundraising appeal to save one of Britain's
11:33most vulnerable habitats an ancient woodland. Then we'll have a round of the latest sports news from
11:39across Kent starting with major success in rugby as Gravesend achieve their fourth consecutive win
11:45after defeating old reggaeton. All that and more. See you then.
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14:51hello and welcome back to Kent tonight live here on KMTV. Now the Kent Wildlife Trust has launched an
15:20emergency fundraising appeal to save an ancient woodland one of Britain's most precious and most
15:26threatened habitats. The charity Wilder Blean Wilder Woodlands Campaign is part of the Big Give
15:33Christmas Challenge and aims to raise £75,000 between the 2nd and the 9th of December to tomorrow.
15:40This would soon this would support a groundbreaking wilding project that they say could transform
15:46woodland conservation across the woodland conservation across the UK and here to tell us more is Heidi
15:51from the Kent Wildlife Trust.
15:55Hello Heidi thank you so much for joining us this evening
15:58and can you first of all tell me what the wild what is the Wilder Blean Wilder Woodlands Campaign?
16:06Yeah so this is we are Kent Wildlife Trust and we have launched this appeal
16:12in order to support our ancient woodland we've got at West Blean we've got the Bison Blean project which
16:20is in partnership with Wildwood and yeah we've it's been fantastic so far and what we really need
16:26is some more funds to keep the project going and to restore our ancient woodland. And of course those
16:33who um have been following along will know that the the Bison project has been really quite successful
16:38why are these sort of projects so important to Kent's ecosystem?
16:45So projects projects like this are super important we've already lost 70% of irreplaceable ancient
16:51woodlands in the UK in just the last century so it's super vital that projects like this especially
16:57groundbreaking ones uh like like the Bison project um are really important um because they lead the way
17:04for a more natural way of um conserving um wildlife uh by doing having these animals you are restoring
17:14natural processes and that supports all sorts of wildlife um like the woodpecker um the heath fritillary
17:21butterfly which is a rare one that we have on site um and yeah it's it's super important that we really
17:26focus on these new rewilding efforts. And you said there 70 percent of it has been affected so
17:33visually what state are the ancient woodlands in and what has led to this emergency appeal?
17:40Um well a lot of ancient woodlands are very overgrown if they don't have the funds to manage them
17:46what you find is that all of the trees tend to be a monoculture so it's all the same size and age and
17:54a lot of the time the same species um and what we really want is to have species like the Bison
18:00working their way through the woodlands taking down some of the trees and then you get a real variety
18:05of trees and also get more light onto the forest floor to allow um for lots of species like butterflies
18:12and wildflowers and things like that it's really important. And then coming back to um the Bison project
18:19then I'm aware that maybe that helps because it kind of helps the biodiversity of the area can you
18:23explain maybe a bit about how that works and and why these sorts of things are so important?
18:30Yeah so the Bison are an amazing mega herbivore and an ecosystem engineer um so how they affect the
18:37woodland is using their shear size and also their dyer they break through the trees they pull trees down
18:44um and debark them um this can leave standing deadwood or open up these nice sunny rides and
18:50glades um and also their dust bathing creates these these great um open areas that are great for
18:57invertebrates and reptiles and even their dung is all across the woodland and this is really spreading
19:03seeds across and nutrients and we've even seen a rise in in dung beetles using this dung pulling it back
19:09into the soil and this uh makes the ancient woodland more uh able to sequester carbon because the soil
19:17health has improved. And then in terms of the fundraiser for people who may be listening and
19:23thinking that they want to help that sort of thing um it's ending tomorrow so can you give us some where
19:28can people donate and what what's the time limit on that? Um so right now their donations will be doubled
19:36uh by the big give uh christmas challenge and what they need to do is donate before uh midnight tonight
19:42um and you can do this on www.kwtg.uk forward slash big dash give uh but just go on kent wild life trust
19:50website and it should pop up there and yeah if you anyone could donate tonight that would be fantastic
19:56and their donation will be double the impact. All right sounds excellent and um hopefully we'll be
20:03talking to you in the future to find out what kind of things you've been you've been doing with
20:07those donations. Fabulous. I'll speak to you soon. Lovely. Thank you. Bye. All right. Now it's time to
20:15take a look at all the sports news from across the county. In rugby news Gravesend Full sends it for
20:23their fourth consecutive win. At the weekend they held a tremendous effort against Old Rigatian in the
20:29national two's southeast division. With a cracking 52-19 score in Gravesend's favour the team dominated the field early.
20:37From the get-go barely a minute into the match Josh Barnes came from deep into his team's half and scored some
20:42magnificent early points. Old Rigatian attempted to retaliate but their first half efforts were thwarted
20:49by the G's players Rocky Simms, Ben Hope and Barnes yet again after being awarded a bonus point before half time,
20:55taking the scores to 31-7. The highlight of the match came from star player Josh McKenzie who
21:00drilled past the old boys breaking through their defensive line. The old boys strove not to concede
21:06and played a solid 20 minutes to earn themselves another seven points. It wasn't enough though as the
21:11final stretch of the match saw coordinated efforts by Ben Stelfox, George Bruce and Barnes yet again
21:17who executed expert manoeuvres which awarded them bonus points and their victory. On Saturday Gravesend play the
21:23old Colfians at their home stadium. Now for cricket. Scene bowler Matt Quinn has managed to secure his
21:28spot in Kent's County Cricket Club for another two years, despite previously suffering hamstring,
21:34lower limb and back injuries. This news might come as a shock to cricket fans as a 32-year-old former
21:39Essex player had unfortunately missed an entire season of play within his previous Kent contract. Hopes
21:45are high for the player as he once held membership with the Kent Spitfires, who won the 2021 T20
21:52Vitality Blast as well as the one day cup the year after. Quinn himself says,
21:57Kent is now my home, and it was an easy decision to remain part of the exciting project.
22:03And back to the pitch finally. Gillingham manager Gareth Ainsworth says he enjoyed his return to the
22:08pitch with a 0-0 draw at Colchester marking his second game back. The manager recently underwent open
22:14heart surgery which caused him to miss six of his team's games while he recovered. Ainsworth noted the
22:20Colchester game as full-blooded despite feeling that he had lost his voice previously. He celebrates his
22:25return to the football stage after such a long absence by noting, I've got my mojo back a little
22:30bit as well. Jay Blakeslee reporting. Now of course don't forget you can keep up to date with all our
22:37latest stories across Kent by logging on to your website kmtv.co.uk. There you'll find all our
22:44reports including this one about inheritance tax on farmland worth over £1 million. We all know Kent
22:51as the Garden of England, but with 70% of the county comprising farmland, the most in the south east,
22:59is it also the farm of England too? This makes today a very important one for Kent's farmers. A year since
23:05a fatal blow to farmers' so-called prosperity. In November 2024, farmers from across the county
23:12descended on Whitehall in a mass protest against the government introducing an inheritance tax on
23:18farmland worth over £1 million. But that was a year ago. Now with the second Labour budget upon us,
23:25I'm at Jael Baxter's, a fruit farm just south of Maystone, whose owner Clive Baxter is urging the
23:31government to reconsider. We're still trying to convince the government that they've made
23:38the wrong decision. I represent the NFU and the NFU as a body gets what the government's trying to do.
23:46And actually in some ways we're supportive and we're proposing a tax that gets to those people
23:55sheltering their wealth to a degree, saves small family farms and actually gives the treasury more
24:03tax income. So it's a win-win. Set to take hold from April 2026, the 20% tax on farmland valued above
24:11£1 million could have grave effects on smaller and medium-sized farms. We're a generational business,
24:19fourth generation coming up. I have triplet daughters who would like to be involved in the business and
24:26future. The policy I think is clumsy because it's 20% above quite a low threshold. I mean people might
24:36think a million pounds is an awful lot of money but you soon invest that in, as I say, machinery
24:42and particularly farmland, it soon mounts up. The Minister of State, Food Security and Rural Affairs
24:48confirmed, ahead of the budget, that the farmer's inheritance will not make a U-turn. Farmers like
24:53John are concerned this might be the start of further measures that despite being designed to raise funds
24:59and distribute wealth, hit those with already little cash to spare. A concern for us and probably
25:05quite a lot of farmers will be a potential mansion tax because very often the farmhouse,
25:13which is in the middle of the farm, is historically quite a nice house. It's not something we regard
25:19as an asset and we really, we would really struggle to pay that extra money. We asked the treasury for
25:25comment and they said the tax is meant to prevent people from sheltering wealth through untaxed farmland,
25:32as well as to raise funds to balance the books. And even if it does so, given the impact on these
25:38smaller farmers, it's important the juice is worth the squeeze. Megan Shaw for KMTV in Seven Oaks.
25:47Well we'll be getting snow for the next coming days, let's take a look at the weather to find out.
25:51It looks like Kent will see some cloudy skies and light rain this evening. Temperatures reaching highs
26:01of 14 degrees over and over, lows of 13. And tomorrow morning then things will remain around the same
26:07with lows of 12 in Ashford and Tunbridge Wells. Again, some light showers. And then into the PM,
26:13we've got 13 degrees ranging to 14 degrees, rain across the county. Wednesday we've got 13 degrees,
26:19cloudy skies. Cloudy skies again on Thursday, 12 degrees. And a full cloudy skies, 11 degrees on
26:25Friday. No snow yet.
26:33And it's time for another break coming up. But again, we've got lots of exciting things coming up.
26:38We'll be taking another look at Ollie's report about an estate management company, Firstport,
26:43that was fired by a Greenhive estate after bills doubled in the lead up to Christmas.
26:49All that and more after this break. See you then.
27:26.
30:29One rep at a time.
30:31Anxiety-friendly gym to triple in size as demand grows.
30:34And litter or lyrics?
30:39Luton Road sees trash being sorted by beatboxing gyms.
30:43Bins.
30:44Got mixed up between the bins and the gyms.
30:46A look back at our top story this evening.
30:48A green high estate has sent an estate management company packing after seeing their bills double
30:54just before Christmas.
30:56Hundreds of households saw their bills skyrocket at St. Clements Lake, prompting residents to
31:01take control for themselves.
31:03But outgoing company Firstport say the money is used for looking after the area rather
31:08than for profit.
31:09Local democracy reporter Oli Leder went down to see the state of the estate.
31:14It's a grey day out at St. Clements Lake, but there is a glimmer of sunshine on the horizon
31:22for Gary Clements, who has finally managed to oust management company Firstport after hundreds
31:30of households saw their bills skyrocket across the green high estate last November.
31:38And the bill almost doubled from, you know, just over $700 to just under $1,300.
31:44So we kind of knew something wasn't right.
31:46So I'd done some, you know, rough sums and I worked out they were massively overcharging
31:52so there was something completely wrong.
31:54But they just wouldn't listen every time I told them it was a problem.
31:59Despite their bills going up by hundreds of pounds, residents here say the idea that money
32:05went back into the estate is simply for the birds.
32:10We were having problems with the lake and just the way it was looking.
32:13We were having problems with just general wear and tear, you know, the gazebo roof was falling
32:18off a little bit.
32:19They were just patching it in roughly.
32:22The estate was looking a little bit tired and, you know, the grass cutting was getting
32:27to be a little bit less existent.
32:30The bins were overflowing and we had a lot of rubbish everywhere.
32:34Teaming up with the residents is XL Property Management, who will be taking over from the housing
32:41giant later this month.
32:44They say they've already found £40,000 in savings in comparison with Firstport.
32:51If I look at the estates that we've taken over from management companies, typically we're
32:56saving between 15% and 50% on the estates that we're managing.
33:00And we're able to do that whilst we're improving the service.
33:03So it does go to show that a number of estates across the whole of Kent are paying excessive
33:09fees and they're not getting value for money.
33:13A spokesperson for the property management company said they take matters raised by residents
33:18seriously and they work with them to resolve problems as quickly as possible.
33:24They also say that service charges cover the actual cost of maintaining a development and
33:32are not a source of profit.
33:34The battle may be won here, but worries persist about whether their accounts could be left
33:41in debt by the outgoing company.
33:44But hope remains that they may at last be out of murky financial waters.
33:50Olly Lieder in Greenhithe.
33:52Now, at 7 o'clock this evening, we'll have our latest Kent Tonight special, where we'll
33:59be taking a deep dive into the struggles those with special educational needs and disabilities
34:04face here in Kent when trying to access employment.
34:07While the latest figures show one in five Kent residents are currently unemployed, those figures
34:12are considerably higher for those with disabilities here in the county.
34:17Kit Taylor's been to Five Acre Woods School in Loose to find out how they are trying to pioneer
34:22ways to ensure their students get a head start in the job market.
34:27It's a weekday morning at the largest SEND school in the UK and for 12-year-old Stanley,
34:32it's his first day at work.
34:34It's a dream come true, really.
34:36My dad showed me about it.
34:37I was like, oh, that's cool.
34:39And he showed me that people can work on there.
34:41And I was like, one day I want to be on there.
34:44And today's finally, it's time!
34:47Five Acre Word are aiming to tackle unemployment for young disabled people by teaching them
34:52skills in industry settings, like this coffee shop on a train carriage.
34:57Only 5.1% of adults with a learning disability are in paid employment, and we really, really
35:02need to change that.
35:04We're not sat in a sterile classroom learning skills that aren't transferable.
35:08We are learning these skills, our pupils are, in a community cafe.
35:12It's a realistic environment.
35:14It's not a simulation.
35:16They have to learn that if they don't turn up with the correct uniform, they will not work.
35:20These are the skills that they need to be able to apply and learn in the real world.
35:25But this coffee shop is just the beginning.
35:28Soon there will be an entire high street of businesses behind me, where students can learn
35:32the skills they need to get into employment.
35:34We know how to use the machines, we've learned how to make drinks popular, clean tables, and
35:39we've learned how to be a good team.
35:42It helps my confidence and my communication.
35:45It's always good to manage money, like using a till.
35:48The futures of these young people has been part of a national conversation, with Rachel
35:53Reeves announcing the Youth Guarantee as part of the autumn budget to support young people
35:58into work.
35:59And funding our new Youth Guarantee, providing £820 million over the next three years to
36:05give...
36:05But she didn't specify any measures for young disabled people in particular.
36:10I went to Parliament to ask Kent MP Lauren Edwards more.
36:13We have almost a million young people who are not in education or work.
36:18And a lot of them, you know, do have SEND needs.
36:22It's really, really important that we're supporting people into the right job for them,
36:25and not just trying to get them off the sort of job seeker books into any old role, because
36:31they'll just end up back there again if it's not the right role.
36:33So I think we need to really listen to people about what they feel they can do, what they
36:38think they'd be, you know, well-placed to do, and then give them the support so that they
36:42can really thrive in that role.
36:45Back at Five Acre Wood, Stanley is looking forward to his new job.
36:48Any person that's got disabilities, no matter what, it's okay, because when I was younger,
36:54I wasn't confident to show myself to the world, but now that I've got older, I can finally
37:00let that go, and I can show them who I am.
37:04Kit Taylor for KMTV.
37:08And you can watch the rest of that after Kent Tonight, that Kent Tonight special at 7 o'clock
37:13here on KMTV.
37:15But now, a woman from Kent who's been on quite the adventure for charity has helped to raise
37:20over £800,000 for CopaFeel, a breast cancer awareness charity.
37:25Camilla Setton travelled with a large group of people through the Sahara Desert in what
37:29she has called an amazing experience.
37:31We spoke to her before the trek, and now after its completion, she has joined us again to
37:36tell us all about it.
37:37So what was it like?
37:39What was it like?
37:39Amazing.
37:40Really?
37:40Absolutely amazing.
37:42Just really inspiring, very humbling.
37:45Yeah, it was incredible.
37:47And is it what you thought it would be?
37:49I didn't really go with any preconceived ideas, because I just didn't know what really to expect,
37:54but more than.
37:56Just, yeah, incredible.
37:58And tell us a bit about why you did this, and why it's so important to you.
38:02I did this to be able to raise awareness for CopaFeel, so it's a breast cancer charity that
38:08is creating awareness for check your breasts, check your chest, to raise money for young
38:14adults to be able to detect and save lives in young adults with cancer.
38:19And, I mean, what was it like?
38:22Did you experience any emotions when you were trekking?
38:24How long were you trekking for?
38:25Five days.
38:27It was 100 kilometres over five days, although our team, Team Ashley, did 130 because we
38:32went up the wrong mountain.
38:35But, yeah, raising a lot of money, experience emotions, every emotion you can imagine.
38:40Just listening to people's stories, these women, and there was three guys as well, just
38:45really inspiring.
38:47And did you make any lifelong friends with those people?
38:49All of Team Ashley.
38:50Really?
38:51Amazing, yeah.
38:52We will definitely be.
38:53We're already planning a reunion.
38:55Excellent.
38:56And how did it feel to raise over £800,000?
38:58I mean, is that what you expected?
39:00Nearly a million?
39:02So, there was 120 of us that were actually raising the money.
39:06Their target was £600,000.
39:08So, it's the most that they've ever raised on any trek for CopaFeel.
39:14It was just incredible, yeah.
39:16And, I mean, why is it so important to raise awareness for breast cancer?
39:20It is something that a lot of people have heard of.
39:22But what sort of, what element of it were you trying to raise awareness for?
39:25I think it was, when I was younger, I always used to think breast cancer would affect people
39:29who were older, women in menopause.
39:32Affects men as well.
39:33But it's for young people.
39:35They go out to universities, go out to schools to make sure.
39:38Because, I'd say, about 30% of the people who were actually on that trek were under 35.
39:43So, very much making sure that it's, you know, it's a thing that we need to be able to create
39:49awareness for younger people to make it the norm, to be able to check their chests.
39:54And, I mean, what did you learn on the journey?
39:57Did you learn anything new that maybe you didn't know before?
39:59Well, it was like, it is actually, trying to discover, you know, it was just so raw
40:07and so many vulnerabilities that just listening to people's stories was just what everybody
40:13went through.
40:14All different stories was just amazing to hear their journey.
40:19And that they can actually do that trek and smile in the face of adversity was, for me,
40:25really humbling.
40:25And I can imagine, you said there was about 30 people there, over 30 people?
40:30There was 120 people, but in each team, we divided into four teams.
40:35So, in my team, I think there was 31.
40:38Okay.
40:38So, a lot of people there who have, I'm assuming, have experienced all different things and
40:42know somebody who's experienced that.
40:43Yeah.
40:44What sort of stories did you hear and what impact did that have?
40:48It was, the impact was me to be able to create more awareness and to actually spread
40:53the message, which, what Copperfield are doing.
40:56So, doing it with more treks, being able to do it on social media, being part of the Copperfield
41:03family, all our reunions.
41:05It's just listening to all the people's stories.
41:07They all had different experience, whether they had actually been grieving, whether they'd
41:10gone through it themselves, or they had a family member.
41:13And then, just quickly, tell us a bit about the charity itself.
41:16How is this different from other charities, and what kind of help does it provide to people
41:20affected?
41:21Copperfield, actually, is quite a small charity, unlike sort of Macmillan, et cetera, but it's
41:26very much centred on being able to create the awareness and to go out for young people,
41:32detecting it at a very, very early stage, because detecting it at an early stage saves
41:37lives.
41:38It's very, very important.
41:40Well, hopefully, we've helped you on that journey, and we'll hear from you more on the
41:44Sports Show.
41:45All right.
41:46We've got a quick break coming up now, but we'll be back here with more in a few minutes.
50:44to Chatham's first bin that's both on the beat and ready to drop the beat
50:48rewarding diligent litter pickers. And here is the beatboxing bin. This is how it
50:54works. You throw away your litter and the bin lets you know. It says thank you.
51:01Funded by Arts Council England, the bins are part of an initiative to boost
51:06creativity among children and foster good environmental habits for life.
51:11This project is a project between Midway Council and Ideas Test and it's a creative
51:17health project. So it's a focus on Luton and Brompton, two specific areas, thinking
51:22about how creativity can help improve health either from the physical
51:26perspective, well-being perspective or an environmental perspective. It started
51:31with a consultation with community members about what, particularly for Luton,
51:34what it is that they want to see change and they articulated that litter was a
51:39big thing and they also articulated that if we were going to think about creative
51:43ways to solve or help litter issues that actually a good place to stop is with
51:46young people. The bins 40 different voices among beatboxer Rupert Aldridge include
51:52children from local schools, Luton Primary and Phoenix Primary School. Getting
51:57children excited about the bins through beatboxing sessions played a key role.
52:01She taught us how to beatbox and we come on most Wednesdays more than you when we beatbox and
52:09have some beatboxing. I love beatboxing first of all and also it's good for the
52:15environment like Martin said so we can pick up litter and just help the world.
52:19It's a joint project from Ideas Test and Medway Council but are eight singing bins
52:25along Luton Road more trash than treasure where Medway already has
52:29significant problems on its plate. People's idea of what art and culture is
52:35is different for everybody it's like not everyone's going to be inspired by going to
52:39a theatre or painting or something like that and for them but it's all forms of
52:43culture and I think music's particularly great at involving lots of people and
52:47obviously like kind of that beatbox culture comes out of a culture which is
52:52and privilege and all those kind of things so I think it's a great great way in
52:58really. And with the bin ready to freestyle there was only one thing left to
53:02do. Celebrate of course with a beatboxing match the only rappers welcome on Luton Road
53:08for the foreseeable. Megan Shaw for Kame TV in Chatham.
53:15Please do not pollute the earth.
53:19It's a fantastic story there some actually very good beatboxing from the
53:23from the children as well but now in Formula One news Lando Norris has won his
53:27first F1 championship but did you know that he started his career on tracks here in
53:33Kent. This includes Brands Hatch in Buckmore Park and we can hear more from the
53:38managing director at Buckmore Park now.
53:40Yeah absolutely fantastic you know it's one of those moments where obviously you go
53:46into the race thinking you know this this could happen now you know another
53:50Brit becoming world champion obviously with any race anything can happen right up
53:56until the end so you know you're never sure but fantastic result at the end of the day.
54:03In terms of juniors coming into the sport or people you know really looking to get
54:07into F1 it's not just Lando you know there's been other people that have come through you
54:14know more recently even people like Ollie Bearman you know newest rookie into it came
54:19through with us but in the past it's been all about those those personalities and the
54:24Brit drivers that have you know really kind of fueled motorsport if you excuse the pun in this country.
54:31And of course right after the show we'll be taking a more in-depth look from across the
54:36county at the sports news whether it's Jill's zero not how do I say that not zero to zero draw
54:43against Colchester or the latest in a niche sport squash. We'll dive into Canterbury's Joe Magger
54:49earned himself an award for how he's improved the sports local tournament. I'm joined now by the
54:55show's producer and presenter Finn McDiarmid. Did I say that right? It is nil-nil. Not as close.
55:01I'll have to give you nil-nil. That is quite close but it is nil-nil. You were close to you
55:05interrupting me there to help. I was about to I was you could see me just go and I stopped myself.
55:10Right so tell us more about Joe then and the award. Yeah so it's really interesting I don't know if you've
55:16played much squash before um it's sort of it's tennis with a wall involved and the main objective
55:21yeah so you know I'm talking about uh maybe our viewers out there have played some squash often
55:25played at leisure centres it's it's a really fun game um very similar to tennis but with a much
55:30quite denser ball it's some people describe it as kind of bouncier tennis but what Joe has done is he
55:36I think I believe he did a a certain type of tournament in Wimbledon and what that tournament
55:41does is it's called a graded tournament and it's basically like if you and I were to go and enter a
55:45squash tournament right now unless you've been moonlighting as a secret squash expert we would
55:50both be placed in beginner categories because if sometimes in these tournaments you just go in
55:54and you're put into a kind of a free-for-all you could be playing against a pro but what Joe's done
56:00is he's bringing more of these graded tournaments to kent so the pros you can see some of the players
56:04there could go up against the pros but then beginners can also have a great competitive experience as
56:08well and what that's done is that's won him the unsung hero award at squash england which is a big
56:14uh a big uh award to win there so very great he's very happy with it he's he argues he shouldn't
56:20really be an unsung hero because he says everyone knows him uh in this in the sort of kent and
56:24canterbury squash scene but yeah it was great to speak to we can hear more from him on the show so
56:29yeah fabulous well then we'll be excited for that and of course you're also speaking to camilla
56:34again as well yes but yes that's all we've got time for this evening watch more and after the show
56:40where you can hear all about that more all about more sport see you then bye
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