A FORMER High Sheriff of Kent, Richard Neame, died on _ Sunday. Mr Neame, ‘of The Court -House, been ill for some time. He was proud of the fact that he had followed in his father’s foot- steps in becoming High Sheriff. His father, Lt-Col Cecil Neame, of Hardres Court, Upper Hardres, was High Sheriff in 1936. 0 Mr Neame, a former captain in the Grenadier Guards, was High Sheriff _in 1987. Educated. at Eton College, he served in the Grenadier Guards from 1945 to -1953. ‘Farming; extensively in Upper Hardres and Bishopsbourne, Mr Neame moved from the family home, Hardres Court,,to The Court House, in 1976, where he farmed about 2,000 acres, mainly cereal, sheep and hops. ' Mr Neame was very much a man of the country, with a particular love of trees, carefully nurturing existing woodlands on his estate and replanting, particularly after the hurricane in 1987, which devasé tated the stately avenue of beeches Bishopsbourne, was 75 and had - ,which has been named Neame Peter and St Paul Church, Upper leading down into the"vil1age. He was a memberof the council of __ l the Kent County Agricultural Society,’ a committee member of the Kent branch of the Country Landowners Association, a member of the Society for the Protection of Rural England and of the Royal Forestry Society. H He was also president of the East . Kent branch of -the Grenadier" ' ‘ Guards Association. Mr Neame was a__r_nen1ber,of, the old Bridge-Blean rural district" council before it merged with oth- ers to become Canterbury City Council, and has also been chair- man of Bishopsbourne Parishfi Council. .. He recently gave to the village the ' recreation ground in The Street, Meadow in his honour. Last night, members of the parish ' council observed silence in his '1‘ mem—ory. . Mr Neame leaves a widow, Anne, daughters Vanessa and Camilla and grandchildren Natasha and George. The funeral will be held at St Hardres, where his parents are buried, on Tuesday at 3pm. Man with a love of countryside Sheriff dies after illness . ______’______g-—— l_ Z. §‘;=EC1éALd% St'FE%TfiII¥lE}S: % _ __ _ V _ . _ % 7 9-fggfiia ac‘? -1§e&)1{¥Ppd Ilglgggegyg’ DRESSING UP: Children wore )a imaginative variety of costumes [A , Ref: pd 143206 J % bi eefancydres The %cr:o%ss of st Géotge has RAISING "THE STANDARD: ' "ROM=Spid'e_r-Mar‘i.to :Bob_therBuilder,-" » __ children adopted" V their favourite ‘characters for a village fancy’ dress _ parade at the weekend. The eventheralded‘ the start of _ jubilee eelebrations -in_Bridge which were timed this year to coincide with the primary. 5 school fete. _ i - i_ _- i ' Hundreds" of "children, , _ . . 4 accompanied by their‘-pa're_nts,-' processed through the village 7 from the Red Lion pub car _ i park to the school playing field forthe fete. _ '_ __ ' ' They were led by Oyster _ Morris men and women who added their traditional brand of music and dancing to the_ §pec_tacle.- _‘ , _ - ' V I _ Also adding-=a historic flavour ' to theevent and dressed as _' ' characters from the era were-i -. the Sealed Knot civil"-War re- -enactmentgroup. j -' -' Earlier in the day, local‘ _c ' ' _ - ' . __ u - _ e _ -, _ , _ - 1._eSidemS_pu:E bitte.r_mem0ries , .. -. PA_R'1‘.Y MO-QD=:,_Harry and Jean Fairfax with th_e.1r_gran.d- of last ye-ar’s4flood1ng behind children, Laura, two, and Bethap,-.s1x Ref: pd 143199 theh1ato:.w’elc;eme.,_the -Water -' - ' it - - a - - i is '- _ Nai1b'our-ne for.a_duck-‘race. Chairman of the jubilee , _ - committee, Alan Walton, who "is landlord of the Wl1ite_Horse . pub, said; “We_deci_dedto' delay __ our jubilee celebrations to‘ J i " build 'th'e'm_'_aro_und our annual ' school summer fete._ , t " " “The whole day and evening.. . ,. j was e-nter_tai_-nmenti orientated and we are lucky; to ‘have three "village pubs which were _all _ _ ' very busy because there, was-.sov many_people._out and about.__" . ‘fit was air chance to create a j feel goodlfactor and for some ;_- ' real community spirit; _ \ - “The fet"en1_*'ai’sed about £4’,‘0oo for the -school, but.We- were -justi contentto cover our costs onc"l".= '- , _.- -- _' -- -- the J'ubilee'side;o'f~th'e--p.4U ._ LOOKING‘ THEPART: S Acelebratjo-ng_?’c : :1 5 joinedthe parade‘ - 4 and a y,oung.t.—kni?'g'ht .' .. — T.-?Ref: 1'3d.1.43202 'K«G~_‘_J'L~vuz. ;L7‘“",1c><3:; i _ 8 July 4, 2002 Dr Carey helps cut Ref: pd 149609 TASTY CEREMonv;. the celebration cake nun... - 1 H l\\\\\\\\\ ‘\\\\\\\\ M COVER: The Archbihop meets Toby Wyant - t Ref: pd 149667 . ARHBIHO OPENS NEWCLASSROMSO 0 Schoo1’s reward is £20,000 newbloc \ l \ Anna Newton TI-IE Archbishop of Canton‘- bury, Dr George Carey, has offi- cially opened an extension to Bridge School, which cost £620,000. Dr Carey was joined by Kent County Council's cabinet mcnibors for education Paul Carter and Leyland Ridings and by the director of education in Kent Graham Badman. Pupils performed poems and‘ songs at the ceremony on Friday 1 I ...w_.....M..:-:,_—-«__<—»«-— ......."“"*-.-..........._....«....._. _.f...... __‘‘__:_x._..... -—-«-—......... -«we ....:—»:_~=»-«-.::_-«...-_—;—_ 0 mMMm wmwwwnw ”'”“‘ ”" .......,_.... ......y...,..... c and than Dr Carey unveiled a V plaque to open the eight-classroom block, school. hall extension and stziflj‘ room. '|‘l1c p,rojoct, which took nine months to complete, was paid for by the Governments basic need bid scheme and the school. ’ It has just been awarded Beacon status by the Government, which is given to schools performing among LOOKS GOOD: Dr and Mrs Corey are shown the new building by homl lom:l1m' oi’ Hrllllttl Hrllool Huf: pd I amiss the hunt In the country and who share their uuccsmmml practice with other schools. . Cllr Carter said: "’I“he new build- ings are fabulous and haveimade‘ such an improvement to the school. '‘I am sure both staff and children will enloy learning In this wondor~ i’u1 new environment." - Head teacher Anna Newton said: ‘-‘After the opening the Archbishop went around the school and spoke to the pupils. It was a really lovely occasion.” ""a;~.- % DILY % Head AI”11.1a'ieWtn, Paul Carter, Di‘ and Mrs ‘Carey and Williamson with Jack Coleman and Megan Blackwell who painted the Ailsa i L i I I i Ref: pd 149665" presentation pictures H L. avg j éf ' age J ?‘§.’:?:i ‘i’ ‘m SCH99LA1?.DRESS=_CareY?%11iS wneipupaxs Ref: :24 151.6594 Owners fear ruin of historic mansion 5.. EXTREMELY CONCERNED: Amanda I-Iarris-Deans fl Higham Park wit the it -aamazaa as plans which show development just 100 metres from her front door Ref: pd 186947 THE OWNERS of one of the most his- toric homes in the district are horrified that plans for a business park will ruin the countryside setting of the-house.” Their fears follow the publication of a map which shows proposals for the massive expansion of Highland Court at Bridge to create a 70-acre business park. Now Amanda Harris-Deans is furious to discover the new buildings could come with- in 100 metres of the front door of her home, Higham Park. She and joint-owners Patricia Gibb and her son,.Barry, have spent the last seven years restoring the magnificent mansion and gar- dens which had suffered from years of neglect. _ Dating back to 1320, it has many historic connections and was once the home of Count Louis Zborowski who created and raced the Chitty Bang Bang cars. l e _ E Now the work is almost complete and the house is popular with visitors because of its beautiful parkland setting and wonderful stately rooms. ‘ M But Miss Harris-Deans fears that its unique ambience will be destroyed if the business park is allowed to expand so close to them. She said: “We were horrified when we saw the plans. C . “We had no idea it was going to come so -KG, A1.-.51-[KL smog by Gerry Warren - _ Anger over plan -for business park close to the front of the house. It is almost on our doorstep. I know we have a vested inter- est because it is our home, but itis also an historic Grade II star listed property whose setting should be preserved. y “We were also angry to discover that our house is marked as a conference centre on the plans, which it is not.” Already environmentalists and surround- ing villagers have joined a chorus of com- plaint about the scale of the planned development. Although no planning application has yet been submitted, it is expected that agents for — Highland Court will try to have the develop- ment included in the Local‘ Plan. But already parish councils and environ- mental campaigners have written to the city council to protest. They are furious at the proposals to use prime green fields for the expansion. . . ‘ Miss Harris-Deans said: “We shall certainly be writing to lodge our disapproval because it would be disastrous for the setting of this wonderful house.” i COIiNTI¥SIDE THREAT}. '__I‘.h_e-' whilté outlin-e_ $hows.the scale of the.pfop_oséd 1iew.busi- ‘ness par. ‘- .. . - - " - ‘ T % TCANTERBURY desperately needs as big business park to ' retain and attract high quaiity companies, says the _ consultant promoting the ' redevelopment of Highland Court. Michael Parkes says the city cannot continue to rely on low. 0 income tourist and retail jobs - while other employers have to ~ "travel elsewhere to find higher quality work. 0 He saidf “The Local Plan does 1 reeognise the need for a _n1aj or . employment centre but the I _ problem is that the existing brownfield sites are too small I ‘ and few and far between, ' o£ jobs would “Canterbury is surrounded by green fields and it is inevitable that some of that land will be needed. ' _ _ _ _ “It 'can"t be good forthe city 0' that people have to" get on a ' train and go elsewhere to find‘ higher quality jobs}? ' .Mr_Parkes, who hadbeen ' meeting parish councils near ' the site -to promote the plans, says the Inultidnillion pound ' ‘scheme would create up_to ‘ . 2,000 new jobs. - 0 - - He added: “I have no 'c_lo;1_1,bt/0”/I ... _ that a balance-laas't6”b-e struck f and the feedbackl have beens " - getting is that people are- in favour of ‘a new business park- ity’ that would provide better jobs. “Highland Court -has the advantage of a Wonderful access from the A2 and is close to Europe. “Some of the opinions we are taking into account is the neeé to maintain the views of {Highland Court and for new - _ signageto the site. “But I hope we will be able to persuadethe city council-to ' . w,supp'ort-the project and- promote its inclusion in the LocalPlan, which already K -recognises the need that Canterbury has fora business centre?’ _ ‘ - '55 I RSITE BLUEPRINT: The proposed layout of _th_e_business park Tang as?“ 2,502 =t= 16 July 25, 2002 To : I e E B I A A ' ' . . Write to The Editor, 9 St George‘s Place, Canterbl , K . 1 V _ G0. ' kgnfishgaze;[g@fl!ekmgr0up_¢o;uk)_ P|gaseVinc|udel;r¥]gy|‘ ININGRIUMPH: Chris and Melanie Maclean acept TRA the award from Claire Trevill and Graeme Endacott of Shepherd Neame ' r Pubwms training award A COUNTRY inn near Investors in People advisor ‘ Canterbury has won the ClairetTrevill declared this cgveted shepherd Neame s year’s winner as The Plough \\ Training pub of the Year and Harrow,’Bridge, run since - aWa1.d_ ~ 1991 by husband and wife . ’ p T , _ team Chris and Melanie _Sponsored by the Investors In » Macleam at a People team at theagency She said théir d ' r . < . .. * _ T ynamlc and Bum-lerss Lmk Kent? the .. innovative approach to staff award rewards the b1”eW°“Y’5 training had given the pub Pubs Which ha“? M 1 , _ unrivalled staff retention §19m_011St1‘atedithe m0St rates in a business Where extensive and in-depth staff employee turnover tenfled to training. ‘ = -’ be frequent and rapid. Advertising sales (01227) 454545 MORE THAN MERE FROTH: Chris and Melanie Maclean, centre, accept the Plough and Harrow’s Training Pub of the Year award from Business Link Kent’s Claire Treviil and Graeme Enadcott, human resources manager at Shepherd Neame A LOCAL PUB has been awarded the coveted title “Shepherd Neame Training Pub of the Year 2602”. The award, sponsored by the Investors in People team at Business Link, was given to The Plough and Harrow in Bridge. The delighted landlords, .Chris and Melanie Maclean have been running the pub since 1991 and have developed a dynamic and innovative approach to staff training. ' Chris Maclean said: “ We have devel- oped a strong training programme for staff, with the aim of maximising their potential. I hire people specifically for their attitude to training and acquir- ing new skills and have a partnership ethic to empower sta.ff.” Claire Trevill, the judge and Business Link’s Investors in People adviser, says: “Chris is self motivated in his approach to training. I was impressed by the pub’s achievements and how they fitted into the broader company- wide training strategy. Chris and Melanie are real champions of training.” Pub gets people accolade Graeme Endcott, human resources manager at Shepherd Neame, added: “The Plough and Harrow, did really Well against tough competition from across the company” This is the latest in the long line of awards for the pub. Accolades include entries in The Good Beer Guide every year since 1991, Shepherd Neame Cellars Master and Pub of the Year 1995, Shepherd Neame Cellar Award 1996,, 1997, National "Pub Promotion of the Year 2001 and National Marketing Pub of the Year 2001. ' i ' _CH.Ei:'h_ris-an_d.;_Mlnie Ii/|cClean (centre celbatheir award with Shepherd Near'rie’s -managing _d'ire'ct6r Jonathan "Neame, Claire Trevill, Shepherd Neame chairman Robert Neame ' ' '_ and 3-the Faversham brewery’s tied trade manager Graeme Endacott ‘ Pubscoops top training prize THE landlord of a ‘village-pub _is celebrating after ‘winning the title -of Training‘ Pub of‘ -_ the Year: -Chris McClea'n, "licensee of the Plough and Harrow -in i Bridge, heat off nearly 100 ‘rivals across the south east to pick _ up the title,_ which is awarded annually by the Shepherd Neame brewery. The award, sponsored by -the Learning and Business Link Company, recognises pubs which operate persona-1 devel- opment programmes for their . staff; from induction through to review procedures. ' Awards judge Claire Treviil said: ‘‘The standard "of train'— T ing. and development was exceptionally high. -The win- ners obviously. realised that their staff were their imost important asset.” Chris and wife Melanie received a plaque and a first class trip on Eurostar to Paris, with-£250 spending money, as their prize. ' ’ i ' _ . i Aciscqma Miaydn -19*“ .2,o2_ adscene week ending Friday 70 May 2002 RESIDEN Advertising sates (01227) 454: ANGRY T Puwsro AXETREE VlLLAGERSAare on the warpath because'deve|- opers want to chop down an ancient beech tree which survived the 1987 hurricane. ' And they are angry that city council offi- cials did not. consult them about the tree in front of Bridge and Patrixbourne Primary School. Cllr Bill Oakey says the village would agreeeto the tree at New Close being trimmed to two thirds of its size but not its removal. Over 20 villagers attended a hurriedly convened site meeting to discuss the future of the beech. “We can live with the, removal of the crown but not the loss of the whole tree,” Cllr Oakey said. “It is disgraceful that the beech tree could have been felled without any consul~ tation whatsoever. We have had our own tree expert look at the beech "and he said it could live for anoth- er 30 years at least. “My r.eal concern is the total lack of any form of consultation with local people over this issue. _ “I hope Weican put this matter on hold until proper consultation has taken place, and the views of par- ties like Kent‘ Men of "the, Trees and conservationists can be taken into account.” .' about 100 years and is a vil- are very angry that the evil- been in touch with the city M Parish council chairman John Anderson said the tree had been standingfifor lage landmark which is being studied by local chil— dren. . ‘He-said: “A lot of A people. lagers were not consultedi about this at all. _We have council and registered our displeasure.” . ' _ The tree has been given a months stay of execution, LANDMARK: The 100-year-old beech tree outside Bridge and Patrixbourne Primary School l mnoh-lloveds % Vet "DavidI-{edfearn-, ' ‘ Vets remembered V IL L AG.—E RS packed St Petefis ChlIil"l'_‘..h, Bridge,‘ to say farewell to local whodied last wee aged % l - More than 160 crammed into the church for a memor- % ial service following Mr Redfearn’s fun- eral at Barham Cremefierisum» Former s l ool- s1ea'g11es,_ owners of “patients and friends ‘ as well as familynj attended the care» _mony; which was oonduoted by the _- Rev Paul Filmer. Instead of flowers donations were sma-tle to the Lord Whisky fl animal a sanctuary which is based at -Sstellingl Mmnia ssce¢ if“? °"‘”’~? exploded. sumed the building." reach the scene. steel structure is essential for cold storagebut was hazardous once alight. _ The ‘fire travelled up the walls and set the roof ablaze. ‘ ' e asbestose ceiling began popping and explod- ing, sending lethal fibres into the air. Pat Gibb, owner of the adjoining Higham Park, said: -“I was in my house when; I heard an almighty FIFTY firefighterswere called to tackle a huge . ' " blaze after a cold stor- age unit at Highland court Farm in Bridge Within a_ matter of min- utes of the "blast on Monday, flames and bi}- lowing smoke had eon- Firefighters had trouble tackling the blaze, which ' lasted for more than an hour. The nearest water supply. was two miles away, forcing a team of men from Canterbury, Sturry, Wing- ham, Eastry, Folkestone, Ashford and Faversham to set up a relay of hoses to Once the fire was in full swing -the building became extremely dangerous to enter. The polystyrene-filled explosion. After the initial blast there was a succes- sion of bangs that sounded like gunshots. . - “My first "thought was that there "was some sort of terrorist attack.” The gas in the burning refrigeration units added to the number of explo- sions as firefighters strug- gled to. tackle the fire. hie-k clouds of the building when the ILING: The fire blazes‘ behind the Gomez building smoke streamed across the sky and marked the site for milesin every—clh-eetion; After a long battle in dif- ficult circumstances,_ the 50 firefighters managed to save two thirds of the building. , It is thought the cause of the blaze was a faulty“ l refrigeration unit. Only one person was in fire ' inhalation, was taken to :- Friday. started and, after re_ceiv- -é ing treatment for smoke the hospital for a precau- tionary oheek and later discharged. 0 Also this week, firefight- ers spent 15 hours tackling a blaze of 300 tons of straw at Downbridge Farm in Staple Road, Wingham on