Thorold Road Alley Clearance

Councillor's Sam Craven, Christine Godwin and Tristan Osborne joined forces with residents on Thorold Road, Chatham to clean an alleyway in preparation for an alleygate scheme that is due to be fitted shortly.

Getting out of the Council Chamber onto doorstep is what your local team is all about.

Fighting for St Mary's ABC, Chatham

St Mary's ABC, Street End Road

Labour Councillors in Luton & Wayfield will be supporting the campaign by our local St Mary's ABC which is currently threatened with closure after the ownership of the land changed.

I along with Councillor colleagues met the campaigners yesterday evening and it is clear they will fight to the end for a club which spawned former world champion Johnny Armour and top heavyweight Tom Dallas.

St Mary's Amateur Boxing Club in Chatham is one of the oldest and proudest clubs in the county and has support from across the region. It is the epitomy of a small sports club fighting against corporate greed.

You can join their Facebook site and a petition is currently being organised to safeguard this piece of local heritage. The Council has a responsibility to local sportsclubs to ensure they are safeguarded; one such as this with such a proud history must be looked at.

St Mary's has been at the site for more than 50 years. It has previously rented the property for a peppercorn rent of just £26 a year, but following the death of its landlady, the future of the club is in doubt.

Club secretary and head coach Dave Bowler said to Medway Messenger:

"We are very worried. We don't know who is going to buy it and if they will let us stay. If the new owners put the rent up, we wouldn't be able to afford it, and we can't afford to go anywhere else."

St Mary's most famous son is Armour who reigned the WBU bantamweight division for three years. He trained at the club from the age of 10 until he signed a professional contract aged 21.

He said:

"It would be a great shame if the club had to close. A lot of people would feel the same as me. It has been there such a long time and a lot of people will have fond memories of it.

"It is a blinding club, I don't think you will ever get a club as good as St Mary's in Medway. I couldn't have done anything I have done in my career without the start I was given at that club."

As Councillors - Sam Craven, Tristan Osborne and Christine Godwin will be fighting for the boxing club and are currently engaged with the Council to ensure that the tradition of this much-loved sport continues in our community.

Ready, Steady, Councillor

Residents in Luton and Wayfield enjoyed a day packed full of family fun over the weekend with live music, a barbecue, a talent show, fete and a quite comical Ready, Steady, Cook competition between local councillors Tristan Osborne and Sam Craven.

Residents also enjoyed a host of other events across the area including a Talent Performance Show at the Bishope of Rochester Acedemy. the event was a useful way of finding and engaging with people about their area and what they would like to see in the future.

With the tagline Local People, Local Solutions, the project is a joint initiative from Medway Council alongside NHS Medway, Kent Police in Medway, schools and community groups based in the area.

By working with the community and encouraging them to talk about any issues and concerns they have, the aim is to gain residents' feedback on the services they receive and how they can be improved, as well as looking at better ways to tackle issues such as anti social behaviour within a community.

Commenting Councillor Craven stated

"Hundreds of residents turned out across all threee of the venues despite the poor weather and immersed themselves in the activities on offer. Residents enjoyed watching the talent contest with urban dance from Rochester Group ATZ to belly and folk dancing. The fete at Wayfield Primary School was really well attended with the 'Guess the Teacher' stand attracting a lot of attention from former pupils

"It is very clear from the performances we saw that Medway has lots of very talented young people and this needs to be encouraged and harnessed."

Councillor Osborne

"Politicians are regularly told that if they dont like the heat they should get out the kitchen, so it was also a useful opportunity to rest a score from the local election with a 'Ready, Steady, Cook' competition. The competition pitted my cooking prowess with that of Cllr Craven, a mum and teacher"

"After a very brief tutorial from the chef's my skills were put to the test and though my chicken pasta dish was a success, though minus the spinach. It was not enough. Cllr Craven won that day with an excellent curry, where my efforts were rewarded the wooden spoon"

Ridgemeadow Closure

Councillor Sam Craven joined 'Save Our Schools' parents today on BBC News and local media, to highlight the fact that the evidence for school closures in 2009/2010 was not only inaccurate but based on flawed judgement which has harmed our community.

The Conservative Council pressed ahead with the closure of Ridgemeadow School in Wayfield despite repeated assertions by residents, parents, governors and campaigners that the basis for this closure, falling school rolls, was false.

The arguments used by the parents at the time that the area would see increased demand over the medium term were entirely accurate.

The Conservative administration therefore closed the school on a false argument.

Commenting Cllr Sam Craven

"It is cheek for all the parents who fought for weeks, months, or in our case, for years not to close the schools. All the evidence we collected was obviously correct and it shows the administration didn't listen or care. They rode roughshod over the parents' arguments"

We will continue to work with residents and parents on securing the Ridgemeadow site for future education resource