Put your knowledge of Kent to the test and you could be in with a chance to win an overnight safari experience for two at Port Lympne’s Livingstone Lodge – voted the 2012 UK’s best tourism experience.
 
For one week from Monday, May 13, to Sunday, May 19, visitors to www.visitkent.co.uk will be able to enter a special online quiz to find out just how much they know about the county.
 
All the answers are to be discovered on the new website launched by the tourism champions at Visit Kent to promote the county – although some questions are designed to be quite challenging to keep keen online sleuths on their toes.
 
Lynnette Clark, head of marketing at Visit Kent, said: “We are extremely proud of our new website and the competition is a fun way to explore the many new pages and themes we are showcasing.
 
“We tested the quiz with people who spend their lives running some of Kent’s most popular and established visitor attractions

Read more: Chance to win an overnight safari experience

Medway Visions is a new film festival for Medway and it needs YOUR films.  Medway Visions will promote independent filmmaking from around the world but a big emphasis will be placed on local upcoming filmmakers who have produced a short film or music video that needs to be seen!

The film festival is a new venture by Rochester filmmaker MrYoung, himself a indie filmmaker who has seen his short films and his debut feature film screened  at festivals around the world and broadcast on television.

The festival, however, takes a unique collaborative approach with a whole host of Medway arts providers taking control of a screening or series of screenings:
Medway Eyes – Music Videos
Creatabot – Independent features and short films
Rochester Film Society – Independent Features
Sun Pier House – Short films and guest directors
TEA – Experimental films

The film festival is scheduled to between 6th-13th September 2013 (TBC)
 
To enter your short film please email:

Read more: Medway’s ‘Visions’ set for the big screen

Medway Council Leader Cllr Rodney Chambers has put in place a new Cabinet as well as changes to other council committees at the start of the new council municipal year.

Cllr Chambers informed Council of the changes at the  Annual Council meeting on Wednesday, 15 May 2013.

At the same meeting, new Mayor of Medway Cllr Josie Iles took over the mayoral chains of office for the coming year from outgoing Mayor Cllr Vaughan Hewett.

The Mayor’s Consort is Steve Iles. The Deputy Mayor is Cllr Jane Etheridge and the Deputy Mayor’s Consort is Gary Etheridge (corr).

The new Mayor's charities for 2013/14 will be Demelza Kent, Help the Heroes, Medway Age UK and Caring Hands in the Community.

The changes to Cabinet include some changes to posts and roles including removing the post of Portfolio Holder for Children's Social Care and making this area of work a responsibility of the Portfolio Holder for Children’s Services (Lead Member).

A new Portfolio Holder for Educational Improvement role will be created and the councillor in this role will work to the Portfolio Holder for Children’s Services (Lead Member).

The role of Portfolio Holder for Corporate Services has also been removed, reducing the overall number of Portfolio Holders (including the Leader) at Medway Council from ten to nine.

For full details of each role and to see the name of the councillor that will take up this post for the 2013/14 council year please see the table below.
Leader

Read more: Medway gets new Mayor

A petition presented to the recent Full Council meeting, signed by 700 residents of Medway, called for the Council to report back on progress by 26th May (100 days since the report was published), and for Cllr Wicks to resign.
 
A cabinet meeting, scheduled for Tuesday 14th May, has been rearranged for 23rd May, the penultimate working day before the 100 days are up.
 
It is positive to see the call from both residents and Medway Labour is being listened to, ensuring the plan for the next stages to be seen publicly.
 
However, it is unfortunate Cllr Les Wicks, Portfolio Holder for Children’s and Adult Services, still won’t take responsibility for OFSTED’s rating for child protection in Medway as ‘inadequate’ and resign.

Rachel Garrick, the lead signature for the petition, said:

“At this stage in time, 3 months after the issue of the report, I have no confidence that the council has put in place measures to ensure the child protection in Medway offers safety to vulnerable children.
 
“As a community, we are risking a situation similar to the tragic losses of Victoria Climbie and Baby Peter Connelly. We must be brave enough to accept this and change the future of all children in our community for the better."
 

An action packed three months of exciting sporting events gets underway in Medway this weekend (18 and 19 May).

This year’s Medway Festival of Sport includes an incredible 50 events in 70 days, ranging from international competitions to schools’ tournaments and mass participation events for the whole community to get involved in.

The festival begins with an Open Leisure Weekend - a free programme of activities across Medway’s leisure centres on Saturday 18 and Sunday 19 May.

Medway Park, Splashes Leisure Centre, Deangate Ridge Sports Complex, Hundred of Hoo Leisure Centre and Strood Leisure Centre are all offering free sessions to encourage people to get active and enjoy some free sporting fun.

Sports and sessions on offer include free swimming for all, gym taster sessions and special membership offers, plus football, golf, table tennis, badminton and squash. Coaching will be available at some sessions.

Read more: Get set for Medway’s Festival of Sport

 The Advertisting Standards Agency (ASA) has banned an advert for a payday loans company.

The advert is for Cash Lady, and features TV personality Kerry Katona saying:

“You could see your bank and fill in loads of forms, but there is an easier way to get a loan. […] With cash lady it’s simple to apply for up to £300. […] Fast cash for fast lives.”

The ASA banned the ad on the grounds that it was misleading and irresponsible because it promoted itself as an alternative to banks, whilst offering an APR of up to 2,760%.

The ad was also banned for encouraging viewers to think the payday loan would help to fund a celebrity lifestyle, especially considering Kerry Katona’s troubled financial history.

Medway Labour have long been opposed to payday lenders charging extortionate rates of interest to people in a desperate position, and has encouraged the Council to tackle what are commonly referred to as ‘legal loan sharks’.

Read more: Payday Loan Advert Banned

A public exhibition setting out a vision for the long-term future of Rochester Airport, including space for a new hi-tech business zone with the potential to create up to 1,000 jobs, takes place next week.

The two-day event, will be held next door to the 1930s built airfield at the Innovation Centre, off Maidstone Road, Chatham, from 10.30am to 8pm on Monday, 13 and Tuesday, 14 May.

Medway Council’s cabinet agreed before Christmas to begin the process of drawing up a master plan for the airport that will form the basis for any future development. The exhibition will update businesses and residents on how proposals are taking shape with staff on hand to answer questions.

Read more: Exhibition sets outs vision for Rochester Airport

On Saturday on national television, 21 year old Joseph Apostol from Gillingham wowed some of the biggest names in music to become the twelfth member of Tom Jones’s team.
We met up with Joseph at his home in Gillingham and put to him some of your questions.

When did you leave the Philippines to come to UK?
We moved over from the Philippines when I was 10 so that was 11 years ago but I have done all my growing up here in the UK.

What is / was your day job?
I’m a music student at mid Kent college here in Gillingham but when I finish there I wanted to go to university to study for a music course degree, but then the Voice came about and I don’t know what’s going to happen now, the only thing I know is music definitely is what I’m going to do for the rest of my life

Who’s your Favourite artist?
Can’t pick just one, I love jazz, blues and soul, so  I would have to say Amy Winehouse, Adele, Ella Fitzgerald, but also Whitney Houston she was amazing.

I see you have some instruments around your house, can you play any of them?
I can play the basic cords of guitar.

How long have you been singing and where might we have heard you sing?
I started sing when I was about 6 and started singing to an audience at a church here in Gillingham, I also took part in X Factor and got though as far as boot camp in 2010.

Who’s your biggest fan and who’s your biggest critic?

Read more: EXCLUSIVE: interview with Medway's singing hopeful