Review of the year 2021

As the year draws to a close, we look back on some of the events that have shocked, surprised or gladdened our hearts over the previous 12 months in Maidstone and Malling.

Inevitably it was a year dominated by Covid.

January

The year began with a race against the clock for one couple, from West Malling. Rosie and Jonathan Gill-Moss, who met through a bereavement group after they lost their partners, tied the knot with just an hour’s notice before England’s third lockdown came in. The pair remembered their face masks but forgot to take the rings to their hastily arranged wedding.

University student Jess Paramor, from Maidstone, launched a successful search to find two strangers who stopped her from taking her own life. The 20-year-old said she wanted to thank the heroic men for “giving her back her future” after they intervened when she was making her way to the edge of a bridge. She managed to find both. One, Tony Witton, said: “I just went up to ask if she was okay. She said she wasn’t so I said ‘talk to me about that.’”

And there was joy at the news the Hazlitt Theatre’s future was secure. Celebs including Russell Grant had joined the fight to save it amid fears the curtains could come down for good at the Earl Street venue, when Maidstone council threatened to end its relationship with operator Parkwood Leisure.

But the authority did a U-turn.

February

A national effort to contain the South African variant of Covid saw an army of police, firefighters, council staff and volunteers deployed to Maidstone to conduct more than 10,000 door-to-door tests over five days. It came after a man from the town had tested positive for it. The Health Secretary was slammed for a misleading message which meant 25,000 residents believed they had to stay at home until they had been swabbed, causing some to miss work.

Reclusive farmer Langley Beck, 55, was ordered to restore land in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in Boxley to its former state after he cleared it for use as a scrapyard. Maidstone council took the exceptional step of High Court action to prevent further erosion of the beauty spot, which covers 80 acres and includes ancient woodland.

And Kent was in the grip of a big chill after snow and ice blown in by Storm Darcy caused disruption.

Some schools were forced to shut, roads becamtreacherous, bin collections were suspended and rail passengers urged not to travel.

March

A convoy of 40 Royal Mail vans drove through Maidstone as a final farewell to postman Paul Dunmill who devoted his life to the service for more than 40 years. The 57-year-old, from Sutton Valence, died after a short battle with coronavirus. Customers, friends and colleagues lined the kerbs in tribute to ‘Postie Paul’, known for his ready smile and willingness to help others.

A Larkfield family was in hysssterics after they woke to find snake skin in their three-year-old son’s bed and a dead mouse by the stairs. Bethan, 25, and Kayleigh Baldwin-Pierce, 23, called in a specialist to help recover the slithering visitor, but it was never found.

In Barming another family had a shock, after a neighbouring power substation exploded with debris hitting the roof.

Alan Marlow, 36, and Shannon Gibbon, 26, had to flee their bungalow after hearing a “horrendous bang”. It was traced to a fault in the substation which left around 3,000 households without power.

April

In a month when pubs, non-essential shops and hairdressers were allowed to reopen after another lockdown, there was more joy as Second World War veteran Charlie Pallett saw his face light up Leicester Square. The gesture was to thank him after raising more than £40,000 for Help for Heroes with a video of himself singing his favourite wartime tune, Keep Right On Till The End Of The Road, which he recorded to mark his 100th birthday. He said he was “gobsmacked” by the reception.

And a fifth sinkhole in seven months opened outside Maidstone Hospital, causing MPs to call for a halt on new homes being built in the area. Some patients within the nearby Acute Assessment Unit were moved over safety concerns.

May

Tributes were paid to pilot Angus Buchanan, who died in a crash near Headcorn Aerodrome. A member of the Stampe Formation Display Team, he had been practising in a 1940s biplane when he lost control.

Flat owners were left saddled with defective homes they could not sell at Maidstone high-rise Miller Heights. The properties failed fire safety measures such as missing cavity barriers – used to prevent a tragedy such as that at Grenfell.

And the Mercure Maidstone Great Danes Hotel in Hollingbourne welcomed guests of a different kind after it became a pop-up ‘Nightingale Court’. It was the first of its kind in Kent and it was hoped it would help to clear a backlog of criminal trials.

June

Neighbours described a night of chaos as “at least 100 people” descended on a Kent airbnb for a house party in Bearsted. Another neighbour reported finding a knife in her front garden, which she handed to police. The party organiser was fined £10k.

A seal which got stuck in the River Medway finally headed for the open sea. Bradley had become something of a celebrity since he was first spotted two months earlier, and was given his own roped-off sunbathing area on the riverbank.

Click on to Kent Online tomorrow for an an account of the second half of the year.