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Catch up on all the latest news across your county with Abby Hook.
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00:26 - Good evening and welcome to Kentonite Live on KMTV.
00:30 I'm Abbey Hook, here are your top stories
00:32 on Monday the 13th of May.
00:34 Struggling to breathe, Ashford pensioner with blood cancer
00:38 in two year battle over mold.
00:41 - I was scared, I couldn't breathe.
00:43 - From hair to heart.
00:46 Medway Barber training staff to tackle
00:48 mental health issues during haircuts.
00:51 - If you can make small changes to small businesses,
00:54 I think it can make a big impact.
00:56 - And they call themselves the Silly Six.
00:59 Maidstone teachers run to Paris
01:02 to raise money for special needs school.
01:05 - It definitely was a challenge for everybody.
01:08 There were definite moments where all of us
01:11 needed a bit of a pick me up.
01:13 (upbeat music)
01:23 - First tonight, a woman from Ashford with leukemia
01:26 says she fears going to sleep at night due to mold.
01:29 Barbara Haziuk moved into her flat at Downland Court
01:32 two years ago and has been battling
01:34 both her medical condition and issues with damp ever since.
01:38 The Clarion Housing Association, to which the house belongs,
01:41 say that issues with the building are complex,
01:44 but they are addressing them.
01:45 Oliver Leder de Sacks has more.
01:48 - Nearly 70 years old, Barbara Haziuk lived with leukemia
01:52 at Downland Court in Ashford.
01:55 But since moving to the property managed
01:57 by the Clarion Housing Association two years ago,
02:00 she has battled against mold and problems with her heating,
02:03 despite repeated requests for help.
02:06 The first thing you notice when you walk into this house
02:08 is the smell.
02:09 There is damp and mold in every single room,
02:12 from the carpets to the cupboards,
02:14 and dehumidifiers on every single windowsill
02:17 to try and get rid of some of that moisture and damp.
02:21 Even Barbara's family jewelry is covered
02:24 in little green patches of mold.
02:27 And she says she just can't keep living like this.
02:31 - It's make me, like I said, I can't breathe.
02:34 I just go to my neighbors during the night,
02:38 that was on Saturday, because it was scary, I couldn't breathe.
02:42 I go into bed and I look like a fish.
02:47 I couldn't, suddenly, I'm afraid sometimes to go to sleep.
02:51 There is much worse.
02:53 I have been visit yesterday in the doctor.
02:56 And doctor said, I supposed to complain.
02:59 I said, I complain for a month, for a year, two years,
03:02 almost two years.
03:03 And he said, you cannot live like this.
03:05 In your, especially, nobody supposed to live like this,
03:08 especially you in this condition.
03:10 - Clarion promised to replace the moldy cupboards in February.
03:14 But four months on, Barbara's belongings still litter
03:17 the living room floor.
03:19 Even her neighbors fear for her health.
03:21 - No, it's not fair, because it's not good for her
03:24 and for this different house.
03:26 It's smelly, very smelly.
03:27 How sit long time?
03:28 If you sit, drink coffee, this is very smelly.
03:31 For me, I'm always not feel better.
03:35 - A Clarion spokesperson said they're very sorry
03:38 Ms. Hazjek's home is being affected by these issues.
03:41 And that the work to fix them has progressed slower
03:44 than they wanted.
03:46 We take all reports of damp and mold seriously.
03:49 I've been working hard to provide a solution
03:51 with multiple visits from operatives,
03:54 looking to identify the underlying cause of the damp.
03:57 This case was complicated by two sources of damp.
04:01 A leak from the washing machine, now fixed,
04:04 and a guttering issue.
04:05 We are in contact with Ms. Hazjek
04:08 and are arranging further work on the gutters,
04:10 replacement kitchen units, and new extractor fans.
04:15 With further work scheduled for the end of May,
04:17 Barbara hopes the issues will be resolved
04:20 while the weather is still warm
04:22 and damp doesn't become a potentially
04:24 more dangerous problem.
04:26 Oliver Leeds, the Satchel KMTV in Ashford.
04:29 - Next tonight, a new Romney man has been charged
04:33 following a crash last December
04:35 involving a seven-year-old boy.
04:37 William Brown died when he was hit by two vehicles
04:40 on the Sandgate Esplanade in Folkestone
04:42 after trying to retrieve a football.
04:44 Hundreds gathered on the streets of Folkestone
04:46 for the boy's funeral, with his father describing him
04:49 as a gentle and wonderful child.
04:52 Stuart Powell of St. Mary's Bay was charged
04:54 by Kent Police's Serious Collision Investigation Unit
04:57 for failing to stop following a collision
04:59 and driving without insurance.
05:01 Powell has been bailed to appear
05:02 before Folkestone Magistrates Court on the 24th of May.
05:08 Now, Parliamentary Inquiry into Birth Trauma,
05:10 co-led by Canterbury MP Rosie Duffield,
05:13 says there's been shockingly poor quality
05:15 in UK maternity services.
05:18 The all-party Parliamentary Group on Birth Trauma,
05:20 who compiled the report, has made 12 recommendations,
05:24 including for more midwives to be trained
05:26 and action to be taken to address birth inequalities
05:29 that ethnic minorities face.
05:31 Duffield says change needs to be immediate.
05:35 - East Kent are a good example
05:37 because I went to the A&E at William Harvey the other day
05:40 and I realised that some of the changes
05:43 they've been putting into place are already happening,
05:46 thank goodness, and what we need to see
05:49 is a strategy throughout the country,
05:51 not just a postcode lottery approach,
05:53 which is what is very clear from our evidence.
05:56 So we need to see a national strategy,
05:58 one set of guidelines,
06:00 and we think a maternity commissioner, or Czar,
06:03 who oversees the entire thing
06:06 in a role slightly separate from the chief midwife,
06:09 just to check that all of these standards
06:11 are being met nationally.
06:12 - Now a two-week inquest into the death of a toddler
06:17 that choked on food at a nursery in Ashford
06:19 has gotten underway in Maidstone today.
06:22 Oliver Steeper was just nine months old
06:24 when he became unable to breathe
06:25 while at the Jelly Beans Day Nursery in 2021.
06:29 The inquest at Kent and Medway Coroner's Courts
06:31 will hear evidence about the day of the choking,
06:34 the efforts to save Oliver's life,
06:36 and the food policy at the nursery.
06:38 Well, I spoke to Kent Online reporter, James Pallant, earlier.
06:42 - I was at the opening at Oakwood House in Maidstone today.
06:45 It was a packed room full of family members,
06:51 lawyers and witnesses.
06:54 At the beginning of the hearing, the jury was sworn in,
06:59 and we also heard some evidence today
07:02 from Zoe Steeper, Oliver's mother.
07:05 - And what was some of the things
07:07 that Mrs. Steeper was saying today?
07:09 - Well, one thing that stood out to me
07:12 was that a few days before the incident,
07:16 Oliver had been at preschool that day,
07:21 and when he got home, he was feeling ill
07:23 and later threw up.
07:24 Zoe Steeper said in her evidence
07:28 that in her son's vomit,
07:30 she could see chunks of pineapple and cherry.
07:34 And it was at this point that she began to suspect
07:37 that actually he was being fed solid food at the nursery,
07:41 whereas her understanding was
07:45 that he would only be given pureed food,
07:47 as he was just starting to eat solid food.
07:49 He didn't really have any teeth yet.
07:52 And that was something I haven't heard before
07:55 in covering this case.
07:57 - And James, what was the atmosphere
07:58 in the room like today?
08:01 I can imagine quite intense
08:03 with such a high-profile case for us,
08:05 not only here in Kent, but nationally.
08:07 - Yes, it was a very intense and emotional atmosphere,
08:12 especially as Zoe Steeper gave her evidence.
08:16 She was fighting back tears at a couple of points
08:19 as she spoke about her son's last few days.
08:23 - And what can we expect to hear
08:26 in the coming days on this?
08:29 - Well, the inquest is due to conclude
08:33 at the end of next week.
08:34 What I know for now is that tomorrow we'll hear
08:39 from two or three staff members from Jellybeans.
08:43 On Wednesday, we're due to hear from the nursery's manager,
08:46 along with the staff member who was actually feeding Oliver
08:51 at the time of the incident.
08:53 And then later on this week,
08:56 we'll also hear some medical evidence
08:59 from practitioners at the children's hospital.
09:03 And a representative from Ofsted will also give evidence.
09:08 - Kent Online reporter James Pallant there.
09:11 Now, a barbershop on St. Mary's Island
09:14 is spreading a message of no bad days
09:17 for all seven this week.
09:18 Today marks the start of Mental Health Awareness Week,
09:21 and barber Jake Cox says he wanted
09:23 to add something meaningful to his business.
09:26 He offers a chat to everyone who comes in for a haircut.
09:29 He says it's key to helping men take that first step
09:32 to seeking help and opening up.
09:34 Well, we headed down to the barbers
09:35 to see why it means so much to him and to those he helps.
09:39 - So when I created my own business,
09:42 when I was first starting out,
09:43 I always knew that I wanted to add something extra
09:46 to my business.
09:47 So I wanted to have mental health running
09:49 through the veins of the business.
09:51 And I liked the idea of adding something extraordinary
09:55 to the mundane.
09:56 So if you can make small changes to small businesses,
10:00 it can make a big impact.
10:03 So I always knew that I wanted to involve mental health
10:06 in what I do and give back to a charity such as Mind,
10:11 who pretty much saved my life about five, six years ago.
10:16 So this is a way of me sort of raising awareness
10:18 of mental health through what I do,
10:20 through cutting hair, through selling the merchandise,
10:24 through selling the hair products.
10:26 It's just raising awareness
10:27 and even having the name No Bad Days.
10:30 It starts conversations.
10:32 And then once they find out the reason
10:34 behind the name No Bad Days,
10:37 is that it's an affirmation
10:39 that you can have bad moments within your day.
10:41 But if you do one thing in your day that you love,
10:44 you can never have a whole bad day.
10:47 So it's more of an affirmation and a movement
10:49 rather than just a business.
10:51 - I think with No Bad Days,
10:53 it's obviously being able to come here
10:54 in a one-on-one environment
10:56 and just talk as much or as little as you want
10:58 about anything.
10:59 So sometimes I could come here
11:01 and just talk about my week and football
11:04 and my sort of hobbies.
11:06 And other times I could come here
11:07 and talk about my mental health.
11:08 Might have had a bad week, I might be struggling.
11:11 There may be no therapy available to me sort of instantly.
11:13 So this is somewhat,
11:15 somewhere I can speak in an environment
11:18 I know it's just gonna stay between us,
11:20 no judgment whatsoever.
11:22 - Such an amazing project they're working on there.
11:24 Well now it's time for a short break,
11:26 but coming up just after,
11:28 we'll be having a chat with teachers
11:30 who've been running from Maidstone to Paris.
11:33 It's all for fundraising for their school
11:35 so they can have an arts festival for the children there.
11:39 Also, some beautiful sights over the weekend.
11:41 I'm sure you all saw the wonderful northern lights
11:44 over our Kent skies.
11:46 But be starstruck too,
11:48 has Dua Lipa's been on a Kent beach?
11:50 We'll find out more after the break.
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15:07 - Hello and welcome back to Kent Tonight live on KMTV.
15:18 Now, Kent County Council say that the Road of Remembrance
15:21 will remain closed until the end of the year
15:23 following a landslip.
15:25 KCC says the road closure has been extended
15:27 to the 31st of December,
15:29 so teams can carry out ground investigations
15:32 and work to stabilize the embankment.
15:35 Businesses in Folkestone have previously told KMTV
15:38 about the impact the closure has had on their livelihoods.
15:41 The cabinet member for highways and transport, Neil Baker,
15:44 says the complex situation like this one
15:46 needs a complex solution,
15:48 and they'll be continuing to work
15:50 with the local district council to minimize disruption.
15:53 Now, WH Smith has announced the return
15:56 of another Toys R Us to Kent.
15:59 The high street retail has unveiled another 17 locations
16:02 the toy shop will launch within its stores over the summer,
16:05 including Maidstone.
16:06 It comes after the announcement in June 2023
16:09 that Toys R Us was set to return to Kent
16:12 in Canterbury St. George's Street, WH Smith.
16:15 The firm's move to open the first concessions last year
16:18 marked a return for the children's train
16:20 following its collapse more than six years ago
16:22 that we'll all remember.
16:24 Now, many of us in Kent have popped over to the channel
16:27 on a ferry or in the tunnel,
16:29 but not many decide to run to Paris from Maidstone.
16:34 Well, dubbed the Silly Six by their students,
16:37 six teachers took on the Mammoth Challenge
16:40 to raise money for their school.
16:42 They managed to finish three hours early in their relay race
16:45 and with just £500 off their target.
16:48 Well, I caught up with two of the teachers
16:50 who took part earlier on.
16:52 Beth, Catherine, thank you so much for joining us.
16:54 Glad you sat down. Hope your legs are resting.
16:57 You're actually a third of the Silly Six.
17:00 Tell me about the journey and also why the name?
17:04 Well, as one of the pupils on Friday realised,
17:12 we actually are just ridiculous for doing this.
17:15 As we ran out to the field to say goodbye to everybody on Friday,
17:19 we were all running in different directions,
17:21 not really knowing what was going on.
17:23 And I think silly because this was a brainchild of Beth.
17:29 It was a corridor conversation one day.
17:30 Wouldn't it be brilliant to do something to fundraise for school?
17:35 What could we do? And the idea to run to Paris came up
17:39 and it seemed like a bit of a silly idea.
17:41 So hence the name, the Silly Six.
17:43 And Beth, the hope was to do it in 36 hours.
17:46 What was the timing at the end?
17:48 And tell us where you started, where you ended up.
17:52 Yeah, the plan was 36 hours and we actually managed it in 33.
17:56 We started at Valgrove, which is obviously a maidstone,
17:59 and we ran all the way to Folkestone and then from Dieppe to Paris
18:05 through really nice countryside, through lots of nice small villages in Sommery,
18:12 and then ended up here at the Eiffel Tower altogether within the 33 hours.
18:16 Was there any point of regret for both of you?
18:19 Did you ever think, I don't know if I could do this.
18:22 Did you ever doubt your ability or was it pretty plain sailing?
18:26 Was it comfortable? I suppose if you did it with three hours to spare,
18:30 pretty athletic.
18:32 It definitely was a challenge for everybody.
18:37 There were definite moments where all of us needed a bit of a pick-me-up
18:42 and we all had to kind of support each other
18:45 and really be a team to push each other onwards.
18:48 There were definite periods of doubting.
18:49 Probably we'd all trained really, really hard.
18:52 Everybody had put in a lot of hours to make sure that the running side of things.
18:56 And we all say, whilst one person was running, another person was always on the bike.
19:00 So you always had a partner to kind of support you and talk you through
19:05 and kind of keep you going and have a chat or tell you that you were doing great.
19:10 But we really needed that.
19:12 I think the thing that got to all of us
19:15 and shocked us all was the exhaustion side of things.
19:19 Because although we had a break, we did it as a relay,
19:23 there were times and actually we didn't sleep for that 33 hours.
19:27 I don't think anybody got any sleep at all.
19:30 So it was pretty much being awake for 33 hours.
19:33 So that was the thing that really got to all of us and exhausted us.
19:39 And the fatigue was the hardest thing, I think.
19:41 I can imagine. Well, you're speaking pretty coherently to us now.
19:44 So I hope you've had lots of rest.
19:47 Beth, I suppose another huge part of this is what you're doing it for.
19:50 That's a huge driving force, of course.
19:53 So tell us where the money's going to go that you've raised.
19:56 I believe it's nearly, you nearly got your target of £7,000 now.
20:00 Yeah, we're really close to target.
20:02 We are an SEMH school in Maidstone.
20:05 So all of our pupils have EHCPs and who, for us,
20:10 we wanted to throw a massive arts festival for them.
20:13 We've held two previously and the impact it has on the pupils is incredible
20:20 for the children who wouldn't usually get to experience live music
20:25 and the festival acts that we have in.
20:28 More about their impressive achievements in tonight's episode of Invicta Sports.
20:33 So don't go anywhere.
20:34 But you can also keep up to date with all your latest stories across Kent
20:37 by logging on to our website, kentv.co.uk.
20:41 There you'll find all our reports, including this one about the author of The Whitstable Pearl
20:46 and her involvement in the third season of the TV crime series.
20:50 Take a look.
20:51 It all started in Whitstable.
20:56 Taking a wrong turn en route to Broadstairs, they ended up on Borstill Hill.
21:01 And from there, Julie fell in love with the seaside town and the rest is history.
21:06 She put her days of writing for EastEnders behind her
21:09 and swapped it for a murder mystery series in Whitstable.
21:13 From this, Whitstable Pearl came to life.
21:16 Ten years on, Julie's written her tenth novel in the series
21:20 and filming for the third season of the show is underway.
21:23 I walked down the high street one day past St. Alfred's Church and the playhouse
21:28 and, you know, local butcher and I thought, my God, this is the perfect setting really
21:34 for the crime book.
21:37 Suddenly I was writing a book that was set in Whitstable
21:42 and it gave me permission to go and discover and research all the wonderful areas of Whitstable.
21:49 And Whitstable is a great place for a writer because it's so varied in its settings really.
21:58 From the pebbly beaches of Whitstable to Tankerton beach huts,
22:02 some famous spots are mentioned throughout the books
22:05 and they won't be unfamiliar to residents of the seaside town.
22:09 But now it's all been taken to the screens as it's been transformed into a series
22:14 with the new season currently being filmed.
22:17 And today Julie gave me a tour of some of the locations mentioned in the books
22:22 and some of the spots which inspired Whitstable Pearl.
22:25 This fantastic setting with its wonderful gardens and everything
22:30 became the location for May Day Murder, which was my third book in the Whitstable Pearl series
22:36 and which featured the May Day festivities which are always set here.
22:42 And what we have here is the bowling green at Whitstable Castle
22:47 and this recently was used by the TV production to film a section for the third season.
22:55 In Whitstable Pearl Mystery, the first book, a body is found in one of these huts
23:01 but there are no bodies in my beach hut which is much further along
23:06 and where I spend a lot of time in the summer dreaming up these stories.
23:10 For those who've been to Whitstable, you'll be very familiar with the old Neptune pub
23:14 or you might also recognise it from watching the Whitstable Pearl TV series
23:18 as this is another one of those locations where they did filming
23:22 and filming will be resuming here in the next few weeks.
23:25 Many tales have been told along the beaches of Whitstable
23:30 but Julie says she won't stop there.
23:32 She has ideas in mind and stories to tell on the Kent seaside for years to come.
23:37 Sophia Akin for KMTV in Whitstable.
23:40 Well, more star-studded action at the Kent coast.
23:44 Pop star Dua Lipa was seen filming on the beach in Broadstairs this weekend.
23:49 The critically acclaimed singer-songwriter was captured by crowds at Viking Bay.
23:53 She's filmed walking along the sand. You can see the film crew surrounding her there.
23:57 Fans speculate that the filming is for a music video for her latest album, Radical Optimism.
24:03 That may be featured during her European tour in June
24:06 but others mention that it might be for an advertisement instead.
24:10 Interesting to see a pop star on our Kent beach.
24:13 But she wasn't the only sight taking people by surprise this weekend.
24:18 Many in Kent would have of course seen the Aurora Borealis
24:21 also known as the Northern Lights across our skies Friday and Saturday night.
24:25 It followed the biggest solar storm for 20 years.
24:28 The Met Office say it's hard to fully predict
24:31 but new advanced solar activity in our skies.
24:35 Well, captured better on camera than we can see with the naked eye.
24:39 Here are some of the stunning views from across the county.
24:45 Imagine looking up and seeing a spectacle of bright lights across the sky.
24:50 This spectacle is the Aurora Borealis, the Northern Lights.
24:55 Recently people all over Kent witnessed this solar light show
25:00 caused by a solar storm that has not happened in 20 years.
25:06 People stayed up until early hours of the morning to observe the neon rainbow colors.
25:13 To get a clear view people gathered on beaches and in other rural locations
25:18 to avoid street lights and areas with light pollution.
25:23 Meteorologists at the Met Office say that it's hard to predict
25:27 what will happen in the Earth's atmosphere.
25:31 So to witness a natural phenomenon like this is very special.
25:36 Cora Ingalls for KMTV
25:40 But will we have any more beautiful skies in the way of sunshine?
25:48 Let's take a look at the forecast.
25:50 [Music]
25:56 Well, tonight it will be mostly cloudy across the county
25:59 with some rain in Tambridge Wells, 14 to 15 degrees Tuesday morning
26:03 and the rain will spread across the whole of Kent, highs of 15 over in Margate.
26:08 And the rain is here to stay unfortunately for Tuesday afternoon
26:11 though it will get slightly warmer, highs of 16 in Chatham.
26:15 And the rest of the week it will actually be quite warm.
26:18 Sunny weather heading into Wednesday but expect thunder and lightning by Thursday.
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26:30 Well, you'll be watching Kent Tonight live here on KMTV.
26:34 There's of course more news made just for Kent throughout the evening.
26:38 And don't forget you can always keep up to date with everything on our website.
26:41 See you for another episode of Invicta Sport.
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