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Catch up on all the latest news from across the county with Chloe Brewster.
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00:27Hello and welcome to Kent Tonight Live.
00:29Live on KMTV, I'm Chloe Brewster and here are your top stories on Thursday 5th November.
00:35Honouring him, Sheppie Mann who died in crash, it's remembered by the community.
00:43Charting a course, Gillingham Museum celebrates 225 years of Kent's first map.
00:51There's only one place that can be the first, and that was Kent.
00:54And a dive through history, we look at Whitstable's local marine museum after 10 years of community
01:02ownership.
01:03The number of visitors has gone up from 2,000 when the council was last operating the museum
01:09to just over 20,000.
01:20The funeral for a selling motorcyclist who was killed in a devastating crash took place
01:26today.
01:27Louis Ledger was a much-loved motorcyclist who was involved in numerous biking groups across
01:32the South East.
01:33Hundreds gathered for his memorial.
01:36I put together some of the clips from today.
01:39Louis Ledger was a loving father who is described as the life of the party and a keen motorcyclist.
01:46And today, in a celebration of his life, bikers took to the streets of Selling and Fathersham
01:53to remember him.
01:58While the celebrations of his life are bathed in colour, his loss was an unexpected tragedy.
02:05He passed away at the roadside following a collision with a BMW between Fathersham and Tenham.
02:11He had been on his way home after dropping off a phone charger for his teenage daughter.
02:17An 18-year-old man was later arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving.
02:23He has since been released on police bail.
02:26At the crash site, floral tribute and a hoodie marked Louis' love of riding.
02:32He was a member of a handful of biker groups, including Section 59, South Coast, Rev Heads,
02:39Associated Sheppey Bikers and The Rascals.
02:42Today, dozens of members turned out on their motorbikes to form a procession for his coffin.
02:50They're making sure that for one last time, they got the chance to ride alongside him.
02:56Chloe Brewster and Joe Crossley for KMTV.
03:00A murder trial has heard how a wits-table teenager was fatally stabbed in the chest in an attack lasting
03:06just 22 seconds.
03:08Ashton Harrington died after being confronted by two knife-wielding men in Whitstable in the early hours of Good Friday.
03:16Justine Larta joins me in the studio now to tell us more.
03:20Justine, what have we heard in court today?
03:23So, two men are on trial for the murder of Ashton Harrington.
03:26That's 20-year-old Kieran Barnes of Sittingbourne and 21-year-old Tobias Abadje of Herne Bay.
03:33Trial started yesterday, the 4th of November at Canterbury Crown Court
03:36and we were hearing from prosecution yesterday and today, the 5th of November.
03:41It's alleged that Mr Harrington was fatally stabbed in the heart in a confrontation lasting as little as 22 seconds.
03:47That's what the jury has heard.
03:49The two defendants have admitted to possessing knives and being involved in the chance encounter,
03:54but both deny murdering Mr Harrington.
03:57Mark Fennell's KC opened the prosecution case this week and said that according to a witness,
04:01the background of the alleged crime was likely to do with drugs.
04:06The court was told that Mr Harrington spent the last night of his life in Whitstable with his friends.
04:10They were in a car around 2am in Belmont Road.
04:14That's when Barnes and Abadje spotted the group in their car when they passed in their own vehicle in the
04:19opposite direction.
04:21The defendants were alleged to have subsequently become agitated and repeatedly ordered the driver of their vehicle
04:27to turn their car around, drive back and stop.
04:30That's when they decamped and Mr Harrington, who had got out of his car, was then fatally stabbed.
04:36And what is alleged to have happened afterwards?
04:38So the prosecution said that once Barnes and Abadje had got back in the vehicle they had allegedly been travelling
04:44in,
04:45the driver was told to reverse up the street and as she did so Barnes began undressing,
04:50taking off his outer clothing and throwing items out of the window including the knives he and Abadje had allegedly
04:56been wielding.
04:57The weapons were later recovered by police and both weapons were stained with Mr Harrington's blood,
05:02whilst one had Barnes' DNA on the handle and both defendants were arrested on the 13th of April.
05:08And do we know just quickly if there was any history between Mr Harrington and the defendants?
05:13So the only bit of information prosecutors have been able to find was on the victim's phone.
05:18That was a video and a message exchange between him and Barnes from February this year.
05:23Many of Mr Harrington's family and loved ones attended the trial and it's being presided over by Judge Simon James.
05:30It's expected to last up to three weeks and we'll be following it as it continues.
05:34Thank you so much Justine.
05:37Kent police have arrested a suspected drug dealer who was in possession of more than £1,000 and 100 wraps
05:44of what he would be believed to be cocaine.
05:46Patrol officers...
05:47Mate, stop there mate!
05:50Patrol officers were alerted to a suspicious car in Rochester on the 30th of October.
05:55But when spoken to by police, the driver attempted to flee.
05:59Police dog Storm, who was only on her third shift, quickly caught him.
06:03The 21-year-old man from London was arrested on suspicion of possession with intent to supply a Class A
06:08drugs
06:09and was released on bail while enquiries continue.
06:13A cocaine dealer has been imprisoned after a Kent police officer spotted him cycling with no lights in Tunbridge Wells.
06:19What I'll do, I'm going to pop you in handcuffs and I'll explain properly, OK?
06:23What happened?
06:24So, let me tell you...
06:25Footage on screen shows the moment Alexander Abu Ghulayu was arrested after the officer suspected him of being concerned in
06:32the supply of cocaine to the area.
06:35At around 10.25pm on the August 21st, the officer indicated for him to stop, but after giving multiple false
06:42reasons for being in the area, he was detained for a search.
06:45Officers found six packets of white powder from the drug dealer's underwear and messages on his phone consistent with drug
06:51supply.
06:52He was sentenced to two years and six months in prison.
06:55And now it's time to take a quick look at the weather.
07:02We're in for some partly cloudy skies tonight.
07:05Lows of 7 degrees in Canterbury, going up to highs of 10 in Royal Tunbridge Wells.
07:09As we head into tomorrow morning, clouds cover the skies with a bit of drizzle here in Medway of highs
07:13of 10 degrees across the east of the county.
07:16Heading into the afternoon, a bit more rain across the county.
07:18Highs of 11 degrees in Maidstone, Margate and Dover.
07:21Lows of 10 everywhere else.
07:23For the rest of the week, sun's peaking out slightly from Saturday to Monday, temperatures ranging from 11 to 12
07:28degrees.
07:33Well, with the cold suddenly taking charge in the county, you may be considering putting your heating on.
07:39But what good is heating when the warmth doesn't seem to stick around?
07:42Well, Kent County Council have recently unveiled new thermal imaging cameras which we can borrow to track where exactly heat
07:48is escaping in our homes.
07:50We asked Councillor Richard Palmer from KCC about where you can get your hands on one.
07:55Well, once they've hired it from the library, they can then, once they've collected it, they download an app, the
08:03Flare app.
08:03But all the details are there when they obtain the camera from the library.
08:08They connect it to their smartphone or a tablet.
08:13And they follow the instructions on there and scan around the rooms to see where the heat loss is.
08:21People are living in a residential property if they feel they've got some heat loss.
08:25And particularly if they realise that their bills are quite high and they want to reduce their bills,
08:30a thermal imaging camera may assist them in identifying where some of the worst heat loss is.
08:36So if they are a bit short on funds, they can target where they can spend money to have the
08:42biggest impact.
08:43And talking of not wasting energy, reporter Sophie Denny recently asked residents in Kent about their thoughts on Project Jackdaw,
08:50a plan to increase drilling in the North Sea to help improve energy security here in the UK.
08:55You can watch back at any of our past reports on our website.
08:59Heating homes, boiling water.
09:01The gas running through our pipes could soon be coming from somewhere slightly closer to home.
09:06The government has given the green light to Project Jackdaw, which allows drilling for gas in a new area of
09:12the North Sea.
09:13But what could this mean for people in Kent?
09:15Jackdaw is one of the largest unexploited gas fields in the North Sea.
09:20And this approved drilling means that its gas could start supplying British homes and businesses by as early as the
09:26end of this month.
09:27Now some say they're concerned about the plan's environmental impact, while those in favour emphasise the need for Britain to
09:35improve its energy security.
09:37But what do people here in Rochester make of the plans?
09:40Awful. They shouldn't be doing it.
09:42And why is that?
09:43I just understand that it massively impacts the climate and it shouldn't be happening.
09:47I understood it had been banned, that was the end of it.
09:50Just understanding that it's been completely flipped the opposite direction is terrible.
09:55We need the gas, we're going to need it for some time because there's not enough electrical capacity in the
09:59country at the moment.
10:00The solar and wind power isn't good enough yet so we still need gas.
10:05And the fact that we're using it for the UK rather than selling it onto the open market, I think
10:11that's a good idea.
10:12Obviously if we have energy that will probably boost the economy which would be good.
10:18Obviously fuel prices are crazy but on the other hand, the more that we just kind of use the earth
10:25in that way,
10:26it's going to be worse for climate change and we need to think about the future and future generations.
10:30The government says they are also investing in renewable energy projects through a new energy wealth fund.
10:35But Councillor Mark Hood says he isn't convinced.
10:38It's absolutely climate vandalism, it's incomprehensible and again this nonsense with the wealth fund, this is too little too late.
10:50It's a shock to the environmentalists who have been campaigning against this.
10:54It will achieve almost nothing.
10:57Energy Secretary Miata Fambula has said the decision will support the country's energy security
11:02and will help minimise the UK's use of imported higher emission fuels.
11:06She added the decision is compatible with climate commitments and they remain resolute in ending new licences for oil and
11:13gas and achieving net zero by 2050.
11:16But one energy researcher says the impact of Project Jackdaw will be limited.
11:21I think in the short term, it's not going to really change things for people very much.
11:26They've said it's not really going to affect the needle in terms of how much our energy prices are at
11:31the moment.
11:31And it gives this tiny little bit of improvement perhaps to our energy security.
11:35As we begin to turn the heating on, the debate over where our gas should come from continues to heat
11:41up.
11:41Sophie Doney for KMTV in Medway.
11:44Well, that's all the time we have for this part of the show.
11:46But coming up in the next part, we'll be hearing about Kent's historical sites that are most at risk and
11:51need of urgent repairs.
11:53See you then.
12:00See you then.
12:17See you then.
12:26See you then.
12:54Bye.
12:55Bye.
13:24Bye.
13:26Bye.
13:54Bye.
13:56Bye.
14:26Bye.
14:28Bye.
15:15Hello and welcome back to Kent Tonight Live here on KMTV.
15:20Historic England has revealed which properties they'll prioritise for grant funding.
15:24The Heritage at Risk Register is updated every year and aims to highlight historic buildings and places which are falling
15:30into disrepair.
15:31There are more than 450 properties in the South East already on the Register.
15:36I spoke to Alfie Stroud, Regeneration Leader in the South East, about what this means.
15:41The Heritage at Risk process is going on all the time and this Register launch today is really just the
15:47annual health check.
15:48So it's where we give an annual update on how loads of sites across the country are getting on, basically.
15:55The selection criteria is quite strict.
15:58We have some very clear methodologies about different types of heritage assets, as we call them.
16:03So buildings, parks and gardens, conservation areas.
16:05And being at risk is usually about condition, first and foremost, but also about use, whether a heritage asset like
16:13a listed building has a viable use at the moment,
16:16whether there are people there using it and loving it.
16:19And what kind of support? I know that the Charles Dickens Writing Chalet in Rochester, that's joining that at risk
16:27list.
16:29What kind of support does that need to kind of get it back into the standard that you guys expect?
16:36The writing chalet, Charles Dickens Writing Chalet in particular, has some very specific challenges because it's a really unique building.
16:42Apart from its amazing association with Charles Dickens, it's essentially a flat pack building.
16:47Very unusual. It was a Christmas present to Charles Dickens in 1864 and it arrived in pieces, a gift from
16:53an active friend of his in Switzerland, I think.
16:55It arrived in Kent and had to be assembled. It's all built out of timber, timber framed, but also timber
16:59facing.
17:00And you can imagine in Medway, kind of exposed to that strange Thames weather, and especially these days with increasingly
17:08extreme weather patterns.
17:09So high winds, hot summers that we've had, extreme rainfall, that timber that the building is made out of really
17:15suffers over the years.
17:17So at the moment it has some trouble with timber decay and as a result of that, and also the
17:21fact that it's been moved several times in its history, some structural instability.
17:24So those are the key challenges that need to be fixed physically.
17:27But all of those problems have also meant that the building can't be used and visited as easily as we'd
17:33like, really.
17:34So the second big challenge is making more use of it, making sure more people can see and experience and
17:38enjoy it.
17:39How does it work? Does Historic England choose what fixes need to be made or is it like a council
17:44level?
17:45It's normally a partnership. I mean, actually, it's always a partnership.
17:48It always takes lots of people to actually address these problems and get buildings off the Heritage Risk Register, ultimately.
17:55The most important thing is local people who want to use the building, want to visit it or maybe use
18:00it for some other purpose, from business to community use.
18:04And or like the Leeds Lift, just go up and down the lift in it.
18:09The challenge then is bringing together all of the people that can bring the money together, bring the expertise together
18:14and get a plan together to save the building.
18:17Why is it so important to kind of keep on top of how our heritage sites are doing?
18:22They embody the kind of meaning of our place very often.
18:26They represent layers of our history and they're often places where people come together.
18:31They add a lot to people's well-being.
18:33There'll be places that maybe you go to the dog or you visit with your family or you go and
18:38see a show or something like that.
18:40In the case of there are lots of theatres at risk, you might go and worship in a church at
18:44risk.
18:44So these buildings are really important to our communities and to our national life.
18:48Speaking of history, the history of modern mapping started with one piece of paper right here in Kent.
18:54In 1801, Ordnance Survey, the National Mapping Agency for Great Britain, created its first detailed map of Kent.
19:02And this set new standards for accuracy and those made around the world today.
19:06An event took place at the Royal Engineers Museum in Gillingham to celebrate the anniversary of the first map,
19:12with it displayed alongside equipment used for mapping over the last 230 years.
19:17Our reporter Maisie Walker went down to check it out.
19:20The first Ordnance Survey map, which covered Kent, is being celebrated 225 years after it was published.
19:28The Royal Engineers Museum in Gillingham marks the anniversary with a special display,
19:33including modern technology used for navigation today.
19:37This is the original map of Kent that was produced in 1801.
19:41It was primarily designed for military use, but its sounds of accuracy was so well done
19:46that it actually became the benchmark for maps across Britain.
19:50It was created more than 200 years ago and changed the way maps were made forever.
19:55But why was the map created in the first place?
19:59And why was Kent chosen as the starting point?
20:02The country was worried about Napoleonic invasion.
20:05So, and because of Kent's proximity to France, they started there.
20:10Then they basically worked along the south coast.
20:12So it was really that threat of Napoleonic invasion that led them to start in Kent
20:16and then work around the coast.
20:17It then took them almost another 100 years to build up the map for the rest of the country.
20:21Imagine that, you know, you're starting your work,
20:25that even during your working lifetime, you won't actually ever see the project completed.
20:29That's like building a cathedral, yeah?
20:31That's what building a map of Britain's like.
20:33At the time, existing maps did not provide enough detail
20:36to help soldiers plan their movements or military attacks.
20:40Without modern technology, soldiers spent 10 years creating the map.
20:45In terms of the primitive tools that they had at their disposal,
20:47you know, some of them were dragging measuring chains along the ground.
20:51Some of them were having to measure lines on site.
20:55You know, incredible skills that we don't have anymore.
20:58Working with your hands.
20:59When you see that 1801 map and you see how beautiful it is and how detailed it is,
21:06you know, it's this magisterial, very romantic piece of cartography.
21:11Yes, it's a military map, but it looks stunning.
21:13You can't help but have an enormous amount of admiration for those guys.
21:17You know, they set the standard with that first OS map
21:21for what would then be replicated around all of Britain.
21:25After the Kent map was completed,
21:26it took until 1870 for the rest of England to be mapped to the same standard,
21:32meaning Kent was the county that set the coordinates for the future.
21:37Maisie Walker for KMTV, Gillingham.
21:41Whitstable Museum may not be the destination you think of when you're debating a coastal trip,
21:46but behind its bright blue exterior, it's a treasure trove of local memories.
21:50And despite threats to its survival, in its 10th year, it's going better than ever.
21:54Harry Smith reports.
21:56Whitstable is mostly known for its beach huts and its oysters.
22:01But behind the picturesque coastal town is a treasure trove of maritime history.
22:07And Whitstable Museum has chronicled it all.
22:11From the invention of the diving helmet to salvaged silver almost literally building the town.
22:17Charles Dean was a bit of an inventor.
22:19And he invented a smoke helmet.
22:23So the idea was that if you had a burning building,
22:26you could put this helmet over your head, which had air in it,
22:30and a pipe came in from St Bellows, from a blacksmith or something like that,
22:34and you could dash into the building, you could rescue the horses first,
22:38and then go back in to rescue the people afterwards,
22:41because the horses were the most important thing.
22:44But it's not just the local museum that has benefited from Whitstable's maritime history.
22:51The houses you see behind me were built after Spanish silver from the wreck of the Enterprise was sold.
22:59But funding in the modern day is a little more complicated.
23:04Funding in local authorities became an issue for museums,
23:09and it was decided that as Whitstable Museum was running down,
23:14there weren't very many visitors, then perhaps it should close.
23:19The local community decided that that was not an option,
23:23and that they would set up a new charity to take over the operation of the museum,
23:28and that's been very effective.
23:31So the number of visitors has gone up from 2,000,
23:35when the council was last operating the museum,
23:38to just over 20,000 last year.
23:41With local authority funding priorities changing,
23:44community museums like this one are in troubled waters.
23:48With the help of new funding efforts,
23:50hopefully they will weather the storm.
23:53Harry Smith, KMTV, Whitstable.
23:57Well, nowadays, Bonfire Night is celebrated with firework displays across the county,
24:02but back in the 50s and 60s,
24:04Kent celebrated it in a very different way.
24:07Towns had their own unique traditions,
24:08with children across the county celebrating in a variety of ways,
24:11but I won't spoil it too much as Finn McDiarmid joins me now to tell us more.
24:16Finn, I understand that you've got a bit of a quiz for me.
24:19I do, yeah.
24:20Chloe, there's plenty to talk about when it comes to the history of Bonfire Night here in Kent.
24:24I think people outside of the county might go,
24:26Garden of England, it's all tea parties and daffodils smelling or something.
24:30But we really do like burning things and just fire in general, it seems like.
24:36So we've got a load of...
24:39You've played Two Truths, One Lie before?
24:41Yes.
24:41We're going to be playing a version of that.
24:43I'll give you a bit of a preamble.
24:44All across Kent, there's children who did loads of little different traditions and things.
24:49And we can see some of those little excerpts there on the screen now.
24:53They'd set fires, they'd make effigies,
24:57they'd even get in a bit of trouble now and then.
24:58But we'll move on to the actual game.
25:05So these are your different truths or lies.
25:09It's up for you to decide.
25:10The audience should be able to see them on the screen behind me here.
25:13So Rochester used to have children who would make their own Guy Fawkes effigies
25:17they would sell on the street called Penny for the Guy.
25:20In Chatham, children would knock on doors to collect as much firewood as they could,
25:25taking it in turns to guard their stash until the evening.
25:27And in Maidstone, they would have an effigy competition.
25:30It's countywide and they'd invite school children from across Kent to build the most realistic effigy.
25:34Which of those three do you think is the lie?
25:37So is it effigy and Guy, are they the same thing?
25:40Yeah, they'd make effigies of the Guy.
25:44They make effigies, okay.
25:45But this one was a competition and this one was they'd try and sell them on the streets.
25:49I like the business mindset there.
25:53I mean, you know, I hope it's the top one because I quite like the idea of the children getting
25:57excited.
25:57But I am going to go with the one in the middle purely because I like the idea of them
26:02collecting the firewood
26:02and being part of the community.
26:04I think that's the most realistic one.
26:05So you think this is the lie?
26:06No, I think that's the two truths.
26:08Oh, it's two truths, one lie.
26:09Two truths, one lie.
26:10So there's two of them that are true and one of them is a lie.
26:12I think that one's a lie and those two are true.
26:15That is correct, yes.
26:16Rochester's children would make a penny for the Guy.
26:19In fact, they got in trouble for this.
26:20If parents found out you were trying to basically scam people, they would get quite annoyed.
26:26In Chatham, the children would knock on as much doors as they could to collect firewoods for their own big
26:30bonfires.
26:31But Maidstone did not have its own effigy competition.
26:34I was trying to sort of maybe relate it to the Eden Bridge effigy that we see all the time.
26:39Can we go to our next two truths, one lie?
26:41I think we just have to end the show now, EFM, so it will be a mystery.
26:44But thank you so much for joining me.
26:47You've been watching Kent Tonight Live on KMTV.
26:49See you very soon.
27:04You've been watching Kent Tonight Live on KMTV.