One down, two to go
Plus a new Medway podcast, open call for Nucleus, a review of Zizzi, our weekly events guide, news in brief, and more
200 people in a church on a wet Thursday night to listen to politicians? It can only be hustings season! We held our first one last night, inviting all candidates standing in the Gillingham and Rainham constituency. We’ve got the details below (and a link so you can watch it!). Beyond that, we have (perhaps thankfully) lots of non-politics news. There are details of a new Medway podcast, information on how you can be exhibited at Nucleus Arts, a review of the new Zizzi in Chatham, our weekly events guide, news in brief, and lots more.
As ever, thanks for reading Local Authority. We really couldn’t do all of this without you.
One down, two to go
We were delighted to hold our first General Election hustings last night, rolling into the incredibly accommodating St. Margaret’s Church for our debate between the candidates wanting to be the next MP for Gillingham and Strood.
Unfortunately, not all of the candidates decided to join us. Rehman Chishti, the MP for the constituency since 2010, chose not to take part. His camp told us that “Rehman is prioritising spending his time engaging directly with residents out on the doorstep,” and thus, answering the questions of 200 constituents on a Thursday night wasn’t something he’d be able to do. Reform candidate Rizvi Rawoof failed to make it along either, despite assurances beforehand that he would be in attendance.
Still, we were delighted to have six of the eight candidates in attendance, with Kate Belmonte (Green), Naushabah Khan (Labour), Peter Cook (Independent), Peter Wheeler (SDP), Roger Peacock (CPA), and Stuart Bourne (Lib Dem) all answering questions from our attendees.
We’re grateful that the candidates engaged in a spirited but respectful debate, sharing their positions on health, the economy, the climate, the cost of living, culture, and lots more. We’re even more grateful that 200 local residents came out on a wet Thursday night to listen to a political debate, giving us some great questions to put to the candidates.
One unexpected bonus was that St. Margaret’s Church has a more extensive audio/video setup than most gig venues, which allowed us to stream the entire event live on our Facebook page. The stream remains there, meaning you can watch the entire debate from the comfort of your own home. The sound is a little low, so you might need to turn it up, but it works, and you don’t even need a Facebook account to view it.
Over 1,000 people have already watched the stream. Unfortunately, we likely won’t have the tech to do this at our upcoming debates, but we’d like to be able to do more things like this in the future.
Next up…
We are hosting two further hustings next week for the remaining Medway constituencies.
Tuesday 18 June: Rochester and Strood hustings at Rochester Baptist Church (fully booked!)
Wednesday 19 June: Chatham and Aylesford hustings at Lordswood Leisure Centre, Chatham (15 spots remaining!)
It should be noted that the Rochester and Strood event is now fully booked. As a result, if you have booked a spot and are now unable to attend, please either cancel your ticket via Eventbrite or let us know so we can make it available to somebody else. Any tickets we are able to free up will be made available via the above links.
We often hear that people are disengaged with politics, and the traditional view of hustings is 20 people sitting in a musty hall listening to candidates. Given how little time we had to put these events together, we’re thrilled that over 500 people have now booked tickets for the three debates. Thanks to everyone who has come along, asked a question, or generally taken an interest in what we’re doing here.
Elsewhere…
Given our hustings are nearly fully booked, we would be remiss not to highlight that the KM Media Group, Maxim PR, and the Universities at Medway are working together to put on their own hustings event this Monday (17 Jun). In one four-hour bonanza, they will hold hustings for all three Medway constituencies back to back, which is pretty hardcore. If you want to go along to one or all of those hustings, you can book tickets here.
In brief
🌳 Over £1m has been made available by Medway Council for the conversion of the former Deangate Ridge golf course in Hoo to a new community parkland. The money has come from Section 106 contributions from developers building in the surrounding area of Hoo.
🏘️ Medway Council's housing target has been increased by 20% after failing to deliver the number of needed new homes over the past three years. They have also had to put together a new action plan to set out how they intend to meet the target.
🚧 Frindsbury Hill reopened today following a 14-week closure to build an entrance for the new Maritime Academy school. Medway Council claims the work was completed one week ahead of schedule, but given there will still be overnight closures to install the crossings, the work ‘completed’ is doing a lot of heavy lifting.
🛍️ KMTV have been speaking to voters and candidates in Rochester and Strood on what can be done to regenerate Chatham High Street. One surreal moment sees a man claim shoppers don’t come to Chatham anymore as they go to Gillingham instead.
🏦 Barclays in Chatham was vandalised on Wednesday, with its windows being smashed and graffiti scrawled across the outside. The attack is believed to be part of an ongoing action by groups claiming the company has financial interests in selling weapons to Israel.
They Did It Medway
Does the world need another podcast? More importantly, does it need one focused on Medway? Rob Flood and Philip Dodd, in association with the City of Rochester Society, clearly think so, and they’ve called it ‘We Did It Medway’. They are putting together an initial series of eight episodes, looking at lesser-known parts of the history of the Medway Towns.
They have an episode about Isaac Newell, who was born in Strood in 1853, emigrated to Argentina in his late teens and introduced the world of football to the Argentinians. This had the small consequence of ending up setting up a football club called Newell's Old Boys, whom Maradona and Lionel Messi played for. Future episodes also include a discussion about the suffragette movement, looking at the work of Vera Conway Gordon of Rochester. That one includes interviews with Kelly Tolhurst and Lauren Edwards, Rochester and Strood candidates in the upcoming election, about being a woman in Parliament today, one hundred years on from the vote. They were also recording an episode about the Medway Queen for its 100th birthday, which was launched on the Clyde in 1924. They have even put together an episode about the day that Jimi Hendrix played in Chatham!
The thorny question is whether the podcast will have any appeal in Medway, let alone outside of Medway. Rob is confident that it will. “I think that people within Medway are going to be fascinated by the stories on their doorsteps that they haven't heard.” Whilst the work and research they have done on the episodes will help the podcast break out, they hope the guests will give the project something of a boost. For the Isaac Newell episode, they interviewed Tim Vickery, the BBC South America football correspondent “who's got a hundred and forty thousand followers on Twitter.” They are also hoping for the Hendrix podcast to line up “not just some people that were at the gig, but also at least one person who played at the gig as part of one of the bands.” It all sounds very exciting.
We Did It Medway will be available on Apple Podcasts and wherever you get your podcasts from next week.
Open call for Nucleus
Nucleus Arts is gearing up for its Summer Exhibition, which is now in its sixth year and remains an open and inclusive display of art across a range of disciplines.
Much like the Winter Open, the Summer Exhibition is open to all artists of all disciplines, whether they are starting out or well established.
Artists can submit up to three artworks for the exhibition, of which one is guaranteed to be displayed in one of Nucleus’ galleries between 2 August and 3 September. It costs £15 to submit your entry, which seems like a small price to pay to have your work featured in some of Medway’s most recognisable arts spaces.
You can read more about the Summer Exhibition at Nucleus Arts and submit your artwork via their website.
Out to Lunch: Zizzi in Chatham
In which Steven Keevil assesses the lunch options available in our towns. This week, he’s been down to Zizzi in Chatham…
Newly opened at Chatham Dockside, to slightly less fanfare and excitement than the neighbouring Wagamama, Zizzi is a vibrant and friendly Italian chain restaurant. Top tip: Start working out now so you can open the ridiculously heavy front door.
Ordering a collection of starters and sides, I had 'Nduja & Garlic Bombe, Mushroom Brindisi and Loaded Bolognese Chips, with some pasta chips and Coke Zero whilst we waited. The Coke Zero was in small glass bottles to give maximum cost for minimum fluids, and the pasta chips were as good as crisp pasta can be. The loaded chips were good, and the Mushroom Brindisi, featuring mushrooms roasted on freshly baked bread in a creamy mushroom and mascarpone sauce, topped with melted cheese, was flavoursome, though got a little soggy by the end. The Garlic Bombe was late to arrive as the wrong dish was served, but when it did, it was a flavour sensation. The best way I can describe it is a savoury doughnut. However, because it came towards the end of the meal, it was a struggle to finish.
While I wouldn’t go out of my way to have lunch at Zizzi, if you are looking for a nice, if not inexpensive, lunch, then it’s a worthy option. The food was well cooked, and the staff are friendly, and that’s often all you need.
Events this week
🎛️ Some Kinda Kultcha returns to Poco Loco tomorrow night (Sat 15 Jun). Club night featuring genre-shredding music from across the world, including African, Caribbean, Balkan, Asian, Latin, Arabian, and more. Tickets £3.
🎮 Medway Gaming Festival is back this weekend (15-16 Jun) at Chatham Dockyard. Two days of new and retro gaming, esports, cosplay, traders, activities, pro wrestling, and slightly creepy military recruitment. Tickets £24 (day)/£34 weekend.
🥕 Rochester Farmers Market is back on Sunday (16 May) in the Blue Boar Lane car park. Around 20 traders will be selling local and unique food and drink. Free.
🚀 It’s the 40th anniversary of the somewhat underrated Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, and that means Odeon in Chatham is hosting a rare screening of the film on Monday (17 Jun). Tickets £10.
🖥️ Cineworld in Strood is running a season of films from 1999, one of the greatest years of cinema. On Friday (21 Jun), they are screening The Matrix, the sci-fi film that blew our minds at the time and still holds up incredibly well. Tickets £5.
More Authority
Our interview this weekend is with Kelly Tolhurst, MP for Rochester and Strood since 2015. It’s a wide-ranging conversation that covers her entry into politics, the current General Election campaign, and just why she wanted to demolish the Pentagon Centre.
Footnotes
Music that soundtracked the creation of this edition: The Sky and the Sea Were Part of Me (or I Was Part of Them) by Johnny Foreigner, It’s Sorted by Cheekface, and Loner by Caroline Rose.
Hi there. We love Local Authority and appreciate your fresh take on our Medway. Having lived in Medway for 50 years and having been involved in local politics ourselves we understand your scepticism about much of what goes on. However surely local podcasts and other innovative things being featured in latest edition should be talked up rather than using dismissive tone we find patronising and depressing! Thanks