The code behind Medway Elects
Discovering Medway with Medway Plus, Mr Unswitchable's Open Mic, we review Summer Palace, our weekly events guide, and more
Finding basic data about elections and the actions of elected politicians should be straightforward, but it’s often far more complex than it needs to be. Thankfully, Medway has a website called Medway Elects to track this data, but it’s all the work of one man who runs it as a hobby. We’ve been talking to him to find out more. Further down, we learn what Medway charity Medway Plus are up to, hear about themed open mic nights in Rochester, review Summer Palace in Gillingham, our weekly events guide, news in brief, and more.
The code behind Medway Elects
Medway Elects is a unique website that chronicles Medway's electoral history. It has been an essential resource for this publication and political geeks across our towns. Having used it for several of our editions and had the creator of the site, Alan Collins, write guest posts about upcoming elections, we took the time to talk to Alan about the site's creation and the site's future after local government reorganisation.
Medway Elects is a database of, primarily, election results within Medway on both a council ward and parliamentary constituency level. It has also started to include other data about elected politicians’ expenses and attendance at council meetings. The site is different to similarly titled projects like Britain Elects, which is much more about predicting the outcomes of upcoming elections. Aside from the pieces Alan writes for us, Medway Elects is not a predictive tool. Instead, it focuses on past events and facts.
As useful as the site is for us, what causes someone to build a site with such granular political data? “Frustration was the initial cause of it” Alan tells me. “I'm quite happy to call myself a political geek.” When Alan first developed his interest in politics and tried to find various bits of information, primarily on the council website, “some of it was there, but trying to find it was an absolute nightmare.” In deference, this was the previous site to the one the Council has presently. “The one they're on now isn't great,” Alan offers, “but the one they had before was even worse.”
Alan wondered if it was possible to do it better, to build a site where you can find the information in as few clicks as possible rather than searching aimlessly. I ask Alan why this is important. “For me, it's pure interest, but I think the wider point is that it's transparency.” Alan explains that we elect politicians to represent us. Through our taxes, we pay their salaries and expenses, and he feels it's important to be able to see “if they're actually turning up to meetings and things like that.”
The first iteration was a website called ‘Democracy in Practice’ in 2011. In Alan’s own words, this was a basic site focused on the local council. “I wasn't very happy, A, with how it looked, B, how it performed and C, despite thinking up the name, I came to think it was a little bit naff for what I was doing.” Alan left the project on hold until the 2015 local and general elections, when he started considering how to make the project work again. At this point, he made two decisions: To introduce parliamentary elections and to change the name to Medway Elects.
Outside of data held on Wikipedia, Medway Elects appears to be unique as a resource, though efforts to confirm that have admittedly been minimal. There certainly does not appear to be anything of its kind serving Kent more widely. Alan builds the site with data primarily available from public sources. “Most councils, Medway is no exception, publish election data on their website to a limited extent.” Local election data on Medway Elects goes back to 1974, “when we had the last major local government reorganisation in the Local Government Act of 72.” Alan intends to have a firm cut-off for general election data of 1918 which is when there was “a widening of the franchise following the First World War.”
The nature of the site requires a lot of coding, which Alan has built himself in a true geek fashion. Alan’s background is in law, so he had to teach himself the coding required to build the site. “I've been dabbling in coding since before I started studying law, 14 years old, perhaps. Tech has been one of the things that has interested me almost as much as law.” Alan has worked on a variety of projects that never made it to public view, “but it's been useful in terms of learning different ways of doing things.”
Alan largely pays for the site himself. Whilst there are some ads running, they are unobtrusive. “The most important thing is the data.” There is also donation link, and whilst there have been donations, it’s never enough to cover the costs, “I'm more than happy to fund however much I need to. Fortunately, it's not expensive to run.”
What does the proposed government reorganisation mean for the future of Medway Elects? He is currently working on new features, which already adds time to keeping data up to date, “and the idea of introducing new geographical areas was not very appealing initially.” He has ultimately came to the decision to develop the site to what one day soon may become ‘North Kent Elects,’ and the political geeks in us are happy about that indeed.
In brief
🦆 KMTV has been to meet Mark Colyer, also known as the Medway Duck Man.
💃 This year’s Salute to the ‘40s festival at Chatham Historic Dockyard will be the last.
💥 The Royal Engineers Museum have warned that there will be the sound of machine gun fire this weekend as part of their Build Demolish Defuse event.
Children discover Medway with Medway Plus
Medway Plus was founded in 2015 by former Medway Council employees to develop the skills of Medway’s socially and economically disadvantaged communities. We caught up with Peter Vogel, Liam Dutton, and Marie Thibault following the successful delivery of their recent Shared Prosperity Fund project.
Peter and Marie worked together in the European team at Gun Wharf for Medway Council before a decision was made by, as Peter tactfully tells me, “a then prominent member” to close down the European team. Peter was happy to retire, but discussions within the team led to the idea of creating a charity that could continue the social regeneration work that was going on at the time.
Now celebrating its tenth year, Medway Plus has worked with communities across Medway on a wide variety of projects. “We started out quite well known as an organisation who helped to build gardens and in children's centres and community centres. That went very well.” They then we moved on to programmes supporting elderly people with healthy eating.
A significant part of their support is now directed towards helping migrant communities. They are currently engaged with the Kent Muslim Welfare Association to provide help for the Muslim community. “We've done a lot of activities with them, and that continues to grow.” More recently, their work has provided support to the Ukrainian community in Medway.
As part of their charitable aims, they work in the most disadvantaged neighbourhoods, collecting ideas and doing their best to help those who need the most help. “We don't go to Hempstead and Wigmore very often,” Peter admits, “but they don't need the help that the other communities do.” They also work with a network of around 20 schools, from the Isle of Grain to a primary that is indeed in Hempstead. “Everywhere we have a school that's quite happy to work with us.”
They almost didn’t complete formally setting up with the Charity Commission as they were expected to focus on one target group rather than the broad spectrum of support that Medway Plus provides. “We had a very big fight with the Charity Commission,” Marie tells me, “where we tried to explain what our aim would be and why we wanted to do so many things at once under one charity. It was really hard.”
The Medway Plus team each bring their own unique skills. Peter focuses on delivery. “I like talking to people. I like face-to-face interaction. Obviously, these days you have to use technology.” For 27 years, Peter lived on the White Road estate, and that experience helped him to identify issues that the charity could support. “There's this bizarre rumour that I know most people in Medway, but it's not true. Vince Maple knows a lot more people than I do. But it does help.”
Liam is ‘the guy on the chair,’ providing IT skills and project management experience. He previously volunteered with the Royal Voluntary Society at the Victory Community Centre where Medway Plus are based. During covid, he helped RVS distribute computer tablets to people dealing with isolation. After RVS left the centre, Liam stayed to work with Medway Plus. Marie and Peter have worked together since the Council, and Liam provides them with different perspectives and ideas.
When it comes to the charity, Peter is happy not to touch the financing. Thankfully, Marie had experience managing European projects and shoulders some of that responsibility. “The finances for European projects were horrendous. It's quite easy for me to manage it for Medway Plus.” Coming from France also has advantages. “I don't have that cultural thing where people in this country always try to be nice when there is something wrong in terms of financing. I will say it in a nice way, but there is no like other way of dealing with it.”
As part of the third round of the Shared Prosperity Fund, Medway Plus received support for their ‘Discovering Medway’ project. They have worked with schools in the past, organising excursions, including water sports and horse riding. The aim of the Discovering Medway project was to enable school children to experience cultural and historical places in Medway that they wouldn’t otherwise see. They have worked with over 200 children, taking groups to Rochester Cathedral, the Guildhall Museum, the Royal Engineers Museum, and even Intra Arts, where they were given “an interactive experience as far as what it's like to be an artist. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and the children loved it. It opened their eyes to the possibilities of what they could do,” says Peter.
Whilst the funding ended in March, Medway Plus has been able to extend their project to take advantage of the good weather and organise trips to green flag parks. If you are at a school that would like to get involved, contact Medway Plus to learn more.
Mr Unswitchable’s Open Mic
Kevin Younger first started hosting open mic music nights to support his partner Xtina Lamb, who had taken on what is now the Intra Arts space. They held the events as a fundraiser, and Kevin thought it would be fun to have a theme, so all the songs that first night had to have a colour in the title. Held at the Rochester Social Club, the night was a success. “I borrowed the PA off of Rob Flood, and we did the best we could. Everyone seemed to enjoy it,” recalls Kevin.
They had their 25th themed night earlier this year. “I've started making a spreadsheet. In the past, I’ve told two different people that they could do the same song, which can become embarrassing.” Following that first successful night, Kevin hosted three more events, covering songs with a girl’s name, a number, and then a liquid substance in the title. “That could be blood, sweat, water, wine, anything like that.”
By now, the events were not about fundraising but about people enjoying themselves. Suddenly though, the pandemic and social distancing meant hosting events in a small social club was not an option. “That's when I came up with the idea of doing it on Facebook.”
People submitted prerecorded videos of them playing their selected songs to Kevin. Themes during this time included ‘Song Title is a Question’, ‘TV Theme Tunes’ and ‘Present Continous.’ Kevin would play the videos with people able to comment on them in real time. “Everyone had a glass of wine or beer or something. I think it was quite nice. Everyone felt they were at the same event and talking to people.”
Hosting the events back in the real world, Kevin feels the Rochester Social Club remains the perfect venue for it. “It’s a small, intimate, comfortable venue.” The next event is on 10 May, with a theme of Crime and Punishment. “Cops and robbers, jail, outlaws, that kind of thing,” notes Kevin.
The event is free to attend, though there is a bucket collecting contributions towards the cost of the events. “With the club being a CIU club, every gig has to be a private party.” If you want to attend, you should visit Mr Unswitchable’s Open Mic on Facebook. Ask to join the group, and Kevin will send you an invite to the event.
In for Dinner: Summer Palace
In which Steven Keevil assesses the takeaway options available in our towns. This week, he’s ordered from Summer Palace in Gillingham…
Once upon a time, there was an incredible American BBQ takeaway in Gillingham called ‘Stannys’, which had brisket, burnt ends, and ribs to die for. The meat would fall off the bone like butter, packed with flavour. Like all good things, it came to an end. This left me with a problem as I searched through multiple takeaway apps, looking for BBQ ribs to order. This is a long preamble as to why I ordered from a Chinese on this occasion, with their rib options seeming better than ordering via a chicken shop.
Summer Palace is a Chinese takeaway, and I ordered via Just Eat. I ordered dry ribs, king do ribs, chilli chips, and sweet and sour vegetables. The food was delivered quicker than the website suggested, which was appreciated, but not so quickly as to be suspicious. The delivery driver was friendly, and there was a free order of prawn crackers, reaffirming one of life’s essential rules: Never pay for an order of prawn crackers.
The chips had travelled well enough, with the chilli seasoning enough to give some good flavour without overpowering them. The vegetables were a mix of chunky cut onion, pepper, mushroom and ‘other vegetables’ in a sauce that was both sweet and sour. The dry set of ribs were indeed very dry. They had fully embraced the dry, like leather on bone, coincidentally also the title of my forthcoming rock album. The king do ribs were smaller, assuming chopped rather than just very tiny ribs, but I’ve been wrong before.
Whilst a little pricey, the food did taste good overall, and they also do a cracking pancake roll. If in Gillingham or adjacent, giving Summer Palace a try isn’t a bad idea.
Event Guide
🎤 Sat 26 Apr - Theresa Lola // Poet reads from her second collection, Ceremony for the Nameless. Sun Pier House, Chatham. Free.
🎸 Sat 26 Apr - Helen McCookerybook // Return visit for legendary singer-songwriter. Rams Micropub 12 Degrees, Rochester. Tickets £10.
🎸 Sat 26 Apr - Crabs + The Spike Direction Effect + The Nudie Pics // Garage rock from across Kent. Poco Loco, Chatham. Tickets £5.
🎛️ Sun 27 - Minimus Lounge // Experimental soundscapes with Ever Orchid and Sophie Sirota. Rams Micropub 12 Degrees, Rochester. Free, £5 suggested donation.
🎶 Sun 27 April - Len Price 3 // Matinee performance from Medways high energy garage combo, with support from Cream Soda and The Burntwick Smugglers. Poco Loco, Chatham. Tickets £10.
🎤 Thu 1 May - Sam Campbell // Australian comedian and recent Taskmaster winner performs early evening show. Three Sheets to the Wind, Rochester. Tickets £12.50, purchased from bar.
Footnotes
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