Maternity meet

A committee at Maidstone Borough Council will review maternity services now that emergency treatment is based in Pembury.

Councillors want to hear from residents at a Town Hall meeting at 6.30pm on Tuesday, December 9, about their experience of services. Anyone interested in attending should call Sam Bailey on 01622 602263.

acole@thekmgroup.co.uk Festive cheer is already being spread in homes around Maidstone thanks to our You Can Help campaign.

Every year the appeal helps homeless people and those struggling to keep a roof over their heads and pay the bills.

This week a collection of 240 Advent calendars was given to Maidstone Homeless Care, the organisation the KM supports with the campaign.

It runs a day centre in Knightrider Street for homeless people and families in need and the calendars will feature in emergency food parcels, while some have been sent to other charities in the area.

Trustee Mike FitzGerald said: “We shared them with children who otherwise would not have had an Advent calendar. I can assure you, they were delighted.

“Poverty among children is rising – there are over 50,000 suffering across the county.”

He thanked the Riverside Rotary Club, which provided the seasonal gifts and also handed over a cheque for £500.

Mr FitzGerald said he was overwhelmed by support from schools and collection points.

Every grammar school in Maidstone is backing the cam- paign. Maidstone Grammar School for Girls in Buckland Road was a particularly special addition, he said, as the day centre can trace its roots back to the late MGGS teacher Pat McCabe and her pupils, who started a soup kitchen serving sandwiches from the boot of her car back in 1986.

A school spokesman said: “At MGGS, both students and staff are delighted to be part of You Can Help.

“Pat McCabe and Mary Harvey, former deputy head and head-teacher at the school, were instrumental in starting the soup run with a group of sixth-formers in the 1980s. This was the start of the charity that has become Homeless Care.”

The appeal has also been booming thanks to donations from shoppers at supermarkets across Maidstone and Malling.

Mr FitzGerald has already collected two bumper donations from Morrisons in Sutton Road, Maidstone.