Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
Brave Tony wins pride award
A six-year-old boy left without legs after suffering horrific abuse at the hands of his parents has been honoured in the Pride Of Britain Awards.
Tony Hudgell was presented with the Good Morning Britain Young Fundraiser Award for raising an incredible £1.5m for the Evelina London Children’s
Hospital, which had saved his life as a baby.
Despite being on prosthetic legs, he covered an incredible 10km walk over 30 days in a challenge inspired by Captain Tom Moore - the war veteran who raised £32 million by walking 100 laps of his garden ahead of his 100th birthday. Tony, who is nicknamed Bear, was left a double amputee after being admitted to hospital at just 41 days old with multiple fractures, sepsis and organ failure.
He had been abused by his parents, Jodie and Tony Smith, who at one time lived in a tent in Canterbury and later moved to Whitstable.
Tony has since found peace with his new adopted family. He was browsing the shelves of Hamleys toy store in London with his mum, Paula Hudgell, when he was given his award by TV favourites Ant and Dec.
The pair, dressed as Christmas tree soldiers, jumped out from behind a pile of toys to surprise him.
The Pride of Britain Award honoured the “absolute heroes” who had dedicated their lives to helping others through the Covid-19 crisis.
The show’s host, Carol Vorderman, said: “Our winners are the perfect representation of the way the nation has pulled together in 2020.
“People have faced challenges unlike anything we could have imagined, but we have all helped each other through them, and that is what Pride of Britain is all about. And it is what our winners are all about too. From six-year-old Tony to 100-year-old Captain Tom, they have all gone to extreme lengths to put other people first.”
Tony has previously won the Prime Minister’s Points Of Light Award.
Remember a time when every town had a police station? Bobbies would regularly be seen moseying along high streets, always on hand to cuff miscreants or say hello to locals.
But to many, those days seem like far-flung memories as bases across Kent have been sold off to be developed or demolished.
The force’s HQ - which has acted as the focal point for policing across the county for 80 years - in Sutton Road, Maidstone, is just the latest to change hands.
Blocks of flats, beauty salons, jewellery shops and accidenthit construction sites already stand in place of former stations.
Here is what has happened to 10 of the county’s former police bases...