Get Ape gig this Sunday

WHITSTABLE'S Deco 5, saw the return of Get Ape recently, a five-piece funk soul band that got everyone dancing.

The band, originally formed as a duo in 2007 with vocalist, Andy Benn, and guitarist, Paul Morhen. They expanded into a five-piece band with the current line-up in 2008 and have become very popular across Kent with their array of covers such as Amy Winehouse, Michael Jackson and Stevie Wonder.

The atmosphere was electric with vocalist, Andy, belting out some old and new favorites with added funk. Get Ape performed as a five piece with the additional three members; Colin Lovatt on full percussion section, Paul Cuffley on drums and Paul’s brother Kevin Morhen on bass and gave into three encores at the end of the evening that ‘brought the house down.’

The band perform at small venues as well as larger ones such as the Margate Big Event and can be hired for weddings and private celebrations.

They also split the band for different gigs into a duet, three or four piece band. “The band is available in different formats to accommodate client budgets and venue space. If a client has a limited budget and requires the band to travel some distance we have to make it financially viable for everyone. Some venues don't have the space for the percussion set-up or could be concerned about noise levels caused by bass and drums,” explains Colin.

The band will be playing at ‘Hole in the Roof’ in Deal on Sunday, 21 March.

Taxi War

TAXI drivers in Canterbury are fighting for customers as more Eastern European taxi drivers have joined the competition. The English drivers are complaining that they should not receive a license in the first place.

While other markets and businesses have had a lower income in the past year because of the recession, taxi drivers say the credit crunch has nothing to do with it. A local taxi driver, Chris Olding, said: “It’s not the recession, it’s the new drivers. There are more and more drivers coming from Eastern Europe.”

It appears people have always had the money to travel using taxis, but their choice of drivers has changed. However, there is no evidence to suggest that people ask for the passport of a driver before getting into a taxi.

Colin Mitchell, another taxi driver, said: “There have been too many new East Europeans coming and immigrating into the country.” Mr Mitchell added: “I blame Robert Johnson and Cab Co for giving them a job. I also blame the council for approving their license.” Robert Johnson is the director of Cab Co, a taxi driver firm.

On the other side of the fence, Mustafa Ustabas, is a local taxi driver originally from Turkey. Mr Ustabas said: “It’s an open market. If you are willing to work and can work legally then nobody has the right to stop you. Robert Johnson is only looking out for himself. I can understand from his point of view why he is bringing more drivers. He makes more money.”

People from the EU have the legal right to work as self-employed with just a work permit, but non- EU countries require a visa. Another taxi driver, of Turkish origin, who has been living in England for 20 years, said: “It is a competitive market, just like in any other domain. If you have the skills, the legal right and the car then it’s up to you to make the money.” Mr Mitchell argued that: “I am also talking about people from Albania, Latvia, Turkey. They are not in the EU and they still have a license.”

Mr Mitchell also complained regarding the decrease in his income. “I used to make 900 pounds per week about two years ago, now I make £600 to £700.”

Mr Sezar said: “They should work more like us. I make between 800 to 1000 pounds per week, but I work about 70 hours.”

It is clear that the war between the different nationalities is only dividing the people in a multi-cultural town like Canterbury. Whether the taxi drivers will reach an agreement or find a solution depends on chance. A customer will probably take the first taxi in a taxi station, without a glance at the driver’s name.

Westgate Hall to be Demolished

WESTGATE Hall will be demolished as part of the council’s final budget for 2010/2011, to which Councilor Alex Perkins has responded: “This council know the price of everything and the value of nothing.”

The hall, which is tucked behind the site of the Marlowe Theatre in Canterbury’s city centre, is intended to become additional parking spaces for the new theatre, with no plans to replace the venue. The venue has been costing the council at least £100,000 per year to subsides it’s running costs.

Westgate Hall currently hosts numerous events, including weekly salsa classes and the closure will mean that the salsa group, Salsa-Asi!, which currently attracts over a hundred people, will essentially close down as Bob Long, 60, its founder and a solicitor, explains: “There is no similar facility within Canterbury and few throughout the whole south of England. We have developed a strong, nationwide reputation and our party nights are a major attraction. Canterbury should be building on this, not destroying it”.

Councilor Alex Perkins is also apposed to the plans and said: “They are saying that there are no other choices but there are always choices. Only 4% of the councils budget was consulted upon, contained within the other 96% are a lot of things that could have been cut, instead of the Westgate Hall.”

Some locals understand the benefits those extra parking spaces will bring. Rachel Lythe, 36, of Wincheap says: “I use the park and ride as parking in the city centre is a nightmare. It also costs a fortune. There can never be too much parking in a city centre, as there never seems to be enough.”

The long term plan is for the area to become a potential site for re-development, including more shops or housing which councillor Perkins claims: “none of which we need. We have plenty of those already.”

Canterbury resident, Steve Wills, 42, said: “I am devastated. They are removing a community facility and a sense of community with it.”

Westgate hall is also a venue for indoor markets, along with the blood service where the hall provides a place where the public can go to donate blood. “People come here for a variety of different reasons, including to get fit and lose weight, something being strongly promoted by the Government and NHS,” the solicitor adds.

Canterbury City Council have stated that the hall is no longer fit for purpose and would need £450,000 spent on it to bring it up to date. The council issued a statement saying: “It is no exaggeration to say this has been the toughest budget ever. The council will take the action required to ensure it remains financially sound during the difficult times ahead.

Charity Targeted by Vandals for Third Time

A CHARITY working with sexual abuse and rape victims fears it has become the target of a serial attacker.

Family Matters, based in Gravesend, has been the victim of vandalism for the third time in six months. First the charity’s double-glazed windows were broken, then their statue had its head removed, and after it was recovered and repaired the entire stone sculpture was stolen.

The three incidents raise fears among charity staff that they are being serially targeted. They even fear the attacker could be an abuser or rapist furious at their support for victims.

Malcolm Gilbert, Family Matters Operations Director, said: ”Although we can’t be sure at this stage, the attack does feel very personal, certainly as the charity’s statue represents the victims for whom we provide a counselling service. After the first incident we thought it was a simple act of vandalism but now we are wondering if we are being targeted. We are the only building in the road to have been vandalised.”

The statue was sculpted by a man who is working with the Crayford Centre, a community programme established to provide a support service for people with mental health problems.

The charity is now considering installing CCTV for security purposes but this will be expensive. Mr Gilbert said: “Should we decide to invest in CCTV it will obviously take away from our resources, which should be for providing a service for the victims of sexual abuse and rape. If it’s just vandalism, it is a particularly callous attack indicating the indifference of people to the plight of our many service users.”

Anyone with any information regarding these crimes, please contact Crime stoppers on 0800 555 111.

Anyone who is a victim of sexual abuse or rape and would like support, please contact Family Matters Helpline on 01474 537392.

Full Throttle gets on two wheels

A YOUTH-WORK project is helping young people move away from illegal motor-biking and towards getting road legal, discovers Sarah Carré.

Having worked with youths for 20 years, Daniel Harris, who lives in Canterbury, wanted to combine his youth work with his interest in motorbikes. He created Full Throttle in 2004. The aim of the scheme is to promote safe and responsible motor-biking to Kent’s young people, to teach them discipline and demonstrate how illegal motor-biking can affect their community and future generations of young riders.

Daniel runs one weekly project a month. He said: “Many adults and people in authority see young riders as a danger on the road and a nuisance in the community. Full Throttle’s aim is to help give young riders the best training and encourage them to stick to two wheels in the long term. We also aim to teach them about responsible citizenship.”

The 42-year-old added: “We have four adults and four young people working with Full Throttle. It helps to have young people onboard as there is a level of peer education.”

There is also a ‘Safari’ project, a 24-hour endurance ride including overnight camping and survival training, which is based on the TV program Long Way Round. Daniel said: “Ours is a bit like the short way round. The bikes are provided by Full Throttle and have helped put over 200 people through motorbike training in the last two years."

Daniel is currently running a young women’s project at the King Ethelbert School in Thanet, in a bid to get more young ladies involved. He said: “We also run Kent Youth Bikers, which is a club where our young riders can gain better skills to help them through their full test. It also provides a long-term relationship with them.”

If you would like further information about Full Throttle’s youth projects, please visit www.kyb.org.uk

Let it snow!

ENGLAND is in the middle of its longest cold snap for almost 30 years and Christ Church is just one of hundreds of different university’s that have been heavily hit by the latest downpour of snow as students face a torrid journey back to the city. And to add insult to injury, when the snow was at its worse, the Kent County Council (KCC), admitted it may run out of salt if the icy weather continues to affect the county’s roads.

The snow over the last month has affected plenty of schools in the area as the icy conditions proved too much as the school’s Christmas break has been unforeseeably extended. Over 20 schools (primary and secondary) in the district had to close due to the treacherous road conditions. The snowy conditions have also caused mayhem for those travelling by public transport. Many of the bus routes in the area have been forced to abandon their posts and lengthy delays have been causing havoc on the train lines, as the roads and lines have fallen short of health and safety procedures.

The snow caused so much chaos in Kent that at one point the police were urging motorists to drive only in emergencies as Kent was preparing for even more heavy snowfall. At one point Chief Inspector Andy Reeves, head of Kent Police's roads policing unit, had to urge drivers to avoid the roads unless the trip is absolutely vital and to take supplies if they do have to travel.

The situation got worse as the KCC admitted that salt, used to help reduce ice on the roads, was in low supply as much of the county’s stock was moved by the Government to other areas of the country that are in more need of it.

This has caused many problems for both students and teachers alike on their return to the city with many lectures being called off and, much to the students delight, deadlines being extended. With many of the train lines in Kent still out of use, the university are notifying students that if they can’t make it in because of the snow, don’t risk it.

Jamie Power, a Christ Church first year, spent his Christmas in Dubai. On his return to the UK he faced a lengthy delay and said: “I was queuing in the departure lounge for over four hours, which was one of the shorter delays. One of my friends was waiting for two days for a flight back to Manchester."

It isn’t only students coming from abroad that struggled to get back to Canterbury. Jo Bartson-Umuliisa, a Christ Church second year, was on the wrong end of what can only be described as a disastrous commute. Jo spent her Christmas at home with her family in Richmond and when returning to Canterbury for her new term at university, a journey that would normally take around an hour and a half, took almost 8 hours. Miss Bartson-Umuliisa was, understandably, disgusted with the way she was treated on her journey and believes that those in charge of the trains didn’t have a clue what was going on. She said: “I got to Charing Cross like normal, but with all the delays and cancelations it didn’t say when my train was.

"I waited for an hour before going to information, who told me to go to London Victoria station. When I got there, again, there was no trains running.

"I finally got a train to Dover and then had to wait another hour and a half before getting a train to Faversham where I finally got a cab to Canterbury.”

Hopefully, Canterbury has now seen the worst of the snow and students can look forward to more time in classes instead of in bed. But if we are to see more snow in the coming weeks, let’s all hope that those powers that be are more in control than they have been of late.

Canterbury Council want cuts in crime

CRIME in Canterbury is once again under scrutiny after the amount of burglaries has risen significantly in the latest month.

After break-ins, assaults and even a death was reported in December, it was thought that a New Year resolution would be set by Canterbury City Council to cut down on the crime on our streets.

But, one month on, it appears that anti-social behaviour and burglaries are on the increase again. Five students from Canterbury Christ Church University were at the forefront of this, after their house was broken into during the Christmas break.

Amie Parker-Williams, a resident of the house, explains: "we were all very shocked when we heard the news, luckily we were all at our homes over the Christmas period, but it doesn’t change the fact that it was very scary for us, especially as there are just five girls that live there."

Canterbury police are working hard in order to stop crimes like this being committed, as Miss Parker-Williams continues: "the police were fantastic, they stayed in our house until everything was sorted and were at our house in minutes after the crime had been committed."

John Gauld, owner of a local student lettings company, owns the house that got broken into. He said: "we are trying to do everything we can to accommodate the girls, it is easy to see how something like this would scare them and we have offered them a new house."

However, some residents of Canterbury are not in the position to move after they get broken into. Barbara Pates, 82, was one of these residents and said: "I had to get on with living in the area after I was broken into. It was hard at first and even now I do not feel safe living in the area. The police have done what they can, but I would like to be given more security.’

Canterbury City Council have a team of police officers working to make Canterbury safe and believe that by the end of the year, they will have locked down on criminals, and made sure that people in Canterbury feel safer with their area.