Two brothers who've bought a holiday park on Sheppey, say they want to give back to the community.
Bernard and John Saunders purchased Eden Leisure Park for £3 million and are now in the process of spending £400,000 on the site.
The pair aim to create jobs and a 'higher standard' tourist destination and have been speaking to reporter Megan Carr.
Also on today's podcast, the family of a Chatham mum who collapsed at work say her colleagues' quick actions saved her life.
Amie Hodgson started complaining of a headache shortly after arriving at Brachers law firm - and was put in the recovery position after falling to the floor. Her brother-in-law has been explaining how friends are raising money to support the family after it was found she'd suffered a brain haemorrhage.
There are calls for drainage in parts of Halling to be improved after a road was left flooded.
Drivers using Pilgrims Road say their cars are being swamped by water that doesn't clear even when it stops raining. Andy Tebbutt lives there and has been speaking to reporter Joe Crossley.
Businesses in Rainham say trade has been boosted since B&M arrived in the town.
The discount brand has taken over the site in the precinct left vacant when Wilko closed and nearby traders believe it's already had a positive impact with more shoppers in the area.
In sport, Gillingham are still outside of the league two play-off places following a draw at the weekend.
It finished 1-1 against Grimsby Town with George Lapslie getting the equaliser at Priestfield.
And, a disability campaigner’s unveiled a new powerboat in Dover, which he’ll use to try and sail round the entire coast of the UK.
Geoff Holt was left paralysed after an accident when he was 18, and is now raising money to improve disabled people’s access to the sea.
We're going to take a look at what you're going to do. Kent online news news you can trust. This is the Kent online podcast. Nicola Everett. Hello. Hope you're OK. Thanks ever so much for downloading today's podcast on Monday, March the 18th coming up. How businesses in a part of random have been boosted by the arrival of a new store plus here from the Jillingham head coach after their draw at the weekend. But the city of the city of the city of the city of the city of the city of the city of the park on Sheppy say they want to give back to the community. Bernard and John Saunders purchased Eden leisure park for £3 million. And now in the process of spending £400,000 on the site. The holiday park is based on Warden Road in East Church and the pair aimed to create jobs and a higher standard tourist destination. They both grew up in Rainham and spend a lot of time in nearby sitting up in the park. We haven't come in here and put our site fees up and up and up like other operators do in the industry. We've come in here with the view of moving forward making sure our residents are happy on park. They're in a good place and we want to invest in the local community such as local businesses and stuff like that. We want to give back. It's not about us coming in here putting our site fees up being greedy we want to give back to the local businesses. We want to sponsor some of them such as the local rugby club and stuff like that. We want to build a relationship with Swellborough Council and give them back to the locals within the area. Another thing that you mentioned earlier to me was this side of Sheppy is a bit more run down and obviously you've got the 11 up funding she and S but it's a bit like East Church and lays down a sort of change that you want to bring tourism back to the area. Well listen we want to build the local community up. We want to invest in the roads the potholes and stuff like that. We want to basically give back to local businesses. We want to help local businesses. As me but I said earlier we want to have a chat to Swellborough Council. We want to have a chat to the local mayor and we want those to come forward and help us provide for the countries that invest in the area. Well basically what we want to do we want to make sure that our residents mind our alleys they know it's a family run park they know that they can come here holiday get away from the 9 to 5 job and come here spend a couple of months here go back to the house and have a beautiful holiday. Our plan is moving forward we have spent on this part purchasing it over £3 million but our plan is moving forward our residents are happy other parks on the Eilish Epe would have gone into administration we want to purchase because we've got the ready funds available and we want to put other residents on other parks mind of these know that they're dealing with a family run operator and basically their mind of these they know that they haven't got a hand up their holiday home because the park got into administration and stuff like that. Now John says the core of the problem seems to be I mean as you say it's getting a lot of stick it's not getting the attention it deserves now we don't intend on wrapping our arms around the full island and bringing it up to where it needs to be what we are planning on doing is giving it as much of a lift as we can as possible and offering jobs out, sponsoring charities etc. etc. I mean of course the more we expand our business the more jobs we'll be able to offer we've been bought up around the Chevy town I mean we were raised just over at Sitting Ball the opportunity arisen of course and with the with this stigma that's in the island at the moment with a lot of parks going into administration as such we thought what better opportunities than to grab hold of it and try and give it the lift that it needs I mean like it says a lot of parks going into administration so of course our intention is to try and take that bad stigma away from holiday makers at the moment and give people a peace of mind that they deserve and you can see pictures of the pair and of the site by heading to the story on Kent Online. Kent Online News are the top stories for you today and a man's been arrested after an unknown substance was thrown over police in Maidstone the officers were responding to reports of someone damaging property at a block of flats in Knight Rider Street on Sunday the victims were treated at the scene by hazardous response paramedics and the suspect was taken into custody Kent Online reporter Sean McPolin I mean Knight Rider Street in Maidstone where things seem to be a lot calmer than they were last night after the road was shut in both directions at around 5.30 pm police were called to reports and man was damaging the Lily Smith house block of flats in the road and that's when allegedly four police officers had an unknown substance thrown at them and one man has been arrested and is still in custody at the minute there's only one police officer in the corner of the house a Gillingham woman who carried on claiming benefits despite inheriting 400,000 pounds has avoided being sent to prison and promotional received more than 10,000 in universal credit and housing benefit she wasn't entitled to. A 47 year old from Jay's road has been given a community order and told to do 120 hours of unpaid work. A man who stole hundreds of coins from an arcade game at a holiday park in Kent in front of the house. A mom of three had suffered a brain hemorrhage. Robert Varson revealed he targeted the machine at the new beach site in dim church because he knew the locks would be easy to break. The 41 year old from Woolworth in London has been placed on a six month curfew. Now the family of a chat and mum who collapsed at work say her colleagues quick actions probably saved her life. Amy Hodgson started complaining of a headache shortly after arriving in the hospital and she is in the hospital and now she is now in hospital. Brethren Lord John Hodgson says friends have also been raising funds for the family. Danny is a plumber by trade and obviously now with him being able to, well not being able to go to work. It's a case of him sort of going back and forth between the hospital and the kids. So that money that we've got and we've been able to generate so far for the donations that we've been able to do specifically during this climate at the moment as well. We'll be able to go to mainly keeping the roof above their heads. You know help out with all the bills and also I would probably like to say and I think we're also having many fingers crossed here where any sort of adjustments that the house may or may not need we're going to obviously try and use that money for that as well. You know with the the bleed to the brain it can be effective both physically as well as mentally. So we're going to hope and pray that that's not the case but of course any of those donations anything that we would need to help aid the rehabilitation of Amy is probably key. I think for the kids in particular they're obviously missing her like crazy. Amy and Dani well the whole family themselves are such a close knit group they're with each other 24/7. So the youngest Albert who's six he's just trying to find it sorry he's finding it hard at the moment to grasp the time. You know he keeps on asking when when when and and also all of the machinery when he was there wanting to know what and why and why so there. So he's finding it hard he was definitely Amy's little mini me so he's missing his best friend at the minute terribly. Dani is being your you know you took sort of typical 13 year old boy where he's closing himself off maybe burying his head in the sand a little bit but at the same time he knows it's there. He's just finding it very hard to and sort of comprehend you know what has happened to their family. And Layla Blessa again Amy's her best friend and so she's sort of taking on the mum role and doing brilliantly at the same time and she's really trying to hide his to sort of help out the family and yeah becoming an adult probably a little bit too early. So yeah the family at the moment is upside down and he's just trying to get everyone all together to try and help out as much as possible for the family not just them but also the people around us as well. I can't thank everyone enough. Kent online reports. Developers have been given the green light to build nearly 400 homes in Ashford. They'll be built on the Eureka business parking and they'll be able to take a look at some of the sustainable housing. Main time developers are hoping to increase the number of homes planned for land in herm bay saying it'll help the local authority hit housing targets. 160 properties were already due to be built off Bullock Stone Road and there are calls for that to be up to 176 builders say it won't reduce the amount of green space as they've redesigned the road is designed to remove the need for traffic on the A28 and A21 to cross the level crossing at Surrey. Construction is due to wrap up in 2026. Now there are calls for drainage in parts of hauling to be improved after a road was left flooded. Drivers using pilgrims roads say their cars have been swamped by water that doesn't clear even when it stops raining. This is a year and I can't turn right out of my road out of my drive to use this half a road because it's too flooded. It's unacceptable as a road for the state of it to get like this. There's no maintenance whatsoever. I've contacted a council and been informed by them and they can't afford to fix it so it's not going to be fixed. It's been like this now for two to four years and every time it rains it gets worse and worse. We could have a dry period for probably up to two weeks and it would still be flooded. I'm guessing what you'd like to happen is for the road to be repaved or is it drainage that needs to happen? I think it's drainage and a road needs to raise him. The water where I know you said it's rainwater. Where's it all come from? Off for the farm over there. But when we first moved into the city we were talking about a lot of other things. It was just a bit of footage if you head to Kent online and subway council have declined to comment. Meantime people living in a village near Dover say temporary fixes to the roads aren't working and potholes are still damaging cars. Earlier this year you might have heard on an episode that residents in West Hoffman were demanding action after counting on this year. We'll be getting £4 million to try and bring the venue back into use. The building has been empty since August 2022 after the company running it suffered financial losses and handed the lease back to the council. The new funding was originally destined for Dreamland but they turned it down. The owner of a small local business in Diehl says he's worried it won't survive following a break in around £15,000 worth of money. The shop is still open for now but may have to close temporarily to fix the damage. A vet in Hermbay has come under fire over its decision to go cashless. Bosses at Broadway say they're just moving but the times and taking cash payments was costing them more in the long run. Clients have said they'll find somewhere else to take their pets and say no cash no custom. I'd like to know what you think. This is something that has caused people to have a lot of money for the company. The company has been in the long run. Elsewhere businesses in Rainham say trade has been significantly boosted since B&M arrived in the town. The discount brand has taken over the site in the precinct left vacant when Wilco closed. Nearby traders say it's already had a positive impact with more shoppers in the area. A reporter Ellie Hodgson has been down to the precinct. She first spoke to customers as so lovely. It's been great. Were you here on opening day? I was, yes. I thought it was manic. It's been manic since we opened from eight o'clock in the morning. It's been chaos. And what do you think it's been like for the shopping center? It's brilliant. Yeah. The car parks are full. Nice. So good. Yeah. It's brilliant. I'm loving it. Yeah. Yeah. Everyone is great. I'm very pleased that there's a shop here again. And I'm very impressed when Wilkinsons closed. And I'm very impressed with B&M. I only went in to have a browse. Thirty-four pound later. I've come out with some impulse buys and some bargains. And do you think it's good for the community to have a store like this here? Absolutely. Yes. Encourages more people to come to the precinct. Good for business all around. And will you be going to any of the other shops today? Yes, I am. I'm going to have a bit of shopping. I've already been in the cake shop. Get there early. So yes, I'll be going into a few other shops. Last question. Have the parking bin okay? Since B&M has been busier in that space. It's been a little bit busier, but there's still plenty of places to park. And plans have been put in to converse a former pub in Gravesend into a community center and house of multiple occupancy. The peacock closed on New Year's Day and now a charity wants to change its use. Elhak Academy provides a food bank, counseling, press sessions and a youth club that say their current base is no longer big enough. The ball and Gillingham are still outside of the league two playoff places following a draw at the weekend. It finished one all against Grimsby town with George Lapsley getting the equalizer at Priestfield. Head coach Stephen Clemens was disappointed his team didn't take home all three points. It's been a lot of fun to do. I think we're going to get our chances. We're going to make sure we put them in the net and we're going to be successful this year. That's what we'll have to do between now and the end of the season. If we don't put the ball in the back of the net, I think we'll always be in the games, but we won't finish where we want to finish because for that reason. I mean the boys stand up to most things that come their way. We're going to be able to get them in the other way. Let me reiterate, that's not just the players at the top in the pitch. Chance has fallen to different people over the last number of games. We haven't taken another look. There are seven games of the season to go. The Jules are ninth in the table, one point off the top seven. And finally today a disability campaigner has unveiled a new power boat in Dover, which we'll use to try and make sure that he was 18 and is now raising money to improve disabled people's access to the sea. The boat has been specially adapted, but he says the 1500 mile journey will be tough. He's been speaking to Bartholomew Hall for my colleagues at KMTV. My love for the sea started when I was a young lad. I was very fortunate to go to the water on the water with my parents. And it was my career before I had next and 40 years ago that put me in a wheelchair. And the more you do it, the more you see other people doing it, you're right. It's not for everyone. But the vast majority of people we take out, the one thing that does happen is they forget about their disability. And they start to just have fun and enjoy the environment. You know, it is a different environment out here, different sights, smells, sounds. And for some people, that is really quite empowering and inspiring. And we can actually change in people. You know, they become a lot more relaxed and we talk about people's health and well-being. And I'm absolutely committed to getting more to disabled people on the water. What is the biggest challenge for you? Is it three or four months? It will take you? It's going to take six weeks. But he says, I don't know what the weather is going to do. It's the physicality. Without doubts, there's a huge amount that you often say 80% is far enough. It's been a challenge. We still don't have all our sponsors yet. We still have to find some more sponsorship to get it funded properly. So 80% of it is getting to the start line. A huge amount of work is going into the boat and planning. But once the trip starts, there's two of the real things. Really it's the physicality. I'm older than I was. All those years ago. I'll be 60 in a couple of years. And my body is not quite as a lot of movement. Planning, navigation is an issue. Getting it right. Avoiding dangers and hazards. Whilst all the time remembering to enjoy it. That's the thing. I'm remembering why we're doing it and remembering to enjoy it. And to take in, like I say, the sights and sounds. And it's going to be a great journey. Jeff is due to set off in May. We told the journey should take him up to six weeks. Well, that's all for today. Thanks ever so much for listening. Don't forget you can follow us on Facebook X Instagram TikTok and threads. Plus you can get details on the top stories direct to your email each morning via the briefing to sign up to that. Just head to kentonline.co.uk Is the Kent Online Podcast? [MUSIC PLAYING]
