A major rescue mission has been launched in the English Channel as 84 people - including a six-month-old baby and two other children - ended up in the water.
British and French vessels took part in the operation halfway between Calais and Dover.
Also in today’s podcast, you can hear from a Whitstable veteran as we mark the 80th anniversary of D-Day.
The military operation was a decisive turning point in the Second World War which saw thousands of Allied troops launch the invasion of Normandy.
We’re being warned ongoing road works will cause chaos for motorists and bus routes when the Kingsferry Bridge shuts this weekend.
Urgent repairs are being made to the bridge but the disruption will be made worse by the ongoing works at the Grovehurst roundabout junction.
It’s been revealed a debt-ridden university, branded “a hellish nightmare” to work for, is set to make further redundancies.
University of Kent bosses last week warned employees it was launching a voluntary severance scheme.
And a disused golf course in Kent could become home to a new community sports hub and 100 homes.
If approved, the project would see would see Larkfield and New Hythe FC relocate to a new purpose-built community facility.
This is the Kent Online Podcast. Kate Faulkner. Hello. Hope you're okay. Thank you for downloading today's podcast on Thursday, June 6th. Coming up today, we'll hear from a wits double veteran as we mark the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings. And there's warning for disruption around Sitting Born and Sheppy this weekend, with the Kingsbury Bridge set to close. But first, taking a look at our top story today, a major rescue operation has taken place in the channel this morning to rescue more than 80 people from the water. Lucy has the details for the Kent Online Podcast. Lucy, as we're recording today, the details are still coming in. But what do we know so far? Well, as many as nine specialist ambulance vehicles were spotted heading towards the coast in Dover at around eight this morning, as short time later, we had words that a major rescue operation was underway in the channel, as 84 people had ended up in the water. According to reports, the small boat had crossed to the midway point when its engine failed. It tried to turn back, but then flipped, throwing all of those on board into the sea. British and French authorities have taken part in the operation to bring them to safety. Border force vessels, a coast guard helicopter and lifeboats from Dover and warmer, were also dispatched. And what details do we have about those who were on board? We know a six month old baby was one of the passengers, and there were two other children on board. Thankfully, there have been no reports of fatalities. It's also believed there are around 250 people currently in boats on the French side of the channel, waiting to make an attempt at the crossing later today. More than 330 people have already made the journey so far this week. Thanks, Lucy. Head to Kent Online for all the latest updates and developments on this story. Kent Online News. Wild leaders have gathered in Normandy to remember the Allied troops who fought on the beaches exactly 80 years ago today. D-Day was the biggest ever seaborn invasion and was key to ending World War II. Allied forces had tricked the German army into thinking they would cross from Dover to Calais. On the 80th anniversary, a wistable veteran has revealed how the operation remained a secret until the very last moment, John Roberts, who's now 100, was on board a navy destroyer. We all knew there was going to be a deed to have some sort. The war couldn't end without us invading Europe and defeating the Nazis. But we didn't know where or where. But we did some practice bombarding with an army officer spotting for us. And then at the beginning of June, we went down to Portsmouth and there were 40 destroyers down there. I'd never seen more than about 10 at once to see 40 all in one place. It was amazing. And it was also amazing that there were 40 destroyers, but there were probably 500 ships all together. And we were not attacked in any way. The security had been wonderful, both as security anyway, and also because we'd misled the Germans into thinking we might be going to invade up here, Dover to Calais, or we might invade the other side of the Thames. We kept Hitler guessing as to where we would land. None of us, not even the captain knew where the invasion was going to be. I mean, we all knew when we'd known for ages that there was going to be an invasion of France. But we didn't know until I think it was the morning of the 5th when the captain was told he could open the envelope with all the instructions for our ship. And we actually got underway about six hours later. And our job was to lead. We actually led the Armada, because during the years before, as well as building what they call the Atlantic Wall, which was from Norway down to Spain, the Germans had sown 50,000 mines in the channel. And it was virtually impossible to go across without minesweepers going first. Minesweepers don't have much of a gun. The Germans had destroyers in Lahav and in Sherborg. And to protect them, if they did come out, we led the way behind the minesweepers, so that we could protect them if the Germans came out. And I said in the account that I wrote afterwards, crossing the channel, there were, I think, about 25 minesweepers ahead of us. And they go quite slowly, about 10 knots, and that was very slow for us. We were just following them, and it was quiet, and you could hear the sea lapping against the ship's side, and every now and again you had a plop in the water, and it was a minesweeper putting a boy in the sea for the ships behind, you know, for them to follow. And we got to about six or seven miles from the French coast by five o'clock in the morning. And suddenly there was a loud bang, and it was a destroyer that was next to us, about a thousand yards on our port side. It had been torpedoed by a German fast patrol boat, which hadn't come out for us. They used to come out every night anyway, in case there was something there. And to their surprise, they saw all these ships, so they fired off their torpedoes, and one of them hit the destroyer next to us, which I always thought was rather sad. It was manned by Norwegians, Norwegians who escaped from Norway during the war. With that being sunk, it sank in about three minutes, broken off. That woke us up, and it wasn't a quiet picnic that we were going on. It was serious. Tonight, beacons will be lit across Kent Mark the anniversary. You can hear John's full story in a special D-Day edition of the Kent Online podcast. That's available now. Kent Online News. A hunt is underway for a man following a road rage attack on the A249. A woman was driving near Stockbury on Monday evening when another vehicle stopped in front of her. The driver got out and assaulted her before leaving the scene. The offender's vehicle is believed to be a Ford EcoSport. Anyone nearby at the time is being urged to check dash cam footage. Head to Kent Online to see footage that's emerged of a Banksy-inspired artist spray-painting post-boxes in Dartford. Danny Wisken pleaded guilty to criminal damage after boxes were vandalized earlier this year. Some had Cadbury, Creme Egg or Mr. Blobby designs. The 33-year-old, who lives in Chaucer Way in the town, has been placed on 18-month community order. He'll carry out 100 hours of unpaid work and pay more than 2,700 pounds. Investigations are underway after reports of an attempted robbery in Ashford. A witness told police a boy was assaulted while walking between May slain and Heathfield rode on Monday evening by three teenagers who tried to take his bag. Officers searched the area, but a victim couldn't be found and they're yet to come forward. It's still unclear how a blaze started at a tire shop near Canterbury. Two people were treated for the effects of breathing in smoke following the fire on the A-28 in Surrey yesterday afternoon. The road was closed for more than an hour, causing heavy traffic in the area. Kent Online News The family of a teenager who was beaten so badly in Canterbury that he was left with life-changing injuries say they're still haunted by the attack. German tourist Daniel Ezzadine and his friends were targeted by a gang in the city centre five years ago, the 17-year-old suffered brain damage in the racially motivated assault. Ten people were eventually charged with some spending time in young offenders institutions. Daniel's family say they've never shown any remorse. It's fair there could be further job losses. At the University of Kent, bosses have told staff there will be a new voluntary redundancy scheme as they try to save money. Back in January, the Uni announced plans to cut 58 jobs and six courses at its campuses in Canterbury and Midway. There's a warning of disruption around sitting born in Sheppy this weekend as the Kingsbury Bridge is going to be closed. Works being carried out to replace 40 steel ropes that are used to raise and lower the structure for passing boats, trains won't be running on Saturday or Sunday and all road traffic will have to use the A249 Sheppy Crossing. Our reporter Megan has been chatting to Roland Eglinton, who's managing director at Bass Operator Chalkwell Coachire. The difficulty is going to be serving eye weight properly. Buses can't get from eye weight to the island and back because both of the access roads will be closed. The Kingsbury Bridge and the northbound slip road at the Grow First Junction. So that gives us an enormous challenge in terms of serving that area with the bus service. We're quite aware of the sensitivities around school transport. So we are going to be running the school buses early around eye weight. The main issue is the all day bus service to 334. It goes backwards and forwards from the island, getting in and out of eye weight and across to the island with both access points going to be closed off. So that gives us a really big challenge. And was Chalkwell told about this were they given time to plan how what the communication has been up with the people doing the road work. The communication has been reasonable. So we're dealing with two key stakeholders here, which are the long term occupants of the Grow First Road Junction, which are KCC highways and a network rail who are responsible for the bridge scheme. Now, they've both been fairly open and helpful in terms of describing why their schemes have to happen at the same time and overlap. It's the network rail one, the timing of it that is really caused a significant problem. As we're understanding these cables have to be changed every 30 years and why they can't be done before or after the closures at Grow First. I'm told is due to safety concerns, which I'm not in a position to dispute at the moment they are still not forthcoming in terms of helping us solve the problems around our highway. And what would you say to your customers and people using your services? Our customers are really understanding in terms of the general congestion and road works which can pop up all over the place. This is going to be a big one. And we're really not sure what the effects are going to be. As well as the disruption that I've already described, the effect on the rest of the bus network, because you can end up with delays and buses in the wrong place at the wrong time. So we will do our best to communicate with people, let them know in advance what's going on across our social media channels and also on our website where we've got big updates to give to people. Bob Colson is from Network Rail, he's been telling me why the Kingsbury bridge closure is necessary. I appreciate there will never be an ideal time to do this, but ultimately the bridge itself which was built in the 1950s is held up by 40 steel ropes which raise and lower the bridge for the passage of ships. They are on average last about 30 years, so they were last reviewed in 1995. We carry out condition checks on them every year. Once recently we used a system called magnetic resonant testing which has identified some weak misses in a number of the ropes there which means that actually we've got to intervene and replace those ropes. Actually doing it in summertime is probably less disruptive because the risk of high winds are often lead to the closure of the Sheppy crossing, it's only alternative bridge. Ultimately we need to do these work so it's quite essential role is to maintain the safety of the railway infrastructure and to do that we need to renew the ropes on the bridge and it's unfortunate that it clashes with the ongoing long-term roadworks in the area. Is there any threat to safety at the moment from the condition of these ropes? No, none at all. So they routinely tested but actually what we don't want to do is get to a point where we have a sudden failure which could mean that the bridge can't be raised for shipping or that we can't run trains or that we can't allow road traffic so the idea is to intervene before we get to a situation where we could have a sudden unplanned closure which could take days or even weeks to rectify. I think it's also important to remember that this is the first of four closures and some of them will be for days during the week when people are trying to get to work in school. What would you be advised for for those passengers? So please, please allow extra time for your journey planning advance and check before you travel. It would be the three key areas of advice. Have we got any, I mean I know it's probably a bit difficult to try and answer but any idea of the sort of delays passengers might be facing are we saying that people should now allow extra half an hour or an extra 60 minutes on their journey? I think overall probably between 30 and 60 minutes additional journey time is likely to be the realistic impact. You can find the full details of the time and dates the bridge will be closed at Kent Online. In some election news Kent Greens are launching their campaign in Maidstone today. The party is focusing nationally on water pollution and will be testing quality levels in the river Medway. There'll be a green candidate in every Kent constituency they're hoping to push the next government to take bolder action to safeguard our future. This has been one of our most read stories online today. A disused golf course in Scotland could be turned into a new sports hub. Developers want to make host park golf course off Castle Way into the new home of Larkfield a new Hive FC 100 extra homes are also part of the plans. A formal application is yet to be submitted to Council. Angry residents have gathered in ton bridge to protest against Sunday parking charges. Local bosses plan to introduce the fees as a way to raise much needed revenue, but locals fear it will stop people visiting the town. More than 3,000 people have now signed a petition against the move Council members will meet with opposition groups later this month. A month from Tentaton who was diagnosed with young on set Parkinson's disease has raised more than £28,000 for a treatment centre. 46 year old Sarah Fro works as a fitness instructor at the University of Kent and took on a six day ultra marathon from Winchester to Canterbury. I spoke to Sarah before she took on the challenge. We spoke about her diagnosis and the importance of exercise. I noticed back in 2018 that I had a slight tremor on my left hand. I was going to quite a stressful time. My dad was very ill in hospital in intensive care. And at first I just put it down to very dodgy hospital coffee. But then I realised there was a bit more than that. My hand started to go in a claw-like position and over time other things started to happen. My leg would drag as I was walking and my arm had stopped swinging and my husband noticed that. So I went off to see a neurologist who substrate away I think it's Parkinson's disease. Quite quickly I was fast-tracked for a DAT scan which is a brain scan and yes it confirmed that I had the disease. You were 44 is that right when you received the diagnosis? Is that quite young for somebody to receive a Parkinson's diagnosis? It is but it's becoming more common. It is the fastest growing neurological disease sadly. I think the youngest person ever to be diagnosed was eight years so that's really really young. But there are people in their 20s, 30s and 40s that are being diagnosed more and more. Now I am saying that you work as a fitness instructor at the University of Kent. Isn't that right? I do yes I work at the Parkinson's Centre for Integrated Therapies. I am the fitness instructor and the exercise need there. I work two days a week there and I train people with the disease and it's a wonderful centre that provides lots of different therapies for the members and yeah I love working there. I love all my members who have become great friends and it's a wonderful place to work. And how has working there helped you with your own diagnosis? I think I've learnt a lot. I think it's really nice to be surrounded with people going through the same thing as you. You can share your worries or woes and stresses and what have you and you can also have a good laugh about it because not many people that really understand it unless they're actually living it. So yeah it's become a bit of a sort of social hub. I've got a group that will come and exercise and then have a coffee and a biscuit and then we have an art group and then I go off and do a run club and then back for a seated exercise class. So it's wonderful. There's lots of things going on and it just needs to keep going really and we need vital funds to keep these sort of therapies going and yeah I really feel like it's a privilege to work there. And what can you tell me about the run that you're going on? Okay so next week I am running the length of the Pilgrim's Way which is from Winchester to Canterbury. I'm doing it in six days. It's the equivalent of running a marathon a day. Sounds crazy but actually I can't wait I'm really excited about it. The training through the winter has been really tough with all the rain and wind and what have you. And finally the sun has come out and hopefully it will stay that way and yeah looking forward to hitting the trails and getting out there so yeah that's what I'm doing next week. Just to make people aware that actually this disease isn't just an old person's disease that there are young people out there and if there is anyone out there that is young and it's just been newly diagnosed then if you want to reach out to me I'm happy to talk to you because when you get your diagnosis it's devastating and you feel very very sad and upset and cross and if anyone is feeling like that I'm happy to talk to you. She finished the 140 mile run at the University's Canterbury campus where the Parkinson's Therapy Centre is based. And pet lovers in Kent can now take their furry friends to a doggy afternoon tea at a venue near Graves End. The year on the lake in Sean launched the idea after noticing people bringing their pets out to lunch and passing food under the table. The full doggy afternoon tea includes an apple and bacon cupcake with potato frosting, pork, lamb and vegetable meatloaf, a peanut butter and banana biscuit, ice cream and a dairy-free puppuccino you can see pictures of the whole experience at Kent Online. That's all from us today. Thanks ever so much for listening. Don't forget you can follow us on Facebook, X, Instagram, TikTok and threads. You can also get the details on the top stories direct to your email each morning via the briefing. To sign up just head to kentonline.co.uk. News you can trust. This is the Kent Online Podcast. (dramatic music) [BLANK_AUDIO]
