A dad has told of his heartbreak following the death of his kind, loving and talented daughter - aged just 16.
Sasha Ghosh, from Smeeth, near Ashford, had been competing internationally in gymnastics before being diagnosed with a very rare form of cancer two years ago.
Also in today’s podcast, you can hear from election experts on which was the county is expected to vote in next week’s general election.
According to Electoral Calculus, constituencies on the south coast are the ones to watch.
Picnic goers were left in shock after witnessing a “lost” lorry reverse into a fence after managing to get stuck in a park next to a children’s play area.
The shocking incident, which was captured on camera, showed the large HGV attempting to navigate diversions put in place after a landslip more than a year ago.
We’re expecting disruption in the county as a 64-year-old bridge will be shut for more than a week, starting from today.
Kingsferry Bridge, which connects the Isle of Sheppey with the mainland, will close so 40 steel ropes that lift the bridge can be replaced.
And we’re being warned of the dangers of buys a pet online after a Gravesend woman has been left in fear of a rabbit she bought on Gumtree.
She’s decided to surrender the bunny after he became aggressive and started biting.
New news you can trust. This is the Kent online podcast. Kate Faulkner. Hello. Hope you're okay and ready for the weekend. Thanks ever so much for downloading today's podcast on Friday the 28th of June. Coming up today we'll hear from polling experts on which Kent constituencies are the ones to watch in next week's election and we'll hear from wildlife campaigners as the land e-marked for a new theme park is put on the market. But first taking a look at our top story today. The dad of a talented gymnast from Ashford who's died from a rare form of cancer is said much more awareness is needed. Sasha Gosh was diagnosed with a desma plastic small round cell tumor two years ago and passed away aged just 16. There are only a handful of cases every year mostly affecting young people. I spoke to her dad Aaron who's now raising awareness in her memory. She sort of displayed symptoms but when I say symptoms they want obvious symptoms of any cancer. I mean they sort of came out in the shape of she had a lot of backache at some point and she couldn't get comfortable you know trying to get to sleep. She had to sort of sleep in a frog position that that is the only way she could get comfortable. And we just put it down to well you know the stresses and strains of her training as a gymnast. She trained six days a week pretty much. She had physiotherapy for it. She had to puncture for it and it's sort of you know there's nothing more than that really. And then she had some tummy problems which again you know upset tummies with a tummy ache. We took her to the GBC but I can't really see anything. If it happens again come back and we do some more tests. And this was towards the end of 2021. And I think by late February, March that's when the disease started to actually manifest itself quite significantly and she became very jaundiced you know tummy problems, vomiting and all the rest of it. And that's when we had the tests done and the result was shed we rushed into hospital. When I was reading the form of cancer that she was eventually diagnosed with it's quite rare. Is that right? I think only one in she was one of 12 cases that was diagnosed. Is that right? Yeah it's extremely rare. I think the disease was given a name in the late 80s. I think 1989. And I think the number of cases since then in the 40 years since then is in the couple of hundreds I think worldwide. And given in the you. Sorry. I was just gonna say given just how rare it is and just how recently they've as you say named it. What sort of what do they know about it? What sort of treatment options were you given? Is there much research on it at the moment? The treatments options are pretty much a standard protocol of chemotherapy. That's all there is. You know there is some research going on but it's mostly in the in the US. And again they are very limited in what they're doing because again you know it's it's purely down to funding. And I know there's some research being done at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Hospital in New York where we were hoping to take Sasha for a clinical trial in January of 2023. And we were in the process of you know getting all that sorted and the pharmaceutical company who were providing the drug which has been trialed pulled the drug from the trial. So we never got got her there unfortunately. But again drugs take decades to kind of research and put them into active treatment and there isn't anything on that scope as far as I'm aware. And I suppose that's why I mean Sasha even spoke about it about campaigning and raising awareness and now you're carrying on that that campaign in her memory. Can you tell me a little bit about what what you're pushing for what you what you'd like to see the government act on? What we would like to see I think and is I don't these are these are diseases these rare diseases are what's called orphan diseases. And that means there are so few cases that they just isn't the incentive for big researchers from sort of companies to invest in looking at these diseases because the returns will be next to nothing you know by the time they invest millions and millions hundreds of millions of pounds for dollars. So where do we go from there if it can't come from pharmaceutical companies where most of the research takes place then the only alternative is is to have it subsidized by the state. And you know I'm sure that it would be a tiny tiny fraction of any kind of research budget that the government would be prepared to fund. So I don't think there's much option really and if if he value the life of a child then what price can he put on that? Kent online news. A broad stairs man with a history of violence against women has been jailed for 19 years. James Golding has been sentenced for attacks on two victims including a teenager. The 43-year-old from Queens Road was said to pose a significant risk to the public. He'll spend four years on license once released. Bomb disposal experts have been called to Hearne Bay after a fisherman caught what could be a mind. Police were also called to the seafront near central parade yesterday afternoon. The item was described as very large, heavy and cylindrical it was dealt with by the Ministry of Defence. Shocking video at Kent online shows the moment a lost lorry narrowly avoided people having a picnic after ending up in a children's playpark. The driver of the HGV had allegedly misread a diversion sign rerouting vehicles from the closed galley hill road in Swanscombe. It's been shut for more than a year following a landslide. Graham Taylor's from the residence association. There are diversions in place and as a result lorries are severely restricted. There's a seven and a half ton limit weight limit through Swanscombe. Unfortunately there seems to be a lot of lorries that are actually ignoring all the road closings. A very clear road closings you can see behind me that a lorry ignored yesterday. Others in Swanscombe that are Monday a lorry ignored and took out the side of a car. Just talk us through some of the incidents that residents have reported to you guys or you have seen on social media or just through it on the ground. So up in Swanscombe there are regular reports of the big articulated lorries trying to force their way through the seven and a half ton weight limit area. There has been damaged wing mirrors ripped off of cars. The latest incident was deep gouge right the way down the side of the car. So bad that the car is likely to be written off. Let alone the traffic chaos that caused when the lorry gets stuck in very narrow roads. And down here in Phoenix Park we've had lorries demolishing walls. Lorries just demolish part of the children's play area and cause damage around the back where it's got stuck in roads it should never be on and then find that it can't get out again. And how often is this happening now? Is this happening more now more recently? There certainly seems to be at least an incident every week. Sometimes there is more frequently than that. I think some of the signage that did reduce the incidents initially but we still got a hardcore of lorries that were ignoring them. Police issued the driver with a fixed penalty notice for driving without due care and attention. Ken's online news. Police are linking reports of a man on a bike following a boy in Chatham with a woman and child being approached by someone they didn't know. The cases happened in Palmerston Avenue and Simmons Avenue earlier this month. Follow Kent online on socials for a description of the suspect. There's been a suspected arson attack at a derelict building in Canterbury. The house in St Peter's Place was previously famous for a poster of Elvis Presley that was displayed in the window for nearly 50 years. Firefighters were called yesterday afternoon to tackle a small blaze. Plans for 250 homes on land in Thavisham have been rejected. Developers wanted to build 162 private and 88 affordable properties on land off Ham Road. Planners decided the estate could have led to an increase in flooding. The land was also not in Council's local plan. The land that had been earmarked for a huge theme park in North Kent has been put up for sale. The company that owns a large part of the Swanscombe Peninsula is also on the market. The site has been under the spotlight for years after plans for London Resort were first unveiled but campaigners wanted left to nature. Sally Smith is from Kent Wildlife Trust. It hasn't come completely out the blue for Kent Wildlife Trust and the other conservation groups involved in the safe Swanscombe movement. The plans for the London Resort theme park on the site have been dead in the water for some time. It has some special planning constraints and plans on the site known as an NSIT. We've been fighting to have that special planning removed from the site so it can be protected for future generations to come. So with the land being put up for sale does it ease your concerns about what could happen with it in future or does it make it even more uncertain because obviously you don't know who's going to buy it and when that NSIT might be removed or if it will be removed? I think more worrying to us as a movement than the sale of the land is that special plan in the NSIT on the site. While that hovers over it there's complete uncertainty about what could happen there. It is a site of special scientific interest. It's really important for a lot of critically endangered species who live there so we need to protect that area. It's really really important. We're living in one of the most nature depleted countries in the world so we should be fighting tooth and nail to protect this site so we need that level one on service team removed. I know we've spoken before about what you'd like to do with that particular area because you have some great plans for it only to allow people to go there and maybe spot some of those species that you that you mentioned and to just enjoy that bit of land. Yes anyone seeing this or listening to this I'd urge them to go on to the Save Sponson website and look at this wonderful vision that we've created for the site. We've with picnic tables and walking trails to really really boost the benefit to the local community because we need these green spaces. They are so important not just for the wildlife but for our mental health and well-being as well. Swans come itself. The site is an oasis in the suburban area. It's so precious and we really really must protect it. Could it be Sally that some miracle happens and someone buys it and gives it to you? I mean that that would be the ideal situation wouldn't it? We would love to work with our conservation partners to manage the site for wildlife and yes it is a pipe dream. I'm aware Taylor Swift is in the UK so if she hears this and wants to buy Swans components for us we won't stop her. Kent Online News As a warning today not to buy pets from breeders on gumtree after a woman was bitten by a rabbit she bought online. She saw the pet advertising Gravesend and was then reportedly told to put it in the bin after complaining about its behaviour. We're told the breed has been reported and the rabbit has been taken in by a foster carer. Two major banks have announced plans to close branches in Kent, Halifax in Jillingham High Street and Lloyd's in Cranbrook are on the list of sites due to shut by next summer. Bossers say it's because of a drop in use as more people are banking online. With less than a week to go until the general election we've been hearing from pollsters about which way they think the vote will go. Martin Baxter from Election Calculus has been on the Ken Politics podcast. He says the seats on the south coast of the county are the ones to watch as Labour could make significant gains. We'll certainly be updating the website as we go maybe another two or three times. Oh really? As we get more polling evidence in we all try all this to keep up with public opinion. Public opinion has been changing a bit but in the last couple we've been seeing a bit of a spurt for the smaller parties for the Lib Dems and particularly for reform under Nigel Farage. So both the both the major parties are suffering a little bit but obviously as you said at the beginning Labour are still looking in a very strong position at the moment. Okay I mean in Kent as it stood the Tories had 16 seats in 2019 with one Labour and at the end the most extraordinary turnaround it appears of according to the polls. You're predicting that 14 would go to Labour, three to the Conservatives and a single Liberal Democrat gain on one. I mean do you stand by these by these numbers? Will we do until we update them but there are two things to say I suppose the general trend that things look very good for Labour is well established and yes we absolutely stand by that. The exact number of seats the Conservatives get is actually a little bit uncertain that we've got estimates going down as far as 40 or as high as 200. So we think ourselves that it's maybe between about 50 and 100 seats. Other pollsters have it a bit higher between 100 and 150 seats but either way those are relatively small differences in the sort of big scheme of things which is that it looks like it's going to be a very bad election for the Conservative Party. Is there anywhere in Kent where we can expect a shock result if you were going to stick your neck out? Oh wow I mean this election the shock results could be anywhere and Kent could certainly have some. So essentially all the places where we and maybe other MRP predictors think that there's going to be Labour gains. Any Labour gains in Kent are going to be quite interesting. Let me just have a quick look at the map to see where in particular I mean the yeah the whole south coast of Kent so Bexhill and battle, Hastings and Rye, Fokston and Hyde, Ashford, Dover and Deal and even Thanat East those are all seats that Labour could gain and so those are ones to watch. I suppose Dover is a particularly interesting one because the outgoing Conservative MP Natalie Elfick perceives being on the right of the party but nonetheless switched to Labour although she's not a candidate this time. The Conservatives won the seat with over half the vote in 2019 but on our numbers it could be that the Labour win this seat with you know the centre right vote split between Conservatives and Reform. So if I had to pick one I'd picked over to see whether the red flags are going to be flying over the white cliffs. He says on average the Conservatives are still ahead of Reform UK. Kent Online News. One of Kent's prisons could be getting bigger plans have been put into expand HMP Stanford Hill on Shepey by more than 50% if approved four new blocks housing 60 inmates each would be built on the East Church site. One of the Bridges linking Shepey with the mainland is going to close for eight days from tonight. More repair work needs to be done on the Kingsbury Bridge which is the road and rail one that raises up and down to let boats through. It means buses will replace South Eastern services but there are concerns about children getting to school role and Eglinton is from Chalkwell Co-Tire. We've tried our best to minimise the impact for us there was a considerable challenge in how we served the village of Ayawait because you can't get back onto the A249 from Ayawait because of the closures of the Grovehurst roundabout sliproads at the same time as the Kingsbury Bridge closure. So what we've done we've modified several school bus services including having them depart earlier from Shepey and Ayawait. We've renumbered some of them at the same time and we've put in place a shuttle mini bus from Ayawait to Sonora Way where it will meet up with the the main bus service so that we can still give people in Ayawait access to shopping and essential services. The big unknown for us is how much traffic is going to be using the A249 in the absence of being able to use the Kingsbury Bridge and that is likely to cause some delays and difficulties in the area but we've tried to mitigate those where we can. Not many people are relying on your bus services in the area and could potentially be impacted by this and particularly you know people who may be sitting exams at the moment need to get to school for a certain time. Yeah I mean across all of our services we take about 2000 people a day to places of education schools and colleges and exams and being able to get in on time has been a primary concern so there's a number of school buses in Swale where we have advanced the morning times forward to allow for that change and we will keep an eye on things as we go so all of our buses are tracked we can follow where there's late running or early running and we are we keep a constant eye on things so that you know we can do our best to make changes on the roof when we have to in order to make sure things go as they plan and as planned and people can get to school on time and we will see how it settles down after the first day or two we're expecting initial difficulties before the sort of the actual trend will emerge but we'll keep on top of things and we'll keep monitoring and we'll see how the situation develops. Yeah and you mentioned potential concerns about increased traffic as well with just that one bridge the 8049 now to get on and off of Sheppy I mean are you worried people might be sort of and your buses might be sitting in traffic for ages trying to get to school on that first Monday morning? Yeah they could be and which is why we've moved things forwards earlier everything's sort of bottlenecks at the grave first junction so as you're coming off the island and everybody's going to be streamed into that bottleneck there where there's alterations to the sliproads so that is a concern and we ask that people car share, depart earlier or use public transport when they have to so you use the bus the trains aren't running so being on the buses is a good way to get from sitting born to Sheppy so yeah we'll keep an eye on things and we'll do our best. Network rail say the works will be finished by 5 a.m. on Sunday July 7th. Four fire engines have been called to a wildfire in Canterbury. A tree at around 100 square meters of undergrowth caught a light off Stodmarsh Road yesterday evening. Crew spent three hours tackling the flames no one was hurt and it's unclear what caused it. Elsewhere firefighters have been tackling ablaze involving trees and stables near Ashford. It broke out on watery lane in Westwell at around eight last night. The horses had already been led to safety. A mental health support group and food bank in Swanscombe will have to find somewhere else to go after a church was forced to close. The decision to close Swanscombe Methodist Church in August is down to declining member numbers as well as a place of worship for 136 years. It's also being used as a community hub for local residents. Darren Riley is from the helping hand support group. It's going to affect the group immensely because a lot of people over the last 12 months have become dependent on coming to this group. I believe it's going to have a very negative effect on their mental health and their wellbeing. We were supported by the National Health Service but they've now pulled out on the news or partially due to the news that the church is closing. So if we can't find another venue, this help and support that we provide here might be local, which will be devastating for everybody. So what sort of help do you provide? It's my emotional support and group support therapy. We have chatting sessions. If anybody needs something to get off their chest, we're here as a group to help them. If we can refer them, we can refer them back on to the health side of things for the NHS and also if they need emotional support or religious support, we can refer them to the church. So where would they be able to go in bed? There's possibilities we may be able to go next door to a cast above the fire station or the old fire station but I think that's not going to be beneficial. Some of people that come here don't like being in clothes they'd like having a bit more space and it's very confined up stairs. Here's perfect because it's a lovely open room. It's a lovely building historically, it's a lovely building in Swanscombe. Everybody knows it here in Swanscombe and for it to be taken away. Not only for our group, but for the other groups that attend here regularly each week, I think it's just going to be a damn shame. There's been no decision yet on what will happen to the building itself. In a medway gym has been put up for sale. Rocco in Gillingham has two pools, a gym, a beauty salon and spa. It's got a price tag of £3 million pounds. The owners have put their three other sites in Chiswick, Nottingham and Yorkshire on the market. Kent online news. And now with a look at what's on around the county, here's Sam Laurie. If you want to get the kids out of the house to enjoy some sunshine this weekend, because as we all know the nice weather could disappear again at any time, then I have the perfect activity for you. This weekend the shorn sheet in the heart of Kent art trail launches with more than 50 sculptures of the lovable cartoon sheep, all with different designs popping up around Maidstone. You can download the app to get the free trail map and follow it to find as many colourful sculptures as possible, and you might even get a reward at the end. The trail is all about raising funds for the heart of Kent Hospice, so it's for a great cause and it's a brilliant way to keep the family entertained for free. Now that's not the only family day out going on over the weekend. There's an armed forces day celebration happening at the Lees in Folkston on Sunday, with parades, live music, military vehicles and amazing aerial displays from Spitfires and the Red Arrows. There's even a free concert in the evening, but you have to register online first if you fancy going to that. At Betts Hanger Country Park in Deal this weekend, there's a time travelling Viking Fest. You and the kids can see what it was like to live as a Viking, with outdoor activities, workshops and characters taking over the park. If you're feeling hungry, the Ashford Food and Drink Festival opens its doors tomorrow and it will be in town for a whole month, until the end of July you can book to join in with beer and wine tastings, attend pizza making workshops, watch cooking demonstrations and sample dishes from a variety of street food stores at venues all over Ashford. And to make the most of the summer, why not take a trip to Heaver Castle where you can see the beautiful Heaver in Bloom display. This annual flower festival is open from now until next Sunday and sees more than 5,000 roses and guided garden tours taking place in the castle grounds. There's more music at Dreamland this weekend with a performance from Deacon Blue tonight. The Scottish rock band will be performing on the open air stage as part of the Margate Summer series, following on from Eurovision singer Sam Ryder, who played at the venue last night. And if you want to see some great shows this weekend, my recommendation is to visit the Marley Theatre in Canterbury, where the Marl singer host Joel Domet will be headlining this month's comedy night on Saturday. Also, there's still time to catch family favourite Chitty Chitty Bang Bang at the Churchill Theatre in Bromley until Sunday night. Our reporter went along to see the show earlier this week and said it was simply magical so make sure you book your tickets. Well, that feels like a pretty jam-packed weekend. Whatever you choose to get up to, even if you decide not to make any plans at all and to just soak up the sun in your own back garden, I hope you have a brilliant couple of days. Thanks Sam. Ken's online sport. Briefly and cricket, Ken Skipper says this bitfires need to be held accountable for their poor runner form in the T20 blast. Last week they fell to a fifth successive vitality blast defeat by five wickets to Essex. Sam Bellink says the results are just not good enough. He'll be looking for improvement in the matching Gloucestershire next Friday. That's all from us today and for the week. 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 and while you're on the website, why not check out the latest review from the secret drinker, who's got a Euro's theme review for you. News you can trust. This is the Kent Online podcast. [BLANK_AUDIO]
