Purse Stolen at Cemetery

A Woman’s purse was stolen last month whilst she was visiting a grave at a cemetery in Canterbury.

Cemeteries are generally described as a place of peace for those to visit their beloved deceased. It is not somewhere you’d expect to be robbed. Theft is unacceptable no matter where it takes place but there is a degree of disrespect if its taken place at a cemetery where someone is respecting the passed.

A 47 year old Woman was visiting her mothers grave on Sunday the 14^th March when she her purse was stolen at around 3pm. She was approached by a young man and woman asking for directions to get to the town. Whilst helping the two individuals the woman was pushed over and her coat was grabbed. Once the couple had ran off the woman had realised that her purse was in the jacket. The woman fell onto her knee and was taken to hospital to check that everything was ok

The two individuals are yet to be caught but the police have given a description and have been appealing for witnesses.

The male is described to be aged around his mid twenties, 6ft tall wearing a black woolen hat, dark clothing and carrying a rucksack with a piece of wood sticking out the top.

The Female is said to be aged between 18-20 and was wearing a white adidas tracksuit with read and white trainers. She was a slim build with blonde hair tied in a ponytail.

The police are appealing for witnesses so if anyone has any information they could provide please contact Detective Constable Louise Hammond on 01227 868285.

Canterbury Receives Some Famous Faces

The summer ball of Kent University is bringing many famous faces to Canterbury this year, as well as the smaller University Christchurch. The most talked about act is Florence and the Machine, also appearing at other festivals this year such as Latitude, V festival, Radio 1’s Big weekend, the Isle of Wight festival and many more.

Other famous acts coming to Kent are Feeder, Pendulum djset, Tinie Tempah, Jo wiley, and The Wideboys. The students are getting more then a bargain with each ticket costing only £47. Christchurch will also have the band Feeder, as well as the new talent Example.

Last year we saw the triumphant Dizzee Rascal take to the stage in Venue, the campus nightclub. Although he did have a tumble, the union said it was one of the most successful acts they have ever had.

Emma Chatfeild from the university attended last year; ‘It was amazing! Definitely going again next year.’ Of course with this new announced line up I don’t see why any student would not go.

I went to Christchurch University to talk to the students about how they feel about the other university having so many people in their line up, such as Florence and the machine. Most of my responses where pure disappointment, as was Ben Cliff’s, who is studying Sports Science;

‘I am a bit gutted about it to be honest. If I can get a ticket for Kent’s summer ball, then I will probably go there instead’.

Nevertheless, other students outside of Kent University can go to their summer ball also. This is the most exciting line up to date and a great way to start the summer for Canterbury.

A video of last years Kent Summer ball. Dizzee Rascal falling off stage:

By Laura Kerrigan

Canterbury's New Stars?

It seems that the city of Canterbury may soon be home to some upcoming stars in the form of new band CWB! Millie Wilson, Tommo Bailey and Neil Stockley are all students from the Canterbury area and after two years of performing together it looks like they might have finally caught their big break after landing a record deal.

What started out as a hobby has turned into a possible career choice for Millie, Tommo and Neil. All three share a huge passion for music and after two years of hard work; it seems that their dedication may have finally paid off. The three of them describe their music as ‘alternative indie rock’ which is made up of Millie on bass and vocals, Tommo on the guitar and Neil on the drums with contribution from all of them towards writing their songs.

After a while CWB’s potential was recognised by those in the local area, and they managed to land gigs around the county including performances at venues such as The Dog in Herne Bay and The Farmhouse in Canterbury and most excitingly were even asked to perform on the main stage at Canterbury’s annual festival, Lounge on the Farm.. Soon enough, a music producer was browsing through the social network site, MySpace, and happened to come across CWB’s fan page. Having listened to some of their music and noticing all of the positive feedback that people were leaving on the page, he decided to offer CWB the chance to record their own album with his company, Knitting Factory Records.

During an interview I had with the band last week, the three of them spoke of how excited they are about their possible music career. ‘We never expected anything like this to happen to us’ said Millie, when commenting on their recent success, ‘I mean, we’re only a student band after all. At first we just performed together for fun, but now we know that people actually think we have the potential to go further’.

In fact, it turns out that there is more to this record deal than meets the eye; they were actually offered two record deals! After receiving the first offer from Knitting Factory, another company showed some interest towards the band and after speaking to both parties CWB ‘decided not to go with Knitting Factory Records because they were located further away from us and the communication with them wasn’t that good, the other company are in Maidstone which is much more convenient’ Tommo explained.

As well as this benefit, the second company seem to be offering CWB much higher prospects regarding their upcoming album by allowing them to sign something called a distribution deal ‘which means that after recording our album it will eventually be available to buy in stores and on to download via ITunes’ (Neil). This deal is hugely promising for the band, considering names such as Lily Allen and Sean Kingston were also offered similar deals to this before they became globally known stars.

Of course, with all of this drama with both companies, it means that the band have indeed gathered some setbacks; their first single ‘Carrousel’ was meant to be released in March, but will now not be available to buy until the summer. But this definitely is not affecting the bands optimism whatsoever, ‘we’re so excited, we just hope that everything goes well from now on because we’ve been working so hard and so many people are counting on us now!’ Millie commented in our interview.

It seems that all we can do now is wish the three of the best of luck, and look forward to hearing their single later this year, and who knows, it may not be long until CWB hit the big-time!

By Nicole Muller

Latest Events in Canterbury

So you’ve Uni’s over for the year, you have the next 4 months off with nothing to worry about but how are you going to fill those long hot summer days?

There is lots going on around the Canterbury area so follow our events guide and your summer will be jam packed full of exciting days out and things to do over the coming months.

Lounge on the Farm: 9-11 July 2010

The music festival is held annually

at The Merton Farm in Canterbury and is a platform for local bands and musicians to perform alongside established acts from around the country. The festival has been running for five years and has seven stages for you to choose from including a moving tractor stage. This years line-up includes Martha Reeves and the Vandellas to headline Saturday, and Toots & The Maytals have been announced as Sunday headliners. Tickets for the event can be bought here and cost £95 for the weekend.

Herne Bay Festival: 21-29 August 2010

At this fun-filled festival there is a variety of live music, street performances, creative commissions, competitions, cultural treats and seaside frolics. The festival is held along the seafront and is sponsored by local business such as Cains Amusement Parade, Brett Aggregates and Marlowe in Motion which means the festival is free to all.

Canterbury Anifest: 9 October 2010

Kents first Animation Festival returns this year with premieres of workshops and guest appearances from some of Britain’s leading professionals leading question and answer sessions. The festival is committed to showcasing young talent and is holding a competition to find the next best film animation. This year it is being held at the Gulbenkian Theatre and a festival pass is £32.

By Hannah Atterbury

Caught Red Handed

Canterbury nightclubs have started training their bouncers in using a pioneering new device, which is hoped to bring drunks and thugs to justice. It is a new spray that will be used to brand anyone who is causing trouble.

Right Guard Security is the company behind this pioneering new device. They say that the red spray enables the bouncers or door staff of clubs to mark those who they suspect to be involved in disturbances outside of the venue. They also say that it will assist the police in pinpointing the suspects whereabouts.

The managing director, Tony Smith, has issued the spray to all of his staff and leads training classes in how it should be used.

Tony said “Firstly, it marks the offender with red dye making it easier for police officers to identify them.

"It also has unique bio-synthetic DNA which means people can be linked irrefutably to a location.

"The spray is a unique crime fighting tool and is ideal for security workers.”

Anyone working on a door of a club has a tough job dealing with drunks late at night, and so being able to use this tool will make their jobs that little bit easier is surely a good thing. This is an added bonus of it being also being a deterrent against crime or anti-social behavior.

If it is a success here in Canterbury, it is hoped that it will be used elsewhere in the county, and possibly in other cities in the country.

By Kate Gibson

Canterbury Euro Fair

Imagine a bustling busy atmosphere and a variety of aroma’s filling the air from a vast range of food and drink stalls from all over the country.

The event will be taking place at the cities Dane John Gardens from the 24^th to 26^th September. Eurofair, working with the Kent Food and Drink festival will be raising the profile of food and drink originating from the area. There is said to be around 100

stalls from Turkey, Italy, France and the UK and about 30 of these will include some of the finest foods that have been produced in Kent.

At the previous years event expert chefs such as Michael Caines and Paul Hollywood through live cooking demonstrations and workshops. It seems to suit those who aspire to be chefs and those lovers of food.

There will definitely be entertainment on the night and it’s likely to be live music on the bandstand but it is yet to be confirmed. Representatives have said that once it has been confirmed the programme for the event will be published. The Eurofair has previously been described as a taste sensation and a brilliant day out for the family. This year they are going to be including a kid’s section where they will be running entertainment and workshops for the young ones.

Here are some previous comments from the public at last year’s event:

“Definitely doing it again next year, I made the mistake of walking around whilst hungry I ate more then a meant too. The best bit was watching a loved up couple in their 50’s dancing to the jazz band”. – Janice Whatton

“Had a great time and should definitely do it again next year. Best bit was Em’s Cupcakes and Pinocchio’s Pizza”. – Nicky Rogers

“Had a great time but perhaps I spent too much! Do it again next year?? Er, or course!” – Ian Clark

If your hungry and looking for lunch over the weekend then we would suggest attending the event and giving all the stalls a try.

By Porsche Smith

Equality Campaigners Fight for Gay Rights

Canterbury is known for its historical and cultural surroundings, and for its city full of students. Most people think it a beautiful area, with its focus of the Cathedral in town. However a campaign group in Canterbury called Pride has described it as ‘cultural wilderness’ as it fails to cater for homosexuals by not having enough gay bars.

The campaigners believe that the council has not made it clear that gays are welcome in the community and are now awaiting the outcome of their complaint to the local government ombudsman.

Spokesman Andrew Bretell said: ‘ We are not trying to turn Canterbury into Blackpool or Brighton, but we do think it’s important for the gay community to have a focal point’.

The student club ‘Soap’ is on weekdays but at weekends it is known as ‘Boys and Girls’; this caters for the gay community but apart from this the nearest gay bar is 17 miles away in Margate. The group did complain already last year to the City Council however nothing came of it so now they await the ruling from the ombudsman for next week.

Many of the general public does not feel such pressure should be put upon the council about this matter. £4000 has been funded since 2005 through the grants system to help the gay community and ‘promote their concerns’. People have argued that paying out for new gay bars would be ‘a colossal waste of taxpayers’ money’. Others have discussed the problem with naming it a gay bar- why should any bar or club be called a gay bar? Jim Jones from Canterbury said; ‘it’s a bar, so what if your gay, you still sit and drink like everyone else’.

It has already been announced that the ombudsman has said the key complaints made by Pride are unlikely to achieve success.

By Laura Kerrigan

Conservatives for Canterbury Once Again

Friday 7th May proved to be a successful day for Conservative Julian

Brazier who learnt that he had been elected to represent Canterbury and

Whitstable for the sixth time in a row!

During the build-up to this year's election the Conservative party

seemed to have been the favourites all along. Yet, unlike elections in

previous years, this one has appeared to excite the nation as politics has

never done before. With people from all ages and backgrounds showing up a

their local polling stations to vote for their new leader, the overall

result turned out to be a very close count, with the winning party not

being very far ahead of their opposing team Labour.

However, the county of Kent seemed to be telling a different story with

the Conservative party striding ahead in terms of votes. In Canterbury

alone the Tories managed a whopping 22,050 votes, with Labour only

managing 6048 falling rapidly from their 7,471 they achieved back in 2005.

This is a familiar tale for the city, seeing as the Conservatives have

remained at the top ever since it was created almost 148 years ago, with

Julian Brazier holding the seat from 1987 right up until the most recent

election last week. The 56-year-old-father-of-three commented "I'd like to

thank the people of Canterbury and Whitstable for having the confidence in

me to give me another term. It is a huge privilege to represent them."

This clear win doesn't exactly seem to be ruining the spirits of the

other major parties who are remaining optimistic about their chances in

the future. Mr Voizey, Canterbury's representative for the Liberal

Democrats, stated, "In a democracy the great thing is knowing there

will always be a next time."

Labour's Jean Samuel put forward a far more determined message

"I absolutely guarantee that Labour will make a come back-we

will work on our local elections next May and capitalise on that

foundation...we'll be back!" This is a pretty confident

promise considering they only managed third place in the city this time

round.

For the meantime, we'll just have to count on the Conservatives In

Canterbury. Lets hope they keep up the good work!

By Nicole Muller

Here is the report:

Canterbury Cinema

Local cinemas are on the decline. The Canterbury Odeon cinema is one of these. With just two screens it is limited as to how many films it can have showing at any one time. And the newer films often do not screen until the afternoon

With a city full of students, and the cinema itself, just a short walk from the Canterbury Christ Church University campus and library, it is a surprise that Odeon have not cashed in on this, by expanding the cinema and creating more screens.

I asked students of Canterbury Christ Church University, if they would visit their local cinema if they had more of a choice of what was being screened.

Alex: “Most definitely, but I think that there needs to be a revamp of the entire cinema, seating, the reception and the quality of the screen”

Ben: “No I wouldn’t, I prefer the bigger chains as they are more luxurious and have a bigger selection of food to eat.

Kate: ”Yes I would, because at the moment the cinema is a big night out for me as I have to travel to Ashford in order to get a good selection of films.”

Jasmine: “Id like to see a change in the state of local cinemas. As I think it would be a shame to lose them, as they provide good employment especially for students like me and the independent cinemas usually offer a more acceptable ticket price.”

While most people would prefer to go to a bigger cinema, and have a variety of films available to watch, they would prefer if it was closer to them, and would like to see the cinema expanded and improved on. There are a few people who would like the cinema to stay as it is as because the local cinemas are dying out to make way for the big cinema chains on the outskirts of big towns.

By Rebecca Dart

Local Band Member Aiming High

Canterbury based metal band 'Life Under Surveillance' are set to play a gig at the 'Beer Cart Arms' This week. Kate Gibson spoke to lead singer and guitarist, Sean Palmer

On entering Sean Palmer’s home, it is instantly clear that he has no ordinary ‘nine to five’. With two amps’ stacked well over six feet high by the front door and various instruments littering the living room, a musicians presence is immediately evident.

But what is it that makes this twenty-two year old drum tutor come rock star tick? As Sean places my mug of tea on the coffee table, I proceed to find out.

So how long would you say you have been into music?
Since I was about seven, when I took up piano.

Did you have lessons?
I did but I didn’t enjoy them, so I told my parents I didn’t want to have piano lessons anymore, but they got me a keyboard anyway! I carried on learning for ages.

So what made you change from playing the piano to the drums?
To be honest with you, it’s because I worked in a music shop. I left school at 16 and it’s then that I took an interest in other musical instruments. I’d play on the drums in the shop and really enjoyed them, so I taught myself. I picked up the guitar by having guitar lessons from another guy that worked in the shop.

If you could only ever play one instrument again, which would it be?
That’s a hard one. Drum’s make me money but guitar makes me… (he hesitates) have fun! It’d probably be guitar because I could find a way to make money teaching guitar.

Piano is in no way considered in there?!
No, piano is like my boring…I don’t even know why I’ve got a piano. I’m constantly thinking of selling it.

Some would say that’s a waste of talent though?
Could be, but when you’ve got three things, one you’ll do more. But you never know, ten years down the line, I might decide to go back to my piano. I doubt it very much though!

Is the piano not cool?

Not cool! that’s it. With guitar you get to head bang and rock out with people! The drums have become too much of a work thing. If I had a kit at home, I’d never play it, ‘cause no-one wants work at home.

So do you see yourself as two different people, Sean Palmer the teacher and Sean Palmer the rock star?

(Hesitates) No, believe it or not, I feel the same. I like to feel that way, that I have experience of the rock star thing that I do; without it, I think I’d be quite boring. The kids ask about the band and we talk about it a lot. I relate the lessons to that. So I’d say they’re the same person.


Could you pick one favourite song of all time?

No, I have too many favourite songs, I can’t just choose one.

Could you narrow it to a genre?

Yeah, Heavy metal or Reggae… Or Metal Reggae, which is a genre of music as well! The combination of them both is amazing.

Where would you like to be with your band in five years time?

Signed and famous.

Is fame an important part for you?

I’d like to be famous but the important bit is playing. I enjoy performing in front of audiences. I wouldn’t be better if I got famous, but anyone in a band would like to get signed and sell records. Yeah… and be mega rich and buy houses.

Would you give up teaching for performing?

I wouldn’t want to but I would if I had to. I’d have to if I moved to America. I’m not desperate to get out of it though, because it’s enjoyable and you can earn good money. It’s not like a boring office job where you’d get famous and say “I’m done”

You’ve mentioned moving to America. Do you think you’d stand a better chance of hitting the big time there?

Definitely, I’d like to go to America ’cause there are so many more record labels out there. Oh, and it’s bigger! (we both laugh)

I thank Sean for his time and can’t help but be enthused with his excitement for music and his dreams of success. He goes to show that it is possible to live two different lives concurrently…

By Kate Gibson

Students Support Sports Relief

Students at Canterbury Christ Church University are collectively getting active to raise money for the Sports Relief. Across campus you will see members of the cricket team in uniform collecting for the cause and there are many other events going on around campus to raise money for the charity.

In the SU you will find students competing in a Guitar Hero competition, sponsored for by other students and staff. There will also be a 50-mile relay in the gym on the treadmills to raise some extra cash.

In Canterbury, locals will be participating in the Sainsbury’s Mile, starting at 11am on Saturday 21^st March from the University of Kent. Across the country, thousands of people will be doing the same.

Sports Relief was started in 2002 by the BBC and Comic Relief and runs every two years. People all over the country hold events to raise money from non-uniform and sports days in schools to people running whole marathons, swimming the channel a la David Walliams or climbing Mount Kilamanjaro a la Cheryl Cole.

The BBC feature a series of programmes every Sports Relief, getting lots of celebs to help out and raise awarness for the cause. As usual there will be the appeal show on BBC One on Friday 19^th March from 7pm-1.30am with a Strictly Come Special and several sketches from Gavin and Stacey’s James Corden and the England football team throughout the night.

We spoke to a Canterbury Christ Church University student about their fundraising: