Kent Tonight - Thursday 15th August 2024
Catch up with all the latest news across your county with Gabriel Morris.
Transcript
00:00Hello there and welcome to Kentonite Live here on KMTV.
00:29I'm Gabriel Morris and here are your top stories on Thursday the 15th of August.
00:35Cost of achievement. Kent students speak out about A-level pressures on results day.
00:40Qualifications are stepping stones into the next stage of life so they need to kind of
00:45gain and get what they've learned and then move forward.
00:49Is it a Hollywood ending? Make or break decision on Celebrity Baker's Ashford pub.
00:55Ask yourself, would you work a 12 to 16 hour shift every day just to make a loss?
01:00And tons of support. KMFM raised thousands for feeding the county.
01:06Thousands of people listening and we can harness that power, we can get them involved in something.
01:23Good evening, well it's been a day thousands of A-level, T-level and BTEC students across
01:27Kent have been nervously waiting for. But now their results are in, they have a big
01:32decision to make. That's what to do next. Well for some that might be heading off to
01:37university, starting an apprenticeship or entering full-time employment. But they are
01:41all big life decisions to make. Well our reporter Daisy Page has been to the Thomas Evening
01:46School today speaking to students about that pressure.
01:50I was relieved once I opened my results. I'm feeling happy that I got into university.
01:53Not too bad. Yeah, decent, I'm alright. This is the reaction of a few students who
01:57have received their results today. Family, friends and teachers have come together today
02:02at the Thomas Evening School to celebrate each other's achievements.
02:05There are high emotions today as students are collecting their A-level, T-level and
02:10BTEC results across Kent and Medway. But is there too much pressure put on their final
02:15grades? Yes and no. It's the pressure of wanting to
02:18do well I think. Because you think going to university, if you do your apprenticeship,
02:23it's the pressure that you put on yourself. But the school thankfully were able to sort
02:27of relieve all of that. I found that I've put a lot of pressure on
02:30myself because I'm a bit of a perfectionist. So I hold myself to quite a high standard.
02:36In terms of teachers, I think the most pressure you get is just what they believe you can
02:40achieve. Personally I didn't feel too much pressure.
02:43But I mean a lot of people I know felt a lot of pressure towards it during the exams.
02:48I didn't feel any pressure really. I never felt the pressure because I'd done BTECs
02:53and I knew what I'm good at, I'm good at. With 91% of secondary school teachers in
02:57England concerned that their students worry about their results deciding their future,
03:01should students be uneasy about their next steps?
03:05I think they all have such a high expectation of themselves and that's actually a really
03:09lovely quality to have in general. But I was just having a conversation with a student.
03:15When you have high expectations, sometimes you're bound to be disappointed throughout
03:20your life. So it's difficult to kind of take those little pits and then build again.
03:25But ultimately, all qualifications are stepping stones into the next stage of life. So they
03:32need to kind of gain and get what they've learned and then move forward. So try and
03:37kind of see the positives.
03:39And while many smiles have been shared today as four in five students have got their university
03:43of choice, for some, they may not have received the grades they would have hoped for.
03:48Going to school we are kind of taught and we feel that our perfect vision of life is
03:53like a lovely, positive trajectory into fabulousness and happiness. But actually life is pretty
04:01complicated. So if they didn't get the grades today, I think everything happens for a reason.
04:07The things that you've learned from them, whether you feel that you didn't revise enough
04:11or whether you think that actually you weren't enthusiastic or things just didn't work out
04:17or there was a particularly bad question on that particular paper, that doesn't define
04:21you as a person.
04:23Many now have the decision on what to do next, from going to university, looking for full-time
04:28employment or taking the year out being a few options. There are many great possibilities
04:33for the class of 2024.
04:35Daisy Page for KMTV
04:38Well, if you didn't get the grades you were expecting, there are plenty of other options
04:42out there. One being university clearing applications. Well, earlier today, I spoke to Simone Davis
04:47from the University of Kent and found out how it all works.
04:51Simone, thank you so much for joining us today. Now, what is the clearing process and how
04:56different is it this year from previous years?
04:59It's very similar to previous years. If you find yourself not perhaps getting the grades,
05:06you expected and not getting your first choice of university, then you can go online, look
05:13at other universities. At the University of Kent, you can apply online or you can make
05:19a phone call and we've got sort of 100 call operators, all fully trained there to help
05:24you through the process.
05:25Why do you think it's a little bit busier this year? Do you think there's been a change
05:30in people wanting, more people wanted to go to university but people's grades may be better
05:35or worse than expected? What do you think's happened this year that more people are coming
05:38to you guys?
05:39I think for the University of Kent, we recruit quite a lot of people from local and the cost
05:45of living has really made people think about where they're going to study, how they're
05:49going to study. And we are seeing many more people choosing to stay local.
05:55Another issue that we've seen in the past couple of years is that the pandemic. I mean,
05:58has that had a knock on impact of the numbers coming to university or choosing to study
06:05here at the University of Kent in the past couple of years?
06:08The pandemic, I think, affected people in so many different ways. What we've seen is
06:13that actually, it's made people think much more about the experience that they want,
06:19and also ask really upfront what support is available in terms of mental health and wellbeing.
06:24I think that's the main change we've seen is actually people being much more focused
06:29on themselves and what's the wraparound services as well as what subject do they want to study.
06:36Now what would your message be for those who didn't get into the university of their choice
06:41today and are now going through the clearing process? What's that message for the University
06:46of Kent this evening?
06:48The first thing is make sure that the university you're choosing to go to is the right one
06:53for you. If you're looking at the University of Kent, we've got visit days tomorrow, Saturday
06:58and Sunday. And also, your A-level results are just one point in your life and you will
07:05go on to succeed, fulfil your ambitions and realise your dreams and just be brave, be
07:12bold, but you'll get there.
07:14I don't know how many spaces you have at the University of Kent this year for different
07:18courses. I'm sure each one is different. But how quickly do students need to react today
07:23and get on the phones to the university if they want to come here?
07:27It depends on the course that you want to study. There are some courses where there
07:31are very limited numbers of places still available, but it's not over now. So even if you haven't
07:39managed to get through and you want to think about it, then we can still take your course
07:43tomorrow and we will still have some places available.
07:46Simone, thank you so much for joining us.
07:49A major road in Charing has been blocked for part of the day after a tractor spilled bales
07:54of straw across a roundabout following a crash. The incident occurred on the A20 near
07:59Ashford just before 11.30 this morning. Hues were reported in the area soon after and police
08:04officers stopped drivers as the roundabout was cleared, thanks to the added help of a
08:08forklift to help clear the bales. Fire crews were also spotted on the scene and officers
08:13confirmed afterwards there were no injuries from the incident.
08:20Next, the newly elected MP for Dartford has vowed to make getting the new tunnel from
08:26the North Kent to Essex one of his top priorities. The Lower Thames crossing was one of the many
08:31infrastructure projects put into doubt from the government's spending review after the
08:35new Labour government came into power. However, the Treasury could be trying to attract private
08:40financers to help with the cost of delivering the crossing. Earlier today I spoke to Jim
08:45Dixon, the MP for Dartford who says the proposed connection is crucial for the north of the
08:49county.
08:50When we have the planning decision on the 4th of October, I'm looking forward to a positive
08:57decision from the Department for Transport who will be looking at this and then we can
09:01go forward and really look at how we finance this and get it built as soon as possible
09:06and I'm hoping that that may well be in the next sort of six to seven years. I know that
09:12seems a long time but that's quite quick in national infrastructure terms and I'll
09:15be pushing every step of the way for that to happen.
09:21Now Paul Hollywood's wife says she's received unforgivable personal attacks as her family
09:26plans to turn a historic Ashford pub into a house. Last night the Celebrity Baker's
09:32family got the decision they wanted but some villagers at the planning committee said that
09:38shame on you to a tearful Celebrity Baker's wife you can see there on the screen. Well
09:42I was at that meeting last night and have the story.
09:46A quintessential English village near Ashford and on Smardon's High Street is the Chequers
09:51pub. It's been here since the 14th century and is now owned by this Celebrity Baker's
09:56wife's family. But at a planning meeting last night permission was granted to turn the Chequers
10:02into a house. The family says the business is no longer financially viable.
10:08Unfortunately the pub cannot survive on people drinking once or twice a week. It needs a
10:12steady flow of locals using it regularly for meals and other social activities. Unfortunately
10:18the last six months has shown us the worst in people's behaviour. The personal insults
10:22and attacks have been unforgivable. We have owned and run the Chequers in for nearly 17
10:27years and put our heart and souls into it. Ask yourself would you work a 12 to 16 hour
10:32shift every day just to make a loss and would you do it if you were 80 years old with a
10:36life-threatening heart condition. She was supported at the meeting last night by her
10:40husband Paul Hollywood. She's been the landlady of the Grade 2 listed pub for the past 16
10:46years. But at the other side of the chamber villagers crying out for this pub to stay.
10:51First and foremost the Chequers is a business and it should be valued and sold for its worth
10:56as a business. An industry expert who specialises in valuing pubs said that the accounts show
11:00that run differently the Chequers could prosper as it has in the past. Three separate people
11:05have put forward substantial offers to buy the Chequers. None have been accepted because
11:09the owners want more and to get more money they want the Borough Council to turn a Grade
11:132 14th century heritage asset into a residence. The committee voted to approve the application
11:20with seven in favour and five against. Villagers quickly heading home knowing the owners of
11:25the Chequers will have several years to implement the change of use. But it could still remain
11:31a pub if another owner can be found. Gabriel Morris, near Ashford.
11:38There's more on that story in Kent Online and other news of the day there. Well we'll
11:41be taking a short break now but coming back in a few minutes time we'll be speaking to
11:45KMFM host Rob Wills about the recent success seen in stocking up Kent's food banks. All
11:51that and more in a few minutes.
15:01Hello and welcome back to Kentonite live here on KMTV. Now don't forget you can keep up
15:18to date with all your latest stories across Kent by logging on to our website KMTV.co.uk.
15:25There you'll find all our reports including this one about a Battle of Britain museum
15:28in Kent seeing more visitors than ever before in its near 60 year history.
15:34Just north of Folkestone the town of Hawkins has a special place in the first ever major
15:38military campaign fought out of the air. The Kent Battle of Britain museum was once Folkestone
15:44RFC the closest air force to occupied Europe meaning its pilots played a key role in the
15:50Second World War. Now in the modern day the base has been transformed and is seeing its
15:55highest ever numbers of visitors in its 59 years of history with some even coming from
16:00overseas. Well the museum's been going for 59 years. We started as a travelling museum
16:05then we were in a chicken shed. We had a time at Chilham Castle in the 1970s. We moved here
16:10and I started volunteering here in October 1979 so I finished my 45th anniversary volunteering
16:15here but every year we just all the money we take as volunteers we plough back in to
16:19make the museum bigger, better, better environment for the exhibits, better experience for our
16:25visitors and year on year we grow. This year at the moment we're round about 30% up from
16:29last year. Last year was another record year and we were 20% up from the year before. It
16:34boasts a detailed collection of planes, uniforms, weapons, photographs and memorabilia of what
16:39it was like when the Nazis flew over Kent towards London. Well right now I'm inside
16:46of an iconic classic British phone box from the 1930s around the time of the Battle of
16:51Britain. The museum is constantly working on new exhibits like their attempts to build
16:57a replica of the Whirlwind which was the fastest combat aircraft in the world back in 1938.
17:03There's been an awful lot of change. We've done an awful lot of changing some of the
17:09cabinets. We've had quite a lot more since I've been here, items come. So it's been,
17:16I would say over the years there's been a lot of changes. Hopefully we'll see a lot
17:21more as time goes by. Its hangars include the Bolton Pool Defiant crude plane that shot
17:26down 13 enemy aircraft, the highest number downed by a single aircraft of that type.
17:32It also has the only two Rolls Royce Peregrine engines in the world and even a brick from
17:37Hitler's garage in Buchtesgaden in the south of Germany. As well as the planes the people
17:42inside of them are equally studied and kept alive in the museum with their Spirit of the Few
17:47monument opened in 2022. With donations of more and more pieces of history the museum's success
17:53is likely to continue to take flight. Finn McDermid for KMTV in Hawking. Now on their
18:01breakfast show this morning on KMFM Rob Wills announced their food drive collected more than
18:06nine tonnes of tins, dried fruit and other supplies helping stocks at 16 different food
18:13banks across the county. They credited their success in part to their audience who donated
18:18£7,000 worth of essential items breaking their previous year's records. Well we spoke to Rob
18:25about this earlier today. Well thank you so much for joining us this evening. So for viewers just
18:30tuning in what is the tonnes of tins campaign that KMFM have been running this year and for
18:36the past year or so? So tonnes of tins the whole premise of it was food poverty is on the rise.
18:42Unfortunately it's affecting every single county, Kent being one of the worst in the UK. So last
18:47year we set about collecting as many tonnes of tins as possible to deliver them to food banks
18:53across the county. Last year was the first year as you were saying before we came on air it won
18:59an award recently in fact you were there when we picked it up and it was kind of like look what
19:05can we do this year? With exactly the same idea it's called tonnes of tins but it's everything
19:10from pasta, rice, you know sanitary products, all sorts of stuff. It was to see how much we could get this year.
19:16As you say food poverty is growing across Kent and it is really important. I mean
19:22what made you actually start this campaign? What was it the driver behind that? Well I think
19:26we're in a really fortunate position where you know we are the last truly Kent local radio
19:32station right and that comes with some responsibility as well as it comes with fun
19:37and when you've got the access to thousands of people listening and we can harness that power,
19:44we can get them involved in something, it's quite clear that quite a lot of people feel
19:49quite strongly about the fact that people haven't got the money to have food. You kind of take it
19:53for granted you know I'm sure almost what a large percentage of people watching today will be able
19:59to go into the fridge or go into the freezer or go into the cupboards or whatever and there'll be
20:02food in there. But the idea that there actually are quite a lot of people and more so than ever
20:08before going into that fridge, going into that freezer, going into that cupboard tonight going
20:12there's nothing. I've got a friend who I only found out about maybe 18 months ago that was
20:18using a food bank, works in a full-time job, his wife got made redundant, they've got two kids
20:23and then their mortgage came up and all the interest rates were spiralling and he had to
20:28use a food bank, he had to make a decision otherwise he wasn't gonna be able to feed his kids.
20:31So the perception I guess it was an opportunity to give back into the community, it was an
20:36opportunity to educate some people because the I guess probably misconception is that it's homeless,
20:43it's just homeless people or just unemployed people and that's not the case.
20:48Then a million dollar question, how successful has this been?
20:51Well this morning, hence very dark eyes, we got given an envelope with how much we had done so
20:58last year we had raised just over £5,000 on our JustGiving, this year it was just over £7,300
21:04and then we turned all of that into food thanks to Morrison's, we managed to get massive discounts as
21:10well. We also then had all of the deliveries to all our partners, so we had eight partners across
21:18the county that all opened up their shops, their showrooms to allow us to deliver tins and food
21:24there and then we had people delivering into the radio station as well and this morning we were told
21:29it was 9.21 tonnes, 9.21 tonnes of food.
21:35Wow, that is a lot.
21:37Gabriel honestly, it's not until because like we were saying before we came on,
21:41we've gone out and hand delivered this stuff right, nothing's been delivered to anybody using
21:45anything other than these hands which are very soft because they don't do a lot of lifting.
21:49Myself, Chelsea from Breakfast, Noomi from Getting Home with Robert Noomi, Andy Walker,
21:56two vans, two days, 48 hours and we delivered it all and it's when you're physically handing
22:03that stuff over, A, you realise how much it is and B, you realise what a huge difference you're
22:10making because some of the shelves were on their last legs, there are a lot of food banks that
22:15had the last couple of crates left and so yeah, it's a huge amount and to put it into context,
22:20Chelsea said to me this morning, that's about three and a bit elephants.
22:25There we go.
22:25It's a lot of food, it's a lot of food, so yeah.
22:28Well Rob, thank you so much for joining us.
22:29No and thank you to everybody, you guys included,
22:31that have supported us and helped us, it's been an incredible couple of weeks.
22:35Sure, there's a lot of food there donated, great effort from those guys and the audience of KMFM.
22:41Well now, let's take a look at a web of four of our coming days.
22:46Well, going into this evening, it's looking to be cloudy all over the county,
22:53a low of 18 degrees in Tunbridge Wells.
22:56Waking up tomorrow morning, some sun but rain right across the county,
23:01highs of 21, lows of 20.
23:04Friday afternoon, it's looking to remain cloudy, some stormy weather over in Folkestone,
23:07highs of 25 up in Dartford and it's staying sunny for the rest of the week,
23:11reaching highs of 29 degrees on Monday, lows of 23 on Saturday.
23:25And just after Kent tonight, there will be another episode of the Kent Film Club.
23:28So before we go, I'm joined by our resident film expert and host of the show, Chris Stacey.
23:33Chris, as always, thank you so much for coming in.
23:35At the top of the programme today, we're talking about A-level results,
23:38so T-levels and BTECs, of course.
23:40So next week, what films can we watch to take our mind off results
23:45or maybe feel inspired for the next chapter?
23:48Well, one of the films that I saw this week, and actually it's a year since,
23:51and actually you just reminded me because it was on clearing day last year
23:54that I first came in the studio.
23:55It was like I was going through an initiation test.
23:57But there's a new M Night Shyamalan film out because he made The Sixth Sense 25 years ago,
24:02which was back out at the cinemas in a 25-year anniversary rerun the other week.
24:07But he's got a new film called Trap, and it's got lots of twists.
24:11The trouble with M Night Shyamalan is that, of course,
24:13when you know that there's going to be a twist, the whole film pivots around it.
24:16When you know what the twist is, you then think, oh, have we just been conned?
24:19But actually, there's a lot going on in it.
24:20It's a very sort of stadium-based film, and it's also got...
24:23Now, do you remember the film The Parent Trap with Hayley Mills,
24:26the daughter of John Mills, who's now in her late 70s?
24:28But she plays an FBI psychologist, so completely out of character.
24:31And the film's like that.
24:32It wrong-foots you, putting people in roles where you wouldn't...
24:35You know, it feels very incongruous.
24:36So if you want a nice respite from all that's going on at the moment,
24:39that's a film that will keep you guessing right through to the end.
24:42And lots of other films out at the cinema.
24:44But let's importantly talk about this.
24:45You just gave it away.
24:47One year of the Kent Film Club, essentially, now, isn't it?
24:50Yeah, and I can't believe it.
24:51So we must have done 50-odd episodes here
24:54with a range of people who are academics, filmmakers, screenwriters.
24:57And we had a wonderful... I'll come to that in a minute.
24:59But somebody who'll be on in the show tonight,
25:01who works in sound design and experimental sound in film.
25:05So a complete cross-section of people.
25:07Journalists, politicians, mayors of the different parts of Medway and Kent.
25:11So it's been a wonderful ride.
25:12And I've learned so much about people.
25:14And, of course, yourself and others on KMTV.
25:17Yeah, I mean, what surprised you about it?
25:18Because you obviously hear four films from different people.
25:20Has anything surprised you?
25:21Any consistency in traits or, like, coronations going on between people?
25:26Well, it's always funny when somebody might say...
25:28And we had it with one guest who said at the beginning, he said,
25:31I don't like horror.
25:32And he said, but my first film was horror.
25:33And I thought, OK, fair enough.
25:34Then his second choice, he said, yeah, I'm not really into horror,
25:36but actually my...
25:37And I was thinking, hang on, if you don't like horror,
25:38it's interesting you're going for that.
25:39But that's the crucial thing,
25:41is that people are often making decisions and choosing films
25:45that either completely fit their character,
25:47or sometimes it's sort of like it's that transgression.
25:49It's the sort of going somewhere.
25:51And it's like saying, you know, this film took me somewhere.
25:54I didn't necessarily want to go, but it stayed with me forever.
25:56So I learned so much about the person
25:58when they're revealing their film choices.
26:00Well, there is another episode tonight.
26:02Who's your guest and what sort of films will you be talking about?
26:05OK, well, Edie Brennan is our guest.
26:07And she works in sound design.
26:10And she lectures on that at Canterbury Christchurch.
26:12And, well, the first film, actually,
26:13is a film that I saw at the Curzon not long ago,
26:15The Zone of Interest, a Holocaust-based film.
26:18And it's where the horror of the Holocaust
26:20is accentuated by the use of music and sound.
26:23So she does a brilliant job in each of her four choices,
26:26actually, of showing that the role of sound in accentuating
26:29and, indeed, circumscribing and explaining why a film matters.
26:33Really interesting, Chris.
26:35Thank you so much for joining us.
26:36And, of course, all the other episodes
26:38are on our website, kntv.co.uk,
26:40along with all our other special programmes.
26:42But that is it for Ken tonight, this evening.
26:44Film Club, straight after this in a few minutes.
26:46Good night.