Podcasts about Sevenoaks

A group of travellers have won a landmark legal case against Medway Council to stay on a park and ride site.The families were given permission to stay on the land in Wigmore for three months from July 2023 is they paid a weekly fee, then were ordered to leave in the October.Reporter Davina Jethwa has been following the story and joins the podcast with all the details.Also in today's episode, a Maidstone drug dealer has been jailed after video was found of a manufacturing lab that was used to make tens of thousands of ecstasy pills.Video at KentOnline shows footage that was discovered on Jamie Stacey-Evans' phone.Leaders in Sevenoaks have been told their days in charge are numbered after nine Conservative councillors quit the party.They've formed a new group called West Kent Independents and the Tories no longer have overall control of the authority. Hear from the leader of the Lib Dems in the area.Inspectors have reported significant changes at a Kent school previously criticised for the number of fights and high levels of truancy.Ofsted have been back to Sandwich Technology School to check on safety, behaviour and attendance. Simon Sharples took over as headteacher in January and has been telling us about their success.A petition has been launched to protect five oak trees on the Hoo peninsula from a potential road widening scheme.It's feared developers behind plans for a new 760-home estate near High Halstow could chop down trees on Christmas Lane.Events are taking place in France to mark the 85th anniversary of one of the most incredible rescue missions during the Second World War.Privately owned Little Ships from England were used to collect Allied soldiers from beaches at Dunkirk in 1940. Reporter Gabriel Morris is in Dunkirk.And in sport, Ashford United's Gary Lockyer has collected the award for scoring the most goals in this season's FA Cup.The 32-year-old netted 10 during their campaign to the third qualifying round.

Today, using the political compass as our mapping tool, we explore diversity of opinion in BBC Radio comedy.If you enjoyed this video, please give it a like, share it somewhere, all that stuff. Thank you!And please subscribe to this excellent Substack, if you haven't already.In case you missed them, here are my pieces from earlier in the week.Gigs Coming UpHere is a list of shows I have coming up, in case of interest.The big one is The Mid-Year Review Wearing on next Tuesday, May 20 in London. Otherwise it's:* London, Crazy Coqs, May 14. SOLD OUT. (Waiting list only)* London, Backyard, May 20. The Mid Year Review Tickets here* Sevenoaks, Out of Bounds Comedy Club, July 11. Tickets here.* Bedford, Quarry Theatre, July 27. Tickets here.* London, Crazy Coqs, Sept 24. Tickets here.* London, Crazy Coqs, Nov 5. Tickets here.* London, Crazy Coqs, Dec 3. Tickets here.Happy Sunday! Until next time,DominicIf you are thinking of buying gold to protect yourself in these uncertain times, the bullion dealer I use and recommend is the Pure Gold Company. Pricing is competitive, quality of service is high. They deliver to the UK, the US, Canada and Europe or you can store your gold with them. Find out more here. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.theflyingfrisby.com/subscribe

Police have been called to a farm's family fun day after animal rights activists targeted the event - with some parents saying young children were “upset”.Officers were pictured at the spring fair in Ashford, as the protesters handed out leaflets promising a “fun-packed tour of your local abattoir”.Also on today's podcast, a frantic 999 call made after a young man was fatally stabbed in the heart by his girlfriend's cousin has been played in court.Jack Cadwallader was attacked after a row broke out at a flat in Harrietsham last July. An investigation has found one local authority is sitting on almost £20 million of unused funds meant for health, education and leisure projects.You can hear from local democracy reporter Robert Boddy who's been getting to the bottom of why the cash has not been spent. Construction has started on two housing developments in Swale which will have more than 700 “much-needed” homes.Diggershave begun work in Minster and Sittingbourne – once complete some of the properties will be affordable housing. And, the Kent winner of a National Lottery prize of £10,000 a month for 30 years has just one week left to claim their prize.We know the winning ticket was bought in Sevenoaks in October – we've spoken to lottery bosses about all the places it could be hiding. 

The latest Open House, Open Mic is here, and we've got a fantastic lineup of homes you'll want to hear about! In this month's episode, Laurie sits down with local agents to highlight three standout properties open for touring this weekend across Kern County. From a stylish Tevis Ranch charmer to a spacious Seven Oaks stunner with in-law quarters, there's something for every kind of buyer.You'll get a firsthand look—well, listen—at what makes each home unique, including layout highlights, neighborhood perks, and those special features you won't find in the listing photos. Plus, don't miss Laurie's Weekend Equity Boost tip—an easy kitchen upgrade that adds style and function without breaking the bank.Whether you're house hunting or just love staying up to date on the local market, this episode is packed with helpful info and inspiration.Tune in now—and if a property catches your ear, reach out to schedule a private tour!

The Reposs Non League Show with Barking and Sevenoaks 

A woman in her 20s has been seriously injured in an attack in Broadstairs.Emergency crews were called to Guy Close in the St Peters part of town last night. Hear from reporter Brad Harper who was also there.Also in today's podcast, a former SEN headteacher says becoming a foster carer to children with additional needs has revealed how much parents have to fight for support.Sharon O'Connor used to be in charge at Ripplevale in Deal which was rated outstanding during her time there. She's now helping to launch an app to help other mums and dads.We're being urged to help wildlife in Kent by taking part in the Great British Spring Clean.The RSPCA say they were called out 70 times to litter-related incidents in the county last year. We've been speaking to the charity.A Larkfield man has spoken of his shock after being denied a Blue Badge, despite being diagnosed with leukaemia and needing a stairlift and mobility scooter.Martin White applied for the parking permit online in November 2023 after his cancer coordinator suggested he get one. He's been speaking to reporter Elli Hodgson.Football, and Gillingham welcome league two leaders Walsall to Priesfield this weekend.The Gills will be hoping to maintain their slightly improved form after a win and draw in recent games.

Masked raiders have stolen £100,000 worth of stock from a wholesalers in Medway.At least eight people are thought to have cut their way into the industrial estate unit in Chatham in the early hours of last Wednesday. Hear from reporter Sean McPolin who has been covering the story.Also in today's podcast, a woman who was tied up during a violent robbery in Sevenoaks has described it as an "horrific experience".A man armed with a gun stole nearly £1.5 million worth of jewellery from a property in Parkfield near Wildernesse Golf Club last June.The work and pensions secretary's confirmed personal independence payments won't be frozen following a backlash from Labour MPs.Liz Kendall's also announced changes to the eligibility for universal credit from 2028. Hear the response from shadow minister and Faversham MP Helen Whately.A Kent pub chain boss has warned fewer part-time jobs will be available and prices will rise as major tax changes come in next month.The amount employers have to pay towards national insurance is to increase after being announced in last autumn's budget. We've been speaking to Phil Thorley from Thorley Taverns in Thanet.Work to clear woodland near Ashford of tonnes of illegally dumped waste is due to get under way next week.The Environment Agency's confirmed equipment will start to be moved onto Hoads Wood and removing the rubbish will take more than a year. We've got reaction from Sally Smith from Kent Wildlife Trust.And, Bedgebury Pinetum have announced a program of events to celebrate their 100th anniversary.Since 1925, the site has grown from a tree collection into an internationally significant conservation centre which welcomes more than half-a-million visitors each year.

Gang Of Four's moment was dramatic but brief. It was littered with times when the future seemed impossibly bright before disaster crept up with a cosh in their relentless “refusal to do the obvious”. Being a musician, he points out, is a ridiculous life best not taken seriously. His memoir ‘To Hell With Poverty!' rightly describes itself as “rich with stories”, many remembered in this spirited exchange with David and Mark, among them … … the transformational effect of a scholarship to the boarding school where he met GO4 guitarist Andy Gill and future film-makers Adam Curtis and Paul Greengrass. … life-changing records he heard in the school art department – Highway 61 Revisited, the Stooges, the MC5. … “never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity”. … aged 11, bumping into John Lennon in Sevenoaks who'd just bought his Mr Kite poster. … signing a contract with the manager that robbed them and whose busy and efficient office of “ripped and buffed” staff turned out to be hired actors. … being thrown off Top Of The Pops for not changing an ‘offensive' song lyric – “EMI were “mortified”. … the old hippy world of the ‘70s – Hawkwind, the Whole Earth Catalog and “a Withnailesque flat where we had an airgun to shoot the mice”. … hopeless online misinterpretations of his song lyrics - “there may be soil under fuck all” (aka “there may be oil under Rockall”). … the rigours of trying to promote “outsider music”. … reaching “the point where the game is up”. … the Bourgeois Brothers, the ‘comedy' duo he formed with Andy Gill at Leeds University and why they returned to England to form a band in the mould of Talking Heads, the Ramones and Richard Hell. … and why recording the audiobook moved him to tears. Order ‘To Hell With Poverty!' here:https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hell-Poverty-Class-Inside-Gang/dp/1636142346 Gang Of Four tour dates:https://www.songkick.com/artists/393675-gang-of-four/calendarFind out more about how to help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Gang Of Four's moment was dramatic but brief. It was littered with times when the future seemed impossibly bright before disaster crept up with a cosh in their relentless “refusal to do the obvious”. Being a musician, he points out, is a ridiculous life best not taken seriously. His memoir ‘To Hell With Poverty!' rightly describes itself as “rich with stories”, many remembered in this spirited exchange with David and Mark, among them … … the transformational effect of a scholarship to the boarding school where he met GO4 guitarist Andy Gill and future film-makers Adam Curtis and Paul Greengrass. … life-changing records he heard in the school art department – Highway 61 Revisited, the Stooges, the MC5. … “never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity”. … aged 11, bumping into John Lennon in Sevenoaks who'd just bought his Mr Kite poster. … signing a contract with the manager that robbed them and whose busy and efficient office of “ripped and buffed” staff turned out to be hired actors. … being thrown off Top Of The Pops for not changing an ‘offensive' song lyric – “EMI were “mortified”. … the old hippy world of the ‘70s – Hawkwind, the Whole Earth Catalog and “a Withnailesque flat where we had an airgun to shoot the mice”. … hopeless online misinterpretations of his song lyrics - “there may be soil under fuck all” (aka “there may be oil under Rockall”). … the rigours of trying to promote “outsider music”. … reaching “the point where the game is up”. … the Bourgeois Brothers, the ‘comedy' duo he formed with Andy Gill at Leeds University and why they returned to England to form a band in the mould of Talking Heads, the Ramones and Richard Hell. … and why recording the audiobook moved him to tears. Order ‘To Hell With Poverty!' here:https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hell-Poverty-Class-Inside-Gang/dp/1636142346 Gang Of Four tour dates:https://www.songkick.com/artists/393675-gang-of-four/calendarFind out more about how to help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Gang Of Four's moment was dramatic but brief. It was littered with times when the future seemed impossibly bright before disaster crept up with a cosh in their relentless “refusal to do the obvious”. Being a musician, he points out, is a ridiculous life best not taken seriously. His memoir ‘To Hell With Poverty!' rightly describes itself as “rich with stories”, many remembered in this spirited exchange with David and Mark, among them … … the transformational effect of a scholarship to the boarding school where he met GO4 guitarist Andy Gill and future film-makers Adam Curtis and Paul Greengrass. … life-changing records he heard in the school art department – Highway 61 Revisited, the Stooges, the MC5. … “never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity”. … aged 11, bumping into John Lennon in Sevenoaks who'd just bought his Mr Kite poster. … signing a contract with the manager that robbed them and whose busy and efficient office of “ripped and buffed” staff turned out to be hired actors. … being thrown off Top Of The Pops for not changing an ‘offensive' song lyric – “EMI were “mortified”. … the old hippy world of the ‘70s – Hawkwind, the Whole Earth Catalog and “a Withnailesque flat where we had an airgun to shoot the mice”. … hopeless online misinterpretations of his song lyrics - “there may be soil under fuck all” (aka “there may be oil under Rockall”). … the rigours of trying to promote “outsider music”. … reaching “the point where the game is up”. … the Bourgeois Brothers, the ‘comedy' duo he formed with Andy Gill at Leeds University and why they returned to England to form a band in the mould of Talking Heads, the Ramones and Richard Hell. … and why recording the audiobook moved him to tears. Order ‘To Hell With Poverty!' here:https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hell-Poverty-Class-Inside-Gang/dp/1636142346 Gang Of Four tour dates:https://www.songkick.com/artists/393675-gang-of-four/calendarFind out more about how to help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A business owner who spent £300,000 renovating his town centre shop is calling for compensation after being ordered to leave.He says he used his life savings to the store in Park Mall, but council say the whole mall will be demolished early next year to make way for a car park - and has given all traders six months to leave.Also in today's podcast, you can hear about a drunk partygoer who stole a woman's Mercedes before crashing it into a tree, fence and wall - causing thousands of pounds of damage.The smash left a trail of destruction in Broadstairs but by the time the officers arrived on the scene he'd already fled.The mutilated body of a bull breed type dog with a metal chain around its neck has been discovered in a popular dog walking spot.The RSPCA is appealing for information after the canine was found dead near Sevenoaks by a member of the public.Proposals to install double yellow lines in a residential street have been branded “a terrible mistake” and “completely unfair”.Residents in Northfleet have objected to the plans to implement a No Waiting at Any Time restriction on both sides of the road.And in sport you can hear from on-loan defender Andy Smith ahead of Gillingham's game against Bradford City this weekend. They know they've got work to do if they're to bounce back from their midweek loss. 

There are calls for something to be done about fines handed to drivers on a stretch of the A20 after a change in the speed limit.This dates back to October 2023 when a section of the road between Crittalls Corner in Sidcup and the Swanley Interchange was reduced from 70 and 50 miles per hour to 40.Also in today's podcast, a Broadstairs woman who was attacked while walking home from uni classes is calling for better support services for victims of street harassment.Daisy Foster had to be treated in hospital after being assaulted by a group of men in Birmingham in 2023.The KentOnline Podcast has been told 38 people were arrested in the south east last month over illegal working.The Home Office say the figure is more than double for the same time last year with Immigration Enforcement teams visiting 69 locations.Thousands of people have signed a petition against the idea of a new solar farm near Sevenoaks.Plans have been submitted to build on 235-acres of land between Ridley and New Ash Green.It's feared someone could be killed if nothing's done to a crumbling abandoned house in Sandwich.The privately owned property on New Street has been falling into disrepair over thirty years.Football, and the Gillingham manager didn't hold back after another defeat at the weekend.They lost 3-0 at Barrow on Saturday - their ninth game in a row without a win.

Another busy week in the county with more managerial changes and lots of action on the pitch. The manager heading for the exit is Danny Kedwell, who has left Ashford after just over eight months in charge. His final game was a loss at Sevenoaks, and we spoke to him after that game about that loss and the impressive performance of his teenage son Preston. We also hear from Sevenoaks boss Marcel Nimani after his side made it four wins in a row with a good attacking display - he discusses their progress on and off the pitch and their hopes of a push for the play-offs. Welling United suffered a third defeat on the spin and boss Rod Stringer discusses that loss and the need to improve his squad to move up the table. We discuss the rest of the news from across the county as Dover lose top spot, Sittingbourne hit eight, Margate leave it late and loads more besides, plus the usual chat and nonsense, including chaos in the Gerrard household, "autocorrect" fails and some truly disturbing TV viewing. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

rWotD Episode 2760: Lancelot Phelps (priest) Welcome to Random Wiki of the Day, your journey through Wikipedia’s vast and varied content, one random article at a time.The random article for Saturday, 23 November 2024 is Lancelot Phelps (priest).Lancelot Ridley Phelps (b Sevenoaks 3 November 1853; d Oxford 16 December 1936) was Provost of Oriel College, Oxford from 1914 to 1930.Phelps was educated at Charterhouse and Oriel College, Oxford, where he matriculated in 1872, graduating B. A. in 1877. He was ordained as a deacon in the Church of England in 1879, but not as a priest until 1896. His career was spent as a Fellow and Tutor at Oriel. He was also an Alderman of Oxford and a member of the Royal Commission on the Poor Laws and Relief of Distress from 1905 to 1909.This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 00:05 UTC on Saturday, 23 November 2024.For the full current version of the article, see Lancelot Phelps (priest) on Wikipedia.This podcast uses content from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.Visit our archives at wikioftheday.com and subscribe to stay updated on new episodes.Follow us on Mastodon at @wikioftheday@masto.ai.Also check out Curmudgeon's Corner, a current events podcast.Until next time, I'm neural Salli.

There have been long delays on the M2 after a pedestrian was hit by a lorry.It happened on the coast bound carriageway between Sittingbourne and Faversham last night.It has been revealed a Canterbury man who killed his partner in a stabbing attack had his mental health referral closed on the same day.53-year-old David Creed from Long Acre Close attacked Catherine Granger in December 2020, just days after saying voices in his head were telling him to kill her. There has been a huge rise in the number of compensation claims for pothole damage in Kent.Figures have gone up from 655 in 2022 to more than 1,800 last year - raising concerns about the poor condition of the county's roads.Bosses in Medway say they are facing difficult decisions as they try to balance their budget.The council are facing an £11.2 million overspend this year, which is expected to increase to more than £26 million next year.Former Lib Dem politician Peter Carroll has been telling the Kent Politics Podcast why he decided to campaign for justice for Gurkhas.Until 2004 those who served in the British military weren't allowed to settle in the UK and were instead sent back to Nepal.Artwork created by children living through conflict in Syria has gone on display at Rochester Cathedral.The exhibition called Picturing Peace is a collection of 13 paintings from youngsters aged between nine and 12 about what "peace" means to them.And the hunt is on for a Sevenoaks lottery winner who is at risk of losing their prize.The mystery player won £10,000 a month for the next 30 years, but is yet to come forward.

People living on a road in Gillingham fear they won't be able to park near their homes after plans were put in for an HMO.Developers want to convert a property on Selbourne Road into a seven-bed facility, with work including a loft extension. Hear what some neighbours think and we've got a response from the company behind it.Also in today's podcast, a motorcycle thief who was arrested after being chased by police through Maidstone has been jailed.Hear the moment the 23-year-old was detained.A Kent family are calling for potentially live saving equipment to be available in schools and nurseries after their son had a severe allergic reaction.Regan Smith from Higham went into anaphylactic shock after mistakenly being fed wholemeal bread at nursery. Hear from his dad Ben.Davina McCall's revealed she has to have a brain operation after doctors discovered a benign tumour.In a video on Instagram, the TV presenter - who lives in Tunbridge Wells - says they found a colloid cyst, which needs to be removed.A courier driver in Gravesham has thanked his customers after they raised money to replace his stolen van.Paul McCarthy's Ford Fiesta was taken from outside his home two weeks ago - forcing him to rent another vehicle for £350 a week to make sure people in Istead Rise don't miss their deliveries.A pub landlord from Sheppey has become the RNLI's first female helm in more than a decade.Rachel Collier underwent a year of training and a practical exam before being appointed.Sam Lawrie has a roundup of everything going on in Kent this weekend.And in sport, we've been hearing how plans to build a new stadium for a former premiership rugby club in Kent will benefit the whole community.Wasps have secured land in Swanley, between Dartford and Sevenoaks for their new 28,000 seater stadium.

A man's lost the feeling in one of his hands and suffered injuries to his hip, leg and wrist after being attacked by a dog near Sevenoaks.It involved a Rottweiler-type dog and happened on land in Knockholt, leaving the victim needing plastic surgery. Hear from reporter Charlotte Phillips who has covered the story.Also in today's podcast, we can hear from the chief inspector of prisons after a report revealed how inmates at a Medway jail are using cardboard and towels to stop rats from getting into their cells.Inspectors have been looking at conditions at HMP Rochester and also raised concerns about drug use and increasing levels of violence.A week on from the US election, a former Kent MP has revealed he would have voted for Donald Trump.Craig Mackinlay is now a Lord and says he'd like to meet the President elect if and when he visits the UK.Villagers in part of Kent are fighting to save an historic windmill from being sold.Woodchurch Windmill, near Ashford, suffered thousands of pounds worth of damage during a storm in 2019 - locals now say it could be sold off by the council.And in sport, Gillingham are taking a break from league two this week, but they are in EFL Cup action later.The Gills are travelling to take on Stevenage and still have a chance of going through in the competition.

A Dover landlady who attacked a customer she found sleeping behind the bar has avoided being sent to prison.Maidstone Crown Court was told how a row had broken out a The Staggered Inn micropub in the High Street in December last year.Also on today's podcast, it's been a nightmare on the M25 in Kent after a huge lorry fire overnight.The vehicle caught alight on the clockwise carriageway between Sevenoaks and Godstone.We're being asked what we think about planned changes to firefighter response time targets in Kent.At the moment crews aim to get to an emergency within 10 minutes - no matter where it is.It's feared plans for more beach huts on part of the Kent coast will cause traffic problems in a nearby village.Bosses in Dover want to add 33 buildings to the 23 already at Kingsdown near Deal at a cost of £130,000.A former MEP from Kent says he hopes one day there'll be another Brexit vote for the next generation.Anthony Hook is now leader of the Lib Dems at the county council, and has been speaking on the Kent Politics Podcast.A former Rochester pupil has returned to the school he went to - as a teacher.Reo Mardell went to St Peter's Infants for three years from 2006 - and started working there in September after graduating.Football, and the Gillingham manager says he's confident they can turn things around after four defeats in a row.They lost 2-1 to Bradford City away from home at the weekend.

There's been another fatality on Kent's roads – a motorcyclist has died following a crash involving three vehicles on the M25 near Sevenoaks.Emergency crews were called to the clockwise carriageway just before 12.30pm yesterday where a man in his 40's was pronounced dead at the scene. Also in today's podcast, a coroner has found a Tunbridge Wells man who was in financial difficulty murdered his wife before killing himself. Their bodies were found at their home in February – it's thought he'd strangled, stabbed and hit his victim with a hammer before taking his own life. You can also hear from a Maidstone man who's told the KentOnline Podcast raw sewage spills across his drive every time there's heavy rain. He says he's been complaining to the water company since 2019 but so far nothing has been done. Two more pubs in Kent are set to close as bosses warn it's no longer financially viable to keep them going. The venues are in the same street in the same village near Faversham and are expected to shut by the end of the year. And it's going to be a cracking fixture in league two this weekend as top of the table Barrow make their way to Priestfield. They're managed by Stephen Clemence who Gillingham sacked in the summer – you can hear from current boss Mark Bonner ahead of the game. 

Welcome back to a brand new episode of The Yours, Mine, Away! Podcast. This week, we're thrilled to be joined by the one and only Jordan Perrin, the OG One Glove Creator and Sevenoaks Goalkeeper. Jordan shares his journey as a goalkeeperDon't miss this exciting conversation, and if you haven't already, make sure to check out our latest Goalie Wars video on youtube!Big shout out to our sponsors!Uperform: https://shop.u-perform.co.uk/74xd6 (DISCOUNT LINK!)Forged Irish Stout: https://forgedirishstout.com/Mito Red Light: https://mitoredlight.com/?afmc=YourMito5 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A former Michelin-star restaurant in Faversham is closing after 47 years.Reads is based in Macknade Manor off Canterbury Road and its won numerous accolades during the timeRona and David Pitchford have been the owners.Also on today's podcast, a violent burglary at a home in Sevenoaks is being linked to the so-called 'night watcher'.A woman was attacked and £1.8 million worth of jewellery was taken from a property near Wildernesse Golf Club in broad daylight in June.50 items were stolen including rings, watches and pendants. We've been speaking to Crimestoppers who've issued a reward.There's been a huge emergency response in Gillingham after a bus crashed into scaffolding.A car was also involved in the collision at a new build site on Jeffery Street in the town centre yesterday evening.Former EastEnders star Shaun Williamson has thrown his support behind two Kent nurseries on the brink of closure.Kent County Council have opened a consultation on the future of Millmead in Margate and Seashells in Sheerness as they look to make drastic funding cuts.Bosses at the RSPCA centre in Leybourne say they're 'at breaking point' as animals are arriving faster than they leave.The charity's having to pay for 55 pets in Kent to stay in private boarding because the centre's full.In sport, Gillingham have been knocked out in the first round of the Carabao Cup.They lost 3-1 to Championship side Swansea City after going down to 10 men when Euan Williams was sent off early in the second half - we've got reaction from boss Mark Bonner.

It has been revealed 12-hour corridor waits at East Kent Hospitals are now the third worst in England.Figures show the trust that runs A&E departments in Margate and Ashford is struggling with the persistent strain on its services.A man in his 40s has died in a house fire in Faversham.There was a huge emergency response when the blaze broke out on Salters Lane in the early hours of Saturday.A charity worker from Herne Bay says she has been assaulted by people who were accusing her of being a 'dirty immigrant'.Maya runs a community support centre and free shop in the town, and has also been abused online after a video was shared on social media.A disabled man has criticised Ashford Borough Council after being told he cannot live in his dead dad's bungalow.Rob Pollock has osteoarthritis, and wanted to move into his father's house in Charing because of his mobility issues and the memories attached.The new Labour MP for Ashford, Sojan Joseph, has joined a campaign for Eurostar trains to stop in Kent again.The service stopped calling at Ashford and Ebbsfleet International stations during Covid, but thousands of people have signed a petition for it to resume.New speed restrictions are set to come into force in parts of Sevenoaks.A number of roads are being reduced to 20 miles per hour in a bid to improve safety and reduce pollution.And in football, Gillingham got off to a great start in the new league two season with a 4-1 win over Carlisle United.Hear from manager Mark Bonner, who took charge of his first game for the Gills at the weekend.

Myles Thornton hosted our first weekly show of this season with a panel of Jeff Burnige, Stan Godwin, and Henry Morgan.Myles enquired about the panel's views on our new players ahead of Saturday's first league game against Watford at the Den, which kicks off at 12.30 pm. Our first guest is Millwall TV's matchday commentator, Karl Bates. Karl expressed his sadness at Mati Sarkic's passing, and the panel explored his expectations for the season ahead. Paul Loding updated on Millwall Romans and Pride;Jeff Burnige spoke about what's ahead for the Millwall Lionesses;Our second guest was Sean Daly, Chief Executive Officer of the Millwall Community Trust. Sean looked ahead to season 24/25 for the Trust and spoke about Southwark awarding a five-year contract for St Paul's Sports Ground to MCT and the future with Fisher FC. He talked about the Summer camps in Southwark, Lewisham, and Sevenoaks. He added that despite the training ground being reviewed in Kent, the work of the Trust will continue in Kent and be further enhanced by a partnership with Kent Cricket. Lastly, he talked about the Lionesses Academy and a scheme for younger girls to develop their football skills. Myles introduced a new prediction league and had the team promote significant Millwall matters. Music and Audio credits:https://www.FesliyanStudios.com Background Musichttps://www.maritimeradio.co.uk/ Background Music and Report

There's been a delay to work on a busy roundabout in Sittingbourne - because of a dormouse.Contractors due to start work on the key Street junction this summer have discovered a nest.Also in today's podcast, KentOnline's been told asylum seekers in Kent are worried after violence broke out across the country.Hundreds of people have been arrested after riots in towns and cities following the stabbings in Southport last week.We've been speaking to Kay Marsh from Samphire Project in Dover and also have reaction from Cohesion Plus in Gravesend and Imam from a mosque in Gillingham and a group of councillors in Medway who's calling for unity and calm.Thames Water - which covers areas around Dartford and Sevenoaks - is facing a £104 million fine for sewage spills and other failings.Two more companies - Northumbrian and Yorkshire Water - are also part of record combined action by the regulator.And, work's started on converting a building in Ashford after plans to turn it into a nightclub were scrapped.The former Downtown Diner in ParK Street is going to be made into a restaurant and event space.It's hoped it'll open in September.In sport, Kent's Dina Asher-Smith is safely through to the final of the 200 metres.She finished second in her semi-final last night and will go for a medal in this evening's race.

The bin collection crisis in parts of Kent could be about to get worse, with the GMB Union confirming they're balloting members on potential strike action.Suez has already been under pressure over waste not being taken away on time, with a recent council meeting being told there have been 36,000 missed collections.Also in today's podcast, Kent's roads are expected to be especially busy on what's being dubbed Frantic Friday.The summer getaway coincides with the start of the Olympics in Paris. We've been speaking to Toby Howe from the Kent and Medway Resilience Forum.A single dad's told KentOnline more needs to be done to tackle inequality as figures reveal a huge difference in life expectancy across Kent.Most recent data shows men in Thanet will live to an average age of 77 - four years less than those in more affluent Sevenoaks.Dominic Watters has spoken as a group of almost 30 organisations join forces to launch the #MakeHealthEqual campaign.A Maidstone woman has been left without a shower of bath for months after a flood caused by neighbouring pipework wrecked her bathroom.Yvonne Eaton lives in Wallis Avenue in the Park Wood area of town and has been telling the podcast what happened and how it's affected her.In showbiz news, Sydnie Christmas is going to star in a Kent panto this year.The Britain's Got Talent winner will be in Sleeping Beauty in Dartford.And, Sam Lawrie has a roundup of everything going on in Kent this weekend.

What's the best thing to say to someone who's in mourning? Is the second year of grief really the hardest? And who was the lead singer of Westlife? Helping us answer all these questions is the amazing Stacey Heale! She tells us what it was like to lose her husband, Greg, who was diagnosed with Stage 4 bowel cancer on their daughter's first birthday. Stacey explains what life is like now, nearly three years after his death. We discuss Widow's Fire - the phenomenon of bereaved people who turn to sex for comfort. Plus, the best and worst ways to help someone you love through the grieving process. It all sounds a bit dark, doesn't it? But honestly, we have loads of laughs along the way. We also take a deep dive into the live advice of Ireland's greatest philosopher-king, Ronan Keating, and discover Helen knows nothing about boy bands. We finish with some Scummy Mummy Confessions involving wee and a close encounter with a member of Bros. Stacey's brilliant book, Now is Not the Time for Flowers, is out now. Follow her on insta @stacey_heale.*WE ARE ON TOUR!* We have one more show this summer, in Sevenoaks on 19 July. Then in the autumn we're coming to Barnard Castle, Darlington, Sturminster Newton, Portsmouth, Guildford, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Glasgow, Dundee, Hertford, Canterbury, Blackburn, Tenbury Wells, Newport, Norwich, East Grinstead, Harrogate, Newcastle... And then it's our Christmas tour! Go to scummymummies.com for dates and tickets. *WE HAVE A SHOP!* Visit scummymummiesshop.com for our ace t-shirts, mugs, washbags, sweatshirts and beach towels. FREE UK DELIVERY! We're on Twitter (@scummymummies), Instagram, and Facebook. If you like the podcast, please rate, review and subscribe. Thank you for listening! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This special bonus episode was recorded on Saturday 6 July, just two days after the general election. We got to interview Jess Phillips MP in front of a live audience at the Birmingham MAC, and she was brilliant. We covered loads of topics including Jess's work in the areas of women's rights and domestic violence, what she wants the new Labour government to prioritise, and what she thinks of Starmer's cabinet appointments. We also talk about the abuse suffered by Jess and her staff in the run-up to the election, and why she thinks it was the worst campaign she's ever been involved in. Plus: fancying Stanley Tucci, why becoming an MP is like joining the NCT, and parliamentary hairdressers - do Tories have better hair? After all that we had some questions from the audience that were so brilliant we ran out of time (forgot) to do the Scummy Mummy Confessions. But if that's your favourite bit of the show, have no fear - we have something special coming soon. Make sure you're subscribed to the podcast so you don't miss out. Huge thanks to Jess Phillips, and a massive thank you to the Birmingham MAC for having us. If you're round that way do check out their Motherhood Season - there are loads of amazing talks, exhibitions, workshops and more running right through September. *WE ARE ON TOUR!* We have one more show this summer, in Sevenoaks on 19 July. Then in the autumn we're coming to Barnard Castle, Darlington, Sturminster Newton, Portsmouth, Guildford, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Glasgow, Dundee, Hertford, Canterbury, Blackburn, Tenbury Wells, Newport, Norwich, East Grinstead, Harrogate, Newcastle... And then it's our Christmas tour! Go to scummymummies.com for dates and tickets. *WE HAVE A SHOP!* Visit scummymummiesshop.com for our ace t-shirts, mugs, washbags, sweatshirts and beach towels. FREE UK DELIVERY! We're on Twitter (@scummymummies), Instagram, and Facebook. If you like the podcast, please rate, review and subscribe. Thank you for listening! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

People living in a village between Folkestone and Dover say plans to build 90 more homes is "concreting over countryside and will spoil views".Developers have lodged plans to transform farmland in Capel-le-Ferne - and it's already raised more than 100 letters of objection.Also in today's podcast, a woman's described the moment a car crashed into her house in a village near Ashford.Jenny Garrad was upstairs in the property when it happened on Chequer Tree Farm Road in Mersham - she's now calling for improvements to the junction with Colliers Hill.With just three days until the general election, a first time voter in Kent admits he still hasn't decided where to put his cross.At the start of the campaigning, Luca Fasulo had a clear idea who he was going to vote for - but that changed after watching a hustings.A disabled woman from Sevenoaks has accused a company of discrimination after she apparently wasn't allowed on a bus because of her mobility scooter.Amanda King says the driver of the Number 8 Go Coach from the town centre was shaking his head as she used the ramp, despite the disabled bay being free - he reportedly then closed the door on her. Three school boys from Tonbridge have helped set a new tug of war world record...Owen, Freddie and Otis used a 540 meter long rope at the town's race course - with 500 other children taking part.And in sport, Gillingham are back in training for the new season today.They've had nine weeks off since finishing outside the play-off places in league 2.

The company behind a £30 million regeneration project in Canterbury has been put into administration.It means the development of the former Nasons department store in the city is now in doubt.As the fall out from the election betting scandal continues, the KentOnline Podcast has been hearing your thoughts about those involved.Earlier this week the Conservatives withdrew support for two candidates under investigation for betting on the timing of the election - Labour has also made one suspension.Meantime, With the general election just a week away, we've been speaking to a local pub boss about what the hospitality sector wants from the new government.Hear from Phil Thorley who's from Thorley Taverns in Thanet.People in Larkfield are being asked what they think about plans for new community sports hub.The area's been left with a lack of facilities since the K Sports site in Ditton closed last week. The chairman of Larkfield and New Hythe Football Club says the development would be huge for the club.A newsagents in Sevenoaks that's been derelict for 30 years has been transformed into a sweet shop.Zoe Barnes has been telling the podcast it's been a lifelong ambition to open her own store.And in sport, a Kent athlete's been named in the Team GB bouldering squad for this summer's Olympics.Erin McNeice from Sittingbourne secured her place after finishing third in the finals of the qualifying series in Budapest.

An inquest has heard a popular workman described by loved ones as “the greatest partner and father” died after falling down a manhole in a tragic accident.The specialist labourer from Deal fell into the opening after being distracted by a passing road-sweeping vehicle while working at a new housing estate.Also in today's podcast, we bring you an update after arsonists decimated a Forest School created for children in Sevenoaks. The vandals destroyed hours of work by dedicated volunteers from the Kent Wildlife Trust at Sevenoaks Nature Reserve, causing thousands of pounds worth of damage. You can hear from developers after plans were revealed to transform an historic creek into flats and townhouses alongside a cafe, shop and workshops.It's an attempt to reconnect Siittingbourne town centre with its “lost waterside”.The future of a block of public toilets in one area of Kent is up for debate after claims it costs “up to £60 per use”.The facilities in Meopham, opposite the cricket green, shut at the start of April due to financial reasons.And you can hear about a hidden estate in an abandoned Kent village that's just gone on the market for millions of pounds.The gothic mansion is kitted out with plenty of luxuries including a cinema, tennis courts and even a zip wire. 

How do you get a book deal? Is Michael Buble's music for life, or just for Christmas? What's it like to watch your husband simulate anal sex with one of Britain's leading actors? Answering all these questions is the brilliant Beth Morrey! She tells us how her first novel ended up in a bidding war after facing loads of rejections, and how her writing process works now. We hear her top tip for avoiding procrastination, and learn why she doesn't read her own reviews. Then yes, it's a bit early, but we discuss Ellie and Beth's shared love of all things Christmas. Are they insane, or just organised? You decide! (NB There is a bit of Santa chat here, so maybe skip ahead if there are little ones around...)Beth talks about the hilarious back to school photos she does every year with her husband, Magic Radio's Tom Price. We brainstorm some new ideas for her. And if you remember Tom's Billie Piper story from previous episodes, get ready to enjoy a whole new layer of hilarity. We end with Scummy Mummy Confessions - you may never eat cherries again. Beth's fantastic new book, Lucky Day, is out now. Find her on Insta and X @bethmorrey.*WE ARE ON TOUR!* Come and see our live comedy show in Exeter, Redruth, Newbury, Watford, Sevenoaks... Big Scottish tour in October... And new dates are being added all the time! Keep an eye on scummymummies.com for announcements and tickets. *WE HAVE A SHOP!* Visit scummymummiesshop.com for our ace t-shirts, mugs, washbags, sweatshirts and beach towels. FREE UK DELIVERY! We're on Twitter (@scummymummies), Instagram, and Facebook. If you like the podcast, please rate, review and subscribe. Thank you for listening! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Our guest for this episode is the amazing Caro Tasker. We cover a huge range of topics, including baby loss, raising autistic kids, and how trauma can help you discover who you are. There's also some much less serious nonsense. Why doesn't anyone use the word git any more? Is being married to a famous rugby player like being in Footballers Wives, only with different shaped balls? What was it like to be a guest at Harry and Meghan's wedding, and what's the one sentence George Clooney said to Caro? Ellie and Caro are co-hosting the new Borne Podcast, so we chat about that, and the amazing research the charity is doing into preventing premature birth. We sing the praises of Professor Mark Johnson and his Justice League of Fannies (not his terminology.) Caro discusses the amazing gift the prof gave her, and Ellie talks about the weight he took off her shoulders. You can follow Caro on Insta @spikey, and find The Borne Podcast wherever you found this one. This episode is dedicated to Freddie, with love. *WE ARE ON TOUR!* Come and see our live comedy show in Liverpool, Nottingham, Exeter, Redruth, Newbury, Watford, York, Sevenoaks... And new dates are being added all the time! Keep an eye on scummymummies.com for announcements and tickets. *WE HAVE A SHOP!* Visit scummymummiesshop.com for our ace t-shirts, mugs, washbags, sweatshirts and beach towels. FREE UK DELIVERY! We're on Twitter (@scummymummies), Instagram, and Facebook. If you like the podcast, please rate, review and subscribe. Thank you for listening! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's a transatlantic party in this episode as we meet KK and Kerry, the world's second best female comedy double act! We hear about their fab show, Six Chick Flicks, and they tell us the best meet cute stories they've heard from audience members. We discuss how they're enjoying their UK tour, including what they think of Scunthorpe and why they love M&S. Kerry tells us about the time she auditioned to be a theme park princess, and Ellie reveals the reason she got turned down for a job at the Disney Store. There's a bit of political chat - we touch on Trump, Sunak, and the terrifying recent changes to US abortion law. Then it's business as usual as we round up with some incredibly low brow confessions involving broken toilets and peeing yourself on stage. Six Chick Flicks - aka A Legally Blonde Pretty Woman Dirty Danced on the Beaches while writing a Notebook on the Titanic - is going all around the UK right now! Grab your tickets from sixchickflicks.com.*WE ARE ON TOUR TOO!* Come and see our live comedy show in Mansfield, Leicester, Liverpool, Nottingham, Exeter, Redruth, Newbury, Watford, York, Sevenoaks... And new dates are being added all the time! Keep an eye on scummymummies.com for announcements and tickets. *WE HAVE A SHOP!* Visit scummymummiesshop.com for our ace t-shirts, mugs, washbags, sweatshirts and beach towels. FREE UK DELIVERY! We're on Twitter (@scummymummies), Instagram, and Facebook. If you like the podcast, please rate, review and subscribe. Thank you for listening! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

An exotic animal is on the loose after escaping from its zoo enclosure - and we're being warned not to approach her. The Tayra - a weasel-like mammal from Central America - was discovered missing from the Hemsley Conservation Centre on Sunday. Also in today's podcast, drivers have had their say on a new £650k turbo roundabout as work comes to an end.Some claim the redesign of the Running Horse Roundabout in Maidstone is a waste of money, while others believe it has significantly reduced queues.The KentOnline Podcast has heard from an Ashford man who lost his father and uncles after they were given contaminated blood products. He's reacted to the release of yesterday's report which found the infected blood scandal was no accident, and successive governments have tried to cover it up. A Walderslade dad-of-two has been told he has weeks to live following a three-year fight with cancer.He was first diagnosed with testicular cancer in 2021 before it spread to his stomach and lungs - he's now been told the cancer is too aggressive to try further treatment. And an ex-convict says she has been given a “second chance” after a plant project in Cranbrook helped her get a bank account and roof over her head.She was released this year and has since been working for The Glasshouse - they have an exhibit at the Chelsea Flower Show. 

In 1979, Suman and Manjit fall in love, setting into motion a series of events that will change their lives forever. In 1997, the Seven Oaks girls come to the Virk house for a dinner to remember, leading to the shocking revelation of Manjit's secret. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/mo-sisco/support

This episode is all about the new weight loss drug Ozempic - what are the risks? What are the benefits? How does it actually work? Joining us is author Johann Hari, who has written a book all about it. Just to be clear: this is a full and frank discussion about the issues around weight loss, the body positivity movement, and the health risks of obesity. We hear some tough stats about the dangers of being overweight, and some graphic descriptions of fat shaming. There's also some strong language. Johann tells us about his personal experience of taking Ozempic, and whether he'd recommend it to his friends. We find out why one scientist has predicted 30 per cent of us will be on the drug in a few years, and why its invention could be as significant for society as the arrival of the smartphone. Speaking of which - we ask Johann if he's successfully cured himself of his phone addiction since we last had him on the podcast to discuss his previous book, Stolen Focus. We end of course with Scummy Mummy Confessions, and a discussion of whether Princess Diana used the C word. Johann's book, Magic Pill: The Extraordinary Benefits and Disturbing Risks of the New Weight Loss Drugs, is out now. You can find all his gubbins over at johannhari.com.*WE ARE ON TOUR!* Come and see our live comedy show in 2024! We are on our way to Oxford, Swansea, Cardiff, Mansfield, Leicester, Liverpool, Nottingham, Exeter, Redruth, Newbury, Watford, York, Sevenoaks... And new dates are being added all the time! Keep an eye on scummymummies.com for announcements and tickets. *WE HAVE A SHOP!* Visit scummymummiesshop.com for our ace t-shirts, mugs, washbags, sweatshirts and beach towels. FREE UK DELIVERY! We're on Twitter (@scummymummies), Instagram, and Facebook. If you like the podcast, please rate, review and subscribe. Thank you for listening! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Cam is thrown by a shocking discovery, and the police rush to unravel what really happened under the bridge. Josephine makes a deal with Rebecca, while a look into the past reveals Reena's first rebellion. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/mo-sisco/support

Yes, it really has been 25 years since Ralph's Party was released! You are that old! Here to talk about that book, and all the brilliant ones she's written since, is best-selling author Lisa Jewell. She tells us about her writing process, and how she cured herself of imposter syndrome. Lisa shares her top tips for budding authors, and introduces us to our new favourite website, doesthedogdie.com. We talk discuss true crime, and why so many of us women like it so much. Then there's some chat about raising adolescents - Lisa reveals why her parenting style differs from her partner's, and offers some advice on getting through the teenage years. We finish with a Scummy Mummy Confession from Helen that leaves Lisa more horrified than any of the terrible things she's written about in her books. The sexy new anniversary edition of Ralph's Party is out on 23 May. The paperback of Lisa's latest thriller, None of This is True, is out now. Follow her on Instagram and Twitter @lisajewelluk. *WE ARE ON TOUR!* Come and see our live comedy show in 2024! We are on our way to Cockfosters THIS SATURDAY, then Kent, Oxford, Swansea, Cardiff, Mansfield, Leicester, Liverpool, Nottingham, Exeter, Redruth, Newbury, Watford, York, Sevenoaks... And new dates are being added all the time! Keep an eye on scummymummies.com for announcements and tickets. *WE HAVE A SHOP!* Visit scummymummiesshop.com for our ace t-shirts, mugs, washbags, sweatshirts and beach towels. FREE UK DELIVERY! We're on Twitter (@scummymummies), Instagram, and Facebook. If you like the podcast, please rate, review and subscribe. Thank you for listening! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Stephen Shipp, headmaster at Seven Oaks Classical School, joins host Scot Bertram to discuss Seven Oaks' excellent results in Indiana state literacy assessments, the power of reading out loud to students, and a recent grant allowing his school to build its own library.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Why do lesbians have the highest divorce rate? How do you navigate an open relationship? What goes on in a sex lab? Answering all these questions is the amazing Rosie Wilby! The comedian and author tells us all about her brilliant books, Is Monogamy Dead? and The Breakup Monologues. We discuss some of the fascinating things she's discovered through her research, and learn a superb fact about bonobos. Rosie explains why she and her wife are considering opening up their marriage, and reveals what it's like to perform stand-up at a sex party.You can follow Rosie on X @rosiewilby and on Instagram @breakupmonologues. And you can find the Breakup Monologues podcast in all the usual places. *WE ARE ON TOUR!* Come and see our live comedy show in 2024! We are on our way to Stockport, North London, Kent, Oxford, Swansea, Cardiff, Mansfield, Leicester, Liverpool, Nottingham, Exeter, Redruth, Newbury, Watford, York, Sevenoaks... And new dates are being added all the time! Keep an eye on scummymummies.com for announcements and tickets. *WE HAVE A SHOP!* Visit scummymummiesshop.com for our ace t-shirts, mugs, washbags, sweatshirts and beach towels. FREE UK DELIVERY! We're on Twitter (@scummymummies), Instagram, and Facebook. If you like the podcast, please rate, review and subscribe. Thank you for listening! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What makes the Danish some of the happiest people on earth? How can we steal their ideas, and what's stopping us? Why are Norwegian women like oil rigs? Answering all these questions is the amazing Helen Russell! We talk about her brilliant new book,How to Raise a Viking. Join us as we go on a wonderful journey to a land where the streets are paved with trampolines, children are given knives to play with, and men are having VR sex in enormous spunk factories. We talk about dating in Denmark, and the dark side of living Danishly - is it really all hygge, all the time? And to finish, we have some super Scummy Mummy Confessions involving cat pee and Easter treats. Helen's book is out now! You can follow her on Instagram and X @mshelenrussell. *WE ARE ON TOUR!* Come and see our live comedy show in 2024! We are on our way to Northampton, Sutton Coldfield, Stockport, North London, Kent, Oxford, Swansea, Cardiff, Mansfield, Leicester, Liverpool, Nottingham, Exeter, Redruth, Newbury, Watford, York, Sevenoaks... And new dates are being added all the time! Keep an eye on scummymummies.com for announcements and tickets. *WE HAVE A SHOP!* Visit scummymummiesshop.com for our ace t-shirts, mugs, washbags, sweatshirts and beach towels. FREE UK DELIVERY! We're on Twitter (@scummymummies), Instagram, and Facebook. If you like the podcast, please rate, review and subscribe. Thank you for listening! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week we covered the first battle between ironclads in the American Civil War. March 9, 1862, the C.S.S. Virginia vs. the U.S.S. Monitor neither ship would sail into 1863. Research for this episode came from the following resources. Hale, Nathan. Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales: Big Bad Ironclad! Harry N. Abrams, 2012. Atlas of the Civil War: Explore America's Greatest Conflict, 2019. Meredith Corporation. Wertz, Jay. The Civil War Experience: 1861-1865. SevenOaks, 2008. Restoring the Turret of the USS Monitor | Office of National Marine Sanctuaries (noaa.gov) CSS Neuse and Governor Richard Caswell Memorial | NC Historic Sites

A former landlord has told how his life running the pub he called home was “destroyed” by three drunken customers who broke his arm in a shocking attack.The grandfather says the Margate pub “was never the same” for him and his wife after the “horrific” attack. Also in today's podcast, new data shows more than 280-thousand illegal vapes were seized in Kent last year - but not a single fine was issued.We've had the highest number out of more than 150 local authorities across the country with many of the vapes coming through the Port of Dover. A scrap metal dealer has admitted theft after being caught on camera taking a bin of metal shavings.He'd told staff at the Chaucer Business Park, near Sevenoaks, that he was allowed to help himself and later planned to sell it on. Controversial plans for 250 homes have been approved – despite a head teacher raising fears over children's safety at a nearby school.The school's head says he's worried about traffic and parking problems is the estate in Margate goes ahead. And the winners of the Kent & Medway Food & Drink Awards have been announced, including Pub of the Year and Restaurant of the Year.Residents have been voting for their favourite hot spots from across the county from flavoursome street food to high-end hotels.

Tributes are being paid to 16-year-old Alisha Marie, who has died in a crash on the A249 between Sittingbourne and Maidstone.A 15-year-old boy was seriously injured when a vehicle overturned on Saturday night, and a 17-year-old boy has been arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving.Also in today's episode, rail passengers are facing a week of disruption after a landslip closed the line between Rainham and Sittingbourne.The six-mile stretch will be shut for the next seven days as engineers work to stabilise the slippage at Newington.After marking the second anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine, a woman who moved to Kent says she doesn't know if she'll ever return.More than 3,500 Ukrainians relocated to the county since the start of the war, and around 800 have gone back. It has been revealed proposals for a new village near Sevenoaks have been based on improvements to the M25 which might never happen.The council want to build 2,500 homes at Pedham Place.The owners of a barber shop near Sittingbourne say they were told to move out for renovation work - only to find the building had been converted into flats.Teynham Cutz occupied the site in London Road for seven years until a new landlord took over.In football, Maistone United's historic run in the FA Cup continues tonight when they face Championship side Coventry in the fifth round.Thousands of Stone fans are making the journey to the midlands.And, Gillingham have boosted their promotion hopes after a 1-0 win against Wrexham.The result means they've moved up to seventh in the League 2 table and are currently in the play-off places.

Chris Granger, owner of Seven Oaks Grand Coteau LLC, and Maison Title, joined Discover Lafayette to discuss his growing real estate empire. He is an attorney, a married father of five young boys, and a force to be reckoned with! While Chris worked with an established law firm for 2 1/2 years after graduating from law school, he knew he was never going to work for someone else very long. In 2018 he opened up his own law practice with his wife's cousin, Benjamin Trant, and then Justin Leger became the third business partner. Business took off. The logo/painting of Maison Title was derived from an old painting found in a rental home. Leah Graeff, Maison Title's Marketing and Brand Strategist, redesigned the painting and the logo's font is based upon one found on an old sweet potato label, the significance of which Chris explains, "Grand Coteau is the sweet potato capital of the world. Justin, Ben and I found an artist who came up with the font. Only 35 years old, Chris bought his first property, at $70 thousand with 10% down through a bank closing, as his family residence in Grand Coteau while in his third year of law school. It was a perfect starter home for his wife, Meghan, and their young family to live in. When they needed a larger home for their growing family, Chris decided to rent out the Grand Coteau property, which reappraised at $105K after the improvements they had done. Chris and Meghan Granger pictured with their young family. Photo from Facebook. "The light bulb went off about leveraging the $35K equity in the home. Let's leverage what we already have. What if I scale this thing? I could own 25 rental homes. My initial goal was to have 40 by 40! That was my mantra. But it happened quicker than that." Chris's whole portfolio is based upon leveraging. "You can't put down 10 - 20% equity in each house you buy." Chris's portfolio grew to 25 properties quickly. "I'm a big believer in community banks. Being able to walk in and talk to your local baker and explain a deal is invaluable. But they tend to have a tendency to pause you if you grow too fast. When I got to 25 houses I remember being paused. It's a small circle. The first 25 loans were with two local banks. That lasted two years where I was stalled. So I went head in with my practice with Maison Title." Today, Chris Granger owns several hundred residential and commercial properties, which include the former Jefferson Street Pub, now known as The Jefferson, Abacus, the historic site location of Straw Cove Baking Company at 111 Monroe Street, and 160 units in two apartment complexes in Leesville LA. Chris's thriving real estate title closing agency, Maison Title, is also located in Freetown in the old Petro House on Jefferson Street as well as another branch in Grand Coteau LA. Chris defines himself as a "pedal to the medal guy," doing 90% of the work. He admits, "I need help with the last 10%." He relies on his manager of Seven Oaks Grand Coteau, Casey, to run the property management duties full-time. "Everything in my mind is about rentable doors. We have a few over 425 doors. 140 single family units." When asked about scaling his projects, Chris has learned from experience. "You always need the extra employee before you can afford them. Learning to navigate the cash flow conundrum where you have enough work, but you also have to take a leap of faith to hire them. You always need the help before you can afford them." We discussed the current housing market and the affordability issue. "There is a lack of housing in the $150-250K range in our housing market. Anything above $300K we don't see a lot of in our practice. $200-300K is what we see. There's a national, local, regional housing shortage in real estate." Flood insurance costs are a real issue for rentals. 'You do well when you have quantity. The goal is to net $200 to $250 per month per unit. Throw on a $1,000 flood insurance policy,

In the summer of 1989 a serial arsonist targeted homes in developments in Southwest Bakersfield.  The Oaks, Campus Park, Haggin Oaks, Silvercreek, and Seven Oaks were all neighborhoods the arsonist terrorized. Notorious Bakersfield: The Book is available for purchase!Order your copy here: https://a.co/d/3b1jj4FNotorious Bakersfield: The Book is available for purchase!Order your copy here: https://a.co/d/3b1jj4F

Basil Copper, born on February 5, 1924, in London, and passing away on April 3, 2013, was an English writer who initially pursued a career in journalism and newspaper editing before transitioning to full-time authorship in 1970. Beyond his literary pursuits, Copper cultivated diverse interests, including swimming, gardening, travel, sailing, and collecting historic films. Notably, he established the Tunbridge Wells Vintage Film Society and actively participated in esteemed film organizations in London. Basil Copper spent a significant portion of his life in Sevenoaks, Kent, and he was survived by his wife Annie, with whom he entered matrimony in 1960. Basil Copper's literary journey embarked with his inaugural short story, "The Curse," published at the age of 14. His professionally published debut, "The Spider," emerged in the Fifth Pan Book of Horror Stories in 1964. Venturing into novels, Copper made his mark with the Mike Faraday series, beginning with "The Dark Mirror" in 1966. Widely recognized for his series of Solar Pons stories, paying homage to Sherlock Holmes, Copper's association with editor August Derleth resulted in publications through Arkham House. Among his notable works are "Necropolis" (1980), a crossover between Victorian Gothic and detective fiction, and "The Great White Space" (1975), a novel influenced by Edgar Allan Poe and Lovecraft. Copper's macabre tales, including "The Academy of Pain" and "Beyond the Reef," underscored his mastery in horror fiction. His significant contributions earned him a Locus Award nomination in 1981, and in 2009, "Basil Copper: A Life in Books," a biographical work, received the British Fantasy Award for Best Non-Fiction. Basil Copper's literary impact endures, resonating through the realms of horror and detective fiction. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kyle Jones welcomes Sarah Kuhlmann and Tarin Meadows, Co-owners of F45 Training Seven Oaks and Fit-Pantry. Sarah and Tarin tell us the story of F45 training. Their inspiration behind bringing F45 training to the community was that they wanted to provide a fun place that produces high-intensity workouts to get the heart pumping. F45 Training's mission is to help its members conquer everyday movements and unlock their inner athlete. At F45 Training, their workouts are created by certified personal trainers to bring together all muscle groups in the body, helping them achieve exceptional strength, energy, and flexibility that leave their members feeling their best. More information on F45 Training Seven Oaks is down below.  Sarah and Tarin established their own business known as Fit Pantry. Their mission behind their restaurant is to connect people to healthy real food with ease. They opened Fit Pantry in October of 2016 and have made it their mission ever since to serve others with well-balanced nutritious meals. You can find their locations and more information on their website below. LEARN MORE ABOUT F45 TRAINING AND FIT PANTRY: Websites: https://f45training.com/studio/sevenoaksca/ https://www.fitpantry.com/ Phone number: F45 Training: (661) 310-3305 Phone number: Fit Pantry: (661) 679-7684 Facebook: F45_Training_SevenOaks Fit_Pantry Instagram: f45_training_sevenoaks fitpantrybakersfield

This podcast hit paid subscribers' inboxes on Oct. 2. It dropped for free subscribers on Oct. 9. To receive future pods as soon as they're live, and to support independent ski journalism, please consider an upgrade to a paid subscription. You can also subscribe to the free tier below:WhoDan Grider, General Manager of Great Bear, South DakotaRecorded onSeptember 25, 2023About Great Bear Ski ValleyOwned by: The City of Sioux FallsLocated in: Sioux Falls, South DakotaYear founded: 1966Pass affiliations: NoneReciprocal partners:* 3 days at Seven Oaks* 2 days at Mont du Lac* 1 day each at Buck Hill, Powder Ridge MN, Snowstar* Discounts at several other local ski areasClosest neighboring ski areas: Mt. Crescent (2:37), Mount Kato (2:16)Base elevation: 1,352 feetSummit elevation: 1,534 feetVertical drop: 182 feetSkiable Acres: 20Average annual snowfall: 49 inchesTrail count: 15 (7 most difficult, 5 more difficult, 3 easiest)Lift count: 3 (1 fixed-grip quad, 1 ropetow, 1 carpet – view Lift Blog's inventory of Great Bear's lift fleet)Why I interviewed himFrequent Storm readers have probably started to notice the pattern: every fourth or fifth podcast swerves off Megapass Boulevard and takes four state highways, a gravel path, a Little Caesars pit-stop, and ends in the Wal-Mart-sized parking lot of a Midwest ski area. Which often sits next to a Wal-Mart. Or a car dealership. Or, in the case of Great Bear, between a construction supply depot and the Sioux Falls chapter of the Izaak Walton League, a conservation society.Why do I do this? My last three podcasts featured the leaders of Killington, Keystone, and Snowbird. The next one to drop into your inbox will be Northstar, a Vail Resorts staple that is the ninth-largest ski area in America. If you're reading this newsletter, there is a high probability that you either already have skied all four of those, or plan to at some future point. Most of you will probably never ski Great Bear or anywhere else in South Dakota. Many of you will never ski the Midwest at all.Which I understand. But there are several reasons I've worked Midwest ski areas into the podcast rotation, and why I will continue to do so for as long as The Storm exists:* The episodes with the leaders of Caberfae, Boyne Mountain, The Highlands, and Nub's Nob are for 18-year-old me. Or whatever version of 18-year-old me currently sits restlessly in the ski-mad but ignored flatlands between Ohio and the Dakotas. I devoured every ski magazine on the drugstore shelves of the 1990s, but if I could scrub 500 words of Midwest content from their combined catalogue each winter, I was lucky. I was dying – dying – for someone, anyone, to say something, anything, about the Midwest or Midwest skiing. Even a list of the top 10 ski areas in Michigan, with 50 words on each, would have made my year. But the ski mags, great as they were in those days, barely covered the rich and varied ski culture of New England, let alone the Midwest. I would have lost my goddamn mind had someone published a 90-minute conversation with the owner of the mysterious (to me at the time) Caberfae, with its hills upon hills of abandoned lifts and ever-changing footprint. * The Midwest is home to one of the world's great ski cultures. If you don't believe me, go ski there. The region hosts 122 ski areas across 10 states, most of them in Michigan (43), Wisconsin (33), and Minnesota (21). But the volume matters less than the attitude: Midwest skiers are absolutely unpretentious. They'll ski in hunting gear and Carhartts. They'll ski on 25-year-old sticks they found at a yard sale for five dollars. They'll ski when it's 25 below zero. They'll ski at night, in the rain, on a 200-vertical-foot bump running 60-year-old chairlifts. These are skiers, Man. They do it because it's fun, because it's right there, and because this is one of the few regions where skiing is still accessible to the masses. If you want to understand why every third Colorado liftie you meet is from Grand Rapids or Madison or Duluth, go ski Canonsburg or Cascade or Spirit Mountain. It will make sense in about five seconds.* Because the Midwest has so many owner-operators, and because it takes a certain sort of swaggering competence to run something as temperamental and wild as a 300-vertical-foot, city-adjacent ski area with 17 chairlifts all built before the Reagan Administration, these tend to be very good interviews. The top five most-downloaded Storm Skiing Podcasts of 2023 are Alterra CEO Jared Smith, Holiday Valley President Dennis Eshbaugh, Pacific Group Resorts CMO Christian Knapp, Indy Pass President Doug Fish, and Whitecap Mountains owner David Dziuban. Those first four are fairly predictable (Holiday Valley is a bit of an outlier, as the resort heavily shared the conversation), but the last one is remarkable. Both because only five people have actually skied at Whitecap, and because the 33 podcasts that I've pushed out this year include many prominent and popular megapass headliners with well-known and highly respected leaders. Why did the Whitecap podcast land so hard? I can't say for certain, but I suspect because it is completely raw, completely authentic, and absolutely unconcerned with what anyone will think or how they will react to it. Dziuban, an industry veteran on a mission to salvage a dying business from the scrapyard, has no boss, nothing to lose, and no one to impress. It's an incredible conversation (listen for yourself). And while Dziuban is a special character, bolstered by a fearless Chicago moxie and the accent to match, every single guest I have on from the Midwest brings some version of that no-b******t attitude. It's fun.* I'm from there. I grew up in Michigan. Many of my best friends still live there. I return frequently, hold Michigan football season tickets, camp in the UP every April, still rock the Old English “D” ballcap. I moved to the East Coast in 2002, but the longer I'm gone, the more I admire the region's matter-of-fact work ethic, the down-to-earth worldview, the way Midwesterners simplify the complicated (next time you ride a chairlift with a Michigander at Keystone or Breckenridge, ask them how they got to Colorado – there's a better than 50 percent chance that they drove). Midwest skiing is the reason I love skiing, and I will always be grateful for these hills, no matter how small they are. Plus, I gotta represent.So, there you go. Skip this ep if you want. But you shouldn't, because it's very good.What we talked aboutGreat Bear's record-shattering 2022-23 ski season for skier visits; how the ski area has been able to recruit and retain staff in a difficult labor market; staying open into April; the importance of Christmas Week; memorializing Roxie Johnson; Great Bear in the 1970s; the quirks of running a city-owned ski area; the appeal of working at a small ski area for decades; what it means to a flatland city to have a ski area; the best age to make skiers; “if you can sit, you can tube”; “The nice thing about our profitability is that there's no owner here, so our money just stays in the bank”; contemplating a new chalet; the location, size, and timeline for Great Bear's potential expansion; the glacial phenomenon that left Great Bear in its wake; reflecting on the Covid season; what it means for a small municipal Midwestern ski area to put in a brand-new chairlift; why the outgoing Borvig quad had to go, even though it was “a tank”; the brilliance and cost-effectiveness of high-speed ropetows; scarves and ropetows don't mix; the story behind the “Children's Dental Center Beginner Area”; the power of tubing; Keeping season pass and lift ticket prices low; the story behind the season passholders-only timeslot on Sunday; holding strong on wicket tickets; free buddy tickets for passholders; Flurry the mascot; and the Indy Pass.Why I thought that now was a good time for this interviewLike many small ski areas, Great Bear publishes a periodic newsletter to complement its social media presence. I subscribe to as many of these email digests as I am aware of, as they often contain nuggets that larger resorts would celebrate with a big campaign and press release. Great Bear's April newsletter hooked me with this:We are excited to finally start sharing with you our plans for future expansion! Efforts to expand have been in the works since 2013. Our top priority is adding another 7-acres of skiable downhill terrain with a second chairlift. Additionally, we are working on plans to significantly expand the lodge.As a city park, our next step is presenting a detailed plan to the Parks Board next month. We appreciate all your enthusiasm for a bigger and better Great Bear. Projects of this size take an enormous amount of work and collaboration. We are so grateful for our partnership with the City of Sioux Falls and all the community support!An expansion project at a municipal ski area marooned in a state with a population of fewer than 900,000 people is a big deal. It means the place is well-run and well-cared-for, and most likely a community staple worthy of some national attention. The fact that Great Bear was served not by a collection of ropetows and a 60-year-old Hall double, but by a carpet and a brand-new Skytrac quad, complemented with a high-speed Park Brah ropetow, were further evidence of a highly capable management team.Intrigued, I reached out. It took a minute, but we set up the podcast with Grider, who's been running the bump since 1992. He's a great storyteller with an upbeat disposition and a good mind for business, and he convincingly lays out a long-term future for Great Bear that will ensure the mountain's status as a skier assembly line for many generations to come. If you love skiing, you'll enjoy this one.Questions I wish I'd askedI'd meant to ask about this “I Ski 182 Vert Campaign,” which profiles locals who have put Great Bear at the center of their recreational lives:Why you should ski Great BearThere are different ways to think about yourself as a skier. One is as a sort of progressionist. Like a student working their way through school, you graduate from one grade to the next. Always forward, never back. So a Jersey kid may learn at Campgaw as a 6-year-old, join after-school ski bus trips to Mountain Creek in junior high, take weekend trips to Mount Snow in high school, and spend college spring breaks at Palisades Tahoe. But by the time he moves to the Upper East Side and has two kids of his own, he only skis on his annual trips to Deer Valley. He sits on his laptop in the lodge as the kids run beginner-chair laps at Thunder Ridge. He's not going to bother with this little stuff – he's graduated.But this is a strange way to think about skiing. We don't apply such logic to other facets of our lives. Consider food – sometimes you have the inch-thick porterhouse on a special-occasion outing, sometimes you have Taco Bell, and sometimes you eat Pop-Tarts on your drive to work. But I don't know anyone who, once they've dined at Peter Luger, never deigns to eat a hotdog again. Sometimes you just need to fuel up.I approach skiing in the same way. A dozen or so days per season, I'm eating steak: Snowbird or Big Sky or Vail or Heavenly. But since I'm not content to ski 12 days per winter, I also eat a lot of pasta. Let's call that New England and the Catskills on their best days, or just about anyplace with fresh snow. And I snack a lot, skiing's equivalent of a bag of Doritos: a half-open Poconos bump, a couple hours on a Sunday morning at Mountain Creek, a Michigan T-bar when I'm visiting family for Christmas. My 6-year-old son is in a seasonal program at 250-vertical-foot Mt. Peter in New York. The vast majority of the parents sit in the lodge on their phones while the kids ski. But I ski, lapping the Ol' Pete double chair, which accesses the whole mountain and rarely has a line. When his lesson is over, we often ski together. It's fun.Everyone funnels the joys of skiing through different lenses. The lift or the freefall, the high-altitude drama, the après electricity of crowded places and alcohol. For me, the draw is a combination of dynamic movement and novelty, an exploration of new places, or familiar places under the changing conditions wrought by weather and crowds. Even though Mt. Peter is familiar, it's a little different place every week.Which takes us to Great Bear, a 182-foot bump that is, most likely, nowhere near you. I'm not suggesting you cancel your Tahoe reservations and book yourself into the Sioux Falls Best Western. But there are two groups of skiers who ought to consider this place: locals, and cross-country road-trippers.If you live in Sioux Falls and are over the age of 16, you probably consider yourself a progressionist. Maybe you learned to ski at Great Bear, but now it's too small for you to bother with. You'll ski your five days per year at Copper Mountain and be content with it. But why? You have a ski area right there. The season pass is $265. Why ski five days per year when you can ski 25? With that Great Bear season pass, you can ski every Saturday morning and two nights a week after work. Consider it your gym. The runs are short, but the sensation of dynamic movement is still there. It's skiing. And while it's (typically) a materially a worse form of skiing than your high-altitude Colorado version of the sport, it's also in many ways better, with less attitude, less pretense, less entitlement, less ego. Just kids having fun. It's fulfilling in a different way.The second group is those of us who live east of America's best versions of skiing. Most East Coast skiers will fly west, but the most adventurous will drive. You see them on Facebook, posting elaborate three- or six-week Google maps dotted all over the west. But why wait until you arrive in Colorado or Wyoming or Montana to start skiing? There are ski areas all along your route. Great Bear sits two miles from Interstate 90, the 3,021-mile-long route that runs from Boston to Seattle. So why not scoot through Kissing Bridge, Buffalo Ski Center, and Peek'N Peak, New York; Alpine Valley, Boston Mills, and Brandywine in Ohio; Swiss Valley, Michigan; Four Lakes and Villa Olivia, Illinois; and Cascade, Devil's Head, and LaCrosse, Wisconsin en route? Yes, you want to hurry west. But the drive will take several days no matter what. Why not mix in a little novelty along the way?My first trip west was over Christmas break in the mid-90s, a 22-hour bender from Michigan to Summit County, Colorado with my buddy Andy. We'd booked a Super 8 or some similar thing in Lincoln, Nebraska, at our approximate halfway point. We rode into Nebraska sometime after dark, but early enough for a night session at Nebraski, a run-down hundred-footer between Omaha and Lincoln. The chairlift coughed up the bump like a cartoon contraption and skiers yard-saled all over the hill and it was just about the most amazing scene you could imagine. Four days later a two-footer hammered Copper, dropping an exclamation-point powder day onto our first Rocky Mountain adventure. Nearly three decades later, when we reminisce on that trip, we talk about that Copper pow day, but long-gone Nebraski (I don't think the place made it out of the ‘90s alive), is an equal part of the legend.A Great Bear stop would be a little different, of course. This is a modern ski area, with a 2021 Skytrac quad and modern snowmaking and solid financial backing. It will make you feel good about skiing and about its future. It may even be a highlight of your trip.Podcast NotesOn the remoteness of Great BearIt is impossible to overstate how important Great Bear is to curating skiers among the 300,000-ish residents of greater Sioux Falls. There are two other ski areas in South Dakota – Terry Peak and resurgent, probably semi-private Deer Mountain – but they sit nearly six hours west, in the Black Hills. Mt. Crescent, Iowa, sits two-and-a-half hours down I-29. Mt. Kato, Minnesota is two hours east. And that's about it. If you're a teenager in Sioux Falls without Great Bear, you may as well be a teenager in Fort Lauderdale. You're probably never going to ski.That wasn't always true. A 175-vertical-foot (at most) bump with the amazing name of Hole In The Mountain once operated with up to three ropetows near Lake Benton, an hour north, according to the Midwest Lost Ski Areas Project. But that's been gone for decades.  On Great Bear's potential expansionGreat Bear is in the process of a sizeable expansion, which could add a second chairlift and several more trails. Great Bear provided this preliminary map, which shows a new lift sitting adjacent to the learning area and a new entrance road and chalet:On the outcome of the Sept. 25 masterplan meetingGrider referenced a meeting he had coming up “later this week,” which means last week, since we recorded this on Sept. 25. I followed up on Sunday to see if the meeting had thrown any landmines in the way of Great Bear's potential expansion. It had not. The reception from local officials had been optimistic and enthusiastic, Grider said.“What we've got to do here in the next six weeks is they're going to formalize the plans and we'll get some drawings, we'll get a rendering,” Grider told me. “Then we go in front of the park board and we just keep our foot on the gas pedal.”On the stem in the middle of Great Bear's old Borvig chairGreat Bear's spanking-new Skytrac replaced a gorgeous but problematic Borvig centerpole quad. Luckily, Lift Blog documented the old lift before the ski area demolished it.On high-speed ropetows and Hyland HillsI remain obsessed with high-speed ropetows as the ultimate solution to terrain park-driven congestion. They're fast, they're cheap, and they tamp down liftlines by drawing Parkbrahs away from the workhorse chairlifts. Here's one I documented at Spirit Mountain, Minnesota last season:And here's one at Hyland Hills, which Grider mentions:On me not knowing who Mary Hart isAt one point in the podcast, Dan Grider asked me if I knew who Mary Hart was. I said I did not, which was true. It turns out that she is quite famous. She was Miss South Dakota 1970 and hosted a show called Entertainment Tonight for 29 years. I have never watched that show, nor was I aware of its existence until I looked up Ms. Hart on Wikipedia.This probably sounds dubious to you. But there is something wrong with my brain. I simply do not process information having to do with pop culture or celebrities. I say this not out of proud ignorance, but as a matter of observable fact. I have always been this way. Hit me with a well-known movie quote, and I will stare at you as though you just spoke to me in Elvish.An anecdote to illustrate the larger void in which I exist: my wife and I began watching a show called Suits the other day. She asked me if I recognized the young woman who plays a paralegal on this show. I said no. She asked if I knew who Meghan Markle was. I said no. She asked if I knew who Prince [can't remember the name] was. I said no. Because apparently they're married. And that matters somehow. Though I'm not exactly sure why. Though I am curious why we still have princes in this world, because I thought we got rid of them when we exiled the dragons back in like 1502 or whenever.We all have gaps, right? Or shortcomings. One of mine, and there are many, is aggressive indifference to things that I find boring. It's probably how some of you feel when I write about skiing in Ohio. Like, Man, get me to the next thing.On charging the same for kids as adultsMost ski areas kick you a discount for a kids' lift ticket. And why not? Expenses add up for a family, and when you start multiplying everything by three or four, you get to a scary price range pretty quickly. So some of you may have been surprised when Grider mentions, during our interview, that Great Bear doesn't offer discounted lift tickets for kids.There's a simple reason for that. A discounted kids ticket doesn't do much for you when most of your clientele is children. Great Bear is one of our skier factories, where busloads of kids prime themselves for roadtrips to Colorado 10 years from now. So the parents don't need the incentive – they're just signing the waiver to get the kid on the ski bus.Plenty of ski areas follow a similar model. Mount Peter, where my 6-year-old participates in a seasonal program, is currently selling adult season passes for $499, and kids' passes for $479. Nearby Campgaw posts similar rates: $389 for adults, $359 for kids. But it makes sense to minimize the discount: both are 300-ish-foot bumps that are dwarfed by nearby Mountain Creek, a thousand-footer with a killer terrain park and high-speed lifts (and, incidentally, a less-expensive season pass). They can't compete from a terrain point of view, but they can offer something that Creek can't: an unintimidating atmosphere to learn in. And the skiers who mostly need such a thing is kids. And if Mt. Peter and Campgaw discount kids too much, their whole model falls apart.In the case of Great Bear, well, the season pass is currently $265. This winter's lift ticket price will be $38. So, really, who cares?On Flurry the MascotIf your ski area doesn't have a mascot, it should:The Storm explores the world of lift-served skiing year-round. Join us.The Storm publishes year-round, and guarantees 100 articles per year. This is article 81/100 in 2023, and number 467 since launching on Oct. 13, 2019. Want to send feedback? Reply to this email and I will answer (unless you sound insane, or, more likely, I just get busy). You can also email skiing@substack.com. Get full access to The Storm Skiing Journal and Podcast at www.stormskiing.com/subscribe

This podcast hit paid subscribers' inboxes on July 27. It dropped for free subscribers on July 30. To receive future pods as soon as they're live, and to support independent ski journalism, please consider an upgrade to a paid subscription. You can also subscribe for free below:WhoJared Smith, President and CEO of Alterra Mountain CompanyRecorded onJuly 26, 2023About Alterra Mountain CompanyAlterra is owned by a joint venture between KSL Capital and Henry Crown and Company. Alterra owns and operates the following properties:The company's Ikon Pass delivers access to these resorts for the 2023-24 ski season:Why I interviewed himIf I could unleash one artifact of 2023 skiing on the winters of my teens and twenties, it would be these passes. Ikon, Epic, Indy, Mountain Collective. It doesn't matter which. They're all amazing. Punchcards to white-capped horizons. The kind of guidebook I could have spun a winter around, sating those impulses for novelty, variety, constant motion.Not that I mind them now. For anyone, especially families, that lives near skiing and vacations to skiing, they basically saved the sport. Day trips to Windham, weekends at Stratton, a spring break run to the Wasatch: a tough itinerary – perhaps an impossible one – without that plastic ticket secured the previous March.But man I coulda used one of those little Ski Club cards when I was untethered and unmoored and wired at all times on Mountain Dew. And broke, too, by the way. Teenage Stu's ski circuits followed discount days more than snowstorms. Fifteen-dollar lift tickets after one on Sunday at Sugar Loaf? I'm there, rolling three-deep in a red Ford Probe, the driver's-side passenger seat dropped for the skis and poles and boots angled in through the hatchback.I would have preferred a membership. In my 1990s Indy Pass fantasies I roll the Michigan circuit early winter – Nub's and Caberfae and Crystal and Shanty Creek and Treetops. Then 94 to 80, popping into all the snowgun-screaming High Plains bumps along the route west. Chestnut and Sundown and Seven Oaks and Mt. Crescent and Terry Peak. Then the big mountains and the big snows. Red Lodge and Lost Trail and Brundage and Silver and 49 North and White Pass. Or I skip the Midwest and roll Ikon, spend a week circling California. Another in Utah. A third in Colorado on the way home.It's weird how much I think about this. Alternate versions of winters long melted away. I'm not one to dwell or regret. Or pine for the lost or never-was. But that's the power of the multi-mountain ski pass. I never re-imagine my past with an iPhone or the internet or even the modern skis that have amped up the average skier's ability level. But I constantly imagine how much more I could have skied, and how many more places I could have visited, and how much sooner I would have discovered the ski world outside of the destination circuit, had the Ikon and Epic passes arrived 15 to 20 years before they did.These passes are special, is my point here. As a catalyst to adventure and an enabler to the adventurous, they have no equal that I can think of in any other industry. It's as though I could buy some supper club pass and use it at every restaurant in town for an entire year without ever paying again. And among these remarkable products, the Ikon Pass is currently the best of them all. It's hard to dispute this. Look again at the roster above. What they've built in just six years is remarkable. And it keeps getting better.What we talked aboutThe sudden passing and legacy of Aspen managing partner Jim Crown; why Aspen is not part of Alterra; from entry-level salesman to CEO at Ticketmaster; the dramatic evolution of Ticketmaster and its adaptation to the digital age; skiing's digital transition; entering skiing at a high level as an outsider; “we don't make it easy at all for people to come enjoy our sport”; how to better meet consumers on their Pet Rectangles; balancing affordability with crowding and capacity; could lift ticket pricing be more like baseball or concerts?; finally some sensible thoughts on lowering lift ticket prices; $289 lift tickets; filling midweek ghost towns; “we're on the front end of our pricing and product-packaging journey as an industry”; why Alterra bought Snow Valley; rethinking the mountain's lift fleet; chairlift safety bars; Snow Valley expansion potential; housing and bed development at Snow Valley's base; considering a lift connection between Bear Mountain and Snow Summit; whether Alterra could purchase more city-adjacent ski areas; why Alterra bought Schweitzer; expansion potential; how Ikon Pass access may evolve at Schweitzer; the Ikon approach to adding new partners; whether the Ikon Base Pass' value is eroding over time as high-profile partners exit that tier; comparing Epic and Ikon prices; and Alterra's Impact Report.  Why I thought that now was a good time for this interviewSmith pinned his CEO nametag onto his shirt almost exactly one year ago, on Aug. 1, 2022. He's had a busy year. The Ikon Pass has added five new partners (Alyeska, Sun Peaks, Grandvalira, Panorama, and Lotte Arai). Alterra purchased its first two ski areas since Sugarbush in 2019, scooping up Snow Valley, California in January and Schweitzer – the largest ski area in Idaho – last month. And the company acquired gear-rental outfit Ski Butlers and released its first Impact Report. A setback, too: while Ikon has still never lost a partner, Taos jumped off the Ikon Base Pass for next ski season, making it the seventh resort (along with Sun Valley, Snowbasin, Alta, Deer Valley, Aspen, and Jackson Hole) to exit that product.Meanwhile, check out the growing price differential between the Ikon and Epic passes over the past several seasons:After three years of relative parity, Ikon prices blew past Epic when Vail Resorts slashed prices in 2021. So this isn't news. But what's interesting is that Alterra has been able to hold that premium price. Vail lobbed its discount hand grenade three weeks after Alterra had locked in 2021-22 Ikon Pass prices. Rather than follow Vail into the basement, Alterra raised prices again in 2022. And again in 2023. Stunning as those early-bird differentials are, the gap is even more pronounced now: the current sticker price of a 2023-24 Ikon Pass is $1,259, a 36 percent premium over Epic's $929 pricetag. Ikon Base currently runs $929, which is 35 percent more than the $689 Epic Local Pass.So what? A Porsche costs more than a Ford. But when did the Ikon Pass become skiing's luxe label? For years, no one had an answer for Vail. Now it's hard to imagine how the Epic Pass will ever catch up to Ikon. Since 2020, Ikon has added Alyeska, Mt. Bachelor, Windham, Snow Valley, Schweitzer, Panorama, Sun Peaks, Chamonix, Dolomiti Superski, Kitzbühel, Lotte Arai, Sun Valley, and Snowbasin to its roster. Vail has added three ski areas in Pennsylvania and two (really one) in Switzerland, while losing Sun Valley and Snowbasin to Ikon. The Broomfield Bully, which spent the 2010s gobbling up everything from Whistler to Park City to half the Midwest and New England, suddenly looks inert beside its flashy young competitor.For now. Don't expect the dragon to sleep much longer. Vail – or, more accurately, the company's investors – will need to feast again soon (and I'll note that Vail has invested enormous sums into technology, infrastructure, and personnel upgrades over the past 16 months). Which is why Smith's job is so enormous. It won't be enough to simply keep Alterra and the Ikon Pass relevant. They must be transformative. Yes, that means things like terrain expansions and $50 million gondolas and new tickboxes on the Ikon Pass. But it also means the further melding of the physical and the digital, a new-skier experience that does not feel like Alaskan bootcamp, and more creativity in pricing than a $5 season pass purchased seven years in advance and a $4,500 day-of lift ticket.It's 2023. The Pet Rectangle has eaten the world. Any industry that hasn't gotten there already is going to die pretty soon. Skiing is sort of there and it's sort of not. Smith's job is to make sure Alterra makes it all the way in, and to bring us along for the run.Questions I wish I'd askedSo many. The most obvious being about the recent death of 50-year-old Sheldon Johnson, who fell out of a Tremblant gondola after it struck a drilling rig and split open. The photos are insane – it looks as though the car was sliced right in half. My minivan goes apeshit with sensors and auto-brakes if I'm about to back into a fence – why does a gondola, with all the technology we have, keep moving full speed into a gigantic piece of construction equipment?I also wanted to check in on Crystal's decision to jump off the Ikon Pass as its season pass, get an update on the new lifts going in at Alterra's resorts this summer, and ask when Deer Valley was going to get rid of that icky snowboard ban.Podcast NotesOn the sudden passing of Aspen managing partner Jim CrownPer the Aspen Times:Billionaire philanthropist Jim Crown was driving a single-seat, open-top Spec Racer with a 165-horsepower engine on June 25 in Woody Creek when it struck a tire barricade backed by a concrete wall that was surrounding a gravel trap.His son-in-law, Matthew McKinney, drove the Spec Racer a few hours before Crown drove it that day. McKinney remembered the car handled normally, although the brakes “were somewhat stiff, and the brake pedal had to be pressed somewhat firmly.”Aspen Motorsports Park staff told McKinney the brakes were new.These are some of the findings in the Pitkin County sheriff's report, released on Thursday, investigating Crown's death at the 50-acre park last month.A beloved Aspen and Chicago resident, he was not a racetrack rookie. The managing partner of Aspen Skiing Co. and adviser to former President Barack Obama, he enjoyed the Aspen tracks and once owned a Ferrari. He celebrated his June 25 birthday with family at the park.Around 2:20 p.m., deputies were alerted to a crash at the park's eighth corner wall. Dispatchers relayed that the 70-year-old driver was conscious, breathing but bleeding badly from head injuries. And his pulse was weak.McKinney and his wife told the officer in charge, Bruce Benjamin, that they never heard brakes screeching before the crash. (Benjamin noted skid marks near the crash). Crown's car hit the tire barricade “with such force, that it came off the ground a few feet.”Sheriff's deputies, Aspen Ambulance, and Aspen Fire Protection District first responders cared for Crown at the crash site. The report says they took turns giving him CPR chest compressions, but they were unable to save him. Crown was pronounced dead, with daughters Hayley and Victoria nearby.On why Aspen is not part of AlterraSmith and I discussed Aspen's decision to remain independent, rather than become part of Alterra, of which it is part owner. Former Aspen CEO Mike Kaplan told the full story on this podcast two years ago (49:28):On acquisitionsHere are my full write-ups on Alterra's purchase of Snow Valley and Schweitzer.On the evolution of the Ikon Base PassThere's little question that the Ikon Base Pass was underpriced when it hit the market at $599 in 2018. As the pass gained momentum, flooding some of the coalition's biggest names, resorts began excusing themselves from the cheapest version of Ikon. While the coalition has added more partners since inception than it has lost from the Base Pass, losing marquee names like Aspen, Jackson Hole, and Alta contributes to a sense that the pass' value is eroding over time, even as the price continues to climb (the Ikon Base Pass is currently on sale for $929). Here's a look at how Ikon Pass access has evolved since 2018:On Snow Valley's ghost lift fleetSnow Valley may be home to the most abandoned lifts of any operating ski area in the country. A Snow Valley representative confirmed for me earlier this year that lifts 2 and 8 have not run in at least five years, yet they remain on the trailmap today:Even more amazing, when I skied there in March, lifts 4 and 5 are still intact. Lift 5 hasn't been on the trailmap for 20 years!I also referenced a long-cancelled proposal to expand Snow Valley – here's where it sits on old trailmaps (looker's right):On Schweitzer's masterplanSmith alludes to Schweitzer's masterplan. Here's a look:And here, for reference, is the resort today (this map does not include the Creekside lift, which is replacing Musical Chairs this offseason):On Alterra's 2023 lift upgradesAlterra is at work on six new lifts this offseason:* The biggest of those projects is at Steamboat, where phase two of the Wild Blue Gondola will transport skiers from the base area directly to the top of Sunshine Peak. This 3.16-mile-long, 10-passenger gondola will be the longest in North America.* Even more exciting for skiers: the Mahogany Ridge high-speed quad will open an additional 650 acres of terrain looker's left of Pony Express, transforming Steamboat into the second-largest ski area in Colorado:* Mammoth will upgrade Canyon Express (Lift 16) from a high-speed quad to a high-speed six-pack:* Winter Park will upgrade Pioneer from a high-speed quad to a high-speed six-pack with a mid-station:* Solitude will upgrade Eagle Express from a high-speed quad to a high-speed six-pack:* Snowshoe will replace the Powder Monkey triple with a fixed-grip quad:On Smith leaving TicketmasterI referenced a Q&A that Smith did with Pollstar in 2020. You can read that here.On Alterra's Impact ReportSmith and I discuss Alterra's first Impact Report. You can read it here.More Alterra on The Storm Skiing PodcastFormer Alterra CEO Rusty Gregory appeared on the podcast three times, in 2020, 2021, and 2022. I've also hosted the leaders of several of Alterra's ski areas:* Palisades Tahoe President and COO Dee Byrne – May 4, 2023* Deer Valley President & COO Todd Bennett – April 20, 2023* Solitude President & COO Amber Broadaway – March 5, 2022* Steamboat President & COO Rob Perlman – Dec. 9, 2021* Crystal Mountain President & CEO Frank DeBerry – Oct. 22, 2021* Sugarbush President & GM John Hammond – Nov. 2, 2020* Sugarbush President & COO Win Smith – Jan. 30, 2020I've also hosted the leaders of many Ikon Pass partner mountains and related entities, including:* Valle Nevado GM Ricardo Margulis – July 19, 2023* Sun Peaks GM Darcy Alexander – June 13, 2023* SkiBig3 President Pete Woods – May 26, 2023* Snowbasin VP & GM Davy Ratchford – Feb. 1, 2023* Aspenware CEO Rob Clark (Alterra purchased Aspenware in 2022) – Dec. 29, 2023* Loon Mountain President & GM Brian Norton – Nov. 14, 2022* Boyne Resorts CEO Stephen Kircher – Nov. 21, 2022* Sun Valley VP & GM Pete Sonntag – Oct. 20, 2022* The Summit at Snoqualmie GM Guy Lawrence – April 20, 2022* Arapahoe Basin COO Alan Henceroth – April 14, 2022* Big Sky President & COO Taylor Middleton – April 6, 2022* The Highlands President & GM Mike Chumbler – Feb. 18, 2022* Jackson Hole President Mary Kate Buckley – Nov. 17, 2021* Boyne Mountain GM Ed Grice – Oct. 19, 2021* Mt. Buller GM Laurie Blampied – Oct. 12, 2021* Aspen Skiing Company CEO Mike Kaplan – Oct. 1, 2021* Taos CEO David Norden – Sept. 16, 2021* Sunday River GM Brian Heon – Feb. 10, 2021* Windham President Chip Seamans – Jan. 31, 2021* Sugarloaf GM Karl Strand – Part 1, Sept. 25, 2020* Sugarloaf GM Karl Strand – Part 2, Sept. 30, 2020* Boyne Resorts CEO Stephen Kircher – April 1, 2020* Sunday River President & GM Dana Bullen – Feb. 14, 2020* Loon Mountain President & GM Jay Scambio – Feb. 7, 2020 * Boyne Resorts CEO Stephen Kircher – Nov. 21, 2019* Killington & Pico President & GM Mike Solimano – Oct. 13, 2019You can view all archived and scheduled podcasts here.The Storm explores the world of lift-served skiing year-round. Join us.The Storm publishes year-round, and guarantees 100 articles per year. This is article 63/100 in 2023, and number 449 since launching on Oct. 13, 2019. Want to send feedback? Reply to this email and I will answer (unless you sound insane, or, more likely, I just get busy). You can also email skiing@substack.com. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.stormskiing.com/subscribe