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Times OF TUNBRIDGE WELLS
Five day closure of the A21 road will lead to long delays for drivers MOTORISTS face a challenging start to the New Year with diversions and long delays as the A21 main trunk road closes for five days. Commuters and other travellers will be forced to follow a seven-mile diversion to get to the M25 on the main Hastings to London trunk road. The dual carriageway will be shut in both directions between the A228 and the junction with the A26 Tonbridge East from 8pm on Wednesday January 8 to 6am on Monday January 13. Highways England has taken the measure to carry out maintenance work on the Medway Viaduct above Haysden and the Manor Farm subway near Leigh. All northbound traffic will be diverted through Tonbridge industrial estate, which is set to cause long delays. Southbound traffic will be diverted at the Sevenoaks Weald exit and sent along the B245 through Hildenborough on to the A227 where vehicles will turn left at the top of the High Street on to Bordyke and Hadlow Road before turning right on to Cannon Lane and following the A26 though the industrial estate. Northbound travellers will follow
MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ONE AND ALL
FESTIVE FUN: Year 1 and 2 pupils from Rose Hill School perform their production Gabriel’s Big Break. Picture by Bruce Elliott
Gifts of toys and food mean that no one should miss out this Christmas By Richard Williams
SURFACE TENSION The viaduct has faulty movement joints
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L IL E W DG AT LE TH OW DE N SI K IN AL S OC GE L PA UR UR YO FO EST T
Tuesday December 24 | 2019
THE spirit of giving is alive and well in Tunbridge Wells with the news that urgent pleas for help from both the Mayor’s Toy Appeal and Nourish Foodbank have broken through their targets. Both were at one point likely to fall short. Last month the Times reported how Nourish Community Foodbank started the festive season on the back foot following lower than average donations over the autumn, despite seeing a 50
per cent increase in referrals to them, with around 200 people in need of help this Christmas.
‘I’ve been absolutely blown away by the generosity of people’ Dawn Stanford, Nourish Foodbank We also reported how the Mayor’s Toy Appeal, which too has seen an
increase in the number of children at risk of going without at Christmas, also faced an anxious time after organisers struggled to find somewhere to run the appeal. But thanks to the generosity of the people of Tunbridge Wells, both charities have hit their targets this year. In 2018, Nourish Community Foodbank’s Twelve Days of Christmas Appeal ensured 129 families did not go hungry during the festive period after the charity received more than 11
tonnes of foodbag donations. This year, the foodbank received 18 tonnes of foodbag donations during the appeal, ensuring all families on their books do not go hungry this Christmas. “It has been amazing. I’ve been absolutely blown away by the generosity of people,” said Dawn Stanford, Operations Manager of Nourish Community Foodbank.
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