The Maidstone TCM Blog and Latest News

We thought that you might be interested in seeing a list of this year’s events - this information has now also been added to the events page on the site:

27 June and 4 July: Jazz Festival4 July (tbc): Independents Day26 July: River Festival8 August: Jam in the Park24-28 August: Green Week22 November: Christmas Lights Switch On

Town Centre Management’s Bin the Plastic Bag campaign culminated in B Day on 31 March 2009.  All of the TCM staff gathered at the entrance to Fremlin Walk with Gill from Countrystyle and collected a whole recycling bin full of plastic bags in around two hours!  We also successsfully delivered 10,000 paper bags to a number of the town’s retailers - see the bin the bag roll of honour for the businesses that have pledged their support.  Go to the gallery to see photos of the grand bag swap.

The Maidstone Bus - christened Urban Blue by students from the Cornwallis school was operational from Saturday 2 May.  The bus will be in the town centre alternating between Lockmeadow and HSBC Bank Week Street on weekend evenings.  If when you are in town enjoying Maidstone’s night life you feel that the bus volunteers can be of any assistance to you - be it a graze, a chat or simply somewhere to wait for your lift then you are very welcome to come along.  For more information about the bus and it’s other uses please go to the Maidstone Bus page on the site.

As part of our promotion to make Maidstone a plastic bag free zone, we have been working with local company Phold to create compact shopping bags for use in the town centre.  Phold bags fold down into a neat and flat package which is small enough to store in your pocket or handbag so you can easily have one with you at all times.  To find out more about their bespoke service or to purchase your own stylish bag directly from their online shop, please visit their website at www.phold.co.uk.  Further updates will be available in due course so watch this space!

The Maidstone Bag was officially launched at the Royal Star Arcade on 6 June 2008.  We are happy to announce that you can buy a bag for £2.95 from any of the following outlets:

• Gullands Solicitors, Mill Street
• The Mall Chequers, Ask Me Point
• Ronald White, Pudding Lane
• Stone Court Hotel, Stone Street
• Kilburn Jewellers, Royal Star Arcade
• Destiny, Royal Star Arcade
• Pregalicious, Royal Star Arcade
• Health Matters, Royal Star Arcade
• Leaf Galleries, Royal Star Arcade
• Tu-G’s Coffee Shop, Royal Star Arcade
• Heathers Chiropody, Royal Star Arcade
• Fruit and Vegetable Stall, Earl Street
• Harpers, Market Buildings

For further information please dont’ hesitate to contact the office on 01622 678777.

This annual free music event will be taking place this year on Saturday 9 August at Brenchley Gardens bandstand.  Local bands selected by the Maidstone Youth Forum will be performing throughout the afternoon.  For more information please contact the office on 01622 678777.

For some Months Maidstone Town Centre Management (TCM) has been working with the Borough Council on an ambitious plan to make our town the first in Kent to become plastic bag free.

The date we have set to end the giving of plastic bags in our town centre is 31 March 2009, and we need your help to make it happen!

Maidstone boasts approximately 600 retail outlets of which 50% are privately owned and a number of them are already giving their support to our campaign. 

The new Maidstone eco-bag manufactured from Jute and printed with vegetable based ink will shortly be available from a number of town centre outlets at just £2.95 and we hope more people will take them up and use them for their day today shopping.

We’ll keep you up to date with our ‘Bin the (plastic) Bag’ campaign and look forward to your support in making Maidstone a plastic bag free zone. 

You can read more about this and other stories in our latest newsletter.  Visit our newsletter page to find out more.

Below is a list of our 2008 Events.  Make sure you visit our blog on a regular basis because we’ll be adding full details about each event within these pages. 

31 May 2008 - Proms in the Park - Whatman Park - From 4pm  - free event.  1 June - Battle of Maidstone - Gabriels Hill - From noon  - free event.  28 June - Uprocking, skateboard, bmx and music - South Park - All day free event.  28 June and 5 July - Jazz Festival - Town Centre - 12.00  - free event.  14 September - Maidstone Mela - Mote Park - All day free event.  11-14 September - Heritage Open Days - Various venues - Call 01622 602168 - free event.  23 November - Christmas Lights Switch On - Town Centre - From 12.00 - free event.