SIR - I am a direct descendant of the Vikings who came to pillage and eventually settle in North Kent in the 9th and 10th centuries. I have their gene which gives me deformed middle fingers and a surname from the Roman name for Sweden - Holmia. And despite what Alan Bates would apparently like us to believe (T&A letters, January 26) I have yet to meet anyone who has expressed feelings either way about how my ancestors treated the native population. This is not however true of the legacy of slavery which still resonates today, although it is only in the last few years that people have begun to openly express their feelings of guilt about the way the descendants of slaves have been and still are treated in America. If this shows in ways which Mr Bates finds objectionable - too bad.
The life of a Maidstone and District bus driver on the Home Front during the Second World War
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Updated: 08:50, 27 January 2021
We have become familiar with the stories of wartime heroism from our servicemen at the front during the last war, but what of those left at home to Keep Calm and Carry on?
Tony Webb, of Newbury Avenue in Allington, shares this history of his father, Keith Webb, who was a bus driver for Maidstone and District bus company for 40 years - including the entire 1939 to 1945 conflict.
Keith Webb - 40 years a bus driver
Born in Hollingbourne in 1903, Keith Webb attended the Duke of Yorkâs Royal Military School in Dover as a child and as result became a man of smart appearance and discipline throughout his life. He joined M&D in 1928.
Schools reopening is stupid say Thanet councillor Barry Lewis as he backs parents to defy government law
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Updated: 13:51, 02 January 2021
A councillor and school governor says he will stand shoulder to shoulder in court with any parent who defies the government s plan to reopen schools on Monday.
It comes as a veteran Conservative MP criticised his own government for its approach saying ministers had lost control and needed to close schools urgently.
Cllr Barry Lewis
While 11 districts in Kent will keep schools closed on Monday in reaction to rising Covid-19 cases, schools in Thanet, Dover, Folkestone and Hythe and Canterbury districts are being forced to reopen.