Catch up with all your latest news across the county with Finn Macdiarmid.
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00:00Hello and
00:28welcome to Kentonite live on KMTV. I'm Finn McDiarmid. Here are your top stories on Monday
00:33the 20th of January.
00:35A lifeline on the brink. Demand soars at Kent's coastal food banks.
00:40All I see every day, all I witness is getting worse and worse and demand is growing and
00:45growing and growing. It has to stop somewhere.
00:48Time for change. Hundreds march through Canterbury in support of women's rights.
00:52And we're hoping that just by highlighting it we're not going to remain quiet and we
00:56want allies, we want men to get annoyed about this too.
01:00And a kickback in time. Football star joins Gillingham to celebrate 150 years since Royal
01:05Engineers' FA Cup win.
01:07It's a massive thing for a military team to have won the FA Cup.
01:21First tonight, empty shelves and more demand than ever before. That's the reality for the
01:25Canterbury Food Bank, who say they're seeing more people using the service now than at
01:29the beginning of 2024.
01:32But this issue is more widespread than just one food bank, as Oliver Leader de Sacks has
01:36been finding out.
01:38An early morning and another busy day here in Whitstable as Canterbury Food Bank prepares
01:43for another day of relentless demand.
01:47The charity delivered more than 13,000 meals in December alone.
01:52But a new year hasn't stopped that demand from continuing to rise.
01:58This year we're giving out more parcels month on month than we gave out last year. And that
02:05is shocking because we would like to see an end to this. We would like to see food banks
02:11as just a temporary necessity in society and could go back to a situation where people
02:19could support themselves off their incomes. But that doesn't seem to be happening.
02:24When we've been here before, shelves like this one here at the Canterbury Food Bank
02:29would normally be packed with cans of the essentials, food that people need to get through
02:35their daily lives. But that's not the case anymore. Because while donations may be steady,
02:43demand has only increased over the last year.
02:48People can't afford, I think, to donate so much. Whereas we used to pack some biscuits
02:54in every bag, they don't get biscuits anymore. They're more selective of what people get
02:59because there's just not so many people can afford to donate, as well as demand going
03:05up.
03:06It's not just Canterbury Food Bank feeling the strain. Down the road in Herne Bay, empty
03:12pockets and cold weather is forcing more people than ever to seek help from Mayer's
03:18community food bank.
03:20It's been a lifeline because Basman's disabled and we need the heating on. It's like that
03:28saying that goes, heat or eat. We can heat and eat if I come here.
03:33The queue is literally growing every day. January, it was the day when we didn't have
03:38enough food. It's scary. You're looking at the queue, you're looking at the food available
03:43and it's scary. And that question, will I have enough? Will I have enough? I literally
03:47have palpitations sometimes because I think, will I have enough?
03:502024 was a tough year for many, but with more cold weather incoming and energy bills being
03:58so high, 2025 doesn't look like it'll be any easier.
04:05Oliver Leeds of the Saks for KNTV in Herne Bay.
04:09And Oli joins me now. Oli, what are some of the numbers you've been hearing in terms of
04:13people using food banks in Canterbury and the surrounding villages?
04:16Well, Finn, demand seems higher than ever. I spoke to Canterbury Food Bank and they say
04:22that in 2024, they distributed enough emergency parcels that contains like a variety of foods
04:29to make up meals. And they delivered enough to make 117,000 meals. And what's more shocking
04:37is that nearly 49,000 of those parcels were for children being delivered either to their
04:42family home or to their schools. It is families and pensioners that seem to be particularly
04:49impacted at the moment. And as stated in the piece, December over the Christmas period
04:55was a particularly harsh time for people in the district. There was a 5% increase in the
05:00previous year, for example, and at Myers Food Bank, equally high numbers, distributing
05:07around nearly 219,000 meals.
05:10And very quickly, what are some of the root causes behind this?
05:13Well, Finn, it's complicated, as all of this tends to be. And there's a couple of key factors,
05:19particularly food inflation, which is lower than it was during the cost of living crisis's
05:23peak. But it's simply to rise about 4% this year by the British Retail Consortium. That's
05:28not factoring in things like energy prices, which are going up. And it's actually people
05:33we wouldn't expect to be on the poverty line anymore that are really struggling, teachers,
05:37nurses. That's what they say having gone to these food banks, people on minimum wages.
05:42So it's going to be a difficult year for many across the county.
05:45Right. Thank you for joining us with more about this important story.
05:48Now, a national shortage of foster carers could have consequences for children and young
05:53people in Kent. That's according to children's charity Barnardo's. In November alone, local
05:58authorities referred 1,400 children to just one hub for a fostering agency here in Kent.
06:04Tessa Delaunay-Martin spoke to Anchor Foster Care in Gillingham to understand why the demand
06:09is so high.
06:10Here in Kent, someone on the front line of the fostering crisis is Florence Sutherland,
06:14founder of Anchor Foster Care, based here in Medway. She founded the agency over 20
06:19years ago, joining, as she tells us, Kent's longstanding tradition of providing a place
06:23of safety for children in need.
06:25Families were taking in other children, keeping themselves during the war time. So there's
06:31a sense in which Kent as a county and the Kentish people have always been generous and
06:36they've always taken children in their homes. But something has changed and we are beginning
06:44to see a shortage of foster carers.
06:49Anchor Foster Care's Kent Hub received around 1,400 referrals in November 2024 from local
06:54authorities across the South. But on average, Anchor are only able to place one or two children
06:58per month with foster families.
07:00A recent report from children's charity Barnardo's points to a number of reasons for the shortfall.
07:05The cost of living crisis, biological children staying at home for longer, and not enough
07:08younger people replacing retiring carers.
07:11There is a generation that used to do that a long time. And there was that culture of
07:19hospitality and things like that. And I think that generation has either passed on or has
07:26retired.
07:29One of those carers is Sandra, who is now retired after more than a decade as a foster
07:33carer. She told us what drew her to the role and how it's enriched her life.
07:37My daughter decided that she wanted to be a foster carer and I wanted to assist her.
07:43We were very, very fortunate because after her training, she was offered three siblings.
07:50And we were so thrilled. But she already had two of her own. So that was five children
07:54overnight. So I took early retirement and I became a foster carer myself. So I became
08:01a foster mother and a foster grandmother all at the same time.
08:05Without more eligible applicants coming forward, Florence is concerned about the impact of
08:09the shortfall.
08:10The consequences for the shortage of foster carers is huge. The most disheartening thing
08:17is what is going to happen to those children. What are we as a nation doing about it?
08:27For those considering becoming a foster carer but unsure if they meet the criteria, Florence
08:31had this advice to give.
08:33Anyone can become a foster carer. What you don't want to do is to rule yourself out before
08:41you have even talked to somebody. Inquire. You might just be surprised.
08:47Next, hundreds took to Canterbury's High Street at the weekend to march for women's rights.
08:52The group says it was a successful event, but only the beginning. With violence against
08:57women and girls being declared a national emergency, there is definitely more to be
09:00done. Our reporter Ronny Glastal was speaking to those marching in Canterbury over the weekend.
09:05So, good morning women and allies and thank you for coming. I'm really grateful to have
09:13the freedom of expression and the freedom of speech, to be here to speak without threat
09:18of persecution or reprimand. I'm grateful to have the right to vote and hold public
09:24office. I'm grateful to have the right to have power over the direction of my own life.
09:30You're angry and you should be too. Women are not free until all women are free. This
09:35was just part of the official statement released by UK Women's March prior to the countrywide
09:41protest on Saturday the 18th. High streets filled with women and allies marching peacefully
09:48for their rights. This was what Canterbury High Street looked like on that day. Accompanied
09:53by activists, politicians, and guest speakers, crowds joined together in Dame John Gardens
10:01in a rally following their march. Yeah, I just wanted to thank you all for being here.
10:06I'm a little bit blown away and I'm feeling a little bit of, I'll be honest, we're mostly
10:10women. I'm feeling a bit of imposter syndrome right now. I'm thinking, who the hell am I?
10:14To tell any of you anything. You'll know, don't we? But the trouble is other people
10:17don't know. We have to make ourselves loud. I think it's a demonstration of the fact that
10:22we have a voice and we're going to use it and we can organise. And we're hoping that
10:26just by highlighting it, we're not going to remain quiet. And we want allies, we want
10:30men to get annoyed about this too. This is not fair for anybody. Everybody needs feminism
10:35because feminism is about equality. Men are punished for wanting to be a present parent
10:41and neglect their career. Men are punished for crying, for expressing emotion, for talking
10:47about mental health. We're looking particularly to young boys growing up. Pick your role models.
10:52You don't have to be like the men you see around you. You can choose to be a different
10:56kind of man. In Kent at the moment, I'd say some of the challenges women are facing would
11:00be economic challenges and employment challenges. A lot of people, particularly in the area
11:05where I live, in Thannock, around the city of Thannock, a lot of people are unemployed
11:10or are working zero-hours contracts. Women are left with primarily to sort out things
11:15like childcare, looking after the children, juggling work. We're also the victim, like
11:19everyone else in the country, sexual assaults are a huge problem, both unreported and the
11:25massive number of unreported, daily sexual assaults and harassment that women undergo.
11:29And we're just here to say we don't have to put up with this and we're not going to.
11:40Time for a quick break now, but coming up we'll be hearing why today is nicknamed Blue
11:44Monday, the most difficult day of the year, and find out why former Arsenal striker Eduardo
11:49da Silva played against Kent's very own Royal Engineers. All this and more after the break.
15:15Hello and welcome back to Kent Tonight live on KMTV. Now, Kent's multi-billion pound dream
15:21of rivalling Disneyland is over. The London Resort won't be built. The plan was to build
15:27on the Swanscombe Peninsula and put Kent on the map as a global entertainment destination.
15:32But Kent Online have revealed that a High Court judge ordered it into liquidation. It
15:36was first proposed back in 2012 with rides, restaurants and hotels, creating tens of thousands
15:42of jobs and attracting millions of visitors. But after legal pressure from entertainment
15:46giant Paramount, it's been shut down. More on that story on Kent Online.
15:51Now school children in Canterbury were evacuated from a bus after it caught fire this morning.
15:57The Stagecoach vehicle set alight in St Stephen's Road around 9am this morning, causing delays
16:02in the area. Fire, ambulance, police and Kent Highways were on the scene after all the students
16:06got off. Stagecoach confirmed it was the School Time 914 service and that a full investigation
16:13is underway.
16:15Now how are you feeling today? For many of us, Mondays aren't exactly brilliant to begin
16:21with, but today might have been especially tough. That's because it's called Blue Monday,
16:26oftentimes called the most difficult day of the year. It's a mix of gloomy weather, post-Christmas
16:31debt and those forgotten New Year's resolutions. They're said to create the perfect storm for
16:35feeling down. But where did this infamous day come from and is there any truth to it?
16:40Well, Kristen joins me now with what she's uncovered and with a cup of tea. Now I don't
16:45normally drink tea, but thank you very much. So why have you brought me a cup of tea today?
16:49Well, so as you said, it's Blue Monday, but it's actually been rebranded by the Samaritans
16:54as Brew Monday, which is basically instead of people feeling a certain way or feeling
17:04they have to be sad, it is instead where people are supposed to come together virtually
17:08or online with family, friends, people they care about, and just discuss how they're feeling
17:13at this time of year, as opposed to maybe just feeling down about it. Because around
17:17this time of year, mental health is something that many people struggle with. I was told
17:21by North Kent Mind that their referrals go up quite a lot at this time of year due to
17:26all the things that you said at the start there, debts, people not getting paid, just
17:32after Christmas, all these different things. And she thinks that the term Brew Monday is
17:37actually quite a good idea. It puts more of a positive spin on it. So yeah, here's what
17:41she has to say about it.
17:43To it, that actually is a really difficult time of year after Christmas, after New Year
17:54and people made resolutions, perhaps they haven't been able to stick to. We believe
17:59that to say Brew Monday, it trivialises those that are struggling or experience mental health
18:04issues to one day of the year. So across the festive period.
18:16So where does Brew Monday actually come from?
18:19Well, interestingly to some, maybe not to others, but it's actually a marketing ploy.
18:24It was created in 2005 by a UK travel company and they worked with psychologists, a UK psychologist,
18:33to bring up this, which is what they call a depression formula. So basically it factors
18:38in weather, debt, time since Christmas, motivational levels, all these different things. But obviously,
18:46I mean, it's quite hard to sort of judge motivational levels of the entirety of the UK and changes
18:51for everybody, as does the weather every year. So yeah, basically it was just created
18:56so that people would be encouraged to book a holiday around this time of year.
19:00Right, right. Well, for anyone not booking a holiday that's having to just go through
19:03Brew Monday as normal, what are some ways people can sort of combat that?
19:07Yes, definitely. So there's lots of different ways really that you can combat it. Obviously,
19:10the first thing would be to contact a therapist if you're really struggling, contact your
19:15GP. Other things that you can do is, like we're doing now, we're sharing a cup of tea,
19:20having a chat, staying connected with others, exercise and, you know, the top two, which
19:26I always think is sleep well and eat well. Those are the main things. And although we
19:31don't have the best weather at the moment, maybe going outside in the morning time, having
19:35a walk around, that would be one of the best things. And as well, finally, if your New
19:40Year's resolutions haven't went too well, we covered that on Friday, it was the day
19:43that most people drop them or forget about them, it's not too late to start again or
19:49have a look and assess where you went wrong and learn from it really.
19:52Brilliant. Well, thank you so much for joining us and thank you for the tea.
19:56Now, don't forget, you can keep up to date with all your latest stories across Kent by
20:00logging on to our website, that's kmtv.co.uk. There you'll find all our reports, including
20:06this one about a family who fished up a live grenade from the River Medway.
20:10Most people think of fishing as a relaxing pastime, but for one family, their fishing
20:14hobby meant the police and the army had to get involved after they unknowingly fished
20:19up a live grenade.
20:21Chris Homden and his son Leighton started magnet fishing around four years ago, throwing
20:26a powerful magnet into rivers and dragging it along the bed to see what they could find.
20:31And for the most part, that would be small pieces of metal, parts of bicycles or shopping
20:36trolleys. So when they discovered something so rusted they couldn't even tell what it
20:40was yet, they were pretty excited.
20:42Well, at first we were quite shocked to what it was and obviously the debris where it had
20:49been down there for so long. And even my son made a joke of it, oh, it could be a grenade,
20:56and I thought nothing of it. So we pulled it up and we kept it to the side and made
21:01sure everything was in a bag and then decided to take it home.
21:05But when Chris got home and cleaned the find, he recognised the raised pattern and manufacturer's
21:10initials of a World War II grenade. He called the police, who had to turn off their radios
21:15so not to interfere with the grenade. They then called the army, who took the explosive
21:20into a nearby field to safely detonate it.
21:22Not something you really expect on a Sunday evening. Very exciting. It sounds more frightening
21:30when we heard on my back camera into the garden the army state that it was live. That's when
21:38it became a little bit more frightening than exciting. But yeah, not something you really
21:43expect to happen every day.
21:45While the family were scared on that Sunday evening, they still enjoy magnet fishing as
21:49it helps Leighton with the stresses of school and daily life, as he has autism and ADHD.
21:55Chris asked if I wanted to give magnet fishing a try, and although I'd never been, I didn't
21:59think it'd be too difficult.
22:00Does that even touch the water?
22:07No, two.
22:11There we go.
22:17Nothing. Well, that's a lesson. You can't just pick up magnet fishing and get a grenade
22:25on your first try, so you've got to work at it.
22:28Well, after finally actually getting the magnet into the water, I still didn't have anything
22:32to show for my efforts, much less a grenade.
22:35Finn McDermid for KMTV in Aylesford.
22:38Well, since my career as a magnet fisher didn't take off, it's time to have a look at the
22:42weather.
22:48Tonight it's going to be partly cloudy weather across the board, average temperature of three
22:52degrees for in Dover. Then into the morning, much of the same weather to be expected, places
22:57like Canterbury and Medway dropping to two degrees, wind speeds of four miles per hour,
23:02which will stay the same speed in the afternoon, but the temperature will warm up a bit, reaching
23:05highs of six in Dartford and Maidstone.
23:08Now for the outlook, Thursday is going to be cloudy with temperatures of six, rising
23:12to eight on Friday, with some partly cloudy weather, nine on Saturday with some light
23:16rain to be expected.
23:25And finally, could it be a new signing for Gillingham Town FC? Former Arsenal striker
23:30Eduardo da Silva took on the Royal Engineers in a friendly fixture. Now, it's not just
23:35any league clash, but a game to celebrate 150 years since the Royal Engineers won the
23:40FA Cup. And all the money made from the match is going to various charities. Well, our reporter
23:45Henry Luck was at the game.
23:47Gillingham Town FC welcomed former Arsenal star Eduardo da Silva as they played in a
23:54friendly fixture against the Royal Engineers, with around 300 in attendance. Taking place
24:01at the RSME No. 1 ground, the match celebrated the 150th anniversary of the Royal Engineers
24:10winning the FA Cup.
24:12The Royal Engineers are the only military club to win the FA Cup, and I spoke to one
24:19of their regiment sergeant majors about the importance of remembering this milestone.
24:25It's a massive thing for a military team to have won the FA Cup, and now we have our serving
24:31players wearing the FA Cup on their chest as well, wearing it with pride, and also now
24:36they're going to celebrate the victory 150 years ago.
24:40This is a special fixture for us, not only for Gillingham Town, but also for the Royal
24:46Engineers, as they celebrate 150 years since winning the FA Cup. So today is a very special
24:53occasion, and we're honoured to have Eduardo as our special guest today.
25:00After plenty of saves in the first half, the second saw the Royal Engineers burst in with
25:06a goal by Luke Kearney. Gillingham Town FC retaliated with one of their own at the 69
25:13minute mark from Dean Joseph Whittingham, but the Royal Engineers broke the draw just
25:18minutes later, thanks again to Kearney, winning the game 2-1.
25:23Catching up with Eduardo, here's what he had to say.
25:43The match also raised money for the Royal Engineers Association, Royal British Legion Industries and the mental health charity Heads Together.
26:00The celebrations will be going on until May, where the Zappers will play against an old
26:06Etonians team in Medway with what hopes to be a festival of football.
26:12Henry Lapp for KMTV in Gillingham.
26:43You can also keep us on your social timelines on Facebook.
26:46Well, thank you so much for watching and we'll see you soon.