Making a difference to the people of Medway

Deputy Leader Alan Jarrett: All aspects of our culture prove popular

Article posted on Friday, 23 October 2009

Medway Council strategy documents are often cumbersome and dull to read, and sometimes it is even difficult to relate them to delivering services across Medway. Not so the recently published Cultural Strategy.

It was packed with information and it is not until all this information is assembled in one document that there is a clear understanding of just what Medway Council provides.

Culture covers the full range of festivals, events, recreation and play facilities on offer.

Medway residents are well served with facilities that promote sport, play and healthy living. Medway's swimming pools now offer free swimming for those who qualify, and the ongoing refurbishment of the pool at Medway Park will make this facility even better.

For the future Medway Park will provide the centrepiece of Medway's offer to those who want to stay fit, being complemented by, among others, the centres at Strood and Rochester.

Outdoor offers focus on our country parks. Capstone; Riverside, Gillingham; and Ranscombe Farm, Cuxton all provide wide-open spaces for recreation. In addition there are an array of smaller sites, not least being over 80 play areas for children.

The quality of this outdoor offer is reinforced by the award of three Green Flags, and demonstrates that Medway Council is engaged in a wide-ranging programme of improvements.

Our programme of investment in Medway allotment sites is recognised in the strategy. The number of sites being used has grown again this year, with annual investment bringing more and more sites up to a higher standard.

Our free festivals remain popular with both Medway residents and visitors. In 2009 money will have been spent providing two Dickens festivals, Sweeps, FUSE, Will Adams and our first English festival.

In terms of music and theatre once again our Rochester Castle Concerts proved enormously popular. Both Central and Brook theatres continue to pull in the crowds, with the Christmas pantomime at the Central remaining our most popular theatre event in the calendar.

Such is the popularity of this huge variety of facilities for residents Medway Council continues to invest in them even in a time of great financial uncertainty.