Catch up with all the latest news from across the county with Oliver Leader de Saxe
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00:00Good evening and welcome to Kentonite live here on KMTV.
00:29I'm Oliver, leader of the sacks and here are your top stories on Friday the 28th of March.
00:35KMTV versus Covid, we reflect on what we learned from the pandemic five years on.
00:42On the home front, dozens sleep out in Dettling, trenched to support veterans.
00:50And folks doing on film, we switch to the Kent Plaster, a turned gangster movie director.
00:55This week, to mark five years since the start of the UK's first Covid lockdown,
00:59we brought you a series of special reports, looking back on how Kent
01:04embraced the pandemic and learned lessons in the time since.
01:08Well, during that time, as Kent's dedicated local TV channel,
01:12we stayed on air to bring the latest public health warnings and lockdown guidelines to your screens.
01:17So let's take the local stories that would have gone unheard otherwise.
01:23During the pandemic, nearly all of us increased the amount of time we found ourselves in front
01:28of a screen. Here at KMTV, making sure the screens stayed on when everyone was forced to go home was
01:34vital. I think like everybody, we were trying to react to what the government was saying, but
01:43I think like everybody, we were trying to react to what the government was saying,
01:52but we very quickly adapted and ended up having a remote gallery
01:57and we ended up winning awards for our innovation.
02:00Thanks to some technical handiwork, the KMTV channel stayed on air with the usual gallery
02:05left empty. Reporters, interviewees and presenters all able to continue broadcasting
02:10from the safety of their homes.
02:16Hello and welcome to Kentonite live on KMTV on Monday the 23rd of March. I'm Louisa Britton,
02:23as you might have noticed, I'm not in the KMTV studios, I'm at home.
02:27We said goodbye in the office and we just didn't really know when we were next going to see each
02:31other. And yeah, and then we went completely remotely for the foreseeable. I remember just
02:36hoping that my neighbours wouldn't pop their heads over the hedge or that my dog wasn't going
02:42to get interrupted with the broadcast as well because she was in the garden. I didn't realise
02:45until afterwards that she was just sat there looking at me.
02:49But first this evening, we're being warned to be extra vigilant as criminals in Kent
02:53are using the coronavirus crisis to scam people out of hundreds of pounds.
02:58As lockdown went on, viewing figures showed adults spent an average of 45 hours a week
03:02watching TV and online video content, demonstrating just how vital a role public
03:08service broadcasters played in keeping people informed.
03:11Social distancing is something you will have heard a lot recently.
03:15At a really difficult time for everyone to find ways of creating content and educating
03:22people about all of those ongoing changes and answering those questions, those really burning
03:29questions that people had. And to do that creatively was quite exciting, really. And
03:35there's no excuse for not putting content out and putting good quality content out.
03:40You can still do that remotely. You can use those resources at your disposal.
03:44It's a lot more egalitarian now.
03:48With almost every school, university or office turning to video calls to host their meetings
03:53and lessons, talking heads like these became a lot more popular on TV too,
03:58with technology quickly developing to allow contributors to log on from their own devices
04:03in the comfort of their own home.
04:06I think you're on mute.
04:07Ten years ago, when we first were setting up KMTV, trying to get a video call
04:13system into our gallery was tens of thousands of pounds.
04:18Now it's available to us within seconds.
04:20To this day, our viewing figures around that first lockdown,
04:25certainly in that first week of the lockdown, are the highest viewing figures that we've
04:29ever had. I think that re-engaged the public as well, with them understanding
04:34how important it is to have free-to-air content for them to access.
04:38Five years later, that resilience has shaped the way we continue to communicate as a channel,
04:43keeping Kent's stories alive however they're told.
04:47Bartholomew Hall for KMTV.
04:51Now, what would you do for charity? Would you sleep out in a World War I trench?
04:57Well, that's what nearly 100 people did in Dethling to fundraise for the Royal British
05:02Legion, which supports veterans here in Kent. The Great Tommy Sleepout is the sixth annual
05:07event of its kind, and we sent our history producer, Phil McDermott, to spend a night
05:12under the stars.
05:16Plenty of time has passed since the First World War, but our soldiers still suffer.
05:20With veterans being susceptible to ending up without a roof over their heads.
05:25The Great Tommy Sleepout was started with 10 members of the Royal British Legion industries
05:29sleeping in their gardens during the pandemic, all to raise money for homeless veterans.
05:34Now it's five years on, and they've upgraded to having 80 people at the recreated First
05:39World War trenches at the Kent showground in Dethling near Maidstone, and hoping to
05:43beat the previous year's number of 1.2 million pounds.
05:4780 people sleeping out this year, but I say also the national event where we've now got
05:53this year, we've got some 12,000 people registered. So it's grown from the germ of an idea in
06:002020, bringing in about 10,000 in donations to where we are today with 12,000 plus people.
06:08Last year, we managed to raise 1.2 million in donations. So that is our minimum target
06:16for this year. And I'm fairly optimistic we'll beat that.
06:21The money raised goes towards providing homes, jobs and welfare support to veterans.
06:25And while some who attended have served their country,
06:27those who haven't are still invited to join.
06:31I'm looking forward to being comfortable or getting comfortable being uncomfortable,
06:35if you like. So it's a great opportunity to connect with what our veterans are going through.
06:41Obviously, it's a penny in the pound to what they're experiencing, but it's just nice to
06:45connect a little bit. And so it really resonates me what they're going through. So this will be
06:50great. But this isn't just a Kent event with people across the country camping out wherever
06:55they live. I've come along to join them in sleeping under the stars. But little did I
06:59know I would get an upgrade from a corrugated iron roof to a small bunker in the trench itself.
07:05After I got settled in, we had a sandbag making competition, which I threw myself into,
07:10quite literally. After that, it was dinner and warming myself up by the fire,
07:14which wouldn't last long as I tucked myself into my bed for my night in the Ritz.
07:18It's not as good as the actual Ritz, but it's much better than what I was in before.
07:22Definitely an upgrade. I had to sleep in relative discomfort for a night,
07:26but it was part of raising nearly £700,000 to provide homes for those who fought for their
07:31country, but would have to sleep in the cold without any other choice.
07:35Finn McDermid for KMTV in Detling.
07:37Well, we managed to pull Finn out of the trenches. But obviously, Finn,
07:43this was all about raising money for veterans. And how much did they raise?
07:48Well, currently, the page stands at just under £700,000. They had set an original target of £1.2
07:57million, or they wanted to beat that, because that was how much money they managed to raise
08:01last year. And it was a great event. Obviously, there was myself and 80 other people all out there
08:06sleeping and fundraising all towards homelessness for veterans and finding them
08:13job support, welfare and obviously homes.
08:16And what was the atmosphere like on the night in question? Not every day
08:20you'd spend a night in a World War One trench.
08:23No, that's very true. It was definitely an interesting atmosphere, because on the one
08:27hand, obviously, it's a very serious subject matter. But everyone was just having so much
08:31fun with it, really. I mean, everyone, it felt like when you're camping when you were a kid,
08:35you had fields and fields of people all setting up their own tarpaulins. Everyone had like
08:41thermals on. There was one guy walking around in shorts who were all sort of, yeah, all right,
08:45you're tough, aren't you? But it was very fun. And I think lots of people kind of came down
08:50and expected everyone to be sleeping in the trench. But you can see now that actually,
08:55they're quite narrow. And you could only really get one person walking down them at a time.
08:59But I was quite lucky to be actually able to sleep in the trench myself, because I turned
09:04up late and everyone assumed, oh, we probably can't sleep in the trench, you know. But I was
09:08told, no, go right ahead. So I got a bed, even though it was one made of wood and wire. I was
09:13still quite happy with it. And what was the thing that you didn't really expect about,
09:17because the World War One trench, they aren't something you see every single day. What kind
09:22of surprised you about it? Lots of things, really. I think the thing that surprised me most was
09:27learning a bit about the context of it, that it was used in 1917, War Horse and all these big films,
09:32Wonder Woman, Kingsman. And so it was really cool to basically sleep on a movie set. So that
09:37was really, really awesome. And like I said, the atmosphere was brilliant. At one point,
09:41we had a sandbag making competition, and we learned about a lot of the history there.
09:46We constructed one that was only so wide. And they told us, well, actually, you'd need it to be
09:51five yards of clay to actually stop a machine gun bullet. So it was both a fun experience,
09:56and I got to learn a lot of history. And as you know, I love my history.
09:59Especially on Kent Chronicles. It must be quite sobering as well to learn about all of that,
10:03because it is a serious topic matter, and it is for a good cause as well.
10:07Absolutely. I mean, there were moments where they told us all about how, you know, he blew on his
10:12whistle and said, well, that's the sound that you least want to hear when your commanding officer
10:15blew it. And it was very interesting to kind of draw the parallels, obviously, between
10:20what it would have been like to be a World War One soldier sleeping out and the transition,
10:24because we think of World War One as being, you know, over 100 years ago, which it is.
10:28But there's still that issue of veterans, sorry, coming home and not having a place to stay. So
10:35it was interesting to draw those parallels, because it's obviously still a very modern issue.
10:43KMTV was at Buckingham Palace for a very special reception, celebrating organisations,
10:51news organisations across the country. More than 300 guests attended the event,
10:56recognising the vital role of regional media. You can see our channel director, Andy Richards,
11:00and our news editor, Abbey Hook, talking to Queen Camilla, while our reporter,
11:05Kristen Althornt, had the honour of meeting the King and Queen at the reception as well.
11:10They all said the day was a real success for KMTV, and they discussed what we do.
11:16Abbey even asked the King if he would come down to Kent for the Kent Morning Show,
11:20and he said he would. So I guess we'll have to see what happens with that.
11:25It's a great opportunity for the whole team to celebrate here.
11:34Oh, a bit of a weird camera angle, that one. Anyway, it's time for a quick break now.
11:40After the break, we'll be hearing from a Folkestone filmmaker. Here's to the big
11:43screens after trading in his tools for takes and calling action on his new career.
14:43So
14:53hello and welcome back to Kentonite, live here on KMTV. Now, controversy has broken over a new
15:18luminous sign to commemorate the life of a seven-year-old boy who was hit by a car in Folkestone
15:24in 2023. The picture of William Brown Jr has already been put up on a new set of flats
15:30in the town centre, just up the road from the cafe his father opened last year in his memory.
15:36But Folkestone town council have objected to the picture in planning documents,
15:41saying it doesn't strike the civic tone required.
15:4532 flats being created right in the heart of Folkestone, but not without a sign of controversy.
15:53Boarded up for the past year, the Queen's house is currently being converted into affordable
15:59accommodation by William Brown Sr, in memory of his son who died after being hit by a car in 2023.
16:08But a planning application for an illuminated sign on the building has faced backlash from
16:14the neighbouring town council, and it's all to do with this picture of William Brown Jr.
16:44In planning documents, Folkestone town council state
17:01that they support the illuminated sign and the commemoration in the naming of the building,
17:07but feel the inclusion of the photograph, however lovely an image it is,
17:12doesn't strike the civic tone needed.
17:15The town council also highlighted that the illumination should be on a timer,
17:21to be turned off overnight for the sake of neighbours and occupants.
17:26But while William Brown Sr has no issue with keeping the illumination to a minimum,
17:32he's been left baffled by the other objections.
17:35There's no one really spoken up and said that, you know, they're finding it offensive or they
17:41don't like it in particular, and we've gone through all the necessary due process to get
17:46the planning permission to do this, so I don't really understand why the town council would
17:51stand up and go, do you know what, no, you're allowed the name, but you're not having an image.
17:58The sign may already be up, but a decision for whether this can remain in place
18:03now rests with Folkestone and Hithe District Council.
18:08Oliver, Leader of the Saks for KMTV.
18:12Lights, camera, plaster?
18:14Not this time, because he's trading in the tools for takes and calling action on his film career.
18:21Luke Myers from Folkestone has turned to directing and turning away from plastering
18:25has now and now has his first film streaming on Amazon Prime.
18:30The gangster movie called A Brother's Bond,
18:32even has a cameo role from retired boxer Joe Egan,
18:36who sparred with the former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson.
18:39Let's hear from Luke from the Kent Morning Show earlier today.
18:44I wouldn't say I've done it all myself because obviously all the actors in it have all had
18:48a tremendous part in creating this project.
18:52But I did have to dig deep and get involved in every aspect of the journey.
18:56I've had to carry around the microphone, setting them up, directing, even starring in it,
19:02because obviously the budget we had, I had to just do everything I could, even the editing.
19:08After the film was shot, I spent many, many, many months upstairs editing,
19:16not really going out, doing anything, just grinding away until I finally got to the end.
19:21And yeah, I mean, I did, I had to do a lot of it single handedly.
19:25But now, of course, I've got two reactors in the film that really helped me in my vision.
19:31Definitely. But now, you know, your films are up on Amazon Prime,
19:34on the streaming platform alongside some of the biggest blockbusters of the year.
19:39So that must feel great. Tell us about A Brother's Bond then.
19:42Tell us about the film. What can people expect?
19:45Right. So this one's based on two brothers, Tom and Danny.
19:50Tom is like a bit more calm and like a bit more collect.
19:55And then Danny's a bit erratic. He's a bit snappy.
19:59But they get entangled in the criminal underworld and they go beyond the point of no return.
20:05And they both really figure out who they truly are.
20:10And they have to deal with the pressure surrounding them.
20:14And yeah, it's quite incredible, the journey they go through.
20:19It's a really good structured film.
20:20I'm really proud of the writing and everything in it.
20:24And it's definitely one to watch.
20:27You've got to see it on Amazon Prime, really.
20:30What is it about it that you hope people sort of learn from it and take away?
20:34What do you want someone who's sitting down to put it on their TV?
20:37What do you hope they take away?
20:38And what do you hope they sort of enjoy throughout?
20:41Well, you've got like the classic gangster kind of film,
20:45but it's got a unique sprinkle of humor in it, which I've very carefully added into it.
20:51I haven't just done it like in a tacky way.
20:54I've tried incorporating it.
20:55So it's actually believable and actually funny as well.
20:59So I think that kind...
21:00And I've got a slight different kind of style of filming, which I haven't really seen anywhere.
21:05So you'll have to see it and give some feedback.
21:08But I think it's definitely 100% one to watch.
21:12If you like that kind of film, give it a watch.
21:16And it just goes to show what you can do if you really do try and produce a movie like this.
21:23It's obviously the passion that drives you because you really want to do this.
21:26But where do you gain the skills to be able to direct?
21:29Because it takes a lot.
21:30We do some sort of similar skills with our operation here at the TV.
21:35And it takes us years to learn it and perfect it as well.
21:38And then when you're making a movie, which is down to, you know,
21:41we can often get it wrong live and it doesn't much matter.
21:44It's quite fun.
21:45But when you're directing a film and you need everything to work seamlessly,
21:48that's a huge skill.
21:49Where did you get that from?
21:52Well, it's pretty much like the plastering.
21:54You can't learn this stuff on paper.
21:56You have to just dive in.
21:58So with the filming on my first film, I got it wrong so many times.
22:02I had to reshoot scenes.
22:04I'd come home.
22:05I'd be like, that didn't work.
22:06I need to go back there again.
22:07So I'd ring everyone saying, mate, we've got to all go back.
22:10We've got to do this again.
22:12And it's just in the deep end that you really learn quickly.
22:15You literally, I did underestimate it, to be honest.
22:19I jumped in and I'm like, what have I done?
22:21But I put so much work in, I couldn't stop.
22:24Now it's time to take a very quick look at the weather.
22:28This evening brings clear skies with temperatures around six degrees,
22:32reaching seven up in Margate.
22:35Tomorrow morning, sunny across the county,
22:37temperatures around eight to nine degrees.
22:40Seven in the east of the county.
22:43Into the afternoon, 14 degrees over by Canterbury,
22:46lows of 12 over by Dover.
22:48Still sunny and clear and sunny and clear skies
22:51for the rest of the beginning of the day.
22:54And sunny and clear skies for the rest of the beginning of next week.
22:5817 degrees by Monday.
23:08And finally, for the weekend,
23:10this Sunday is, of course, Mother's Day to share.
23:13I appreciate it of those who have loved and supported us
23:15with ever-rising costs.
23:16How can we celebrate while being mindful of our pockets?
23:19Daisy Page joined us on The Coat Morning Show earlier.
23:22Flowers, when you go into stores, especially around celebrations,
23:26can start to get a little bit pricey.
23:28And so I found as a student,
23:30one way of maybe getting a bit more for my money
23:33is buying the cheapest flowers and arranging them myself.
23:36And now it obviously doesn't come in the nice paper.
23:39So I found a way of doing that as using jars from around my house.
23:43And now I literally raided my cupboards yesterday
23:46to find some jars to show how realistic this can be.
23:49So I've got an old pickle jar, an old jam jar,
23:53and a big jar there which was used for apple juice as well.
23:58So we've also got some flowers.
23:59And now the way that I always try and spread it out
24:02to get the most for my money is that I'll go to the stores.
24:05Obviously, you tend to have those big bouquets.
24:08They can range up to £15.
24:10I saw that in the store yesterday.
24:11And I was like, whoa, that's a lot of money.
24:14So sometimes you might need to rummage through,
24:16obviously, to find those cheaper ones.
24:18And I managed to pick up some of these for £3.50.
24:20Daffodils for £1.
24:22So it's a bit more cheaper.
24:23And then we can arrange it.
24:25What I've done, I've prepped a couple here.
24:27But I'm going to give you a stem of flowers each.
24:30I can go in our smaller one.
24:32And then what we're going to want to do,
24:33obviously, we've got a lot of leaves here.
24:34I always come here and make a mess.
24:35So we're going to want to start taking these leaves off.
24:38Can I tell you just a fun fact
24:40before you see how good my skills are?
24:42I actually was a florist before I was a journalist.
24:45Oh, so you've got some skills to be showing us.
24:48Just saying.
24:49Yeah, I loved it.
24:51We've got an expert with us.
24:52Yeah, I was like, oh no.
24:56I don't know how good I was, but I loved it.
24:58It's so therapeutic and spending all day
25:01surrounded by flowers and putting them together.
25:03Beautiful.
25:04And I suppose tidying them up as well.
25:06We don't need any scissors.
25:07And we've got a bit of a collection here going already,
25:09which you can have a look at.
25:10Abby, we've got some here as well that you can have a look at.
25:13I know orange is your favourite colour.
25:14Orange is my favourite colour.
25:15We can grab some of those.
25:16I mean, yeah, as you say, it's not about breaking the bank,
25:19but you actually get something that you get to take home.
25:22And it's completely done by you as well.
25:24So really lovely.
25:25I don't know how much I put my skills to, I mean...
25:31It's nice, but it's not professional.
25:33This would look nice on like a bedside table or like a...
25:36Yeah, that one's really nice.
25:37Nice and compact.
25:38It's like the nicer colours as well.
25:40Yeah, and it's going back to the fact
25:42that you can make it a bit more of an event
25:44because obviously it's not the same as maybe getting a big bouquet,
25:48but it's building those memories behind it
25:50of maybe it's not the big bouquet,
25:52but I've set this up for us to do together
25:54and we can just have a bit of fun with it.
25:55Yeah, it's really nice as well.
25:57You can imagine like your grandma wanting to do this.
25:59Yeah, and of course, speaking of Mother's Day as well,
26:02the KM groups, My Mum campaign is out at the moment
26:07where thousands of school children
26:09have been drawing pictures of their mums
26:11and you can read them in the newspaper at the moment as well.
26:12So yeah, good chat out there.
26:14But this obviously is a very lovely display for our mums this week.
26:20Well, you've been watching Kentonite Live on KMTV.
26:23There's more news made just for Kent throughout the evening.
26:26And don't forget, you can always keep up to date
26:27with the latest stories across your county
26:30by logging on to the KMTV.co.uk website.
26:34They can keep us on your social timers
26:35by liking us on Facebook
26:37and following us on TikTok and Instagram.
26:40I'll be back next week.
26:41I'll see you very soon.
26:42Have a lovely weekend.