KentOnline

Despite it being made illegal almost 200 years ago, there have been 230 reports of dog fighting in Kent since 2015.
Figures show the RSPCA received 45 calls about it happening in the county last year – and 60 over the previous 12 months.
The stats also reveal Kent is the seventh worst area for dog fighting in the whole of England and Wales.
https://www.kentonline.co.uk/

A Folkestone couple – whose baby died when he was just six-months-old – are raising money to buy cuddle cots for local funeral directors.
Baby Toby passed away during a family holiday in Liverpool last August.
https://www.kentonline.co.uk/
 

A Kent mum says starting her own baby clothing range has helped her get over the loss of her twins when she was 20 weeks pregnant.
Amanda O’Brien donates some of her profits to a charity that looks into the condition that caused her to lose the babies.
The 33-year-old has now arranged a pop-up market in Dartford for other local entrepreneurs – with their entrance fee also going to good causes.
https://www.kentonline.co.uk/

A mum from Sevenoaks has been sharing her story with us, as she campaigns to get a potentially life-saving drug made available to people with Cystic Fibrosis…
Ali Dillon’s son Oli was diagnosed with the condition as a baby, and it affects his lungs and other organs.
He’s now 20 and every day has to have two physiotherapy sessions, takes up to 70 tablets and four nebulisers.
https://www.kentonline.co.uk/

More Kent lives could be saved now the helipad at a London hospital will stay open 24/7.
Previously, patients in the county who need to go to the major trauma centre at Kings College have had to travel in a land ambulance after 9 at night.
Changes mean the county’s air ambulance will now be able to land there overnight.
https://www.kentonline.co.uk/

A Kent mum is calling for Snapchat to work with police to identify who’s been trolling her daughter – five years after her son was murdered after being groomed online.
Breck Bednar died in 2014 – now his 17 year-old sister Chloe has received vile messages from someone claiming to be his killer.
Her mum Lorin Lafave – who lives in Deal – says it’s had a terrible impact on her daughter.
https://www.kentonline.co.uk/

A new system of queuing lorries if there are delays at Dover has been tested out on the M20.
Operation Brock was put into place at 6am and is replacing the old Operation Stack.
HGVs heading to the port have been using the coastbound stretch of the M20 between Junctions 8 and 9 – a contraflow’s been in place for all other traffic on the London bound carriageway, with two lanes in each direction.
https://www.kentonline.co.uk/

A Kent headteacher is warning of a catastrophe for education if something isn’t done about the lack of funding for schools…
Earlier this month more than 7,000 heads from across the country wrote a letter home to parents, telling them about their financial issues and asking them to lobby their MPs about it.
Alan Brookes was one of them – he’s in charge of Fulston Manor in Sittingbourne and is also chair of the Kent Headteachers Association.
https://www.kentonline.co.uk/

Former Gillingham footballer Andrew Crofts and his parents are fronting a campaign using the hashtag Let Us Play.
They feature in a video encouraging mums and dads not to put their children under too much pressure on the pitch.
It’s the brain child of the Kent FA.
https://www.mykentfamily.co.uk/primary/fa-asks-for-positivity-not-pressure-for-youngest-players-200779/

Teagan Appleby from Aylesham suffers from a rare form of epilepsy.
Despite being given cannabis based medication last year, which briefly reduced her seizures, her condition has started to deteriorate.
Now, the nine-year-old’s mum says she’s prepared to go to Holland to get the medication she believes will help her daughter – even though she risks being arrested.
https://www.kentonline.co.uk/canterbury/news/mum-plans-to-break-the-law-to-save-her-child-200970/