Sarah Sturt's Blog

Plastered!

It's happened at last - I'm on a 'Wanted' poster. Well, not quite, but I am certainly up on one big old billboard right in the heart of Maidstone, dangerously close to our Pudding Lane office. Let me explain. Ages ago I was approached by an arts group in the county town working on a project called '30 Creatives' - it's all about putting creativity on the map, making people realise 'art' isn't just the cliche of an artist standing at an easel - it can include the written word, too. Hence me on board.

Kent Life snapper, Manu Palomeque took highly creative pictures of all 30 of us over a period of weeks (bravely including himself in the line up) and the results are now up on a wall in Market Buildings and, although I have yet to see this version, rather scarily, on Platform 2 at Maidstone East! I have to say, it was the most surreal experience going to view myself today at lunchtime - I found I had to move on really quickly, in case anyone spotted me and thought 'how sad' - and I also couldn't stop smirking. Most odd.

Anyway, if you're passing, please put that aerosol can down, or at least aim it at one of the others....

Sarah

Surfing Monkeys and flying high

It's been an odd sort of week, but then I don't think I've had a 'normal' one since starting at Kent Life.Monkey did what sounded like a wonderful motoring shoot on Monday in a bright orange Lotus, cleverly picking one of those gorgeous blue sky days February has been so generous with. I've sneaked a look at the images and they are hot! Make sure you check out the back of the mag when April is published. He's not a bad writer, either, just don't tell him I said so.

Having despatched motoring far earlier in the month than usual, Monkey has decided he deserves a week off and is currently catching wind and waves in Furerteventura. At least I hope he is, his last attempt at kite surfing abroad gave him more or less three minutes surfing conditions... So the office is blissfully quiet and mercifully free of food items, as this is a growing lad who needs to eat approxinately every 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, I have been out and about, first with Kent Air Ambulance at Marden, meeting chief exec David Philpott - and the crew, including the ex-Army poilot who couldn't believe his luck at landing a job where he knew what he would be doing virtually every day for the next year (he'd only been out of the Army four days, and boy could you tell!). David had removed his earring for the purposes of the interview, which I found quite hilarious as the hole was clearly visible and I am not exactly of a sensitive disposition, but his story and that of Kent Air Ambulance itself is a fascinating one and I hope to do it justice in the April edition 'Kent Character' slot.

Then it was straight off to a rather glam fashion show at Caroline Charles in Tunbridge Wells, where I met up with my intrepid photographer, Dave Cosens: we realised the same shoot three years ago was where we had first met, so it was a bit of a nostalgia visit for us. The clothes were fab, though I spent my time muttering at the slimness of the models - and they weren't even the anorexic types we are used to seeing in some magazines, they actually had curves. And one of them had a 14-year-old daughter, plus a waist of about 20 inches. There is no justice.

Tomorrow I am off to Worthing for a design get-together with Kerry and a review of our March edition. I suspect it may just be the two of us, as group ed Jon Keeble is currently on paternity leave (belated congrats, Jon, on the birth of Elizabeth!) - so we will have to be gentle with each other!

Until next time - Sarah

Happy Valentine's Day?

Not the best day in the world if you're not in a relationship and not a great deal better if you are - all that expectation, the inevitable crushing disappointment and ending the day sitting in a restaurant with dozens of other couples grimly working their way through the 'Valentine's Special' while fighting off that annoying lady trying to flog you an overpriced, wilting rose. Well, that's my cynical opinion anyway - what do you all think? Go on, don't be shy: is it the best day in the year for you, or do you think the whole thing has got out of hand and become wildly over-commercial and pressurised?

Rant for the day over, the Kent Life team are girding their collective loins for a fantastic April edition. We had a bit of a blip with March, but although it's not the biggest edition we have ever produced, quality and content wise, it's an absolute little beauty - and I am proud to day that although virtually the whole of Archant Life has opted for a lamb on their front cover, it was Kent's idea first! Not only that, it's a genuine lamb from Hadlow College, taken last spring with this edition in mind - how's that for forward planning? The magazine is on the shelves next Wednesday, so make sure you pick up a copy.

We are also gearing up for our second reader panel evening, taking place in May, and hoping to welcome some new faces for 2008 as well as meet up with our intrepid 'first timers' from 2007's excellent meeting. I am particulalry looking forward to seeing Philip Codd again - at 80, he was our most senior panellist, but there is a very youthful twinkle in this gentleman's eye and he is also an absolute whizz on the computer. In his email of acceptance to our panel coordinator, Steph Drury, Philip managed to paste in a row of virtual roses for us both - now that's a romantic gesture many half his age couldn't manage!

Until next time - Sarah

Taste of Kent - the judging process

As regular readers of Kent Life will know, we are media partners with Produced in Kent and very involved in the Food and Drink Awards taking place at the end of this month. As part of the process, the various categories have to be judged by a panel, from 'mystery' diners sussing out the Restaurant of the Year, to the group - myself included - who met up this week at Hadlow College with the onerous task of judging, among other categories, Best Vineyard and Best Brewery. It's a tough life, isn't it? I can feel your sympathy from here.

My fellow judges, the ever-lovely Amanda Cottrell, chairman of Kent Tourism Alliance, John Warnett, BBC Radio Kent presenter and William Opie, of Bennett Opie, displayed an astonishing knowledge of local food and drink and I felt extremely humble in their presence. That apart, it was an extremely harmonious and at times hilarious couple of hours (helped by the delicious wines and beers we were tasting) and our scores for the different categories were remarkably close. You will have to wait until after the ceremony on 27 February to find out the final results, but they proved a fascinating insight into the work that is being done to promote and improve local produce in Kent, and I think we should all be proud to live in the Garden of England.

Sarah