Kent weekly round-up: 29 June - 5 July 2024
PA MediaThe story about nine-year-old double amputee Tony Hudgell attending a private gathering with Queen Camilla proved a popular read this week.
A variety of local issues featured on the BBC News website, BBC Radio Kent and BBC South East Today.
We have picked five stories from the past week in case you missed them.
Takeaways from Kent’s general election results
After weeks of canvassing and debating, the people of Kent have voted.
Across 18 constituencies, voters have gone to the polls in the general election, which has seen the Labour Party claim a landslide victory.
Labour made major gains from the Conservative Party across Kent, while the Liberal Democrats celebrated gaining Tunbridge Wells from the Tories.
Labour’s Tony Vaughn took Folkestone and Hythe, ahead of Damian Collins, who had a 21,337 majority in the old constituency in 2019.
Tributes paid to teenager who died after Dreamland event
Megan StokesA teenager who died after attending an event at the Dreamland amusement park in Kent was named locally as Emily Stokes.
Police are investigating the death of the 17-year-old after being called just before 18:00 BST on Saturday following her death at the Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother Hospital, in Margate.
A GoFundMe appeal has been started by Megan Stokes, who said she is Emily's older sister, also claiming that Emily's drink had been spiked, causing her to overdose.
She described her sister as "the kindest person you could ever meet".
Kent farm supplies Wimbledon with 1.5m strawberries
Getty ImagesTennis and strawberries go hand in hand at each annual Wimbledon tournament.
And with the first rounds underway, a Kent farm has said it will be supplying around 1.5 million strawberries to Wimbledon over the two-week event.
Hugh Lowe Farms in the village of Mereworth, between Maidstone and Tonbridge, has been providing the tournament with berries for the past 31 years.
But Marion Regan, the farm's managing director, said past experience "doesn't necessarily remove the stress" from making sure the fruit is ready in time.
Ex-Gurkha double amputee scales fourth peak
Hari Budha Magar A former Gurkha who is climbing the highest peaks on each continent has scaled North America's highest mountain.
Hari Budha Magar, who lives in Kent, became the first double above-the-knee amputee to climb Everest in May 2023.
Mr Magar lost both legs Afghanistan in 2010 to an improvised explosive device (IED) while serving with the British Army.
The 45-year-old veteran gurkha and his support team spent two weeks on the ascent of Denali in Alaska, before reaching the summit last Friday.
101-year-old steam engine returns home after sale
Andy HardyA steam locomotive built more than 100 years ago has returned to the Kent & East Sussex Railway after it was bought by a volunteer.
The Peckett & Sons 0-4-0T engine, named Marcia, was donated to the Kent & East Sussex Railway (K&ESR) in 1962, where it stayed after being bought in 1965 by K&ESR member Richard Beckett, who died last year.
Mr Beckett’s family arranged for Marcia to be sold, so the locomotive was taken to Exminster, near Exeter. It was bought in June by K&ESR volunteer Andy Hardy, from Maidstone, and the company he works for, Rapido Trains UK.
“It’s been a lifelong ambition to be a driver,” said Mr Hardy, who has now welcomed Marcia back to K&ESR.
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