4 10 August 18, 2010 KM Extra (FE) ontest brings out best story writers AN APPEAL for entries for a in total from which we will short- festival is being held from Sep- writing competition with a £1,000 list five in the junior category tember 17 to 19. prize has had a good respons and five in the senior. Penguin Books, which i The short story contest is “We were concerned about the ebrating its 75th anniver: organised by the HG Wells Fes- lack of junior entries but now we has donated boxed sets of tival, which is being held in have had quite a few, some from published works of Wells as Folkestone for the second year children as young as nine. prizes for the festival. running. “Some are really very good. It is The weekend focuses on books After the deadline for entries extraordinary what good quality written by Wells when he lived was extended, more have been they are from such young writ- in the area. submitted. er Highlights include a dinner, a Reg Turnill, of the festival com- Mr Turnill has donated £1,000 history walk and art show. mittee, said: “It is now going very as the prize for the junior win- It will be opened by HG Wells’ well. ner. The senior winner will get great-great-grandson Alex “We have had around 30 entries £250 from The Grand, where the Wells. Reg Turnill at the launch of HG Wells Festival and short story HG Wells Titles by the late author HG Wells competition Picture: Gary BrownePD1555135 \ugust 13, 2010 9 , ary Glitter KING Henry VIII would probably have felt at home seeing children from Folkestone taking a step back in time at a Tudor festival 't be served’ in Dover. Many came dressed as Tudors to enjoy a wide range of activi- ties including drama workshops, “He was getting in the passen- sioner who lives there with her making a clay head of the King ger side and someone else was husband said she had not heard and learning about musical driving. the stories. Shown a picture of instruments, toys and games “Tt was definitely him. He Gadd, she said: “I think I may from that period. seemed very relaxed and was have seen him in the area.” The event was held around not wearing a wig or trying to Gadd was convicted of possess- Dover Museum, which they were disguise his appearance. He still ing child pornography and of later allowed to explore. has the little beard.” committing obscene acts with Pupils from Folkestone’s Pri- ‘Surprised’ two girls in Vietnam in 2006. mary Academy, Park Farm Road He was sentenced to three years and also Stella Maris Catholic Father-of-two Mr Parker, 35, in jail and deported to the UK. Primary School, Parkfield Road, who runs the pub with part- Since then he has been were among more than 350 chil- ner Debi Foulds, added: “I have rumoured to be living in vari- dren from across the county told my staff he will not be wel- ous parts of south and east Kent, attending the festival. come in the pub. I was not that including Ashford and Thanet. surprised to see him but would In May this year, he was pho- rather he was not living here tographed in London wearing a atall.” grey wig and without his trade- Left, Youngsters from Staff at Bar Vasa said they had mark goatee beard. Folkestone visiting the Tudor not heard of Gadd living in the li Have you seen him? Contact festival, which was held in area, or of him being in the bar. our newsdesk on 01233 895816 Dover At the house where he was or email tjamieson@thekmgro rumoured to be living, a pen- up.co.uk ved on youth centre site developers contributing towards poor state of the roads, difficult community and play facilities. access for emergency vehicles There were four letters of objec- and the lack of parking. tion to the development control Two previous applications for committee, citing traffic con- homes and one to use the land for cerns, the loss of green space, the open space had been refused. TRIBUTE Fond memories of BBC reporter who broke the story of Apollo 13 By Chris Britcher [email protected] 'RIBUTES have been paid to Reg Turnill, the leg- endary BBC aerospace correspondent who re- ported on the most thrilling years of the space ce, and who died this week. Mr Turnill passed away after several months of ill health at the Pilgrims’ Hospice in Ashford. He was 97. 3orn in Dover, he spent recent years living in Sandgate, where he became an active member of the community. He enjoyed a remarkable career which contin- ued long after his retirement, supporting and founding the popular HG Wells short story com- petition in Folkestone each year and personally JOURNALIST: Reg Turnill went on assignment putting up the £1,000 top prize in order. to in- to Nasa during the Apollo Moon missions spire authors to write in the style of the famous storyteller. It forms a key part of the HG Wells Concorde and continued his association with the Festival in the town which Mr Turnill helped cre- BBC—most recently contributing to the corpora- ate in 2009. tion’s coverage of the death of Neil Armstrong, But it was his time with the BBC for which he the-first man on the Moon. will be most remembered. In later years, he became an active member of Having started his Fleet Street career with the the Sandgate Society, and a key player in the HG Press Association when he was 15, he joined the Wells Festival. BBC in 1956 a tant industrial correspond- However, he found his strict rules had to be ent. Two years later, he was promoted to air and relaxed in order to appease a modern audience space correspondent and found himself at. the Speaking to KoS two years ago, he said: “I centre of the fast-emerging space race between wanted people to write the stories by hand as a the US and U condition of entry to address the low standard of Among h ignments was a trip to Moscow literacy and handwriting th to cover the first manned space launch, and re- “It's an important art in itself ¢ nda many of our porting from the US on the Apollo Moon mis- most famous authors find that's the pet way to sions. It wasin 1970 he secured his biggest scoop do creative writing. My aim in offering the when he was the first journalist in the world to £1,000 prize was to get people to mimic “what break the news that Apollo 13 was in trouble HG Wells did in the 1900: when he heard the immortal words ‘Houston we Organisers of this year’s awards said: “His have a problem’ as he made a late night visit to death is a great loss to many a: yas a great mission control. man. Our thoughts are with hi ; Speaking of the moment years later, he said: “I Nick Spall, fellow of the British Interplaneta was just leaving the deserted press centre when I Society, added: “He was the astronaut who ney- heard the famous words. By 5am I'd broken the er made it to the Moon.” story. The astronauts were in deadly danger. He leaves behind his wife Margaret and their In 1969, he was on board the maiden flight of two sons. Reginald Turnill 1915 - 2013 This week we have lost a truly great Sandgatean. During the last decade, | was privileged to have been able to work with Reg on many of his ce related projects and | learned so much from a man of incredible intelligence, integrity and modesty; a truly wonderful friend. Reg spent his career covering all the manned space missions as well as planetary missions like Mariner, Pioneer, Viking and Voyager. He started in Fleet Streel at the age of 15, and by 19 he was covering the national news on the Press Associ ation staff. After join ing oo BBC in 2egan 1956 he covered the launc nix 1 and fou he ie space reporling his x Of him the late ¢George Low of NASA said “We indeed fave come long way, and we are fortunate a thet there have been men like Reg Turnill on hand to document our progress”. Reg did many hundreds of radio and TV broad s during his coverage of Apollo, but very few radio pieces have survived in the BBC —_ d hardly any TV pieces because recording facilities were ery primitive in those Gays. On April 13, 1870 it was Reg was the first ‘ break the news that during the night Apollo 13 had been crippled byt an explosion when they radioed that now iconic message "Houston we fave a problem". Reg was the only jour tin the Press Room at the time Six year o Reg, who was still writing well into his 90s, was the w s oldest -_ working space correspondent, and was g rC Clark fetime achievement award and Buzz Aldrin did a TV tnbute mark the occasi to Buzz, whom Reg and Margaret over fifty Ss, also did the foreword for Reg's book “The Mcoonlandings ive of Reg was a friend and benefactor of the poet John id indeed gave the young, pove sn poet pen and paper d encourage him to write. That generosity of spirit must have be nthe ge s@ Reg was always willing to help with his vast experience he set up the annual H.