We all have places that mean a lot to us. The sort of places that we can’t imagine not having around anymore. With the closure of The American Comic Shop in Chatham, As Steven found himself facing something central to his life for three decades no longer being there, he writes about that experience below. Further down, we look at the people making change by volunteering, share news of the Rainham Piano Festival, look back at the Die Hard panto, and review Christmas lunch at The Cheese Room. Of course, you’ll also find our weekly events guide and news in brief, too.

Goodbye, old friend.

This Christmas Eve, The American Comic Shop on Church Street in Chatham will close its doors for the last time, and they are currently having an everything must go 50% off sale on graphic novels and comics. The shelving and the counter have already gone, and other items will be no more by the time you read these words.

It’s been 31 years since they began trading.

I remember the day they opened. The memory floods back after all this time.

It’s hard to express how much this shop has meant to me over those years, since the 14-year-old Steven Giddy first bought a comic from them before they were technically open inside the InShops. They weren’t the first shop I bought comics from in Medway. I would stop at the Medway Book Exchange at the bottom of Star Hill for my Superman comics, with my dad pulled over with his hazard lights blinking. MBE might have been the first, but The American Comic Shop was always the one. When I went away to university, it was still The American Comic Shop. When I had dalliances with Brighton, it was still The American Comic Shop. Okay, fine, I might have made purchases at Dave’s in Brighton, but it wasn’t the same.

Run by Kerry and June Earl, the shop was always a welcoming and friendly space to go and not only buy comics but talk about comics and comic-related stuff, back before being geek was chic. Looking back, there was times when customers took advantage of that welcoming space to hang out for a very long time, even when the conversation had naturally ended. And when I say customers, I mean me. Although I wasn’t the only one, there were holidays as a young teen, freshly moved to the hard streets of Chatham Intra, with ‘friends’ out on the peninsula, where I would spend the day at the shop, even if I didn’t spend any money.

Working in a comic shop sounds wonderful even to this day, and when they moved to the Church Street space and business was busy, there was a need for a Saturday assistant and occasional holiday cover. For a brief window in time, that role was mine. Getting paid to talk about comics, help people with their comics, and tell them why they were wrong about their comic ideas. Glorious.

I read Superman comics in the 90s, when they were fun but unpopular. The era of Dan Jurgens, Jerry Ordway, but then they killed Superman, and though they brought him back, it was never the same. It was okay, though, because there was The American Comic Shop, and I discovered Mark Waid, Grant Morrison, David Mack, Alan Moore, Sam Keith. I (clearly) hadn’t yet discovered girls. Which was okay because I had discovered non-superhero comics! The Maxx, The Invisibles, Preacher, Strangehaven, Maus! Brilliant reads, all thanks to The American Comic Shop.

Post education, when I had my first business idea, selling small press and independent comics, it was Kerry and June I went to. There wasn’t the groundswell for non-superhero work that I would have hoped for, but taking over some shelves at the shop was fun for a few months. When I moved into my first flat, Kerry and June were two of the first people I had round for dinner. When I settled down with my partner and her children, it was Kerry and June’s daughter who I asked to take portraits, including my favourite photo of us. My greatest failing as a father is that I could never get the boys interested in comics. They would come along and pick up one or two, but they didn’t care, not really. My biggest failing as a working adult is not having enough disposable income to continue buying comics. To this day, I still don’t know how Cerebus, University2, or John Byrne’s Next Men ends. As I get older and life stuff happens, I hope I will keep in touch with Kerry and June over coffee or social media and talk about that life stuff.

I will buy comics again at some point, but it won’t be the same.

🏳️‍🌈 Medway Pride are doing an open call for creative work for their annual Art Exhibition as part of LGBTQIA+ History Month in 2025.

🏅 The winners of the Medway Sport Awards have been announced. Nathan Hales won the top award following his gold medal shooting performance at the Olympics.

🎨 Sun Pier House and Intra Arts are joining forces. Over three years, they will design and deliver a new arts programme specifically for the residents and communities of the Rochester Riverside development.

👞 Shoe Zone is set to close their Gillingham High Street store. The company described the location and several others as “unviable.”

🏪 Tesco is set to open a new Express store in Gillingham. The chain will move into the former Gabriela’s restaurant and shop on Napier Road, which closed after Medway Council refused them an alcohol licence. It can be assumed that Tesco will not face a similar problem.

🛍️ Customers queued for up to five hours ahead of the opening of a new Poundstretcher in Strood. The first 100 customers through the door received a mystery goody bag that presumably made the wait worthwhile.

🔥 Gillingham Street Angels have suffered a fire at their Jenkins Dale location, caused by a tumble dryer. It is the third unexpected tumble dryer fire this month after others caused issues at Oliver’s in Rochester and Nucleus Arts in Chatham.

🍲 Elsewhere, the Gillingham Street Angels have announced the immediate closure of their GSA Cafe in Rochester. The move comes as the organisation scales back, with the imminent closure of their Rochester shop as well.

When we covered Ideas Test previously, we didn’t have room to cover all that they do and wanted to take this opportunity to highlight the work they are doing to incubate new creative practice. Medway Change Makers is a project coming to an end next year, and we spoke to Maria Dorey and Tracy Brunt of the organisation to find out more about it.

Medway Change Makers set out to help cultural infrastructure. “That might be groups or individuals, but quite often it’s concepts”, says Maria. Keeping young talent in Medway is a concept. Providing access for people that had never really thought about access when they are planning. Medway Change Makers is a program that Ideas Test delivers as part of a partnership with Medway Voluntary Action, the Medway Place Board and Creative Medway. The scheme is funded by Spirit of 2012, a legacy funder from the 2012 Olympic Games, under their Volunteering Cities banner.

The idea is that places need more volunteering infrastructure outside of special events. “When you think about the 2012 Olympics, there was a huge galvanisation of volunteers and a great community spirit. People were volunteering and built these great connections”, says Tracy. When the games finished, many people volunteered elsewhere, and some didn’t volunteer again.

A similar thing happened with the ‘City of Culture’ programs. Afterwards, the momentum falls off both culturally in terms of the number of events and the programs that started, which don’t necessarily have a legacy. Over time, the volunteering infrastructure built around a City of Culture program similarly falls away. When a lot of effort is put into making events happen, and then they don’t, it is easy for cultural organisations to lose the trust of communities. Volunteering Cities is a bit of a hypothesis of what happens when we build volunteering infrastructure on its own so that if in the future, somewhere like Medway, is interested in becoming a City of Culture, there will be volunteers ready to go.

Medway Change Makers is a volunteer pool where Ideas Test has gathered together people from Medway who are interested in cultural volunteering. Then, “we sort of lend them out” to cultural organisations across Medway for events-based volunteering opportunities. This is volunteering that’s time-locked, short term, and fixed. Rather than volunteering every Tuesday for the rest of time at a charity shop, a volunteer might do one day at a music festival and then go home. It’s much easier to manage around lifestyles, working shifts, childcare, and public transport.

Medway Change Makers is housed within Ideas Test but doesn’t exactly cross over with Ideas Test’s core mission. “We’re really about getting people that aren’t currently engaging in the arts”, says Maria, “engaging in the arts via volunteering as a way to have agency over their creative practice.” Whilst the funding is ending, their expectation is that the project will continue. If anyone is a Medway Change Maker in waiting, Maria is clear this was the pilot phase and to keep an eye on Ideas Test for what is going to happen next. “We don’t know if Medway is going to go for City of Culture again,” says Tracy, “but if it does, this would be a definite strength.”

As cultural hotspots in Medway go, Rainham is often overlooked. Now, St Margaret’s Church is looking to rectify that by introducing a programme of arts events over the coming year.

First up is the Rainham Piano Festival in May features an eclectic lineup of performers, including Curtis Stigers, Dominic Ferris, Julian Joseph, The Kanneh-Masons, and Paddy Milner.

Reverend Nathan Ward, Vicar of St Margaret’s Church, is excited about the event and what it means for Rainham:

“To host such an extraordinary level of global talent in Rainham over one weekend is a truly historic moment for our town. Alongside these headline performances, we are delighted to offer a variety of recitals throughout the festival that are ‘pay what you want,’ making music accessible to everyone. These performances will span a broad range of styles, all played on a magnificent Steinway Grand Piano. This festival is a cornerstone of our vision to develop Rainham’s arts and cultural landscape in response to community feedback.”

Beyond the festival, 2025 will see further events at St Margaret’s Church, including a production of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, additional musical performances and an expanding lineup of cultural activities.

Tickets and more information can be found via the St Margaret’s Church website.

In which Steven Keevil assesses the Christmas lunch options available in our towns. This week, he’s been back down to The Cheese Room Botanicals in Rochester…

Reserving a table is highly recommended to experience the Christmas lunch at The Cheese Room, and a small deposit will be required for booking. I went as traditional as possible for this Christmas fare. Asian Prawn Cocktail with Nashi pear and chilli salsa for starter, Roast Turkey, traditional trimmings served with roasties and seasonal vegetables for the main, and Sticky toffee Christmas Pudding with clotted cream for pudding.

The starter had a generous serving of succulent prawns, a delightful side salad, and slices of pear. The salad had a good dressing and a spicy kick, which was welcomed. I won’t lie, though: It did feel like something was missing with no Marie Rose sauce, but that says more about me than the quality of this starter.

The main was well portioned, expertly cooked and enjoyable to eat. It does say something when food is this good, but the feeling afterwards is such that you realise there is a reason we have turkey once a year.

The pudding was wonderful, full of flavour, and made so as not to make you regret eating it, like some Christmas puddings. One of my favourite puddings of the year.

Overall, this was a great meal served by the Cheese Rooms friendly team, making a great moment this Christmas. I highly recommend you go there if you can.

It’s time to talk about the big Panto story this season. No, not the highly enjoyable Jack and The Beanstalk getting rave reviews at Central Theatre. We, of course, mean Die Hard: The Panto, which played for one night only at Spotlites Theatre.

This amateur panto production was written by Nucleus Arts’ David Stokes, who stars alongside a volunteer cast with faces for Medway Pride Radio. Raising money for Rainbows over Medway, the performance was also being recorded for radio, meaning some periods featured the cast standing at microphones reading their scripts, which is perfectly fine if going for a radio recording. At other times, there was creeping around the stage, which was perfectly fine for a panto. There were also moments of electrics being hit by super soakers, which is… perfectly fine.

It would take a cold heart to write a review that was anything but glowing for this endeavour you can ‘experience’ on MPR this Christmas. So, I turn to my children for their insights instead:

“Hilariously awful, funny jokes about Chatham, more of a comedy than the film. Very enjoyable but some might see it not as pleasing as I did.” James, 13

“It was a great watch, better than expected. The actors were brilliant with all their mistakes, somehow their amazing improv made it seem on purpose. All-round it was a funny show that showed the best parts of Die Hard and made it in to a great panto.” William, 15

Whilst everybody should be congratulated for their efforts, special mention should be given to the criminally underused Destiny Coffey as Argyle, as well as Jonathan Ash’s ‘Hans Gruber’ and Dave Hutley’s ‘Fanny Drippington’, both fully embodying the idea that these performances only go to 11.

Die Hard: The Panto is available for your listening pleasure this Christmas on the Rainbows of Medway Mixcloud.

🎻 Fri 20 Dec – Singing Loins Xmas Bash // First of Medway’s premier alt-folk outfit’s Christmas gigs. The Ship, Gillingham. Free.

🎵 Sat 21 Dec – The Pastel Waves // Acoustic gig celebrating the release of their new EP, ‘Between Midnight and Morning’. Analogue Music, Rochester. Free.

🎻 Sat 21 Dec – Singing Loins Xmas Bash // Second of Medway’s premier alt-folk outfit’s Christmas gigs. Rising Sun, Rochester. Free.

It’s been an impressive year for Medway music. While the hurdles with live music continue, bands and artists from the Towns have continued churning out excellent records over the year. Our music writer, Stephen Morris, highlights ten of the best.

This is the final briefing edition of Local Authority of the year as we take a little break through the festive season. We’ve lined content up to fill the gap a bit, and we’ll return to the full schedule in the new year.

Coming up:
Sun 22 Dec – Our interview with Mayor of Medway Marian Nestorov
Fri 27 Dec – Our look back at the year.
Sun 29 Dec – We talk to some of Medway’s movers and shakers about their 2024 plans and what lies ahead for 2025.
Fri 3 Jan – We resume our usual schedule.

Remember that our Medwayish shop contains a wide range of Medway-related gifts and products designed by local creatives. We have books, mugs, t-shirts, prints, and other fun bits and pieces. Check it out!

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Music that soundtracked the creation of this edition: Til You Lie In Your Grave by Miss Ludella Black and Stuart Turner and The Flat Earth Society by Stuart Turner and The Flat Earth Society.