If the management at Criterion Blue Town thought adding a comedy night to their offering would attract a younger audience to the revamped music hall on the Isle of Sheppey, then this experiment failed. If they wanted a night of laughter, then it was a success. Three comedians, corralled by veteran comic Kevin McCarthy, kept the small but perfectly-formed audience entertained on Thursday night (February 26). Comedian Kevin McCarthy at the Criterion Blue Town. Picture: John Nurden It wasn’t long before the comedians became aware of the, let us say, mature nature of those who had splashed out £17.50 on tickets for a comfy seat out of the cold night air. McCarthy, who is no spring chicken himself and resembled something of an off-duty Santa Claus in his jeans and bushy beard, was the first to jump on the bandwagon identifying a chap called Brian, who gave his age as 86, as a likely target. “I’d better hurry up then!” he quipped. Then he spotted a woman in the front row with her arms folded defiantly. “You’re either fed up already or planning to join me on stage for the River Dance,” he said. On seeing the theatre’s grand piano in the corner of the stage, decorated with silver candelabra, he mused: “Either Liberace is coming or someone is about to sacrifice a goat.” And that was typical of the gentle banter which followed. Comedian John Newton at the Criterion Blue Town. Picture: John Nurden Also on the bill was amiable John Newton from the Medway Towns. Looking around the sparse auditorium he announced: “I always get nervous at these big gigs.” Taking potshots at his hometown he remarked: “I saw a group of lads hanging around Chatham’s Pentagon shopping centre sniffing Tipp-Ex. I thought ‘big mistake’.” It took a while for the line make its mark with the audience but it was a welcome change to the usual torrent of anti-Sheppey jokes. Sean Hutchinson at the Criterion Blue Town on Sheppey. Picture: John Nurden Alas, Island comic Sean Hutchinson, wearing a moustache, glasses and a black pullover, set the campaign to celebrate culture on Sheppey back decades with a relentless stream of complaints about living in James Street. The night was saved by Irish comic Paddy Lennox who seemed genuinely delighted to be making his debut on a Sheppey stage. Comedian Paddy Lennox at the Criterion Blue Town. Picture: John Nurden Looking around the theatre he remarked: “It’s like being in a time warp. I may be the most excited person here.” It is a not unsurprising fact that when it comes to more elderly audiences there is usually a surfeit of women. And this was no exception. At least two men had arrived with two women each and one lucky chap had four. “This is definitely the place to retire to,” mused Lennox. “These must be the Epsteins of Sheppey - three fellas with eight women. I’m just jealous. The rest of Kent must be spitting with envy.” The next comedy night at the Criterion is on October 8 with comics Andy Stedman, Noel James and Gerry K. There’s no preferred age range but a boost in numbers would be a good punchline.

You can’t miss the ‘road closed’ signs springing up across Sheppey as gas distributor SGN upgrades its ageing network with new plastic pipes. But less than three miles away an even bigger operation has been going on, hidden from most people’s eyes. The same company has been tunnelling under the Swale as part of an £8.2 million operation to lay a new 12-inch (400mm) high pressure main to feed the Island. The green line shows the route of the new gas main under the Swale Contractors Phoenix Civils moved onto the site near Ridham Dock last August to prepare for one of SGN’s most challenging projects. A specialist team from LMR Drilling UK arrived on January 6 and after two weeks of setting up machinery completed the drilling in two-and-a-half weeks – 10 days ahead of schedule. Workers are now busy dismantling the rig and preparing to connect the new pipe to the network. The drilling rig used to tunnel a new gas main under the Swale to the Isle of Sheppey. Picture: SGN Once the pipe has been tested and connected, drivers and train passengers will begin to see scaffolding going up around the Kingsferry Bridge as work switches to removing the existing 60-year-old steel pipe from inside the towers. Although relatively quick, drilling the borehole was not without its challenges. SGN engineers Nathan Clarke, left, and Simon Thurlow on the bank of the Swale. PIcture: John Nurden SGN’s project manager Simon Thurlow, 50, explained: “Not only are the Sheppey marshes a site of special scientific interest and are covered by the Ramsar International Convention on wetlands but we also had to negotiate with eight or nine different landowners plus working in line with our consents set out by Natural England.” He added: “This has been a very complex project. It has been planned since 2017 and I became involved in 2019. “It took a long time to get everything in place. But once we were ready, the actual drilling was completed ahead of schedule.” Tricone bit breaks through after tunnelling under the Swale. Picture: SGN At the heart, or probably the head, of the horizontal directional drill (HDD) was a state-of-the-art device clamped to the front which used gyroscopes, and similar technology to that in top secret Cruise missiles, to guide it under the Swale. After drilling down 23.5 metres and then along 573 metres it emerged on the Sheppey side bang on target. “It was incredible to see,” said Simon. “We had red guideposts in place and it popped up right next to them.” New gas pipe being pulled back to the mainland under the Swale from Sheppey. Picture: SGN At the same time, a dedicated mud engineer had been shipped over from Poland to take soil samples, sometimes as many as 15 a day, to ensure the lubricant mix of slurry fed back into the drill hole remained at exactly the right consistency to allow the manoeuvre to be completed in one continual process. The samples were all tested onsite. The polyethylene pipe normally comes in 12-metre lengths but for the Sheppey project they were specially shipped as 18-metre lengths by pipe manufacturer Aliaxis to reduce the number of joints. The new gas pipe stretched out along the Sheppey marshes ready to be pulled under the Swale. Picture: SGN The pipes were laid out in a single line on the Island side before being fused together in one long strip by heat welding. The whole pipe was then gently pulled back under the Swale to the mainland. The project has been so high profile that a stream of “top brass” from SGN regularly visited the site to watch the operation at first-hand. At one stage, a temporary viewing platform was installed so visitors could see the drill in action. Removing the drilling equipment from site The Ridham Dock site is now being stripped of equipment. And waste mud stored in a giant manmade lagoon is being taken away in a fleet of tankers to be environmentally disposed of. The drilling site will then be returned to its original condition as 4,000 tonnes of aggregate used to support the rig are removed and the topsoil replaced. The new pipe will be connected to the rest of the Sheppey main and to the gas feed on the mainland side near a buttress leading to the Kingsferry Bridge. New pipe will be connected to the gas feed here. Picture: John Nurden The team is waiting for permission to close the Ridham Dock Road to complete the task. Then it will be out with the old pipes. Site project manager Nathan Clarke, 53, from Rochester, will be in charge of that. He joined British Gas as an 18-year-old school-leaver. Old gas pipe, left, under the Kingsferry Bridge to be removed. Picture: SGN He explained: “The old pipe runs underneath the carriageway, down one tower, along the inspection tunnel under the Swale, up the other tower and under the roadway to the Island. “We will be hanging scaffolding from the road to access the pipe but because the Swale is tidal we will also need rescue boats on the water while we are working. Because the access doors to the Kingsferry Bridge are this small the old gas pipe must be cut into one-metre lengths. Picture: John Nurden Because the access doors to the bridge’s inner workings are so small, the pipe will have to be painstakingly removed in short lengths. Nathan said: “There will be scaffolding inside the bridge to take the weight of the pipe as we cut it into one-metre-long sections. These will be rolled to the towers where electric hoists will lift them up.” Kingsferry Bridge linking the Isle of Sheppey to the mainland. Picture: John Nurden Remote “cold cutters” will slice into the steel. Each cut is likely to take 45 minutes. Nathan added: “Because it is in a confined space, we can’t use oxyacetylene torches. And every time the bridge lifts for a boat we will have to stop work. Few people realise just how much work goes into project like this behind the scenes.” It might almost make the gas bill for Sheppey’s 15,000 customers seem worth it!   Note: Southern Water began its £7.5 million project to install two new water supply pipes to Sheppey in October 2022, three months after its old main across the Kingsferry Bridge burst and left 40,000 Islanders without water for three days during one of the hottest summers on record. The work was finally completed almost a year later in September 2023. Project team leader Peter Simmons blamed the delays on “major challenges”. He said: “There were all sorts of changes in the soil, clay and shells which made life pretty tough. But we had a brilliant team and overcame every hurdle.”

According to some, who should know better, the Isle of Sheppey is a "cultural desert". Well, we have news for them! Despite being a tiny Island on the north Kent coast, Sheppey somehow manages to maintain not one but TWO community theatres. The Sheppey Little Theatre in Meyrick Road, Sheerness There is the aptly-named Sheppey Little Theatre nestled in the backstreets of Sheerness. In 2025 it celebrated its 50th anniversary. Then there is the Criterion Theatre, a stunningly revamped music hall in Blue Town which presents variety shows and shares its premises with a three-storey museum. Criterion Blue Town - theatre, cinema, music hall and museum In fact, that's something else Sheppey isn't short of. The Island boats FIVE museums all slightly quirky and all covering a different aspect of the Island's rich heritage ranging from Britain's first flying pioneers in Eastchurch to dastardly Dutch invaders in Queenborough, visits of Charles Dickens to Minster and not forgetting the nautical heroes of Sheerness Dockyard including Lord Nelson. And, of course, there are its awaard-winning beaches and the nationally acclaimed Elmley Nature Reserve with its shepherds' huts and luxury manor house where guests can stay or even hire for weddings. Not for nothing is Sheppey called Kent's hidden gem. This treasure trove of cultural highlights is just waiting to be discovered. Whether you're a resident looking to delve deeper into the island's offerings or a visitor eager to explore its charm, there's something for everyone to enjoy.

Yep, we've all heard that familiar cry of "there's nothing to do". But on Sheppey there is always something going on. It could be live bands playing in pubs like the Seaside Bar and Harps Inn at Minster, the Old House at Home, The Rose, the Flying Dutchman or the Admiral's Arm at Queenborough or the Castle, Queen's Head or the Heights of Alma at Sheerness. There is also regular live entertainment at the Island's social clubs and holiday parks. The Island is also lucky enough to have not one but TWO theatres: the Sheppey Little Theatre in Sheerness and the Criterion at Blue Town. Each week Sheppey Scene gathers the details for its almost legendary guide to live music, plays, art exhibitions and fascinating talks, in association with other organisations, so you don't have to. Visit our Facebook page (20+) Facebook for the latest up-to-date information. You can also catch exclusive videos on the (10) Sheppey Scene - YouTube channel.

Should Sheppey have one council serving the Island? Should Halfway get its own parish council or be absorbed by Minster, Sheerness or Queenborough? Does Warden parish council need to be renamed Warden Bay? These are some of the questions to be discussed by the next Island Forum on Tuesday (January 20). Welcome to the sun-kissed Isle of Sheppey There will also be an urgent update from Lee Jarmain and Paul West from the Pyramid Project on how the Island desperately needs to support its young people who are not working or in school. Esther Marsh from the Sheppey Employment Forum will highlight a ‘No Excuses’ event to be held in March at the former Dockyard Church in Blue Town And Jenny Hurkett from the Criterion Blue Town  will give the latest low-down on ambitious plans to celebrate the Island in June with a month-long Festival of Sheppey to highlight its heritage. Jenny Hurkett, founder of the Criterion Blue Town, is masterminding a Festival of Sheppey A competition to find a town crier for the Island is also on the cards. Tuesday’s meeting begins at 6.30pm and this month will be at Sheerness East Working Men’s Club in Queenborough Road, Halfway, as part of Swale Borough Council 's public consultation into a community governance review. Cllr Mike Whiting  (Ind, Queenborough and Halfway), who chairs Swale council’s community governance review working group, said: “This is a really important moment for Swale and for Sheppey in particular. Cllr Mike Whiting. Picture: Swale Borough Council “The Community Governance Review (CGR) will help Swale Council decide whether it wants to make changes to existing parish and town councils on the Island. “Local representation will be all the more important when the government abolishes Swale Borough Council and Kent County Council in favour of a large unitary authority. “Town and parish councils can provide local input into decisions which affect their residents and can ensure local money is spent locally. "The consultation considers whether Halfway, the only area on Sheppey not to have its own parish council, should have one, or whether Halfway should be absorbed into another parish. “It also asks for views on abolishing all the town and parish councils on Sheppey and creating one large council covering and representing the whole island. "The final question is whether Warden Parish Council should change its name to Warden Bay Parish Council.” Cllr Tim Gibson. Picture: Swale Borough Council Cllr Tim Gibson (Lab, Roman) who chairs the council’s policy and resources committee, said: “When done right, parish and town councils benefit local communities. They give residents a direct voice in local affairs and provide flexibility on how funding is spent. “But we want to make it clear: having these new councils won’t be free and if set up there will be an additional charge on your council tax bill. “That is why it is incredibly important for us to hear from you; we only want to implement changes if that is what people truly want.” He added: “These options are not set in stone. Residents can help us shape the future of parish and town councils in Swale.” Does Halfway need its own parish council? Have your say by filling in the council’s questionnaire here: https://tinyurl.com/ParishCouncilSurvey  The deadline is Monday, February 9. There will be another meeting on Sheppey in Warden Bay next month. The results will shape a second consultation which will be launched in the spring. That could include changes to boundaries. For example, part of Appleford Drive is currently in Halfway and some in Minster-on-Sea. The council may suggest moving all of it into Minster-on-Sea.

It’s not often one man can hold a hushed audience in the palm of his hand for 75 minutes without a break. But award-winning actor James Hyland has mastered the mesmerising art. James Hyland as the ghost of Jacob Marley As the houselights dimmed at the Criterion Blue Town on Saturday (December 13) Hyland, painted in grey from head to foot as the ghost of Ebenezer Scrooge’s late departed business partner Jacob Marley made a spectacular entrance. He blasted through the curtains from the wings accompanied by blood-curdling cries of screaming spirits trapped between worlds of heaven and earth and then stumbled across the stage weighed down by clanking iron chains. This was clearly not going to be a happy, musical Muppet version of one of Charles Dickens’ most loved tales. James Hyland on stage at the Criterion Blue Town You will know the story. Skinflint Scrooge has been working late in the office with his trusty but woefully underpaid clerk Bob Cratchit and now, alone in his bed, the three ghosts of Christmas past, present and future come knocking on his door. Each visit becomes more terrifying than the last. This was heart-in-the-mouth theatre in its finest form as Hyland delivered line after faultless line of perfect prose brought to life with exquisite detail and the cleverest of subtle mime. How does one man playing all these parts make this happen without any props or special effects, save for a single wooden chair placed stage centre? James Hyland backstage preparing to change into the ghost of Jacob Marley It can only be magic. Or rigorous rehearsals to get every nuanced movement and gasp on breath just so. Of course, Hyland has been doing this one-man show since 2009 so he should have the hang of it by now. He not only stars in the production but he also wrote the script and directs. It seems impossible that one man could be so talented, although, to be fair, Nicki Martin-Harper’s costume of rags and moth-eaten mittens, and her make-up design, have a lot to answer for. Perhaps it’s best not to ask how Hyland’s eyes glow evilly red while on stage. As one shell-shocked audience member remarked after the show: “I have no idea how he managed to remember all those words. It was like a West End performance.” For those who missed it, the good news is that Hyland will return to this venue at Halloween (October 31) next year for an even more sinister and thought-provoking production of the Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. See it, if you dare… Sheppey Scene rating: ***** More production details from brotherwolf.org.uk Hear and see James Hyland talking about A Christmas Carol - as told by Jacob Marley (Deceased) here...

Sheppey’s Shaun Williamson has been given an early Christmas present following a surprise top-secret phone call from the producers of EastEnders. Top quizzer Shaun, 60, had been unceremoniously killed off by BBC soap bosses more than 20 years ago after signing up for panto at Canterbury’s The Marlowe Theatre  against their wishes. Barry (Shaun Williamson) is a pushover when wife Janine (Charlie Brooks) shoves him off a cliff. Picture: BBC Viewers were shocked when they watched his scheming on-screen wife Janine Butcher (Charlie Brooks) push his hapless character Barry Evans off a cliff in 2004. It looked like there was no way back. But in a scene worthy of Dallas*, BBC EastEnders  is bringing Barry back from the dead for a one-off episode next month. Shaun’s real-life wife Adele quipped on social media: "This call definitely wasn’t on my bingo card for 2025. But we’ll take it!” Barry (Shaun Williamson) will be reunited with Nigel Bates (Paul Bradley) on EastEnders. Picture: BBC Barry will appear in a vision to Nigel Bates (Paul Bradley), who is suffering from dementia, in the Queen Vic pub. With him will be Barry’s stepmother Pat (Pam St Clement). Barry previously had a feud with Pat, who he refused to forgive for her affair with Frank Butcher. But the two will put aside their differences to help Nigel in his time of need. Ben Wadey, the soap’s executive producer, said: "I’m delighted to welcome Shaun back. "Barry Evans was renowned for being one of Walford’s unluckiest residents. So it was a privilege to welcome him back alongside Pat for these special scenes in The Vic." Barry, a hapless minicab boss, first appeared in the soap in December 1994. His first wife Natalie (Lucy Speed) left him and his second wife murdered him. Pam St Clement returns as Pat. Picture: BBC Pat, too, is coming back from the dead. She married Barry’s father in 1996 but died of cancer on New Year’s Day 2012. Shaun admitted: “It was a complete shock getting the call to go back to Albert Square. But it is so exciting! "I have to admit to having a few nerves when I walked back onto the set of The Queen Victoria but it was so great to work with old friends and colleagues on such a brilliant episode.” He added: “It just goes to show, you never know what’s around the corner!" A younger Shaun Williams first time around as Barry Evans in EastEnders. Picture: BBC The Maidstone-born actor now lives on Sheppey and has built up a successful career as a celebrity karaoke star touring his Barrioke  show across the country and abroad. He has also proved himself a top quizzer having raised more than £350,000 for charity. Shaun spent a year competing in the UK Quiz Grand Prix as research for his book A Matter Of Facts which details the world of elite general knowledge quizzing competitions. During this time he became a Top 50 ranked player in the UK. During an appearance on ITV's  Beat the Chasers  (in which he won £120,000 for The Paul Strank Charitable Trust based in south London), the Dark Destroyer described him as "celebrity quizzing royalty". Quiz fans might like to know that Barry was not the only character Shaun played in EastEnders. He also had a brief role as a paramedic in 1994. After a stint in the Royal Navy, Shaun returned to civvy street and took a job in Safeway supermarket in Walderslade. But in 1991, aged 26, he decided to switch careers and signed up to the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art . Shaun will be back in panto next month playing the baddie Abanazer alongside Rustie Lee in Aladdin at the King’s Theatre, Portsmouth. The panto which got him into trouble with BBC bosses was Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs with Toyah Willcox at the Marlowe Theatre. He played Muddles the Court Jester. Shaun Williamson Newspaper reports suggested he had been sacked from the BBC soap but he said at the time it had been his decision to go. He said: "I have accepted the lead in a Kevin Wood musical pantomime at the Marlowe in Canterbury for Christmas 2003. Unfortunately, EastEnders contracts don't allow it. So I have taken the decision to leave." EastEnders renewed his contract until November which gave bosses just enough time to kill him off! • In 1986 Bobby Ewing’s ex-wife Pamela discovered him alive and having a shower after “dreaming” he had been killed off for the entire previous season.