This week was definitely a busy one, with plenty of stories to write and my NQJ exams on Friday.

The main story of the week was the front page of the Sittingbourne News Extra, about a vicar who had been refused permission to remove the pews from his church to make the building more accessible for parishioners, and flexible for events.

Rev Michael Resch kindly spoke to me and talked me through the issues the church faces, and I tied this conversation together with a press release I had been sent about the hearing of the Commissary Court of Canterbury.

I also worked on an interesting piece about a GP surgery in Sutton Valence, near Maidstone, which has started offering appointments through a service called Doctaly. The service enables people who aren’t NHS patients at the surgery to pay for 15 minute face-to-face consultations with the GPs there.

Obviously services like this can be quite contentious, with some labelling them “privitisation through the back door”. Have a read of the piece and let me know what you think in the comments.

The final piece from this week I’d like to highlight is a story about a skate park in Sittingbourne, which was due up at the planning committee meeting of Swale Borough Council this week. Unfortunately the meeting was called off due to the heavy snow, and will instead meet on Monday, March 5.

All in all a busy week, culminating in those pesky NQJ exams, which I’m praying I passed. Have to wait until April 10 to find out though!