It's always the same - you take a few days R&R and things happen while your back is turned.

Usually Medway is bypassed by the gong givers.

Not this time - it's been a veritable flood with only the odd knighthood missing from the Birthday Honours list.

I could go on about the CBE for Elaine Thomas who helped to create the University of the Creative Arts, but I won't.

Instead I want to concentrate on the two new recipients of the OBE, Rodney Chambers and Bill Ferris.

The awards are richly deserved for their respective services to local government and heritage.

Yet they are closely linked together.

Both men have an inate love for the dockyard and the rich heritage of Medway. Both have worked tirelessly to see them raised in world awareness, and both have had enormous vision for the way dockyard could be made to work.

Cllr Chambers, through thick and thin, has fought to ensure the historic parts of the dockyard (and Fort Amherst) go from strength to strength. It is not a political gesture: it is something deeply rooted in him, a passion that got him closely infvolved in the earliest days of their restorations.

Bill Ferris has quietly and effectively turned the area from one run by a lot of enthusiastic individuals with a common goal into a co-ordinated business. He has allowed - nay, encouraged - developments, professionals and amateurs, businesses and entrepreneurs to work alongside each other and (in most cases) generate cash to maintain the vast number of costly building treasures which are at the heart of The Historic Dockyard Chatham.

Both have done a lot more beside conserve and develop Medway's historic treasures: they have put Medway on the map (well, at least Google's).

Where it leads, perhaps the Ordnance Survey will follow.

***

I've been away for a few days - looking at how destructive Medway's Chavs can be.

Don't worry, they were doing it with the full authority of the government (we were at war at the time) but what they did survives (in parts) to the present day.

I was at Bomarsund in the Aland archipelago of Finland.

It is where the Royal Engineers and the Royal Navy joined with the French to attack (and destroy) an enormous Russian fortress at the start of the Crimean War.

The Russians were trying to control access to the Baltic, the Allies to maintain trade.

The fort was too big to defend successfully and was quickly overwhelmed b y cannons from land and sea.

Once they capitulated, the Sappers went in and blew up the buildings and outlying defences.

It is fascinating to learn that Brigadier-General Harry Smith got a knightood at the end of the seige. The sapper was very concerned to lose a saw during the battle - oh, and one of his soldiers. Meanwhile the Lords of the Admiralty insisted that the fleet admiral, Sir Charles Napier, could cause longrange damage - but he had to avoid damaging any of his ships. On that, he failed.

A few bits of the walls survive - including part of a forward post. One small section - about 30 square yards in area - has 19 distinct hits on the granite walls around one gun position.

Clearly, our lads certainly always knew how to have a good time when they are away from home.

***

The collapse of the Icelandic banks in 2008 continues to reverberate, particularly in Kent.

Tonbridge and Malling council invested £1 million on a three month, fixed term deposit with Landsbanki.

Three weeks before it was to mature the bank collapsed.

The council is one of a number fighting to recover community cash, and expect to get it back - with the interest.

Meanwhile, despite low interest rates at the present time, the council expects its various investments to bring in close to £337,000 in the current financial year.

Medway was fortunate. It didn't have any money in the Icelandic banks at the time.

A sense of normality is returning to our newsrooms after the chaos of last week. We're proud that despite the atrocious weather that hit from Wednesday night, not a single KM Group paper failed to reach the shops last week. In fact, as an industry , I think HMP (Her Majesty's Press) played a blinder. While shelves were empty of other essentials like bread and fresh fruit and veg, newspapers were on sale throughout.  Online audiences reach a peak during bad weather and the very nature of live news comes into its own at times like this. I've just been speaking to people from Demelza House, the children's hospice, who were grateful that our website had been able to put out the announcement that a carol concert had become another victim of the snow and ice. Our radio stations serve a similar service. I feel for organisers who have to make really difficult decisions about whether to pull the plug on an event that may have been months in the making. Do you cancel early and run the risk of it being a totally unnecessary course of action if the thaw sets in, or leave it to the last minute with the resulting inconvenience if you have to cancel? It's a tough call and you'll never please everyone.

I am happy to say that one event that did survive was the charity boxing event at the Ramada Hotel in Hollingbourne on Monday between soldiers from the Royal Engineers and the Royal Artillery. It was in aid of the Invicta Horse Welfare Fund which helps families of the 36 Engineers at Maidstone barracks. It was extremely well attended. In fact, hotel manager Dominic di Cara told me it could have sold twice over. As well as people wanting to support our sappers, there clearly is a real appetite for amateur boxing nights locally. And those who were luckily enough to be there were rewarded with nine superb bouts between well-matched fighters. The important bit, though, was the £18,500 raised for the fund. Such was its success, I think we could be looking at similar events in the future. Well done to Paul Alcock, a stalwart supporter of the regiment, the Mall shopping centre and Maidstone Town Centre Management for staging such a terrific evening.