Medway's 2025 City of Culture bid has announced the team behind the campaign.

Chaired by Jatin Patel and Deidre Wells OBE, the bid's board of trustees brings together community members from business, education, local government and heritage.

Twelve people have been appointed to lead the bid, which sits as part of Medway's ambitious new 10-year cultural strategy.

The development of the plans will be supported by the Creative Medway Cultural Compact, the new community-led delivery model for the Towns' recently-launched cultural strategy.

In addition, the bid brings together more than 60 people of all ages from the area in working groups supporting the development of the bid's ambition, strategy and ideas.

Bidding for the the UK City of Culture 2025 is expected to start later this year, with submission and judging processes expected to take place over the course of 2021.

Co-chair of the board Jatin Patel is a fashion designer and the creative director at Chatham-based Kalikas Armour, who also played a key role in shaping Medway's new cultural strategy.

Chief executive of Visit Kent and chairman of English Tourism Week, Deirdre Wells OBE, brings experience working on high-profile projects including the Millennium Dome, Liverpool Capital of Culture 2008 and the 2012 London Olympic and Paralympic Games as the other chairman.

Keely Augustus, chief executive at Lyrici Arts, Simon Cook, principal of MidKent College and Bill Ferris OBE, former chief executive officer of Chatham Historic Dockyard will sit on the board.

They're joined by Richard Hicks, deputy chief executive of Medway Council, Tina Lovey, chief executive officer at Rivermead Inclusive Multi-Academy Education Trust, Sir David Maelville CBE, former Univeristy of Kent Vice-Chancellor and Michael Olyar, a local hip-hop artist.

The 12-person team is completed with David Sefton, University of Kent Institute of Culture and Creative Industries director, Natasha Steer, founder of Creatabot and Deborah Turner, founder of Deborah Turner Ltd.

Being recognised as UK City of Culture would bring the title to the South East for the first time in the competition's history and have a major impact on the area.

Previous winners Hull saw six million visitors at a value of £300 million and a significant shift in local pride and reputation stemming from their year.

Jatin said: "I am proud to be a part of the coalition driving forward Medway’s collaborative 2025 bid.

"Rebuilding post-pandemic is an exciting opportunity for us to look forward and build on strong foundations to forge new pathways.

"Medway's bid celebrates our rich history and heritage, the diversity of people and places and the industry and innovation across the area."

The bid announced the winners of its Love Medway competition earlier this month.

To find out more about the bid, visit its website.

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