Stones Live! Is an internet-only radio service for fans
of Maidstone United Football Club, run by volunteer supporters.
Stones Live! – Who are we?………………
Stones Live! is an internet-only radio service for fans of
Maidstone United Football Club, run by volunteer supporters.
We offer advertisements and programme sponsorship to raise
money for the “Bring The Stones Home” campaign,
which aims to raise funds to help enable the Club to construct
a new stadium at James Whatman Way in Maidstone for the good
of the community.
The real advantage of broadcasting on the internet is that
you can listen to our output from anywhere in the World, providing
you have a broadband connection.
We broadcast live commentaries of games and produce a monthly
evening magazine show, “Black & Amber”, which
includes features such as match reports, interviews with managers
& players, studio discussions and supporter phone-ins.
Above) In the Press Box at Longmead. Chris Bechervaise (with
silver headphones) and Fred Atkins (partially obscured by
laptop) broadcasting live commentary of Tonbridge Angels v
Maidstone United (2-2) from the press box at Longmead Stadium
on 17 January 2009.
Maidstone United Chairman Paul Bowden-Brown (right) being
interviewed by Chris Bechervaise in a “Black & Amber
- Ask The Chairman Special” live from The Fox pub, Maidstone
on 22nd November 2008.
Meet The Team
Chris Bechervaise – Station Manager/Producer/Presenter/Commentator/Marketing
Chris (seen above on the left interviewing Maidstone United
Chairman, Paul Bowden-Brown) travels from Buckinghamshire
to watch the Stones. He lives in The Chiltern hills with his
wife Hayley, and new-born son, James. Chris is a Civil Servant,
working as a Trainer and Conciliator for the Advisory, Conciliation
and Arbitration Service (ACAS). The founder of Stones Live!,
Chris started his interest in broadcast radio by joining Hospital
Radio Tunbridge Wells in 1980. He has also worked as a presenter/producer
with RTM Radio (now known as Time FM) in SE London from 1984
to 1996 where, amongst other roles, he was the “anchor
man” for the Saturday afternoon football show, “The
Beautiful Game”.
A Stones fan since 1986, Chris can vividly remember his first
Stones game against Welling United in the FA Cup 1st Round
proper at Park View Road. “It was my first ever non-league
game and I found it intriguing. The one thing I can remember
really well was finding it quite a novelty that there was
no segregation; at half-time, both sets of supporters changed
ends and there were people standing about on the terraces
carrying pints of beer from the bar! Until that moment, these
things were completely alien to me as a former Chelsea supporter.
But from that moment onwards I was bitten by the Stones non-league
bug.”
Russell Card – Producer/Presenter/Commentary
Summariser/Reporter/Techie
Russ is an IT Consultant, DJ and Freelance Radio Presenter,
a combination that has allowed him to avoid doing any actual
work for a number of years. Russ lives in Maidstone and has
been a Stones supporter for around 30 years. He has worked
on various radio stations including a 3 year stint as Sports
Show presenter on Maidstone's CTR FM (now KMFM).
As a long time Maidstone United supporter Russ has many happy
memories. His favourite period as a supporter is the 1980s
although he has mixed feelings about it. Two Conference titles
and some memorable FA Cup matches (including a drive to Darlington
and back in a day), plus promotion to the League. It doesn't
get better than that. Worst day was probably 23rd April 88
and the last match at the Athletic Ground.
Ruth Tunnell – Match Reporter/Studio Pundit
Ruth lives in Tunbridge Wells. Her occupation is a Rocket
Scientist (yes really!). She has been writing the match reports
for Maidstone United’s match day programme and website
for a number of years, and this means she also covers the
Club for the Non-League Paper. She has also done some freelance
football and science writing for a number of publications
and organisations including the Press Association and Chemistry
World. Her only previous "radio" experience came
when she was covering the Ryman League Division One title-deciding
game at Walton Casuals for Dover Athletic via a mobile phone.
Due to severe nerves prior to and during the game, Ruth had
drunk a few ciders and that, coupled with the terrible reception,
meant that they stopped phoning for updates after a while.
A Stones supporter for about 18 years, she believe’s
her first Stones game was against Scarborough at Watling Street.
Her primary school organised a trip to the game and she remembers
hanging around afterwards to collect some autographs. Ruth
considers Steve Butler to be The Stones’ greatest ever
player. He went to her primary school along with Mark Gall
to hold a "training session" and after he had autographed
Ruth’s “Chess” notebook, she decided he
was going to be her favourite player. Until his recent departure,
Lloyd Blackman had the potential to become one of Ruth’s
greatest Maidstone players. As well as scoring the winner
down at Ramsgate which was a fantastic moment, he has also
scored two of the best goals I have ever seen from a Stones
player. Ruth’s worst moment whilst supporting the Stones
was when the club folded. She was quite young at the time
and never envisaged it would take as long as it did to even
get to Kent League level. Her favourite moment was the feeling
of running across the pitch and the subsequent celebrations
at Sevenoaks Town when we finally clinched the Kent League
title.
Fred Atkins – Commentary Summariser/Reporter
 Fred
(seen above in the foreground), lives in the Fant district
of Maidstone (which he calls “the most salubrious neighbourhood
in the 'Stone”). He is a journalist and author. His
career started with the late, unlamented Stones fanzine SHAFTED!
before getting a job with the Maidstone News, which was consumed
by the Adscene. He moved to the Kent Messenger in 2002 and
became Sports Editor in 2005. Fred turned freelance in 2008
and now works for a number of organisations, including the
Associated Press and Kent on Sunday.
His first book, "The Double", was the story of Maidstone
United's double-winning 2001-2002 season, a limited edition
in every sense of the word. His second book "Tour de
Kent: the day the world's greatest bike race came to the garden
of England," was published in June 2009 by Breedon Books.
Fred has been a Stones supporter for about 30 years and has
been told his first game was a 1-0 defeat to Cheltenham around
1977 or 1978. But the first game he has a vague memory of
was the 1-1 draw at the Valley in the FA Cup with Charlton.
Fred’s greatest ever Stones players are 1) Aaron Lacy
2) Frank Ovard 3) Mo Takaloo;
His worst moments as a Stones supporter were those surrounding
the events of 1992. He says the scars are permanent. His favourite
moment was beating Tonbridge Angels in the cup a few years
ago. Not because he had anything against Tonbridge, but because
it was the first time we'd played a game in front of that
kind of crowd since the football league days. Fred also hopes
this favourite moment will be eclipsed by the first game at
Whatman Way in 20…?
Adrian Sharpe (aka North West Stone) – Reporter/Commentary
Summariser/Studio Pundit
 Adrian,
aka North West Stone (NWS) lives in Rugby with his wife and
works in a residential children's home. He has been supporting
the Stones since the mid seventies and he believes his first
game was a 3-1 defeat at home to Grantham in 1976. His favourite
moments since supporting the Stones were the atmosphere at
the Charlton FA Cup game in 1980 and discovering that the
Club had been reborn (not living in the area he did not know
of the new Maidstone United until 1996). Adrian’s worst
moment is undoubtedly the failure to gain planning permission
and the subsequent death of the old club in 1992. His favourite
player of all time is Glenn Coupland. He doesn’t know
why, he was just a good centre forward when Adrian used to
go to games. Working on Stones Live! is Adrian’s first
experience of working in the media and, after feeling very
nervous the first time, now enjoys doing shows when he can.
He says that one day he may even make some sense on the thing!
Huw Egginton (aka Oxford Stone)– Reporter/Studio
Pundit/Statto
 Huw
lives in Oxford and is one of the WOLSS (West Of London Stones
Supporters), affectionately know as The Wollies. Working in
software sales, his only previous experience of working in
the media was selling advertising space in local newspapers.
A Stones supporter since 1975, Huw’s first ever Stones
game was at home to Guildford & Dorking, the Stones winning
1-0.
To him, the greatest ever Stones players were (in the last
decade) Luis Cumbers and Mo Takaloo, both for their unadulterated
skill. Huw’s worst moment as a Stones supporter was
the 0-0 draw against Ramsgate, the Club thus failing to get
promoted from the Kent League. His favourite moment was the
final whistle at Folkestone, in April 2008 when the Club avoided
relegation from the Ryman League Premier Division.
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