EDWIN Boorman, chairman of the Kent Messenger Group, presented a cheque to a charity before speaking about family-owned newspapers at a business event in Ashford.

Mr Boorman was guest of honour at a dinner hosted by Kent Executive Club, a group of senior business people from across the county.

Club members raised £1,150 from a race night last year and decided to donate it to the Canterbury Oast Trust, based at the Rare Breeds Centre in Woodchurch. The Trust offers homes to 89 disabled people in Folkestone, New Romney and Rye, and day services to 22 others.

Joe McCann, the Trust's head of fundraising, marketing and public relations, accepted the cheque from Mr Boorman before dinner in the Ashford International Hotel.

He thanked club members, saying the money would directly help the disabled people. "I'm delighted with the donation," he said.

Mr Boorman, who joined his father at the Kent Messenger Group in 1959, spoke about the challenges of running a family-owned newspaper group.

He told guests that the company, founded in the late 1800s, was now a multi-media enterprise with five radio stations and a successful Internet presence.

It was important to be independent, he said, but family ownership had become increasingly rare in newspapers following a spate of takeovers and mergers. "We are in an industry of piranhas," he said.