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More than a decade of building bridges with the community

October, 2025

After approximately 15 years, Maxim’s work to support the Rochester Bridge Trust has come to an end as the charity decided to take its communications in-house. Account Director Erica Jones looked after them for 11 of those years, here she shares some of her highlights.

My first task for the Rochester Bridge Trust was in spring 2014, not long after I’d joined the Maxim team. As a former sub-editor who had worked on several local newspapers, I was let loose proofreading materials to celebrate the centenary of the Old Bridge. It was then that my colleagues realised my enthusiasm for the structure and decided to let me take on a more involved role.

Back in May 2004 I’d taken the decision to move to Rochester from coastal Wales in part because of the sight of a sunset reflecting off the bowstring-shaped trusses. It’s incredibly beautiful to see the Old Bridge reflecting liquid gold as it stretches across the still water of the River Medway.

A photograph of sunset over the Old Bridge at Rochester. The top half of the picture comprises fluffy, grey and blue clouds. On the left, a golden ball of sun sets over Strood. On the right, the last rays of the sunset reflect off the bowstring-shaped trusses of the bridge. Below, we have the still water of the River Medway.

Sunsets are always better in reality, so here's a hint of a golden sunset from among the many photos stored on Erica's phone.

The supporting role grew until I was to become their lead representative at Maxim, eventually devoting much of my time to the Rochester Bridge Trust. I have fond memories of the centenary event at the Royal Engineers Museum when I first met staff and trustees, some of whom are still in post today.

Since then there have been many highlights.

Big paws

Travelling along the River Thames to manage a video of education mascot Langdon the Lion visiting a series of London bridges is one of the more unusual activities I took part in. I’ll never forget writing a risk assessment for “a lion on a boat” for the Port of London Authority, and the difficulty I had convincing them my enquiries were serious. It was a fun day and I still turn to that film when looking for a moment of pause – and big paws – on a stressful day. If you’ve not seen it, take a look: 

Little did I know at that time that I’d one day get to be Langdon myself. The weight and heat of the costume was quite a shock during my first Medway Mile event, but I cannot begin to tell you how much fun I had high fiving small children, pulling silly poses and dancing my way along the course to make up for the fact it was physically impossible for Langdon to run. There will always be a special place in my heart for Langdon the Lion and all the children I’ve interacted with as him.

A photograph of Langdon the Lion, a large lion mascot wearing a bright yellow high visibility top and a white hard hat. He looks friendly. He has his arms in the air and his legs appear to be running. He's on an athletics track.

Langdon the Lion may not be the fastest competitor in the Medway Mile Mascot Race, but that means he gets to spend lots of time interacting with the crowd.

Public events

Exhibitions featured heavily in my activities. Staffing the stand at education shows and helping to convince teachers that engineering is not just for boys was a challenge I relished, and the days spent having similar conversations with both teachers and pupils at the national Big Bang Fair were both exhausting and incredibly satisfying.

Translating the message

The primary purpose of the Rochester Bridge Trust is to provide passage over, under or across the River Medway, meaning my work has involved regular interaction with civil engineers.

It’s been an education for me, as my close working with those people gave me a greater understanding of – and enthusiasm for – civil engineering. One of the most common jobs of a PR professional is knowing how to transform technical language into words that mean something to the general public, and I thoroughly enjoyed this part of the work.

One example of this was during their Combined Bridge Refurbishment, or the Rochester Bridge Refurbishment Project as I insisted it was named for the public. My task was to introduce the works and explain them to all bridge users (the local community and wider travelling public) in a way that would help people to understand what the works were, how they were being carried out and why they were important. When members of the public could be seen repeating my messages on social media, I knew I’d got the message across.

This film by Aerial Imaging South East was organised by Maxim as part of the public engagement for the Rochester Bridge Refurbishment Project.

After so many years there are many more highlights I could mention, including learning more about the archives and art collection; supporting the re-write, re-design and re-print of Learning About Bridges education book; achieving countless awards shortlistings (and some wins!); numerous estate and grants visits; supporting lectures, open days and summer projects; extensive media and reputation management; and, of course, looking after social media to help them connect more closely with the community.

Rochester Bridge Trust utilised most – but not all – of our PR services during their 15 years as a client, and we wish them well as they embark on the next chapter in their external communications.

Erica Jones - Account Director

Erica Jones

Maxim / Account Director

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