Around town magazine april 2015 upminster edition

April 2015 Edition 1 Delivered to 10,000 Homes and Businesses in the Upminster area aroundtownmagazines.co.uk

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...to Upminster’s NEW Community Magazine!

Features

Welcome to the first edition of Around Town Upminster, your NEW community magazine.

We have a collection of local businesses and editorial included that we hope you find interesting, including a feature on the local candidates standing in the general election on May 7th. Around Town Magazines are produced by Black Square Print Media Ltd, a family run business, based in Billericay, Essex. Around Town Magazine was launched in December 2012, covering Billericay and the surrounding areas. Due to its popularity with residents and advertisers alike, a second magazine was launched the following year covering the whole of Rayleigh.

Towards the end of 2014 we conducted research in the local area and it soon became apparent that Upminster was in need of a handy, well presented, community magazine.

When & Where...

8 What’s On

11-13 Election Special General Election - 7th May 16 On Your Plot Gardening Tips 18 Martin Lewis The Money Saving Expert 20 Around Town Sports Focuses on Triathlon

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“Around Town Magazines are fantastic at what they do. It is so good to finally have a community magazine that does what it says on the tin and has been a really useful tool in generating further business...”

David - The Property Specialists

Why Advertise?

We deliver 10,000 copies every month to homes and businesses throughout Upminster and the surrounding area. We are also online, take a look at our digital editions via our website: www.aroundtownmagazines.co.uk

To Advertise Contact our Sales Team today, 01277 658444.

Booking deadline for our May edition of Around Town is: Friday 1st May.

So here it is! We hope you enjoy our efforts - please read on.

From the Around Town Team

What Our Customers Say...

Copyright 2015. Around Town Upminster is an independent magazine and does not endorse the products or services that appear in the magazine. Opinions expressed in Around Town do not necessarily represent those of the editors of Around Town Magazines. Around Town Magazines are published by Black Square Print Media Ltd produced by Black Square Litho Ltd.

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FREE LISTINGS From next month’s edition we will be printing a free listings section under the banner of ‘What’s On?’ If you would like to promote your club or event then please email a maximum of 70 words to admin@aroundtownmagazines.co.uk.

We would like to include any clubs or events that promote care in our community.

So if you are part of any clubs that involve; Children’s Events, Single Parents, Care for the Elderly and Charity Events etc then this is your opportunity to get your message across to your community... Free of charge!

Please ensure that all telephone numbers and contact details are included in the 70 words.

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With the current demographic trends, the indigenous population of Britain will become an ethnic minority in our own country within sixty-years or less. The British National Party would stop all immigration and put British people first in jobs and housing.

We would put our elderly before asylum seekers British jobs and industry must be protected from importation of goods that we can produce ourselves. Globalisation and export of jobs to the Far East has brought ruin and unemployment to British industry and the communities that depend on it.

Invest in real apprenticeships for our young people.

The NHS is in crisis and must be protected from any privitisation plans that would leave the sick and

vulnerable in greater need. Replace the thousands of bureaucrats with doctors, nurses and dentists.

The NHS would remain free to our people and foreigners who use it should be made to pay. The NHS will be safe with the BNP. £12 billion is wasted on foreign aid.

This needs to be cut back drastically or stopped all together. There are children and elderly people living in abject poverty and this needs to be rectified. This in itself could save and improve our health service.

More police on our streets to tackle violent crime and drug dealers.

Capital punishment restored for terrorists, murderers and child killers.

Stop further building on greenbelt land and make local homes for local people.

We are opposed to projects such as HS2 and privatised companies, such as the Railways and utilities, should be brought back into public ownership. Commuters are unfairly charged extortionate travel costs to pay shareholders where profit

should be used for improving these services.

Britain out of the European Union regaining our sovereignty saving the billions wasted on EU directive. The building of foreign funded Mosques would stop.

Education: Restore the grammar school, traditional teaching methods in mathematics and a full curriculum of British history with discipline in the classroom restored.

Competitive sports lessons and daily Christian assemblies. Abolition of fees and restoration of grants to university students studying proper subjects. End the scandalous and racist neglect that has left white working class boys without proper education and at the bottom of the academic table.

Paul Borg BNP Candidate

General Election Special As a Conservative, I believe people should have the freedom to live their lives as they choose, provided that they are not harming anyone else. They should be rewarded for the effort that they put into life and take responsibility for their own actions.

It is our duty to support those who are dependent for reasons beyond their control and help unemployed people to find work.

Many people tell me they are worried about immigration.Many immigrant families work hard, pay tax and contribute their skills to the life of our country. However, we do need to limit the number of new people to a level that our public services can cope with and remove immigrants who have committed crimes. In forming a new relationship with the EU, we

must regain control of how many, and who comes into the UK. The success of our economy, compared with other EU countries, has made us a magnet. After renegotiation, we will hold an in/out referendum and people can choose. But this will only happen under a Conservative majority government.

No coalition partner would agree.

Over the past 5 years we have – • Turned round our economy; • Created 3 million new apprenticeships; • Increased the state pension; created choices for private pensioners; • Introduced Help to Buy schemes

for first time buyers and Armed Forces personnel; • Reduced rate relief and National Insurance relief for small businesses; • Cut Corporation Tax to encourage inward investment; • Increased NHS funding by £12.7 billion – the most ever; And much more.

Now is not the time to risk everything with a protest vote there is only one question in this election – who do you want as your next Prime Minister – David Cameron or Ed Miliband?

ANGELA WATKINSON CONSERVATIVES CANDIDATE

Mel was educated at Hornchurch Grammar School and, following uni and a spell overseas, settled in Upminster with her family. She has a background working in nature conservation, the NHS and community services.

When she’s not on the campaign trail, Mel enjoys wildlife-friendly gardening, languages, music, reading, walking, food, wine and real ale. Having stood for election in Upminster in 2005 and, as a result of boundary changes, in Hornchurch & Upminster in 2010, Mel feels privileged to represent the Green Party in this constituency once again in 2015.

Why should you vote for me?

The Green Party does exactly what it says on the tin. Elected Greens have shown honesty and integrity, putting the people they serve before vested interests.

Mel wants action to: save our National Health Service for future generations; scrap tuition fees

that prevent many young people from reaching higher education; clamp down on corporate tax evasion and avoidance; curtail the EU-US deal known as TTIP which threatens jobs, small businesses and our public services; help local shops and services, the backbone of the economy, breathing life into high streets; protect Havering’s Green Belt, parks, playing fields, nature reserves and wildlife; raise standards in animal welfare; animals suffer through live animal exports, vivisection, the fur trade and bloodsports.

“If I am elected, the first thing I will do is...”

Fight to repeal the 2012 Health and Social Care Act and introduce an NHS Reinstatement Bill that will return our health service to public hands with full public accountability; free from market-based commissioning.

health care and witnessed families having to remortgage or sell their homes to pay medical bills.

The escalating costs of the NHS due to an ageing population and medical advances are not confined to the UK. The question of financing has to be tackled, but our NHS remains the best and most cost effective method of delivering health care.

That said, the NHS could be even more cost effective if we got rid of the market commissioning. When anyone complains of deficiencies in the NHS, they need to be reminded that a major factor is the cost of the market.

Here’s a link to my official campaign page:

my.greenparty.org.uk/candidates/106005

While working in the USA, I experienced a system that did not provide free at the point of need

Melanie Jane Collins Green Party Candidate

General Election - Thursday 7

I am committed to community participation having been school governor for nearly 20 years and a Councillor representing the Heaton Ward from 2010 – 2014. I have lived in the constituency since 1986 and worked in local government and the NHS as a Project Manager for the last 13 years.

The combination of my experience and commitment to our community contrasts positively when compared to my opponents.

I believe that the Labour Party is the only party that can improve the lives of ordinary people. In Havering there is a

tough battle having to fight parties that want to take us more to the right with terrible consequences for those who rely on essential public services.

The Labour Party has adopted a manifesto which will benefit the ordinary working family, my own priorities are:-

Health My campaign highlights the strengths of Labour’s Health policies and exposes the failure of the Government.

Locally there is a need to develop community services and the A & E at Queens and improve it to meet the demands of the growing population.

Housing There is a need both locally and nationally to provide

more housing. If elected to Parliament I will make this a priority to convince our leaders that we should not make the mistakes of the past and fail to build sufficiently. The poor supply of homes is a root cause of many social problems.

Education I will campaign to bring back Local Education Authorities.

Existing Academies could remain and keep control of their budgets but must be subject to local control in terms of performance and standards and Councils will have the power to intervene if schools were failing.

Paul McGeary Labour Candidate .

With ever increasing demands on our green spaces and greenbelt all parts of South Essex are faced with potentially devastating changes to the quality of life for residents and insupportable burdens on infrastructure.

Liberal Democrats want to achieve 300,000 homes nationally over the term of the next parliament: homes, reclaimed from the 1000’s of empty dwellings across the country and from new build housing, built primarily on the millions of acres of brownfield sites available nationally.

Beyond that, where housing

development takes place should be determined not by faceless planners, politicians or developers but by the community, working together with local authorities to ensure that priority is given to those in housing need, not those simply seeking aspirational housing which gives developers the biggest profits.

The future of the NHS is something which concerns many people. Like many, I have the strongest of personal reasons to help protect the NHS and as a party we will resist any attempts by other parties to privatise the NHS.

Liberal Democrats in government have stopped the Conservatives’ privatisation plans and we reversed Labour’s policy of allowing private companies to ‘cherry pick’ lucrative NHS contracts and get special favours.

While we accept, reluctantly, that there may be a role for some private sector provision of NHS services, we strongly believe that the NHS should always remain free at the point of delivery and be based on patients’ needs and not on their ability to pay.

Jonathan Mitchell Liberal Democrats Candidate

7th May 2015...... you decide I was brought up in the constituency where I still live with my wife and two children.

I am a local councillor and represent the ward of Gooshays where I was elected as London’s first UKIP councillor in March 2013.

Before working in politics, I was a self-employed electrician and understand the impact that our membership of the EU has had on the lives of ordinary families. I also served in the Territorial Army for eight years.

As well as living and working in the real world, I represent a

political party that is gaining support across the UK as people seek out a credible alternative to the main three distrusted and discredited political parties. At last year’s European Elections UKIP came first in Havering with 43% of the vote, more than the combined vote for Labour and Conservative.

I feel very strongly about the negative impact that mass, uncontrolled immigration has had on our local communities, with increased pressure on housing, schools, roads, transport and the NHS. Only by leaving the EU will we ever be able to control

immigration. According to the government’s own figures 767,000 foreign nationals registered for a National Insurance number last year, so that they could work or claim benefits. These figures can be found here: tinyurl.com/immigration-latest As your MP, I will represent you and vote only for those things that are in Britain’s national interest.

Lawrence Webb UKIP Candidate

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on your

PLOT Courgettes

There are not many vegetables that are as rewarding, and easy to grow, as courgettes. Now is a great time to get them started, they’ll pop up quickly and soon be supplying you with more tasty courgettes than you know what to do with!

Jobs for May:Keep on earthling up your potatoes to prevent the tubers from turning green.

If you’re planted peas don’t forget that they’ll need some support from sticks or netting that they can climb up.

With snow in April you’ll probably need to catch up with sowing crops that it was too cold for last month.

As the risk tender crops or peppers planted out, bags.

of frost passes, such as tomatoes can either be or on into grow

Start winter greens such as cabbages, sprouting broccoli and Brussels sprouts in a seedbed for transplanting to their final positions later.

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If you’ve lost seedlings or had trouble getting them started with all the cold weather don’t forget that you can always buy plants that have already been started. Buying young plants in is a great way to experiment with different varieties too - with so many types of tomato available it’s more fun to have several plants, each of different kinds, than half a dozen all the same. There’s a good plant stand at the monthly farmers market, and several garden centres or local growers nearby.

May is the time to start off that wonderfully easy vegetable - the courgette. If you’ve never grown courgettes before then I can highly recommend it as they give such a high yield from even just a couple of plants. In fact that would be my main advice - don’t be tempted to grow too many or you’ll be inundated!

Plant the seeds undercover or on a windowsill from the beginning of the month. Put two seeds to a pot, laying them on their sides and covering with about 1” of compost. They usually germinate in a week to ten days and grow pretty rapidly. Remove the weaker of the seedlings (I always feel guilty when I do this! If it looks good I re-pot it).

When the seedlings have four to 6 leaves start to harden off by placing outside during the day. Plant out after all risk of frost has passed. You can also start courgettes outside, directly into the bed in which they’ll grow but I’d wait until later in the month when the soil is a bit warmer.

The plants will grow quickly, producing exotic looking yellow flowers (look out for recipes for the flowers too). For maximum yields the plants should be harvested regularly. Tiny courgettes are very tasty, and don’t be tempted too turn your back on the plants for too long as they grow large at an amazing rate! Be careful with watering when seedlings as the stems can rot, but they’ll need plenty of water once they have grown. If you’re short of space courgettes can be grown in grow bags, planting two to a bag.

With summer in mind, don’t forget to keep planting your salad crops. As well as the traditional lettuce there are a host of other salad leaves that can be grown, and it’s usually possible to buy packets of mixed salad seeds. Get in the habit of planting some at least once a fortnight - use some of the leaves to cut and come again for tasty fresh salad, transplanting some lettuces outside and allowing them to grow on to full size.

If you planted beetroot seeds out in March or April the chances are that they’ll have suffered with the very cold weather that we had last month.

Another row sown now may well give you much better results.

Fancy your own, home grown, Brussels sprouts with Christmas dinner? They need quite a long growing time, so think about starting them around now.

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For those with existing debts there are record deals available right now to let you cut the cost and save £100s or £1,000s. Yet as the old adage goes, banks are companies that’d lend you an umbrella when the sun shines and ask for it back when it rains. So getting cheaper credit when in debt is tricky – however I have developed credit card eligibility checkers which can help you check what debt cutting cards you’re able to get before you apply. If you can lower the interest cost, then more of your repayment clears the actual debt, not just services the interest – meaning you’ll be debt-free far quicker. So here are the key debt cost cutting need to knows…

I make no apology for saying… stop borrowing. If you’re struggling, borrowing to make ends meet just elongates the problem - making it even costlier and more difficult. The tips below will help, but if you keep adding to the debt nothing will fix it. So take a deep breath, do a budget and examine all your spending to see if you can cut back.

Best buys are only best if you can get them. While there are many great rates on offer, you need to pass a credit score to get them, and many fail at that hurdle. Worse still when you apply it leaves a footprint on your file and lots of those in a short space of time can hit your future credit worthiness. I’ve given evidence to Parliament on this ‘anti-shopping around’ system - little’s been done.

So to fight back on my site we’ve built a free eligibility calculator – which tells you which cards you’re most likely to be accepted for. Just as importantly it does this without leaving a footprint on your file that lenders can see – so you can home in on the right one, minimising applications. To try it go to www.

MoneySavingExpert.com/eligibility.

Shift credit or store card debt to 35mth 0%. A balance transfer’s where you get a new credit card that repays debts on the old credit or store card(s) for you, so you owe it instead at a lower rate.

The longest 0% deals for those new to the card company now last nearly three years (a year ago they were 30 months), but as with many things in

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life longest isn’t always best. Aim for the lowest fee card, ensuring you’ve enough time to clear it. Top picks and golden rules at www.mse.me/ balancetransfers.

Shift your overdraft to 0% too. Debit cards can be debt cards too - if you’re in your overdraft it’s often more costly than credit cards, especially if you bust your limit. So there are two ways to get out of this. a) Switch to a 0% overdraft: Top bank for customer service www.firstdirect. com offers a £250 0% overdraft (you must pay-in £1,000/month) and for accepted new switchers a free £100 which should help reduce the overdraft straight away. For some www. nationwide.co.uk 0% overdraft may be bigger, but it’s only for a year and is 50p/day after. b) Shift it to a 0% ‘money transfer’ credit card. A few balance transfer cards also let newbies ‘money transfer’. This is where it pays a lump sum into your bank account, which can then clear your overdraft so you owe it instead.

Top pick is www.mbna.co.uk which gives 24 months 0% money transfers for a one off 2.2% fee (though it’s 22.9% rep APR after the 0% ends). Yet be careful, follow the balance transfer rules above and for more picks and full step-by-step help see www.mse.me/ moneytransfers.

with a 4.9% loan, could save around £1,000.

Don’t pay all debts equally - attack the highest APR. Once your debts are as cheap as possible, list them all, including overdrafts, in order of APRs. Focus all spare cash to clear the highest APR one as it grows fastest, and just pay the min on the others.

Once that’s clear, move to the next highest.

I’ve never seen a debt crisis that isn’t solvable - don’t give up hope. The solutions above are for cutting debt costs. Yet for some, it’s much worse than that. Do any of these apply to you...

- You can’t meet even just the minimum monthly payments.

- You have non-mortgage debts bigger than a year’s salary.

- You have sleepless nights or serious depression/anxiety over your debts.

If so then you’re likely in a debt crisis and that means the solution you need is totally different. The most important thing I can tell you is I’ve never seen a debt crisis that isn’t solvable. It may not always be quick or easy, but there is a proverbial light at the end of the tunnel.

The first step is to go for free, one-onone debt counselling help from www. adviceguide.org.uk, www.stepchange. org, www.nationaldebtline.org or, if you’re struggling emotionally too www.capuk.org.

Can you cut the cost of existing loans?

It’s complex, as you need to factor in that most loans charge up to two months’ interest to repay them early.

- Who should try? Those who can get a substantially lower APR loan (eg, more than a fifth off, so from 10% to 8%), and have a while left to repay. Full options in www.mse.me/cheaploans.

- How much can I save? Someone who is 2 years through a 5 year 12% loan for £5,000, paying it off

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After completing a 1 mile swim, a 25 mile bike ride or a 6.2 mile run, I am certain that a great sense of achievement would overcome any feelings of exhaustion or tiredness. The ultimate test in stamina would be completing all three of these back to back.

Welcome to the world of Triathlon!

With the famous London Marathon fast approaching, more and more people all over Essex will be stepping up their training in preparation for the great event. However, Triathlon is fast becoming the new way to test your stamina and being used all the time to raise money for charities in need.

My first exposure to the world of Triathlon was while watching the Sydney Olympics in 2000, a number of people plunged into Sydney harbour with the Opera house glistening in the background, they were starting the first leg of the gruelling event.

After the swim a commentator then said “now for the 25 mile bike ride”, my eyebrows immediately rose, but I nearly entered a state of shock when I realised it climaxed with a 6 mile run. Now, 15 years later, I can totally see that if you are ready to test yourself to limit that Triathlon not only offers you variety, but pushes your entire body to the maximum.

There are people that train individually for such an event and produce great results. However, there is a club in Essex that are tapping into those that like to train within a group of people and also those who thrive the competitive element of sport and wish to compete against and train with peers and friends regularly.

The East Essex Triathlon Club

based just down the A127 in Rayleigh has been going for many years and they are the club to join if you are looking to train for events throughout the year in Essex.

They train every week, Saturday morning they do a long run and on Sunday morning they hit the roads of Essex on their bikes, this all starts from the Market Car Park in Rayleigh. During the week they have Tuesday night track sessions at the Basildon Sporting Village as well as Monday night swimming sessions at Runnymede pool Castle Point and Thursday night at the Basildon Sporting Village again.

I have been speaking to Zena, a member of the club about Triathlon and its growing popularity.

It seems as though Triathlon is now becoming the ultimate challenge, even rivalling marathons and half marathons? Why is popularity increasing?

More generations of 40+ adults are still enjoying sport. Some may have come from other sports such as athletics or swimming and realise they can still be competitive at triathlon, which celebrates winners from age groups in 5 year gaps. Many people start triathlon just for a one off event but stay because they find it a friendly inclusive sport.

We have also had Olympic and world championship success with the likes of the Brownlee brothers and Chrissie Wellington which has increased the popularity too.

London 2012 no doubt has had a big impact, especially the success of the Brownlee brothers as you have mentioned. With Rio looming, what can we expect from East Essex Club to get more

youngsters taking an interest and giving it a go?

We have regular training sessions for any young people wishing to take part in triathlon and also host a number of events each year including the Go-Tri series, which provides a short, low key taster event at Basildon Sporting Village (for adults and children) and can be entered on the day!

The East Essex Club offers a chance to train with Triathlon enthusiasts for either a one off challenge or to explore your hobby of competitive running, swimming and biking. The price of annual membership is £33 for adults and £12 for children and with 300 members from 8-80, the club is going from strength to strength.

Please see the website for further details. www.east-essex-tri-club.co.uk

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