Around Town Magazine Rayleigh January Edition 2018 by Black Square Print Media Limited

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SNAP happy to help Special Needs and Parents - is an Essex charity that helps families with children and young people who have any special need or disability From its Brentwood base, SNAP offers a helping hand to thousands of families who need support in a variety of ways. No formal diagnosis or professional referral is necessary to access SNAP services, available to families of children and young people aged 0 to 25. Facilities at the centre include a training room, a multi-purpose activity hall, multi-sensory room and specialist IT suite. “When parents first come to The SNAP Centre they often feel isolated and don’t know where to turn, but with SNAP’s support they grow in strength and knowledge and become better equipped to give the best possible help to their children,” says Karen Boath, Manager (Families). “Parents and their children use our facilities and services in a number of ways, and they value the support they receive from SNAP.”

The SNAP Centre offers a wide range of services Parent Advice and Support l Helpline (email and telephone) l Face to Face Parent Support l Specialist Talks and Training Courses l Library of Specialist Books and DVDs l Website with SNAP Directory of useful

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CONTENTS 06

Essex's Leadin Blind, Awning & In Shutter Specialis over 100 Year

Your Yoga

Downward Dog

A View from the Church

Recipe

James Blower

Rotary Club / Lions Club

Nature Notes

Travel

Mark Francois

Creative, competitive, co

Revd Nick Rowan

Roast Beef with Rosemary & Garlic

PATIOS • DRIVEWAYS • FENCING PLANTING • TURFING • CONSTRUC

01277 8

The Savings Guru

Organisations Around Town

EWT Volunteer Neil Sumner

The New Forest

Political Update

What’s On

Useful Numbers

When and Where...

Around Town Magazines Graphic House, Radford Way, Billericay CM12 0DX

• Factory Showroom with • Large Luxaflex Inspirati • Cit • Weinor Patio Awning Sh • Made-to-Measure•Curta Fre

Front cover picture by: John Haywood - JH Photography @jh.photohtaphy.jh JH Photography Copyright 2018. Around Town Rayleigh 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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www.aroundtownmagazines.co.uk sales@aroundtownmagazine.co.uk

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Press firmly through your palms and rotate the inner elbows towards each other. Hollow out the abdominals and keep engaging your legs to keep the torso moving back towards the thighs. Hold for 5-10 breaths before exhaling and gently coming back to hands and knees to rest.

If you would like your advert or editorial to appear in Around Town Magazines then contact our sales team on: 01277 658444 or email: sales@aroundtownmagazines.co.uk

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Revd Nick Rowan

As I write at the beginning of a New Year many will be making resolutions for 2018. Our New Year resolutions might involve eating less, drinking less, taking more exercise. They might involve making a difference in the community by volunteering or simply spending more time with loved ones. These are all worthy ambitions. Sadly, by the end of January many of us will discover that our willpower and determination don’t match our ambition! This mismatch between willpower and ambition seems to be part of human nature. So please don’t give up or be discouraged if you have fallen short of the ambitions of your New Year’s resolution. You are not alone! Everybody fails and makes mistakes. The key thing is to not give up. Many people mistakenly think that Christians, people who are part of the church, have somehow overcome weakness and failure. Some people think that to be a Christian, or to come to church, you have to have sorted out all the problems, mistakes and failures in your life. Nothing could be further from the truth. If anything the opposite is true. Part of being a Christian is to recognise and own up to our mistakes and failures. As Christians we acknowledge we do not have the willpower to overcome these things by ourselves. We ask God to be at work in our lives helping

us to change and transform. We look to follow the example of Jesus who did manage to live a selfless and perfect life while living amongst the stress, pressure and pain that we all experience in everyday life. Even when we take this step of following Jesus and asking God to be at work in our lives things do not always go smoothly. This is because we don’t stop being human. We will still inevitably make mistakes or fail. Even St Paul complained in the Bible “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.” This is the reason why at the start of all our worship services at Holy Trinity we have a time of confession. During this time of confession we lift to God all the things we have said or done that we know we shouldn’t have done; and all the things that haven’t said or done that we know we should have done. If we are being honest those of us who attend church every week don’t have to think too hard to remember something we need to lift to God. But, the point isn’t to make us feel bad. After lifting these thing to God, we are then assured of God’s forgiveness won for us by Jesus on the cross. We are also reminded of God’s power at work in our lives helping us to change and transform in the future. Christians believe that with God’s help we can turn away from the negative aspects of our lives. With God’s help we can begin to bridge that gap between our willpower and our ambition. So if at the start of this new year you have made a resolution for 2018 please don’t give up when you find that your willpower doesn’t match your ambition. There might be truth in the old proverb ‘if at first you don’t succeed, try and try and again’. But, if you say a prayer and ask for God’s transforming power to be at work in your life then you won’t be trying alone. May God bless you in this New Year. Parish Office 01268 742151 info@parishofrayleigh.org.uk

www.parishofrayleigh.org.uk

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policy of delivering the highest standards possible at all times. ‘Our service is simple. If your double glazing has misted up we can replace the glass at a fraction of the cost of a new window, in any type of frame, and with a new 25 year guarantee. But it’s not just about saving people money, although that obviously helps. Whilst a number of tradespeople perhaps don’t focus on customer care as much as they should do, we make sure we turn up when we say we will, do the job the customer requires and leave their house as clean as a whistle. Locally Cloudy2Clear service the Rayleigh & Eastwood areas and

manager Chris Miller agrees that this approach is a major factor in his success. ‘The truth is that it’s not just the personal satisfaction that I get from doing a good job but also it makes good business sense. I get a huge amount of business from friends and family of people I’ve done work for, which just goes to show how much a little bit of effort is appreciated as both my customers and, obviously a body as nationally important as Which? now recognise.’ So, if your windows are steamed up, broken or damaged give Chris a call for a free quotation on 0800 61 21 118 and he’ll be happy to help!

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RECIPE Roast Beef with Rosemary & Garlic Ingredients: 1 joint of beef

1 -3 tsp coarse salt (generous amount)

1 -3tsp fresh cracked pepper

1 tbsp fresh rosemary

10 garlic cloves

Method: 1. Settle the joint and let it stand at room temperature for at least 1 hour. 2. Mix the salt and pepper together. 3. Insert some of the rosemary directly into the skin of the joint, scoring with a sharp knife to help you insert it. 4. Preheat the oven to 375oF.

with the rosemary top side up. 7. Roast for 1 hour and then turn off oven. 8. Leave the roast in the oven but do not open oven door for 3 hours. 9. About 30 to 40 minutes before serving time, turn oven to 375 oF and reheat the roast.

5. Now score the joint in 10 random spots for the garlic. Rub the meat with the seasoning mix. Place cloves into the slices.

10. Make sure not to remove roast or re-open the oven door from time roast is put in until 20 minutes before ready to serve.

6. Place the roast on a rack in the pan

11. Remove roast 20 minutes after heating.

If you would like your recipe to appear in Around Town Magazines then contact our sales team on: 01277 658444 or email: sales@aroundtownmagazines.co.uk

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HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR

SAVINGS IN 2018? A New Year is often a focal point for people to look at what they’d like to change in their lives and many make resolutions for what they want to achieve. If fixing your finances is one of yours, then here’s my tips on how you can improve your savings in 2018. This article is also on www.thesavings.guru, with all the web links to the providers and companies mentioned in this article: 1) Pay off debts first If you have credit cards, store cards, loans, overdrafts or other expensive forms of borrowing then focus on repaying these first. Banking is fundamentally quite simple – banks make money by lending the savings from savers to borrowers at a higher margin. Therefore, in the vast majority of cases, lending will cost more than savings. Paying debt off will be more financially rewarding. The most common mistake I see with debt is not prioritising. Pay off the most expensive debt first. I often see people focusing on clearing the smallest debt first but paying off the most expensive will save you more in interest costs in the long term. 2) Make saving a habit Like many things in life, saving

is a habit. A great way to start is to open a regular savings account and set up a direct debit or standing order to pay in to this every pay day (or the day after for the cautious!). Allocating the money on pay day is more likely to be successful than committing to saving what you have left at the end of the week/month. If you bank with First Direct, HSBC or M&S Bank then you can open a regular savings account with a 5% interest rate by committing to paying in anything from £25 - £300 per month. If not, the next best is available from Essex based Saffron Building Society who pay 3.50% on sums between £10 - £200 per month and accounts can be opened and run in their branch network across the region or via post. For those of you who prefer to manage your money online, Santander pay 3% on £1 - £200 per month. 3) Check your savings rate If you have a savings account already then check your interest rate. 85% of savings balances in the UK are held with Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds, National Savings & Investments (NS&I), Nationwide, RBS and Santander. Yet these companies

rarely appear in our best buy tables and I often see cases where so called savings accounts with some of these institutions pay 0.25% or less whereas the best easy access savings account pays 1.30%. Check your savings account to see what rate you are being paid and, if it is less than 1% then you should act! If you can’t find a statement with your current interest, email us at hello@thesavings.guru - tell us your account name and bank and we will tell you the current rate. 4) Switch your savings account Since 2008, the UK government has made it much easier for new banks to be established and this has resulted in approximately 40 new savings providers entering the market in the past decade. Many of these offer the most competitive interest rates, simple internet banking and good customer service. Our website, www.thesavings.guru, features the best easy access (no notice required to access your money) rates on offer in the market and some of the most competitive now are: • RCI Bank – 1.30% • Shawbrook Bank – 1.20% • Ford Money – 1.17%

RCI Bank is owned by French car manufacturer Renault. It has been a stalwart in our best buy tables and automatically passes on rate changes to customers e.g. if they increase their rate to 1.35% for new customers in February, existing customers will get that rate too. Warley based Shawbrook Bank have been paying 1.20% since August 2017 on their instant savings account and have consistently featured in our best buys. Ford Money, also based in Warley, has been another regular feature in our best buys since its launch in April 2017. Owned by car giant Ford, it, like RCI, passes on rate changes to existing customers. 5) Make sure your money is protected The government offers a protection scheme which guarantees savers deposits if your financial services provider fails. The Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) protects deposits up to £85,000 per person, per bank, building society or credit union and up to £170,000 for joint accounts. 96% of UK savings and current accounts are FSCS protected – for free. If you are unsure whether your savings are covered, there is a handy tool on their website www.fscs.org.uk which will tell you. 6) Maximise your day to day cash Some people like to hold money in their current account so they have cash in the case of an emergency or unexpected expense. Many of us also hold money in our current account to cover day to day expenditure throughout the week or month until our next pay day. Even if you spend everything you earn during the week or month, unless you take everything out of your account the day comes in, there will be some cash that could be earning a return. Most current accounts pay nothing but there are some high interest rate ones which do and are worth considering switching too and earning a return on your day to day money:

James Blower Founder Savings Guru Ltd

www.thesavings.guru hello@thesavings.guru @SavingsGuruUK

Nationwide – pays 5% on £2,500 for the first year and 1% after. TSB – pays 3% on £3,000 until 1st April 2019. Tesco – pays 3% on up to £1,500 That’s all for this month. I wish you all a Happy and Prosperous New Year and hope 2018 is a great one for you!

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ROTARY CLUB OF RAYLEIGH MILL Our activities in December seem to be more social events than Charity events but we still managed to support both the Hockley Christmas Lights Ceremony, where we had a stall with Roger Allen’s amazing Speed Reaction game. We also helped a little bit with the marshalling We also attended the Rayleigh Christmas Light Celebration where Jackie Wellman had organised a cuddly toy tombola which went down very well with the younger children and raised £250 for our Charity Fund. The main events, however, were our social events. We had our annual Christmas Party Dinner Dance at The Rayleigh Club when Rotarians, families and friends enjoyed an excellent evening of good food, dancing and good company. The other event wasn’t strictly a Rotary event but an Inner Wheel of Rayleigh Mill Christmas Party at Ashingdon Village Hall when the Inner Wheelies were joined by their partners, friends and families for an evening of dancing to the music of “Wheelz” which culminated in the band donating cheques for £1000 to Busom Pals, £500 to the Amy May Trust and £500 to Little Havens Hospice. The band, formed 11 years ago, mainly from members of the Rotary Club of Rayleigh Mill and the Rotary Club of Rochford, donate the profits from their gigs entirely to charity and in their 11 years of existence have donated a total of £38,000 to charity as well as providing many happy hours of 60’s and 70’s good old Rock and Roll. If you have some time on your hands and would like to make new friends, take part in some social events and do some good in the community, look at our website at www.rotary-ribi.org/clubs/homepage.php?ClubID=1797

RAYLEIGH LIONS CLUB The Lions Club of Rayleigh is part of the International Association of Lions Clubs, and our primary aim is to raise and distribute funds within out local area. The Lions Club Of Rayleigh was chartered in 1974 and serves the Rayleigh, Hockley, Hullbridge and Rochford areas. Our club is a Voluntary Service Organisation and a registered charity, we are always looking for people willing to help make their community a better place to live. By visiting our website, you will be able to find out about the work of the international organisation of Lions and the Lions Club of Rayleigh in particular, including our activities and also details of forthcoming events, and who to contact for further information. Our club meets on the 1st (business) & 3rd (social) Tuesdays in every month in Rayleigh. Guests are always welcome. http://www.rayleighlions.org.uk PLEASE MENTION AROUND TOWN MAGAZINE WHEN RESPONDING TO ADVERTS

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Nature Notes Written by Neil Sumner

Neilsumner123@aol.com twitter.com/neilsumner123 The sky is a blue grey above and the low winter sun makes a pale yellow ribbon above the horizon, silhouetting bare trees along the hedge-line. Scanning a field of low green shoots of winter wheat for Brown Hare I find only woodpigeon and crows. That is disappointing but this farmland walk has had its moments - a bright male Bullfinch in a bush beside a fishing lake, several score of Chaffinches disappearing into a strip of game cover, a party of Redwings and Fieldfares in rested horse-grazing pasture. The creamy eye stripe and the orange patch under the wing on the redwing, which have been very numerous this year, showed well against the green grass. They were picking food from the soil and under mouldy leaves, as they had nearly exhausted the berries in the hedges and scattered small woods in this typical open Essex landscape.

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I think back 10 years to a winter much busier with birds. I recalled flocks of hundreds of mixed finches and buntings constantly flying to and from the hedges to feed in a field that was left fallow. The exceptional year was probably caused by a good breeding season then poor winter fodder on the continent. I also think back 40 years when winters brought flocks of Yellowhammers to muck heaps and the big flocks of foraging finches on farmland were the norm. Farming relies on subsidies to make food production viable and give us environmental benefits. These subsidies are paid from the EU Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) but, after Brexit, must be replaced by a new UK scheme which is yet to be devised. The existing CAP schemes are bringing benefits, but also have drawbacks. They pay huge sums to already very wealthy landowners and corporations and many smaller landowners do not think the payments compensate for the effort needed in delivering environmental benefits. And some much needed environmental benefits, such as flood prevention, carbon storage and good populations of pollinating insects are not supported. Tony Juniper, in his book ‘What Nature Does for Britain’ explains that payments for these measures will benefit our economy. And benefit our health too - we are all being encouraged to walk into the countryside and such walks are more interesting and enjoyable when there is wildlife to see. Given the right vision and investment, the new UK scheme could be an opportunity to help landowners to manage our natural world more effectively. We should watch its emergence with interest.

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TRAVEL - THE NEW FOREST The

By Tim Saunders – www.travelwriter.biz Is that you, Tim?” asks a former work colleague as my wife, baby daughter and I trek through the New Forest on a sunny autumn day. It’s a surreal situation because we’re in the middle of nowhere and not expecting to see anyone when we bump into Debbie and her husband, sub-editor and photographer respectively. The last time we saw each other was over two years ago, during my time as Business and Motoring Editor at the Bournemouth Echo.

it proves hard for her to sit still and soon she is out of her highchair entertaining fellow diners. Our friendly waitress distracts her with a pack of colouring pencils, which are soon used colouring in a Mickey Mouse cartoon. It’s not long before boredom sets in again though, and the pencils land on the floor. But it’s fun to post them back in the box. When the tiramisu arrives, Harriett is only too happy to sit on daddy’s lap. And then she has to try some of the lemon tart and melon sorbet, too. No, not Daddy’s Peroni, Harriett!

That’s what I love about holidays, the unexpected.

Fit for bed, we head back to our cosy and blissfully quiet beech lodge in time for Harriett’s bath after which she insists on pulling Bernard the Bee, her yellow trunki suitcase. Her feet, not quite touching the floor means she can’t actually ride it, yet. Still too young to sleep in a grown-up bed, her travel cot is ideal and there is room for it in the second bedroom. We’re in the comfortable master bedroom complete with flat screen television. Each night we all sleep well on the comfy beds apart from the first night when Harriett falls out of hers. Our lodge copes well with the winter weather, the combination boiler keeping it warm and cosy.

We’re staying at Sandy Balls, the holiday resort at Fordingbridge, and are taking one of their recommended trails. I’m riding one of their bicycles and towing Harriett in a trailer. She loves it. Caroline, in the final months of pregnancy and quite fragile, opts to walk. We make slow progress over the 10-mile round trip from Fordingbridge to Fritham but the weather is good and we stop for a picnic at picturesque Hampton Ridge. Harriett has plenty of opportunity to try out her new wellies in a variety of puddles. We enjoy watching the wildlife; a surprising number of dragon flies, birds, donkeys and New Forest ponies - in fact we count 17 ponies at one point as you can see in the video at www. travelwriter.biz.

The accommodation includes a well-appointed bathroom and a kitchen equipped with all the appliances you could require including a dishwasher, making for easy self-catering.

After our day out in the wilds of the forest, we arrive back at Sandy Balls for a well-deserved meal in Pizza on the Piazza. After a delicious bruschetta starter Caroline tucks into minted lamb shanks while Harriett enjoys a child’s portion of beef lasagne and I have duck breast and roasted new potatoes. While Harriett is generally well behaved,

Sandy Balls has its own leisure centre with indoor and outdoor swimming pools. We all enjoy a daily swim and Harriett likes the indoor soft play area, too – especially going down the slides but Daddy gets tired. It’s a very family friendly resort, offering plenty of relaxation for parents and fun and games for children all year round. The onsite cycle centre has a host of bicycles available for hire. We opt for a couple of comfort bikes providing upright riding and I tow the trailer with Harriett inside. Watch the videos at www. travelwriter.biz

Tim Saunders is an author, journalist and businessman. He meets celebrities, goes on holiday and road tests cars.

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Outstanding by Ofsted and our primary schools provide a high standard of education as well.

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One of the advantages of living in Rayleigh is the high quality of our local schools. Both our secondary schools, FitzWimarc and Sweyne Park are graded

Most of these schools are now academies and I have personally supported a number of them during the acadamisation process. I have always believed that good schools should be allowed to expand where possible and I have also enthusiastically backed the creation of sixth forms at both Sweyne Park and Fitz, so that our young people do not have to leave the town in order to achieve their A-Levels. As so many of our schools are popular, they are often oversubscribed and I have been involved in lobbying Essex

County Council (which still retains overall responsibility for pupil numbers) to ensure that they take future demand for places properly into account. In this regard, I was pleased to see that Fitz recently increased their intake by one form of entry, which I am sure has been popular with local parents, but we now have to look at the capacity of our primary schools as well, including a potential new school as part of the Countryside development on London Road. Making sure that our young people can receive a good education is important and is something I intend to continue taking a strong interest in as your local MP.

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The TOOLS OF THE TRADE

By Sue Gascoyne - www.playtoz.co.uk If you’ve ever been told ‘A bad workman blames his tools’ then you’ve probably felt the smarting blow and indignation of this oft chimed proverb. Whether on the giving or receiving end, like all sayings which easily trip off the tongue, truth and lies blend into one. In our blame-dominated culture it’s all too easy to attribute our failings to equipment, weather, wrong leaves or heavy traffic, you get the idea, but in reality it’s rarely that simple. No-one would expect a plasterer to magic walls as smooth as a new-born’s skin with a butter knife, or a builder to create strong and straight structures without a spirit level and plumb line. Certain trades require specialist equipment and this equipment needs to be well maintained, after all a bent tape measure, blunt chisel or plaster-clad trowel are simply not fit for purpose or conducive to taking pride in a quality job. The frustration of having to work with imperfect tools can leave us feeling bad enough without the bruising from glib sayings like these. Like well parroted old wives’ tales, proverbs are infused with shreds of truth as we may blame a bent nail on a knot in the wood or the heavy traffic on being late, rather than accepting responsibility for rushing because of poor time management. Dried up paintbrushes (my DIY Achilles heel) are an expensive and inconvenient reminder of the importance of having well-maintained tools. I’m thinking of a French plasterer that we hired for a restoration project. With the crumbling walls made good and lined, all that remained was to plaster and paint all fourteen rooms – yes it was a big project. Returning to France to inspect the work we were disappointed and dismayed to discover that instead of silky smooth plaster, every wall featured arcing scratch lines, perfectly highlighted by the fresh paint, as his trowel had evidently been faulty! Reflecting upon children’s experience of tools is an eye opener. As concerned parents, we

think nothing of giving children inadequate plastic eating tools to avoid possible dangers. Who hasn’t felt frustrated and dismayed by the inability of children’s scissors to actually cut anything?! A case of health and safety gone mad, its tools like these which set our children up to fail rather than supporting them to learn. Not trusting in their abilities, we fall into the trap of offering useless or undermining alternatives which inevitably frustrate and hamper progress. I remember receiving a call from my daughter’s nursery telling me that she’d had an accident – turned out that a curious child, never previously exposed to real scissors, had had two attempts at cutting her finger off, only to be surprised at the appearance of blood! My daughter in contrast had been proficient in using and safely carrying real scissors from an early age and so was the victim not protagonist in this episode! With time, support and the right equipment children can succeed in their drive to mimic adults and develop skills and mastery. Yes of course we may be able to pair up the clean socks quicker, bake a lighter cake or use less soap when washing-up but all of these chores are also wonderful and potentially fun learning opportunities as children develop mastery. Parenthood provides ample opportunities for reflection over what we could have done more, less or better - such is the cross we bear. What’s important is giving children ample opportunities to observe safe handling of tools and time and patient support in mastering these skills. Using the right equipment is just as important for creativity. If children are given quality pens, pencils, paint brushes, paints and paper as well as instruction on essential techniques, they can wow and amaze us with the complexity and maturity of their creations. At times like this a well-chosen proverb, (aptly about equipment) seems to fit the bill. ‘Minds are like parachutes. They only function when they are open!’ a message to adults, rather than children, I dare say!

Sue Gascoyne is an author, Certified Play Therapist, Early Years trainer whose keynotes around the world help inspire and engage Early Years practitioners and parents.

Basildon & District Rambling Club The group meets every Saturday at 2.00pm. The Saturday walks are 4-5 miles with a rest halfway, we have some longer walks on other days. New members are welcome and membership is only £6 per year which includes all walks. See our website www. basildonanddistrictramblingclub.btck.co.uk for full details Chelmsford & District Welsh Society Membership is open to anyone with Welsh origins or connections, or to anyone with an appreciation of Welsh heritage and traditions. Visitors and guests are warmly welcomed to attend our meetings. The Society’s monthly meeting is held in St Cedd’s Hall, Cathedral Chapter House, Chelmsford, CM1 1NX, and is usually on the fourth Thursday of every month. For more details please contact Gwenno on 07724144432 www.chelmsfordwelsh.org.uk/home www.facebook.com/chelmsfordwelsh

Chelmsford Jazz Club Cramphorn Theatre Chelmsford Doors open: 11.45am Gig starts: 12.15pm Advance booking: 01245 606505 £12 / £16 Sunday 11th February John Etheridge (guitar), Art Themen (sax) Arnie Somegy (bass) and Winston Clifford (drums) Sunday 18th March ‘Searching for Hope’ with Herwig Gradischng (sax), Steve Fishwick (trumpet), Claus Raible (piano) Giorgos Antonia (bass) and Matt Home (drums) Sunday 15th April The Humphrey Lyttelton Band (7 piece band, line up TBC)

If you would like to promote your club or event then please email a maximum of 70 words to admin@aroundtownmagazines.co.uk or fill in the form on our website www.aroundtownmagazines.co.uk Please ensure that all contact details are included.

USEFUL NUMBERS

BIRTH, DEATH MARRIAGES REGISTRATION

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POLICE Rayleigh Police Station

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HOSPITALS Brentwood Hospital Basildon Hospital Broomfield Hospital Essex Nuffield Hospital Queen’s Romford Southend Hospital Spire Hartswood Hospital

01277 695000 01268 524900 01245 443673 08453 143350 0845 1304204 01702 435555 01277 232525

HELPLINES Alcoholics Anonymous Childline DIAL Disability Helpline Drugline Essex In Focus (family disabilities support)

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CHEMISTS Boots the Chemist, Rayleigh 01268 771883 Audley Mills, Rayleigh

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ROAD & TRAVEL UPDATES Essex Travel www.bbc.co.uk/travelnews/essex COUNCILS Rochford District Council

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UTILITIES Anglian Water 0345 145145 Electricity – Power Supply Problems 0800 7838838 Gas – Urgent Calls / Gas Escapes 0800 111999 Minicom – Transco 0800 371787 Thames Water (Supply or Wastewater Services) 0845 9200800 Three Valleys Water 0345 823333 Water – Essex & Suffolk Water 01245 491234 VETS YourVets Vets4Pets Rochford Veterinary Surgery Downes Vets Medivet LIBRARIES Rayleigh

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