Around Town Magazine Rayleigh January Edition 2017

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CONTENTS 10

N OO M S W OOOOD E N WRNTW RE O B SH G IN

AMAZON www.amazonwindows.co.uk

IN RecipePEN O Vegetable Lasagne

13 Nature Notes

EWT Volunteer Neil Sumner

16 Martin Lewis

Money Saving Expert

18 20

07 14

Focuses on Boxing

Following 5 years of continued installations in the area, with many recommendations we have decided to create a/ one-stop showroom for all Rotary Club Lions Club yourAround Home Improvement needs.

Organisations Town

FANTASTIC On INTRODUCTORY When and Where...

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27 Useful Numbers

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Copyright 2016. 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 01277 VISIT Square WWW.AMAZONWINDOWS.CO.UK are 514624 published OR

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ON O M W OOOOD S E N WRNTW RE O B SH G IN

AMAZON www.amazonwindows.co.uk

N NI E OP

Amazon Windows are one of the areas largest windows, door and conservatory companies serving Hampshire, Berkshire, Surrey and Essex.

Following 5 years of continued installations in the area, with many recommendations we have decided to create a one-stop showroom for all your Home Improvement needs.

FANTASTIC INTRODUCTORY OFFERS

AMAZON OFFER A COMPLETE BUILD SERVICE ON ALL ORANGERIES AND CONSERVATORIES:

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After an initial survey a schedule will follow with all trades booked in.

Amazon will make your build as stress free as possible.

• Great Offers on the New 2017 Amazon replacement Window • Amazing range of Amazon Front Doors for 2017 • Enquire into the well-received Amazon Solid Roof with additional discounts for 2017 FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT 01277 514624 OR VISIT WWW.AMAZONWINDOWS.CO.UK

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Cloudy2Clear Announce Trusted Trader Partnership Consumer champions Which? have now joined the thousands of customers who recognise that Cloudy2Clear Windows really are a business that you can TRUST. The company which specialises in repairing windows which are steamed up, broken or damaged by replacing the panes – not the frames has received the coveted ‘Which Trusted Trader’ status after going through a rigorous accreditation process entirely focussed on customer service.

Group Managing Director Marcus McGee believes that Which? have endorsed Cloudy2Clear’s long standing company

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.’

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9

RECIPE Vegetable Lasagne

Tastes so good...

Vegetable Lasagne (4 Servings) Ingredients: 1 onion, chopped 75g carrots, sliced 75g courgette 3 tbsp. vegetable oil 75g aubergine 50g button mushrooms 50g sweetcorn 1 small garlic clove, crushed 225g can of chopped tomatoes pinch of mixed herbs 8 tbsp. grated cheese 3 tbsp. butter 3 tbsp. plain flour ½ pint milk 4-5 sheets pre-cooked lasagna pasta Salt & pepper

Method:

chop lasagne, the onion andwith carroty and until for theamixture he usualFinely meat based packed healthy vegetables filling andthickens and boils. Stir dice the courgette and aubergine. in half of the grated cheese and some at lunch or dinner time. Serve with a fresh green salad and bread of your choice.

Thinly slice the mushrooms.

salt and pepper for taste.

Heat the oil in a frying pan and fry the vegetables until softened.

Spoon about a third of the vegetable mix into a shallow oven proof dish, add Oven: Pre-heat to 180C/350f/Gas 4 a little white sauce, the add a lasagna ervings Add the garlic, tomatoes, herbs, sheet and continue to layer in this way and sweetcorn andthe bring thecarroty boil. anduntil thecourgette last layerand is white sauce.

Finely chop oniontoand dice the Then cover and simmer for about aubergine. Thinly slice the mushrooms. Heat the oil in a frying five minutes.

Sprinkle the remaining cheese on l pan and fry the vegetables until softened. garlic, top Add andthe cook for around 50 minutes Melt the butter in aherbs, pan and then stir and bring until to browned on top. Serve with fresh tomatoes, and sweetcorn the boil. Then oms in the flour, add the milk slowly, stirring herbs on top. cover and simmer for about five minutes.

crushed Melt the butter in a pan and then stir in the flour, add the milk ed tomatoesIf you would like your recipe to appear in Around Town Magazines then contact our sales team on: slowly, stirring until the mixture thickens and boils. Stir in half bs 01277 658444 of the grated cheese and some salt and pepper for taste. or email: sales@aroundtownmagazines.co.uk se Spoon about a third of the vegetable mix into a shallow oven

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Nature Notes Written by Neil Sumner

of Rayleigh

Creative, competitive, conscientious

PATIOS • DRIVEWAYS • FENCING • DECKING • PONDS PLANTING • TURFING • CONSTRUCTION & MAINTENANCE

Neilsumner123@aol.com twitter.com/neilsumner123 In January, when the festivities are over and the days are short, we might envy those mammals that can hibernate the time away until the warmth and light of spring. The hazel dormouse is one such mammal. Lewis Carroll depicted him as a character who slept most of the way through the Mad Hatter’s tea party, unsurprisingly as they sleep sometimes from October to May and can go into torpor (mini hibernation) at any time when the conditions are cold and wet.

In Mammals of Essex*, the dormouse is described as “a specialised feeder, needing a habitat that provides high protein food ranging from pollen and nectar to insects and nuts.” It hibernates because this food is only available in certain seasons. In winters such as this when the Song Thrush sings and the Great Spotted Woodpecker drums in December or January, I fear for the Dormouse. It may wake in the unusual warmth then waste energy and fat uselessly, putting itself at risk of not surviving the winter.

Essex has a good population of dormice but they are in decline nationally. As well as increasingly unreliable weather, habitat management, or a lack of it, are responsible. Neglected woodlands grow into a canopy that shades an understorey already decimated by grazing deer. Hedges are important corridors for them to move between woodlands and we have less of these nowadays. One reason why Essex Wildlife Trust wants to restore and reconnect habitats through their Living Landscapes initiative is to help species like the dormouse.

There are populations in many ancient woodlands in Essex, such as Norsey Wood and the Daws Heath / Belfairs complex, which are close to built environments so protection of these habitats and the links between them is especially important.

The Essex and Suffolk Dormouse Group is endeavouring to understand the decline by surveying as much of the county as possible and monitoring populations. If you see long rectangular plastic tubes tied below branches whilst walking in the woods these will have been put there to check if dormice are present. They are temporary and the dormice may build a neat nest in them. Special nest boxes are used to provide safe homes and are checked regularly by volunteers and Rangers. Dormice are protected by law and only licensed dormouse handlers are permitted to touch tubes and boxes in a wood where they are present. They are very rarely seen in the wild, being mostly active at night.

If you want to help dormice (and possibly get to see these enigmatic little animals) contact Michelle Tyrrell (Essex Coordinator) at essexdormice@gmail.com *Mammals of Essex, by John Dobson and Darren Tansley ISBN 0-905637 is available from most EWT Visitor Centres.

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13

Money SinS Are you a sinner? Financially that is.

There are a host of everyday money misdemeanours that millions of people do, costing them thousands, without being aware of it. These aren’t horrors like grabbing a payday loan, but the result of simple misunderstandings, bad habits or inaction.

So having recently toured around the UK doing roadshows for the sixth series of my ITV show, I’ve collated five of the most common.

1. Saving while you’ve expensive debts Savings rates are depressingly low – the top easy-access rate is 1%. Credit card and other interest rates are depressingly high. So, £1,000 credit card debt at 18% costs it costs you £180 a year, the same amount saved in top paying savings account at 1% interest only earns you £10. If you had both, pay the debt off with your savings and you’d be £170 a year better off.

Many of you will be thinking, “but I want to keep my savings, what if the boiler packs up or the roof falls in?” However, that’s a sentimental strategy, not a logical one. Let’s carry on the £1,000 debt and £1,000 savings scenario to show you why.

- If you don’t pay the debt off with the savings and an emergency happens that cost you £1,000 to fix, you’d use all your savings and still £1,000 of credit card debt.

- If you do pay off the debt with the savings, and a £1,000 emergency happens, you’d need to pay for it on your credit card, meaning you still have no savings and £1,000 of credit card debt.

The end result of them both is the same, yet by paying off the debt with the savings, you save in the meantime.

The only exception is if the debt is at 0%. Then the financially savvy and disciplined can do what’s called stoozing, where you deliberately build up 0% debt only to save it and earn

interest. Though with current saving rates so low, it’s not as easy as it used to be. Full help on that atwww.mse.me/stoozing 2. Not at least asking your energy firm are you on its cheapest deal Most people in the UK are on their energy firm’s standard tariff, which typically means they’re overpaying by £300 a year. I’ve talked about switching until I’m blue in the face, and, of course, the best plan is take five minutes to do a full market comparison via mywww.

CheapEnergyClub.com or anywww.Ofgem. gov.uk approved comparison site.

Yet for some that doesn’t hit home. So, let me be plain. Even if you won’t do that, just pick up the phone and ask your current provider “Am I on your cheapest tariff?” and, if not, switch to that as there’s no change but the price!

For example, as I write (it can change daily), on EDF’s standard tariff someone with typical usage pays £1,070/year. It also has a 12-month fix at £880/year - £190/year less.

British Gas’s standard tariff with typical use is £1,044/year, but it also runs Sainsbury Energy (i.e., it’s the same company but a different name), and its cheapest fix is £804/ year – saving £240/year.This don’t ask don’t get saving works at all the big firms, so if you won’t do a comparison, at least do this.

“YOUR HOUSE PRICE IS THE WRONG FIGURE...”

3. Only making the minimum repayments on credit cards Credit card minimum payments are based mostly on a percentage of the balance, which only just covers the interest. So, you hardly clear any off.

A 30-year-old with £3,000 debt on a credit card at 17.9% interest, who made only typical

minimum repayments, would take 27 years to clear it. By then, they’d be 57 and have paid a total cost £4,000 in interest (see my minimum repayment calc atwww.mse.me/minrepay to work out how long it’ll take you).

Now you may be thinking ‘easy to say, but I can’t afford more than the minimum.’ Well, I have a solution. On £3,000 debt, the current minimum is around £70 a month. If instead of opting to pay the minimum, fix your repayment at £70. The debt will clear in five years at a total cost of £1,500 in interest, saving £2,400.

Though if you’ve debt on more than one credit card, focus all spare cash on repaying the most expensive, making only the minimums on the others. That way you get rid of the most expensive debts first.

4. Don’t cover your home’s value on buildings insurance Your house price is the wrong figure; you only need to insure the usually much lower rebuild cost – literally how much it would cost to rebuild your home should it get knocked down. This is often far less than the market value. There’s information and a calculator on this athttp://abi.bcis.co.uk.

5. Saving or borrowing to pay your children’s tuition fees I’m often freaked out by parents telling me they’re saved up so their child won’t have to pay tuition fees at uni. Worse, some even extend their mortgage. My problem isn’t just that it’s actually students’, not parents’ responsibility to repay this…

martin L e W iS Money Saving Expert

All new English full-time students can get a tuition fee loan and a living loan to help pay for uni costs. You’re eligible to start repaying in the April after leaving, but only if you earn over £21,000, and you repay 9% above that.

Repayments stop after 30 years. In many ways, it acts far more like a tax than a loan, and how many would save “in case my child earns enough to be a higher rate taxpayer”?

An extreme example provides clarity. Imagine your child goes to uni and becomes a brilliant poet, who never earns above the £21,000 threshold. They would never repay a penny.

So, if you paid the fees for them, you’d throw £27,000 away.

Most of course will earn over the threshold.

However only high earners will earn enough to repay in real terms what they borrowed within the 30 years. If not, again it means pay their tuition fees and you’re paying more than they’d need to repay. For most parents if you want to help them, a better thing to prioritise is building up a mortgage deposit. For far more on this see mymse.me/dontpayupfront guide.

Martin Lewis is the Founder & Editor in Chief of Money Saving Expert. To join the 11 million people who get his Martin’s Money Tips weekly email, go to www.moneysavingexpert. com/latesttip

BOXING

Boxing is at an all time high here in Britain who boast World Champions in so many different weight divisions. From Anthony Joshua to James DeGale, Britain has eclipsed the Americans when it comes to World’s best boxers!

Wembley Stadium is prepared to host one of Boxing’s biggest fights in the last 20 years as Wladimir Klitchko the great Ukrainian tries to take back one of his belts from Anthony Joshua!

Gone are the days where England’s solitary world title hopes rested on Frank Bruno’s heavyweight success and Chris Eubank’s dazzling skills.

I wanted to focus on the local scene of boxing. We know that if taught right, Boxing is another great way for people to exercise and more importantly have the sense of belonging to a club and also can teach people to act with a certain level of discipline and control in their everyday lives.

While I think we as a country we are happy for our children and family members to train and perhaps partake in amateur boxing bouts, like at the Olympics, I feel that fighting events for adults on the local scene have a huge stigma attached to them.

I asked a local boxing enthusiast and amateur boxer, Paul Tredgold some questions about the local fighting scene. Paul trains at The Locker Room in Southend and competes in local events.

How did you get into boxing and why did you choose Boxing when you obviously played other sports?

I got into boxing through a friend of mine that boxed locally. I have great memories of watching the boxing with my Dad from a young age, watching guys like Chris Eubank, Nigel Benn, and Herbie Hyde, when it was on terrestrial television. My uncle and one day my Dad took me down to his boxing gym. My uncle put a pair of 8oz black boxing gloves on me and left me on the heavy bag, I didn’t move it much, but gave it a good go. Boxing appealed to me because it brought out a personal motivation in me that other team sports failed to do as much. It was a nice balance doing both, but as I have grown older it has helped me stay in shape and has made me work harder than I thought was possible to achieve certain goals.

What would you say to someone who likes boxing, but does not get down to local fight nights?

I would say give it a go. Boxing teaches respect, self discipline and much more, and this is carried into the boxing shows. Most local events lay on a nice meal, a good view of the boxing and allow you

to be surrounded by your own family and friends, in your own area.

Everyone I speak to after the show, talk of how inspiring it is to see the fighters in action and give it their all. Some guys who train with us today got involved through watching the shows. Some just train and some compete. Unfortunately, there seems to be a stigma about boxers, and boxing shows, I believe they are incorrectly labelled. People think that the shows are full of intimidating fans that are just as aggressive as the loud brash boxers who want to fight everybody all the time. But the truth is most boxers that I know are the nicest people you could meet. Outside of the ring boxers are usually very calm, respectful and humble people with an inner self confidence about them, which leaves them with a feeling of nothing to prove in a macho sense. Those with the most to say have the most yet to learn.

Is it conducive to everyday life? How does your boss feel about going to work with a black eye?

The philosophy of boxing can actually shape your everyday life and definitely can go hand in hand with your current lifestyle whoever you are. It’s like my trainer and good friend James Chisholm often says, “We can’t make life any easier, but we can ourselves tougher” what he means by that is by making us fitter and tougher mentally, life becomes easier, which is very true in my case. Where I work people are very supportive of what I do. My superiors always ask how I got on and see it as a very positive thing that I box, which is understandable, I don’t know too many lazy boxers, do you? Boxing teaches a very ‘can do’ attitude and that it always welcome in any workplace, I wouldn’t suggest fighting on an evening before an important client facing meeting where millions of pounds are at stake, but common sense should hopefully prevail.

It is hard to sometimes look past the brutality of the sport and it is not going to be for everybody, however skill, courage, etermination and agility are all things to be admired and Boxing is second to none in all of these. Also, I feel it is understandable that there is a bit of fear when attending a local event; however it seems as though a family atmosphere and intense support for their friends and family is most of what you will encounter, like any local sporting event. If you like Boxing give it a go.

See below some local gyms and establishments in the area that I am sure would welcome new members that either wish to compete or train as well some places that hold such events mentioned above.

The Locker Room - http://www.thelockerroom.biz Billericay and Wickford Boxing Club - http://billericayabc.blogspot.co.uk/ Belhus Park Boxing Club https://www.facebook.com/belhus.park.5

Put the spotlight on your local sports team, contact Zaki Hasan, via email, zaki@aroundtownmagazines.co.uk

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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

ROTARY CLUB OF RAYLEIGH MILL For most weeks in the year, we meet on Mondays as a club, with our members enjoying a meal at The Rayleigh Club near Hullbridge, Essex.

It is followed by a particular kind of meeting such as ‘committee’, ‘business’ and ‘speaker’ - the latter gives us an opportunity to invite a well-known personality or charity organisation to keep us informed about their work or life.

We have a members’ raffle at the end of the evening and our Sergeant-At-Arms is an appointed member of the club who manages to extract small amounts of money from us in friendly fun from personal observations of us which goes to our charity box.

The evening is run by our President who sits at the top table with his Secretary and we welcome our visiting guests too. Toasts are made to the Queen and our Rotary organisation.

We have a Treasurer to manage our accounts and appointed officers to involve us in the more gentle sports, a press officer to publicise our events, an IT specialist to handle our information, a webmaster to run this website and particular members who take on responsibility for an event eg. our Charity Golf Day and our social trips and dinner dances. Our Foundation officer looks to promote the work of Rotary eg. Purple Pinkie support to End Polio Campaign.

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Basildon & District Ramblers Club The group meets every Saturday at 2.00pm with some longer walks on others days. The Saturday walks are 4-5 miles with a rest half way. New members are welcome.

See our website www.basildonanddistrictramblingclub.btck. co.uk for further details.

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.

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Revd Canon Mike Lodge

A New Year.

What a gift…

January regularly produces frost, ice and snow and can be the chilliest month of the year in Britain.13th January has gained the reputation of being the coldest day of the year due to past cold events starting on or around this date. One of the most severe winters in history began around 13 January in 1205, when the River Thames in London froze over and ale and wine turned to solid ice and were sold by weight.

Stowe’s Chronicle reported it in this way, “So began a frost which continued till the two and twentieth day of March, so that the ground could not be tilled; whereof it came to pass that, in summer following a quarter of wheat was sold for a mark of silver in many places of England, which for the more part in the days of King Henry the Second was sold for twelve pence; a quarter of beans or peas for half a mark; a quarter of oats for thirty pence, that were wont to be sold for fourpence. Also the money was so sore clipped that there was no remedy but to have it renewed.”

The feast day of St Hilary of Poitiers, France,is also on 13 January. Hilary, a Roman Catholic Bishop, had a strong faith and in a close relationship with God knew that he had the promise of eternal life through belief in Jesus.

He hadn’t been raised as a Christian but from an early age

had felt a wonder at the gift of life and a desire to find out the meaning of that gift. So Hilary went looking for the ‘gift giver’. He found the answer in the Bible, in John’s gospel, where he read John’s words including “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God...” John, chapter 1, verses 1-2. From these wordsHilary learned about the Son of God and how Jesus had been sent to bring eternal life to those who believed, which truly is the gift of life.

We also read in the Bible that after Jesus was born in Bethlehem Magi came to Jerusalem and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.”’ Matthew, chapter 2, verses 1- 2. We don’t know for sure that there were ‘three wise men’, as the old Christmas tradition has it, but the ‘Magi’ were almost certainly astrologers from the east.

They recognised that in his birth Jesus had brought the gift of life that St Hilary had found and in response they brought three gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh, demonstrating how valuable they considered Jesus to be.

As we think about the gift of life that Jesus brings, and the efforts the Magi made to bring their gifts to him, it helps us to understand the importance of valuing those around us; our family, friends and neighbours, those living in the local community as well as those who live around the world. How far will we go to reveal how important they are to us in our lives in ways that will improve their lives?

And like St Hilary, have you found the gift of life that you can freely receive in a relationship with God? May I wish you God’s blessing for 2017...

Yours in the love of Jesus, Parish Office 01268 742151 info@parishofrayleigh.org.uk

www.parishofrayleigh.org.uk

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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

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

Narcotics Anonymous NHS non-emergency Parentline Samaritans S. Essex Rape and Incest Crisis Centre Victim Support Essex Women’s Refuge

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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Rayleigh Town 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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