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CONTENTS 13
HURRY SALE EXTENDED FOR LIMITED TIM
07 Around Town Sports Focuses on Skiing
08
Julia Lopez
14
James Blower
4362_17x9.qxd
19/10/2017
16 Recipe
For all your
Is Your Conservatory Too Hot FAST In TheRELIA Summ or Too Cold In The Winter? We supply, repair
Steak and Sweet Potato Chips
20 Your Yoga Child’s Pose
22 What’s On
When and Where...
26 Travel Suffolk
Page 1
Essex Fe
Political Update
The Savings Guru
15:03
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27 Useful Numbers
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Blinding Sun Glare? JH Photography Leaks or Draughts? DeafeningCopyright Noise2018. From The Rain? Around Town Upminster is an magazine and does not endorse the Freezing independent Winter Temperatures? products or services that appear in the magazine. Opinions Around Town do not Unbearable Heatexpressed in TheinSummer? necessarily represent those of the editors of An Unsightly Around Roof? Town Magazines. Around Town Magazines by Black Square Print Media Ltd Or Simplyare Ofpublished Being produced by BlackOutdated? Square Litho Ltd.
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SKIING
The closest I get to Skiing is slipping and sliding on an icy morning on the way to work. For the Essex holiday maker a resort in Austria or Switzerland gives the skier in them the fix that they need and they have the sun burnt faces in all the holiday snaps to prove it. However, there is a competitive skiing presence here in Essex. The Brentwood Park and Dry Ski Slope are providing the facilities and more people than we think are taking to the slopes and seem to have found their passion in the adrenaline junkie sport. Gone are the days of Eddie the Eagle being our sovereign representation of British skiing hopes. Thanks to ‘The Essex Ski Racing Club’, Essex actually boasts a national champion from the National indoor skiing championships. Also one of the racing club’s former members, Caroline Powell, who started at the club at age 9, has just come back from the Sochi Winter Olympics with 3 Silver medals and one Bronze medal as a visually impaired skiing guide. The Essex Ski Racing Club certainly has a pedigree! Who knew that such targets are being hit by people from little old Essex in a sport that is fairly down the list of ‘Most popular sports in Britain’.
I asked a former coach at the club a couple questions. What is it about skiing for you and why are more and more kids signing up? “Variety is kind of the answer to both questions. I went into it from a young age as I had been on holiday and didn’t want to just come back and drift into being average at the sports we had to practice in school. I wanted to try and excel at something that is considered different and the fact that not many people
were skiers was definitely an attraction for me. I also found it fun and even taking and tumble and getting the occasional bruise made wasn’t a problem, as it made it more humorous for me and my friends. Kids and adults now join for that same feeling of trying something different from the mainstream and then you start to see the same people develop a knack for it. Some adults I think also want to avoid embarrassment on their next skiing trip abroad” With all the clothing and equipment needed, it cannot be cheap, does the expense put people off? “I think when you automatically think of Skiing, you do think of pound signs, however due to the club running for so long we are able to help with loan equipment and we state that you will only need is a helmet, long sleeved tops and long bottoms. We will always help where we can.” Every Thursday at the Brentwood Park and Dry Ski Slope at 7pm the club trains for 2 hours and for an annual fee of £15 you can join other enthusiasts whether it be for fun or for the intention of taking to the slopes in competitive races. You will be trained by experienced coaches and have a chance to be part of well run club that practice a growing sport. Of course Skiing is not going to be practiced in schools etc and is never going to capture a major audience in this country, perhaps down to our climate alone; however there is no doubting that holiday makers and adrenaline seekers will love this sport. Wherever you are in Essex, the Brentwood Dry Ski Slope and the Essex Ski Racing Club seems like the place to try it out. www.essexskiracingclub.org.uk www.brentwoodskicentre.co.uk
Put the spotlight on your local sports team, contact Zaki Hasan, via email, zaki@aroundtownmagazines.co.uk
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Council or Metropolitan Police territory. The next stop will be New Windmall Hall, Upminster, and I shall be taking the opportunity to get an update from the ward policing team about crime and anti-social behaviour in the area after several people had written to me with concerns. Ward sergeant, Ian Bargus, has been working on a plan to tackle the issues I have highlighted to him.
Julia Lopez
Member of Parliament For Upminster & Hornchurch Since my election in June, I have set up a rotating constituency surgery to which I bring a sitting councillor and police officer to address any concerns that stray into Havering
8
Call Kevin
Meanwhile I have offered my help to Keith Prince, our London Assembly Member, and Havering Council Leader, Cllr Roger Ramsey, in raising concerns with the Mayor of London about the triborough policing pilot, which had led to poorer police response times after Havering was merged with the command units of Barking & Dagenham and Redbridge. Just before Christmas, I had extensive discussions with senior Met officers and the Deputy Borough Commander in parliament about
the pilot and proposed closure of Hornchurch Police Station. The latter admitted that there was a big problem with response times, however he believes these have now been rectified and that the new arrangements are beginning to work much better. Each ward will shortly be getting two dedicated ward officers, and officers will be better equipped and hopefully more visible. Regarding the police station, I expressed my concern about resource being drawn into Romford, and officers having to spend time on the bus trying to get to base to writeup reports and recharge equipment. On a national note, the government announced a few weeks ago that the Mayor will be able to increase police funding by £42.9m next year and they have separately announced an additional £50m into counterterrorism policing. London now has well over double the national average of police officers per head of the population.
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What next for savings rates and where’s
the best place to save? The most frequently asked question I get asked, by savers, banks and the media, is ‘where are savings rates are heading?’ How was 2017? 2017 was a significantly improved year for savers, compared to 2016. The best one and two year fixedrate bonds paid 1.40% and 1.60% respectively in January 2017, whereas 1.90% and 2.10% per cent were available by the end of 2017 – a full half a percent higher. The best easy access (accounts that don’t require notice to make withdrawals) rates also improved from just over 1% in January 2017 to 1.30% at the end of the year with a peak of 1.45% achieved in December. While these rates are some way off the heady days of 2008 when over 6% could be found on a one year fixed rate, it’s a big step in the right direction. Are rates moving up? Several financial commentators are getting highly excited about two things happening in the market this year. Many of these commentators predict a boom in savings rates because of these. Firstly, two government lending schemes come to an end this month – the Funding for Lending Scheme (known as FLS) and the Term Funding Scheme. These have provided £80bn and
14
£140bn respectively to banks and building societies.
very little happening in the short term, and 2018 specifically.
Secondly, open banking has begun. Open banking enables you to give access to banks and companies to your accounts so that they can provide new products and services to help you securely move and manage your money better.
Is there any good news? It’s not all bad news! I do expect interest rates to increase again in 2018 although I suspect at a lower rate than in 2017. There are three reasons for this:
I don’t subscribe to either of these creating a rise in savings rates in 2018. Although the government lending schemes will end this month, it will be some time before the banks that have used these schemes have lent all the money they have been given. Many of them also have deposits they haven’t loaned to customers to use after this money has been used. Only then will they need to attract more money from savers. I wouldn’t be surprised if this wasn’t until at least 2019 before this happens. With regards to Open Banking, Barclays, RBS, HSBC and three other banks had to ask for extensions to the 13th January deadline to comply with the law. Many of the smaller banks and financial companies who hope to be the beneficiaries of open banking are not ready to fully take advantage of it either. Recent research by the Unlimited Group found that 91% of consumers had no idea what open banking was. I believe open banking will have a profound impact in the banking market in the longer term but I see
1) Competition Ford Money, PCF, Redwood and Wyelands have all entered the savings market in 2017 and there are somewhere in the region of 30 firms going through the process to be awarded a banking licence from the Bank of England and the Prudential Regulation Authority. This is on top of, by my count, 38 new providers who have come in to the market in the past decade. It is competition from these new entrants that has driven the market in recent years and is likely to continue to do so. Although rates have softened a little, since the turn of the year, I wouldn’t be surprised to see the best one year rates head towards 2.15–2.25% by the end of the year and easy access to be in the region of 1.50% 2) Rise of the cash managers There’s been significant interest in the savings market from many cash managers and intermediated savings providers, both from the UK and internationally. While companies like Savings Champion
have provided solutions for some time, they’ve been joined by the likes of Insignis Cash Solutions and Octopus cash in the UK and we’ve seen German market places such as Deposit Solutions and Raisen enter the market. Savers tend to turn to these types of solutions when interest rates are higher so the increase in the number of them suggests there’s a more positive outlook for savings. 3) Switching will continue to get easier Approximately 80% of people have their current account with the so called big 4 banks (Barclays, Lloyds, HSBC, RBS), or Nationwide or Santander. A similar number also save with these large banking groups as well as the government backed National Savings & Investments. However, there has been more regulatory intervention happening in the market in recent years with the current account switching service making it easier to move your bank account (in 7 days). There will also be a rise in market places from new banking providers like Monzo and Starling who won’t provide their own savings accounts but will partner with the best providers who will offer this. With open banking and other regulatory intervention almost inevitable, it’s likely to get easier and more attractive for those 80% to move their money to accounts paying more attractive rates of return. This is likely to force those larger institutions to compete more on price to hold on to their customers Where are the best rates in the market now? Here is a selection of the top paying accounts from our best buy tables: Type of account
Bank
Interest Rate
Easy Access
RCI Bank
1.30%
One Year Fixed
Atom Bank
1.95%
Two Year Fixed
Atom Bank / BLME
2.10%
Three Year Fixed
Vanquis Bank
2.22%
Regular Saver
Saffron Building Society 3.50%
James Blower Founder Savings Guru Ltd
www.thesavings.guru hello@thesavings.guru @SavingsGuruUK
Rates can change quickly so always check on our website, www.thesavings.guru for the most up to date information and links to click through to the providers. That’s all for this month. Have a great February! James
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RECIPE Steak and Sweet Potato Chips Ingredients: 2 x 200g sirloin steaks 350g sweet potatoes 1 tbsp rapeseed oil 50g bag mixed spinach, watercress and rocket Handful of cherry tomatoes 1/3 cucumber, sliced 2 spring onions Coarse ground black pepper.
Dressing: 1 tsp balsamic vinegar 2 tbsp rapeseed oil ½ small garlic clove, crushed
Method: 1.
2.
3.
Preheat oven to 200c. Half fill a medium saucepan with water and bring to the boil. Add in the potatoes once chopped and cook for 4 minutes. Drain and return to the saucepan. Pour the oil over and season with a little black pepper. Toss until the potatoes are all lightly coated with the oil and seasoning. Tip the potatoes onto a baking tray and cook for 15 minutes. Turn them all then cook for a further 10 minutes or until crisp and golden. Whilst the chips are cooking, prepare your steak. Trim off any hard fat and then rub all over with the remaining
oil. Season with 1 tsp coarsely ground black pepper. Using a griddle or non-stick frying pan, put over a high heat and then add the steaks. Cook for about 2 minutes each side or done until your liking. 4.
Set aside and mix the salad leaves, cucumber, chopped spring onions into a bowl. Whisk the vinegar, oil and garlic together.
5.
Lovingly lay out the chips and steak onto your plates and add the salad to one side.
6.
Drizzle with the dressing just before serving.
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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19
in between more complex yoga poses. It helps n and relaxes the muscles at the front of the
w
YOUR YOGA
Child’s Pose
k
r
.
Method: This is a gentle, serene and restful pose, often used in between more complex yoga poses. It helps to stretch the hips, thighs and ankles, calms the brain and relaxes the muscles at the front of the body. Start in tabletop (hands and knees on the floor). Slow your thoughts down. Position your legs together, knees touching. Sit back onto your heels, keeping your spine straight. Breathe out and bow forward, placing your chest on top of your thighs. Gently
allow your forehead to come to the floor. Close your eyes. Extend your arms in front of you with your palms facing down. Press back slightly with your hands to maintain the contact with your heels and buttocks. Allow all the tension in your shoulders to melt away. Soften and relax your lower back. Hold this pose for as long as you need. To release from Child’s pose, gently use your hands to walk your body upright and sit back on your heels.
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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. basildonanddistrictrambling club.btck.co.uk for full details CAP Money Course We are pleased to be offering another CAP Money Course following our recent one in January. The dates are three consecutive Wednesdays in May - 9th, 16th and 23rd, at 8 p.m. in St Luke’s Centre, St Luke’s Church, Front Lane, Cranham. The course is free and workbooks will be provided. Registration, or further details by e-mailing capmoneystlukescranham@ gmail.com or via the web-site www.capmoney.org 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
22
held in St Cedd’s Hall, Cathedral Chapter House, Chelmsford, CM1 1NX, and is usually on the fourth Thursday of every month. Throughout the year there are also fund raising events such as coffee mornings, musical evenings and a Garden Party. For more details please contact Gwenno on 07724144432 www.chelmsfordwelsh.org.uk/ home www.facebook.com/ chelmsfordwelsh Cranham Art Society If you would like to join a friendly Art Club why not give us a try. We meet every Tuesday in Cranham Community Centre in Marlborough Gardens every Tuesday between 10am & noon. Whatever your standard you will be made welcome. Ring Gordon Setter on 01708 225612 for more information. Liberty of Havering Bowls Club New members welcome. Sociable, good for your health, enjoyable & most important, friendly. Contact Anne 01708 470370 or Richard 01708 449245 for details and about our Open Day on Saturday 5th May 11am 4pm where you can have a go, refreshments available. Green is at the rear of Harrow Lodge Sports Centre, Hornchurch. Deyncourt Ladies’ Probus Club We meet at the Masonic Hall, Deyncourt Gardens on the third Wednesday of each month. We start with a short meeting, have a three course lunch, followed by a talk or some form of entertainment.
Throughout the year we have trips out to places of interest and we will shortly be going to a Christmas Concert at the Royal Festival Hall. Contact Janet Garrood 01708 225978 Friends of Parklands The aim of our “Friends” Group is to maintain Parklands Open Space as a pleasant place to walk and relax, surrounded by a natural environment. We arrange Working Parties to keep Parklands tidy and to help control any excessive overgrowth. The Working Parties meet for a couple of hours, once a month, at 10 a.m. on a Wednesday. If you would like to join us please visit our website, www.friendsofparklands.org.uk, for further information, or email our Working Party Organiser, Andy Brett, at: upminsterbrett@gmail.com Friends Of Upminster Mini Golf Course We are a recently formed group with the aims of promoting the Mini Golf Course in Hall Lane, Upminster and working in partnership with Havering Council to improve amenities and to encourage people of all ages to participate at the course. Find us on Facebook. Why not come and give it a go. Equipment is supplied and the course suits all abilities from novices to experienced golfers looking to improve their short game. More information on the Councils website: www.havering. gov.uk/Pages/ServiceChild/HallLane-golf-course.
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Friends of Upminster Park The Friends of Upminster Park is a voluntary group which exists to help maintain and improve the park to a high standard, in liaison with Havering’s Parks Department, for the benefit of all users. It is a valuable local resource when open green spaces are becoming scarce and we would like it to remain a pleasant environment for local people to enjoy, whether to walk or relax in, to play tennis or football or any other leisure pastime (or even just to enjoy passing by the park when shopping). We are however in desperate need of new members, including a Chair Person, without whom the Group could cease to exist with detrimental effect on the park and its users. We meet on the last Wednesday of the month at 7.30pm in Trinity Church (Gaynes Road entrance). If you would be interested in joining the Group please contact Brian Flavell, e-mail: brianm1937@yahoo.co.uk Friends of Upminster Windmill Volunteers are sought to help us develop and maintain an attractive garden area around the new visitor centre at Upminster Windmill.
- advice on how to spot that rare piece! Friday 16th March 7.30 for 8.00. Guests £7 - The Neighbourhood Centre, Gubbins Lane. Further details please contact Chairman, Mrs Chris Lovett on 07947367258. Pilates for a Healthier Spine Experienced Sports & Remedial Massage Therapists Charlene & Neil Carpenter teach traditional Pilates in private sessions and also to small groups in Upminster & Cranham. For further information or to book a course or trial class please visit www. upminstersportsmassage.co.uk or call Charlene on 07411 826721, or email upminstersportsmassage@ gmail.com The Rotary club of Havering East We hold our meetings at Upminster Golf Club every Tuesday Evening at 7pm for 7.30 and enjoy an excellent 2 course meal. We are a friendly club our main aim is to help people less fortunate than ourselves. We raise money for charities but also enjoy fellowship and social events.
Our small friendly group meets on Tuesdays. If you would like to help email charlottethemiller@ gmail.com or enquire at the site on a Tuesday.
If you are interested in finding out about Rotary organisation and helping your local community why not come along one evening. Contact: Liz Goodwin on 07967644918 email:liz.goodwn7@gmail.com.
Havering Antique Collectors Club Judith Miller from BBC Antiques Roadshow returns to Havering Antique Collectors Club. Her talk is on “Treasure or Trash”
The Rotary Club of Hornchurch and Upminster We attract members from in and around Havering who have a common agenda to help people in need wherever they
may be. Our Club prides itself on the closeness and friendship between its members and their partners. We meet most Thursdays at 12.30 for 13.00 at The Railway Hotel in Hornchurch. If you would like to find out more please visit our website www. hornchurchrotary.org or contact Brian Taffs on 01708 250855 or e-mail btaffs@btinternet.com Upminster Park Towns Women’s Guild We are a friendly group of Ladies enjoying a chat over tea and biscuits listening to a good speaker or entertainer. Going on outings/theatre trips and promoting friendship and well being. We meet at St.Lawrence Church, Derham Hall, Upminster on the fourth Wednesday each month at 1.45 - 4pm. For more information contact Deborah Pryor 01708 226127 or Anne Monk 01708 226305 or simply come along. Upminster Wine and Social Club We are a fun group of people with an interest in wine appreciation and enjoying many social events. We hold meetings every month with a variety of speakers and a wine tasting. Meetings are held on the third Thursday of the month at 8.00 o’clock in the Cranham Social Hall, Front Lane, Cranham. For more information contact Maureen Jasper on 01708 223956, or simply come along on the night. You would be made most welcome.
If you would like to promote your club or event for March/April then please email a maximum of 70 words to:
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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.”
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TRAVEL - DUKE COTTAGE The
By Tim Saunders – www.travelwriter.biz One family has stayed in the same holiday cottage on a Suffolk farm nine times. Numerous others have stayed on almost as many occasions. That’s what the visitor book at Duke Cottage at Easton Farm Park reveals; there are two selfcatering Victorian cottages on the farm – the other is Duchess Cottage. With so much to do here it really is not necessary to go anywhere else. And that is why so many families return to stay in the cottages. These families benefit from free access to the farm and not just during opening times but when it is shut. It is also possible to help the staff with various duties such as mucking out the horses and feeding the hens. This is all very refreshing news indeed.
the moment but when the time comes it is nice to know that rabbits, guinea pigs, ducks, chicks and goats can all be purchased from the farm at attractive prices. It is an educational experience too because both children and adults can learn how a traditional farm works as well as how an egg is produced. We enjoy eating numerous Easton Farm free range eggs. Incidentally having not brought our trusty egg poacher we experiment with simply breaking an egg into a pan of boiling water and poaching it for three minutes and to our surprise it works a treat, tasting better than using our egg poacher! The staff are so polite, friendly and knowledgeable, too. “I also love the pony ride,” adds Harriett. She is very at home in the saddle and enjoys four pony rides in total.
The farm at Woodbridge in Suffolk opened as a family attraction in 1974, at a time when such attractions were few and far between, compared to today. Since that time over one million visitors have poured through the gates. During our stay in The Duke we certainly do relax, which is quite a rarity on such jaunts. Like many before us we do not feel a desire to leave during our stay because there is a full day of events planned. This ranges from hug a bunny at 11am to the Barrel Bug ride at 12noon, pony rides at 2pm and the family train at 4pm. Clearly a great deal of thought has gone into how to entertain a family throughout the day. Each event runs for half an hour, which is just long enough for little ones. There is very little queuing and waiting around, too. A barn full of green blue and red pedal tractors – even a mini John Deere - for the children to ride ensures they never get bored. Harriett insists on riding Tractor Tom to every destination on the farm. “My favourite thing is cuddling the rabbits,” says Harriett (3). “Can I have a rabbit?” We feel she is still a little too young for such responsibility at
Perhaps the most ingenious ride is the Bug Barrel, which consists of a number of converted barrels on wheels each with their own steering wheel and seatbelts, towed by a quad bike. Creatively made it features an innovative use of golf balls for antennae. It is a joy to see both Harriett and Heidi clinging on to their steering wheels, laughing and giggling. Caroline and I finally let them go round unaccompanied the second time round because we’re out of breath from all the running! When the girls have explored the farm to their hearts’ content we then enjoy the adventure playground complete with zip wire, sandpit and diggers. The walks around the farmland let us savour the views over the Deben valley.
Tim Saunders is an author, journalist and businessman. He meets celebrities, goes on holiday and road tests cars.
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