Chelmsford The City Times June/July 2014

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Issue Number 9 - June/July 2014

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CT Welcome

Griffin Estates

Welcome to the June/July edition of Chelmsford The CIty Times.

The year is flying by so fast.

• PROPERTY SALES • PROPERTY LETTINGS • PROPERTY MANAGEMENT SERVICE

June and July are busy months for us with two music stages, one at The Fling on Saturday 28th June and then on Monday July 7th we have a stage in Admirals Park for the Tour de France event (more details on page 24). Both stages are in colaboration with Chelmsford Community Radio.

Call Us 07434 126606

We are looking for writers for our new Braintree Life magazine, if you live or work in Braintree or the surrounding area please get in touch by emailing editorial@itsyourmedia.co.uk.

Enjoy the festival season!

Paul & Nick

Griffin Estates is the perfect choice for buying, selling or letting your property in the Chelmsford area.

You can count on us for expert advice and support, with our dedicated team providing the ded

www.chelmsfordthecitytimes.co.uk & www.moulshamtimes.com Advertising Editorial Nick Garner Paul Mclean 07970 206682 07595 949701 ads@itsyourmedia.co.uk editorial@itsyourmedia.co.uk Disclaimer: It’s Your Media publish Chelmsford The City Times. The opinion expressed in each article is the opinion of its author and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of It’s Your Media. No part may be reproduced without the prior written permission of It’s Your Media.

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July

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CT Fashion - Dress For Success How much do first impressions count? Whether we like it or not, we all make snap judgments on how people dress and how they look, but in our day-to-day life, what people think, doesn’t really affect us and that’s how it should be. However, where image does really count, is in the interview room. As the job market has become unstable, more and more of us will be applying for a new job and looking smart and polished, like you mean business is extremely important. 93% of us make a judgment in the first minute on someone’s dress sense, then how they behave and sound, not by what they say. If you are currently trying to find a job, and have been on countless interviews, you may be suffering from job interview fatigue and believe it unimportant to make an effort, but just remember that the interviewer will be forming an opinion, before you even sit down.

I recently helped a client with an outfit for job interview, she had two stages of interviews with a couple of the same people interviewing her, so needed slightly different outfits, read on to find out how I styled her. But first, here are some tips for interview dressing.

Five Tips to Dress for Success Tip 1: Dress Smart Whatever job you are going for, whether it’s a teacher, an accountant, or a sales assistant, tip one is to dress smartly.

Things to avoid for women: embellishment on tops, embroidery, sequins, frills and large patterns (anything that could distract your interviewer).

A suit is not necessary; a tailored jacket with trousers is fine, but soften the look with a coloured or patterned t-shirt. Other options are, a shift dress and jacket or pencil skirt, tailored shirt and jacket.

For men: clashing shirts and ties combinations are out, t-shirts with or without logos and fleeces are out. If you are wearing a suit, make sure it fits you well. Cover up tattoos.

nail polish or brightly coloured nail polish, like blue or green.

My client and I went to Marks and Spencer, we bought Autograph Ultimate luxury trousers in black (£49.50), we teamed this with Autograph floral shell top (£35.00) and Autograph shawl collar blazer with linen in light turquoise (£69.00). She wore this with Autograph suede mid heel court shoes (£45.00) and M&S Collection patent bar trim Tote bag (£39.50). For the second interview, we teamed the same black trousers with Autograph t-shirt in dusted aqua (£22.50) and Autograph cotton rich tweed textured jacket (£75.00) with the same shoes and Tote bag.

For other great interview pieces, go to Gap for slim cropped trousers and fitted blazers, they also do a great classic trench and sheath dresses. Flats shoes at Marks and Spencer and Gap. Clarks do stylish brogues; check out Hotel Image (£65.00) in mushroom, cream and navy. And at Topshop, you will find the gorgeous stripe cropped jacket (£58.00) and the Boucle zipped blazer (£58.00). For men, head to Quadrant and Debenhams for shoes and suits at Next and Moss Bros like the Ventuno 21 slim fit electric blue suit (£129).

Emma Smith lives in Chelmsford and is a style consultant.

She offers personal shopping and wardrobe planning sessions.

You can contact her via her website: www.emmasmith.co.uk.

Or email emma@emmasmith.co.uk.

To view our other publications please visit www.issuu.com/itsyourmedia

Tip 2: Button Up A jacket or a smart coat gives the right impression as you enter the room, even if you take it off as soon as you take a seat. Nothing beats tailoring and crisp lines when you are attending an interview. For men a sharp tailored suit is always a winner, but a blazer, shirt, waistcoat and trouser combination also works. You can buy stylish affordable suits from Topman, Marks and Spencer, Next, Debenhams and Moss Bro. Tip 3: A Nice Sensible Shoe Opt for a sensible shoe. It is essential that your shoes are not scuffed and are polished. Towering heels or platforms for ladies are out, as are patterns, bold colours, strappy sandals or open toes, plus avoid sparkle. Nude, tan, black and navy are safe options. Style wise, court shoes and Mary Janes are good, as are pumps.

THE STRAND

Chelmsford Hair & Beauty Introducing Jodie Hillman our new senior stylist. She will be offering a wash, cut and finish for just £30 or 20% off any other service for June. She is a very experienced and highly qualified stylist who has worked in a variety of top salons all over the world!

For guys, brogues, or loafers in tan or black. Avoid desert boots, trainers, and moccasins. Even if it is 100 degrees outside, socks are a must! But no crazy cartoon characters or bright colours (John Snow can get away with it, but it doesn’t work in an interview) dark socks are best.

Tip 4: Don’t Jingle Jangle Ladies, keep jewellery to a minimum, something simple and small is fine.

And no dangly earrings. If you can hear your accessories, then ditch them! And guys take off any jewellery, apart from a simple wedding ring.

Tip 5: Make-Under Ladies, if you never leave home without a full face of make-up, then think about toning it down for your interview. Some things to avoid are: flicked feline eyes, sparkly eye shadow, coloured mascara, black

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CT Cooking

Charcoal Roasted Pork Shoulder

I’m in reflective mood. I turned 43 last week. Having enjoyed an excess of food and fine single malt with friends and family awoke the following morning with nothing more than a vague sense of reality, a sprained ankle, a headache of such colossal proportions that moving my eyes left me yearning for temporary blindness. Hobbling to the bathroom mirror I tried vainly to focus on what I thought to be an alarming amorphous combination of my maternal grandmother and an elderly bloodhound.

Gone are the days when I could imbibe the night and dawn, catch an hours sleep and be back on the Piccadilly Line hurtling into central London to buzz annoyingly at my desk. Recovery time these days is pitifully somewhere between 2 to 3 weeks. My kind and saintly wife hands me a pint glass of fizzy pop, 2 painkillers and an order, masquerading as a friendly suggestion, that I go see my doctor about my inexplicable ankle injury. I know what he’ll say, “you’re a overweight middle aged man with a crappy ankle. Build a bridge fat man - get over it”. The same doctor, I might add, whose advice to my plea for help to give up smoking was “try harder”, despite my entreaties on how disappointed Hippocrates would have been with his frankly brutal advice.

Whilst 50 is still 7 years away, all of you fellow 40 somethings know, as well as I do, those years will fly past and I will again find myself one morning, standing in front of a bathroom mirror wondering what on earth happened and why?, from the lithe Giacometti sculpture do I now resemble a wax Buddha that’s melting under a hot lamp.

I choose, however, to head towards the inevitable with purpose. My middle aged friend completed his second marathon just a few weeks ago, last month I rode 50 miles for the Jay’s hospice and every day I choose to learn something new about biscuits and their dunking qualities. By the time I hit 50 I am determined to be an expert on all things jelly baby and be able to price up in my head a slippers and cardigan combo without the use of a calculator. So, until that time, I’m keeping the Porsche, getting a fake tan and learning the new language of Essex. “Reem” dear readers of Essex. Enjoy June’s sunny days.

By John Jacobs

Ingredients (serves 6-8) 2½ kg/5lb 8oz piece boned pork shoulder.

Several sprigs of thyme.

2 Chilies.

3 cloves garlic.

Big glug of olive oil.

Maldon sea salt (or equivalent crystallised salt).

Sprinkle of whole black pepper corns and juniper berries.

1ltr Apple Juice.

Score the pork shoulder skin heavily with a very sharp knife and rub the sea salt into the cuts. Use quite a lot as you’ll be leaving the joint overnight in the fridge. By the morning, the salt will have absorbed a great deal of the moisture from the skin making for some perfect crackling.

Place a number of lengths of string (12 inches or so, depending on the size of the joint) on your work surface and lay the joint on top.

Rub olive oil into the meat, season with some more sea salt and sprinkle the peppercorns and juniper berries on there too. Add in the thyme and garlic and you’re ready to roll. You can of course add a stuffing of your choosing, but I like to keep it simple. It also helps cut down the cooking time. Tie the string around the meat until it resembles a roasting joint.

Light your BBQ to maximum heat and leave to heat up. If you have a lid, put it down to speed up the process. Place your joint into a roasting tin and pour a little apple juice into it to stop it burning and give the pork a slightly sweet taste. Put the whole thing onto the BBQ grill and put down the lid. Keep checking occasionally and top up the apple juice when needed. The whole thing should take no longer than an hour to cook. When the crackling is crispy, you’ll know it’s done.

Carve as normal.

Charcoal Roasted Pork Shoulder This is one of the dishes I prepared for the sunny birthday BBQ. Don’t be afraid to venture beyond burgers and bangers. Make sure you have a meat thermometer if you’re unsure of cooking times. This makes a stunning centre piece for any outdoor cooking. You can buy the shoulder of pork whole, bone and tie it or get it pre-prepared from your butcher.

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CT Gardening Having been away for a few weeks I couldn’t believe the huge amount of growth that has shot up. Its time for me to ‘chop’ back a few perennials to ensure flowers come later on the likes of cat mint and hardy geraniums – just cut down by half and you’ll have a more compact plant and a late flush of flowers.

Strawberries From Seed Forgotten to sow strawberry seed for those beautiful little alpine fruits (fraise de bois)? For alpines, sow thinly on the surface of compost, cover the seed tray with glass (not newspaper) and germinate at 18°C (65°F). When seedling have 2-3 leaves, prick out into individual 3”/9cm pots. Harden off and plant out in June/July.

Fruiting may not take place until next year. Replace every 3 years.

by Tom Cole

When you rake, put your leaves in plastic bags, and let them composts there. This method saves the trouble of turning a compost pile, and once the leaves have composted, it’s easy to take the bags to the desired spot and spread the compost around. To start the compost process, squeeze the air from the filled bags, poke holes in them to make sure air can reach the leaves, and add some water.

The Kitchen Gardener Deadhead herbs unless collecting seed for future sowing or use as a seasoning. Simply use shears on plants such as thyme, oregano and marjoram. Plants will continue to send out new lush sappy growth and maintain a compact form. If collecting seed, clean and store in paper packets in a cool, dry and dark place.

Sow beetroot, Calabrese, kohlrabi, oriental greens and salad onions.

Onions/shallots/garlic will start to collapse to the ground. Let growth die back and then carefully lift from the side with a garden fork.

Leave on surface to dry and then store.

Dig in early sowings of green manures before they flower. These are ideal for improving soil fertility for subsequent crops and for keeping soil erosion and leaching to a bare minimum.

Sow endive, oriental and winter salad leaves, radishes, spinach, spring cabbage and turnips.

Be vigilant throughout the summer period for blight on main crop potatoes, spraying where necessary. Infection can be reduced by earthing up deeply. If the haulms start to show symptoms, infected leaves should be removed as soon as they begin to die down. The following show good resistance: ‘Cara’, ‘Estima’, ‘Kondor’, ‘Maris Piper’, ‘Pentland Crown’, ‘Record’ and ‘Romano’. Spray with a copper based fungicide.

For any gardening tips why not contact Tom Cole, Head of Faculty for Land & Environment, Writtle College, Chelmsford, CM1 3RR by post (including a SAE) or by email at tom.cole@writtle.ac.uk.

The Flower Gardener Dead heading bedding plants on a regular basis to promote more flowers, reduce pest and disease problems, maintain a more compact plant and therefore increase the seasonal interest.

There is still time to sow spring bedding plants such as Erysimum chieri (wall flower), Myosotis alpestris (Forget-me-not) and Primula cvs. ready for planting out this autumn.

Continue to provide support to taller herbaceous perennials using link stakes and or brushwood.

Cut down by half Clematis viticella cultivars to get another smaller flush of flowers later this summer.

Timesaving Tip With the busy lifestyles we all have today, its hard to get around to all the necessary garden tasks. Here are two tips that may make those chores easier: Keep your tools in one place so they’re easy to get to. A plastic water butt works well as a storage bin for a selection of your most frequently used hand tools, and it’s easy to carry around the garden.

Keeping all your tools together will save you many a trip to the garden shed.

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Moulsham’s Hidden Gems! 22nd June Old Moulsham Open Gardens Each June- this year on Sunday 22nd June - Old Moulsham does its bit to help fund-raising for the Farleigh Hospice and, in doing so, reveals its “Hidden Gems”, its very own secret gardens.

The annual Old Moulsham Open Gardens provides an opportunity to see what hidden gems of gardening are cultivated by local residents. Last year, the closed cemetery in New London Road joined in with an open day of tours and talks to add to the interest. The 2013 November edition of Moulsham Times featured what was happening with the closed cemetery and it is great to learn that including it in the Old Moulsham Open Gardens is to be repeated this year. The sterling work by the Conservation Volunteers and the City Council’s Bereavement Services Department has continued, to preserve and enhance the cemetery as a public amenity, adding to the usual attractions of the Open Gardens event.

Old Moulsham Open Gardens is just one of many similar events organised across the city by Farleigh Hospice’s Christine Hogben and her team. The closed cemetery and the gardens of the Mildmay Almshouses in Moulsham Street add an interesting historic perspective to a collection of contemporary private gardens that will be open to the public from 11am to 5pm on 22nd June. The range of gardening styles is remarkable. What lies behind so many modest Moulsham homes is astonishing; from the smallest to the largest and from the very formal Japanese to the more adventurous family garden approach.

Some provide refreshments and plant stalls, plus a wide range of live music and even advice from experts! If not expert, then, at least, they can be very experienced and knowledgeable about what will grow and thrive in the area.

Hundreds of visitors take advantage of this open gardens event every year. Admission, covering all of the gardens, costs only £5 by programme, which includes a map for planning your visits and a brief description of each garden. These programmes can be purchased at all Farleigh Hospice shops, from June 9th or, on the day, at individual participating gardens.

Chelmsford College, on its Moulsham Street campus, generously provides free parking for garden visitors within easy walking distance of most gardens. Admission programmes may be bought there, too.

This year Christine Hogben expects to have at least a dozen

participating gardens. They will all open at 11am and can be the basis of an excellent day-out, not forgetting that there are plenty of eating and drinking establishments in and around the Moulsham Street area. There will also be refreshments available in some of the gardens. Such is the popularity that many visitors make repeat visits to their favourite gardens (no extra charge for repeats!) and some participants report friendly pressure needed to get visitors moving at 5pm.

There will certainly be plenty to see and admire. Besides amazing floral displays, there are ponds, fruit trees and even a mini vineyard, where Moulsham Red is produced! It would be great if Old Moulsham Open Gardens this year, Sunday 22nd June, could produce record numbers of visitors and a bumper boost of funding for Farleigh Hospice. Very many Moulsham residents put in a lot of effort to present what can best be described as “Moulsham’s Hidden Gems”.

Our Beers We’ll have over 300 real ales from all over the UK including a wide selection from the West Country and Wales. We should have some ales brewed especially for the festival from both local and other brewers.

All styles of beer will be available - as well as the golden ales so popular at this time of year we’ll also have plenty of bitters, milds, stouts & porters, fruit beers, IPAs and real cask lagers.

Brewery Bars • Brentwood with their Gold and Chockwork Orange.

• Bishop Nick run by Nelion Ridley the 7th generation of the Ridley family.

• Black Sheep from Masham Nth Yorks. Run by the latest generation of the Theakston family.

• Felstar with Franco’s extraordinary range of ales Wibblers with their renowned Apprentice.

• Woodfordes with Wherry of course.

Also welcome to our three newcomers with their own bars: • Camerons famous for its Strongarm bitter.

• Round Tower Brewery Chelmsford’s own Micro Brewery.

• Oakham Ales with their renowned JHB (Jeffrey Hudson Bitter).

Belgian Beers The Belgian Beer Bar offers a great range of beers including Trappists, Lambics and a full selection of the ever-popular fruit beers. This year there will also be the best of international beers from United States, Germany, Czech Republic and Holland including the rare, proper draught Budweiser Budvar yeast beer.

Ciders and Perries The Cider Bar will have over 100 choices of cider, perry and pyder (a blend of the two!), including the full range from Millwhites Cider who we are very pleased to sponsor us again along with the Essex Cider Shop in Chelmsford who are one of our main suppliers.

We plan to have all the gold, silver and bronze winners from National Cider and Perry Championships 2014.

The special feature for this year will be Scottish and Irish Cider but of course we shall have the favourites from throughout the UK including new Essex Cider from Bertie’s Cider Co. Food and Wine As usual a wide range of food available every day. Hopleaf will be doing their usual burgers, hot dogs and curries. Bratwurst will have German and vegetarian sausages also pizzas and again we have a hog roast, pasty man and olives and things. Inside the marquee we will have Pipers Crisps and Merry Berry Chocolates. By popular demand

this year we have fish and chips. The Felstar Brewery Bar will be providing local Essex wines from their vineyard in Felsted.

CAMRA Membership Nationally CAMRA has over 160,000 members and there are more than 1,600 in our branch. CAMRA members get into this festival, and many others, FREE. There is a range of other benefits too. Sign up at the festival membership stand and get a free pint.

Charities Our 2 charity partners are Little Havens Hospice who provide incredible support for youngsters with serious illnesses and their families and The MS Society who support all those affected by MS, which includes family and friends. They will be serving soft drinks at their stall.

Entertainment Tuesday 15th 8 pm TRULY ACOUSTIC Wednesday 16th 7 pm JAMIE WILLIAMS & THE ROOTS COLLECTIVE 9 pm D’UKES Thursday 17th 8 pm ONION BAND Friday 18th 4 pm JUNK FOXX 8pm THE DAGGERS Saturday 19th 1 pm THE HUGH RAINEY JAZZ BAND 4 pm FOX & THE TROTS 7 pm LOADED DICE

Page 10 www.chelmsfordthecitytimes.co.uk

Beer Festivals by Simon Tippler For all real ale lovers the summer means just one thing: beer festivals! Although festivals happen all year round there are many bigger and better festivals during the summer months.

Beer festivals are a great opportunity to sample beers that you haven’t tried before. With glasses often marked out in thirds, as well as halves and pints, this offers the chance to have a good taste of several different beers. The advantage of the smaller measures means that you can try some breweries and styles of beer that you may not normally drink without the worry of having to drink a whole pint of something that hasn’t appealed to your taste buds. If you want try something new, it is often worth asking the advice of the bar staff who will be able to guide you to a drink that you will enjoy. Don’t forget that it’s quite acceptable to ask for a taste of a beer before you choose what drink.

Chelmsford is lucky to host a large beer festival which, last year, with the great weather, saw a fantastic turn out of over 20,000 visitors. This is all put on by the volunteers of the local branch of the

Campaign For Real Ale (CAMRA). It takes months of planning and is a massive undertaking for the team of 250 volunteers.

The festival spans around 5 acres of Admirals Park with over 120 meters of bar and an infrastructure including 2.5km of cable, 30 remote coolers and 3 chilled containers to ensure that the beer is served up in perfect condition.

This year there will be 9 breweries who will have their own bars at the summer festival. From further afield Camerons (Hartlepool ) Black Sheep (Masham in North Yorkshire) Woodfordes (Norfolk) Oakham (Peterborough) and Brentwood, Bishop Nick, Felstar, Wibblers and Round Tower from Essex. These bars give the public the opportunity to meet the brewers and brewery staff and also sample a range of beer produced by the brewery. Round Tower will be having their first brewery bar this year which will include their Slipstream Black IPA 6% and a very special 7% Stout as well as plenty of our gold and brown beers to try. Make sure you come and say hello.

Brian Debenham, who is in charge of ordering the 36,000 pints of beer for the summer festival, is keeping the list under wraps but promises that there will be some great beers from near and far for all to try, including some gems that you probably won’t see again for a while.

Also this year, the cider bar will be almost twice as long as last year to try to reduce queuing. There will be over 100 different ciders and perrys to choose from, making it the biggest cider bar in East Anglia.

The Ale House in Chelmsford is having a ‘mini beer festival’ every three months with 30 different beers. They are starting each festival with a ‘Meet The Brewer’ evening.

Round Tower were pleased to host the most recent Meet The Brewer evening and it was great to meet so many people and spend the evening talking about my favourite topic!

The next mini festival is on 24 – 27th July and the rumour is that they hope to have a brewer from out of the area making a guest appearance.

The White Hart in Margaretting Tye is another festival worth visiting between 24th – 27th July. With up to 80 beers and ciders available, they are celebrating their 13th summer festival. Although, The White Hart is a little bit outside the city, the beautiful location and great beer makes the journey worthwhile.

Beer festivals are a great excuse to meet up with friends and family and enjoy some sparkling company in the sun so make an effort to get out and about this summer and discover some really interesting beer.

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CT What’s On In Chelmsford June/July June 13th Asylum - Mug + Demon Smiles + Red Rag Front + The Tickturds The Bassment - Kieran Skye + Uncle Ben Civic Theatre - Our House Cramphorn Theatre - The Time Machine Fleece - Squabbler plus DJ Rev + all the games from the World Cup The Loop - Twisted Friday 14th Asylum - Three Birds Blind + Hemingway + The Sunday Skyclub The Ale House - Indiscreet The Bassment - Rubber Soul Civic Theatre - Our House Cramphorn Theatre - Edinburgh comedy warm ups Fleece - Acoustic Session from 2pm in the garden + England v Italy The Loop - In The Loop 15th Boys Toys - Hylands Park Cramphorn Theatre - An Afternoon with Franz Hepburn 17th Asylum - Skreamer + Inexitus + Tessellate The Bassment - Jive swing dance class Cramphorn Theatre - Bast***** 18th The Bassment - Winston And The Lads + Tom Peplow Fleece - Midweek Madness with DJ Darryl in the garden Cramphorn Theatre - Lunchtime concert Cramphorn Theatre - Henry IV Part II 19th Asylum - The MBG - Dexter - Last Born Unicorn Cramohorn Theatre - Inside Llewyn Davis Fleece - England v Uruguay + DJ Darryl spinning tunes in the garden 20th Asylum - Morgellons + Skurvi + Ted Dibiase & The Million Dollar PB The Bassment - The Fancy Dess Party + Alex Fox Fleece - Circa Fall plus DJ Rev The Loop - Twisted Friday 21st Asylum - Devil In Detail + Wicked Faith + Whoremoan The Ale House - Reunion Blues The Bassment - Darryl Butcher + Stapleford + Firat Cramphorn Theatre - Rhythm Fleece - Acoustic Session 2pm + Red Leaf plus DJ Captain Fleecey Highwood Village Hall - Barbecue and summer market The Loop - In The Loop 22nd Cramphorn Theatre - Rhythm Med Fusion - Meet your neighbours buffet 23rd Cramphorn Theatre - The Invisible Woman 24th The Bassment - Kive swing dance class 3 Foot People Festival - Hyands Park Fleece - England v Costa Rica 5pm 25th The Bassment - Fashion Vol. 4 Fleece - DJ Darryl spinning the tunes in the garden 3 Foot People Festival - Hyands Park 26th Asylum - Chased by Karma + Trip To Dover + Daze Train Civic Theatre - Let’s Hang On Cramphorn Theatre - Only Lovers Left Alive Fleece - Funky Thursday - DJ Darryl spinning the tunes in the garden 3 Foot People Festival - Hyands Park ‘Make a silver ring in a day’ course - Amy - info@rawjewellery.co.uk

27th Asylum - Shouting Signals + Mamma Never Beat Me.... + Evarane The Bassment - Ekko Ekko + Origami Noise + How’s Annie Cramphorn Theatre - The Unremarkable Death of Marilyn Monroe Fleece - Joker plus DJ Captain Fleecey The Loop - Twisted Friday 28th Asylum - Osmium Guillotine + Kaine + Chestburster + Barbora The Ale House - Rhonda The Greek Unknown Civic Theatre - West End Story Cramphorn Theatre - Pop! A Magical Comedy Show Fleece - Twisted Logistics plus Dj Captain Fleecey The Fling at Hylands Park The Loop - - Deep Freeze 29th The Ale House - Acoustic Session Civic Theatre - West End Story July 1st Asylum - Radio Is Dead + Failing to Fly + Flying *** The Bassment - Jive swing dance class Cramphorn Theatre - The Innocents 2nd The Bassment - Back To Mine Vol. 6 Fleece - Midweek Madness with DJ Darryl in the garden Cramphorn - Lunchtime concert Civic Theatre - That’ll Be The Day 3rd Asylum - Steve Hovington & The Fountain Of Youth + Chris Taylor + more The Bassment - The Fellowship feat Guthrie Govan Cramhorn Theatre - Stranger By The Lake Fleece - Funky Thursday - DJ Darryl spinning the tunes in the garden 4th Asylum - The Delta Jacks + East Creek Union + The Flying Vees Cramphorn Theatre - Merry It Was To Laugh Fleece - The Strides plus DJ Rev The Loop - Twisted Friday 5th Asylum - Just Floyd Fleece - Acoustic Session 2pm in the garden, The JDs + DJ Captain Fleecey from 9.30 The Loop - Amplified Rabbit Walthamstock Festival 6th Civic Theatre - Make Some Noise 7th Civic Theatre - Make Some Noise Tour de France in Admirals Park - Big screen showing the event + The Spin + Pie Face + Jamie Williams & The Roots Collective + BCPT 8th Civic Theatre - Make Some Noise 9th The Bassment - Blues In The City - Wille & The Bandits + Little Donkey Civic Theatre - Make Some Noise Cramphorn Theatre - Lunchtime concert Fleece - Midweek Madness - DJ Darryl + World Cup Semi Final 10th Asylum - Lost On Broadway + Your Broken Echo Civic Theatre - Make Some Noise Fleece - The Electric Jam Night - Hosted by Paolo Morena 11th Asylum - The Pukes + The Dogtown Rebels Civic Theatre - Make Some Noise Fleece - The Rising plus DJ Captain Fleecey The Loop - Twisted Friday

12th Asylum - Mantora + Divine Solace + Nocturna + Breed Of Burden Civic Theatre - Make Some Noise Fleece - Acoustic Session from 2pm in the garden, 50/50 plus DJ Captain Fleecey from 9.30 The Loop - In The Loop 13th Fleece - World Cup Final party (hopefully with England in it!)

14th 15th Chelmsfrod Beer Festival in Admirals Park - Truly Acoustic Cramphorn Theatre - The Past 16th Chelmsford Beer Festival in Admirals Park - Jamie Williams & RC + D’ukes Cramphorn Theatre - Lunchtime concert 17th Asylum - Andy Poole ‘Does The Funny’ And Friends Chelmsford Beer Festival in Admirals Park - Onion Band Please note, all events are subject to change. Please visit their websites or facenook pages for more details.

Blues in the City @ The Bassment Yet again another great night with two amazing acts. First up we had Joel Fisk who has been nominated and shortlisted as the Best British blues guitarist for a third time and deserves to win, as those who witnessed him will agree. I wondered what he would be like as a solo act, but I would not hesitate to see him again, with a great choice of music sung well and played amazingly with a lot of wit that entertained all, hence the encores.

Next on was Mississippi MacDonald and the Cottonmouth Kings making a welcome return - now with a drummer. Mississippi in his red sparkling suit and his stetson standing well over six foot tall, had to sit down in The Bassment. With his amazing deep gravelly bluesy voice

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Please send details of your events to editoria@itsyourmedia.co.uk.

Events can be charity events, jumble sales, dance classes, school reunions, garden parties, live music, local theatre etc. and a band that all work so well together with Rossco Blues Jacques on harmonica, DC Black on bass and Rob Wilson on drums, they are all masters and they were joined on stage by Joel Fisk. Rarely have I seen such a great band work so well together it is like they can read each other’s minds. It is little wonder that they had to play so many encores.

We look forward to seeing them again at the Blues in the City festival 2014 playing at the Ale House on Sunday 28th Sept at about 4pm.

Next is another welcome return with Wille and the Bandits playing Blues in the City at the Bassment on Wed 9th July with support from Little Donkey.

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The Cricketers by Darren Lerigo

But is it luck?

Quiz question for you – which pub on Moulsham Street offers beer and wine tastings, jazz, funk and soul music on the third Saturday of every month, and hosted the first ever meeting of Chelmsford’s New City Girls WI group (the one where over 150 ladies turned up, leaving some to queue on the street just to get in?)

“Well, I’ve always thought this was a pub that can do well. It is the first pub people come to near their homes, a pub for people who commute to the city and can afford a house around here. Chelmsford too is a lovely place to live; you don’t have to go far for what you want”.

The answer? The Cricketers public house on Moulsham Street, and it is their publican Colin we are interviewing today.

“One of my favourite things about living in Chelmsford is Moulsham Street, its character and how hard the people who own businesses here work. We would love to see the addition of a few more independent shops as wel”.

“My business partner Paul and I are more like friends, we always chat things through – should we do this? Can we try this? How can we freshen things up? We had to put together a business plan because The Cricketers is a tied pub, a Gray and Sons, and there is a fair bit of competition for these pubs.”

Gray and Sons is an Essex brewery, started in Chelmsford in 1828 and now based in Galleywood.

“Gray and Sons are good to their landlords and they are a good supporter of micro breweries. There is Mighty Oak in Maldon, Bishop Nick from Braintree which is of an incredibly high standard. We have always have one of these on”.

How do you find managing staff?

“You have to get good people and trust them and not make too much of it. People get too worried that if they are not there the world will collapse. Steve takes over when I’m not here and Dee looks after a lot of things to help the pub run, and she has the authority to do this. Steve looks after the cellar and the kitchen. When we took over the pub it was a no brainer to ask them to come back to the pub business… We get complimented a lot on our staff which is, I hope, a by-product of them all being happy”.

Dee had remembered me from my initial visit and when I walked back in the second time she greeted me warmly, proof of what Colin was telling me.

“Although it seems that being a publican is running a front of house show, what you don’t realise is what goes on behind the scenes. We open at 11am, so that means 8am getting stocked and cleaned up…

Originally we shut for four days to revamp… Let’s say the pub needed a bit of love – new furniture, floor, bar tops and toilets – then over the next four to five weeks we did the back bar. The ivory and duck egg colours reflect the pubs around Liverpool Street that we liked.

“We are a wet led pub – real ales and a beer garden – but we actually have a wider spectrum of clientele than other pubs, we are not reliant on one product. I assumed when I started that we would offer one thing and that would be the big seller”.

“But someone may like to try whatever you have, while other people will always want the same thing – so you play the audience, even though you can influence it to a degree. You’ve got to learn while you go along”.

The ideas Colin talks about have come through from most of the businesses I’ve interviewed in the last few months – firstly, you must give the market what it wants, (but don’t assume you know what that is) and second of all – get started. You’ll learn more as you go along than you will by doing nothing.

What has business been like?

“Years ago it would have been different, you would have your beer crawl up Moulsham Street, but now if you are eighteen to twenty five you go to town, the high street… But we have had steady growth over the first eighteen months. We are lucky.”

“I have friends who talk about adding a deli to Moulsham Street”.

What stops them?

“They all earn more doing what they’re doing now”.

I can’t help bursting with laughter at that… I ask Colin what are the plans for the future of The Cricketers?

“I want to make sure this is a stable business, make it run properly.

You can now use your taste card here, then we hope to have our beer festival – where we showcase three brewers – on a more regular basis. Make them smaller, but not just once a year”.

Another quiz question for you then, to end this interview – what pub is a short walk from Chelmsford High Street and well worth a visit?

(You’ve guessed the answer, right?)

The Cricketers public house on Moulsham Street, of course.

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Sarah Brockwell sarahBee marketing have just been nominated to win Best Growing Business in Essex. We wish them best of luck in that contest.

‘A Dottie Reinvention’ by Linda McNeill

If you are a regular reader you will know that each month I feature a local woman who has set up her own business and ‘reinvented’ herself. The idea behind my series of articles came from my own change of career from teaching in secondary schools to re-training and setting up my own Hypnobirthing business teaching antenatal classes to expectant parents with the emphasis on a calm and comfortable birth (Bun in the Oven Birthing). It can be a daunting prospect to ‘start again’ and leave your old career behind so I wanted to discover the stories behind other women who have done a similar thing. There are so many fantastic and inspirational ladies who have had the courage to start afresh with a whole new venture and this month I had the pleasure of interviewing the lovely Rachel Eley of Dottie Designs.

Rachel established Dottie Designs in December last year.

She creates gorgeous pictures using bespoke stickers and decoupage. I was fortunate enough to purchase one of Rachel’s designs (a beautiful Easter bunny!) in one of her facebook auctions back in April and this made me want to find out more about her creations and the inspiration behind her business.

For someone so creative, Rachel somewhat surprisingly comes from a family of builders and she herself joined the family business after completing her A Levels. She was not a brickie (much to my disappointment!) but worked as a PA for the company directors. She really enjoyed this but as is the case for so many women, after she had her first child, the 5.30am starts and long days meant balancing motherhood and a career was just too tricky. Motherhood is so often the motivation for women to reconsider their career and come up with new ways to earn a living either because the hours just are not compatible or they just have a basic desire to spend more time with the little person they created!

Rachel’s first instinct was to train as a wedding and events planner.

She had always loved organising weddings and parties and would spend hours colour-coordinating and ensuring all the little details were perfect – not that her son necessarily noticed the beautifully coordinated decorations at his naming day! Rachel realised she had an eye for detail and so trained through UKAWP and then set up her own company Blue Blossom Weddings. She organised two weddings which was thoroughly enjoyable but incredibly time consuming and then fell pregnant with her second child – and it soon became apparent that wedding planning and being a mother of two was not entirely compatible either. It was therefore time for reinvention number two!

Like so many of us, Rachel loves giving bespoke presents to friends and family, as personalised gifts are so much more thoughtful and appreciated. She ordered a print using stickers from an internetbased company for a first birthday present. When it arrived she was bitterly disappointed with the quality – the images used were not right for a one-year-old, it was not framed and clearly was not made with care. This badly made gift proved to be the inspiration Rachel was looking for – she knew she could do a better job! And so Dottie Designs was born… Rachel began by making prints for family and friends using the initial of their names and usually for babies and young children. This then progressed to beautiful images such as personalised Noah’s arks and butterflies which in turn blossomed into more sophisticated designs for weddings, anniversaries and significant birthdays. Rachel takes on commissions and is happy to create bespoke designs to compliment different individuals – one of her recent commissions was a scooter-themed print. Her designs are beautifully made and presented – each one comes framed and wrapped. Please check out her facebook page to see examples of her work: www.facebook.com/dottiedesignsnet and her website www.dottiedesigns.net.

Rachel’s ‘reinvention’ has been overwhelming successful and she is incredibly busy – which she says is amazing but challenging at times!

Her top tips for setting up a successful business? ‘Use social media, network beyond belief and form relationships with customers and other businesses…. Oh and be good at what you do!’

It was great to chat to Rachel and find out about her change of career. If you would like to be featured in an article please get in touch at linda@bunintheovenbirthing.co.uk. See you next month!

Page 15 www.chelmsfordthecitytimes.co.uk

Angel Broomfield City Detective Agency Episode 6: The case of the Secret Tunnel.

by Simon Culleton

Angel Broomfield, Chelmsford’s very own private detective was raised by nuns in a secret monastery in Boreham with only the complete volumes of ‘Sherlock Holmes’ for company. Angel is now a resident at 221½ Moulsham Street and runs The City detective agency and with his trusty side kick John and the radiant Helen, Angel is ready to serve the City.

In episode 5 we left Angel and his two friends John and Helen trapped in the docks of a Chelmsford courtroom surrounded by policemen holding their truncheons.

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Angel tapped his foot on the floor and recognized a hollow sound beneath.

“No time for dancing” agonized John.

“It’s a trap door” exclaimed Angel, “This must have been the original way the condemned was bought up from the cells. As the policemen began to close Angel turned to Helen: “Quick, distract them while I make an opening”. Helen needed no second asking and as if the sound of the burlesque music had filled the air, Helen had the eyes of every man in the courtroom as she began to de-robe, even the judge ‘whooped’ and whistled with excitement.

Within a moment Angel and John were through the opening and inside the underground corridor. Only by yanking Helen’s ankle was Angel able to get her to follow.

The policemen didn’t immediately pursue thinking her disappearance was all part of the act and were waiting and whistling for an encore.

The tunnel was dirty and smelly and obviously had not been used for years. Angel, holding a flickering lighter, raked the cobwebs aside as he led the way until the tunnel split into two. Angel noticing a sign on the wall, began to fumble in his pocket for a magnifying glass, then scrutinized.

It read: condemned cells: that way. Hoffmans bank vault: that way. “So that’s why the German spy was in the courtroom, this is what he’s looking for.” Exclaimed Helen.

“Elementary” replied Angel.

“Elly, smelly’’ moaned John. “Can we get out of here? The last time I was stuck in a tunnel was during the school’s anniversary ‘Great Escape’ re-enactment where six of the boys had passed out while waiting in the tunnel due to the gas effects of too many helpings of cook’s over laxative curry. The tunnel which led to the condemned cells was the closest though blocked by a rusty iron door and it took the might of all three of them to heave it open.

They soon found themselves patting the dust from their clothes in the damp corner of the kitchen connected to a theme bar. Angel noticed a black hand print on Helen’s behind. John went red in the face: ”Sorry, it was dark in there”.

Suddenly, a huge man in an Irish rugby shirt bowled in, holding a pint of Guinness in each hand.

“Are you not with the Irish dancer” he asked sharply?

Angel thought quickly “To be sure, to be sure we are”, he answered in his best Irish impersonation.

“Well none of your shenanigans in the kitchen, I’ve got a stag do and a wake in the same room so get out there and start dancing before they sober up. The three were led in to a crowded bar to rapturous applause, half of which was full of drunken men all wearing t-shirts with the slogan ‘last night of happiness’ and on the other side they were all dressed in black suits surrounding a coffin, some crying into there pints. Angel, John and Helen were led out into the middle of the sawdust covered wooden floor and announced as dancers from the ‘Old Country’ “I don’t know how to Irish dance’ agonized John.

“Follow my lead” said a confident Angel who had grown up in a monastery full of Irish nuns where seldom a day would pass without one of the nuns having a fiddle and plucking out a tune. Irish music began to blare out from the speakers and Angel began to dance, kicking his legs out high into the air just like Sister O’Dogel used to show him before her hernia operation.

Helen was fast to catch on and each high kick was followed by a cheer from the stag do. John was not so impressive and in an attempt to capture the lime light from Helen, attempted an unobtainable high kick which resulted in him accidently kicking a pint out of the hand of one of the stag do spraying Guinness in the face of a mourner; who in turn attempted to throw his pint back, though slipped on the wet floor and fell into a man who was trying to take a picture on his phone of Helen’s high kicks.

Within half a second the place had erupted and fists and feet where flying everywhere. At this time the policeman from the court had now burst through the tunnel entrance in the kitchen and were now pouring into the room with whistles blowing. One of the mourners spoke into the coffin: “You’d have loved this”.

Angel, began to crawl on all fours through the fighting men to the staircase leading to the street above. Helen was soon to follow with John crawling close behind her behind, the three of them looking like the a caterpillar. They made it to the foot of the stairs but were halted when Angel bumped his head into the large blood and Guinness stained boots of the bar tender who looked down and spoke with a growl.

“If it’s a fight you’ll be wanting...”

The three of them turned to crawl back yet two policemen had fought their way through the bar and were heading towards them with handcuffs at the ready. Angel stood up to pacify the barman as he wound his fist back like Muhammad Ali. There seemed no stopping the imminent punch when suddenly Angel noticed something on the wall…

Tune in to the next edition to see whether the Irishman will land an almighty punch or will the Policemen clamp the three of them in handcuffs - and will John admit he likes it? Find out all this and more in the next edition of ‘Angel Broomfield, City detective.

City Slickers by Nick Schofield

CT CHARITY Would you know the symptoms of a brain tumour in your child? Did you realise how common they are and how easy they are to miss? Educate yourself NOW – it could save a life!

Just over a year ago I had the fortune of meeting a truly inspirational, local family whose baby girl was recovering from surgery and had been diagnosed with a condition I knew little about. The Mum had sent me a handwritten note to thank me for squeezing them into my class and explaining some details about her daughter’s condition. What has followed is my learning about Posterior Fossa Syndrome, recognising the crazy, unpredictable journey that they must take from one day to the next, an enormous sense of gratification that what I do in my job has ultimately helped them during such a difficult time, but also an overwhelming desire to support them in whatever way I can.

I own a local franchise called “Sing and Sign”, which is a programme that helps babies to communicate before they are able to speak essentially through the medium of sign. As a 9 month old baby girl, Lilybet came to these classes with her Mummy for music and fun; here they both learned some basic and functional Makaton based signs which meant that Mum could understand her before she was able to speak. What had started as some fun actually ended up proving a vital way of communication for the whole family.

Lilybet was diagnosed with a high grade cancerous brain tumour at just 20 months.

Her mum Danielle had been aware of something not being quite right for months and had pursued GPs to investigate further.

Lilybet had stopped walking or crawling and even struggled to sit up without support. Her diagnosis was “Hyper Mobility Syndrome” for which she received physiotherapy but which all the while veiled her underlying condition – a tumour which continued to grow. After months of feeling like their voices were not being heard, Danielle took Lilybet

to A&E and through persistence and sheer determination, finally was taken seriously.

The consultant immediately recognised the signs and Lilybet was blue-lighted to Great Ormond Street Hospital; she had a brain tumour. A brave little Lilybet underwent a 9 hour operation to have the tumour removed; Mum and Dad spent 5 weeks living at the hospital whilst their other two daughters (one of which was just 8 weeks old) were cared for by grandparents.

The operation was a success in that the tumour was gone, however Lilybet then had to endure radiation treatment and chemotherapy, with adult doses due to the ferocity of the tumour. In addition to this she was diagnosed with Posterior Fossa Syndrome which is a common condition in children following such surgery, which drastically affects the child’s abilities to move, talk or swallow. The family were subsequently put in touch with The Danny Green Fund which has offered assistance of funding in various ways and has been instrumental to Lilybet’s slow recovery.

The Danny Green Fund was started in memory of their incredibly brave 11 year old son Danny who sadly lost his courageous battle from a brain tumour in July 2012. In addition to Danny’s battle against the brain tumour, Danny also suffered from Posterior Fossa Syndrome as the result of the lifesaving surgery to remove his brain tumour which was Danny’s biggest battle on a daily basis.

Danny is the inspiration for this charity to enhance the quality of life for children during their most challenging of times. The Danny Green Fund helps children under the age of 16 referred to them by Great Ormond Street Hospital suffering from Posterior Fossa Syndrome (PFS) which causes various neurological disabilities as the result of brain tumour surgery. The surgery is both life-saving and life-altering. The cause of PFS is unknown but the symptoms can include weakness in one side of the body, poor balance, facial paralysis, incontinence, mutism and in severe cases the child may be unable to drink or eat; these symptoms can however be overcome with support.

The Danny Green Fund provides a grant for the provision of a piece of equipment (such as a wheelchair or special needs buggy) or physiotherapy, hydrotherapy or horse riding therapy to help rehabilitation and to assist recovery.

Specialist input is essential in helping children who are suffering from the syndrome and build upon the initial recovery that they have made to maximise each child’s potential and restore lost skills.

The Danny Green Fund has recognised that these children and their families need additional help and to set up such a key organisation in the face of such tragedy is both humbling and inspirational. They are an organisation that deserves recognition and

that needs support in whatever way possible. www.thedannygreenfund.org.uk It is so important to educate yourself as to the signs and symptoms of brain tumours in children. For more information go to headsmart.org.uk.

As someone that has had to learn the hard way, I asked Danielle whether she could offer one piece of advice to other parents and she said “If your voice isn’t heard, trust your instincts and make them listen”.

Developed with the help of speech and language experts, Sing and Sign has been running its successful programme since 2001 teaching tens of thousands of parents, grandparents and carers across the UK how to sign and enjoy early communication with their babies.

Benefits of Signing include: • Helping to understand your baby’s needs, thoughts and ideas.

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Email: martinebrockman@singandsign.co.uk www.singandsign.co.uk.

Next Issue Deadlines Copy - 4th July Artwork - 8th July

Page 18 www.chelmsfordthecitytimes.co.uk

Priest Brothers - A Family Company Priest Brothers is a family run business managed and owned by Ron Priest and his son Bradlee Priest, Ron and Bradlee work full time for the business working between 5 and 7 days a week inclusive of weekends – alongside them each of their wives, Sharon and Verity, work in and run the administration of the company, with Ron and Sharon’s daughter and Bradlees sister Jodie.

Ron formed the business years ago with his late father and Bradlee has worked with him now for the past 22 years. Originally located in the east end of London manufacturing reproduction furniture to trade organisations the company relocated to Chelmsford in 2006 due to the Olympic committee purchasing the grounds of their previous location.

fisherman, enjoying the relaxing lifestyle and peace of the quiet surroundings of local fishing lakes and rivers.

Priest Brothers is now a retail outlet that manufactures solid wood bespoke furniture.

Alongside their many standard ranges of furniture designs, they now boast a database with over 2000 customers, many of which are local to Essex.

Bradlee is a very much the same in many respects, sharing a keen interest in motorbikes. On occasions Bradlee and Ron take a biking holiday to the Isle of Man together with Bradlees father in law.

They both agree it’s a pleasure to share a common interest away from all the stresses of running a successful business together, as well as Bradlees busy family life with his wife Verity and two adorable children Isla and Harry. Being busy is something Bradlee clearly enjoys as he also keeps chickens, a rabbit and guinea pig and has a very active dog in Archie that Bradlee loves to take for walks and runs.

Away from business and work, Ron is a motorbike fanatic and enjoys nothing better than getting out in the open air on either of his two motorbikes, Ron likes to go on biking outings and holidays with other members of his local club as and when he is able to release himself from his work and many family commitments. On a much calmer approach to life, Ron is also a keen

Sharon, Ron’s wife, is a keen gardener and loves her pilates exercise class twice a week, something she is very keen to indulge in when she is not kept busy with her four beautiful grandchildren that she very much enjoys the company of whenever possible. Working hard during the week, Sharon looks forward to her weekends when she is able to have a tipple and get stuck into the garden. She loves to holiday with Ron and the family and looks forward to those times in the summer months.

Bradlee and Verity’s main interest away from work and family is the gym. They both keep themselves very fit and enjoy times when all the stresses can be released with a good firm exercise class or work out in the local gym. They love to socialise and often have BBQs for friends and love to have a family holiday to appreciate the children and each other.

Jodie is married with two children and is a sales consultant within the business. She loves the challenges associated with selling unique bespoke furniture and sets herself high standards to achieve.

Jodie loves to keep fit and is regularly at the local gym with her friends. She devotes her time to her children and her work and is a committee member for the children’s local school, arranging fetes and activities for all of the school members and the public. Jodie loves to socialise with friends and family. She loves to go away on holiday with her family and looks forward to these times.

Hypnotherapy by Jenny Hartill This month I’m looking at how hypnotherapy can help clients with self-esteem issues. Self-esteem is the lack of belief in oneself and can be caused by many different factors.

It’s very important to ascertain these factors, and to find out which are external and which are internal and how they’re affecting the client.

Examples of external and internal factors are as follows: External: the client may have been told they are worthless, ugly, fat, a failure, has never been praised no matter what they have achieved.

This leads to the client eventually believing what they are being told, even if the opposite is true. The most beautiful person in the world could have been told so many times by various people that they are ugly and worthless so they change their appearance to try and make them feel better and to please others, even though they were a fantastic person to start off with.

Internal: the client tells themself they are worthless, ugly, fat, a failure and has never acknowledged any of their own achievements. This leads to the client believing whole-heartedly everything negative they tell themself, even if the opposite is true. The most beautiful person in the world could have said to themselves all their life they are ugly and worthless, even though everyone around them tells them how beautiful and what an amazing person they are but they never believe them and thinks these people are “just being nice,” so they try to change themself to make themselves feel better in their own skin, even though they were a fantastic person to start off with.

Next I would need to find out how long this issue has been affecting the client, has this esteem issue been triggered by an event or is it more of a long-term issue? This is important because if the esteem issue has been caused by something in particular, this can be used in the hypnotherapy screed to remind the subconscious mind that it was an isolated incident, and then prompt the subconscious to remember/think about of all of the wonderful achievements and qualities the client has. If this is more of a long term issue I would need to dig deeper, and then once I feel I have found all that I can that is relevant to their esteem issue, I can use this to build an effective hypnotherapy screed. I could use hypno-analysis to explore further into the subconscious if the client doesn’t remember, or doesn’t know, where their esteem issues developed.

The screed would be a suggestion screed; after an appropriate PMR and deepener has been delivered, I would begin the suggestions.

Although the screeds are very personal to the client, one of the popular ways of delivering this type of hypnotherapy is to have the client imagine a blackboard or a whiteboard with all the uncomfortable labels they have been given/given themselves in the past written on it. I would then have the client imagine themself wiping the words off the board and writing some positive things about themself on the board instead. Because some clients genuinely have no idea of some of their positive qualities, these would have been discussed earlier (usually I have to tease the positive labels and qualities out of the client!) and then I use these in the screed. Alternatively I could use a radio, the client imagines all the uncomfortable labels they’ve been given being played on the radio and they turn the volume down so they can’t hear them anymore.

When the client turns the volume back up, they hear all the positive labels and things they have achieved and these are more important because they are true (again, these are suggested). Either method depends on the client’s learning style (audio, visual or kinaesthetic).

Below is an example of the blackboard suggestion:

Now that you are in your special place, and your mind is agile and clear, you can imagine a blackboard in front of you with all the uncomfortable labels you have been given in the past… All those things that slow you down… Stop you from achieving what you want

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to achieve… Failed to reflect the wonderful, strong and good qualities that you have that make you a capable and confident individual… There is an eraser in front of you… Take it and wipe each negative word away… Erase them all until you are left with a blank board… Now you take the piece of chalk right in front of you and you write the words that truly describe yourself… You write: confident… Valuable… Important… Capable… Skilled… Now you write even more words that reflect the self belief you have in yourself… Stand back and look at those words… Imagine yourself looking at those words because they are describing yourself…

The way you look and act are fine… The way you do things in your own unique way are a compliment to you as a person… You feel confident in all that you are…

If you are suffering from low self-esteem, remember that most of the labels you give yourself (or perhaps have been given cruelly by others!) are not true. It’s a good idea to see a therapist and be honest with yourself, that way you can face the negativity you feel that is affecting your esteem. You don’t deserve to suffer in silence; everyone deserves to feel positive about themselves and their lives.

If I can be of any help please visit my website for my contact details: www.counsellinginchelmsford.co.uk.

Next time I’ll discuss hypnotherapy for pain control.

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The Three Most Important Things for Fitness by Keith Porter This is the kind of article that gets personal trainers into trouble. You see, everyone has their favourite exercises for fitness. Yoga teachers would probably argue for a move which provides total flexibility.

Powerlifters would tell you to deadlift. Elite athletes might point to something like the snatch (stop giggling). Everyone interested in fitness has their specific ‘must-do’ thing.

So, for the commuter who sits all day and who eats al desco who knows they should do something but can’t find the willpower or the energy, here are the three things I consider to be the most important for your general fitness.

Fix your diet No matter if you’re vegetarian, dukan, paleo, or vegan, I think we can all agree that processed food is garbage. Ditch the fast food, ignore the donuts, cookies and cakes, and focus on real food. If you can kill it, grow it or pick it, give it a go. If it came out of a factory and has ingredients you can’t pronounce, chances are it isn’t going to do you any good.

Walk. No, Really. Just Walk.

You have to move more, it’s as simple as that. Leave the car at home every now and again. Go for a stroll through Admirals Park to Writtle.

Follow the Chelmer and Blackwater Navigation from Lockside Marina right out to Paper Mill Lock. Do a loop of the bunny walk and check out the fitness equipment throughout the University. Your body, and especially your waistline, will thank you for it.

Squat If I was going to pick one strength move for you to do forever, this would be it. Stand in front of the sofa, bend your knees, stick your bum out and lower it until it hits the seat. Without stopping, come back up again. Easy! It uses a ton of muscles, doesn’t need any expertise, and can be done anywhere.

That’s it. Those are my three things. If you eat a paleo diet (find a beginner’s guide at www.liveasimplelife.co.uk), you’ll be healthier

than 80% of the people around you. If you also walk regularly, that will go up to 85%. If you squat (and especially if you can start to add weight to your squat), you’ll be up to 90%. That’s my three. Ready to give them a try?

For your free personal training session in Chelmsford, email: keith@liveasimplelife.co.uk.

Yoga Divas, Superheroes & a Few Villians Too! By Kellie Jones Well what an awesome couple of weeks we’ve had at Hummingbird. We got to be models for a national yoga magazine, Family yoga in the park and then we got to play out our marvelous comic sides on top of tall buildings! There just isn’t enough space in this brilliant magazine to show you all the amazing evidence so we’ve loaded it up to our Facebook, Twitter and blog pages all of which you find details for below. See if you can guess who we all are?

So why superheroes and villains? It all started with a conversation about pilates & yoga making you feel super which then escalated into a full scale superhero photoshoot on top of Chelmsford market car park, ( Thank you Rosa at the council!) with the awesomely talented photographer Linda Blacker. Then when doing some geek research we realised our holistic/realistic attitude required a few baddies, (and anyway they have the best costumes!)

Also someexciting news is the launch of Rocket Yoga kids classes with

Wonderwoman, Susan Myers, so look out for our mini-superheroes flying around!

was definitely quicker.’ Gregory J. Baker, Life Changing Wizard & Yogi apprentice!

So does pilates & yoga make you feel super?

We asked two Superguys for this answer:

Finally a massive thanks to every single person involved in our exciting missions. To see more about who they are and to stay up to date with what’s next at Hummingbird Pilates & Yoga, sign up for our newsletter via our website.

‘Pilates makes me feel super! I’ve been practising and teaching pilates for 7 years.

My lifestyle is sports & fitness based so I feel I need to enhance this. Hummingbird Pilates & Yoga is a ‘super’ centre to go to with lovely studios and fantastic teachers. Give it a go!’

Mark Laybourn, pilates & plank expert!

See you on the 5th July at Walthamstock!

Kellie Jones x

‘Yoga for me, as an absolute novice and previously resistant to it, was a genuine surprise.

Duped into it by taking the kids to a family event, me being me I fully participated and wow, was it rewarding! I felt like I’d escaped from everything that day. Straight after I played a competitive game of badminton and had more energy than normal and my reaction time

Page 22 www.chelmsfordthecitytimes.co.uk

CT History -

New Hall and Beaulieu Palace by John Power

The building that evolved into to the Palace of Beaulieu began its life in 1062 on land granted to the Canons of Waltham Abbey in the Manor of Walhfare in what we now know as Boreham. By 1491 it was granted by the Crown, in the reign of Henry VII, to the Earl of Ormond and the building was referred to as New Hall after modifications had taken place.

In 1516 the First Earl of Wiltshire, and of Ormond, Thomas Boleyn, sold the site to Henry VIII for £1,000. Henry had it rebuilt in brick for £17,000 and re-named it the Palace of Beaulieu. The Boleyns kept up an association with the house and George Boleyn, Anne Boleyn’s brother, was for a time its house keeper. When Henry arrived with his court in 1527, in the middle of his disagreement with the Pope about his divorce from Katherine of Aragon, he realised that he could continue his liasons with Anne, which the Pope considered bigamous, at Beaulieu. So in 1533 Katherine’s daughter Mary was evicted from the palace and George Boleyn had the house granted to him. An inventory of the building in 1597 said it had 29 beds, 4 bathrooms and a library of 37 hand-crafted books.

Jane Seymour, Henry’s third wife, persuaded him to allow his daughters by previous marriages back into court, but she died as the result of giving birth to Henry’s only son, Edward. However, Mary was allowed into royal palaces at Richmond, Hunsdon, Hatfield House and Beaulieu. The house suffered from fire damage during Henry’s reign.

During Elizabeth I’s reign the palace was granted to Thomas Radcliffe, Third Earl of Sussex, who rebuilt the the north wing.

Elizabeth’s coat of arms are still visible above the gate. In 1622, in the reign of James I, it was sold to George Villiers, First Duke of Buckingham for £30,000.

During the Civil War, Oliver Cromwell took possession of the house for the sum of five shillings in 1640. It reverted to the Second Duke of

Buckingham at the Restoration of the Monarchy, and was then sold to George Monck, First Duke of Albermarle, and the court of Charles II were entertained there, while Cosimo III, Duke of Tuscany visited in 1669.

It was bought in a poor state of repair by Benjamin Hoare in 1713, so was then sold on to John Olmius, who became Baron Waltham in 1762. He demolished and rebuilt much of the house, but the north wing of the house remains as part of the present building. John died in 1792, and his son, Drigue died childless in 1797, at the age of 40, so it passed to his sister, Elizabeth, whose husband, John Lutterell, who took the surname Olmius, as Third Earl of Carhampton, sold it in 1798. He and Elizabeth died in the same year.

It was the ‘Order of the Holy Sepulchre’, of Belgian Nuns who bought it in 1798 and turned it into a Catholic school, originally for 40 girls only. It remains a school to this day, as an independent Catholic day and boarding school for boys and girls aged 3 years to 18. The staff are no longer exclusively nuns. The prep. school level and Sixth Form are mixed sex, but the secondary level pupils are not co-ed, and remain segregated. The prep. school was established in 1994. In 2001 the first lay (non-nun) principal, Katherine Jeffrey, was appointed. In 2003 the first girl boarders were enrolled, then boy boarders followed. There are three boy and three girl boarding houses. The school became fully co-ed. at prep. and 6th form levels in 2005. Details about enrolments can be found on the school’s website.

Ironically, for a Roman Catholic School, the coat of arms of Henry VIII, the monarch who broke away from the Church of Rome to found the Church of England, can be seen in the school’s chapel. Although the school has chosen to use the name New Hall, Beaulieu is rememebered in the name of the nearby housing estate.

Le Tour de France Comes to Chelmsford Make no mistake about it; Chelmsford is about to see the biggest sporting event that the town is likely to ever see. Le Tour, the third biggest sporting event in the world, is coming to Essex and more importantly for us - Chelmsford.

If that hasn’t quite sunk in yet, as the day gets nearer, believe me it will do. 13 miles of the 2014 Tour de France will pass through Chelmsford on Monday 7 July 2014 and if you miss it, I guarantee you will regret it.

For the Tour de France is not just about the cycling, it’s a coming together of nations, it’s a travelling mini-festival for whichever towns are lucky enough to be blessed by its visit each year.

We’re not by tradition a cycling nation like the Dutch, French and the Belgians, but we’re catching up fast and I predict that even the bane of every cyclist’s life, the impatient car driver, will catch on eventually too and accord due diligence to cyclists on the road, we saw a glimmer of this after the Olympics in 2012, but it seems to have drifted back to impatience and an unfathomable need to get from A to B before even leaving A once more.

This will be the fourth time that the Tour de France has visited these shores and those cyclists among you won’t be surprised to

hear that the first visit in 1974 was a bit of a disaster, with the race director forgetting to bring his passport and ending up in custody and a hugely disappointing turn out.

Unsurprisingly, it took a full twenty years before the Tour de France alighted here again in 1994 where Sean Yates was given the respect of the peloton and allowed to ride ahead as he passed through his home in Surrey where his family and friends were waiting to see him.

Crowds had improved dramatically by 1994 and by the time the Tour de France returned for the third time in 2007, the UK was beginning to get the buzz and the crowds were nothing short of huge. It is estimated that around a million saw Fabian Cancellara win a prologue time trial in Hyde Park.

This year the crowds are going to be immense. The UK has begun to take cycling on board and enjoy it like at no other time in the past, in part due to the fact that unlike every other big sport that we participate in, Great Britain can safely say we are currently the best at this one.

So much so that the anticipation of there actually being a first ever stage win by a Brit on UK soil in Le Tour is not just fantasy anymore. The opening Grand Depart in

You can find more information on the Chelmsford part of the route here: http://www.chelmsford.gov.uk/tourdefrance or http://www.letouressex.com.

This is a great link to a detailed responsive map of the route: http://letour.yorkshire.com/stage-3/map Where will you be watching stage 3 of the Tour de France when it comes through Chelmsford for the first time on Monday 7th July? Although the world’s top cyclists will speed through west Chelmsford around 1.45pm, averaging 25-30mph, they will be preceded by the Tour Caravan. This is an unmissable spectacle of floats and sponsor vehicles and will pass through Great Waltham, Chignal and Roxwell Road in Chelmsford and through Roxwell before heading towards the finish in London.

There are many places to watch the race and Chignal Road and Roxwell Road are expected to be popular spots. These roads are a relatively short distance from the city centre with a pleasant marked walk or cycle through Central Park and Admirals Park.

Chelmsford City Council and the Tour de France organisers are providing a free large

screen from 10.30am-4.30pm in Admirals Park, so why not make a day of it and relax on the grass, with music, refreshments and other activities available.

The more energetic may decide to cycle out to a rural location with activities taking place in Great Waltham and Roxwell and return to Admirals Park to see the finish on the big screen.

For those that cannot take time off work, the City Council has also organised a Tour de France celebration and family fun day at Melbourne Park on Saturday 5 July 10am -4pm. This is a free event with a whole range of cycling activities to take part in, including: bike maintenance checks, plus many other sports, bouncy castles and refreshments.

This is a great family event to warm up for the Tour de France.

Harrogate could well see Mark Cavendish grab that elusive honour.

If you’ve never experienced watching a professional cycling race before, be prepared as it’s a slightly different beast to the regular type of sporting event that stays where it’s put. You get to experience the hours of build up and anticipation - and then, suddenly, those bare roads spring into life; you feel the excitement as you hear an ever increasing roar somewhere in the distance, a cavalcade of police motorcycles and pristine tour support vehicles festooned with bikes will glide past heralding the arrival of the hardest working athletes that you will ever have the pleasure of seeing in full flight this close up.

And then it’s gone, in a whir of shining alloy and a rainbow of colours - but worth every precious second.

In 2007 crowds were several bodies deep lining the route throughout the UK, so if you are going to watch live on route, prepare in advance and choose your spot carefully. But once these precious shooting stars have gone by, you can always go to Admirals Park to watch on the big screen and drink beer of course. See you there!

Sean Neylon

Events Timetable 10.30 Live screening starts Live music 11.00 Black Cherry Pop Tart 12.11 Tour Caravan Live music 12.45 The Spin 13.45 Tour de France Riders Live music 14.00 Pie Face 15.30 Jamie Williams & The Roots Collective 16.30 Screening ends All times approx.

The music stage is hosted by It’s Your Media and Chelmsford Community Radio. The music stage is funded by way of Tony Morrison (Eastern Roots) and an Arts Council grant.

We hope to see you there.

Paul & Nick and CCR

Page 24 www.chelmsfordthecitytimes.co.uk

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Being a Parent in Chelmsford Just Got Easier!

Mumsnet, the UK’s biggest website for parents, recently relaunched their local sites and Mumsnet Chelmsford editor, Georgina Edwards, intends to make life easier for mums (and dads!) in Chelmsford. The website includes upcoming events, opportunities for parents in Chelmsford to interact with each other, and opportunities for local businesses to raise their profile.

Georgina says: “I got involved with Mumsnet Chelmsford as I know from experience how difficult it can be to meet other parents and to find information about what is going on in Chelmsford for families. My main aim as editor is to support local parents by ensuring they have the most up-to-date information about what’s on in our city and giving them an opportunity to meet other parents online and in real life.”

The site features a What’s On section and includes upcoming events, baby and toddler groups, pre-school classes, and details of all the attractions that Chelmsford has to offer. Other areas within the site include a ‘Local Talk’ section offering parents the opportunity to chat to other local parents about issues affecting them and a Meet-Ups feature that allowing parents to organise get togethers with one another. “The social aspect of the site is an important one’ Georgina says. ‘The Local Talk boards cover a variety of topics, including looking for recommendations of local tradespeople, and discussions about schools in Chelmsford. All of our competitions are also featured on the talk boards“.

“Our meet-section allows connections made on our boards to become real-life friendships. Two meet-ups have already taken place, at Kids and Koffee and Cake on the Lake, these have been well attended. One local parent has already made the suggestion of an evening in the pub for our next meet-up!”

Businesses in Chelmsford can also benefit from the listing pages, where they can add their business for free. Advertising is also available for those wishing to further raise their profile.To find out more please go to www.local.mumsnet.com/chelmsford.

Free Kid or Free Koffee Free entrance for one child Or free cup of coffee for you!

- Offer valid for first time visit only.

Crafts by Gemma Peacock - Flower Arranging A part of me has always wanted to be a florist, although those early mornings put me off a little, but I truly love working with flowers.

Their scent, their texture, just everything about them is so lovely. Whether working with flowers bought from a shop or ones you have grown yourself with your very own hands in your garden they are such a pleasure to work with.

Nothing says it like flowers and just about anything is possible when you put your mind to it. Once you’ve got past the stage of feeling guilty about cutting the long stems the rest is fairly easy (I always feel so mean cutting them down but it is worth it for the final outcome). There are workshops that you can take part in at quite a few locations around Chelmsford. Hylands House, Make Do & Mend, as well as Writtle College, all have up-coming dates available for workshops so

do have a look.

My first ever workshop was with Eileen Marsh at Hylands House. It was a four week Christmas course and was very good value for money and it was worth every penny and really gave me the bug to want to further my knowledge about flowers and so last year I signed up on a College Certificate in Flower Arranging course at Writtle College.

Yes it was more expensive than your standard flower arranging workshop, but the knowledge I have gained is invaluable.

If it is something you are keen on doing I would highly recommend it. We worked on arrangements displayed in oasis, as well as hand-tied bouquets and covered all kinds of designs from weddings to funerals to general arrangements. The most important thing though was learning about conditioning the flowers and getting the most out of them.

You’ll be surprised how far you could make a supermarket bunch go.

once you have the basics the rest is pretty simple. Never again will your bunches from the supermarket be displayed in a vase the same way again.

If you have any questions please feel free to get in touch with me by emailing me at gemscrafts@hotmail.co.uk.

Depending what you want to achieve from flower arranging the courses and workshops offered at all the above places will give you at least an insight into flower arranging,

Rotary – The Circle KEEPS TURNING The Rotary year ends on 30th June so we are rapidly bringing one year to a close and looking forward to the next one because there are always people in need of help. The outgoing President of Rotary International, Ron Burton, is from Oklahoma and they have a saying there that you need to leave the woodpile just a little higher than you found it. To do that, all Rotarians needed to get involved. Involvement is what our theme this year – Engage Rotary, Change Lives – was all about. And, as each club member has done that – as each one has made the effort and truly engaged Rotary, many lives locally and globally have been changed.

This year we have endeavoured to bring in new members and this initiative has been built around making sure that we give people a reason to be in Rotary. If we can get prospective members to help us with a project – it could be reading to kids, or

working in a soup kitchen, or picking up litter along the road – the rest will take care of itself. They will realise that they made a difference in someone’s life. And they’ll also realise that when you give through Rotary service, you get so much more in return. It’s certainly not all about raising money.

There is a big social element to being a Rotarian and sometimes we get comfortable in simply going to our club and not having any responsibility. Maybe it’s because we don’t encourage everyone enough to be more engaged. Of course, it’s great to go to a meeting and see your friends. But if we want people to get fired up, we need to be doing projects. Hands-on projects are great equalizers. When you’re unloading boxes off a lorry, you’re just like the next person, and that person is just like you. When everyone’s serving together, there’s a camaraderie, and that’s how you keep people engaged.

Rotarians sometimes don’t realise all that Rotary is doing and is capable of doing and if the members don’t realise it, then how can we expect non Rotarians to grasp the full potential of this worldwide organisation, the largest service organisation in the world with 1.2 million members. If only everyone could witness the impact of the projects undertaken

this year, it would change their lives.

They would understand that they belong to an organisation whose members have a common desire to do something good and who, working together, accomplish incredible things. No politics, no religion, no racial problems, just ordinary people from every walk of life working together to make a positive difference to the lives of so many people, usually whom they will never meet.

As a Rotarian, I continue to be in awe of the good I see Rotarians doing. I am firmly convinced that the Oklahoma woodpile is just a little higher because of their efforts and I am looking forward to 1st July when the cycle begins again with the new theme “Light Up Rotary”.

If you think that you would like to help and get so much satisfaction and friendship along the way there are many opportunities within Chelmsford.

Visit www.chelmsfordrotary1240.org, or call me on 01245 260349. You will be made most welcome.

Stan Keller

Anyone for Tennis….. Elbow By Simon Culleton Due to popular demand (two people asked me) I am venturing into the subject of tennis. This is a sport that I know a little about as I am a regular player in Chelmsford at both club and league level, though to be fair not a very high level. As I regularly tell my opponents after they have given me yet another thrashing: “it takes a lot of skill to play as badly as I do.”

Tennis has been with us here in England since the 14th century though it can be traced back to the 12th century monasteries in France. The French influence has remained in the scoring vocabulary: ‘let’ is from the French word ‘net’ (filet), and ‘love’ from the word (‘l’oeuf), meaning egg to symbolize zero. (I can never resist singing the ‘U2’ song entitled ‘One love’ during the first score of a tiebreak). Tennis is not risk free, surprisingly it is 4th in the top 10 most common sports to get injuries from; tennis elbow and back sprains helping it up the list.

Incidentally, the tennis scoring system was based according to the quarters of a clock:

15. 30, 45. King Henry VIII was a lover of the game (real tennis) though he found it difficult to play in his later years, mainly because he had gained so much weight that his skin (quite literally) began to grow through his string vest: not a common problem on the circuit now-a-days.

On June the 8th this year at 10am, the seedings will have be drawn for the world famous ‘Wimbledon tennis Championships. ’(The word ‘seed’ deriving from a horticultural reference of planting two seeds of inferior strength together, the stronger surviving). Then for two weeks from June 23rd to July 6th an estimated total of 378.8 million worldwide will be watching the Wimbledon Championships. Things have changed since the first Wimbledon in 1877 when 22 competitors battled in front of 200 spectators to win the grand prize of 12 guineas - slightly less than the 1.7 million Andy Murray scooped last year. Nowadays the competition can boast an estimated 200,000 glasses of Pimms being drunk and 28,000kg of strawberries being eaten during the fortnight. (I just stock up on crisps from Tesco’s before I go there). Even a hawk called Rufus is employed to patrol in the skies above the championships to keep the pigeons at bay; in the good old days before we developed a conscience towards animal welfare, the umpire just had them shot.

Here in Chelmsford, tennis is thriving with 5 fantastic tennis clubs to choose from. I have the honour of being a member of the Grove Tennis Club and the captain of the ‘mighty 4th team’; (though we only won one match during the winter league), perhaps that’s down to in my personal captain’s strategy of picking players more on their ability to buy drinks after the match than on their ability play. If you don’t want to join a club, we in Chelmsford are very lucky to have 9 parks with a total of 26 municipal courts for use by the general public. Most are in great condition though to be fair some of the courts are in need of repair and you would be better off predicting the lottery numbers than the direction in which the ball will travel after it has bounced. Though, don’t let that put you off. On a summer evening, after a stressful day at work I can think of nothing better to do. We may not be competing for 1.7 million and the balls are not kept at 68 degrees as they are at Wimbledon and the pigeons are free to harass us all they want, but we play the game for the love of it. I could write about this all day though I’d better stop because my elbow is playing up. simon@limepad.com

Page 29 www.chelmsfordthecitytimes.co.uk

Coming in Next Edition James Wilkinson Charity Art Exhibition - 8th August 2014 at Hylands House James is a portrait artist based at Hylands House, each year he takes to the stage at V Festival and creates images of the performers, audience and workers at V and creates an exhibition for charity.

The Comedy Club Chelmsford on Friday 25th July The Comedy Club returns to Chelmsford City’s function suite on Friday 25th July with another top class line–up.

See this fantastic venue transform into a stunning candle lit comedy club, with waitress service to your tables. See how the professionals still do it in style!

Hosting the night we welcome David Whitney to Chelmsford.

David was working in Los Angeles when, due to a string of lies he had been trying to impress girls with, he found himself performing his first stand up comedy gig at the Friars Club in Beverly Hills. Since then he has not looked back and now plays some of the biggest clubs in the UK. David was also involved in the BAFTA wining comedy Fonejaker and has acted in many films.

Also making his debut at Chelmsford City is opening act Markus Birdman. Markus Birdman is an original and highly talented London based stand up. He took his solo show, “One Step Beyond” to this year’s Edinburgh Fringe and has featured on BBC Radio’s “Spanking New” and is the voice of ITV’s “Blank Screen”, as well as performing on the Paramount Comedy Store series. As well as being booked for weekends at The Comedy Store, and in most major UK clubs, Markus Birdman headlined on the 2003 Comedy Network, and will be compering a benefit at The Roundhouse, Camden, alongside Phil Jupitus, The Blockheads and Sting.

Australia’s finest export Colin Cole Headlines the show, which promises to be one BIG night of live comedy. To most comedians starting out, being stopped in the street is something they only dream of.

Not so Colin Cole. Standing at 6’7” in his socks, the usually amiable Aussie comic has been being stopped in the street by perfect strangers on an almost daily basis for nearly all of his life, simply so they can tell him he’s tall - and it drives him mad Already one of the biggest names in comedy in Australia - and not just because of his height, Colin Cole boasts a dynamic and bombastic performance that uses every inch of the stage.

Despite a typical laidback Australian drawl and demeanour, the delivery of his humour is as fast and furious as one of his country’s famous cricketing fast bowlers.

Tickets for the show are £14 and available at www.thecomedyclub.co.uk or by calling 0203 3761 112 ( calls at local rate).

If you cannot wait until 25th July for your comedy fix, don’t forget to come and join us at The Comedy Club tent at Chelmsford’s Fling Festival in Hylands Park on Saturday 28th June. Shows will be running from early afternoon and into the evening, with a host of fantastic acts including Rudi Lickwood, Gerry K, Tim Clark and Phil Butler to name but a few! We look forward to seeing you there!

Great Big Adventure by Ian King

Last week we took the truck for a test run to Holland to attend the 2014 Overland Adventurers Meeting hosted by Karijn-Marike and Coen of Landcruising Adventure. Karijn and Coen have been on the road in their 4x4 for over 10 years now, so receiving an invite to this event was really exciting for us, and luckily it didn’t disappoint.

We met so many wonderful people from all over the world and we learned more in those 3 days than we have in the past 6 months, from tips on off-road driving to modifying our own 4x4 ready for our Great Big Adventure. We spent an excellent weekend chatting with people round a BBQ with a few cold beers about their own adventures and checking out their vehicles, as a result of which a lot has changed for our own adventure next year.

We’re making several changes to our planned modifications to our truck, such as installing solar panels and ripping out the back seats and we’ve also significantly revised our route. Our original plan was to head to the South East of Asia via China but we’ve since found out that 1 month in China could cost us over £3500 each, which is a huge chunk of change!

We realised that £3,500 could also get us a year exploring Iran, Pakistan, India and Nepal so it was a no-brainer.

While we are disappointed not to visit China we’re sure that India and Nepal will more than make up for it and we heard so many good things about the lovely people in Iran that we’re really looking forward to going there now. We’ve also learned that Myanmar (formerly Burma) have opened up their land borders so we could be one of the 1st overland adventurers to drive through there on our way to Thailand!

We’ve also been keeping up with Dan Skeates’ excellent blog of his own adventure and it’s making us champ at the bit even more than we were before. February 2015 seems a long way off but we’re both hoping it comes round quicker than we think.

Not too quick mind you; we still have a whole lot of work to do before then!

Page 30 www.chelmsfordthecitytimes.co.uk

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Page 31 www.chelmsfordthecitytimes.co.uk

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