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CT Welcome Hello readers Welcome to the April/May edition. This month we have Hot Red Chili Peppers on April 29th at Chelmsford City FC and the Supersonic 70s on 20th May. There will be many more events coming up as we approach summer of course. So if you are organising an event, please email editorial@ itsyourmedia.co.uk and we will do our best to list it in our What’s On guide. Regards Nick & Paul
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CT Fashion - Heat up your Wardrobe Anybody else get really excited when the warmer days start to become more frequent? I love this time of year. The days are getting longer and brighter, people are cheerier, the first BBQs will start happening soon and before you know it you’ll be thinking about getting that swimsuit on for your summer holiday. Lazy Saturdays in the pub garden are getting closer, and you can almost smell the fish and chips, followed by an ice cream laden stroll along Southend’s pier. Marvellous. The only problem is - and I don’t want to sound like a summer Scrooge here - that with the warmer weather during the weekends there also comes warm weather work days and these are not so much fun. Especially if you haven’t prepared to switch up work wear to accommodate the higher temperatures. Baking at your desk in a pair of black trousers and a synthetic shirt that is now so stuck to you that you’re considering charging it rent? Sweating into a stranger’s armpit on the tube in your two-piece suit that was perfect when you left the house this morning, but since it’s got warmer during the day you now feel like underground soup ala commute? Roasting yourself in the car on the way home as you curse the (once loved) all black, leather interior? We’ve all been there: The work wardrobe warmer weather conundrum. Never fear! With the following tips, we can make 2017 the year you strut into the work place with a smug smile; you’re going to be totally work wardrobe warm weather ready. 1. The tailored culottes: Think ‘paper bag’ style long line shorts with a tie waist and wide leg, then match with either a plain white t-shirt and pointed flats, or - if your work place allows it Bardot style top. Debenhams and River Island have some beautiful affordable styles in black, tan and neutral colours. 2. The pleated A-line skirt: There are some gorgeous high waisted styles on the high street this spring/summer that can be worn with either a cami or a tank top and light blazer. Go for this season’s colours of yellow or green and team with some flat nude courts - or sandals if your workplace allows it (you lucky thing!) There are some great styles online at boohoo.com as well as in store in Debenhams. 3. The pretty cami: Again, it depends on your workplace’s shoulder
policy, but having a strappy but smart cami top below a light blazer is a great way to stay cool this summer - see Topshop for smart and sophisticated styles. If camis are a no-go, you could opt for tank tops with a thicker strap or a short sleeved t-shirt; paler, softer tones of pink, blue or white teamed with either a pair of culottes or a high waisted skirt would look work wonderful. 4. The light blazer: The old faithful blazer can get you through the summer months and maybe (if you’re clever) right through to autumn. This season’s prints are very vibrant (see Dorothy Perkins for some fantastic styles), and you could opt for a more ‘lairy’ blazer teamed with a neutral skirt, culottes and top. 5. The right underwear for the job: Skirts, dresses - love ‘em or hate ‘em, you’ll definitely loathe them when you’re warm, sticky and not really enjoying the closeness of the old pins. Try some comfy undergarments - by this I mean some long line shorts or shapewear that is comfortable to slip on beneath your tighter skirts but can be worn with bare legs to let your skin breathe - and you’re totally ready for the two mile walk to the station/ shops/bar. For the Boys… There’s nothing worse than watching your girlfriend/wife/better half walking off with BARE LEGS when you’re forced to don a suit and shirt, right? I feel for you, our fuzzy faced friends. Try some of the following to get you through the warmer days. 1. The short sleeved shirt: Yep, not rocket science, I know, but shorter sleeves generally mean a little more air to the old upper limbs. If you’re not a fan, you could try rolling up the sleeves of your old faithful shirts, and - if the boss allows it - work on opening your top buttons. Just not too much, brother. There’s only room for one Simon Cowell in this world. 2. The tailored short: Only for certain workplaces I am sure, but the high street offer some very smart chino tailored shorts. Next have some affordable options and Ted Baker offer some more funky coloured, smart possibilities. 3. The ankle grazer trouser and no-show sock option for those not able to get the pins out completely: Not for the faint hearted this one, but done well, it can be very effective in keeping you cool. Try a pair of chinos that are slim or straight leg (slim is best, to be completely honest) and then either roll them up or buy slightly shorter than you usually would. Next, take a smart pair of shoes (tan or brown) and some no-show socks (Primark sell these in abundance). Rebecca Forde is a writer with a penchant for fashion, great literature and drinking a lot of coffee. She writes for pleasure on her blog and is creator of Scribble Panda, a small business offering tutoring and writing services. You can contact her by emailing rebeccaforde@hotmail.co.uk.. All Images Debenhams copyright
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Shoe Sale Saturday 6th May 2017 10am to 12 noon at the Keene Hall Galleywood in aid of Families In Focus (Essex). Sandals, summer shoes and handbags by Hotfooted. Ladies clothing, homemade jewellery and greetings cards, plus fresh coffee, tea and homemade cakes supplied by the ladies of Mildmay Inner Wheel.
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Beer by Simon Tippler of roundtowerbrewery.co.uk So, how did everyone enjoy some of the 14,000 pints of beer consumed at the Chelmsford CAMRA Winter Beer & Cider Festival? It turns out we enjoyed it even more than we could have imagined as we won Beer Of The Festival with our Toffee Hammer, a strong dark mild with added toffee. Thanks for everyone who voted for us. We are glad you enjoy our beer as much as we enjoy making it. We’ve just made another batch of Toffee Hammer, so look out for it appearing in pubs in and around Chelmsford over the next few months. A notable mention should also go out to Prince of Denmark by Harvey’s Brewery (Lewes) which came second, and Santa Bartram by Bartram’sBrewery (Bury St Edmunds) which came third. Whilst we are on the subject of awards, congratulations to John and his team at The Hop Beer Shop for winning CAMRA pub of the year in this area for the second year in a row. To help him celebrate, we brewed Double Whammy 5.1% golden beer hopped with Olicana hops (UK) and we put it in cask and also in keg. An interesting point to note is that Mawson’s Micro Pub in Southend and The Upminster Tap Room (also a micro pub) won in their areas. These new ultra small pubs, often created in disused shops, seem to be popping up all over the place (two opened in Maldon last year). Theyconcentrate on having a good range of beer, be it in keg or cask, but often also keep hours that are shorter than regular pubs.
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Music by Nick Garner Last month we had Albert Lee playing, plus two Blues in the City events. The first Blues event was with Elles Bailey and her band when you see them play you can understand why they are surely destined to go to the top. The evening was opened up by Dave Ferra, who has played for us before and is always a worthwhile watch. We have him and his band coming back to headline in December.
We also had our big twelve hour Essex Delta Blues Day on the Saturday raising money for CHESS, the Chelmsford homeless charity, and we raised just over £1,300 (our target was £1,000 so we - and they - were very pleased). Let’s hope we can do more for them in the future. We had eighteen acts playing non-stop across two stages and I’m pleased to say that as on the previous two years, we started and finished on time. We had a lot of compliments on the standard of music which again is good news, as they all came from Essex or had an Essex connection. Next up was our gig at the football club with Fresh Cream and Pete Brown. Pete opened the proceedings with his band, who were Pete on vocals, Mo Foster on bass and Jeff Allan on drums. Both Mo and Jeff have played with many of the biggest and best over the years. Malcolm Bruce joined them on keyboards who, like his late father Jack Bruce, is a very accomplished multi-instrumentalist and has also played with many notable artists as well as fronting his own band. Next on stage was Fresh Cream. This time with Malcolm on bass guitar and vocals and Will Johns on guitar and vocals. Will is the nephew of Eric Clapton, so he had a good person to encourage him as he grew up, along with his other uncles, George Harrison and Mick Fleetwood and Glynn Johns. They were joined by top session man Chris ‘Padge’ Page on drums, as well as Pete Brown who wrote the lyrics to the Cream songs. Pete sung Sunshine of Your Love and I have to say that it was a moving experience to say the least. As this edition comes out the tenth Panic Awards are taking place, so we will let you know in due course who the winners are. As always, we have lot’s going on this month, including Troy Redfern and his band playing at the Bassment on 20th April. He is someone who some reviewers are raving about; a true blues man who plays a mean slide guitar. They will be travelling from the west country to play for us and will be joined by Danny Boy Piper Taylor on his resonator guitar and with his wonderful voice. Next it’s back to the football ground for Saturday 29th where we have the number one Red Hot Chili Peppers tribute act - Hot Red Chili Peppers. They will be supported by our very own sound man’s band, Party At Your House. On to the Bassment for 18th May where we have, from the north of the UK, Angelo Palladino and the Street Hawks. You should not miss this one. Angelo has been around for many years and worked and written with and for some of the biggest names in music, one of whom was Carole King. They will have local legends Booga Red open for them (Claire Hamlin and Steve English). There is special festival taking place on Mersea Island from 26th to 28th April - the tenth Cosmic Puffin Festival. Jamie (founder of the festival) will fill you in about the history of this festival. “The Cosmic Puffin Festival started in 2008 and wasn’t really supposed to be a festival at all. A close friend of mine had a small daughter taken very ill and she spent 3-4 days in a critical condition in St Mary’s Hospital in London in intensive care. A charity based at the hospital provides funds to enable parents of sick kids to stay in lodgings nearby so that they can visit easily and regularly. I decided to do a benefit gig to raise money for the charity; COSMIC (Children of St Mary’s Intensive Care).” “The children’s ward at Basildon hospital, where she was transferred to convalesce after coming out of intensive care, was called Puffin ward - and so the name of the festival was handed to me on a plate!“
“I put the word out to the many bands I knew and have worked with over the years, and so many were up for it (about 25 I think) that we decided we had enough bands to make a weekend of it. We started off holding the festival at Easter. On the Sunday morning I staggered out of my chalet after about 45 minutes sleep to be attacked by kids with snowballs! Definitely a first for me at a festival. Those that were at that first one will remember that the snow did not detract from the enjoyment, but seemed to make it even more magical. Against all the odds and with only about 100 paying punters, we managed to clear a profit of about £1,200, which was fantastic.” “The second year we added another stage and had about 40 bands in total over the weekend, clearing just over £3,500. The charities which we decided to support that year (and continue to do so) were Bliss (for babies born too soon) and the National Autistic Society. We split the money between the two.” “Cosmic Puffin 3 was even better with a profit of over £7,500! Cosmic Puffin 4 was a bit of a disaster financially after the success of the first 3 due to a number of reasons, and although we didn’t actually lose money we only just covered costs. Putting all that effort in and not achieving anything is very depressing and I was all for calling it a day, but everyone else convinced me it was a glitch and that we should do it again.” “Cosmic Puffin in 2012 raised £5,000! In 2013 for Cosmic Puffin 6 we supported a new charity, ALDLIFE, and raised £10,000. This meant we could donate £500 to another local children’s charity, Help Roxi Walk. I also personally raised £350 by selling my infamous dreadlocks which were shaved off at the end of the festival.” “Cosmic Puffin 7 was the best so far. The total raised was just over £16,000. Who would have thought that after that snowy weekend in March seven years ago, when we sold 112 tickets at £10 each (mainly to my friends), that we would reach these dizzy heights? At Cosmic Puffin 7 we had over 100 bands playing across 6 stages. The kid’s area is getting bigger and better every year thanks to the tremendous effort put in by Gunpowder Gertie (Gee Gee) and her wonderful Hoi Polloi crew. I’ve always wanted the festival to be kid friendly, because I remember when mine were young how much fun we used to have as a family at Womad and Ashton Court, Bristol, with no worries about their safety. “Obviously the festival is mainly about the music, and thanks to the effort put in by Linda and her crew on the Breaking Out stage, Cosmic Puffin gives young up-and-coming bands a chance to play in front of quite a diverse audience rather than their mates down the local youth club. Some of these bands are truly excellent and it has become the custom to have the band that impresses us the most to play the 1st slot on my (Cosmic) stage on Sunday evening.” “Lastly I would just like to thank all the bands who play for free and the many, many volunteers who work all weekend for free, without whom the festival would not happen. That’s it, see you in May!” To find out more go to www.cosmicpuffin.org.uk. As ever, please do try to come out and support the great live music scene that we have in Essex, because if you do not, we may lose it. For more information on all of the above, see the links below - and head to our What’s On page to see what else in happening in your area. www.bluesinthecity.co.uk www.facebook.com/bluesinthecitychelmsford Twitter: @BluesintheCity1 www.itsyourmusic.co.uk www.facebook.com/itsyourmusic Twitter: @itsyourmusic
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CT Gardening by Tom Cole
April is here and the weather’s looking fabulous, but don’t be fooled by the longer days and warm temperatures. We only need a night of dropping temperatures and plants can suffer... So be warned!
Taraxacum officinale (dandelion) or Cirsium arvense (creeping thistle), then they’ll have to be dug out totally to stop them spreading. Again, you could use a spot weedkiller liquid or gel with glyphosate as a total weedkilker. As I said at the beginning, don’t be fooled by the lovely sunny days at the moment - we could still have frosts. Take care of fruiting plants flowering now by using horticultural fleece. Drape this material over the plant for the evenings and take it off during the day to enable pollinators to do their thing! Sometimes if we only have a little drop in temperature this could impact on fruit yields. This year I’ll be working with my RHS L3 practical students to produce a hardy annual border. We’ve already created a seed bed and are just about to mark out sections to receive a range of annual seed based on their height and spread.
Keep on top of unwanted weeds now and you’ll have clean beds and borders, and your plants will thank you for the increased space to grow with the extra water and nutrition left in the soil. Annuals like Stellaria media (chickweed), Poa annua (annual meadow grass) and Senecio vulgaris (groundsel) can spread like wildfire, so catch them quick prior to flowering. I tend to hand weed using a draw or Dutch hoe. However, if there is a load then use a weed killing product (read the manufacturer’s guidance carefully). If you’re doing any digging in vegetable areas, then annuals can be buried as you turn the soil. This is all very well for annuals but if you’ve seen any perennials such as Elymus repens (couch grass),
For best results, we create the seed bed and leave for up to 2 weeks in order to create a stale seed bed; every time the soil is turned fresh weed seed comes to the surface. This method gives a clean seed bed ready for seed sowing. Check heights and spread of plants to be used. For each area, sow in parallel drills as this means if you get weed seeds emerging, they’ll be easier to deal with. Once sown, water seeds in well and thin out according to details on the seed packet. Why not try these? Calendula officinalis (pot marigold) Clarkia amoena (godetia) Cosmos bipinnatus Gypsophila elegans (baby’s breath) Helianthus annuus ( sunflower) Limnanthes douglasii (poached egg plant) Lavatera trimestris (tree mallow) Matthiola incana (night-scented stocks) Tropaeolum majus (nasturtium) Briza maxima (quaking grass) Cerinthe major ‘Pupurascens’ Moluccella laevis (bells of Ireland) Nemophilia menziesii ‘Penny Black’ Phacelia (fiddleneck)
WE WILL BEAT ANY WRITTEN QUOTE
Lastly, increase feeding and watering of house plants. Don’t forget to also feed beds, borders and containerised plants. I tend to use Growmore or Fish, Blood and Bone for borders at a rate of 35-59g/m. For containers I’ll use Osmocote and probably a liquid feed later in the season suitable for the plant. Happy Gardening For any gardening tips contact Tom Cole, Senior Horticultural Lecturer, Writtle College, Chelmsford, CM1 3RR by post (including a SAE), or by email at tom.cole@writtle.ac.uk.
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CT Food By John Jacobs I begin this month with a minor rant. A ‘rantette’ if you will. One could say I obsessively promote and champion all that is good in our charming microcosm metropolis, but I have a few provisos. Firstly (though not in any particular order), if a menu is designed to straddle the globe with ingredients one can only buy in a Highgate deli in exchange for a small mortgage, it rates somewhere below hunger on my list of preferences. Especially if you also sell those ingredients in your wood panelled hemp adorned restaurant that is also (apparently) a shop. All this does is provide your customer with a sense of cultural inadequacy and engender a dining room largely made up of bearded hipsters (who haven’t realised - it’s over) and their highly caricatured partners; Jacinta, Porsche, Jemima, Jasper (insert name here) etc… To you it may say ‘hey, we’re happening and we can spell fusion’ - to the rest of us, it says ‘smug self-importance and we don’t really know how to cook it, but then again neither do you so it’s a win all round.’ Au contraire mon amie. Secondly if (whilst one is eating one’s burnt middle eastern flat breads with tapenade, houmous and tahini) a film crew turns up, followed by the cast of TOWIE, the likelihood is that I will flee from the building assaulting mahogany micro-c’lebs. And which, pray tell Mr Jacobs is the eatery to which you chide? I will never say. There are far better canteens in the East End. Go there. Bourgee Unassuming Excellence Now to balance this up. It wasn’t that long ago I was invited to a self aggrandising industry soiree for the promotion of Wagyu beef, which as you all surely know comes from herds of pampered cattle massaged daily with jojoba and Dom Perrignon and who take elocution lessons and have regular pedicures. The bovine gangsta rappers of the steak world. Whilst it was free, I did question whether I would pay a hundred and twenty quid of my quasihard earned money on eight ounces of strip loin? Simply, no.
four and are warmly greeted. The décor manages to pull off the trick of looking beautifully elegant but without appearing elitist. There’s no pretence at shabby chic or style over substance. It’s a low lit, selfeffacing space that radiates elegance with theatre. Bourgee’s mantra is that fine dining should not be the reserve of the few, but to produce food that would keep customers raving for days on end with a menu that’s varied enough to suit all budgets and tastes. The options are innovative without falling into the trap of dressing up the descriptions to sound clever. The service is faultless and the front of house team go out of their way to let you know they enjoy what they do and have a real pride in what’s on offer. I’ll cut to the chase here; Chelmsford has a hole in its culinary doughnut. We lacked a fine dining experience that genuinely understood the concept. From starters to desserts, each dish was prepared to a phenomenally competent standard overseen by a clearly talented and able head chef. The showpiece of the event was a one kilogram T-bone steak called the Tomahawk cooked on a Josper grill. I chose the rib-eye and Mrs J had a whole lobster, gratefully relieved of the restraints of its shell. If I had more space I would go into more detail but all I wish to say is, simply - eat there. Great service, great food, great value and probably the best steak I’ve eaten in years. The City Times takes this opportunity to welcome Bourgee to the city and wholeheartedly enters them into the City Times Restaurant of the Year and Best Newcomer categories for the end of year awards. Bourgee 4-5 Exchange Way Chelmsford CM1 1XB 01245 377 008 www.bourgeerestaurants.com Please continue to send me your recommendations and nominations to cctfood@gmail.com. Have a great month team Chelmo.
It is indeed a stunning product but, I stand steadfast against the deluge of superlatives to say that there’s better out there. I’ve reviewed many: The Hawkesmoore, Rowley St James and indeed Mr Pierre White’s steak house in Liverpool Street. I’m going to say it, there’s no holding me back, I think I may have found my food heaven and it’s right here in Chelmsford. Flanked in a pincer movement betwixt Turtle Bay and Carluccios in Exchange Way, it goes by the name of Bourgee. It markets itself as a Steak and Lobster Luxe lounge. We can let ‘Luxe’ pass. We arrive having booked a table for Page 10 www.chelmsfordthecitytimes.co.uk
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What’s On in the Area
April Friday 14th Asylum - Shakey’s Sessions: Pepper Collins + Answer Back + Adam Nicole Bassment - Electric Jam: Paolo Morena + Bare Traps The Golden Fleece - Illicit Old Court Theatre - Harvey Star & Garter - Adrenalin Saturday 15th Asylum - Battle of Bands Final: Martian Khans + Ivory Towers + guest band, Got Blue Balls Bassment - Skamite The Golden Fleece - Kinetic CCFC Away: Oxford City v Chelmsford City FC Old Court Theatre - Harvey Star & Garter - The Locals Sunday 16th Bassment - Stanton Warriors (DJ set) Civic - Real Diamond Star & Garter - Open mic/jam (3-7pm) Tuesday 18th Cramphorn - Toni Erdmann (15) Wednesday 19th Bassment - JAR presents: Castaway + Bandini + Amiee Heloise Civic - Audience with Ian Waite and Natalie Low Cramphorn - Lunchtime concert Thursday 20th Bassment - Blues In The City: Troy Redfern + Danny Boy Piper Taylor The Golden Fleece - Quiz night Friday 21st Asylum - Neil Brophy Band + The Velvet Tree + Matt Buckle Bassment - Brickhouse Promotions: Lemoncurd Kids + Vera Lones + Polly Haynes Civic - Al Murray: Let’s Go Backwards Together (SOLD OUT) The Golden Fleece - Holding Aces Star & Garter - 4Play Saturday 22nd Intense Records - Record Store Day Asylum - Asylum’s 4th Birthday Bash: Machine Gun Men + Distorted Bassment - Saturday’s Alright For Dancin’ Battlesbridge - Furniture Painting and Upholstery; Stipple & Dab (10am-4pm - book online at www.stippleanddab.co.uk) Civic - The Bee Gees Story: Nights on Broadway The Golden Fleece - Cadence Star & Garter - Electrum Sunday 23rd Star & Garter - Open mic/jam (3-7pm) Monday 24th Cramphorn - 13: A New Musical Tuesday 25th Cramphorn - 13: A New Musical Wednesday 26th Bassment - AudioGiggle: comedians & live music! Cramphorn - 13: A New Musical Cramphorn - Lunchtime concert Page 12
Thursday 27th Continued... Bassment - Live lndie Rock! Cramphorn - 13: A New Musical The Golden Fleece - Quiz night Star & Garter - Acoustic Jam Friday 28th Asylum - Kaine presents: Hard Rock & Heavy Metal at Asylum Bassment - JAM for MS-UK Fundraiser: David Woodcock + Polly Haynes + Magic Seas Chelmsford City FC - Quiz Cosmic Puffin Festival - Mersea Island Cramphorn - 13: A New Musical The Golden Fleece - The Nook Star & Garter - Electrum Saturday 29th Asylum - Vektrill + Hunting For Wolves + Infinity Lands Bassment - Jordan Gray (Tall Dark Friend) plus comedy & live music! Battlesbridge - Furniture Painting, Chalk Paint the Basics; Stipple & Dab (10am-4pm - book online at www.stippleanddab.co.uk) CCFC - Hot Red Chili Peppers Cosmic Puffin Festival - Mersea Island Cramphorn - 13: A New Musical The Golden Fleece - Cakehole Mafia Star & Garter - Kopy Katz Sunday 30th Bassment - Bank Holiday Sunday Special Surprise!!! Civic - Beyond The Barricade Cosmic Puffin Festival - Mersea Island The Golden Fleece - Expose Star & Garter - Open mic/jam (3-7pm) May Wednesday 3rd Asylum - Trade Union May Day + Robb Johnson + Rick Christian Bassment - Stuart O’Connor & friends Civic - Andy Parsons - Peak Bulls**t Cramphorn - Lunchtime concert Cramphorn - Julius Caesar Thursday 4th Asylum - Acoustic Night Bassment - Bassment Blues Jam Cramphorn - Chelmsford Jazz Club The Golden Fleece - Quiz night Friday 5th Asylum - Los Bastardos Finlandeses + FyreSky + Dark Globes Bassment - Shakey’s Sessions: Broadway Clash + The Ashtrays + Paul Dale Star & Garter - Fast on the Draw Saturday 6th Asylum - Austen’s 60th with The Kubricks Bassment - Secret Company + DRGM + Kiera Court Galleywood - Keene Hall, Shoe Sale in aid of Families In Focus (Essex) (10am-12noon) Salvation Army Building - Charity concert: East of England COOP Band Star & Garter - Solar 9 Sunday 7th Hylands House - Farmers and Craft Market
Please note, all events are subject to change. Please visit the relevant websites or Facebook pages for more details
Sunday 7th (cont.) Hylands House - Main Event Wedding Show Star & Garter - Open mic/jam (3-7pm) Woolpack - GC’s Jazz Club: with guests Neale Ridding (sax/ flute) & Sam Edwards Trio (8pm) Tuesday 9th Civic - HMS Pinafore and Trial By Jury Wednesday 10th Bassment - Sharkmuffin (NYC) + Mandeville + Muertos Civic - HMS Pinafore and Trial By Jury Thursday 11th Bassment - Jazz Funk - special guest Civic - HMS Pinafore and Trial By Jury The Golden Fleece - Quiz night Star & Garter - Phil Ball Band Friday 12th Asylum - Shakey’s Sessions: Cannon + Tiffany Psycho + Eva’s Dream Bassment - Nymphs & Thugs Presents: Salena Godden (spoken word) + Sound Mirrors + Paolo Morena + more Civic - HMS Pinafore and Trial By Jury Star & Garter - The Stents Saturday 13th Asylum - Minerva Falls + Trash Heads + Free From Gravity Bassment - Saturday’s Alright For Dancin’ Chelmsford City Racecourse - Essex Fine Food Show Civic - HMS Pinafore and Trial By Jury Hopeless Romantics Star & Garter - The Statins United Brethren - Jamie WIlliams Collective Sunday 14th Asylum - Artsylum: pop up exhibition Chelmsford City Racecourse - Essex Fine Food Show Star & Garter - Open mic/jam (3-7pm) Monday 15th Civic - That’ll be the Day Tuesday 16th Civic - Ballet Central Wednesday 17th Bassment - Live Indie Rock! Old Court Theatre - One Day When We Were Young Thursday 18th Bassment - Blues In The City: Angelo Palladino & The Street Hawks + Booga Red Old Court Theatre - One Day When We Were Young Friday 19th Asylum - Art of Rebellion + Fish Slice + Afterthought Bassment - Mother’s Jam Presents Old Court Theatre - One Day When We Were Young Star & Garter - The Strides Saturday 20th Asylum - The Bridport Dagger + Hands of Kanellos + Suspects Bassment - Tankus The Henge (live) + Connor Selby Band CCFC - Supersonic 70s Civic - Purple Zeppelin Hylands House - The National Flower Show Old Court Theatre - One Day When We Were Young Star & Garter - Indigo Hammer United Brethren - The Delta Ladies Sunday 21st Hylands House - The National Flower Show Star & Garter - Open mic/jam (3-7pm)
Please send us your events for the next edition (for events between 19th May and 16th June) to: editorial@itsyourmedia.co.uk
Undiscovered Solo Final night she was announced as the winner. Undiscovered is run by a great team including Tony Morrison, Dorion Quest and David Wheelhouse (Shakey). They give unsigned acts a platform to perform, and are supported by Essex County Council among others. As part of the prize Katy gets to record one of her songs as well as creating a music video. She has also been approached by promoters to play local venues as well as being a guest performer at the Undiscovered Bands Final on March 25th where she performed while the judges were making their decision. Following 5 bands as a solo artist is not easy - but she pulled it off! You can check her out on all social media platforms under Katy Forkings, and her debut EP (recorded at Studio 808 in Chelmsford) has just been released and is available on iTunes and Spotify. Katy is a 16 year old singer/songwriter from Chelmsford. She has been playing the guitar and songwriting for just over 2 years now and has a passion for it. This has led to her entering competitions such as Chelmsford’s Got Talent (which she won) and taking part in the Undiscovered competition. This was her third year of entering Undiscovered, having reached the final last year. The format this year changed slightly and there were two separate categories: One for solo artists and one for bands. Katy got through to the Solo Final where she played a set of original material alongside four other talented musicians. At the end of the
Charity of the Month - MS-UK
The winners of the Undiscovered Bands Final were an amazing band from Southend, who have only been together a year, called FyreSky. FyreSky are an alt/hard rock band with some darker twists. Having spent their first year gigging with original material and releasing their debut EP and earning recognition for the quality of their live performances, 2017 will bring more new original music and more ‘passionate high energy rock shows’! You can find out more about Undsicovered and how to enter by searcing on Facebook or by visiting the website www.undiscovered. org.uk. Chelmsford’s MAGIC SEAS create shimmering pop soundscapes, and are currently recording a debut EP release with Mark Gardener, the front man of shoegaze legends RIDE. The release will be preceded by several UK summer shows including Liverpool’s prestigious Cavern Club. HRH Stu McClung, bassist and songwriter of ska-reggae collective New Town Kings, will be crowning the dancefloor in glory! This charming man finishes off our finale gig with all that glitters and is indie gold. Who knows, he may even bring with him some of his Colchester royal family to share the decks!
Friday 28th April 2017 at the Bassment LIVE: David Woodcock and The Fixtures Polly Haynes MAGIC SEAS DJS: Stu McClung (New Town Kings) Bobbi Mushroom (Bitterscene) David Woodcock is a singer/songwriter based in his hometown of Southend-on-Sea. A pianist and prolific writer, he has a solid songbook of sharp lyrics and great melodies that have been distilled into his self titled debut album released on Blow Up Records. Coined as an ‘Essex Jarvis Cocker’ by Steve Lamacq - David’s songs are steeped in a classic British songwriting tradition, filled with humour, pathos, wry observations and a riotous energy - keep an ear out for his second album! David is joined by The Fixtures, his steadfast backing band. Jazz inspired, soul drenched and heartfelt songwriting coupled with striking vocals and plenty of passion for good measure! Fresh from featuring on BBC Introducing and with big things planned for 2017, Colchester lass Polly Haynes is set to up the ante and surprise critics and fans alike.
As longtime contributor to the Chelmsford music scene, Bitterscene founder Bobbi Mushroom will be delving deep into her vinyl vaults to bring you a set of hidden indie gems from post-punk to Britpop. JAM for MS-UK will be a night of special sets from some of the local music scene’s finest talent. This event is part of Marie Martin’s London Marathon 2017 pledge to MS-UK and will be the last in a series of fundraisers across North and Mid Essex - a post-marathon party! To read more about why she is raising money for MS-UK and to donate online please read (and like and share!) the JAM for MS-UK Facebook page. MS-UK is a national charity based in Colchester that is dedicated to empowering people with multiple sclerosis to make the most of today and live life to the full. Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a condition that affects the central nervous system - the brain and the spinal cord. Around 100,000 people in the UK have multiple sclerosis. MSUK is there to make sure that each person has choice, control and independence. Find out more about MS-UK online at www.ms-uk.org or the MS-UK Facebook page. Over 18s only. The venue is not wheelchair accessible, but if you ask one of the friendly security staff they will be happy to assist you! £5 donation (payable on the door) MS-UK Registered Charity Number: 1033731
Sporty Mamas Presents... an Audience with Alvin Martin and Paul Allen Thursday 25th May
Quiz Time by John Theedom
1. What was Sherlock Holmes’ address? 2. Tim Peak, the second British citizen in space, recently returned to Earth. How many US citizens have been in space? 3. In which county is the town of Lewes? 4. In which year was the theory added to the UK Driving Test? 5. Approximately how many British soldiers lost their lives on the first day Tickets are only £30 each, which includes a meal of chilli con of The Battle of the Somme? carne and rice during the interval. Alvin and Paul will talk about 6. Who was the first person in the UK to be arrested for drunk driving? their playing days and the current West Ham team as well as 7. Which year was The Great Train Robbery? discussing the great game of football in general and answering 8. Who or what is a fabulist? your questions. There will be an auction of signed sporting 9. What is a lodestone? memorabilia as well as a raffle and a question and answer 10. On a coin, what is the opposite of reverse? session. The fully licensed bar will be open throughout. 11. Give another name for the polecat. 12. What is Miriam Clegg’s maiden name? We are supporting the Cystic Fibrosis Trust during this event and 13. What is the star sign for October 30th? will be holding a collection as well as giving the proceeds of the 14. What is ormolu? auction to this very important charity. 15. What is the name of the large statue in Rio de Janeiro? 16. What is the name of the new tall structure in Brighton? Contact Emma for tickets or questions on 07810 824 595, or visit 17. Who is the Governor of The Bank of England? www.sportymamas.com. 18. What is a slalom? 19. What year was Magna Carta signed? 20. Which species of bird lives in The Tower of London? Essex IVC Social and Activity Club is a Social Club for singles and 21. What is a beaver’s home called? couples aged 25 and over wishing to enhance and improve their 22. Where will you find a gnomon? social life. 23. In the game of darts, what is the official height of the bullseye? 24. What is an imago? Our members can enjoy over sixty events every month which are 25. What does the ‘W’ stand for in US President, George W Bush? put on by our members for our members. These events range 26. Who invented the world’s first electric light bulb? from meals out, walks, sporting events and social gatherings like 27. How is Reg Dwight better known? parties, discos, dances and much more, including our monthly 28. What is androphobia a fear of? club night. 29. What is Rod Stewart’s real name? 30. From what is lanolin derived? Membership is from only £35 a year to improve and change your social life. So what are you waiting for? Sporty Mamas presents an eagerly anticipated evening with the West Ham legends, Paul Allen and Alvin Martin at Club Woodham in South Woodham Ferrers in Essex starting at 8pm (doors open at 7.15pm).
Essex IVC and Activity Club
Join nowby telephoning 07891 927 046 or visit our website at www.essexivc.org.uk
When enquiring please quote "M&S VOUCHER”
CT Business
sponsored by:
Business Interview Ben from Chandler’s Material Supplies “This month I have had the pleasure of speaking with Ben Chandler from Chandler Material Supplies. Here is what he had to say about the company.” When did Chandler Materials first open in Chelmsford? “Chandler opened in the 1950s. It was our grandad who started the business, he was a post war builder in Chelmsford.” What did the business originally start as? “Being a house builder in Chelmsford just after the war was very busy at the time, so he was buying lots of materials to build the houses. As he knew the other builders in the area (there were only a handful at the time) they would ask him to order materials for them as well. This then enabled them to all bring down their costs which made sense. So doing this was naturally how Chandler started - building houses and supplying materials to local builders as a sideline.” Have you always been in the same location? “Yes, we have always been on this site at Widford Road. It started as just a small plot at the front and over the years it’s expanded and evolved buying a bit more land each time. We used to have a café and post office at the front which our nan looked after whilst grandad ran the builders merchant. Our dad then ran the business for 25 years before it passed on to 3rd generation ownership, but always on the site here at Widford Road. Over the years different parts of the yard have evolved as we’ve expanded. We now have 2 counters, 3 warehouses, and a bathroom showroom, along with 3 acres of outside space full of materials for the trade and general public.” Is it just building supplies you do now? “No. As well as building materials, we have a plumbing and heating department and a bathroom showroom. We also stock a wide range of landscaping products, everything from paving to fencing, sleepers, decking, as well as decorative aggregates for the garden. We are not just for tradesman and we’ve worked hard to ensure that retail customers feel as welcome as your traditional builders. This includes ensuring our staff have the knowledge and experience to explain which products are suitable, a designated patio display, as well as expanding our landscaping ranges to provide different solutions for different budgets.” With the bathrooms do you offer a fitting service? “Not directly, but we have a large number of bathroom installers who choose to buy from us every week who we are happy to recommend. They are all great professional installers who work closely with our bathroom showroom team to ensure the right parts are available at the right time of the project. We prefer to work along side them rather than competing against them.” So from day one how has the business changed up to the present day? “It’s a funny thing because this is quite a traditional industry. Although all things change and evolve this industry tends to run a few years behind most. For such a basic principle business it is very complicated. If you buy a product in the thousands and then sell off in the tens it should be relatively simple but it’s so much more complicated than that. From supply chains, lead times, logistics and stock rotation, right down to where can you physically store and move the materials - it gets very complex. “One thing that has started to change is the technology. Even today there are very few merchants from whom you can browse products or buy online. We’ve tried to be a bit different, you can browse and purchase over 2,000 products on our website. That includes heavy items delivered to your door. We have one of the highest number of products available online from a builders’ merchants in the country, let alone the county. The traditional builder in his 50s is being replaced by the younger guys in their 20s and 30s and simple things such as being able to get pricing for a quote in the evening when
we’re closed are really important to these guys.” What are you finding is the core of your business at the moment? What are you selling the most of? “Every house build, extension and renovation needs the traditional brick, blocks and timber, which remains at the core of our service. But in recent years we are finding more and more people are switching their focus to their bathrooms and their gardens. People are inspired by what they see on TV and we have been able to help people design a dream bathroom for themselves, or create a gorgeous outdoor entertaining area for them to enjoy every summer. “Landscaping trends always evolve. 10 years ago everyone wanted Indian sandstone paving in their gardens. Sandstone is still popular, but people are moving towards either porcelain paving or composite decking. This is made from a mix of wood and recycled materials such as plastics and oils. Instead of being a timber product that rots over time, gets really slippery over the winter and needs re-staining every few years, composite decking, such as Millboard or Trex, can last up to 20 years or more requiring only one jet wash a year.” So finally, what is the future for Chandler Materials? “Really we just want to keep doing what we have done well for the last 60 years - serve our customers to the highest possible standard. We now have 4th generation family members working in the business in amongst our 43 members of staff. As we’ve expanded, we’ve always tried to keep our core family values at the heart of everything we do and that won’t change. Here, you’ll find the directors answering the phone, serving customers in the yard and at the counters. We are very hands on and that has really served the business well since the start. In the future, although we may continue to expand in different ways, what we will always do is keep to those core values. A traditional family business that goes the extra mile to serve its customers.” Thanks Ben for giving us an insight into Chandler Material Supplies. Yet another thriving and successful Chelmsford business.
bestofchelmsford Why online reviews are so important.
It’s a fact that the old saying ‘the customer is always right’ has never been more true. It’s a consequence of the age we live in. The consumer is now more powerful than ever before - and that’s not likely to change. More than ever the consumer trusts other consumers, certainly more than what a business says about itself on it’s website. They know that a company is unlikely to put adverse testimonials on it’s website. The comments are of course carefully chosen.and the customer knows this. What people do understand and rely upon are online reviews from people like them. They trust these recommendations often in preference to those from experts. The trust in online reviews is constantly on the rise, especially when reviews are from people we don’t know personally. A very high proportion of consumers trust word of mouth recommendations more than ever before. The fact that people have taken the time to say something about a business is very important. These reviews are being used by other consumers to evaluate the business they may wish to use. We encourage our businesses to get reviews from their customers and by using our widget, these reviews will sit on both their site and ours. We will monitor these reviews and work with our businesses to solve any problems which arise, because let’s face it, nobody’s perfect!
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Something all Girls Should Know Problems with the pelvic floor are really common. Up to one in three of us girls experience symptoms during our lifetimes. Many women believe that they are an inevitable consequence of giving birth or getting older, but actually for lots of women effective, non surgical treatment is available. Remember that our pelvic floor is muscles and some of us need to learn to strengthen them, while others need to learn to relax them and let them go. Most women have heard of pelvic floor exercises which involve you squeezing and lifting your pelvic floor (the hammock of muscles that run from the back of your pelvis to your pubic bones at the front). Exercises where you contract your pelvic floor are often recommended if you tend to leak a lot of urine when you cough, laugh, sneeze or take part in high impact exercises such as running (stress incontinence).
breathing in for 3 seconds and out for 3 seconds. Repeat for 5 minutes every day.
The benefits of this exercise practice will include a more relaxed state, as well as a more relaxed pelvic floor! If you need more help, try visiting a women’s health physio for more specialist help and advice. Yoga and pilates can also be really helpful. I normally recommend pilates for those that need to strengthen and tighten and yoga for those that need to relax and let go. Check out www.hummingbirdpilates.co.uk or www. hummingbirdyoga.co.uk for more information on small group local classes. Ellie Searle, Clinical Director at Stretch Physio www.stretchphysio.co.uk info@stretchphysio.co.uk 01245 505 866
However, sometimes the pelvic floor muscles can be too tight, which means that they are effectively weakened by constantly overworking and being in a contracted state. If your pelvic floor is over working and then your bladder is suddenly put under pressure, they can’t generate enough power to quickly shut off the flow of urine. Under these circumstances working on exercises that tighten the pelvic floor can make things worse. Often women with overactive pelvic floor muscles experience persistent pelvic pain, a sudden urge to urinate, a need to urinate frequently (even if their bladder isn’t full), difficulty initiating a flow of urine or fully emptying their bladder, constipation, tailbone pain and pain during sex. If you’re having problems with your pelvic floor, don’t ignore it! Visit your GP or gynaecologist to rule out any medical issues. If you feel that your pelvic floor muscles may be overactive, practice relaxing them with regular down regulating training exercises. Practicing deep abdominal breathing can really help to relax the pelvic floor muscles, so have a go at this exercise: Lie down relaxed on your back with your knees bent. Place one hand on your chest and the other hand on your tummy. Inhale and fill your tummy with air. Move the breath down and lower your pelvic floor, letting it relax, open and let go. Exhale without effort, starting from the ribs, then down to the pelvic floor. Tip: Your lower hand should rise up and down on your tummy in time with your breathing, while your top hand remains still. Keep each breath relaxed and steady, www.chelmsfordthecitytimes.co.uk
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therapy by Jenny Hartill Today folks I’m going to introduce a nice, long, complicated word you can impress your friends with! As you probably know by now, those coming up with names for psychological disorders like to make it as difficult as possible for us to pronounce the diagnosis name that they come up with ;-) So in this article I’m going to explore the very complicated sounding - trichotillomania (yes that’s how you spell it I checked!) or Hair Pulling Disorder. Trichotillomania is an impulse control disorder where the individual plucks hair from one or multiple sites. The most common sites are the scalp, arms, legs and eyes. Trocotillomania is different from dermatillomania or skin picking disorder as the sufferer usually plucks one hair at a time but doesn’t pick at their skin. These hair plucking sessions can last for minutes or even hours, and the sufferer may have no idea why they do this.
alternatives, or suggest that the individual can find and enjoy other completely safe activities. For example, usually a sufferer will use one specific hand to pull hair (they don’t necessarily realise this but it’s true, I call it the hair pulling hand). Through hypnosis we can actually turn this hand into a soothing device. A common way to do this is to suggest that they stroke their arm instead of pulling hair from it. Obviously to use this technique it depends on the hair pulling site, but this technique still gives the sufferer the sensation of touch without it being harmful but encouraging the client to focus on the soothing sensation they have. The other thing hypnotherapy can do is to identify and diffuse hair pulling triggers. For example, if the client is hair pulling when nervous for a meeting, we identify this as a trigger and diffuse it, encourage the client’s confidence and esteem (and look at why they’re so nervous for the meeting) and then give the client another appropriate and soothing technique to use in that situation instead.
Trichotillomania is more common than you may think and experts have come up with many a reason for it. However, generally it is accepted that anxiety, depression and obsessive compulsive disorder are the most common psychological causes. This is because an impulse control disorder is in effect all about control. Plucking their own hairs may be a sign they feel out of control, or something they do to try and feel in control. Trichotillomania is often not a focused act, but rather hair pulling occurs in a ‘trance-like’ state, hence trichotillomania is subdivided into ‘automatic’ versus ‘focused’ hair pulling. Children are more often in the automatic, or unconscious, subtype and may not consciously remember pulling their hair. When I was a child there was a girl on my street that did this, she would pull out her hair and suck her fingers with the hair. It was quite odd to watch but she wasn’t aware when she was doing this. She ended up with a bald patch on one side. Her mother didn’t know what to do and took her to the doctor and was told it was stress related and was asked if she had any stressful situations that could be causing this. The mother divorced the girl’s alcoholic father shortly after and the girl recovered.
We can also use hypnotherapy to enhance mindfulness and help habits that have felt uncontrollable feel controllable. This is especially helpful for those clients that go into a trance like state to hair pull, or those that are not aware when they do it until it’s too late. For the client that goes into a trance like state, I’d teach them self hypnosis so that they can induce this themselves safely and enjoy being in a hypnotic trance - but without hair pulling. Therefore we shift the focus from the hair pulling to the hypnosis and make that the positive payoff instead of the hair pulling. For the client that isn’t aware of their hair pulling until it’s too late, we need to look at what the subconscious mind believes the payoff is - and then give the client a different payoff.
Other individuals may have focused, or conscious, rituals associated with hair pulling. Including seeking specific types of hairs to pull, pulling until the hair feels ‘just right’, or pulling in response to a specific sensation. Knowledge of the subtype is helpful in determining treatment strategies, because if the individual is aware of what they’re doing this means they are consciously receiving a payoff from this action. For example, some sufferers have reported a sensation of relief when they’ve pulled the hair and this overtakes the negative emotion they were previously feeling. The question of course is what negativity were they feeling, why were they feeling it and why is it that an act that should cause pain would be interpreted as a feeling of relief?
BEFORE YOU GO! I have a favour to ask you readers: Us therapists as inundated with sales calls and one of the most popular ones is to sell us ads on the back of appointment cards. Personally I’ve never received an appointment card from my GP, but I’ve set up a survey to ask you lovely people to tell us whether you have received an appointment card and if so for which surgery. It’s anonymous, so you won’t tell us your name, and this is for research purposes only. I’ve plastered the survey all over social media so you can go to our Facebook page for example, or just go to this link: www. surveymonkey.co.uk/r/D9CQVHV.
If anyone is interested in seeing a therapist, I own and run Chelmsford Therapy Rooms. We have a range of therapists that can help with a multitude of issues. We offer many therapies from hypnotherapy to counselling to nutrition. Please see the website www.chelmsfordtherapyrooms.co.uk, or you can email info@ chelmsfordtherapyrooms.co.uk, or call 0330 100 5162.
Thanks!!!
This school of thought emphasises hair pulling as addictive or negatively reinforcing, as it is associated with rising tension beforehand and relief afterward. As I said earlier, anxiety, depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder are more frequently encountered in people with trichotillomania. Trichotillomania has a high overlap with post traumatic stress disorder and some cases of trichotillomania may be triggered by stress as we saw in the example above (although I suspect the girl in my example was also feeling rather anxious from what she told me). We need to take all of this into account and get a good history of the development of the disorder in the sufferer so that we can understand the psychopathology fully before we move on to treatment. But what can we do with hypnotherapy to help a trichotillomania sufferer? It really does depend on the cause. Treating what’s driving this disorder is the most effective way of treating it. However, we can introduce suggestions in the hypnotherapy to the subconscious mind to remind it that hair pulling is not a long term solution and it is in fact causing the conscious mind distress. We can then suggest Page 20
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Walk or Run towards a cure for Parkinson’s in Essex this June People in Essex are being asked to pick up the pace against Parkinson’s this year at Walk/Run for Parkinson’s - Hylands Park on Sunday 11th June.
Walk/Run for Parkinson’s offers the opportunity for people of all ages and abilities to get involved in a fun and active day out while helping the charity step ever closer to a cure.
Affiliated, the fee for the 10K is £13).
All money raised from Walk/Run for Parkinson’s - Hylands Park will help Parkinson’s UK’s work to provide support and information for people affected by Parkinson’s and to help find better treatments, and ultimately a cure.
There are a range of distances around the park on offer to suit everyone, including a 2 mile and a 5 mile walk. For the first time this year there will also be a running route available, with the choice of a 5k or a 10k (around 3 or 6 miles).
Parkinson’s is a degenerative neurological condition. The main symptoms of the condition are tremor, slowness of movement and rigidity. It affects 127,000 people in the UK - which is around one in 500 of the population. Parkinson’s UK is the UK’s leading charity supporting those with the condition.
Last year 100 people took part in the walk at Hylands Park and raised an impressive £7,500 between them. This year, the charity hopes to boost the fundraising total even more.
To find out more and to sign up to walk or run visit: www.parkinsons. org.uk/walkhylandspark, call 0207 963 9367, or email: fundraising@ parkinsons.org.uk.
Sky Sports Presenter and Champion of Walking for Parkinson’s UK Dave Clark was diagnosed with Parkinson’s himself in 2011. Dave is encouraging as many people as possible to step up at the event. He says: “In 2016 I completed my own 200 mile Coast to Coast walk for Parkinson’s UK, it was tough but the sense of achievement when I crossed the finish line was fantastic.
For a list of all the locations in the Walk for Parkinson’s series, visit: www.parkinsons.org.uk/walks.
“I know not everyone can walk that far, which is why our Walk for Parkinson’s at Hylands Park with a choice of distances is perfect for everyone. “2017 is going to be our most ambitious year yet for the Walk for Parkinson’s series. With every pound that we raise we get closer to a cure. So please join us at Hylands Park and help us step closer to our goal of improving the lives of every person affected by Parkinson’s.” The registration fee is £10 for adults and £5 for under 16s. The fee for runners is £15 for the 10K and £12 for the 5K (for those UKA www.chelmsfordthecitytimes.co.uk
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Fitness and Well-Being
Happiness & Well-being: A Lifelong Apprenticeship - by Kellie Jones “Physical fitness can neither be achieved by wishful thinking nor outright purchase.” Joseph H Pilates. I heard myself recently saying out loud that if I could bottle how happy and well I feel now I’d be a billionaire! But as the quote above so clearly states it is just not possible. It’s funny really that we spend a lifetime with ourselves but committing to a lifelong practise sounds like, way too long. Our culture has become addicted to a quick fix, instant, throwaway lifestyle, but we are clearly seeing the evidence of the damage and disappointment that this way of being causes. As trends seem to come and go in the blink of an eye there seems to be no time to nurture ourselves, each other, or even a garden anymore. Joseph Pilates wrote in his book Return to Life Through Contrology way back in 1945 that “civilisation impairs physical fitness.” Donna Farhi, the author of Bringing Yoga to Life, says: “When we begin yoga practise in earnest, we are signing up for a lifelong apprenticeship with our Self and to the Self. There are no shortcuts or crash courses and there is no replacement for the satisfaction and richness that follow in the wake of such wholehearted commitment.”
The very first 2,000 year old yoga sutra 1.1 is the word Atha, readiness and commitment, the auspiciousness of the present moment, the beginning of studying who we are. I can honestly say that although at first this may seem overwhelming, once you have experienced the blissful high of just ‘being’ and the contented state that genuine health and happiness bring, there is no way you will want to ever go back to the quick fix. I know you may be thinking that this path is only for teachers, monks or woo woo hippies, but actually it’s not as inaccessible as it sounds. All it takes is deciding to start, after all you are going to be with you for life, so if you are expecting to become someone else you may well be waiting until your next life! We have a beautiful event coming up next month, Being Content Cultivating an Attitude of Gratitude, a Jivamukti Yoga workshop with the wholly good Essex soul that is Andy Nathan. If you want to get a really great insight how to step up your level of commitment to Self, then this will be the day to find out. Book your start of commitment to Self via our Hummingbird Pilates yoga app available to download at Apple or Google Play or at www. hummingbirdpilates.co.uk.
May/June Issue Deadlines: Artwork - 11th May Articles - 5th May
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Even though I have myself practised yoga and pilates now for 17 years, it is only in the past few years that I have truly gone beyond the physical aspects to cultivate my own Self. The fact that I’ve practised for that long shows that there is definitely some kind of commitment, but it was always more to do with it being my job and looking good as opposed to feeling good and ultimately pushing myself
to achieve. Luckily, both pilates and yoga work on a subtle level to release years of unexpressed stuff from our bodies, slowly unravelling the mystery of the mind. So let’s just say I was ready!
Pilates, Yoga, Meditation Book your space online or call: Small Classes & 1-2-1’s www.hummingbirdpilates.co.uk Inspirational Teachers 01245 422556 Friendly, Community Vibe Reeds Farm Estate, Writtle, CM1 2ST Page 22
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Warning: Celebrities are Ruining you Health (Probably) That’s right, celebrities are ruining your health. Not just because their TV shows cause us to sit on our bum for ages glued to the old goggle box, but because many of them either implicitly condone or explicitly declare their love of highly questionable health and nutrition practices!
Hollywood Undoubtedly, the mecca for celebrity BS is Hollywood. Where one of its biggest stars regularly bangs on about the benefits of the highly questionable practice of vaginal steaming, despite there being little if any - scientific evidence to support it.
personal training session, please don’t hesitate to get in touch. Also, if you enjoyed this please tell your friends - oh and follow me on social media too. matt@mlrpt.co.uk www.mlrpt.co.uk 07939 316 401 www.twitter.com/mlrpt www.facebook.com/mlrpt www.twitter.com/mlrpt
The Music Industry Hollywood may be Champions League level when it comes to spouting claptrap, but there’s plenty of other celebrities out there from the music industry giving it a good go too. Detoxes or cleanses garner lots of support in the celebrity world and a number of female singers are amongst their most vocal supporters. The only problem is, there is little, if any, evidence that they actually work (you can see a theme emerging here can’t you?). Supporters claim they rid the body of toxins but in reality, the human body does a very good job at this every time you go for a wee! Juicing In a similar vein, you then get the celebrities who are into their juicing. They just have to be seen strolling down the street sipping on some sort of coloured juice, normally green in colour. These guys may not vocalise their support for it, but the very fact that they get pictured holding a cup of it gives it a hefty nod of approval in the minds of their adoring fans. Granted, juicing may be a way of consuming more fruit and veg but claims that it detoxifies the body are once again largely unfounded. TOWIE Then there’s the good people TOWIE whom I believe began coining the phrase ‘no carbs before Marbs’ which we’re reliably informed by a former cast member caused ‘a lot of young people to stop eating carbs’. Which is a real shame because the much demonised macronutrient has several benefits. According to the NHS carbohydrates provide the body with much needed fibre and energy. Anyway, regardless of whether you think carbohydrates are good or bad one thing is for sure, cutting them from your diet for the long term is near impossible. It’s Not All Bad Though Before you cancel your subscription to OK! you must remember that some celebrities use their influence wisely. Michael J Fox and the late Christopher Reeve have done wonders for increasing research into Parkinson’s disease and spinal injuries. In Conclusion Although this seems like a systematic slagging off of celebrities, it’s really not meant to be. However misinformed they may be, I’m almost certain that they genuinely believe in the treatments that they advocate. In some ways celebrities are victims themselves. Victims of being under tremendous pressure to look ever young and stay slim, and in doing so they will happily try anything to remain that way. If anything, perhaps this article is more a of a critique of why many of us allow the ill informed words and actions of celebrities to trump the overwhelming evidence provided by the significantly more well informed scientific community! If you enjoyed this article I urge you to read the book Is Gwyneth Paltrow Wrong About Everything? by the excellent Timothy Caulfield. To book your free trial session at my bootcamp class, or your free www.chelmsfordthecitytimes.co.uk Page 23
Kid’s Page - Spot the 10 Differences - Answers page 28
Wildlife Corner by Nick Green The dry winter continued, though March experienced some rainfall and frost but river water levels remained low.
The increasing day length and light were welcomed by more spring plants. The magnolia trees look magnificent with their profusion of pink buds.The hedgerows are springing to life with hazel catkins and blackthorn (sloe) blossom. Pairs of mallard are flying about the countryside looking for potential nest sites. Bird song is still increasing with song and mistle thrushes, blackbirds, dunnock, chaffinch, skylarks… As predicted, the first African bird migrants were represented by species like garganey, little ringed plover, sand martin, chiffchaff and blackcap and ring ouzel at Sewardstone on 28th. The first cuckoos will be in the country on publication of this magazine giving their distinctive onomatopoeic calls!
In Essex the cuckoo is a summer visitor and passage migrant, preferring woodland, scrub, farmland and wetland with reed plus a diet of hairy caterpillars. The species winters in sub Saharan Africa (Congo rainforest) and is parasitic, laying its eggs in the nests of other species, with favoured species being dunnock, reed and sedge warblers and reed bunting. The recent 50% UK population decline in the last 20 years makes the cuckoo a Red List species. In fact the BTO since 2011 has had a radio-tracking project to monitor migration routes and progress - and the birds are on the move. This has made the news on national TV. A small GPS transmitter is placed on the back of an individual bird and each device will switch on for 10 hours every two days to transmit data. See www.bto.org/science/migration/tracking-studies/cuckootracking. Recent Essex Wildlife News The most noteworthy March 2017 bird news: Selected highlights include Abberton Reservoir; up to 56 scaup, 8 smew plus migrants garganey and little ringed plover. Copt Hall; a glossy ibis, while several glaucous gulls and black redstarts were reported from the coast. Bowers Gifford; 2 black-winged stilts on 30th. National rarities: In Cornwall the long staying Hudsonian whimbrel still remains as indeed the rare, long staying thrush from December, a blue rock thrush in Gloucestershire. In Norfolk were European species represented by pallid harrier and red-flanked bluetail. Pine buntings still were represented in Kent and Yorkshire. Cuckoo photograph copyright: Glyn Evans
Museum a Picture in More ways than One The advent of spring has seen the picturesque setting of Chelmsford Museum in Oaklands Park at its best over recent weeks with displays of spring bulbs, newly planted formal beds, magnolia and other bushes in flower along with the established trees coming into leaf. Many local residents have taken the opportunity to visit just to sit to admire the flowers and the general views. If you do not know the park then why not pay a visit to also enjoy it and then include a look into the museum to see the latest exhibition in the temporary display gallery? This comprises an exhibition of photographs by members of the Chelmsford Camera Club, for which the museum is pleased to provide a venue that makes the pictures accessible to all residents of Chelmsford. The Chelmsford Camera Club is the city’s premier photographic society which this year celebrates its 65th anniversary and the exhibition marks this occasion. It was officially opened on Friday 24th March by Councillor Denston, the Deputy Mayor of Chelmsford, at a private view attended by members of the club and other invited guests which included Friends of the Museum members.
The work on display is of high quality with images in black and white and colour that embrace still life topics, individuals and groups of people, a wide variety of UK and foreign landscapes and wildlife. The latter includes a stunning colour picture entitled Volcano Hummingbird in the Wild-Costa Rica taken by Alison Johnson which won the Presidents Cup award for Image of the Year 2015-16 as voted for by club members. This is only one of the many outstanding photographs on display which make the exhibition well worth a visit. April 26th will see the Friends of the Museum starting to get out and about with the first of the 2017 summer visits, which is to the Essex Regimental Chapel at Great Warley. The chapel was built in 1857 for the Honourable East India Company and taken over by the War Office in 1861 after the Indian Mutiny. It contains numerous memorials, colours, furniture and rolls of honour connected with the county regiment. Members will meet at the chapel at 10.45am for a conducted tour. In the afternoon there will be a visit to the Church of St Mary the Virgin which was built in 1904 and is listed Grade 1 for its noted Art Nouveau style interior designed by William ReynoldsStephens. The cost for the visit is £12.00 including tea at the museum, £14.00 for non-members who are welcome (for booking details, see www.friendschelmsmuseums.btck.co.uk). In addition to the usual attractions at the museum, over the Easter period there will be various special activities. These include Messy Crafters which are themed craft workshops for pre-schoolers, and Creative Crafters sessions for school aged children using the museum collections and displays for inspiration. Over the weekend of 22-23rd April at Sandford Mill there will be the annual celebration for Marconi’s birthday with a range of attractions and interactive sessions including TV cameras and remote control activities (for more information see www.chelmsford gov.uk/museums). Love your museum, be a friend.
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A recent history of the police in Chelmsford, part Two by Stephen Norris At the outbreak of the first war there were only 450 police officers in the county and a volunteer force had to be recruited to help the regular officers. Five hundred special constables were recruited with further numbers held in reserve. They were not issued with uniforms, but were given armbands to show their authority. The ‘specials’ kept their day jobs but were expected to carry out four hours patrol near their homes. They were eventually given a peaked cap and a whistle. A Special Chief Constable position was established with a proper ranking structure under him. Women were employed during the war as auxiliaries, mainly to deal with women and children. There was considerable opposition within the county’s force to women in the police, particularly from the later Chief Constable, Francis Peel, and Essex was the last county in the country to employ women in 1946. Captain Showers retired in 1915 after 31 years as Chief Constable. The new Chief Constable, John Unett, had started with the City of London force and had been appointed Chief Constable of Preston in 1912. He introduced new measures to deal with speeding motorists, where police had to use stop watches; they checked the time taken for a motorist to travel along a quarter of a mile length of road. He died whilst still Chief Constable in 1932. During the First World War the regular force had become increasingly disenchanted with the job, both locally and nationally, because inflation meant that police wages in real terms fell drastically. A local branch of the National Union of Police was formed and there was a threat of strike action. With the rise of Bolshevikism, this was the last thing the national government wanted and it set up the Police Federation. Essex Police didn’t support the 1919 national police strike. The first motor car for the county force was bought by Captain Unett in 1915 but they still used 16 horses. In 1918 four new Ford cars were bought and in 1931 ten Triumph motor cycles were acquired, but the new Chief Constable did not use these as police transport; he felt the officer should concentrate on controlling the vehicle not chasing villains. In 1936 the first cars were installed with radio receivers. Unett’s successor, Francis Peel, was a direct descendant of Robert Peel. He went to Cambridge University after the army but then was a beat constable in Liverpool in a tough area where he had to be armed on his patrols. Peel was the youngest chief constable when appointed at Bath, becoming also the first to rise through all the ranks from beat constable. The inter war period saw an increase in thefts involving cars. In 1930 for example, several public houses between Ongar and Chelmsford were broken into and one of the publicans chased the men in his car. By 1931 over a third of non indictable offences in the county were involving motor cars, as the number of accidents inevitably increased. From 1927 phones were installed in all police houses in the county. By 1935 the motor patrol department based at police headquarters in Chelmsford consisted of one sergeant with twenty constables and ten cars. This was obviously insufficient and was increased to forty constables and twenty cars before the Second World War. Even before the WWII the Chief Constable was concerned at the growth of juvenile crime, with amongst other things the first recorded cases of ‘joy riding’. The county’s Detective and Inquiry Department was set up after the WWI: Detectives were needed to deal in particular with the increasing number of robberies from safes that were occurring in towns like Chelmsford. Training continued to be carried out at the county headquarters. Until 1923 it was carried out by Sergeant John Brooks, in 1926 Brooks was promoted to Inspector in the Special Constabulary for training purposes. The specials were kept on as a reserve in the county after the war. The county’s police force was greatly reduced in WWII. By December 1939, 101 officers had gone to the army. By 1941 a further 73 had volunteered and conscription resulted in another 117 being called up. In all, 291 officers served in the war, of whom 24 were killed in action. In November 1940 the Police Headquarters at Springfield
was hit in a bomb attack. Two policemen on guard duty were killed. They were the only policemen to die in Essex whilst on active police service. Again, special constables played a noteworthy part in relieving the pressure on the regular police. Many of the local police were involved in training workers in ARP. An Inspector Hodges, for example, trained workers at the Hoffmann factory which proved vital when the works was hit several times. 350 auxiliaries were employed in the county’s force, including the Women’s Peace Corp. Peel however, remained implacably opposed to women joining the force. The immediate post war years were marked by an increase in robberies in the Chelmsford area and the county as a whole. This caused alarm, partly because there was a severe shortage of police. “The police complain that they are severely handicapped through lack of men, particularly on patrol duties.” A year later the Weekly News said one officer was responsible for investigating 60 robberies. Police were still resigning for better paid jobs in the 1950s. Robberies continued, particularly in the rural areas. Most raids on houses were small scale but a burglary on the outskirts of Chelmsford in 1948 resulted in £1,000 worth of jewels being stolen. In 1950 the Essex force launched a big recruiting campaign with a window display in Bonds in the High Street; there were 140 vacancies in the county. Concern was heightened by the increase in armed robberies in the area. At a robbery at East Hanningfield where £350 in cash and jewellery was stolen, a woman had a revolver stuck in her ribs. The robbers were caught and were jailed for 6 years. One new phenomenon in the area after the war was that of teenage gangs. One was reported to be terrorising the area around the Boreham airfield. Initially this was frequently attributed to the increased amount of freedom children had during the war years. Another concern was the high road accident rate, particularly amongst children. The kerb drill was taught in schools, which was particularly important on crowded streets such as those in Chelmsford. In 1953, 1,000 motorcyclists were killed or injured on the roads of Essex. Police motorcyclists, who had been re-introduced to the county, had to wear crash helmets on patrol duty. The early 1970s saw a good deal of criticism of the police in the Chelmsford division. In 1972 there was an inquiry into alleged local police brutality with the Chelmsford MP, Stevas, receiving a number of complaints about police behaviour. Until 1975 there was a separate Women’s Police Department in the county. After 1975, women had equal pay and could start to do the same jobs as male officers. 1973 saw the first use of speed cameras in the area with those caught appearing in the Chelmsford courts. In 1975 a new county police headquarters was announced to be built at Springfield on roughly the same site as the old one. This was to house communication and CID units, a rifle range, a dining room and a recreation area. It opened in 1979 and included a computer run technology centre. One of the functions of which was to monitor traffic conditions in the county, including the smooth running of the Army and Navy roundabout through the use of close circuit TV. All Essex police operations would be run from a control room by a twenty man team. At the time this represented one of the most advanced systems in the world. The Essex Police Training School, which had only opened in 1969 at Springfield, was closed. All recruitment in future was to be from those over eighteen and a half. The late 1980s saw a big increase in drunkenness and loutish behaviour in the town with extra police drafted in to the High Street and Moulsham Street at weekends. In 1986 for example, there was a gang fight involving 400 youths in Duke Street. During 1993, CCTV cameras were announced for the town to combat vandalism and shoplifting. The £350,000 scheme was introduced in phases but by 1996 crime in the town centre had been greatly reduced. By 1998 there were 44 cameras with more on the way and shoplifting had fallen by 35%. There was a big increase in arrests for drugs, a decrease in criminal damage and a decrease in the theft of cars.
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Rotary Clubs in Chelmsford all have a Busy Month
There are five Rotary clubs in Chelmsford all doing wonderful work in the community. Whilst they often work together, each is autonomous and ‘does its own thing’. This month I have decided to feature the range of activities that Chelmsford Mildmay has been up to so you can get just a flavour of what involvement with Rotary means. On 10th March, Mildmay Rotarians and friends were out collecting for Marie Curie at Morrisons, Newland Spring, achieving a grand total of over £500. This is probably why many people think of Rotary purely as fundraising, but this is not the case at all and every year The Boswells School in Chelmsford organises mock interviews for its Year 10 students. Recently, Rotarians joined together to give the students their first taste of a formal interview and to provide feedback on how they can improve their performance. As always, the students surprised, impressed and delighted. Paula Page, the school’s Careers Advisor said: “The interviews provide valuable experience and help prepare students for real life job and further education interviews. We greatly appreciate the work of our volunteer interviewers.”
Chess are trying to raise £300,000 for their refurbishment programme of 200 New London Road (The CHESS Hub). They have already raised one third of this sum but need an immediate £40,000 to complete the essential work for bedrooms and residents’ infrastructure and they are extremely grateful to Rotary clubs in Chelmsford who have supported their efforts over a long period of time. As I said, this is just a flavour of what goes on in one Rotary club in Chelmsford in one month. If you would like to find out how you can be part of a worldwide organisation helping others whilst enjoying new friendships and a full social programme, visit www. chelmsfordrotary1240.org, or phone me on 01245 260 349. Stan Keller
On Sunday 14th May, Chelmsford music venue Asylum will be transformed into a pop-up art gallery. Inspired by the owner Ed Wood’s interest in local artistic talent, this event will run from midday until 8pm and hopes to draw a crowd that are interested by what Chelmsford’s art scene has to offer. In February, Mildmay Rotarians held a frugal lunch in support of the World’s Greatest Meal, raising £250, with Gift Aid £312, plus the Gates Foundation donation amounting to circa £936, all of which is part of the Rotary End Polio Now campaign. The calorific value of what was eaten: Two bread rolls, two pats of butter and the soup added roughly to 414 calories, the equivalent to about half an African refugee’s daily intake - so very much, food for thought. On International Science Day, 14th March, the club was delighted to welcome Diviya Devania, Space Imaging Graduate, and Adam Sullivan, Project Manager, from e2v. They spoke with excitement and enthusiasm about the company as it strives to ‘Bring Life to Technology’ in partnership with its customers to improve and protect people’s lives. It was absolutely clear why e2v is world leader in this field and we can be enormously proud that our city is home to them. We can be even more proud that they have chosen to be a generous sponsor of the Great Baddow Charity Races. Without sponsorship of this kind the Rotary Club of Chelmsford Mildmay would be completely unable to organise the magnificently successful annual event and so never have been able to raise the hundreds of thousands of pounds for local charities that has occurred. At the end of February a Charity Curry Night raised funds for the Computers for Tanzania project. There were some 70 people there who all agreed it was a very successful evening. Over £530 was added to funds for the project. On Tuesday 21st March, David Hodgkinson and Lindsay Hurrell from the Homeless charity, CHESS, gave a presentation about the work of the organisation. They gave some startling facts about rough sleepers - those actually sleeping on the street - they are 15 times more likely to be the victims of assault than other men and 20% of those who were homeless in 2005 and under 26 tried to commit suicide because of their situation.
Candy Joyce and Richard Hindle, regulars at Asylum and keen fans of the venue, are currently gathering local artists and photographers who wish to display their work and are also hoping to raise money for The Association for Post Natal Illness (www.apni.org) via charity donations. Candy Joyce says: “Entry on the day is free but we are hoping people might shake loose some change to go in the charity buckets for APNI. We want to attract Asylum regulars as well as people who may not have visited the venue before. We are very keen to give local artists a place to display their work, if the idea works then we have plans to make it a regular event.” The bar will be open on the day so people can also enjoy a drink whilst browsing the art and speaking to the artists. To submit work please contact Richard or Candy via email at either hindle.richard@gmail.com, or candyajoyce@yahoo.co.uk. www.facebook.com/ArtsylumChelmsford www.asylumchelmsford.co.uk www.facebook.com/asylumchelmsfordbar www.apni.org www.facebook.com/associationforpostnatalillness
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Stargazing with Mark Willis - April/May April 20th - 21:30: Looking west-north-west, Mars can be spotted close to Pleiades. Looking almost horizontally to the left you will see a bright star called Aldebaran. Mars, it has to be said, can be disappointing. Even though it’s comparatively close it is a small planet. I can’t go into too much detail here, but from astronomy clubs, magazines and the Internet you can image Mars. A worthwhile date to put into your diary is 27th July 2018, when Mars is in opposition; this is when Mars will appear especially bright and also will be very observable as it is its closest to Earth for decades.
means the skies will be extra dark which is a great opportunity to see planets, galaxies and deep space objects.
April 16th - 25th: You can watch the Lyrid meteor shower and also in May, the Eta Aquarids looking north. No equipment of any kind is required except a deck chair, a clear night, some warm clothes and some hot coffee. The Lyrid shower is the better bet of the two, as the latter (in 2017) might be spoilt by the bright Moon.
Mark Willis presents Willis Wireless every Monday at 7pm on Chelmsford Community Radio on 104.4 FM and online at: chelmsfordcommunityradio.com.
New Moon: On 26th April and 25th May there will be a new Moon. This
Free computer software to help you stargaze: Stellarium is a wonderful planetarium program which is enormously helpful in enabling to track planets, especially if you’re new to stargazing (www. stellarium.org). As usual, email me with any questions.
Web: www.chelmsfordcommunityradio.com Twitter: @WillisWireless Email: mark.willis@chelmsfordcommunityradio.com
The Nesting Place - A haven for your pregnancy, birthing and fertility needs The Nesting Place, Chelmsford’s only independent fertility, pregnancy and birthing centre, opened its doors for the first time at the beginning of March and has been offering a warm welcome to couples starting or planning to start a family since.
This unique hub of tranquility offers a regular programme of activity for fertility and pregnancy related needs, such as hypnobirthing classes, pregnancy and baby massage, fertility support and much more and is an essential facility for prospective and expectant
parents.
Based in Unit 2 The Old Coal Yard, Little Waltham Road, it’s off the beaten track location welcomes you with a feeling of relaxation and warmth, which is echoed by the embracing greeting you receive from owner Steph and her team of experts when you step through the door. www.thenestingplace.co.uk Supporting you every step of the way. Facebook: @thenestingplaceessex Twitter: @Thenestplace Photo Credit: Lilybud Photography
Turn Up, Tune Up, And Sing Out Loud With Us Eight years ago, I wanted to make new friends and meet people. I loved singing, yet was far too shy to ‘Sing Out Loud’, in front of anyone! I just wanted to join voices with others, singing melody and harmony.
in the Garden. This is the launch event for the Galleywood Festival (supporting the Heritage Centre).
I couldn’t find what I was looking for, so I set up Sing Out Loud myself in November 2008. We’re still firmly based in central Chelmsford, with 2-3 dozen singers and a younger sister Monday group in Colchester. Sing Out Loud appeals to men and women of any age (20s to 80s), and level of singing ability. Tutors play guitar and we learn a wide variety of familiar and lesser known songs - by ear. So, you needn’t read music, and we don’t audition! Renowned for our friendly welcome, we meet on Thursday evenings (7.30-9.30pm), in central Chelmsford, for 3 x 10 week terms, over the school year. I found my voice through Sing Out Loud, and now occasionally lead the singing. I’ve also seen our singers’ confidence increase. Each year, we participate in local fund-raising. These are social occasions, and even those unused to public performance relish the events and eagerly await the next one! In the past we have performed for local schools, churches, cancer charities, and food banks. On the evening of 30th June 2017, Sing Out Loud will be at Picnic
If you too are looking for new friends and love singing, why not get your voice in tune by calling for information and to book your place? Either alone, or with a friend, you will receive the warm Sing Out Loud welcome. Phone 07853 132 633, email info@sing-out-loud.co.uk, website www.sing-out-loud.co.uk (please give your phone number and suggest a good time to call).
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Spot the Difference Answers 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
221b Baker Street, London 335 East Sussex July 1st 1996 19,240 London cab driver, George Smith, on September 10th, 1897 7. 1963, August 8th 8. A liar 9. A magnet 10. Obverse or ‘heads’
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11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30.
Weasel or Ferret Miss Gonzalez Durantez Scorpio Gold leaf Christ The Redeemer B A I 360 Mr Mark Carney (Canadian) A ski run 1215 Raven Lodge On a sundial 5’4” A grub Walker Mr Swan, company named Ediswan Sir Elton John Men Sir Roderick Stewart The wool of sheep
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