Moulsham Times April 2016

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Issue Number 40 - April 2016

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MT Welcome

Images of the month: John Prior of The Hop Beer Shop receiving his Chelmsford and Mid Essex Pub of the Year award from Doug Irons and Chris Neale presenting the mayor with a copy of Tim Wander’s book at the official opeenng of the Marconi exhibition at Hall Street.

Welcome to the April edition of the Moulsham Times.

Thsi month we have 80s band The Blow Monkeys playing at Chelmsford City Football Club, supported by local band Sportsday (see page 5 for details).

Also 3foot People Festival tickets go on sale before the end of the month (these have historically sold out very quickly) - www.chelmsford.gov. uk/3foot.

Kind regards Nick and Paul

it’s your media Ltd Advertising Nick Garner 07970 206682 ads@itsyourmedia.co.uk Editorial Paul Mclean 07595 949701 editorial@itsyourmedia.co.uk Disclaimer: It’s Your Media publish the Moulsham 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 Ltd. No part may be reproduced without the prior written permission of It’s Your Media Ltd. Reg Co No. 09154871. Printed by Imagery UK.

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3

Why Running a Successful Fashion Business is About More than ‘Pretty’ Clothes

The South East of England - and Essex in particular - in general have an abundance of inspiring and innovative independent retail businesses.

When speaking to successful fashion retailers, there are themes and obstacles which become apparent. Business rates, parking, the living wage, but equally an understanding of how customer insight and superior customer service can make or break a sale. Independent businesses are many and varied, but the successful ones do have several common denominators. Given that the average survival rate for start-up businesses is 50% after four years, with 47% of fashion retailers still in business after 4 years, exploring the traits of those 53% who endure is worth a 5 minute read.

I was speaking to a very successful independent fashion retailer in north London recently and she shared her philosophy to running her eponymous business, which has been trading since 1996.

What emerged was a very strong sense of identity and reluctance to compromise on that. Trying to please everyone, in retail as in life, usually brings causalities. Consistency fosters confidence: “As an independent business, you become associated with key looks and specific styles, but ultimately the customer and public cannot pin you down - and I don’t want to be ‘pinned down’ as it’s boring and predictable and we are not about being predictable.” Playing the role of stylist and editor is a core part of running a unique fashion business with a clear point of difference. When a customer visits your shop for more than the product alone, you are already providing something intangible, abstract and virtually incomparable. Being able

to visualise your customer and her lifestyle is crucial before setting up shop. Once you have that firmly etched in your mind, your ability to buy and edit to meet their needs is vastly improved. You become their personal shopper, stylist, editor, lifestyle coach and destination business. They will visit you because your offering ‘represents me’.

All of this, in addition to having that product, which customers could easily google from the palm of their hand.

So, returning to the question of what distinguishes an enduring fashion retailer. Another way of considering this is to question why many will set up a business in the first place. This particular retailer answered this in a very pertinent and refreshing way: “Running a fashion business is about a great deal more than ‘pretty dresses’. It’s not about me. It’s not about what I would wear or what’s right for me. It’s about the customer. My thoughts on launching a fashion shop are that you would no more start a fashion shop because you like clothes than you would open a restaurant because you like food!”

Melissa Wheeler is a freelance fashion writer, fashion PR and also the retail columnist for the Fashion Association of Britain (FAB), a trade association which provides support and business services to independent retailers. Alongside her fashion PR business, Melissa contributes to fashion industry trade titles. @MelissavWheeler www.melissawheeler.co.uk melissavwheeler@gmail.co.uk

‘Treating the Cause’ - What Does That Mean?!

Since opening the new practice, I find myself explaining what osteopathy is rather a lot!

A key phrase that you’ll hear many osteopaths say is that we ‘treat the cause, not just the symptom.’

But what does that really mean? Let me give you an example to explain; say someone (let’s call her Sally) has elbow pain.

Sally’s elbow didn’t wake up one day and say, ‘you know what? I’m going to annoy Sally today just for a giggle.’ Nope. It’s more like the forces that go through the elbow over time gradually wear away at the tissues until they can’t take it any more and become strained.

But why would the forces going through the elbow cause the tissues to become strained? Here’s the fun bit. It’s where an osteopath can take a look at how your whole body moves and ask the question ‘why is that elbow doing too much?’ If the elbow was doing its fair share - no more, no less - there would be no pain. There is pain when it’s doing too much.

So we need to look at how your feet interact with the floor, how your hips twist and turn to load your powerful hip muscles, how your core muscles control your spinal movement, how good your shoulders are at positioning the hand in space... Because a chink in the chain,

anywhere in the chain, may mean that the elbow has to do more than its fair share.

If Sally was a tennis player, and she had a tight hip, as she takes the racket back round her body to prepare for a shot she wouldn’t be able to twist as far. This is important because it would mean she wouldn’t be able to use her powerful hip and core muscles as much.

If the hip and core muscles haven’t been loaded (by rotation of the body), but Sally still wants to hit a winning shot, she will end up using more arm and elbow power to get it there. In order to treat Sally successfully an osteopath would need to improve hip function as well as treating the symptoms at the elbow.

It’s worth noting that there are an infinite number of causes for elbow pain, just as there are other pains throughout the body - and this is why I find the job so interesting; everyone is different!

For more information visit www.fortephysicalhealth.co.uk or email us at chris@fortephysicalhealth.co.uk. We like to chat!

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From County Hall by Cllr Dick Madden

Last week, on 12th March, I attended the Wildlife Day at Moulsham Lodge Community Building (the old police station) and had a wonderful day as ‘front of house’ taking orders for bacon rolls, jacket potatoes, teas, coffees and importantly - cake. It was great fun and I saw many of you and had the opportunity to discuss assorted topics. However, what of the Wildlife Day? It was a raging success and I am sure more will be explained in this magazine. Though I had fun and glad I could support the day, the brains and ideas to establish the day was Lorna with the help of her husband Andy, her mum, family and friends. Not forgetting the Moulsham Lodge Community Trust committee who all work tirelessly to support our community. Thank you to all of you, another success.

I then spent a few hours with my loyal and hard working staff dealing with the assorted letters and emails I receive daily from across our county. Leading to the evening, where I attended a political meeting for a few hours, then onto Marconi Social Club where I went to see and thank several senior managers of ECC who were leaving the organisation.

I got home to Kathryn at 10.30pm. A good day. I slept well.

BE SAFE Dick Madden

Talking of success, the Marconi Exhibition opened this week in the Old Marconi Building in Hall Street. I went to the official opening though only briefly - and saw assorted displays on radio development and listened to a presentation on the history of Marconi. Please can I recommend you visit the exhibition, which is open for the next few months on Saturdays and Sundays.

Again, can I - on your behalf - thank the committee, who over several months have developed the final exhibition, thank you.

I said that I could only go to the official opening of the Marconi Exhibition briefly. I have reflected on that actual day and wanted to share with you what an interesting day I had. It started with visiting Broomfield Hospital in my role as Cabinet Member for Adults and Children for ECC and meeting social workers and support workers who are part of the discharge team at the hospital. They ensure patients discharged who require home support, residential care and other social care activities actually are supported when they leave the hospital. Imagine, every patient is an individual all with different needs - a very demanding role. I left the hospital and travelled across our city and attended the Children’s Society building and offices in Springfield Road, where I had the honour of officially opening an extension to the building and at the same time celebrating 30 years of the Children’s Society. I had the opportunity to meet many staff and heard of the many projects they conduct in Essex in supporting vulnerable children - wonderful. It was from the Children’s Society I had to hot-foot it to the Marconi exhibition, then I had to get back to County Hall in the city centre to meet some families regarding their adult disabled children. I was humbled being in their presence, as they shared with me their love and care of their children.

From The House by Sir Simon Burns - Child Rescue Alert As you can imagine, MPs are constantly lobbied on various initiatives, schemes and campaigns.

One that particularly struck me recently, because of the horror it instils in all parents, is a campaign about children and young people who go missing.

A staggering 140,000 children go missing each year in the UK. The six hours following a child’s disappearance - often referred to as the ‘golden hours’ - are critical to the investigation. The sooner the public is alerted to a disappearance, the greater the chance of the child’s safe return.

Child Rescue Alert, which is managed through the National Crime Agency and in conjunction with Missing People, helps raise awareness when children go missing. A Child Rescue Alert is activated by the police when a child is known to have been abducted or their life is believed to be at immediate risk.

Royal Mail, who drew the initiative to my attention, has been working

with Child Rescue Alert and recently put a special postmark on letters to highlight the scheme. It has also funded the work of Child Rescue Alert for a year, which will ensure the operation of a 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year service.

Over 120,000 of Royal Mail postmen and women are registered to receive Child Rescue Alerts. It means many more eyes and ears are looking for a missing child when an alert is issued. In the first year of supporting the work of Child Rescue Alert, 50 alerts were issues to Royal Mail staff and 35 of those missing people were found safe and well.

I support every effort that is made to make sure that everything is done to protect the lives of children at risk. The Government is currently undertaking a refresh of its Missing Children and Adults Strategy for England and Wales, which will be published later this year. This will include an implementation plan to improve the overall response to missing people including better use of the Child Rescue Alert system.

You can sign up to the Child Rescue Alert by texting HERO and your postcode to 85080 or by visiting www.childrescuealert.org.uk/ register.

The Gospel According to Caroline

For the last few days the sun has shone gloriously, there is warmth in the air and hopefully, these are the first signs that spring is on the way. Spring often encourages us to ‘spring clean’ - we turn out the cupboards and wardrobes and declutter, maybe even tackling the dreaded task of cleaning the oven! A fresh season and the promise of warm sunshine invokes a frenzy of activity after the dormant dark and cold months. However, what about us? How many of us I wonder, stop and take a long hard look at ourselves and see if we need a spring clean. It is so easy to slip into bad habits, over-eating, over-drinking, being uncaring and thoughtless to name but a few. If we are not ‘clean’ within ourselves, all the superficial cleaning of the outside will not renew and revive us.

In Psalm 24, it talks of how people want more of God in their lives and to be in, and feel his presence, but this gift does not come free, we have to be prepared to have ‘clean hands and a pure heart.’

In this season of spring, maybe look to declutter yourself as well as your cupboards.

To find out what we exciting things are happening at Christ Church, visit our Facebook page - Christ Church URC Chelmsford, or our website - www.christchurchchelmsfordurc. org.uk.

Caroline Brown, Church Family and Community Worker, Christ Church United Reformed Church.

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Chelmsford College News - ‘Just saying’ This month Lilika Diamandakis, a level 4 business student, has pulled together some of the activities and trips that have been going on with students at Chelmsford College.

Hicks our curriculum team leader in catering, to lend a hand making the delicious canapés for the evening - a great experience to add to their CVs.

New York Trip

Skills East of England Event

On 22nd February our Level 3 art and design and media students had the once in a lifetime opportunity to visit the Big Apple with the college! As well as day trips that go hand in hand with their course, Emily Shaw, one of the media students said: “New York was an amazing trip, I got to see tourist sites and also had free time to explore the city with my friends.”

On 2nd and 3rd March, Chelmsford College took the art, design and media, as well as the applied science departments, on the road to a Skills East exhibition at the Crowne Plaza Resort. Skills East of England is part of a national series of careers, jobs and skills events, bringing young people face-to-face with employers, training providers, further education colleges, universities, professional bodies and sector specific organisations. Our three stalls at the event included our forensic science team with a ‘murder’ to solve, media with video games created by our own students, as well as a green screen to give people the chance to try out being a weather reporter and a stand for our brilliant information and guidance team. Our stands must have stood out because the entire team took home the best stand award!

Crime Scene Investigation

The four-day trip had something for everyone and gave the students a chance to see many exciting careers in action. They were lucky enough to go on a tour of the NBC studios - famous for big shows such as Saturday Night Live, The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, Heroes and old favourites like Friends and The Office. It was a personal highlight for Emily because “it gave us an insight to what it would be like to actually work there and it made me want to go into television even more!” The students visited both the Guggenheim Museum and Metropolitan Museum of Art, as well as The Paley Centre for Media and Sony Wonder Technology Lab. TV and movie site tours were packed in so our students got the full experience of the city that never sleeps. Emily summed it up nicely: “I still have my tickets from everything we did and I plan on keeping them safe, along with photographs to remind me of the trip, not that I will ever forget it!”

Bloggers Event

Our forensic science students had a treat when Crime Scene Investigation came down to the college to give the students a real taste at what they experience every day on the job. With activities like a car crash scene to be investigated and fingerprint dusting, the students had a fun interactive day out of the classroom in which they could actually apply the things they’ve been learning. Not to mention, each student was issued with a crime scene suit for the day so they really looked and felt the part.

Digital Champion Programme On the 1st of January, Sophie Woodman was proud to receive an award from CAE. CAE Technology are IT infrastructure specialists working with some of the world’s leading IT manufacturers - including Microsoft - and are recognised as a leading employer within the sector. Coming second in a nationwide competition to find the young Digital Champions who had made the biggest impact in their college, Sophie’s prize was a Kindle Paperwhite, tickets to The Gadget Show in Birmingham as well as visits with - and mentoring from - the world’s leading ICT manufacturers. Sophie is a second year student who plans to achieve 3 D*s at the end of the year and to go on to study computer science at Essex University. She is delighted: “I am really proud of myself getting this brilliant opportunity of working with CAE and learning new skills”.

On 25th February, Chelmsford College’s very own Lee Stafford Hair and Beauty Academy hosted a successful event where twenty local beauty bloggers were invited to an evening of treatments, provided by our students. Emma Sivess, one of the students in the Peter Jones Academy studying the Entrepreneurship course, was one of the key organisers for the event to make sure that the evening ran smoothly - she will be attending the University of Sussex next year to study marketing and management!

The man himself, Lee Stafford, made an appearance to speak to our guests and students and everyone enjoyed a relaxed evening in our top-notch academy setting. Not only was this a great opportunity to showcase how talented our students are, but also a chance to show how as a college we are modernising the way we promote ourselves. The catering students were even kind enough, along with Hilary www.moulshamtimes.co m

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MT Gardening

The leaves are necessary to produce strong bulbs capable of reflowering.

Ideally leave for 6-8 weeks before cutting down to ensure bumper flower cops next year

Tom’s top tips for action

What a marvellous time of the year and just so much to do! Here are just a few things to keep you all busy.

•

Prune spring blooming shrubs such as Forsythia and Spiraea after they have completed flowering.

•

Plant ground covers under shade trees that do not allow enough sunlight to grow grass. Vinca minor or Pachysandra are ground cover plants that grow well in shade.

•

Consider planting flowers which may be dried for winter arrangements. Some of the best are strawflower, statice, celosia, and globe amaranth. Start in propagators and don’t plant out until mid May.

•

To extend the blooming period of gladiolus, plant early, middle and late season selections each week until the middle of June.

Choose a sunny location and plant the corms four to six inches deep and 15 - 20cm (six to eight inches) apart.

•

Mulch around newly planted trees and shrubs. This practice reduces weeds, controls fluctuations in soil temperature, retains moisture, prevents damage from lawn mowers and looks attractive.

•

Scatter annual poppy seeds in flower borders. The fine seeds need no covering. The plants grow rapidly and provide colourful flowers in early summer.

•

•

• When chrysanthemums show signs of life, dig up and divide large plants. Discard woody portions and replant divisions 30cm - 45cm (12 to 15 inches) apart.

Lawns maintained at the correct height are less likely to have disease and weed infestation. Bluegrass and tall fescue should be mowed at 5cm-7.5cm (two or three inches) in height. Mow frequently, removing no more than one third of the blade at each cutting.

•

Grass clippings can be used as a mulch in flower beds and vegetable gardens if allowed to dry well before use. Never use clippings from a lawn that has been treated with a herbicide; only after they have been rested for around 6-8 months.

•

Newly transplanted vegetable plants should be protected from cutworms with collars. Cut strips of cardboard 5cm x 20cm (two inches wide by eight inches) long, staple them into circles and place them around the plants. Press the collar about one inch into the soil. These collars will fence out the cutworms and protect the stems of the vegetable plants.

•

Stay out of the garden when the vegetable plant leaves are wet.

Walking through a wet garden spreads disease from one plant to another.

•

Four or five layers of newspaper will serve as an effective mulch in the garden. Cover it with grass clippings or straw to prevent it from blowing away.

•

Put tools away at the end of the day. Clean them and hang them up so they are ready to use and easy to find when you need them.

•

To better evaluate your gardening successes, keep weather records along with garden records. The most important items to report are daily minimum and maximum temperatures, precipitation, cloud cover and frost occurrences.

• Cut flower stalks back to the ground on daffodils, hyacinths and other spring flowering bulbs as the flowers fade. Do not cut the foliage until it dies naturally.

Good luck and 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 tom.cole@writtle.ac.uk.

10

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Competition Time - Win a Hair Appointment (Worth £150) at Rush What is the average hair growth per month?

1.25cm per month 1cm per month 2cm per month Please email your answer along with your name and phone number to: dean@ajc93.com.

Interview with Billy Lynch from Rush Chelmsford How did you start your career in hairdressing?

“I started my career in hairdressing because it ran in my family and was something close to my heart and that I was truly passionate about.”

When did you start in the industry?

“I started in the industry with a Saturday job while at school and realised at a young age that I wanted to make this my future. I then attended a private college in London’s West End and never looked back!”

You are a franchisee of Rush, how did you find out about this and was it a big decision?

“I first heard of Rush through Chris Williams, International Colour Director, who I previously had the pleasure working along with who explained how passionate the Rush company directors are about their business.”

What are your plans for the future with Rush?

“Now I am fortunate enough to work alongside Stell and Andy (directors) on my first Rush venture in Chelmsford, working alongside a great team who share the same passions in driving the salon to the top the Rush way.”

There are many hairdressers in Chelmsford, does Rush have a USP? “Bespoke hairstyles tailored for the individual client. Our motto is - beautiful hair at an affordable price.”

How does Rush keep up with the latest hairdressing trends?

“We are a fashion brand, we do shows all around the world, we have 3 academies that every stylist trains in and we are all trained by the famous Rush artistic team.”

If you need Fresh Flowers, Sundries or Plants Eleflora is where you need to go.

Located on the Widford Industrial Estate in Chelmsford we have all you’ll need.

All our flowers are brought fresh from the Dutch auction on a daily basis.

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11

and local artists performing, plus competitions, free giveaways and more. The Smoking Bun food shack have been invited to supply some mouth watering smoked meat treats and in the morning. They will be serving the eager record collectors in the queue with tea, coffee and bacon sarnies as they wait to get in to the treasure trove of vinyl gems.

Jon from Intense says: “Last year was our busiest day ever, we had over 100 people waiting for us to open the doors, (see picture) it was an amazing day and shows the dedication of the record buying public and further cements the fact that vinyl sales are on the up and it’s not looking like it’s stopping anytime soon - it’s a great time for record shops at the moment. We’ve a host of special guests lined up for the day and we can’t wait to announce them, but for now we can reveal that opening the day we have Danny Bounce from The Dig Over performing an early morning RSD warm up set”.

Intense Records, under the arches along Viaduct Road, are Chelmsford’s only remaining independent record shop and yet again will be taking part in National Record Store Day held on Saturday 16th April 2016. Record Store Day, now in its 9th year, is the one day that all of the independently owned record stores come together with artists to celebrate the art of music. Special vinyl releases are made exclusively for the day and hundreds of artists perform at record stores across the globe.

For more info pop in to Intense Records, 33/34 Viaduct Road, Chelmsford CM1 1TS (under the arches next to to the bus station). alternatively, check their website - www.intenserecords.co.uk.

As Record Store Day is fast approaching, this year’s list of exclusive releases has been revealed, releases from Bastille, Birdy, Hozier, Justin Bieber, Sia and Florence & The Machine will be enticing the younger generation, whilst Elvis Presley, Jimi Hendrix and The Doors help to rekindle the love of long-time vinyl fans. Fans of the late great David Bowie will be getting in line early to secure copies of his two re-issues; the first is an LP picture disc of the 1970s album The Man Who Sold The World. The second honours the 40th anniversary of his album Station to Station with a 7” picture disc.

Steeve Coogan’s most loved character, Alan Partridge, is also to make his debut on vinyl, immortalised on a picture disc bearing his face. Just some of the many indie/rock releases include The Libertines, The Foals and Ocean Colour Scene.

Dance fans have some special treats from Chase & Status and J Kenzo and two dance classics get the repress treatment, the seminal Pacific by 808 State and the Accelerator LP by Future Sound of London. Hip hop heads are always spoilt with a huge selection of releases to choose from and this year is no different with a great selection of exclusive pieces of plastic from Outkast, J Dilla, Eminem, Pete Rock and The Notorious B.I.G. To view the full list of releases, check www.recordstoreday.co.uk. If you want to make sure Intense are stocking items on your wish list, email info@intenserecords.co.uk or call 01245 347372 now.

Intense Records will be holding a special in-store day for Record Store Day from 9am - 6pm, with live DJs, special guest appearances 12

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Quiz Time A General Knowledge Quiz from John Theedom (Answers on Page 31) 1.

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How does one do the dance, limbo?

Where on your body would you use khol?

What is a sequoia?

In the beer advert, who said “Pick it in a brewflade, Flowers...”?

What is the full name of the westie dog?

In long-life semi-skimmed cartons, what colour is the milk?

What is King Canute famous for?

What colour are the seats in the House of Lords?

Who is the leader of the Labour Party?

What are the first names of Mr Royce of Rolls Royce fame?

In cockney rhyming slang, what is aristotle?

What do the initials HSBC stand for?

In which county is The New Forest?

Where is the River Roach?

What disaster happened in Bavaria in February 2016?

Where will you meet an isobar?

Which popular animal story for children is connected with Peru?

In the car world, what is AWD? What is the name of the pub in Eastenders?

Who is the judge on the afternoon ITV programme?

What is another name for the Michaelmas Daisy?

What is a mezzaluna?

What colour are sapphires?

Complete ‘Saturday ***** Fever’.

What is the breed of a sheep dog?

How many ounces in 3.5lbs?

What do the initials VW stand for?

What is the river that runs through Dublin?

29.

30.

31.

32.

33.

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35.

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What is the official name for the scottish flag?

What is the correct name for the conker tree?

Which motorway goes from London to the Severn Bridge?

What is the official length of an Olympic swimming pool?

In courting or dating abbreviations, what is OHAC? You know about MI5, but what does MI19 do?

How did John Lennon die?

Where will you find a plimsoll line?

Who owned the famous horse Copenhagen?

What is measured using the Scoville Scale?

In beer measures, how much is an anker?

What is an assemblance of wild boar?

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What’s It Really Like to Be a Mumpreneur?

Mumpreneur Inspiration is a website that shares the stories of mums who have started their own businesses.

We’ve shared more than 70 stories to date and while these have included some very different experiences, there have also been some universal themes.

Child care is a big issue for many mums, it gets much easier once children are in school but when they are very small most of the mums featured work during nap time or after bedtime. Those who try to work around their children find this difficult, although it is sometimes possible to get older ones involved: “I now have a table for her next to my work table so that when I need to work she can ‘work’ too and we do it together side by side.” (Patricia from Eleven O one Bebé).

We asked all of the mums who shared their stories what the best thing was about self employment. Flexibility is a common theme, as was keeping their minds active. Lots of the women are also really proud of their businesses: “For me, it’s watching my business grow into a well know and respected company...” (Lisa from Mums Who Can).

The stories on Mumprenenur Inspiration illustrate that combining running a business with being a mum is really hard and often involves late nights and a lot of juggling. However, for most it is worth it for the sense of achievement, setting a great example for your children and being able to say, as Claire from Sewthing Personal puts it: “My business, my boundaries, my rules”. mumpreneurinspiration.co.uk

When it comes to funding their start ups, most mums use their own money, either savings they have, saving up or working at the same time as starting up.

Some mums are able to start with just the equipment they already have: “I used the power that is Facebook and existing materials, like paper and pens I already had...” (Jackie Osborne from Bespoke Chic).

A high proportion of mums start businesses online, these usually have low start up costs and lend themselves well to working from home. Many of the businesses are in the service sector and often feature mums using skills they already have from their previous careers: “Having been a fitness instructor about 15 years ago, I decided to pick up that career again, but specialising in pregnancy and postnatal exercise.”

(Debbie from Mum plus One). www.moulshamtimes.com

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13

MT Baking by Alison Motley I really wanted to offer a simple and tasty recipe this month in the hope that it might encourage both kids and beginners to have a go at baking.

Whilst trawling through my recipes for inspiration, I came across my highly controversial collection of savoury - yes, SAVOURY muffins!

As a nation, we seem to love American style muffins. There are recipes for them everywhere and our supermarkets, coffee shops and bakeries are full of them.

However, there seem to be very few savoury muffins on offer in the UK, which I think is a shame.

In New Zealand and its larger neighbour, Australia, savoury muffins are big business and come in all sorts of flavour combinations. As my husband was born in New Zealand he was brought up on them, and after being cajoled into baking them for him on numerous occasions I must admit I have grown to love them too, although I was not too sure at first!

They do seem to be a bit of a Marmite thing and some folks I know are horrified by the thought of a muffin full of bacon rather than blueberries! Personally I think they are great on a number of levels they are easy to make, really easy to adapt to ingredients you already have, and make a great picnic treat or packed lunch. A couple of my favourite ones are feta and olive or mozzarella and sun-dried tomato.

I got to thinking about what combinations might be slightly more acceptable to savoury muffin virgins and what flavours kids might particularly like and suddenly there was my light bulb moment - who doesn’t like the classic combo of ham, cheese and pineapple?

When I made these muffins for the first time both the adults and the kids consumed them even before they had time to cool, so I’m guessing I must be on the right tracks.

3 medium eggs, beaten 75ml pineapple juice from the tin of pineapple 1. Preheat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6 and grease a six hole muffin tin (or line with muffin cases).

2. Sift the flour into a large bowl and add the pepper. Mix in the drained pineapple pieces, 70g of the grated cheese and the chopped ham.

3. Melt the butter in a small pan over a gentle heat and add this to the flour with the beaten eggs and pineapple juice. Stir well to combine but take care not to over mix the muffin batter as this will make the muffins dry.

4. Spoon the muffin batter into the muffin tin, dividing it equally between the 6 muffin cups and sprinkle each muffin with the remaining cheese.

5. Bake for 20 to 30 minutes until risen and golden brown.

6. Leave the muffins to cool in the tin for 5 minutes, then remove and cool on a wire rack.

I would love to hear from readers with anything baking related.

Drop me an email at motleybakes@aol.com or take a look at www. motleybakes.co.uk.

For those of you that are brave enough, please do have a go at making these and let me know what you think - I’d love to know I have converted at least one reader to savoury muffins!

For a bit of fun, I made the paper muffin cases for these myself. You can buy some lovely decorative readymade ones but they are very easy to do yourself if you have baking paper. Firstly, cut out a square of baking paper approximately twice the diameter of one of the muffin cups. Find a glass that is approximately the same size as the muffin cup, turn it upside down and place the square of paper over the bottom of the glass. Fold the paper around the sides of the glass to crease it and then pop the paper into the muffin cup. The weight of the muffin batter will hold the paper down.

Happy baking!

Ham, Cheese and Pineapple Muffins: 250g self-raising flour Twist of ground black pepper Small tin pineapple chunks in juice (approx. 230g) drained and chopped 85g strong hard cheese (eg mature Cheddar) grated 150g thick cut ham, chopped 100g salted butter

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Moulsham Boost for Fairtrade Fortnight Old Moulsham had the honour of having the very first event in the price for their produce, but the products also include a premium City for Fairtrade Fortnight (Monday 29th February to 13th March).

Starting at 8.30am on the first day of the fortnight, the Chelmsford Co-operative Party organised a Fairtrade Breakfast, as one of hundreds taking place across the country and hosted by Prue and Robert Jones at their home in Southborough Road, Old Moulsham.

A dozen party members sat down to a breakfast that featured 15 different Fairtrade products from around the world - tea, coffee, drinking chocolate, orange juice, apple juice, two types of muesli, apricots, marmalade, honey, peanut butter, bananas, white and brown sugar. To cap it all, the home-made bread for the breakfast toast included Fairtrade sugar!

The guest of honour was Kenyan Fairtrade farmer, Patrick Kaheria Muthaura from the Michimikuru Tea Company, welcomed

by Party Chairman, Judy Saunders, who also thanked Prue and Robert for hosting the event.

Judy is also a member of the Board of Chelmsford Star Co-operative Society. This local Co-op was the first retailer in Chelmsford to start supporting Fairtrade and stocking its products. They continue to do so, including hosting Fairtrade events at their Chelmsford and Braintree departmental stores, such as the Fairtrade Curry Evening that took place in the Quadrant store on 3rd March in the presence of the Mayor of Chelmsford and with Patrick Kaberia Muthaura as guest speaker.

that goes back to the producers’ communities. The people in those communities decide what the premium is spent on. For example, doctors, nurses, schools and fresh water supplies.

Fairtrade Fortnight was created to help shoppers to realise what a tremendous change for the better can be brought about by the small amount of extra cost contributed by choosing to buy Fairtrade products. Chelmsford has earned the title ‘A Fairtrade City’ through many local companies and organisations declaring themselves Fairtrade and through the Co-operative shops and many other national and local retailers stocking Fairtrade goods. On most Tuesday mornings there is a well-stocked Fairtrade stall in the Baptist Church in Victoria Road. Having had the very first event of Fairtrade Fortnight located in Moulsham, it is hoped that the people of Moulsham will continue to be fervent Fairtrade shoppers.

The Fairtrade movement not only ensures that farmers get a fair

NOW OPEN - 8am to 4pm Monday to Saturday

89 Moulsham Street, Chelmsford, CM2 0JF www.moulshamtimes.com

15

Essex Rock Histories: Mickey Jupp, by John Power Mickey is a musician’s musician; he used to bring his band from Southend to The Kings Arms in Chelmsford’s Moulsham Street in the ‘70s (now morphed into Maisons Bar), where mates like Gary Brooker and Robin Trower of Procol Harum and Chelmsford’s adopted daughter Suzi Quatro could be seen admiring his work and lending support. Southend bands of the era all name him among their influences. Yet the man himself was in it for the music and never pursued celebrity.

Mickey was born in Worthing in Surrey in 1944, but his musical talents came to the fore after leaving art school and his relocation to Southend. His band from 1963 to ‘65 was called the Orieoles, but they never made any recordings. In 1968 he formed a band called Legend and they recorded an album of the same name on Bell Records, which was a mix of acoustic rockabilly and blues rock, but they soon split up. A new line-up with Jupp on guitar, piano and vocals, Mo Witham on guitar, John Bobin on bass and Bill Fitfield on drums, recorded an album for Vertigo Records in 1970, also called Legend. When Marc Bolan saw the band he poached Bill to be drummer for T. Rex and changed Bill’s name to Bill Legend. He was replaced in Legend the band by Bob Clouter, who had been drummer with the Orieoles.

A second album for Vertigo was called Moonshine and was produced by Dave Knight of Procol Harum. Matthew Fisher, (also of Procol Harum) and BJ Wilson joined Jupp and Witham to create the single Georgie George also around that time. Moonshine was re-released as a CD in 2007.

from 10cc and didn’t do so well in the music tastes of the era.

Jupp went on to record seven more solo albums, some released on Swedish and German labels. Ricky Nelson, Elkie Brooks, the Judds, Searchers, Chris Farlowe, Nick Lowe, Dave Edmunds, Gary Brooker, Hamsters, Dr Feelgood, and Roger Chapman of Family and Streetwalkers, have all recorded his songs.

Chris East, from the first Legend group, Mo Witham, John Bobin, Bob Clouter, and Mickey released a collection of East’s and Jupp’s songs over 20 years called Never Too Old to Rock in 2009. The Moonshine era Legend members released a double CD, Legend Live at the Riga in 2015.

A Jupp biography, Hole in My Pocket (Mike Wade), is also available on Amazon.

A list of all albums and singles Mickey has played on, and songs others have recorded, would take up several pages.

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When pub rock arrived, Mickey wrote Down at the Doctors for fellow Saffend/ Canvey mates, Dr Feelgood. In ‘78 he signed to Stiff Records, who re-released a compilation from the first three Legend albums. Jupp played for a while with Dave Edmunds’ Rockpile, but also recorded a ‘solo’ album called Juppanese produced

by Brinsley Shwartz’s Nick Lowe, who was by then a solo Stiff artist and Gary Brooker of Procul Harum again. A second Stiff album, Long Distance Runner, was (over) produced by Godley and Creme

Call Craig on 07835 211677 craigwilson101@hotmail.co.uk

Blogging Is an Ever-Increasingly Popular Form of Online Writing by Steven Smith Juggling a full-time teaching job with a passion for writing isn’t easy, but the perseverance is starting to pay off. My blog - www.n64memories. blogspot.com - is a place for fans of retro video games and it is a finalist at this year’s UK Blog Awards. The nomination is in the Digital and Technology category and the final takes place in London on Friday 29th April.

I did not expect to make it through round one of voting, so this nomination has been a pleasant surprise. Blogging is an ever increasingly popular form of online writing - and retro video gaming is equally as popular! The competition for readers is tough, so I have tried to find a gap in the market with articles that aim to be unique in a niche area of video game journalism.

Three years ago, I re-purchased a Nintendo 64 (N64) with the sole desire of reliving a few games that brought me a lot of happiness as a teenager. Lots of memories came flooding back and I started @ N64Memories on Twitter to share these. It quickly became popular. At the same time, I was having trouble writing short fiction at weekends

and evenings, so I thought of writing about the gaming I was doing.

Nothing unique there - until I came up with a feature idea that a popular Nintendo website agreed to publish: 64 reviews all in 64 words, onea-day for 64 days. I wrote this in conjunction with one of their regular contributors and it was a lot of fun. Writing for myself followed hot on its heels and consequently so did the blog. I was proud of my unique idea and wanted that to be the ethos of my blog - giving my readership something different, something not already out there.

Although this is all relatively new to me, this would be my biggest piece of advice to people in Chelmsford who want to blog: write about something you love but find a gap in the market you could fill and try to make your articles stand out. This could be by writing in an unusual format or by offering your readership something (such as advice) that makes them want to read your post.

Hopefully this attitude towards my own writing will work in my favour come 29th April!

This Month the Queen Celebrates Her 90th Birthday The Queen is 90 this month and some of the traders in Moulsham Street are celebrating by creating special window displays to mark the occasion, they will be judged on who has the best display! Moulsham Street is also putting up celebratory bunting.

The Queen was born at 2.40am on 21st April 1926 at 17 Bruton Street in Mayfair, London. She was the first child of The Duke and Duchess of York, who later became King George VI and Queen Elizabeth.

The Queen actually celebrates two birthdays each year - her actual birthday as mentioned above and her official birthday on a Saturday in June.

Here are some facts about our Queen: In 2002, at 76 years of age, The Queen was the oldest monarch to

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celebrate a Golden Jubilee. The youngest was James I (James VI of Scotland) at 51 years.

She married Philip Mountbatten, Duke of Edinburgh, in 1947, became Queen on February 6th 1952 and was crowned on June 2nd 1953.

Her Majesty owned her first house at the age of just six. It was called Y Bwthyn Bach - which means the little cottage - and was sited in the grounds of the Royal Lodge in Windsor Park. It was given to her by the people of Wales in 1932.

Her first corgi was called Susan and was an 18th birthday gift in 1944.

The Queen invented a new breed of dog called the ‘dorgi’ when she mated one of her corgis with a dachshund belonging to Princess Margaret. She also races pigeons and is patron of the Royal Pigeon Racing Association.

Come and join us in toasting the Queen on her 90th Birthday on 21st April Open Tusday-Saturday 12pm-9pm

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Happy Birthday Queen Elizabeth II from all at

Music and Blues in the City by Nick Garner We have a great month ahead of us with Blues in the City putting on two of the UK’s best acoustic acts; they are Dave Onions and Roy Mette on Wednesday 13th April - not only amazing musicians, but also fantastic singer-songwriters. The originals 80s legends The Blow Monkeys are coming to Chelmsford on Friday 22nd April. This band is still the original line-up with Dr Robert at the helm. They will be playing all their hits and will be supported on the night by local act, Sportsday. For more details on both these events, see the posters in this publication.

hopefuls who are both astonishingly good; first up was Connor Selby (who is just 19 years old) with his school friend Tom Denham on bass and their school music teacher, Andy Corby, on drums. When they finished early, I told them they had time for one more, Connor just made it up jamming on the spot and the others followed. It was class; he is one to watch for. Next, on the acoustic stage, we had The Hokum Boys and they are always good fun. This is more of a shouting blues style, with harmonicas and guitar - you never know what is going to happen. Next, it was back to the other room and another new act for us, Raising Cain Blues Band. Again, look out for them - a good act with strong vocals and good musicianship. It was back again to the acoustic stage next, with Jamie Williams and myself filling in for the Delta Ladies. We were joined on stage by Joe Anderton, another new up-and-coming 19-year-old singer-songwriter/multiinstrumentalist, who will astound you just as he does us. This was a fun set that went down well.

Pete and Sonya who came all the way from northern Ireland for the festival The 2016 Panic Awards take place on Saturday 16th April at the Civic and if you pick up a copy of Chelmsford The City Times you will find listings for all sorts of other live events going on in and around the city. Do please remember that if you put on any kind of event - from a book club or open garden, to a show or a fun day, whether for charity or not - let us know and we will list it in the What’s On guide in the City Times. The listings run from mid month to mid month and we need your information by the beginning of the month prior. Send your information to editorial@itsyourmedia.co.uk.

The Mike Lenson Band Now it was the turn of the ladies, with powerhouse voice Tanya Piche and her blues band. They powered their way through a great set. It was then the turn of Joe Anderton on his own, who played electric and acoustic guitar and wowed the audience. Back across the room and it was our turn, Jamie Williams & the Roots Collective - we played a blinder I think and had them dancing away which is what we always want.

Another new act next, Cheap Joint. This was a bit different with banjo and drums played by Al Bye while blowing his harmonicas - it was a good set. Back across the room again for the Mike Lenson Band - a mix of blues, funk and jazz and boy, are they tight. They got their groove going and the audience loved them. next up was local legend Richard Townend with his unique style and sound. Then, as we headed towards the evening, another local legend, Rolling Jimmy with his band The Coyotes. This was a fantastic set, Jimmy and the band never disappoint.

Stony Road Blues in the City held the second Essex Delta Blues Day at The Bassment on Saturday 12th March, where we had 17 live acts play non-stop on two stages from 12.30pm until midnight - and not only did it all run to time, but we also raised £1,100 towards the Blues in the City Festival 6 to be held in Chelmsford from 30th September to the 2nd October, where all of the profits will go to the charity, Remus Horse Sanctuary.

The day started on the electric stage with one of our two new young

Our second lady of the day - and one we all love - was Sheri Kershaw, who writes and sings as well as playing guitar and along with Martyn Hewitt on lead guitar and Chris Brimley on bass, they make a really good trio who always please the audience. After this, it was time for another first, Dr Zero and the Hot Heads - wow, even though they played covers, they got us really going with a powerful set which included the music of Dr Feelgood.

It was then time for one of the best guitarists that we know of, Roy Mette, who played a set that stunned us all. After this it was time for another local act, Stony Road. These guys are all seasoned musicians who are just getting better and better every time we see them - and so on to the last act on the acoustic stage for this year, the incredible Happnin’ Boy and Mike Rasmussen. If you have not seen them before, make sure you check them out as they have to be one of the best shouting blues duos on the circuit today. So we came to final act of the day, The Blues Spiders, who had everyone dancing and singing along - they were a great band to close what had been a great day.

18 www.moulshamtimes.com

Head’s Up - How to Nail That Headshot “You never get a second chance to make an impression.”

It’s an old saying but one that is still relevant in this digital age. With social media profiles, in addition to a professional website, now an essential part of any marketing campaign, first impressions are no longer solely made face-to-face.

1. Research - All photographers have different styles and approaches so look for a photographer whose images appeal to you and will appeal to your client base.

Headshots are your chance to provide potential clients, casting agents or employers with the perfect first impression and to communicate in one image what you are all about. Primarily, your headshot needs to be two things;

5. Communicate - a headshot session is a collaboration between you and the photographer. Be honest and open and tell them if something doesn’t feel comfortable.

A) Professionally Taken A quick snap taken by a friend with their latest smartphone is no substitute for a professional photographer’s ability to light, pose and direct you to ensure that your headshot makes the maximum impact.

B) Reflective of Your Personality and Brand A formal studio set-up works really well for a bank manager or accountant. However, this may not truly reflect the brand and personality of a personal trainer or interior designer. The location, styling and posing of your headshot needs to reflect who you are and resonate with the type of audience that you are trying to attract.

It is important to find a photographer who will listen and get to know you and make you feel comfortable in front of the lens.

However, your input can have a massive impact on the success of your headshot shoot. Below are some simple tips for nailing your headshot session.

2. Direction - know what it is is you want to communicate about yourself through your headshot and let the photographer know this in advance.

3. Clothing - wear clothing that makes you feel relaxed but also relates strongly to your professional identity. A good photographer will help you to decide on your wardrobe choice.

4. Practice - before your shoot, practice expressions and gestures in the mirror that feel natural and flatter you.

Headshots are important and can have a huge impact on your publicity, but that doesn’t mean the process should be dull and monotonous. Allow yourself to laugh when it doesn’t go right first time, be willing to try different ideas and enjoy the break from sorting emails, learning lines or chairing another meeting. Trust me you’ll soon wish you were back in front of the camera.

Ross Willsher is a social and commercial photographer based in Chelmsford and covering the wider Essex area. He has a passion for capturing the individuality of families, personalities and businesses across the county. www.rosswillsherphotography.co.uk www.rosswillshercommercialphotography.co.uk info@rosswillsherphotography.co.uk

MT Therapy by Jenny Hartill Hi there folks, this issue I’m going back to good old fashioned old school psychotherapy! A couple of articles ago I started explaining about behaviourism and classical conditioning. As a recap:

Behaviourism as a movement in psychology appeared in 1913 when John Watson published the classic article Psychology as the Behaviourist Views It. John Watson proposed that the process of classical conditioning (based on Pavlov’s observations, remember Pavlov and his salivating dogs?) was able to explain all aspects of human psychology - I’m talking literally everything from speech to emotional responses.

According to Watson, these were simply patterns of stimulus and response. Watson denied completely the existence of the mind or consciousness, he believed that all individual differences in behaviour were due to different experiences of learning. He maintained that behaviour can be explained entirely in terms of stimulus and response, without the intervention of mental or conscious events and activities (as a sci-fi fan, when reading this basic theory when I was training, I got the impression Watson thought we were a little like androids with emotion chips - a bit like Data from Star Trek...)

For Watson, all behaviour is environmentally derived and cannot be explained by appeals to heredity, instincts, the unconscious, human nature, or internal predispositions. Classical conditioning theory involves learning a new behaviour via the process of association.

In simple terms, two stimuli are linked together to produce a new learned response in a person or animal. So, for example, if someone suffering with anxiety came to see me and I was to treat them using purely Watson’s Classical Conditioning Behaviourist theory, I would be looking at how they have learned to be anxious in certain situations. Say the person suffers an anxiety attack whilst at the supermarket. The supermarket is the neural stimulus, but the person learns via association that supermarket = anxiety attack. Therefore they are conditioned to feel anxious about going to the supermarket.

This is classical conditioning.

But today we’re going to look at a different type of conditioning: Operant conditioning. This is where the method of learning occurs through rewards and punishments for behaviour. Through operant conditioning, an association is made between a behaviour and a consequence for that behaviour. Psychologist BF Skinner was the first to describe operant conditioning. Skinner used the term operant to refer to any ‘active behaviour that operates upon the environment to generate consequences.’ In other words, Skinner’s theory explained how we acquire the range of learned behaviours we exhibit each and every day. For example, when I worked in London I went through something at work every year they call ‘Supertarget’ where you work until you drop for two months flat to earn what management describe as ‘an amazing reward bonus’. Sales people hit targets to gain commission and recognition on the sales floor as a reward. Below are some key concepts in operant conditioning: Reinforcer: This is any event that strengthens or increases the behaviour it follows. There are two kinds of reinforcers, these are positive and negative. Positive reinforcers are favourable events or outcomes that are presented after the behaviour. In situations that reflect positive reinforcement, a response or behaviour is strengthened by the addition of something, such as praise or a direct reward. For example, when I made a massive deal at work everyone whooped and clapped and I got my commission.

Negative reinforcers involve the removal of unfavourable events or outcomes after the display of a behaviour. In these situations, a response is strengthened by the removal of something considered 20

unpleasant. For example, if someone had been sitting opposite me at work and they were being very negative and obnoxious and my sales were suffering, my manager might have moved them (or sacked them, probably) and my performance would increase. (In both of these cases of reinforcement, the behaviour increases).

Punishment: This is the presentation of an adverse event or outcome that causes a decrease in the behaviour it follows. There are two kinds of punishment, positive and negative. Positive punishment involves the presentation of an unfavourable event or outcome in order to weaken the response it follows. For example on a sales floor, if someone is making fake phone calls to a fax machine costing the company hundreds of pounds, that person is dismissed. You can guarantee no-one else on that sales floor is going to make any fake calls to any fax machines and the person who was sacked won’t either! (This actually happened at my old job, it was talked about for months, years even, showing the power of operant conditioning).

Negative punishment occurs when a favourable event or outcome is removed after a behaviour occurs. For example, back on the sales floor years ago say I hit my target but I don’t get any praise, everyone ignores the deal and I don’t get any commission even if I have hit the target I won’t want to go through all that work again for nothing.

Something similar happened to me so I left the company and set up my own business. (In both of these cases of punishment, the behaviour decreases).

Reinforcement (sometimes referred to as ‘reward’) and punishment is used everyday in lots of situations, whether you are rewarding your child or punishing them to teach them the basic lessons of life, or whether you’re working your socks off or are so disconcerted, you’re about to leave your job. A few years after I left the sales floor in London, I spoke to an ex-manager who had been offered the position of director - a massive leap at such a young age. I asked her why she didn’t take the job, it turned out she had spotted that the company we had worked at together did not have a workable business model, they were slipping into the negative punishment part of the operant conditioning model and so when she was offered a much better opportunity, she went to a rival company.

If we put this into context, both myself and my colleague started off being conditioned with reinforcement and rewards. As a result we were loyal to the company and happy to work our socks off. However, when that reinforcement was slowly taken away from us, working our socks off for nothing became a form of punishment for us. Having been conditioned already to prefer a reinforcement/reward type conditioning, once another opportunity came along that was clearly reward based we both took it and as a result we are both much happier. I do personally think that most human beings prefer to work for reinforcement/reward, not punishment.

What happened to the company we used to work for? Well, my team used to be quite large, maybe 15 sales people on one magazine and the supplements. Not only has that number dwindled to 3 (including the manager), but the editor, who was quite well known in his field, also left. People literally dropped like flies. So, if you’re running a business and wondering why people are leaving, or if you’re feeling particularly disconcerted with your job, perhaps operant conditioning could help. What reinforcement and rewards are you or your workers gaining, if anything? What model is your company based on? What are you motivated by, reinforcement or punishment? Perhaps the answers to these questions could lead you to awareness, understanding and your own personal development and contentment.

If I can be of any help or for more information about counselling and/ or hypnotherapy services please visit www.cloud9-therapy.co.uk.

www.moulshamtimes.com

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How Happy Are You? by Mark Roberts Happiness means different things to different people. If you canvassed a hundred people, I suspect you would get a hundred different answers. A simple internet search reveals there are hundreds of thousands of hits by people seeking more happiness in their lives. We clearly place a great deal of importance on being happy and it appears from the number of internet searches that we are not as happy as we would like to be. So, in this month’s article I will discuss one or two aspects about happiness and also offer you a mindfulness technique that will put you on the road to being happier.

constantly putting our lives on hold, missing the magic moments that are happening right in front of us. It was John Lennon who said: “Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans.”

So, to start living your life in the present moment...

Focus on your own personal circumstances for a few moments and ask yourself what happiness means for you. As you are figuring this out, consider the fact that your personal benchmark will have been impacted by a number of influences, the strongest coming from close and extended family, education, religious upbringing and personal experiences. As you developed, so did your sphere of influences, through widening, personal and professional relationships. Inevitably and importantly, you will also have been influenced by the prevailing western culture.

It takes only 15 minutes a day and you will improve quickly. You will soon notice the benefits as you begin to experience that you are not the sum of your thoughts and that you are in control of how you react to them. Your innate happiness will soon begin to flow.

In the western world, the predominant culture appears to suggest that happiness is something that can be added to our lives. This is reinforced through TV, magazines and other media. Our senses are assaulted on a daily basis with the notion that happiness depends upon acquiring the latest thing, or upgraded gizmo. Parents will be aware of the pressure to satisfy their child’s demands for the latest mobile phone, trainers, or other object of desire.

The implication is that happiness is something that exists outside of us. Once this idea is internalised it is easy to defer happiness as we find ourselves saying things like ‘I will be happy when I have... (insert object desired)’. The retail giants encourage this and depend upon it to enhance desirability and boost sales.

If you have ever subscribed to this form of retail therapy, then you will be aware that the euphoria is generally short-lived. As the new gizmo is integrated into your life, the shine soon wears off. There is nothing wrong with acquiring stuff, but you know that it will not bring you eternal bliss. If on the other hand, you are constantly buying stuff in order to be happy, then I hope you will believe me when I tell you that you will never have enough money to fill that void!

The solution to enjoying lasting happiness is a lot closer to home than you think and a lot cheaper than retail therapy. Our natural state is to be happy and it comes from within. Every state of mind is a choice and we can actively choose to be happy. A good way to begin is to start being more mindful about our daily activities.

Mindfulness can help us to be healthier, to lower stress levels, improve sleep patterns and to generally feel happier. Think of it as taking 15 minutes of the day to ‘wake up and smell the coffee’.

Consider this: Our minds are so full of thoughts about what we did in the past, what needs to be done in the future and how badly or well we did it, or how we are going to do it, that we are often failing to notice what is going on in the present moment. We are in essence

Find a quiet place to sit down and begin by focusing on your breathing. Notice the rise and fall of your chest, or the sensation around your nose as you inhale and exhale. As you notice sensations in your body, label them simply as ‘sensation’. As thoughts enter your mind, acknowledge them by labelling them as ‘thought’. Do not let your mind trail off along the pattern of the thought, just acknowledge it and then let it go. The technique is simple, but will require some practice.

To your success and your happiness…

For more about Mark Roberts, visit his Facebook page at www. facebook.com/intelligentlifestrategies.

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Wine Corner

Hello everyone, hope you are all OK and looking forward to the better weather. As I gaze out the window today, the sky is blue and in a week or so we will change the clocks and like me, you will be saying, look at that, half past seven and it’s still light! As if it has never happened before...

This month I thought I would take a peep at some wines that are a bit more expensive. Not that I buy many of those. You may remember that I explained a while ago that a £7 bottle of wine contains wine worth less than £1. With a £14 bottle of wine, the fixed costs and shipping costs are about the same, but the labour cost may be a little more if the grapes are hand picked, so the wine is probably worth about £4, so at least in theory, you are getting a better deal and you should expect it to be better wine.

New Zealand produce some nice Sauvignon blanc wines, one of the most well known being Cloudy Bay, which sells normally for about £20 to £25 a bottle. It is produced in the Marlborough region and, like all others from this area, has a very distinctive taste. They also produce a good red Pinot noir for about the same price.

The more expensive French Sauvignon blancs, like Poilly-fume and Sancerre from the lovely Loire Valley, can generally be bought for between £10 (not too expensive) to over £45 (expensive to me). The French Sauvignon blancs are a completely different taste to the ones from New Zealand, although produced from the same grape.

There is a small town called Pomerol in the east Bordeaux region, and they produce a wine called, you’ve guessed it, Pomerol. A very respected wine - and looking at a large wine retail website you can get a bottle for about £20, but you can pay about £110 for a better vintage. It would have to be a very special occasion for me to drink one of those.

Just down the road we have St Emillion, a lovely little village which seems to be all vineyards. Again you can pay a range of prices, cheaper than Pomerol at from £9 to £35. Of course, you can pay a lot more depending on the vintage.

is the one I use when I wash the car. It’s a lovely shade of red, going though to number one, an ornate ice bucket that I use for my white wine. Job done.

Back to the wine. Wines like Malbec are available for under £8, but there are also some from countries like Australia that are over £20.

Shiraz, a very popular lower priced wine.

Yesterday I visited the Ideal Homes Exhibition.

It is a good day out and not too crowded.

I got caught out as usual on these visits.

Watching a demonstration with one of these things you use to peel potatoes and the like, it looked fantastic, not only would it boringly (is that a word?) peel apples and carrots, it can be used to easily(?) make attractive orange ‘flowers’ and stuff.

When I got home, I was keen to try it out and, surprise surprise when I eventually get it out of the packaging, I couldn’t even make a peeled potato look attractive. Another lesson learned - don’t forget the person doing the demo has done it thousands of times!

Later, I stumbled into a talk on wine given by Olly Smith who works on Saturday Kitchen on the television. He had four wines on display and we got to taste each one with Olly explaining the origin and tasting notes. There was a lovely Pinot gris (grigio) from New Zealand, an interesting white wine from Greece, followed by two reds, Cabinet Sauvignon and a Malbec from Chile. All very nice. At the end of each tasting Olly asked for questions, explaining that the best one would win a bottle of the wine. Free wine? I didn’t think that I could move so fast, my hand was in the air before I knew it. I asked if he felt that a £30 bottle of wine was three times better than a £10 one. I am glad to say he shared my view that it was not really the case, and that a good wine is one that you enjoy, regardless of price. It was nice to splash out now and again though. I came home with a nice bottle of New Zealand wine!

Keep calm and carry on drinking (in moderation)

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The Italian red wine Barolo can be bought for about £16. It is produced in the Piedmont region in the north of the country.

Here we go again...thinking. When I hear children these days I wonder if life was a lot less stressful in the 1950s. They tend to argue about which television programme they want to watch. No problem in the ‘50s, if you were lucky enough to have a television, there was a choice of one channel - BBC. A black and white snowy picture about 12 inches wide and the station broadcast for about six hours a day with a shut-down in the early evening so that parents could put the children to bed. Yes, really!. Where to sit in the car is another discussion point. No problem in most ‘50s households - no car. Then we have the other entertainment these days, as kids have any number of games machines with interesting names and most of them seem to be about seeing how many baddies you can destroy. In the ‘50s, Ludo, cards and drawing on tracing paper were the order of the day.

Another thing, newspapers contained NEWS. Reading a well known daily recently, there was an article about television presenters.

People have noticed that on most of the programmes that involve men and women, the man always sits on the left. Some viewers complained that the more experienced should be on the left, regardless of gender. The article was spread over more than half a page and quoted the views of several people including a member of the nobility. That’s news? I don’t think so!

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By the way, someone asked me the other day whether I had done a bucket list. I had heard the term, but didn’t really see the point.

Anyway, they said I should, so I set about putting one together.

After a great deal of thought and quite a lot of soul searching I have done it. I won’t go through the whole list but at number ten 22

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Baddow Races 15th May - It’s Fun No Matter How You Do It! Join in the 2 mile Fun Run. You can run it, walk it, push a pram, dress in fancy dress, walk your dog, do it for charity, or just for fun.

Hanningfield.

Join in the 10 mile Road Race; run over an undulating course through urban Great Baddow, Galleywood and rural West

This year, the races are supporting City of Chelmsford Mencap, Riding for the Disabled (Barrow Farm) and League of Friends of Hargrave

House, and Chelmsford Mildmay Charitable Trust. If you wish to run for your preferred good cause, you can.

The Great Baddow Charity Races has up to 2,000 runners taking part. The 10 mile road race is classified by the British Association of Road Races as Gold Grade. It’s all a really fun event with many stalls on the grounds, and the route lined with people cheering the runners on.

Runners can enter on line at www.runnersworld.co.uk/baddow16.

If you have a group of more than five for the Fun Run, just email us at gbcraces@gmail.com with your name, the name of your organisation and your charity/project and we will send you easy entry forms.

Come and join us on 15th May, have a great time and raise money for your chosen project.

Rotary Opens Door to Young People

This month has seen a great emphasis on youth activities in Rotary. Many of the competitions, which started through the heats, have reached fruition at district and regional levels. Not exactly like the FA Cup where the minnows kick off in August for the following year’s competition, but nevertheless the eventual winners undergo many tests before being crowned national champions in any of the disciplines in which they enter.

It’s so exciting being a part, even if it’s just in an observing capacity, so it must be absolutely exhilarating for the youngsters participating. The winning Young Chef was Fern Lawrence who beat all comers at Chelmsford College and goes onto the next stage in Harlow. In the Young Photographer competition Kate Blandford showed incredible flair with her selected photographs.

and goes on to the national final in May.

Yet another competition, Young Writer, reached its climax and Rumaiya Mian wrote an outstanding essay, The World is Beautiful.

The Big Bang at the NEC in Birmingham involved young people nationwide coming together for a technology tournament and once again Rotary was heavily involved and this is set to grow next year extending another opportunity to demonstrate the range of skills and expertise of young people.

There are still other areas for our students to get involved with Rotary.

To celebrate the Queen’s 90th birthday, there is a competition to write a poem to celebrate Her Majesty’s special day and the winning entries from all round the country will be forwarded to the Palace.

There is also recognition of special young people for Rotary’s Young Citizen of the Year and there will be a live programme featuring these wonderful young people broadcast from the Rotary Conference in Bournemouth on 2nd April.

Finally, in this article a word about our RYLA event. This stands for Rotary Young Leader Award, where 15 to 17 year olds develop leadership and team building skills and gain confidence making presentations in front of their peers and the judges.

There is so much involvement between Rotarians and the young people in our community. I have written only about current competitions and I will leave for another occasion the stories of how schools and colleges are working with Rotary clubs to help the elderly or less fortunate.

It is no doubt wonderful for the children, but no less so for Rotarians in the sense of satisfaction in developing our youth. If you would like to find out how you can join a Rotary club near you, visit www. rotary1240.org or phone me on 0145 260349.

Youth Speak is divided into two age groups. In the seniors, the winning school was Harwich & Dovercourt High on the subject of The Gravity of our Morals, whilst Birchwood High School won the intermediate section with a talk called The History of the Universe. The audiences were captivated by the knowledge and confidence displayed by the teams.

If you want to witness pure excellence in our local young people then look no further than the Rotary Young Musician competition. Again there are intermediate and senior sections and there are prizes for best vocalist and best instrumentalist. At Chelmsford Cathedral, Young Singer winner was Abbie Ward sponsored by the Rotary club of Chelmsford, while violinist Eliza Nagle narrowly pipped oboist Miles Bruce Jones. Eliza was unavailable for the regional final, so Miles represented our district and was unanimously voted overall winner

Stan Keller

Deadlines for the May edition Articles - 13th April Print ready art work - 21st April

Ami’s Diary

I was due to attend a casting for an airline company TV advert but I had parents evening at school, so I couldn’t go. Then I had another airline casting a couple of days later. It was at the Spotlight Studios off Leicester Square, somewhere I have been to before. Some commercial casting directors won’t even consider you if you are not a member of Spotlight, so I’ve been a member for years. For the casting, I had to pretend to get on an aeroplane with my headphones on listening to music. Then I had to poke my tongue out at someone and smile at someone else. I haven’t heard back whether I have got the job yet.

Insect and Bug Facts Monarch caterpillars shed their skin four times before they become a chrysalis, growing over 2,700 times their original size.

Of the huge numbers of insects, only a tiny amount, one percent, are harmful to humans. Most insects are harmless or actually beneficial. For example, without bees to pollinate flowers, plants would not have a way of reproducing and we wouldn’t have anything to eat!

Locusts can eat their own weight in food in a day. A person eats his own body weight in about half a year.

Honeybees have hair on their eyes.

The average housefly lives for one month.

I have been rehearsing for two shows at Theatretrain - one is for Passion Play which we are performing in Chelmsford city centre on Good Friday. Also, I we have been rehearsing for our main show Neverland, in which I am playing John. I now have got my script and have lots of lines to learn.

There is only one insect that can turn its head - the praying mantis.

At school, I have had to pick my Options for GCSE and I have picked drama as one of them. There’s a lot of writing for the exams but I’m still looking forward to it.

Some male spiders pluck their cobwebs like a guitar, to attract female spiders.

I used to do ballet, tap and modern classes, but gave them up about 3 years ago when I joined high school. I really want to focus on dance as well as drama though, so I have enrolled with The Weston School of Dance and I am going to be do modern, jazz and musical theatre. I know it’s going to be hard work doing 3 hours of dance classes and 3 hours of Theatretrain classes each week, plus dance exams, shows and school, but I am so excited. I really want to get into East 15 Performing Arts College so it will be worth all the hard work!

Shoes, Sandals and Handbags!

It’s that time of year again ladies, time for the Inner Wheel Shoe Sale, so come along and see this year’s new stock.

The Inner Wheel Club of Chelmsford Mildmay will be holding one of their twice yearly shoe sales at Keene Hall on 30th April between 10am and 12noon. We will have the latest summer styles of shoes and sandals, plus lovely leather handbags from Hotfooted Shoes, ladies clothes, gifts, handmade jewellery and greetings cards.

Come along and see this season’s new stock. There will also be coffee and our delicious homemade cakes if you need to take a break from shopping.

All the profits made at this event will go to our charity, which this year is City of Chelmsford Mencap. Do come along and join us and help support a local charity. www.moulshamtimes.com

A slug has four noses.

Ants can lift and carry more than fifty times their own weight.

Houseflies find sugar with their feet, which are 10 million times more sensitive than human tongues.

Family Friendly Jokes Why wouldn’t they let the butterfly into the dance?

Because it was a mothball!

What’s worse than a worm in your apple?

Half a worm!

A man had a pet centipede. He said, “centipede, go get the paper and make it snappy!”

A half an hour later the man went outside and said: “I thought I told you to get the paper a half an hour ago?”

“Well, I had to put on my shoes...” said the centipede!

What did the dog say to the flea?

Stop bugging me!

What come to a picnic but is never invited?

Ants!

What do you call a fly without wings?

A walk!

What do you call a rabbit with beetles all over it?

Bugs Bunny!

What is the strongest animal?

A snail because it carries it’s home!

What do you call two ants that run away to get married?

Ant-elopes!

How do bees brush their hair?

With a honey comb!

“Waiter, what’s this fly doing in my soup?”

“I think it’s doing the backstroke!”

How do bees get to school?

On the school buzz!

What did one flea say to another?

“Should we walk or take the dog?”

What do ants use to smell good?

Deodor-ant!

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27

Moulsham Lodge Communtiy Trust Wildlife Day 12th March

Well, what a great success our first wildlife day was. It was created from a love of hedgehogs and a desire to increase public awareness of the UK’s declining hedgehog population. Below is a picture of trustee Lorna Fuller with BBC Essex’s Sadie Nine, who also shares a passion for saving our hedgehogs and has her own campaign called Sadie’s SHOE Save Hedgehogs Of Essex, also in the picture is Sheila Dearns from Hedgehog Haven in Essex.

We had a wide range of wildlife organisations all eager to explain the issues from their particular area of expertise, from bats to bees to badgers and even a real life barn owl.

Also available on the day were examples of ponds, bug houses and hedgehog friendly accommodation. The bug house (left) was built using pallets as a base and adding all sorts of natural bits and pieces. We will be transferring this to our Secret Wildlife & Edible Garden at the Community Station, where hopefully a few bugs will take up residence.

We will be holding an annual wildlife day and hopefully ongoing wildlife projects, one of these projects is to install a live web cam bird box at the Community Station, which will be available on our website (www.mlct.org.uk) in the next month.

MLCT have been able to buy a new oven which was well and truly tested on Wildlife Day, where we served bacon rolls and jacket potatoes all day. Diners were then able to enjoy their food in our temporary marquee ‘Copper Pot’ café.

Community Fun Day - Sat 14th May Our next big event is the Community Fun Day on Saturday 14th May in conjunction with St Luke’s, where we will again have a climbing wall for children and adults alike. A new photo exhibition focusing on Chelmsford Remembered exploring the history of the city from the late 1800s - It’s also the Queen’s Birthday, so we will be celebrating with a street party atmosphere with the serving of cream and high teas as well as hot dogs etc.

New City Voices will be performing at a concert on the evening before on Friday 13th May. This will be a ticketed event at £10 each with guest choir Men2Sing from South Woodham Ferrers, performing from their repertoire. Venue is yet to be confirmed but will be local to Moulsham Lodge and Tile Kiln. If you are interested please get in touch.

Contact details. Mark Springett 01245 351040 or 07411 808731 email: mark.springett@mlct.org.uk.

Cllr Mark Springett - Moulsham Lodge Ward

NAP stands for NeighbourhoodAction Panel.

I recently attended our local NAP along with representatives from local organisations.

NAPs were originally set up as a proactive partnership between a community and the police. Panel meetings identified concerns and issues relating to an area via police sources, panel members and the public who could attend an open session. All issues raised were then grouped together and each panel discussed appropriate actions to address the issues/concerns raised. The actions had to be realistic and achievable for the police and panel to work towards. Each panel set up to three priorities to take away from a meeting. Feedback was provided at the following NAP meeting.

an individual area (street coordinator) on Moulsham Lodge which creates an important link to the NAP, they report back on the many issues from anti-social behaviour to uneven paths. NBW need more street coordinators in our local area, so if you are interested please get in touch and I will pass your details on, or details can be found on the web.

However, due to police cuts and reduced resources, the police no longer attend our meetings, this is a huge gap in community resilience and rather short-sighted considering how important it is to share issues with the police. We do however, pass on the minutes to the local policing team and most of the time we do get a brief concerning local issues. The meetings are hosted and chaired by Moulsham High School and I must thank them for their continued support of the NAP, as it is important to local people to share this info.

Council meetings in April are Planning 18th, Cabinet 19th, Overview & Scrutiny (which I chair) 25th and in May, Planning on the 17th and Full Council on the 18th - these are all meetings where the public can attend and ask questions, so do come along if you haven’t been before.

An important representative at the meeting is Neighborhood Watch (NBW) who unfortunately have lost one of their main coordinators for this area, however we do have a representative that covers 28

With the police being stretched more and more, we have to take proactive action to help protect our communities and this is what NBW can help provide. We are the eyes and ears of the community and if criminals know we have an active NBW community it will put them off committing crimes in our area. That said, do not put yourself in any danger and always call the police in an emergency by dialing 999 - and for all other reporting of crime, dial 101. As Cllr Dick Madden always says, ‘keep safe’.

Best Regards, Cllr Mark Springett Contact: mark.springett@chelmsford.gov.uk or 07411 808731. I’m also on Facebook (search my name) and Twitter @markspringett.

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www.moulshamtimes.com

Tile Kiln Corner by Linda Mascot

I regularly attend Neighbourhood Action Panel meetings (NAP) hosted

by Moulsham High School, where members of the local community meet to discuss matters that affect our area. Those attending include representatives from schools, churches, community groups, Essex Police, Chelmsford city councillors and Essex County Council. During the March meeting we were informed by email from Neighbourhood Police Officer, Craig Bernard, that the face of neighbourhood policing is changing from April/ May 2016 to Community Policing Teams. There will be a significant reduction in number of PCSOS from 36 in Chelmsford and Maldon district, to 9 and more emphasis will be placed on the council and other agencies to do with minor issues. Chelmsford City Council will now deal with anti-social behaviour and noise complaints via their

Community Resilience Team. The current police neighbourhood websites will be shut down and rebranded with the new Community Policing Pledge. I’m sure we’ll be hearing more about this significant change and how it will impact on our local area - we’ll certainly see less police presence on the streets. If you need police advice or help for a non-emergency, continue to use the police number of 101, for noise or ASB, Chelmsford City Council’s number is 01245 606606, alternatively. the website is www.chelmsford.gov.uk for more information.

Email: craig.bernard@essex.pnn.police.uk Phone: 101 ext: 420381 mascotlinda@gmail.com Twitter : @lindamascot

2nd Chelmsford Boys’ and Girls’ Brigade 2nd Chelmsford Boys’ and Girls’ Brigade companies are based at the Moulsham Lodge Methodist Church in Lime Walk (behind the shops) and meet on Tuesdays and Fridays during term-time for young people aged 5-18 years old.

There are still spaces available in the young sections of both organisations, so if you have a youngster aged 5-11 years old who would like to join us, please contact us via either gb@2ndchelmsford. org.uk, or bb@2ndchelmsford.org.uk for further details.

Girls’ Brigade, Tuesday evening, 6 - 7.15pm and 7.30 - 9pm The N:vestigate girls (5 to 8 years) have been following the badge ‘Helpful People’. We have been thinking about the emergency services, doctors and nurses, teachers, and our friends and family.

We will also be thinking about how we can help others. During these weeks, the girls have been making a booklet that they will take home once completed. On the last evening before Easter, the girls will join with the N:gage group and the Anchor boys for a themed Easter evening.

The N:spire group have been creating and illustrating children’s stories and doing a session of cooking making things such as savoury muffins, lemon meringue ice-cream and sweet/savoury pancakes.

They are currently taking part in training for young leaders - preparing them to be leaders of the future!

The Anchor Section (aged 5-8 years old) has recently started up again and is running on a Tuesday evening from 6 - 7.15pm. The evening starts with games and then they have been looking at different foods and doing a spot of cooking over the past few weeks (always a favourite). The boys will be joining the N:vestigate and N:gage girls for a themed Easter evening at the end of this session. www.moulshamtimes.com

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The N:counta group (aged 11-14 years old) have been exploring different cultures and beliefs through their badge on Global Community. They’ve especially enjoyed preparing and cooking meals from different countries, including korma and Cambodian coconut sauce. The girls have also tried African silhouette art with pleasing results!

Boys’ Brigade, Tuesday evening 6 - 7.15pm, Friday evening 6.45 8.00pm and 8.00 - 10.00pm.

The company section (aged 11-18 years old) which runs on a Friday from 8.00 - 10.00pm, have been doing various activities including quizzes, a chocolate evening, constructing bridges and bowling, as well as taking part in a BB swimming gala with other local companies.

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The N:gage group (aged 8-11 years old) have been doing various activities including making friendship bracelets, painting, sewing sock owls and creating storyboards and posters to decorate the hall wall. They are looking forward to joining with the N:vestigate girls for a joint Easter themed evening and starting new badge work after the Easter holidays.

The Junior Section (aged 8-11 years old) which runs on a Friday evening from 6.45 - 8.00pm, recently received a visit from the police.

A sergeant, two police officers and two cadets came along to talk to them and the boys thought it was wonderful. It was an educational visit for the boys and they were invited to ask questions and try on uniforms. The icing on the cake was they also brought along a police vehicle and the boys were thrilled to see this complete with all the lights flashing.

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The World Went Mad a Few Years Ago by Simon Inglis It’s almost 5 years since I left Australia to find myself and my family living in the mother country as we say. However home is home and there is daily chat in our household about a return to ageing relatives and old friends. That reason took me home for the first time since 2011 late last year for a short time.

Home as such is Adelaide, the City of Churches more known for its beautiful Adelaide Oval to many Brits. Yet a lot changes, as a wise old uncle who left Adelaide to find himself finally domiciled in Washington once told me that a city changes quite dramatically every 7 years.

And that locals hardly notice. My travels to London have illustrated that possibly more to me than to many locals. In 1994 it was a bedsit in the then run-down Ealing, attending gigs at Hammersmith for exorbitant prices based on a dire exchange rate and followed by long hours and gruelling work at £5 per hour most of which was spent renting a converted garage when I moved to Cambridge. We had to queue for the bath as showers were a rarity. So was a variety of food.

Cars were cheap however and for a young Aussie a big V6 was so nice at bargain money… then all of a sudden I grew up, it was Blair’s Britain and a boom-time, the old council flats had been converted to boutique apartments, sodden districts gentrified and while the wages were better a night out meant £100-150 plus. It was in fact too dreadful for me so my own R & R was focused on trips to Berlin where I could at least afford a taxi ride home!

In 2012/13 I landed in a Europe I’d only read about from the confines of an ‘other-wordly’ Latin America and a financial collapse which in truth didn’t affect Australia in 2008. Australia and much of Asia didn’t find the US or European meltdown real to the average Joe. Rather mates sent me emails about £1 houses in Liverpool or $10,000 mansions in Detroit.

I rather know better now. However Australia still remained a surreal experience late last year. I bought an old car in lieu of a potential return and as a run-about. It cost me about the same price as its British equivalent would – the collapse in car prices are what this item should be about and it rather leads to it. Housing in every capital

Live Music this Month at the Star & Garter Fri 01/04 - Jump Mother Crab Sat 02/04 - The Statins Sun 03/04 - Open mic/jam Fri 08/04 - The Strides Sat 09/04 - The Aaron Randell Band Sun 10/04 - Open mic/jam Thurs 14/04 - Mojo Moon Fri 15/04 - VT11 Sat 16/04 - The Locals Sun 17/04 - Open mic/jam Friday 22/04 - Dr zero and the Hot Heads Sat 23/04 - Storm Sun 24/04 - Open mic/jam Thurs 28/04 - Acoustic jam Fri 29/04 - Hit Parade Sat 30/04 - Solar 9 Sun 01/05 - Open mic/jam Opening Hours Sun -Thurs 12pm-11pm Fri - Sat- 12pm-12am 159 Moulsham Street, Chelmsford CM2 0LD 01245 600009

Australian city is extraordinarily high; there is no escaping it, no cheap commuter city or town. Food is more expensive than in Britain, restaurants also. Yet in all it does work out about even. Australia’s lead is in wages and overtime even with a recent drop in the dollar.

Some British salaries – such as those for police officers, teachers and nurses are quite depressing.

Yet many Aussie myths remain abroad. The sun-drenched land of hardened ockers and bronzed sheilas, carefree and an unstressed populace who don’t have to work hard. I never found that to be true and catching up with family and friends justified my thoughts.

Aussies have always worked harder than the stereotype suggests, beer has long been replaced by sobriety or wine as a preferred tipple and boutique restaurants abound. As Britain has been rashly tossed into an explosion of multiculturalism that is something Australians have grown to accept over a slow and painful 60-year process of controlled immigration. In fact so controlled and bureaucratised that the borders are being shut – for everyone (ask a family member or a friend in the know about the costs and waiting times for Australian immigration). It will always be somewhat ironic that the colonial land settled initially as a penal colony now keeps everyone out!

There aren’t many ockers left, rather metrosexuals or stressed out men and women on a variety of pills much as anywhere. Australians don’t travel much at home – it’s simply too expensive with Asia at the doorstep. Australians work long, hard hours for admittedly high salaries but one wonders if it is worth it.

And cars? Well every variety and every model is on sale – at a price.

Interestingly most new cars are cheaper than their UK equivalents and it isn’t until one hits the luxury car tax level of around £37,000 that things change. So this is where my usual motoring article leads me – the demise entirely of Australian car manufacturing due in 2017. No more hot Holdens for export, or family friendly Fords and Toyotas. Cheaper labour and non-unionised efficiency has been sourced in Asia. It’s much the same story as in Britain to be frank.

Australia will keep a strong automotive design and assembly capacity - from motor car shells to instrument design, alloy wheel manufacture and other specialist exports but the day looms when the local industry shuts its doors forever. In the meantime cheaper cars have bombarded the market with some 120+ makes and models (well in excess of the UK) available - sometimes at an extraordinary price.

The bottom has fallen out of the used car industry as a result of that, cheap finance and easy loans.

After spending not much more than £1100 on my purchase I’m studying the economics and at low interest rates or zero percent introductory offers making a new or approved car often cheaper than a $5,000-$10,000 10 year-old model. Not even ordinary cars but large SUVs or prestige models.

Driving in general is also another issue which goes against the stereotype. Australian roads are heavily policed and filmed, speed limits are almost force-fed. States such as Victoria have become

notorious for their 3kmph speed tolerance so every little box seems to be trundling along, packed with airbags and other safety gear, at 52kph in hail, rain or sunshine. In fact 52 became my favourite speed. There are campaigners for common sense - ie long distance, smooth and wide bitumen roads in perfect weather controlled to 100 or maybe 110kph is a point of debate. Some politicians are actually waking up to issues such as driver fatigue on a monotonous Adelaide-Melbourne commute, no scenery, uninteresting towns mostly and speeds that send people to sleep.

Inner cities are the worst as more and more councils are joining the infringement bandwagon. Some areas have 40kph limits even at 3am. People are overtaken on one well-known Adelaide roadway by cyclists!

It’s the real modern world and its attitude to so-called health and safety I suppose. Yet sometimes one does reflect on countries such as those in Latin America where the driver of a 1984 model Mazda may wear driving gloves, don his racing stickers and play Green Day at full volume of which he doesn’t understand a word – yet at the same time drive by changing gear as many times as possible while revving his little engine, ignoring his seatbelt and ducking between

lanes. Sure it’s terrifying and the accident rates are horrendous but jeepers they know how to drive. Imagine what some of those people would do with a modern western car! However it does make me think, maybe our attitude to motoring has become a tad over-the-top.

Maybe we should be able to enjoy our cars the way others in some countries still do. Perhaps we don’t need driver aids and apps afterall but rather the whole world needs a good dose of common sense.

I’d apply the same principles to many walks of life not just driving but I do wonder where it will all end. We seem to be headed towards the automated car with few choices. Somehow over the past 20 years or so we have let politicians run amok telling us that getting out of bed is dangerous, this has opened the door for Treasury junkies and the greed among insurance companies that force our most precious people – our kids, into old cars. Take the cameras off the roads for a day and the same idiots will do the same things as always simply because they will never care. However most people know what they are doing, have a degree of intelligence that our dear leaders don’t wish to accept and know their own limitations. In fact I dare a day with no cameras, or even a week, won’t actually see a bump in fatalities let alone calamities.

That will only ever happen if we talk to our councils, politicians, police and other officialdom. In the end I think most of them would privately agree that the average punter is being fleeced. So why are we all putting up with it from Perth to Chelmsford?

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Quiz Answers 1.

2.

3.

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5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

13.

14.

15.

16.

17.

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20.

Under a pole.

Eye make-up.

Large tree.

Stanley Unwin.

West highland terrier.

White.

Trying to hold back the tide.

Red. Jeremy Corbyn.

Sir Frederick Henry.

Bottle.

Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation.

Hampshire.

It runs from the River Crouch to Rochford in Essex.

A head-on train crash.

On a weather map.

Paddington Bear.

All Wheel Drive.

Queen Victoria.

Rinder.

www.moulshamtimes.com

21.

22.

23.

24.

25.

26.

27.

28.

29.

30.

31.

32.

33.

34.

35.

36.

37.

38.

39.

40.

Aster.

Crescent shaped knife used for chopping herbs.

Blue.

Night.

Border collie.

56oz.

Volkswagen (people’s car).

The Liffy.

The Saltire.

Horse chestnut.

M4.

50 metres.

Own House And Car. It was the prisoner-of-war debriefing unit.

Shot by Mark Chapman in USA. At the waterline on ships.

The Duke of Wellington.

The heat of chillis.

10 gallons.

A sounder.

31

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