Moulsham Times - January 2021 - Online only

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MT Welcome Hi readers, Welcome to the January edition of Moulsham Times.

I’d like to wish a happy New Year to you all! I hope you had a good festive break.

Unfortunately, this edition is once again online only due to the latest restrictions; please share as much as you can to enable as many of our regular readers to be able to view this magazine online.

Please note that most of the articles inside were written before the latest lockdown was annonced.

Regards Paul

Advertising & Editorial Paul Mclean 01245 262082/07595 949701 paul@moulshamtimes.com

It’s Your Magazines Ltd

Disclaimer: It’s Your Magazines Ltd 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 Magazines Ltd. No part may be reproduced without the prior written permission of It’s Your Magazines Ltd. Reg Co No. 12080535. Printed by Warners (Midlands) PLC.

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3

Chelmsford - by Vicky Ford MP

missed this year.

Like many Chelmsford folk, my heart dropped when I was told the news that Chelmsford was to be put into Tier 4 measures just before Christmas. I know this is not what many people wanted - we all want to get back to normal and to see more of the friends and family we have

However, I also know that the vast majority of people want to get on top of this awful virus and keep loved ones and neighbours safe. It is clear that, yet again, there was a rapid escalation in cases of Covid in Chelmsford. My thoughts have especially been with those who work in businesses that are affected. Whilst it’s been good to hear stories from those who have already received the vaccine, we do need to be extremely careful. There will be additional financial support coming for businesses and the NHS rapidly rolled out a new testing centre at Sandon Park and Ride.

Thank you to everyone who continues to support other people during the pandemic. I was particularly impressed by the volunteers at Age Concern Chelmsford whose Meals on Wheels service is providing hot, healthy meals to many of our elderly residents every weekday.

December also marked one year on from the general election and I want to update readers on the progress that has been made with some of the commitments from the election.

NHS: We promised more doctors, more nurses and more hospitals. Nationally, this Government is providing £850 million for 20 hospital upgrades, £2.7 billion for the first six new hospitals, and seed funding so that work on 34 more can make progress. 78 hospital trusts will receive state-of-the-art MRI, CT and mammography screening machines, so cancer can be detected more quickly to boost survival rates.

Nationally, between August 2019 and August 2020, the number of nurses went up by 14,575 - from 287,457 to 302,032. In the same period, the number of doctors has gone up by 6,270 - from 115,456 to 121,726. Locally, there are more students at Anglia Ruskin in Chelmsford studying to become doctors, nurses and paramedics than ever before.

Police: Another manifesto commitment was to increase police officers. By March 2021, there will be 519 more police officers in Essex than there were back in 2018. Nationally, as of October 2020 there are 5,824 more police officers making sure our streets are safer than ever. In 2020 crime dropped by over 5 per cent in Chelmsford.

Schools: I have long campaigned for fairer funding for our Essex schools. In the last year Chelmsford schools funding increased by 6 per cent - well ahead of the average across the country. Our headteachers, teachers, school staff and social workers have done an amazing job supporting children and young people in the last year. I would also like to thank them.

In the coming year we’re rolling out our holiday activities and food projects all across the country. It has been a big part of my work for the past year, and I am excited for the

opportunities ahead to help children especially those from more disadvantaged backgrounds.

Infrastructurre: I promised to fight for better infrastructure in Chelmsford, and that has carried on despite national coronavirus measures. We have had the public consultation on the North East Bypass, and plans for a final design are being worked on for a new junction at the Army and Navy. I am continuing to press forward with the plans for Beaulieu Station too. I was deeply impressed to meet some of those who are building new affordable housing in Chelmsford just after the first lockdown; they have been working hard to continue to deliver more homes whilst also staying Covid compliant.

The Environment: We must never forget the fight against climate change. The UK is leading the world in our commitment to Net Zero, and this coming year we will host the global climate change conference Cop 26. The Government’s Ten Point Plan for a Green Recovery will turn the UK into the world’s number one centre for green technology and finance, creating the foundations for decades of economic growth. You can read about the Ten Point Plan on my website at www.vickyford.uk.

As ever, if you have an issue that you need my help with or just want to send me your thoughts, please do email me on vicky.ford.mp@parliament.uk.

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The Orange Tree Off Licence

2020 was a challenging year for everyone. At The Orange Tree we feel that we have been lucky - we’re still in business! We had to make changes, but we’ve survived two lockdowns, Tier 2, 3, 4 restrictions - now finding ourselves in lockdown again.

Back in April, we started delivering our Pub in a Box, which was packed full of beers, ciders, wines, pub glasses, a pub quiz and bar snacks. This offered some semblance of what people like about the OT until we could open again. They’re still available and popular as ever.

Before reopening in July, we made several modifications in order to trade as safely as possible. In December we became a restaurant for a few weeks, serving drinks with substantial meals. We have loved having customers back in the pub, albeit for a short time.

Now we have become an off-licence. We are open between midday and 7pm, 7 days a week. Draught beers, bottled ales, ciders, and wines are all available for collection or free delivery. Everything is contactless. It’s not how we want to trade - our beating heart is our customers enjoying themselves in the pub - but we hope it is something to see us through until we can all be together again. All our drinks, including our guest ales and ciders are listed on our website, the-ot.com. You can order online at the-ot.com/ order, or call us on 01245 262 664.

Hopefully we will see you soon. Until then, stay safe & well.

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5

MT Health: How to Get the Most Out Your New Year Resolutions by Chris at Forté Physical Health Howdie Moulshamites and happy New Year! As we pass into this new year, it can be a time to reflect and plan for what’s to come. Many of us try to make big changes - new year, new me and all that jazz.

Over the years I have tried many different goal-setting strategies. Something I’ve come to learn is that although goals can help guide our lives in the right direction, they are not what make us happy. Imagine the Olympian who achieves the gold medal and thinks, what now? We need goals to drive us, but what’s far more important is the lifestyle we create to get there.

There is another dark side of setting goals - sometimes they end up being too daunting! It is so common to start our new year with a grand plan to clean up an area of our life and become a better version of ourselves, but when we start trying, we realise that’s actually quite a hard thing to do.

With this in mind, I have three solutions for you.

I am going to use an example that is right up my street as an osteopath - how to build the habit of stretching. Many of my patients found that 2020 tightened them up due to less walking (no commuting etc) and more sitting at a home desk.

Let’s say you wanted to feel looser and you had a specific goal of being able to touch your toes. As someone who has had the same goal in my life, I can tell you that stretching your hamstrings everyday SUCKS! There are some stretches I do that feel blissful. I fall deep into the stretch, breathe and meditate my woes away - not so with the hamstrings; when I get into a deep hamstring stretch my only goal is to not vomit on the carpet. I hate it.

So how do you overcome a hurdle like this, when the thing you want to achieve is on the other side of hardship?

Well, you start small. So small it feels too small. You just put a light stretch through the hamstrings, to the point where a voice in your head says, ‘this can’t be doing anything, it’s too easy’. But if you turn up every day, it will do something. After a week or so, you will notice that the level of stretch you started with no longer feels like a stretch, you’ll have to push a bit further. This will feel like a success! And with that feeling of success, it will bring an undercurrent of motivation, a feeling of curiosity. What if you kept going? How far could you get?

This leads us on to the next lesson. Don’t wait for motivation to get started. We have this belief that we need to be motivated in order to start a new habit. Well thankfully that’s a myth! As you build this perpetual cycle of success leading to motivation, and motivation leading to more success and on and on, you will create your own motivation.

with the thing that you’re doing. Rather than someone who has to stretch, you are someone who stretches. The moment you are someone who does ‘the thing’, the easier it becomes to stick to the habit. When you feel in your mind that you are someone who stretches every day, when you get home from work feeling a bit tired in the evening, and all you want to do is slump on the sofa watching Netflix, there will be a little voice in your head saying, ‘get on the floor, you can stretch those hamstrings and watch Netflix’.

To accelerate this process of changing your identity, all you need to do is to change your language. When you do this, you may feel a pang of imposter syndrome, like you’re not allowed to use the language you’re using - but ignore that! I give you permission to dropkick that voice out your mind.

Rather than think ‘I need to stretch’, you think ‘I am someone who stretches every day’. Rather than feel daunted by going for a run 3 times a week, say ‘I am a runner’. And rather than struggle to come up with meal plans as part of your weight loss strategy, say to yourself ‘I am someone who uses food to care for my well-being’.

With these three things in place - start small, don’t wait to be motivated and changing your identity - you will be sure to get off to a good start with your goals - and most importantly, they will be sustainable.

Chris Branch is the principal osteopath at Forté Physical Health. The therapists at Forté are specialists in the treatment of back pain, joint pain and sports injuries. The treatment often includes discussion of lifestyle factors to help accelerate healing and wellbeing.

If you have any questions, you can find details to get in touch at fortephysicalhealth.co.uk.

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Once you become a motivated person, we end up at our final lesson: you will feel your identity changing. This is probably the most powerful part of any new habit - the moment you identify 6 www.moulshamtimes.com

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The children at Widford Lodge had a wonderful autumn term and have adjusted well to the ‘new normal’.

What a fantastic end of term - the school was lucky to be able to welcome Father Christmas as a surprise socially-distanced visitor to each of the class bubbles, and his visit was followed by fun festive bubble parties!

A huge thank you to the Friends of Widford (FOWL) for organising for Father Christmas to visit the children. Even though the FOWL representatives could not attend the events, we are so grateful for their kindness and support.

The children in Pre-school, Reception, and Year 2 classes all performed in Christmas plays which were recorded so their parents could watch on DVD and enjoy their performances all

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The pupils in Forms 5 and 6 played the house hockey and rugby tournaments. It is a shame parents were not able to watch, but the matches were very competitive. The Music Department also organised for musicians and readers to record a Christmas assembly at St Mary’s Church, Widford, which was filmed and shown, via Teams, to the pupils and parents.

As we could not go to the pantomime this year and Form 6 are studying A Christmas Carol, we were delighted to have Quantum Theatre perform this classic a number of times so that all children in Forms 3 to 6 could enjoy it. The feedback from adults and pupils alike was that it was fantastic and very well performed.

7

For obvious reasons I have not taken as many photos this last year as normal, but I thought I would share some...

Reflection - Whitstable Harbour

White Cliffs - Folkstone

Seagull - Folkstone

Heron - Beeliegh Falls

Waves - Between Cromer and Sheringham

Sunset - Beeleigh Falls

Goldhanger - Sunset Wonky bench - Tollesbury 8

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...with you as I have some space due to quite a few of our advertisers currently being closed! (Paul - Editor)

London Zoo

Squirrel - Hylands Park

A field near Writtle

A field near Writtle

And lastly a few from Enlightened at Hylands House

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9

MT Gardening Happy New Year! I’ve been out and about in the garden catching up on various garden jobs to get everything in order. It’s also a perfect time to work off the excesses of Christmas.

Although not the time to prune, it’s a great time to start to select suitable one-off limbs of Cornus alba, Salix alba and all roses to propagate by hardwood cuttings. You’re looking for pencil thickness stems of no more than 1 year old and roughly 20-25cm (8-10”) in length. Work from the tip of the pencil thick stems, measure down and cut below a junction. To encourage enhanced rooting, score the bottom side of the stem by removing a slither of stem roughly 1cm.

Dab rooting hormone powder on the bottom of the cutting and the scored section. Once complete, insert into the ground leaving about a quarter of the cutting exposed. Rooting should occur in March/April. However, leave well alone until the autumn to lift, pot up and/or plant out. If you aren’t able to do this now, wait until you prune these plants in late February.

rooted plant has been heeled into the ground to protect the roots from drying out.

When it comes to planting follow these step by step pointers for success:

• Excavate a hole larger than the root system.

Fork over the bottom and or sides if you have a clay based soil - this will improve drainage.

• When planting, don’t add organic matter to the bottom of the pit, instead incorporate into the spoil fully.

• No need to add any feed as a base dressing. The thought is that by doing so you encourage the root system to search out for its initial nutrition.

• Check planting depth. On a bare rooted plant look for On another note, I’ve been busy ordering trees for planting the nursery mark where darker wood meets lighter bark out in the beds, borders and a number of large pots for myself (roughly 2.5cm (1”) above root system. Once found, plant and customers’ gardens. I’ve gone for the cheaper option of no deeper. buying bare rooted plants. If you’ve not been able to do this • Stake or not to - no worries, as the majority of plants will also be available stake? If the root as containerised or container grown. If you are getting bare system is vastly rooted plants, remember to soak the root system overnight disproportionate and prepare the planting hole or container to receive the to the overall top plant. If you’re not quite ready to do this, make sure the bare growth, I’d stake.

Otherwise, Over 25 years experieince if sheltered 20% discount when you I wouldn’t overly bother. If mention Mousham Times! planting dwarf • Trees • Pruning • Hedges • Roots Removed • Topping • Patios fruit trees, • Rotovating • Turfing • Fencing • Garden Design • Decking however, I would • Block Paving • Tar & Shingle • Guttering • Chimney Repairs stake as the root • Building Work• Roofing • Fascias & Soffits • Drainage solutions system is always much smaller and the top growth will benefit from additional support. If staking, position stake on windward side and use a good tree tie to fix the tree.

• Lightly firm as you plant and protect the trunk if potentially exposed to rabbits etc.

• Water plant and apply a top dressing of a compound feed in March - for example, fish, blood and bone at a rate of 50g/m2.

• Monitor the plant and water during drier times.

• Check out this link on planting: www.rhs.org.uk/advice/ profile?pid=237.

Lastly, check out this link for other jobs for the garden as we move through to January 2021: www.rhs.org.uk/advice/inmonth/january.

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Happy gardening and keep safe!

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For any gardening tips please contact Tom Cole, Horticultural Lecturer, Capel Manor College, Bullsmoor Lane, Enfield, Middlesex, EN1 4RQ by post (including a SAE), or by email at tom.cole@capel.ac.uk.

01245 422804 / 07711 606561 Unit 1, The Paddocks, Highwood, Chelmsford, CM1 3PU 10

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Personal Poems – a Pastime Turned Passion Hello, my name is Rosie and I write personal poems for all occasions.

For as long as I can remember, I have loved poems - reading them, writing them and above all, sharing them.

Growing up, I wrote many unique, personal poems with cracking punchlines for friends and family. I cherished each heartfelt reaction, often a combination of tears and laughter. Now, capturing the essence of a person, a pet or particular situation in a personal poem has become a real passion.

This year, I received so many requests that I set up a small business, Personal Poems, offering bespoke poems for a small fee of ÂŁ39. With shops closed, delayed deliveries and separated families looking for heartfelt connections, my poems became a popular gift alternative - particularly in relation to pets! As a devoted catmama, I understand the huge importance of animals in our lives, especially as we spend more time at home - and I love writing pet poems!

Throughout the autumn, I wrote poems of support for friends and family working in the NHS. After such a challenging year for staff, these poems were a privilege to write.

I also receive requests for poems to be read at funerals. I am humbled by these requests and it is always an honour to write a unique poem that celebrates the life of a loved one.

For personal poem enquiries, please email info@ personalpoems.co.uk, or ring on 01245 526 188 and leave a message. I am a full-time teacher, so I will return your call after 4pm. I look forward to hearing from you.

Take care and stay safe in these uncertain times. Love from Rosie at Personal Poems www.personalpoems.co.uk

New Year at Chelmsford Community Radio Happy New Year from all of us at Chelmsford Community Radio!

There are lots of changes happening at Chelmsford Community Radio 104.4FM with new presenters starting such as Danny Bounce. He will be bringing, The Blueprint to Friday evenings from January 2021.

There is also a new show called, Treasured Chelmsford from the Chelmsford Civic Society. This will look at some of the key historic locations around the city and also update listeners on the latest developments and causes they are working towards each month along with guest speakers talking about a variety of historical events and building of the past.

Over the festive period we dual-broadcast with Hospital Radio Chelmsford, and this has brought the service to a wider audience in Chelmsford.

Follow our social media accounts (@ChelmsfordCR) to find out details of all our programmes and also visit our website.

Remember, all you need to do to support community radio in Chelmsford is switch us on and listen!

104.4FM in Chelmsford and online at www. chelmsfordcommunityradio.com

Deadlines for the February edition: Articles - 20th January Print-ready art work - 28th January Edition available from - 4th February Remember to tell our advertisers you saw their advert in the MT

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11

Nick Garner’s Music & Ramblings When I woke up, I wondered if most of 2020 had just been a dream. Sadly it was not. Moving into 2021 we can only hope that it all gets better for everyone. So from me, here is wishing you all a safe, happy and healthy 2021.

I will not dwell too much on the past year except to say thank you to you all for doing your bit that includes all the essential services and every man, woman and child. I want to say to those we have lost near, dear, loved, admired, from close by or from afar, our hearts and souls and thoughts are with you. Let’s remember the happy and fun times as much as we can. With moving us forward we need to take care and love each other and care for our planet before its slipping from our grasp.

Now on to a tale from my past but not too long ago. As you may know I mainly worked within the music industry, and I also worked with my dad who was also my best mate and all who knew him loved him. Our family had a history of millstone building - yes the things that are used in wind and watermills.

I know we as a family can find information as far back as our great grandfather, so that is at least two hundred years being millstone builders. For the majority of that time the Garners were recognised as being the one of the best, and in the early 1900s my grandfather developed a composite stone - prior tho this, they had in the main been made from Derbyshire Peak and French Burr stone. The composition was the revelation in milling and carried on until we stopped in the early 1990s (I was the last in the line of millstone builders). It had to be made very exact and carefully, as they were mainly made for milling food stuffs like wheat and the slightest spark from the stones would be like a bomb going off. Dad said I had a good natural eye for making and what we call ‘dressing the stones’, as the had to run very smoothly together without any sparks.

They needed to be very level on ‘the face’. For those interested, some of the many things that are ground with millstones include Kenco coffee, herbs for medicine, bones, dried blood, and wood flour used in the backing of limonium - plus many other things over the years.

The main problem - and the main reason we are not still making them today - is that we made them too well and they can last well over a hundred years. We taught many people from the mills how to redress the stones as the wore down.

Here in Chelmsford, Marriages have and still use our stones - and most flour that is still stoneground around the world is done using Garner’s stones. I am very proud to have been part of the family business, and when I have travelled around the country over the years and visited mills and been able see stones that come from my family, I am very proud.

I recognise them because of the style of dress, which we called the diamond, which was unique to the Garner’s stones which for many years were built in Mark Lane in the East End of London. Here, the barges could get in to pick them up and distribute them around the country. When we were in the final years, we had returned to where my father grew up in Ongar and to Littlebury Mill which had belonged to my grandfather. I am told they ran six pairs of stones, so producing a lot of flour at the time. I have some great memories there too, as it is also where I was with my Margaret and our pooch Pip who was 12

the biggest doberman you would have ever seen, but also the gentlest of dogs. Sadly, my father, and Margaret and Pip are longer with us, but I still think of them every day and will always love them.

We now have a Brexit agreement, and whether you agree with it or not, we are out as of the 1st January 2021. Today as I write, Essex has declared a major incident with an increase of positive virus tests. Also today the second vaccine, the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine, is to start being rolled out from Monday 4­th January. This is great news of course and I will have the vaccine as soon as I am invited to. I do hope that you are all safe and will and hopefully looking forward to a better 2021 although I think the recovery will probably not really start properly until the second half of the year.

I am being optimistic and starting to book bands for the football club, commencing (I hope) from April. I hope we can start to get going around then and the plan is to put on acts weekly instead of monthly. Some of the acts we have booked so far are include The Animals, Connor Selby, Albert Lee, The Hot Rods, The Strawbs, Who’s Next, Urban Voodoo Machine, Kokomo, and the founder of Thin Lizzy - Eric Bell. There are going to be many more.

I do hope that your festive season was okay for you, as so many of us could not travel or see loved ones this year. I am sure there is going to the biggest party and celebration we have ever seen around the globe when we all come out of this!

In the meantime we must carry on as best we can, and yes I will take every precaution as I hope that you also do? We are not going to stop our magazines, that is certain, so if you have a story for us please send it to the email address below.

My buddies and myself at Black Frog will be continuing to put on music via our various outlets online for now. Some will be free and some will be paid - just a nominal amount to provide the musicians with a small income. We also have our record label Black Frog Records, and we have our first three releases forthcoming: the first is The SharpeeZ Live at Leo’s, the second is for the band Wilson, and the third is by our very own Old Moulsham musician and composer Paul James Stevens who has just written his first symphony simply titled Symphony No1.

It is in four parts and is wholly performed, mixed and mastered

by Paul himself - visit our website at www.blackfrogbands.co.uk and go to the ‘Black Frog Records’ tab for more information.

It would be fantastic if you could share our magazines the City Times and Moulsham Times for us. We continue to publish both magazines online at www.issuu.com/itsyourmedia. If you are interested in advertising with us please contact us at ads@ itsyourmedia.co.uk, or if you have a comment or an article please send to editorial@itsyourmedia.co.uk and we will reply to you as soon as we can.

For all updates and information go to the Black Frog Bands website at www.blackfrogbands.co.uk, or www.facebook.com/ blackfrogbands.

The Isolation Festival/Black Frog Bands page can be found at www.bit.ly/3cDoCYW. Black Frog is also now on YouTube - please visit www.bit. ly/38HyTmM. Yes It Is band page can be found at www.facebook.com/yesitis.

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Active Travel - By Cllr Marie Goldman

Happy New Year! I can’t quite believe it’s 2021 already. I wonder what this year will bring... With a bit of luck, I’m hoping for vaccines for everyone and a return to some semblance of pre-pandemic normality. Unfortunately, that’s completely out of my hands, so while we leave others to do the amazing work they are doing to trying to rid the world of COVID-19, let’s focus on things a bit closer to home.

Active Travel - New Road Layouts Proposed in Moulsham One thing that may well be changing in 2021 is the layout of some of the roads around Chelmsford, including around Old Moulsham. I wanted to draw your attention to it now so you have a chance to think about how this might affect you and then to respond to the consultation. First things first, though: what is it?

In November last year, the Department for Transport (DfT) announced that it would be awarding £7.3m to Essex County Council to improve walking and cycling in various places in Essex, including right here in our corner of Chelmsford.

This means big improvements to the cycle network around Chelmsford, which I personally welcome - being able to cycle more easily and safely should help us lower our carbon emissions, keep us healthier and our city greener.

information here: www.essexhighways.org/getting-around/ safer-greener-healthier/safer-greener-healthier-chelmsford. aspx. You can also view the other proposed changes in Chelmsford.

The public consultation should start in February. In the meantime, please have a think about whether this is something you would like to see in Moulsham. How will it affect you? Will it make any difference to how you use the shops and businesses in Moulsham Street? What do you think will happen to the traffic that would have used the proposed closed off routes?

Despite this being an Essex County Council plan, as one of your Chelmsford City councillors, I want to make sure that any changes are well thought through and properly take into account the views of local residents. Consultations like this are very important - it’s our neighbourhood and our city and it’s important that our voice is heard, so when the consultation is open, please be ready to have your say.

Best wishes for the year ahead.

Cllr Marie Goldman Deputy Leader, Chelmsford City Council Ward Councillor for Moulsham & Central

However, many of our roads weren’t designed with cyclists in mind, and creating more space for bikes and pedestrians means that some things have to change.

Conservative-run Essex County Council believes that this means closing off parts of some of the roads in Old Moulsham, including the bottom of Moulsham Street (from Parkway), the Moulsham Street end of both Grove Road and Hamlet Road, as well as closing Lady Lane to through traffic.

Here’s a map showing the proposed changes.

You can find out more

Both this magazine and the City Times are available online at: www.issuu.com/itsyourmedia www.moulshamtimes.com

13

MT Therapy: Chelmsford Therapy Rooms

Hi folks, Jenny here. As I’m writing this we’ve just gone into Tier 4, meaning that lots of people’s Christmas plans have been completely ruined. Some people’s plans won’t have changed much, but for others this Christmas was supposed to be the light at the end of the tunnel and a respite from the disruption of the year. I’m one of those who’s plans have gone up in smoke. I was hoping to get to see my dad this year, but he’s in Yorkshire in Tier 3 so he’s not allowed to come and see me.

I’m very lucky that I’m a resilient person (thank goodness for therapy!) and so I have plenty of techniques that I practice regularly to ensure I maintain this resilience. Many of these techniques come from positive psychology. Positive psychology has received somewhat of a bad rap, because sometimes it’s misinterpreted as an approach where people are just told to think positively and everything will be ok. Actually there’s a lot more to it than this. A lot of the time practising positive psychology involves retraining the brain so that one doesn’t automatically think negatively or jump to the worst case scenario. It’s also great for developing a general sense of well-being. In times like these, using a positive psychology approach can be very helpful to those who feel they need some respite from the seemingly endless negative news and disappointments.

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted everyone’s sense of stability, structure, and sense of control. This prolonged time of uncertainty, combined with the social distancing that keeps us away from family, friends and normal activities, has taken a significant emotional toll.

However, there is hope for the new year, and the worksheet I’m providing you today can help you nurture it. Hope is always important in our lives, but now it is more critical than ever.

Hope can help you fight off depression. Hope can motivate you to achieve your goals. Hope can help you be more resilient.

Hope can help you focus on the reality that you need to keep yourself safe by taking the health precautions recommended by the NHS and the Government.

I first came across the following technique on a daytime TV programme. They were reviewing gifts for people to give them hope throughout the pandemic. You can buy something similar to these Hope Boxes in various guises from places like Amazon, but I thought I’d give you a free version here that you can make yourself.

I’m a big fan of a company called Between Sessions Resources and they have written a version of the Hope Box for us that we can use for this article.

Here’s what to do: Take a shoe box or any similar sized box and write the words ‘Hope Box’ somewhere on the top.

Every day, find something to put in your Hope Box. Put

in objects that are associated with positive feelings and memories. Put in words that inspire you and make you think of a brighter future. Here are some suggestions of things to put in your Hope Box. Check off the ones that you think might be most useful.

• A special letter, card, or printed email from someone you care about.

• Special pictures that bring up positive memories (family, friends, holidays etc).

• Success documents (degree, diploma, certificates, awards, etc).

• Special quotations that are important to you.

• Art that you have created or that someone has made for you.

• Objects from your life that are associated with good memories.

• Letters or printed emails that mean a lot to you.

• Photos of special times you have had - or of special times you hope to have, such as photos of a holiday spot or an activity you enjoy doing.

• Photos of loved ones.

• Souvenirs from past trips or holidays.

• Meaningful photos from magazines or newspapers.

Make a note of other things you might put in your Hope Box. This technique will only be helpful if you do it every day and spend some time thinking about hope. The essence of hope is that you believe you will be able to have a better future. The strength of that belief is largely based on your ability to create that future by solving the problems that are currently weighing you down. While some people seem to be better problem solvers than others, the truth is that everyone solves big and small problems every day. Answer the following questions to think about how you can solve the problems that are affecting you during the pandemic.

• Describe the one problem that when solved will make the biggest difference in your life.

• Find a solution for this problem.

It is important to make a plan, or a roadmap, to solve your problem. However, every plan has some obstacles. List some obstacles you might encounter as you solve your problem.

Sometimes you might have a mental block in seeing the best steps to take in solving a problem. In this case, other viewpoints can help. Name three people who can give you other viewpoints in solving this problem.

Make a note of the following: • How do you know when you have solved your problem?

• What will be different in your life?

A Virtual Hope Box (VHB) is available from Apple’s App Store.

You can use the VHB to store a variety of rich multimedia content that you find personally supportive in times of need.

For example, you can include photos, videos and recorded

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messages from loved ones, inspirational quotes, soothing music, and more. The VHB provides positive activity planning, distraction tools, and interactive relaxation exercises including guided imagery, controlled breathing, and muscle relaxation.

I hope you’ve found this exercise helpful!

Jenny

Chelmsford Therapy Rooms has a range of therapists that help clients both online via Zoom or Skype. Some of the therapists are now working face-to-face once more. Therapies on offer range from hypnotherapy to counselling to nutrition.

Please the website at www.chelmsfordtherapyrooms. co.uk to see a full list of therapists, or email info@ chelmsfordtherapyrooms.co.uk, or call 0330 100 5162. If you have a specific therapist in mind that you would like to get in touch with please let Chelmsford Therapy Rooms know.

Moulsham Junior School - Christmas Carries on Regardless at MJS!

Well, what a year this has been! So many of our regular events, trips, fundraising activities and extracurricular activities which our staff work so hard to organise and which enhance life at our school have been cancelled.

like to wish you all a safe, happy and healthy New Year.

However, with a dedicated and supportive staff, supportive parents and truly wonderful children, anything is possible and life has returned to a new normal.

Our normal Christmas concerts, which are led by our Year 3 and Year 5 children at St John’s Church in Moulsham Street, could not take place, but we filmed the children from each class singing and this was made available through our website together with a photographic montage, which enabled wider families to enjoy a taste of Christmas.

Christmas lunch was slightly different too with our 660 children and 85 staff enjoying a festive packed lunch, with crackers and a chocolate treat! Children, their teachers and support staff, tucked in to their lunch in their class bubbles and everyone had a great time!

The staff panto became a virtual variety performance with our talented teams highlighting their considerable musical, singing and acting prowess. They certainly shone with stardom and confidence, much to the joy of our children!

As we start a new term, we know that life will still be far from normal, but we are confident that we will continue to be able to offer a quality and varied curriculum whatever challenges we face.

The staff and children of Moulsham Junior School would Remember to tell our advertisers you saw their advert in the MT

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Personal Finance Clinic: The Financial Deadlines coming up in 2021

happiness.

Happy 2021! Happy 2021! It’s worth saying it twice because most of us are so glad to see the back of 2020.

What a year that was (and not in a good way)! Let’s hope that 2021 will bring us all better health, wealth and

Maybe in this new year, more than any other in the past, you have resolved to take control of your personal finances to give you and your family more financial security?

So, let’s have a look at some of the financial planning deadlines coming up in the first quarter of 2021.

31st January 2021: Self-Assessment Deadline Just on the horizon is the deadline for submitting your selfassessment tax return and paying the tax due. This deadline corresponds to self-employed income earned between April 2019 and April 2020.

If you miss the deadline for submitting your return by up to three months, there is a penalty of £100 to pay. You will have to pay more if it’s later than this and you will be charged interest on late payments.

The Government understands that 2020 has been a financially difficult year for many businesses. So, if you think you’ll struggle to pay your self-assessment tax bill and owe up to £30,000, you should be able to set up a 12-month payment plan to pay the bill over the next year to 31st January 2022.

An ISA is known as a ‘tax wrapper’ because the ISA account is ‘wrapped’ around your savings and/or investments, protecting them from taxation. There is no tax to pay on any interest or returns that are generated on the account and there is no tax to pay when you withdraw money from the account.

If you do not use your annual allowance, you cannot carry it over to the next tax year. It is lost. However, for most of us, the important thing is to use some of the allowance each year; saving £20,000 in a single year is a big challenge for the vast majority.

Other allowances you can make use of include the Capital Gains Tax (CGT) allowance which is currently £12,300 and means that you can realise up to £12,300 worth of capital gains before any tax is due. Beyond that, tax would normally be payable.

Budget Speech 2021 It’s worth noting that Rishi Sunak is due to give his Budget speech on 3rd March 2021. It is expected that several taxes could be increased to raise money to plug the hole in our national finances, caused by the pandemic. With this in mind, you may want to speak to a financial adviser now for a review of your financial position ahead of any major tax changes.

Lauren Peters is a Senior Financial Consultant and Chartered Financial Planner at Brooks Macdonald Financial Consulting Ltd, 21 Lombard Street, London EC3V 9AH. She can be contacted via lauren.peters@brooksmacdonald.com.

However, interest will be applied during the deferred period, so only defer if you absolutely need to and contact HMRC as early as possible to discuss the arrangement.

Stamp Duty Holiday Coming to an End Remember that the stamp duty holiday is coming to an end on 31st March 2021. So if you are hoping to purchase a property before it ends, you will need to act fast. The stamp duty holiday is essentially a temporary increase in the nil rate threshold to £500,000, meaning that property purchases under that value will not attract stamp duty. The savings can be huge!

This measure was brought in to resuscitate the property market, which was stalled by the COVID-19 restrictions. Due to the continued coronavirus impact, there have been calls to extend the stamp duty holiday further.

Use Allowances Before the End of the Tax Year Adults and children in the UK have an allowance for ISAs each tax year. An adult can save and/or invest up to £20,000 in ISAs in the current tax year and there are several different types of ISA to choose from, including Cash ISAs, Stocks & Shares ISAs and Lifetime ISAs. You can have more than one ISA in the tax year as long as you don’t open more than one of the same type and as long as you don’t exceed the £20,000 limit across the ISAs. Up to £9,000 can be contributed to a Junior ISA for a child in the current tax year.

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the ‘B’ word!

Hi everyone, welcome to 2021. I hope you were able to celebrate Christmas and that you have kept well.

As I write this, the Pfizer vaccine has been approved for emergency use, and I hope by the time you read this several others will be available and the roll-out will be in full swing. If all goes well, perhaps we can just go back to coping with

I would like to start this month to say a big ‘THANK YOU’ to the staff at Broomfield Hospital, especially those in the Acute Medical Unit. Last Friday, I suffered some chest pain, and it went on a bit so my wife called an ambulance which arrived within 10 minutes. The paramedics set to work and decided I should go to hospital. It was about 12:15am. Once there, I was hooked up to the electronics and went through a series of tests. Anyway, in the end, it turned out to be a chest virus, so I was allowed home next day. All the staff were absolutely wonderful. As usual though, a combination of masks and my poor hearing led to an embarrassment. A nurse was going through loads of questions, with me saying many times, sorry I can’t hear you. She asked my weight, then something else, which I didn’t make out, so she held her arm above her head and I was pleased to do the same. It turned out she was asking my height! Thank you again, for your care, and for your patience with the patient.

I do try to follow the guidelines for good practice during this time, and I have joined in the festive fun by singing We Wish You a Merry Christmas (and a happy New Year) for my 20 seconds hand wash instead of singing Happy Birthday!

According to the Internet, under a heading of Funny News Stories, a 59 year old Russian man was taken to hospital with breathing problems. There seemed to a blockage in his nose.

After investigation, surgeons removed a coin from his nasal passages. It was thought that he had accidentality put it up his nose when he was 6 years old. Not surprisingly, the coin was no longer legal tender. Apparently, he said that when he originally put the coin up there, it was suggested that this method of saving was not to be sniffed at...

On a similar subject, a man from Surrey had a sneezing fit - and a toy dart shot out of his nose. He had suffered headaches and sniffles over a number of years, but hadn’t gone to the doctors. ‘I didn’t see the point’ he said...

In another report, a ghost hunter was horrified to discover that Poundland were selling ouija boards for Halloween. He was heard to say that he thought it was just a cheap trick.

Poundland said that they had considered the dangers and decided that it was a medium risk...

Well, as I write this just before Christmas, we have gone into Tier 4 - that’s inflation for you, last time I looked it only went to Tier 3. It means that Christmas is going to be different this year. Fortunately, I can still get some lockdown medicine as the grocery shops can open.

I thought I would try and review the past year in the style of a

limerick.

January came and then went, Our only worry was the money we’d spent But little did we know It will be quite a blow How much things would change by Lent.

In February and March we would see That lockdown meant that we Had to stay safe at home Contact only by phone No trips to the pub or the sea.

As the months went on, it’s no better We had to follow the science to the letter Taking daily exercise strolls Looking for toilet rolls And praising the quiz question setter.

As the autumn clouds started to form DIY became part of the norm People replacing their fence panels With advice from TV channels To avoid them falling out in a storm.

What a year of surprises it’s been All the sadness and suffering we’ve seen We all know the score We’re into Tier 4 But looking forward to the vaccine.

Bin End Chuckles What’s the best Christmas present in the world? A broken drum - you just can’t beat it...

Why did no one bid for Rudolph or Blitzen on eBay? They were just too deer...

Keep safe and may your 2021 be much much better than 2020.

Poetry Competition Reading Jonny’s fantastic poem above and having Rosie from Personal Poems advertise with the Moulsham Times on page 11 got me thinking that there must be lots of poets in the Moulsham area!

So I thought, lets do a competition. There are 3 categories: Under 11s 12-17s 18s and over The poems will be judged by Rosie from www.personalpoems. co.uk and the winners from each category will have their poem published in the Moulsham Times in April.

You can submit one poem per person and email paul@ moulshamtimes.com with your entry. The poem can be on any subject you wish.

Closing date for your poem will be Friday 12th March with the winning poems being published in the April edition.

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Pop Success: Celtic and Northern Blues/Soul We have seen that many of those that rode in on the blues boom often achieved fair degrees of success commercially, although it became an era when the young record buying public could afford albums instead of scraping together pocket money for singles, and so it was a time when singles became less important. Yet there were several artists who achieved considerable commercial success and do need a mention for their musical contribution.

Manfred Mann probably got their best form of promotion when their single 5-4-3-2-1 was chosen as the opening theme for trendy mod music programme Ready Steady Go! that started one Friday evening in the early sixties. There was certainly a blues element to their sound, and singer Paul Jones had learned harmonica in the same clubs as the Stones and Yardbirds. He maintained his enthusiasm for the blues after his pop success with a BBC Radio 4 programme up to 2018.

At least one of the other group members played afterwards in John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers too, while Manfred went prog with his Earth Band.

The Who also benefited from mod fashion and are thought of as the ultimate mod icons with their ‘Swinging London’ Union Jack and bullseye pop art motifs, despite earlier mod favourites like Georgie Fame.

In retrospect, they referred to their early music as the High Numbers as ‘Maximum R&B’, even though there were elements of surf music back then - long before rock operas diverted Pete Townsend’s energies.

The Kinks first two singles (when Dave Davies fronted the band) and early album tracks certainly fitted into hard thrusting R&B, but once brother Ray Davies took over writing about village greens and Waterloo sunsets, their whole sound became watered down.

Up in Newcastle were The Animals, who we have previously mentioned. The original five members were famed for their soulful delivery of Ray Charles and other classic R&B numbers.

Although Eric Burden went psychedelic in 1967 and morphed his route into an American New Animals, various line-ups have kept the original sound going to 2018 (so far, as I write) with an array of talented musicians and even the original drummer still with them.

Joe Cocker and the Grease Band did the same for Northern Soul in Sheffield, providing useful musicians to feed into other bands, as well as Joe’s gravelly ballads.

Its Manchester we have to thank for Victor Brox, as well as John Mayall. Victor’s main band was The Victor Brox Blues Train, which he kept going alongside various projects including singing for The Aynsley Dunbar Retaliation and working with a host of other top line musicians.

In Ireland a sax player in a fifties-style showband was the first inkling of how much the Celtic bardic tradition would add to the spread of rhythm and blues, when Van Morrison formed Them. Van’s success is so overwhelming worldwide, having had most of his old blues and soul heroes guest with his band over the years, that little needs to be said.

Taste gave us Rory Gallagher too, a fine blues guitarist. Eire Apparent, another fine band. Later, Thin Lizzy, steeped in the blues, moved into psychedelia in their own and often crosscultural way, like Horslips, in a country still broad of its own folk traditions.

In Scotland too, much talent emerged from the era. Not least of all Lulu and the Luvvers, before the wee soul shouter took to family entertainment, but also the Frankie Miller Band, Nazareth, Alex Harvey and His Soul Band, and Stone the Crows - a name given to the group by Led Zeppelin’s manager, Peter Grant, when he heard Maggie Bell belt out her songs.

Successful groups less easy to pigeonhole that certainly had blues roots, like Ten Years After, with Alvin Lee’s high speed jazz crossover innovations, being a good case in point. But also the Moody Blues at the time of their first album (with Denny Lane on vocals) were steeped in blues - before the Justin Hayward line-up transformed them into a spacey kind of psychedelic prog rock band - were another. Many more moved on into psychedelic influence that we know. Even Pink Floyd began as a blues band!

At the other end of the scale, in a study which can barely hope to be exhaustive, many other regional and lesser known alsorans deserve a mention, Like Davy Jones and the King Bees - ‘Davy Jones’ was to later become David Bowie but also played sax in this blues band.

Fellow glam rocker Marc Bolan had his roots too in a mod band called John’s Children. Blues by Five, Cops and Robbers, The Fays, The Chasers, The Eyes, The Exotics, The Emeralds, The Plebs, The Redcaps, Paul’s Disciples, The Hipster Image, The Beazers, The Eyes of Blue, Nix Nomads, The Mark Leeman Five, Black Cat Bones, and Downliners Sect were all of the era, although the Sect could not be wholly described as blues based. All of these and many more I’m sure deserve a mention.

Both this magazine and the City Times are also available online at: www.issuu.com/itsyourmedia

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A Health Coach; What Is that? - by Ola Adamolekun My name is Ola and I’m a Health Coach. A Health Coach - what is that? I hear you say. That is the question I have been asked by my friends, colleagues and family over the last 6 months so many times.

According to the UK Health Coaches Association: ‘A Health and Wellness Coach understands that each individual is unique and takes a holistic lens to consider a wide variety of lifestyle factors which can either support or undermine health. For example: whether we have purpose and meaning in our lives; what, when and how we eat: whether and how we move, sleep, rest and play; how we manage stress; the impact of our relationships and social connections; and not least, the nature and quality of the environment in which we live.’

term medication with prescribed drugs, but this is expensive and only treats the symptoms. Functional medicine takes a different approach using lifestyle changes to help address these conditions.

On the back of the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a lot of talk about health. I think there is a need now more than ever to help people navigate the minefield of information out there - and health coaches can do this. My vision is of every GP practice in the UK having a health coach working alongside them helping to tackle these chronic diseases. www.beencouragedwellness.co.uk www.facebook.com/BeEncouragedBeStrong www.linkedin.com/in/ola-adamolekun-0ab96b201

I started my health journey back in 2008 when I joined Weight Watchers in desperation because I needed to lose weight due to arthritis in my knees. Apparently, my knees were 10 years older than the rest of my body. I was 5’4 and 12 stone!

My doctor told me to lose weight but not how to do it.

This may sound stupid but there is so much information available on how to lose weight. There are so many diets, eg, Mediterranean, Keto, Paleo, juice diets, carnivore etc...

So many questions: What you should or shouldn’t eat?

When do you eat?

Do you need to exercise?

What foods are best for you?

What about if I’m allergic to...?

And the food labelling system - what a minefield!!

It isn’t surprising that most people don’t know where to start - and that’s why they don’t. This is where a health coach can help: We understand that each human being on this planet is different. So your approach to health is going to be unique to you. A health coach will find the best solution for you.

them.

It is a 1-to-1 process, not one size fits all. It is our job to help you figure out what works best for you and help you implement it - we look at a person as a whole and listen to them to find out what matters to

A high percentage of people living in the UK are suffering from chronic diseases like diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, high cholesterol, coeliac disease and now we can add Long Covid to this list. The traditional solution is long-

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Spot 10 Differences (Answers on Page 31)

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Charity of the Month - Sanctus

Sanctus is a charity based in Chelmsford providing food and support services to the homeless and vulnerable. We are open 7 days a week, 365 days a year. We provide a hot meal, drinks and snacks for those in need and our café also distributes clothes, tents, sleeping bags, toiletries and other essential items. In addition to this, we have a range of support services which are completed in our Hub, including, 1-2-1 mentoring and counselling, assistance with housing and benefits applications, furnishing the homes of the newly housed, addiction and mental health support, CV writing and training courses, tenancy sustainment programmes, and a range of advice and advocacy services.

Our service user base is 200-250 people, all with a range of complex needs. Our aim is to prevent homelessness by helping vulnerable individuals to take positive steps for their future.

For Sanctus, 2019 ended positively with lots of achievements, some 2019 highlights included: • Serving over 18,300 freshly cooked meals for free within a warm and secure environment.

• Over 22,000 food items which would have gone to waste were collected from local Chelmsford businesses and given away in the café.

• Sanctus completed over 1,100 free mentoring, counselling, and advice sessions. Just one session may mean that someone completes a benefits form, reobtains their ID, decides against drastic steps or receives help or advice with their challenges.

• Over 150 people obtained clothes and sanitary products, 70-plus people were provided with tents, sleeping bags and other items and more than 30 people were given kitchen goods, furniture and other items for their new homes.

• 11 different agencies utilised Sanctus’ building to offer their services, helping to build an eco-system of support for our clients.

• Sanctus assisted in the rehousing of scores of individuals.

26 individuals were directly rehoused and numerous evictions prevented.

2020 was a difficult year, but Sanctus faced each challenge with determination to consistently deliver our support services to the homeless and vulnerable. Our team became more determined than ever to be there for our clients.

When the first lockdown arrived and shops closed, the challenges that the homeless and vulnerable faced were even more significant. After some hasty process changes and Covid assessments, we switched to a takeaway service www.moulshamtimes.com

and we continued to remain open. The team came in every day, cooked and put food into takeaway containers. We were one of the last provisions of free food for the homeless and vulnerable in Chelmsford and the surrounding areas, as other services had unfortunately been forced to close. Queues formed down the road for access to a hot meal. We realised that the meal we were giving out was the only food many people were eating each day. We then started to provide a packed lunch, which included sandwiches, snacks, crisps and bottled water whilst also preparing food ready to be collected and delivered to those temporarily housed.

While the streets were empty and everyone was glued to the TV for news updates, our teams were onsite every day serving and supporting the people who would queue along Broomfield Road to collect food and seek help in other ways. Our service has been a lifeline and essential for so many, especially during the pandemic. While it was challenging, we are really proud to say that Sanctus remained open every single day of 2020 providing food and support services. We achieved this safely, based on working practices and we have had no Covid outbreaks to date.

The team noticed many people struggling, which is why our mentoring and 1-2-1 support services continued. The Hub team have assisted in some really complex cases this year, achieving some amazing outcomes. Through this provision, our team have built the relationships and connections to be able to identify those in need. Sanctus assisted with housing 25-plus in 2020, however, people being given a property can often be the start of the challenge. We have helped furnish their properties, to sort benefits, to address addictions and other challenges. Keeping those people in their new homes is now a key focus of our team.

We are seeing new people coming to Sanctus each day. The economic reality of this situation means many people are struggling. On top of financial hardship, we are seeing the impact of domestic abuse and the mental health crisis. These areas are going to need major support for 2021 - the issues will be nationwide and we intend to play our part in helping people.

If you would like to find out more about the work we do, to support us or get involved, please visit our website at www. sanctus-home.com, or follow us on Facebook, @SanctusLoveAllServeAll, or on Instagram, @SanctusCharity.

To contact us, please call us on 01245 257 985 or alternatively, you can send an email to info@sanctus-home. com.

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• 10,000 copies of the City Times • 9000 copies of the Moulsham Times • Discounts available for longer runs or when advertising in both our magazines • Editorial/business interview for regular advertisers

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The Singing Chef

French Easy Roast I know most of you have probably has enough of a roast dinner but if like me you are a little obsessed, this recipe is an indulgent French variation.

By French I mean simplicity with flavours of onions, garlic, herbs, lemon and wine. I used an incredible strong cheddar cheese for the sauce from my stunning Christmas hamper from Nicola and Kev at randdadvisors.co.uk (love you guys).

Check them out for all your R&D tax relief needs.

Method Cut all your root vegetables and fill an ovenproof dish (I used a food processor for ease).

Dress the veg in crushed garlic, salt, pepper, herbs and olive oil.

Add 250ml of stock, wine or water (up to you which).

Pop on the chicken, stuffed with garlic and herbs, liberally dressed in oil, salt and pepper.

Cook following instructions on your chicken’s packaging.

Rest in a warm place for 15 minutes before serving with

I always come home with a whole chicken, wether it’s on my shopping list or not, but this time it will not be doused in gravy or served with 3 hour’s worth of prepared accompaniments. Instead, this chicken is served with any root veg you have and a cheese sauce on the side. Simples.

any other seasonal green veg you have.

Whist resting, make your cheese sauce:

Chicken and Veg 1 whole chicken.

4 cloves of garlic.

Half a cup of fried onions (shallots are the best).

Root vegetables.

Dry or fresh herbs like thyme, bay, rosemary, parsley.

Olive oil AND butter.

Cheese Sauce 4 tbsp butter.

3 tbsp plain flour.

450ml milk.

100g grated cheese (any cheese you have left over).

Salt and pepper. www.issuu.com/itsyourmedia

Melt the butter in a saucepan.

Stir in the flour and cook for 1-2 minutes.

Gradually stir in the milk little by little (like Oasis), stirring constantly. This will help ensure you get a smooth sauce with no lumps. Once all the milk is added, keep stirring and bring the sauce to a gentle boil, take the pan off the heat add the cheese and season with salt and pepper.

Et voila!

Sarah is a singer and vocal coach based in Chelmsford and offers singing lessons to people of all ages and abilities.

You can email Sarah at sarahmtfood@gmail.com or search for ‘Sarah Beth Vocal Coaching’ on Facebook.

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Quiz Time

by John Theedom

1. Which famous TV advert featured a boy pushing his bike uphill?

2 Who has just built a dam in Helnicote Estate near Minehead?

3. In which year were TV licences introduced in the UK? 4. In November 2020, which song became the most viewed video ever on YouTube?

5. What is the word that indicates a mixture of metals?

6. What has Prince Charles introduced to Dumfries House to control slugs?

7. Which year did anti-vivisectionalists post a letter bomb to 10 Downing Street?

8. What nationality was Bette Midler?

9. What unusual thing happened to the golfer Lee Travino in 1975?

10. What was Matt Monroe’s job before he became a famous singer?

11. In which year did the Channel Tunnel open?

12. What type of animal is a caracal?

13. Where was Arkright’s shop in Open All Hours?

14. A coronet is a small type of what?

15. Remembering the TV programme Bonanza, what was the name of the family who lived there?

16. What is a baby oyster called?

17. What happened to the tennis star Monica Seles when she was 19?

18. To which article of clothing did Mae West lend her name?

19. What is a derringer?

20. What was the birth name of the singer Maria Callas?

21. What do you do with an isigubu?

22. What exactly is jaywalking?

23. Which method of communication involves 2 flags?

24. What was the name of the Queen’s corgi that died recently?

25. What nationality was Ronnie Corbett?

26. What is a malabathrum?

27. In which county is the town of Stevenage?

28. What, where or who is a piddock?

29. To which country does the island of Corsica belong?

30. Which famous golfer/commentator died in December 2020?

31. What is the official residence of the Queen in Northern Ireland?

32. What is common to Aldi and Lidl?

33. Where is the setting in London for Only Fools and Horses?

34. What is the art of origami?

35. In which country was Greta Garbo born?

36. Which rules has Rita Ora broken twice?

37. Who is the leading light in the United Union?

38 Where is the HQ of Kelly’s Turkeys?

39. What is President Trump’s wife’s name?

40. Sir David Attenborough has just had an honour bestowed, for what?

(Answers on page 31) 24 www.moulshamtimes.com

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Moulsham Lodge Community Trust With 2020 fading into 2021, lets hope next year gives us something we can look forward to.

Here at MLCT we hope as the Covid vaccines are becoming more and more widespread, that this means we will be getting back to normal.

We are planning a big community event next year (ML60) and may end up rolling an un-Christmas party into the proceedings, meaning turkey on the BBQ, as the weather should be better

by June.

Rather than write lots of news, we thought would like to leave you with a few photos from our Santa’s Christmas Hamper event which we held on the 12th and 13th of December - we were lucky that this just missed Tier 4 lockdown. At least we gave the children who met Santa some normality for the time of year.

MLCT thanks the Mayor and Deputy Mayor for coming along and opening the event by cutting what else, but tinsel.

All of us here at MLCT hope you all have had the best Christmas you can under the circumstances. We’ve got lots of catching up to do next year. www.mlct.org.uk enquiries@mlct.org.uk 07434 678 999 Contact us by email: enquiries@mlct.org.uk Search for us on Facebook and Twitter

Taking Stock

What was Christmas like for you this year? Perhaps it beat expectations? I hope so. But perhaps, and I guess this is the reality for many of us, it met our dampened expectations.

But here we are in a new year. And there is new hope, brace ourselves for a few months of restrictions, and the vaccine will begin to have an effect - so we’re told.

Well, predicting the future is a fool’s game on the best of days.

But as an unusual Christmas gives way to an unusual New Year, can I suggest that we don’t lose the opportunity to stop and take stock. It is always important to make time to reflect on your life, and even more so following the year we’ve just lived through. Here are some questions that might help:

It can be frightening to ask such questions. They are the kind that begin to reveal our hearts. But don’t let that stop you - in fact, go one step further, and pray about these questions.

Praying is simply talking to God, your Creator and loving Father. You can’t get prayer wrong. Give it a go. I’m certain you’ll find a safe place with Jesus Christ to pause and reflect.

One of the names that Jesus Christ took on was Emmanuel, which means God with us. As you ask these questions, God says that he wants to be with you - ask him, he’ll be there. And his longing is to let you know, deep in your heart, of his love for you.

Jesus, who is fully God and fully human, said this - ‘come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.’

What has been disappointing?

I don’t know anyone who doesn’t need a rest. But I know plenty who feel guilty for taking one. As you pause and reflect this new year, here’s a guilt free offer - come to Jesus, he wants to give you rest.

What has been lost?

Please get in touch!

What can you be thankful for? Can you list 5 things? 10?

Tim Goodall, Pastor

What burdens, emotional, mental, or physical, are you carrying into this new year?

tim.goodall@tilekilnchurch.org.uk YouTube: tinyurl.com/y24qlkvx www.facebook.com/tilekilnchurch

What has been hard in 2020?

26 www.moulshamtimes.com

Tile Kiln Corner by Cllr Linda Mascot As 2020 comes to a close, I’m still minded to reflect on a year that has completely upended all our lives, with continuing consequences emotionally and financially and in ways we would never have deemed possible as we all celebrated Christmas 2019.

Working in a school, the staff and pupils have all shown remarkable resilience with the ever-changing advice and rules. My working practice is governed by risk assessments, bubbles, distancing and copious amounts of handwashing and sanitising. My deepest sympathies to anyone who has lost a loved one during this difficult time.

I was lucky enough to be asked by Pastor James Bell to participate in Tile Kiln Church’s online Christingle service with Cllr Jude Deakin, Mayor of Chelmsford. Although there were 6 of us in the church, it was a very special and poignant service, the link is here: youtu.be/U9x9wpCmRF4.

I’ve known James for many years, we both serve on Mildmay Junior School’s Governing Body and it was lovely to catch up in socially-distanced person. We all received warm feedback after the service and I asked James his view on how his role has needed to adapt to this current situation: “This year has been a particularly tough one for everyone with restrictions and lockdowns, isolation and loss. But amidst it all there has always been hope, whether through the community spirit felt on Thursday nights or the kindness of a stranger, small acts of kindness bringing joy with their charity. As we drew near to Christmas it looked increasingly likely that this too would be disturbed and disrupted if not altogether cancelled. But this was not to be the case, as we adapted and persevered.

“It was an absolute pleasure to be able to broadcast a virtual Christingle live from Tile Kiln Church and to provide 100 goody bags containing everything needed to take part. This was only possible in part due to the generosity of Chelmsford Bookers and Princes Road Tesco, who both generously donated goods for us to give away.

“The service itself was short and virtual. We would especially like to thank the Mayor Councillor Jude Deacon and Deputy Mayor Councillor Linda Mascot, as well as the driver Sir John (not his official title!) for their willingness to support the event by taking part through doing the reading. We had a great www.issuu.com/itsyourmedia

socially-distanced time together as we celebrated the Light of Christ in the world, and they both lifted my Christmas spirit with their optimism and positivity. It was lovely to receive so many thankyou messages from across the community and something we will consider for the future.

“Another more sombre service was that of our Blue Christmas; a service we hold every year for those wishing to spend time reflecting on loved ones who are no longer with us. It is a lovely time to reflect, light a candle and feel supported by others who share in your feelings of loss and be reminded of the hope we have in Christ. Finally it is with great joy that we saw lots of windows and houses #LightUpChelmsford #LightUpLockdown as people shared light, Hope, love and joy as people decorated and lit up there windows to allow us to celebrate together whilst remaining safely apart. One thing this year has shown is that no matter how dark the night seems there is always light, and always love and hope. I only hope that this brings you joy as you too reflect on this Christmas and 2020, despite all we have seen and endured. May you know God blessing as you travel through 2021.”

My heart goes out to local businesses who have had to close, particularly Andy and Kate at the Clay Pigeon. My deepest sympathies also to anyone who has lost a loved one during this difficult time. I’m hopeful we will emerge, having been vaccinated, to appreciate all the things that we’d taken for granted before these restrictions and wish you all a very peaceful and healthy New Year.

Take care and stay safe. mascotlinda@gmail.com Twitter: @lindamascot

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Chelmsford Rivermead Rotary Club has teamed up with national children’s charity KidsOut to provide Christmas presents to survivors of domestic violence. Children who are living in refuges across Essex received a box of brand new toys and games to enjoy over the festive period.

Christmas is always tough for families in refuges, with this year set to be harder than usual because of COVID-19. Most children arrive at a refuge with only the clothes on their back, restricted to a single room with their mother and siblings.

Mothers struggle to provide basic essentials, let alone toys for their children at Christmas.

As part of Rotary International in Great Britain and Ireland, Chelmsford Rivermead Rotary Club is part of a nationwide campaign to provide a Rotary Christmas Toy Box to Every Refuge, Every Child. Thanks to local fundraising efforts, Chelmsford Rivermead Rotary Club funded 21 boxes of brand new toys to help support children’s mental health and make the world a little kinder. Each box contains over £80 worth of gender/age appropriate toys designed to promote social and educational development and family bonding. The boxes will be packed by KidsOut and distributed straight to refuge for mothers to give to their children in time for Christmas.

“We are so excited to be teaming up with the Chelmsford Rivermead Rotary Club for our brand new Rotary Christmas

Toy Box initiative,” said Sandra Doherty, Head of Children’s Services at KidsOut. “The children we support often have very few possessions of their own and these toys will provide comfort, happiness and Christmas joy in difficult times.”

The Rotary Christmas Toy Box project took place with local groups all over the UK. KidsOut aims to ensure that every child in refuge receives a box of brand new toys this festive season. Members of the public are invited to help with this and take part in KidsOut’s Giving Tree, the charity’s annual Christmas toy appeal.

For more information, please visit www.kidsout.org.uk

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Australia 2020, Make that 2010! by Simon Inglis

wizards in Detroit at the helm of GM had finally decided to end the 70-odd year history of Holden, seemingly in order to complete an assassination of such other icons as Buick and Saab.

Holden was killed off at a time when their 4-door sedans had reached an enormous stature in design, engineering and power. The product was world class, but it was not permitted to be sold to the world. There was no way a non-American car could be permitted to outdo the likes of... Cadillac! In turn and along with changing customer tastes, Australian new car buyers, the non tradies that is, seem to be lusting after monstrous American metal with wobbly 1930s-era rail chassis and absurd power outputs.

2021 will hopefully be a more normal year than last, whatever the so-called new normal will bring.

Australia bore the brunt of near hysterical lockdowns as states such as Victoria (where I live) remained mostly shut from April until November. Despite low COVID-19 numbers, Melbourne was sentenced to not only a full lockdown but also a nightly curfew. Australian politicians and health officials constantly gauged the situation in Britain and Europe with enormous anxiety.

Our borders have remained mostly closed. International travel, for instance to London, is most unlikely until later in the year and our two national airlines have parked most of their long haul fleet. Even a Qantas overnight flight from Sydney to Perth stretched out on a wide body airbus will be impossible this year. It’s a Boeing 737 or driving...

Driving! The collapse of new car sales is just as real downunder as anywhere else. As working from home or being kept afloat by the welfare system or subsidies has hit home the thought of a new car at $150 a week and upward has been placed on the backburner by many people.

As always, not everybody is hit quite so hard. Tradesmen for instance. Gutters still leak and break, toilets still get blocked and tree roots will keep cracking structural property walls.

Thus Australia’s best selling new vehicles are now utes - the Toyota Hilux and Ford Ranger dominate local sales. As well as the SUV of seemingly any flavour, the attraction of a utility vehicle remains front and foremost. Assuming some normality it seems the top selling cars will be utes, SUVs and in time, German luxury cars.

Only BMW, Mercedes and Audi still seem to be popular in the saloon ranks. Kia and Hyundai still sell but like Ford Australia they too may fall onto the default popularity of SUVs. In 2020 Ford Australia ended sales of the excellent Mondeo. Yes it was a great car according to most reviews, but the more utilitarian ute was selling like hot cakes alongside those SUV creations.

The thing is however, it wasn’t only the tradies buying utes after all. More than that the stats showed almost bizarrely, they were also being snapped up by people in the suburbs.

Families. As such the ute is slowly replacing the now defunct Ford Falcon and the Holden Commodore. By the time the

That is Australia’s new vehicle market today. For a Europhile such as me, well there’s no real effect. It’s a long time since I leased a car and I doubt I’ll ever be in a position to purchase a new car of my liking. As long as the aspirating classes keep buying or leasing new Mercs and BMWs I’m pretty much covered, as these C, E or coupé classes trickle down along the depreciation curve.

As for electrification, well - like many of us that’s simply too expensive. And unlike Europe there are absolutely no incentives. In fact it’s quite the opposite here in the land permanently stuck in an alternative dimension - some ten years behind Europe at least!

The masterminds that run South Australia’s treasury have warmed to the seemingly laughable idea that electric cars should not only carry no purchase or trade-in incentives, but should be taxed as well. So the idea has indeed caught on, with at least one large state set to copy the idea that clean energy should carry a per kilometre driven tax!

Electric cars account for some 0.7 per cent of new vehicle sales in Australia at a time when, if anything - and whatever the politics behind their implementation - they surely should be encouraged and not taxed! Not here in ‘Australia-2010.’

While I can make solid points against the environmental credibility of electric cars, it is stunning that huge trucks such as Ford’s F150 will be lining up as family cars, but the small eco-friendly Honda e will be unlikely to come in any great numbers to our huge cities of Sydney and Melbourne - both with populations in excess of 5 million each and with very real congestion issues.

So for a humble very middle class me, not much changes. I’m looking at F10 BMWs right now, and may wait a little longer until models such as the powerful 535i fall into my price bracket. Or a ten year old AMG. Or the gorgeous Mercedes CLS of circa 2013.

Yes, 2020 changed most things in Australia too. But not my used car buying habits. As for an electric vehicle? Sure I’d like one, but I can’t afford it - new or used! It’s certainly sad not to be able to entertain the option.

Australia is a great and certainly a very lucky country. But in any sensible environmental issue Australia is stuck in another decade. Bring on the Americans and their monster trucks... and a happy New Year from the antipodes!

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