Moulsham Times November 2017

MoulshamTimes

Los Pacaminos at Chelmsford City FC 18th November

Covering: Old Moulsham, Moulsham Lodge, Tile Kiln and surrounding area

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Issue Number 57 - November 2017

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MT Welcome Hi readers, Welcome to the November edition. This month we have Los Paciminos (featuring Paul Young) at Chelmsford City FC on Saturday 18th November - see the advert on page 21 for details.

All the Christmas goods are appearing in the shops already; we’re sure it gets earlier each year!!

Enjoy your month!

Regards Paul & Nick

Deadlines for the December edition Articles - 11th November Print ready art work - 15th November

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MT Therapy by Chelmsford Therapy Rooms - Gill Bicknell Hi everyone, Jenny here. Continuing the series of articles written by therapists at Chelmsford Therapy rooms, we next have an article written by Gill Bicknell. Gill is a psychodynamic therapist working with individuals on a one-to-one and open-ended basis. She has been involved in the counselling field for 11 years, training locally at CCF (Chelmsford Counselling Foundation) and working there on a voluntary basis. She then went on to begin her work at a local hospice along side working at her private practice. Below, she writes from her perspective as a psychodynamic counsellor on the therapeutic relationship in counselling.

What is a Therapeutic Relationship in counselling and what can I expect from it?

Entering into counselling is a decision that takes thought and consideration. It is an unknown experience that can be daunting and scary, with individuals unsure what to expect. For many it is the first time that they have given a voice to experiences and thoughts.

If we then put that in the context of talking to a stranger about these things, then we can start to appreciate the courage and bravery that it takes to walk into the counselling room. It is my feeling that the backbone of any good and solid counselling comes from the relationship that is established between counsellor and client - the ‘therapeutic relationship’.

When using the term ‘therapeutic relationship’, I am referring to the working relationship between a client and their counsellor that is established in a confidential and safe environment. From this foundation the aim is for the counsellor to help clients to increase their self awareness so that they are able to find the answers and understanding they are looking for.

As we ask the question of what makes this so different from any other relationship, we also discover the impact of counselling.

It is a relationship that you cannot get anywhere else; a working alliance established with the help of a verbal contract to give security and safety from which to explore what has brought an individual into the counselling room. It is built over time. Ideally sessions would be organised for the same time on the same day each week, which helps to establish a reliable and consistent connection. The hope is that this brings about a safe space where thoughts, feelings and experiences can be shared and explored without fear of reprisal, persecution or judgement.

the client may feel that they do all the talking. However, the space created in each 50 minute session is for the client to use and inhabit in whatever way they feel they can, using the counsellor to interpret whatever is going on for them.

Often in life relationships come with conditions, expectations and censorship on what is allowed to be said and done. The therapeutic relationship needs the truth and reality as it is for the client at that moment on that day. When the freedom to simply ‘be’ without judgement is afforded to a client, the hope is that they are able to be kinder to themselves and gain a greater understanding of who they are.

It is my feeling as a psychodynamic counsellor that the therapeutic relationship is the point from which the work begins and continues.

When a solid and safe therapeutic relationship is established, then it is my hope that a client can be helped to explore and find what it is that they are looking for, safe in the knowledge that the counsellor is standing alongside them striving towards a common goal of taking what is discovered and uncovered forward into a happier and more positive life.

It takes honesty and bravery to enter into counselling, but it is my hope that the process will ultimately be an enlightening and positive experience that ultimately gives the client the answers they they are looking for.

If anyone is interested in seeing a therapist, at Chelmsford Therapy Rooms we have a range of therapists that can help with a multitude of issues. We offer many therapies from hypnotherapy to counselling to nutrition. Please see the website www.chelmsfordtherapyrooms. co.uk, or you can email info@chelmsfordtherapyrooms.co.uk, or call 0330 100 5162.

Chelmsford Therapy Rooms is owned and run by Jenny Hartill, an integrative counsellor and hypnotherapist, who is happy to answer any questions!

Why is a therapeutic relationship so different to talking to my friends?

Friendships often come with a need to ‘make it better’ and to give advice. They also have previous knowledge, experience and preconceptions of the client and those in the client’s life, which can often cloud or affect a friend’s advice. This is not to say that the counsellor does not want it to be better for the client, but rather than giving the clients the answer, a counsellor will help the client to discover answers for themselves. Within the therapeutic relationship, the concerns and energies are concentrated on understanding the client as an individual; what has brought them into the room and the information that comes with them alone. Advice and direction are avoided, the work of the relationship is more to facilitate personal understanding of behaviours, reactions and interactions with others.

The physical safety of the room also allows the client to have the confidence to voice their innermost thoughts, ideas and past events.

A physical space away from the outside world where a client is ‘held’ and able to inhabit as they want to in a confidential and tolerated way. The room holds no memories, but rather becomes a blank space for the client to rediscover, emerge and survive. This combined with the security that the therapeutic relationship itself can survive without intolerance or judgement, no matter what is expressed or spoken about. It is the complete experience of connecting to someone who is interested in your words, thoughts and feelings.

The relationship can at times feel very one-sided, with the counsellor offering very little, if anything, in the way of personal information, and 4 www.moulshamtimes.com

Vicky Ford the MP for Chelmsford Each month I receive an email from the House of Commons library telling me the latest unemployment numbers in Chelmsford. In September, 850 people claimed unemployment benefits across the city. This is just 1.5% of all 16 to 64 year olds. Across the country, the unemployment levels are at a 40 year low.

I remember back in 2010 there were nearly a million young people in Britain without a job or who weren’t in education or training. It is good to see how much youth employment numbers have improved.

This September, 165 of the claimants were aged 18-24, which is 15 lower than the same time last year. Another positive piece of news is that there has been the largest fall in low pay for 40 years. In 2016, the number of low paid workers - defined as those earning less than two-thirds of the median hourly wage (£8.25) - fell by 300,000, the largest year on year fall in low pay since 1977. This is a result of the Government’s introduction of the National Living Wage.

Governments don’t make jobs, businesses do. But government can help to create the best environment for businesses to grow. As the local MP, one of my roles is to support local businesses. This month I led a satellite summit, bringing together heads of major satellite and

space sector companies from across the UK. We met in Chelmsford at Teledyne e2v to discuss the new Space Industry Bill with the Transport Minister.

Britain is a world leader in space and communications technology, especially in designing and building the new generations of smaller satellites, but these have to be sent overseas to be launched into space. The bill will bring in a new legal regime to enable launches from the UK. It was very encouraging to hear the companies explain that this government policy is already encouraging more investors to consider opening new businesses in the UK. I am also keeping a close eye on the state of the Brexit negotiations.

Trade with Europe is important for many jobs of local people. It’s important to remember that many of the industry’s we take for granted today, like telecommunications and digital and travel, are vastly different to when we joined the EU 40 years ago. They have grown up with a legal regime established under EU laws. It is very important that there is certainty about what the new regime looks like. Walking away from Europe without a deal does create risks for local jobs. It is good news that the negotiations have moved onto a more positive tone.

If you are a local Chelmsford Business and would like to meet, do get in touch at vicky.ford.mp@parliament.uk.

From County Hall - by Cllr Dick Madden The clocks have gone back and it is now dark in the mornings and evenings. Winter is coming, but so also is Christmas, so please put in your diaries the annual Christmas lights switch on in our city centre, Sunday 26th November 2017. The entertainment starts at 3pm and the finale of the lights going on and fireworks is at 4.45pm.

November is the time in each year we remember those who gave their lives in conflicts around the world when serving in our armed services.

As in previous years, with my best mate ‘Browny,’ we are travelling on a coach to the Normandy beaches to remember all those servicemen who took place in Operation Overlord, which was the allied operation that launched the successful invasion of German occupied western Europe during World War 2. The allied troops numbered 1.4 million and during the campaign, 226,000 of them were either wounded or killed. I will take the opportunity whilst in Normandy to lay flowers on memorials for those servicemen who never came home. They gave their lives in order that we can be free. Thank you, we will not forget you.

This week, the media reported that crime has increased in our country for the first time in ten years by 15% - that is a big increase. In addition, we as residents have seen an increase not only in aggressive begging, which I continue to lobby on your behalf, but the visibility of drug exchanges, supply and distribution. This is a matter that you not only bring to the attention of the police, but you also inform me as well.

This activity for Chelmsford is not normal, neither is it acceptable, but it is a fact that Chelmsford is not the exception - this is a national social issue. Engagement is ongoing from our Essex MPs with the Home Secretary regarding funding for the police service. In Essex, the Police Crime and Fire Commissioner is aware of the growing concerns of communities on this matter.

Having met our local police I am aware that assorted police operations in recent months have successfully removed dealers and suppliers of drugs, they are working to their full capacity. So what can we do as residents? We need to continue feeding in our observations of this behaviour to the police, but also recognise that the police do not have enormous resources, so this behaviour will not be resolved immediately.

I recently read an article regarding Portugal legalising the use of drugs, which has lead to a massive drop in drug misuse. It’s a thought only, but a debate that could happen if this national issue continues to grow.

BE SAFE Dick

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MT Fitness

The Habit Is More Important Than the Goal

When starting a new habit of health - like going to the gym, a new diet, or doing your stretches from your trusty osteopath - it’s easy to get focused on the result.

It’s been a slightly different subject matter from me this month. I’ve taken a break from the pain prevention topics I usually discuss, but habits of health are also a huge passion of ours at Forté Physical Health.

You want to feel fitter, more flexible and have more energy and that’s the thing that draws your attention.

If there is a topic you would like me to cover, like a particular injury, drop me a note at chris@fortephysicalhealth.co.uk. You can also get exercise and lifestyle videos throughout the month on our Facebook page.

I went through this myself recently. I went through a period of about two years where I barely exercised at all. I was the most unfit I’d been since about the age 12, literally. Then suddenly I had the motivation to get fit again. I wanted that feeling back, the feeling of vitality that only exercise can bring me.

Have a healthy month!

I started running again at the beginning of the year, and guess what? It was horrible! Where was the ‘runner’s high’ I remembered? I felt rubbish! Every run was an arduous chore, I would find any excuse not to go and all I experienced was pain and suffering. This went round in circles for, oh I don’t know, four months or so. I would want to feel fit, it would hurt, I would stop. Repeat.

Then I had a brainwave: the habit is more important than the goal.

Just run, three times a week, no judgement, no goal. So that’s what I did and lo and behold, something amazing started to happen. I got the runner’s high back! My times started to come down and I felt good. Without even realising it, I started to glance down at my running watch more. I noticed that I passed under the bridge or past a park bench a few seconds faster than the last time I was out. Things were getting better!

I’m now six months in to my running obsession and now I find an excuse to go running, rather than not to go running. Building the habit has led to all the feelings I wanted in the first place, but each time I focussed on the result, I failed. I bring this concept up with my patients all the time. If you want to be more flexible, there’s only one way to get there; stretch regularly. If you need to be stronger - you guessed it - train regularly!

If you want to be out of pain, build the lifestyle habits which will get you there.

At first, you won’t feel good. If anything, the training will just highlight how far you still have to go. This might make you feel even worse! But ignore that. No judgement. Just get it done. The feelings of improvement will surely follow, I promise.

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November 2017 Thursday 2nd The Phil Ball band Friday 3rd - The Mint Saturday 4th - Indigo Hammer Sunday 5th - Open mic/jam Friday 10th - Hit Parade Saturday 11th - Electrum Sunday 12th - Open mic/jam Friday 17th - The Sounds Saturday 18th - The Stents Sunday 19th - Open mic/jam Friday 24th - The Strides Saturday 25th - The Statins Sunday 26th - Open mic / jam Thursday 30th - Acoustic Jam Friday1st - Rewind 159 Moulsham Street, Chelmsford CM2 0LD

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MT Gardening There’s still time to plant daffodils and other spring flowering bulbs for a magnificent start to next year’s display. Plant tulip bulbs now to prevent tulip fire infection - a fungal disease which produces brown spots and twisted, withered and distorted leaves. That aside, for me it’s got to be Queen of the Night for their lovely rich dark purple, almost black flower heads. If you’re stuck for space use pots, but remember to add plenty of grit for drainage. I’d also plant up a terracotta pot of hyacinth bulbs for a simple but stunning display next spring.

rot at bay and protect special plant stock.

At the college, we’ve started to lift dahlia tubers, begonias and gladiolus corms to store dry over the winter months.

Some groups have also removed canna lilies and other tender shrubby perennials for safe keeping in the greenhouses over winter.

Whatever you do, remove the dead foliage before storing as this will keep

divide overcrowded clumps to maintain their vigour. For me, not everything gets this short back and sides affair; grasses and plants with decorative seed heads are retained until next February or until they look tatty. Try leaving the likes of purple cone flowers and Black Eyed Susan’s for their fabulous dark seed heads.

Shortly, it will be time to start pruning apple and pear trees. In fact anytime between now and February. Don’t be tempted to prune your stone fruits such as plums and cherries now, as they will be susceptible to the silver leaf fungus and bacterial canker - wait until July or when you harvest. Still on the fruit theme, apply grease bands to the trunks of fruit trees to prevent wingless female winter moths climbing the trunks and laying their eggs in the branches - you don’t want to bite into a fruit next year and find you’ve inadvertently eaten half a maggot!

This is a great month for checking out your lawn. Cut, scarify (only after killing off moss with a suitable product containing ferrous sulphate), aerate, topdress and feed. Use a sturdy spring tined rake to take up the thatch - all this year’s old grass clippings that have collected at the bases of grasses.

Cut back the yellowing foliage of herbaceous perennials and lift and

This will also bring out weaker grasses and some broad leaved weeds. Don’t forget, kill off moss before this stage or you’ll just end up spreading moss spores all over the lawn. Follow this by aerating. You can use either a lawn aerator or simply insert a garden fork at regular intervals and lean it back slightly to let air in. I’d then finish off with a top dressing mix containing sieved loam and sand to help improve soil conditions and rooting of grass. Lastly, feed with a low nitrogen feed to promote root growth and stronger all round growth. Continue to clear fallen leaves off the lawn to keep it healthy.

If you want to further your knowledge and understanding, why not consider one of the following courses at Writtle University College next year?

For RHS Level 2 Certificate in the Principles of Horticulture (1 year, day release), RHS Level 2 Certificate in the Principles of Plant Growth, Propagation & Development (September - February), RHS Level 2 Certificate in the Principles of Garden Planning, Establishment and Maintenance (February - June 2018) and RHS Level 3 Certificate in Practical Horticulture, email or call me for information on availability of days and times.

Happy Gardening For any gardening tips contact: Tom Cole, Horticultural Lecturer, Writtle College, Chelmsford, CM1 3RR by post (including a SAE), call me on 01245 424 200 or email me at tom.cole@writtle.ac.uk.

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Music and Blues & Roots in the City - by Nick Garner Firstly, I want to say a little about the Arts and Cultural Festival which is starting to take shape and is looking to be an eight day event next year, we are just waiting to confirm the dates now. We have had some great meetings and gained some fantastic support, not only from our MP Vicky Ford, but also from BBC Essex, Aquila, the Bond Street retailers association, High Chelmer and the Quadrant, and we are just waiting on some more to confirm their support to us. As we move forward, we will tell you more about our plans. We want this festival to include all things cultural and the arts - we also feel that we have great industrial heritage here in Chelmsford and want to include that as well.

We have some great live music coming up for you in November.

Starting at the Bassment on Thursday 16th we welcome for the first time the vocal powerhouse that belongs to Toriah Fontaine all the way from Wales. She is bringing her great band along with her as well to play you their blues and rock songs. Special guests for the night are Mississippi MacDonald and the Cottonmouth Kings. Mississippi has a new album that has just come out and they will be playing some songs from that as well as selling it at the gig.

On Saturday 18th November at Chelmsford City FC, we have Los Pacaminos, featuring Paul Young, with special guests Jamie Williams & the Roots Collective. This will be a night to make sure you have your dancing shoes on for.

On Saturday 25th November we have a very special night at the Bassment when we welcome the incredible Jar Family from Hartlepool. This six piece outfit features five singer songwriters, so expect an amazing night with some awesome harmonies and a great

Back at the Bassment for my monthly night we had Vicky Martin (Delta Ladies) and the Fran McGillivray Band. Vicky opened proceedings playing a rare solo set and played a few songs I had not heard before - she went down very well.

Next up was Fran with Mike and Roger again. Always a great band to see; Fran with her wonderful voice and fabulous bass playing, and Mike’s amazing guitar skills and vocals, add to that one of the finest drummers I know in Roger. They wowed us and made it a night to remember.

I have to say I feel very honoured to be able to put on so many acts at both the Bassment and the football club, as well as booking acts into a few other venues as well. It’s very pleasing that so many great artists want to come and play for us in Chelmsford. I must thank all the venues and all the people who help me (without whom it would not be possible to do) and of course to all the artists for being so good and coming here to play.

As ever, please do try to come out and support the great live scene that we have in Essex, because if you do not we may lose it.

For more information on all of the above and more see the links below and pick up a copy of the City Times and go to the What’s On page to see what else in happening in your area. If you go to Facebook page events, you can preview all the up and coming acts. www.bluesinthecity.co.uk www.facebook.com/bluesinthecitychelmsford Twitter: @BluesintheCity1 www.itsyourmusic.co.uk www.facebook.com/itsyourmusic Twitter: @itsyourmusic

mix of styles. The special guest on the night will be Sheri Kershaw and her band - another fine singer songwriter, making this a night not to be missed. Full details for all the shows can be found in this magazine.

We had a really good show at Chelmsford City FC with Limehouse Lizzy and Joe Anderton recently. Joe was going to have his band with him but due to some unforeseen circumstances, his drummer could not make it, so Joe decided to play solo. He has only played some small solo shows previously, so this was a big one for him in front of a large audience on a big stage. On your own is not so easy the first time, but Joe did it - and wow, he was about the best I have heard him. He had the audience in the palm of his hand as they listened intently, applauded loudly and laughed at his jokes. He sold more CDs than he has ever done before too, so well done Joe Anderton.

The main act of the night, Limehouse Lizzy, have been doing this for nearly 25 years, and boy are they good at it. Wayne Ellis does not only sound like the late Phil Lynott, but he looks like him too and has that same cheeky grin. He was joined by the other founding member Greg Alcock (guitar and backing vocals), Craig Price (guitar and vocals) and Aid Todd (drums). If you closed your eyes, you would think that it was Thin Lizzy up there... They played all of the hits and some of the not quite so well known songs and gave everyone their money’s worth by playing for just over two hours. We have already rebooked them for our Christmas 2018 gig and we can’t wait.

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MT Baking by Alison Motley

Why is it so often the way that when you bake something for a special occasion - religiously following the recipe and giving it all your time, effort and care - that the end result can be disappointing in terms of looks or taste? Or some other disaster will befall your bake, like a cake not rising or your chocolate ganache seizing. Yet when you just throw something together at the last minute with what you have in the cupboards, it turns out exceptionally well and people ask you for the recipe (which you haven’t actually got as you just made it up)!

So it is with these plum, marzipan and cardamom pastries. It’s usually at this time of the year that I start clearing out my freezer and food cupboards, trying to use up all my leftovers to make way for those inevitable Christmas goodies. This year, amongst other things I had a packet of frozen puff pastry, a tin of plums and half a block of marzipan.

A few spices and an hour or so later and I had these tasty little morsels. We ate them warm straight from the oven as they were, and everyone loved them - but I guess they would taste even better with cream, ice cream or custard. If you don’t have cardamom I wouldn’t worry, ginger always goes well with plum as does cinnamon, star anise, mixed spice or just a little vanilla.

I’m sure the pastries would work just as well with other tinned fruits - peaches, apricots and pears spring to mind. As for the marzipan, it isn’t strictly necessary, so if you don’t have any just have a rummage in your food cupboards and see what else you can come up with!

If you are in the mood for clearing out your food cupboards and maybe doing some baking this month, then Children in Need week is a great excuse to get your apron on and bake something for a cake sale - and don’t forget the 26th of November is Stir-Up Sunday; the day when traditionally Christmas puddings are made, with everyone giving the mixture a stir and making a wish. My wish for this year other than world peace and winning the lottery of course - is for a Kitchenaid stand mixer in ice blue!

Happy baking!

plums) 1 cardamom pod, bruised 1 tablespoon cornflour ½ tablespoon water 125g marzipan 1 tablespoon milk 500g ready made puff pastry A little plain flour, for rolling the pastry 1 egg, lightly beaten Handful flaked almonds (optional) Icing sugar for dusting (optional) 1. Drain the plums over a small bowl, reserving 4 tablespoons of the syrup. Cut the plums into chunks and place them in a small saucepan with the reserved syrup, cardamom pod. Gently bring the plums to a simmer and cook, uncovered for 5 minutes.

2. In a cup, blend the cornflour with the water and add to the pan, stir together and boil for approximately 2 minutes until the mixture thickens slightly. Leave to cool in the pan. When cool, remove the cardamom pod.

3. Grate the marzipan into a bowl, add the milk and mix them together until a smooth paste (you may need to add a little more milk depending on the marzipan you have used).

4. Preheat oven to 200C/180C Fan/Gas 6 and line a couple of baking trays with grease proof or baking paper.

5. Gently roll out the puff pastry on a lightly floured surface to approximately 4-5mm thick. Using a 9cm cutter, cut out rounds of pastry and place them on the baking trays.

6. Spread a teaspoon of the marzipan mixture over each pastry round, leaving a 1cm border around the edge.

7. Divide the plum mixture between the pastry rounds. Brush the edges of the pastry rounds with the beaten egg, fold them in half to enclose the filling and pinch the edges to seal.

8. Brush the pastries with the beaten egg, cut a couple of small slits into each pastry with a sharp knife and sprinkle with the flaked almonds.

9. Bake for 20-25 minutes until the pastry is puffed and golden.

Sprinkle the pastries with icing sugar before serving.

Plum and Cardamom Pastries I would love to hear from readers with anything baking related. Drop (Makes approx. 24) me an email at motleybakes@aol.com.

1 x 595g tinned plums in syrup (approx. 300g drained weight of 14 www.moulshamtimes.com

Traveller’s Tales: In Search of Surrealism 1: Salvador Dali - by John Power The transfer from the airport at Barcelona into the city is a short one and we found our digs quite easily. They turned out to be in the very central destination of Las Ramblas, which is a dualed road running to the refurbished quay and marina with a broad green strip of elaborate floral gardens between the carriageways, with spaces for musicians, human sculpture actors and tourist kiosks. The flat was small, ancient, windowless, and cheap - so suited us.

There was much to see nearby as the area is blessed by some amazing architecture in that part of town in the form of the elaborate curving style of Art Nouveau buildings created by Antoni Gaudi. Such as the flats of Casa Batillo, the old Town Hall with ornate external decoration and crypt open to the public, an enclosed square with fountain and even ornate street lamps. Gaudi’s most famous creation also uniquely in Art Nouveau style is the cathedral, Sagrada Familia.

This was begun at the beginning of the 20th century, but after two world wars it is yet to be finished - or rather construction has been resumed. Hopes are that it will be completed by the 2020s. The activities of the masons trying to follow Gaudi’s elaborate designs for internal and external carvings are open to view by tourists, as this is taking place inside the existing shell of the building. There is also a workman’s lift that can be taken to the upper levels to gain a panoramic view of the city and the building progress.

The Gaudi designed square behind Las Ramblas is not the only one, another was near our digs where we found cheap food. It was peopled by all manner of bohemian local characters. We’d found it colourful and used it for a few days before a food stall holder warned us about pickpockets and bag snatchers. It hadn’t occurred to us before, but it drew our attention to the fact that police cars include the square on their regular patrol route to keep an eye on the locals.

We hadn’t felt threatened, and the inhabitants must have been as inquisitive about us as we were about them, as not many tourists ventured into their territory. There seemed to be some agreement between authorities and graffiti spray artists to only create their murals on the protective metal blinds and not the buildings. This meant that they were only visible at night if the shops were shut and not during the daytime. That was true not only in that square but in all the shopping areas generally.

But Gaudi was not the artist we had come to Barcelona to seek out, nor the work of Juan Miro, the other well known Modernist painter of Spain, but rather we had come in search of what remained of the life and work of Salvador Dali. A refurbished opera house two or three hours north by train was what the Surrealist master had refurbished as a museum, but given the exteriors, curves, nooks and crannies of the building housing his creations, a Dali experience would be a better description than a museum. So it was to the town of Figueres, where he was born in 1904, that we boarded a train for, from an underground station that predated London’s Crossrail by many years.

As you walk from Figueres station to the museum, you are already greeted by a chromed cylinder pole surrounded by what appear to be random marks at surrounding pavement level, but actually reflect in the chrome to create a portrait of the artist. That sets the scene for your arrival... You’ll have to google the Dali Museum for images and sculptures in and around the building as no words can do them justice.

back to Cadeques and the coastal village of Portlligat where he was then living.

In 1929 he formed a partnership with the former wife of Paul Eluard (his future wife Gala) as a result of his expanded artistic social group, though the couple did not marry until 1958. He lent a strong method of creation to the group’s techniques which included chance juxtapositions of objects and images, which were part of what he called the ‘paranoiac-critical’ method of perception. By painting double images and hallucinations he said he was liberating the contents of his subconscious, and contrived to work in this way until 1937 when he became retrogressive and incorporated elements of Classicism and Catholicism into his work. He became estranged from the Surrealist movement, as the group’s main theorist, Andre Breton, denounced him as reactionary and academic, as he was drawn to religious and Baroque sources for inspiration, even though they were incorporated in a surreal manner.

In 1940 he went to the USA, where his ideas were better received.

The scenery he had grown up with along the Catalan coast of Spain remained a frequent background for his visual compositions and must have seemed as equally surreal to the American audience. The Persistence of Memory was the title of one well known painting, and non-linear time was a frequent theme in his work.

To annoy his old Surrealist partners he found in his name the anagram ‘Avida Dollars’ to announce his global fame. He even discussed collaborations with Walt Disney, but these didn’t materialise. His final years were spent back in Spain, either, at first, in the familiar Portlligat and Cadaques area, or later at the Castle of Pubol that he bought for his muse, Gala, as a retreat from the public in 1969.

He was artistically active up to the age of 85 and outlived Gala who died in 1982. She had her own crypt in the cellar of Pubol. Gala read the tarot cards daily and Dali designed a rather odd Catholic style pack of the symbols for her; she can’t have had very good readings about their final years. Dali was handicapped by inhalation and minor burns after a house fire near the end of his life. Following hospitalisation due to the fire Dali returned to the place of his birth at Figueres, not Pubol Castle, and died on 23rd of January 1989. With one last surreal twist, his embalmed body was disinterred in 2017 in order to take DNA samples in response to a long standing claim by a local Spanish woman about the paternity of her now adult daughter, born in 1954.

The additional journey to Portlligat from Figueres meant that we could not make the the journey on the same day to see Dali’s house on the coast, which is also open to the public now. We didn’t have a spare day to take a separate trip, so our next trip was instead to the airport en route to Blighty.

Dali studied formally in Madrid at the School of Fine Arts and demonstrated excellent skills for painting and drawing, but other than Art History, his reading focussed more on the emerging psychological A rather macabre, surreal postscript to this story is that the day after theories of Sigmund Freud and its phallic imagery. He also became I sat and wrote the rough draft of this on the 16th of August 2017, aware of early modern art movements like Cubism, Italian Futurism I woke up to hear on the world news that the first Islamic terrorist and the metaphysical painting of Georgio de Chirico. He began attack in Spain had taken place, while I was writing, in Las Ramblas combining these influences with more traditional techniques, trompe in Barcelona - a place I had hardly thought of after our expedition l’oeil trickery, photographic collages and short movie films) often of until that day. The kind of surreal coincidence loved by Surrealists his future wife Gala) when he exhibited in Barcelona in 1925. It was - perhaps Dali just didn’t like being dug up from his final slumbers a natural development out of these interests that took him to Paris after 28 years! where he met members of the French Surrealist group who he invited 16 www.moulshamtimes.com

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Moulsham Schools

Chess Thriving

Chess has now been thriving at Moulsham Juniors for a number of years, but what has been really pleasing is to see our chess players continue with chess at secondary school. Above, you may be able to recognise five of our former students - Stewart Day, Ben Pickwick, James Bishop, Ben Bishop and hiding at the back out of sight, Scott Shelley - representing KEGS at Eton College. I have been informed that they performed brilliantly with a lot of success, which has enabled them to qualify for further tournaments.

National Schools’ Chess Championship in February, and the school is now also used for train and play days with Grand Masters and Essex Grand Prix events where our children are able to improve and test their skills.

I know that Mr Slade still sees a lot of our former pupils at his Tuesday night club and also a couple represent Chelmsford Chess Club competitively. This year we will again host a regional qualifier for the

Toby Pugh Moulsham Junior School

Most of this would not be possible without Mr Slade’s expertise and help, so I would just like to say a big thank you to him for his fantastic contribution to Moulsham life.

Planning in the Moment In recent years at Moulsham Infant School we, like many other schools, have delivered the Early Years Curriculum based around topics such as Dinosaurs, Pirates, Animals etc.

However, following training with Anna Ephgrave, who has developed a different model called Planning in the Moment, we decided that this was a much more effective way of meeting the needs of our youngest children. The central principle in Planning in the Moment practice is that the curriculum is delivered based around the children’s own particular interests and fascinations. So, for example, the child who is interested in space might want to build a rocket and write a story about travelling to the moon, while the child who is interested in animals might want to create a pet shop.

Planning in the Moment allows the teachers to develop all of the children’s ideas. Throughout the day, teachers observe the children closely, take what they are already deeply involved in and use this to draw out their knowledge and to build on it there and then (in the moment). All of the adults observe the children closely to ensure that no learning opportunity is missed. Parents have told us that their children ‘love coming to school’ and are very happy and settled.

Everyone at Moulsham Infant School is very enthusiastic about Planning in the Moment and feels that it helps each child To Be The Best You Can Be. Trish Keogh Early Years Leader 18 www.moulshamtimes.com

How well do you know your Cockney Rhyming Slang?

(Answers on Page 31) 1. Apples and pears?

2. Almond rocks?

3. Adam And Eve? 4. Boat race?

5. Butcher’s hook?

6. Bees and honey?

7. Brahms and Liszt?

8. Brown bread?

9. Barnet?

10. Chicken’s eggs?

11. Current bun?

12. Cain and Abel?

13. Daisy roots?

14. Dickey Dirt?

15. Easter brides?

16. Donald Duck?

17. Frog and toad?

18. Four by two?

19. Giraffe?

20. Hickory?

21. Holy smoke?

22. Johnny Horner?

23. Jerimiah?

24. Joanna?

25. Jam jar?

26. Joke and laugh?

27. Loaf of bread?

28. Me and you’s?

29. Mickey Mouse?

30. Mince pies?

31. Nelson Eddies?

32. Plates of meat?

33. Syrup?

34. Skin and blister?

35. Spud?

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36. Titfer?

37. Trouble and strife?

38. Yarmouths?

39. Lionel Blair?

40. Toad in the hole?

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01245 262082 www.moulshamtimes.com 19

The Choices We Make - by Mark Roberts Have you ever considered why you make the choices that you do? When taken at face value, the concept of choice making seems simple; you’re faced with a situation, weigh up your options, decide and choose. What could be simpler?

Not all decisions are as easy as others. Some will be simple of course, such as choosing dinner, or what to watch on television. Others will be more complex requiring extra consideration - for example, choices about career, finances and relationships.

Whether simple or complex, they are all examples of choice making and in general, the more important the choice the more thought you will give to the decision making process.

have.

To reinforce the point, it does not matter that your choice making is seemingly a conscious process, because your mind is still relying on preconditioned data, churning it out in the background like a silent office manager. It is this backroom office manager that could be holding you back from making the changes that you seek.

There is an adage that says if you want something different then you must do things differently. When it comes to choice making, this will demand greater awareness on your part, because you will need to take control of your thinking. This is very likely to challenge your personal belief system requiring you to take action that you previously thought was not possible for you.

More complex choices are usually the ones that are going to have a greater impact on life and will require more consideration. Every single one of us is making choices virtually every single moment of every day. Many of those choices are likely to be made at the simpler end of the spectrum and will be made with very little thought whatsoever - in fact, most will be made on autopilot. There are good reasons for this, the outcome of choices made at this level are generally low risk and will have been made so frequently that they have become ingrained and programmed ready for future use. They are so natural they don’t even feel like choices any more, as you are now making them with unconscious ease.

My tip for you is this: As you form a personal belief that something is not possible for you, stop and ask yourself where that self limitation is coming from, because you may be acting on outdated information.

Look for times in your life when you have challenged yourself, possibly in similar circumstances, then make the decision to step outside your comfort zone and take the first step.

The low risk outcome does not mean they are without consequences, because the choices you make play a part in determining who you are, who you will become and where you will go in your life. This is self evident when you consider the prospect that nothing happens without some action being taken. Every action has a consequence and every action requires a choice, whether made consciously, or unconsciously. The reality is that wherever you are in life is exactly where you have brought yourself through the choices you have made.

Your choice making habits are the outcome of well practised and learned behaviour over time. Many will be useful, allowing you to operate seamlessly without having to think things through beforehand. Others may be less helpful and will often work against you, leaving you with feelings of being stuck. The choices you are making in those moments may be made unconsciously, or they may be made with your full awareness, but often with subtle, unconscious forces operating in the background.

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

The forces I am referring to here are the influences that have helped to shape the person you have become - your upbringing.

In your formative years, your parents or carers will have been the most important influence in your life. Next were your siblings and extended family. Culture and religion will also have played a big part in forming your values and beliefs. When you first attended school the sphere of influence widened as you became exposed to teachers and other students; education will have played a big part in how you came to experience the wider world. As you grew older, your parents sphere of influence is likely to have lessened as you met others from different walks of life, possibly through higher education and then employment. Many other influences will also have helped in shaping your world and your life view. When taken together, these will have helped you form an idea of who you are, where you fit in and what is possible for you.

Your choice making process has been shaped by all the influences that have informed your life. They have helped to populate the database from which your unconscious mind operates. When faced with a complex or perhaps difficult choice, your mind has access to all those influences in a nanosecond and they will unconsciously inform your choice making.

What does this mean for you? Well, with this knowledge in mind it is important to understand that every time you flex your choice making muscle, so to speak, it informs and updates your mind’s database reinforcing the conditioning. With this comes the reasonable certainty that you will continue to make choices in the same way as you always 20

Make a difference and start making new, life enhancing choices today!

To your success…

Black Friday Is Coming to a Record Store near You Soon Black Friday... More famously known for the stampedes of crazed shoppers stumbling over each other to grab one of the many bargains on offer from every kind of high street and every online retailer…

Black Friday originated in the USA but it is now a popular shopping event in the UK, and music retailers here have some tasty exclusive deals for all you music lovers wanting to get a piece of the action!

If you love your music and love vinyl, then you will be well aware of Record Store Day, a special celebration held in April when independent record stores come together with artists to celebrate the art of music.

Artists and bands release special limited edition records, with vinyl junkies queuing round the block outside their local record shop to get their hands on their favourite artists. The people behind Record Store Day decided to do something on Black Friday too - this year it falls on Friday 24th November, and Intense Records in Chelmsford will be taking part. Intense Records is the only independent record shop in Chelmsford and they have been pushing vinyl for the last 20 years, keeping the beloved format alive.

Record Store Day’s version of Black Friday is an excuse to celebrate both the exclusive releases and artists themselves, as well as the special indie record stores who carry them. This year, Intense will be stocking a whole host of exclusive releases from iconic artists such as Queen, Lee Scratch Perry, Paul McCartney, Gorillaz and many more. As well as the great list of exclusives, the record labels have also persuaded a selection of artists to release special editions at bargain prices to coincide with the ethos of Black Friday. So get there early to grab a bargain.

These rare and in-demand titles will be available on the day in store, so make sure you get down to Intense early before they sell out! If you can’t make it on the day, they will also be listed on the Intense website at www.intenserecords.com/music/record-store-day-17.html.

For more info contact Intense on 01245 347 372 or pay them a visit at 33/34 Viaduct Road, Chelmsford CM1 1TS (just round the corner from Chelmsford train and bus station) - www.intenserecords.com.

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Wine Corner

Hello all. I write this month from glorious France, well, cloudy windy France as it happens. We are here with Dave and Marian for our annual caravan holiday. From John Power’s recent piece, it looks like we followed his route into Normandy and down to southern Brittany.

We came across via the Dover to Calais route, which takes about 75 minutes - just time to have a look at the shop and have a good cooked breakfast to set us up for the first drive. Our first stop was Honfleur, a lovely little port on the Seine where that river enters the sea. The journey is shorter than it used to be because of the mighty Ponte du Normandie, a very high bridge over the Seine, 6 Euros to cross though, so perhaps the Dartford crossing is good value after all.

Sadly, there are very few vineyards nearby.

The good old Romans planted vines here (well they did that everywhere didn’t they) but the area is very well known for it’s cider, Calvados. It is produced as a cider-type drink but also as a spirit, very tasty. Early in it’s history, Honfleur was a very busy port and was a major transit point for goods from Rouen to England. It was just great to sit in one of the many cafés and bars that line the harbour and just watch the world go by. You have to have a drink in your hand as you do this, apparently it’s mandatory. We visited a cider shop and I was surprised to see that Calvados is aged like whisky - and can be very expensive.

Today, we took the local bus to the seaside town of Deauville. Very posh, and there was a film festival on, though we didn’t see any stars.

Walking along the promenade looking at the beautiful white beaches, we passed some nice restaurants and the wine was available for 4.5 Euros. Not bad - until I noticed that that was for a 10cl glass of wine!

Not for me at that price. Although as we travelled around it was clear that 12cl glass size was sold as a default at most bars. Bit small in my view, but never mind.

From there we travelled to southern Brittany, to a place called la Trinité-sur-Mer. It is near Carnac where John went, and he mentioned the alignments; long rows of large stones in mostly straight lines for a few kilometres. There has long been speculation about their purpose, but I think I have a solution. I think it is an ancient bus (well cart) route and these stones are the stops! Back to Trinité, it is a great town with a large harbour which is home to the ocean-going catamarans - you know the ones, with the 100 foot masts that enter the round the world race. It is amazing to see how big they are. There are always several moored there and again, the road overlooking the dock is full of bars and restaurants.

We are staying on a camp site that overlooks the bay of Quiberon, a massive bay which is sheltered from the rough seas in the Bay of Biscay. On the inside, the water is very still and there are mostly light winds. On the other side are the massive waves of the Bay of Biscay crashing on the rocks. As you drive along the narrow strip towards the town, it is great to see the serene left hand side and the breaking waves on the right. The area is near the western Loire, but again few vineyards, someone remind me of why I’ve come here! To top that, we 22

had the tail end of a hurricane, so we almost lost the awning and caravan in the wind.

After a week we moved to northern Dordogne to a site right on the river at a place called Brantome, completely surrounded by the rivers Dordogne and Dronne on the edge of a national park. We were a five minute walk from the centre of the village, and, well, there seem to be quite a few bars here too, perhaps it’s just a coincidence... This area is just north of Bergerac, so we had this lovely light wine in most of the cafés.

Walking around one day, we discovered an English bookshop, well the bookshop was not English but the books and the owner were. They have a little café at the rear of the shop, very quaint. The next day we saw a poster publicising a folk afternoon in the café, so we booked our seats and turned up the next day. Most of the audience were British ex pats and the folk singer was Antony Chipperfield. Well, he was great, he had run a business in the west country for some years, but then sold up to move to France where he now lives with his wife and small daughter, who has just started her first term at the local school, he explained, and getting on well. Well, Anthony went though his songs, mostly written by himself, but some folk classics.

It was fantastic in the little café, was very cosy and we had a very enjoyable two hours there. During the concert, he started asking the audience where they were from As I said, most of them were English ‘locals’, but then we said we were from Chelmsford. Turns out that he was born in Brentwood and went to school in Wickford. An Essex boy done good! He can be found on YouTube and you can catch up with him on the Internet at www.antonychipperfield.com. Well worth a look

- a talented and very nice man. Even if you don’t think you like folk, have a look on YouTube, I guarantee you will enjoy it. The one filmed in Brantome is lovely, he is with his family and their dog outside the tourist office in the village.

The major city in this department is Perigueux (pronounced perigo) so we thought we would pay it a visit. Not a good idea, we went on a Monday and nearly all the shops were closed, bars were open though. So in our case it was perigone!

www.moulshamtimes.com

Do you ever order stuff online? I do, but nothing is ever straight forward. I was ordering something from an online chemist the other day and, well, talk about a nightmare. I only wanted one tube of oil for my new hair clippers. Half way though the process I had managed to get 6 in my basket. Trying to put that right took me about ten minutes. It said I could ‘order and collect’ at my local branch. That selection took another 10 minutes. Finally I had managed it, printed the order, all OK, but it had taken me about 45 minutes and 22 swear words. As I have said before, me and technology do not get on!

Calais was about 500 miles away, so we decided to break the journey at a village called Beaumont-sur-Sarthe, right on the river - another lovely little town. Guess what, there were very few shops but we managed to find not a bar, but a tabac - surprise, surprise, with a bar.

Typically French, just three tables outside overlooking the square and we had a couple of nice reds in there.

Altogether, although the weather was poor we had a good time and look forward to returning - if they let us in after Brexit! It may look to some as if we spent a lot of time in bars and the like. Well we had to go somewhere to avoid the rain!

Bin end chuckles: You know you are a poor driver when the lady on the sat nav asks to get out...

I have noticed that phones are getting smarter and thinner, not so much the people...

Keep calm and carry on drinking (in moderation).

2017 Vintage Report from Moulsham’s Own Mini Vineyard

As usual, when we participated in the annual Farleigh Hospice Open Gardens event last June, there was a lot of interest in our mini vineyard. Yes, we do grow red grapes out in the open and they ripen to let us produce a very passable red wine. There’s a lot of work involved and a lot of lessons to learn, but the end result is rewarding.

Open Gardens visitors often stop me in Moulsham Street to ask how things are going, so here is the annual update: First, the end product: We usually leave the wine for at least three or four years before drinking. We have recently broken into Moulsham Red 2014. What a vintage it has proved to be; probably our best ever - rich colour, inviting nose, splendid length and delicious taste. As we remind our favoured guests (you have to be among the ‘favoured’ to be offered a glass!) there is nothing in our Moulsham Red except grape juice - no pesticides, no herbicides and no preservatives. That is the great advantage of wine making with your own, home-grown grapes. Following a common French practice, we do add some sugar and sometimes a wine yeast if it is a bit chilly at the time of the vendange and the fermentation looks likely to be slow to get going.

Many readers will have seen reports in the national press that most of mainland Europe is facing a bad vintage year in terms of bulk, whilst English vineyards, at least in the southern counties, were expecting a bumper year. The problem was heavy frosts in the spring.

We missed that and had unexpectedly abundant sunshine. Our own mini vineyard lived up to the bumper year forecast and was about a month advanced.

Now for the vines themselves and this year’s harvest: In August we had to deploy the anti-blackbird nets over the vines because the grapes were ripening so early. Usually the nets are not needed until late September. The birds do not try the unripe grapes, but they seem to know just when they are ripe and juicy. They could strip the vines overnight were it not for the nets. Netting can be a tedious job

www.moulshamtimes.com

because the wretched birds will find the smallest gap and set to work!

(As a matter of interest, most of our other crops this year have been about a month early: beans, peas, chard, courgettes and tomatoes in fact, we had ripe outdoor tomatoes on the 31st July, a record for us).

We had perfect weather for the vendange, the grape harvest.

Buckets were soon loaded with grapes and the first lot was into the press by midday. Before pressing, the grapes go through a very large mincer, to make sure the skins are broken so that we can extract the maximum possible volume of juice. We do this twice. Then, after the pressing we put the lot back into the mincer and into the press again.

What is left - the skins and stalks - go into the garden composting bins.

The juice rests for a few days, during which time we might add some sugar and wine yeast. Then it is into the fermenting demijohn jars.

This year we have just over four gallons from four vines. It is all bubbling away merrily in the kitchen alongside four gallons of cider and the ‘plop-plop’ of the air-locks can be heard all over house!

Bottling should take place in January or February.

If you are interested in the process, just come along to our place during the Farleigh Hospice Open Gardens event on Sunday June 3rd 2018. Whilst we are on the subject, why not try opening your garden?

No matter how large or small, tidy or tailored, others will be interested (we had 250 visitors one year!) and you will meet a lot of friendly, interested people whilst raising money for the Hospice.

Whilst I raise a glass of Moulsham Red, 2014, and anticipate the 2017 brew - cheers!

Robert Jones

23

Rotary Marks World Polio Day World Polio Day was Tuesday 24th October and Rotarians from all over the globe came up with ingenious ways of marking the event, either on the actual day itself or very close to it. Over a decade ago the idea came up to commemorate the birth of Jonas Salk, who led the first team to develop a vaccine against poliomyelitis. Use of this inactive poliovirus vaccine and the subsequent oral poliovirus developed by Albert Sabin led to the establishment of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, and polio has now been reduced by a staggering 99.9% thanks to Rotary and its partners. However, whilst there have only been 12 cases in 2017 so far, it is these last outbreaks that need to be eradicated, since the virus is so virulent that if left will multiply and we could soon be back to the 1,000 new cases we saw on a daily basis back in the mid 1980s.

support Rotary International in Great Britain and Ireland - visit the website at www.rotarygbi.org/what-we-do/purple4polio/resources.

All of these current activities follow on from the joint venture with the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) to plant millions of purple crocus corms across Britain and Ireland. Local clubs were very busy planting at Hyde Hall in East Hanningfield earlier in the year because Polio Eradication is not a one-day event, it is the greatest single task embarked upon by Rotary - to see the last ever case of polio in the world, hopefully this year.

On Sunday 22nd October members of the Chelmsford Rotary clubs joined in a wonderful Purple4Polio concert at the Palace Theatre in Southend by the Alex Mendham Orchestra. They were excellent and all the profits will be added to Rotary’s End Polio Now campaign.

On the actual day I joined Rotarians from many parts of the South East at the Olympic Park in London. We planted 50,000 (yes, 50,000) crocus corms on the day with the aim that when they bloom they will provide a purple bed. Purple is the official colour of the campaign because when children are immunised, their little finger is painted purple. This also led to the Purple Pinkie effort which was led by members of the Chelmsford clubs back in 2008. In fact, I still receive money from overseas in support of Purple Pinkie. The other day a lady from America sent me a cheque with a note: “...I learned about polio because my grandma had it. I know that no-one in the USA has polio but there are still people out there that must live with the everyday scare that they could get polio so I hope this money can help prevent it. I raised the money by selling cupcakes.”

The letter raises an interesting point. Young people in Britain may not have even heard of polio, let alone come across anyone who has suffered from it, but less than fifty years ago the treatment was still isolating people in iron lungs. As mentioned above, it would be so easy to see polio return because with travel to all corners of the earth, including the endemic countries of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria, it is not beyond the bounds of possibility that returning travellers could be a carrier for the disease, so it is essential that the virus is stamped out everywhere - now.

An opportunity to see the effects of polio is to go to see the new film out on general release, Breathe, starring Andrew Garfield and Claire Foy. Breathe is a true story of how polio affected a young couple.

There have been some special showings of the film and it is available at the Chelmsford Odeon - I recommend you all to go. It is a real tearjerker and an eye opener for anyone unfamiliar with what polio can do.

Polio victims are never free from the effects and as they grow older they suffer from post-polio syndrome. They are the lucky ones, those who didn’t die immediately or had their lives shortened considerably, and post-polio syndrome is perhaps something Rotary will tackle more in the future as the survival rate improves.

In the photograph above you will see me planting some corms alongside polio survivor and TV broadcaster Ade Adepitan, who is one of the Rotary Polio Ambassadors. It is a case of all pulling together.

It is also an interesting fact that many of the lessons learnt about containment and recording of vaccination of polio were instrumental in preventing ebola spreading following the outbreak in Nigeria. It was a crisis about to happen, but fortunately it was stopped very quickly. Even childhood diseases such as measles and rubella have had similar benefits due to how we tackle polio.

If you would like to support the polio campaign, visit www.rotary1240. org, or if you would like to know more about joining a local Rotary club, visit the website or give me a call on 01245 260 349, I would be delighted to hear from you.

At the Olympic Park the fountains outside the London Stadium were lit up in purple and similar iconic buildings were also lit in purple including Canterbury Cathedral, the National Library of Wales and the Stan Keller Wills Memorial Building at the University of Bristol. Around the world, Sydney Opera House and the Eiffel Tower were also illuminated to name just two. The aim is to raise awareness and funds, and to 24 www.moulshamtimes.com

Isabella’s Wish to Walk Our daughter Isabella is an identical twin and was born prematurely at 31 weeks gestation.

She weighed a tiny 4lb 3oz at birth and required CPAP to assist with her breathing.

She also struggled with weight gain and needed a Long Line procedure to help with this. After 35 days in the NICU at Broomfield Hospital she was discharged.

Over the next year, we noticed that Isabella was missing milestones. There was a drastic difference in her mobility in comparison to her twin sister, Scarlett. Her consultant at Broomfield Hospital discharged Scarlett, but Isabella has remained in his clinic. When she was 11 months old, she was referred to see a physiotherapist who we saw monthly. With the help of the physiotherapist, Isabella can now sit unaided but is very unsteady.

She has also learnt to crawl but glides her legs as she cannot lift them. At 22 months old, Isabella had an MRI scan done on her brain and spine. The results showed that she has periventricular leukomalacia (PVL) and a smaller thalamus which is a type of brain injury. This confirmed the diagnosis of spastic diplegia, a form of cerebral palsy.

Spastic diplegia is a chronic neuromuscular condition that causes tightness in the legs resulting in mobility difficulties. The muscles become very stiff and therefore require extensive physiotherapy. For Isabella to walk unaided she needs SDR surgery.

Selective dorsal rhizotomy (SDR) is a surgery that has been

pioneered by a doctor in St Louis Children’s Hospital in the USA. By having this surgery, it will release the spasticity which causes muscle tightness and enable Isabella to walk. The NHS do not fund this surgery which means we need to fundraise. The total amount raised will enable us to fly her to America to have the surgery performed by the doctor who developed SDR. It will also cover the extensive private physiotherapy needed after the surgery and specialist home equipment.

Isabella also has a brother who is 11 months younger. Due to their birthdays, all 3 of them will be in the same school year. Our aim is for Isabella to have SDR surgery in winter 2018, so that with good aftercare put in place, she will be able to walk into school with her siblings when she is 5.

Isabella is a very happy and cheeky little girl. She has so much determination to walk and she just wants to be able to run and play with her siblings with ease. As a parent, it is very distressing to have to sit back and watch her struggle on a daily basis. We have made Isabella a promise to grant her of her wish to walk.

Donate: www.justgiving.com/campaigns/charity/just4children/ isabellaswishtowalk info@isabellaswish.org isabellaswish.org

Christ Church in New London Road Time to Remember?

November is a month when remembering is something that is prominent in our nation’s minds and in our churches, as many of us remember not only those who died in times of war, but we remember those who have died that we have known and loved.

Remembrance Sunday itself is something I am finding more and more difficult to commemorate as I get older. I am struggling because the more we remember, the more I feel that we are not remembering.

Why do I say that? Well, because we still have many wars taking place around the world, and we still do not have true peace in the world.

Have we really learnt the lessons we say that we have learnt?

We think about the horrors of the holocaust and vow year after year to not let that ever happen again... and yet, Rwanda, Serbia... Syria... Afghanistan... Sudan...

We still do not seem to have learnt - the horrors of war continue.

Perhaps this year I will find some more peace as I try and remember.

My prayer is that you will do too.

Rev Mark Meatcher Christ Church URC

Short Mat Bowls Gala at Princess Marie Louise Bowls Club and his own small bowls rink in Brierley Place.

The Alderman asked the Princess if he could name his small bowls club after her and she agreed. The title was agreed by the Palace in 1937 and is now one of two only bowls clubs to have royal patronage, the other being the Royal Household Bowls Club in Windsor. On a sad note, the Alderman and other members of his family, including two small granddaughters, were killed by a direct hit from a German bomb on his home in 1940.

Princess Marie Louise Bowls Club held our annual Short Mat Bowls Gala on 14th of October, in which 16 clubs from all over Essex play a knock out competition to win a trophy and prize money sponsered by Hunnaball Funeral Group.

The competition runs throughout the day with teams playing four games each against opposing teams. We at PMLBC put on this gala twice a year and have done so for many years with great success, and most clubs return time and time again and have a great day.

The club in Bradford Street, Chelmsford was founded by Alderman John Ockelford Thompson in 1936, after the grandaughter of Queen Victoria Stayed at the home of the Alderman and loved his grounds

24 Hour Hairathon The team at Rumour Hair will be holding a 24 Hour Hairathon: 24 solid hours doing hair to raise money for Children In Need 2017!

All money made on the day will be donated to CiN, along with any sponsorships and donations.

We also have a GoFundMe page which you can use to donate.

The gala day included a full cooked meal and refreshments for the visiting teams and ended with Steve Robins of Hunnaball presenting the winning team, East Tilbury, with the prize money and trophy.

The club boasts a full outdoor six-rink bowls green and wonderful bowls pavillion, in which we have many fine social events. A far cry from the small two-rink green in Aderman Ockelford Thompson’s grounds.

If anyone would like further information about the club or is interested in its history, please contact Mr Tony Ellis the Chairman of PMLBC at www.pmlbc.co.uk or call the club 01245 358 516.

We will begin our Hairathon in Rumour Hair, Moulsham Street, at 8am on Saturday the 11th November through until 8am on Sunday 12th November.

Here will have stylists, glitter face paint, hair braiding, raffles, cakes, music, fancy dress and much more... www.gofundme.com/profile/alixetaylors-hair-hut3c

Can You Swap Your Duvet for a Sleeping Bag?

CHESS Homeless charity is asking for the community of Essex to grab their sleeping bag and experience a night under the stars whilst taking part in this year’s annual Sleep Out.

adults from Chelmsford and Essex.

The event takes place on Friday 24th November in the grounds of Chelmsford Cathedral. Last year saw around 80 people take part and this year we want even more people to sign up. Registration is free, but we ask individuals to raise some sponsorship.

Anyone can take part, however, people under 18 cannot take part individually. A responsible adult must complete the registration for minors either online or on the night and accompany them for the sleep out.

CHESS provides a night shelter for up to seven homeless single adults in Chelmsford and is a ‘direct access’ hostel, meaning that many homeless single adults from Essex can apply for a room.

The shelter supplies food, drinks, hygiene and laundry facilities to the residents - and also provides food/drinks, sleeping bags and washing/hygiene facilities to the many rough sleepers in the city and surrounding areas.

Alongside the night shelter the charity also has four ‘move-on shared houses’ which serve as a further step towards independent living.

Lindsay Hurrell, CHESS Fundraiser says: “Our annual Sleep Out event by no means replicates what it’s like for someone who is homeless and sleeping rough, but it does give you an insight into what it’s like: the damp, the biting cold and the struggle to carry on with minimal sleep. With homelessness on the increase and many of those being young adults, we really need the support of the community to help raise funds so that we can continue to support the many vulnerable people who come to us.”

For further information and to register to take part, visit www. chelmsfordchess.org/sleepout. All funds raised from this event will enable CHESS to carry on supporting even more homeless single www.moulshamtimes.com

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27

All About Moulsham Lodge & Tile Kiln Moulsham Lodge Community Trust We are edging ever closer to the 99 year lease being completed; just a last few final loose ends to tie up and from then on we can concentrate on moving forward without the worry of whether our future is secure. You may have seen in the press that the plans for the old site have been approved with 26 dwellings being built in the next few months. It will be a sad day, but we must not dwell on what could have been. We’re positive there is going to be a bright future fore the communities of Tile Kiln and Moulsham Lodge.

New City Voices will be performing their pre-Christmas concert at St Luke’s Church on the 18th November. Yes we know it’s a bit early, but it’s also a busy time for their musical director and piano accompanist, so finding free dates is really difficult. It’s for a good cause, so please do come along where I’m sure some audience participation will be required! They are raising money for our heart defibrillator, which we intend to locate at the Community Station - this should be the final push in securing the money to do so. See www.mlct.org.uk for details (or contact us using the info below).

Breakfast with Santa: Just a reminder that our Breakfast with Santa will be back - and this year for TWO days on the Saturday 2nd and Sunday 3rd December. The grotto will also be back for drop-in visits to Santa, so put the date in your diary. There will be two sittings on both days, one at 9.30am and the other at 11.15am, each for a maximum of 50 people. Bookings are only through the website (see the bookings page). Please DO NOT attempt to pay directly through PayPal as we will not know you have booked unless you do it through the proper bookings page.

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Cllr Mark Springett - Moulsham Lodge Ward The challenges of being a councillor.

I’ve mentioned before about how I got into politics and how it is a common route for many councillors. Being involved in your community makes you aware of the issues around you and how it is often difficult for a member of the public to gain any support for issues that need to be brought to the attention of the powers that be.

The first challenge is time, do you have enough time to perform a role as a councillor? This was my primary worry when considering the role and one which after six months of investigation and questioning, I decided that it would be possible. My initial concern was that I had a full time job in the defence industry, which was at times very demanding; long hours, tight deadlines etc.

One key factor allowed me to say yes; that factor was that at Chelmsford City Council most of the committee meetings are in the evenings, so not during work time. So although I might go from a day full of meetings at work, an evening meeting at the council would not impact my responsibilities of my prime job. All the council meetings are planned a long way in advance, so I have plenty of warning in case I need to change other commitments. I tend to catch up with emails and case work during my lunch hour, so it makes less of an impact to the evening.

and the ability to answer emails on the fly via a smartphone can be another factor in managing a busy schedule. If you add in social media, which has become a very useful tool to keeping in touch and monitoring developing local issues, this all adds up to information overload if you’re not careful. If you add in my regular monthly surgery where you can come and discuss the weather as well as local issues, plus the odd BBC Essex interview, I think all my channels for communication are well covered.

Learning politics is another challenge and if you’ve never really been involved as I had not been, then the learning curve can be a slow one. There is national politics, local politics, world politics, party politics... and depending on how much you want to be involved depends on how much you need to learn. At one point I was going to be the Lib Dem Parliamentary Candidate for Chelmsford, this meant learning a whole load of politics in a short space of time.

Unfortunately, circumstances meant I had to withdraw from the process as I felt I would not be able to devote enough time to be the candidate I really wanted to be.

I’ll cover more specific challenges in future articles.

Blog: www.markspringett.com mark.springett@chelmsford.gov.uk 07411 808 731 Also search for me on Twitter/Facebook

Another key challenge was communications. So a mobile is essential 28

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Tile Kiln Corner - by Linda Mascot October has seen a flurry of activity in Tile Kiln, many people will have noticed the shiny new makeover of the shopfront at Robin Way shops (no.

157). Sue Cawley has opened her new hair and beauty salon, Blonde, and is looking forward to working in the heart of the community.

For more information see www.tilekilnchurch.org.uk or call 07780 334 664.

Sue was manager at Mane Attraction in Wood Street for 24 years and as the majority of her existing clients live locally, she was delighted to find such a convenient location for her new venture. The salon has been completely revamped and was full of flowers, balloons and good wishes from clients, friends and colleagues when I visited for a sneaky-peek on the grand opening day.

Sue is looking for full and part time hair stylists, as well as beauticians and a nail technician to either hire a room or work on a self employed basis. Please contact Sue on 01245 348 138 or drop into the salon to see her.

Life T M Hack

Twitter @lindamascot Mascotlinda@gmail.com

To save the horrible job of cleaning a paint tray after use, cover it in foil before you start and when finished simply fold up the foil!

The Gift of Christmas is a Tile Kiln Church project, annually sending out 400 Christmas shoe boxes to under privileged children in Romania. On October 14th at the church, many members of the Tile Kiln and wider community came together to help fill and wrap shoeboxes as well as take part in craft activities for all ages - all with the usual array of delicious cakes on offer in return for donations to help with transportation costs.

On 1st December, a team from Tile Kiln Church will be flying out to the small village of Gilau Cluj to distribute the boxes to local village schools. The team are also taking children’s shoes and coats to distribute to local disadvantaged people that missionaries Tim and Jenny Gooding support and work with in and around the local area.

Mary Wood co-ordinates the team from the Church and will travel out with the volunteers. Mary said: “These children have the bare essentials and many live in a home of one room. Temperatures drop to - 30% and their water supply (for some a pump) freezes. Tile Kiln community, Moulsham Lodge and Galleywood has joined together to make this possible, and we hope that the children will know that someone here cares for them, even though they will probably never meet the giver and have a glimpse of Christ through us at Christmas.” www.moulshamtimes.com

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Rain Art Chelmsford Chelmsford art scene just got a shot of passion and innovation through Rain Art Chelmsford, a trail of street art that only shows up in the rain.

As autumn sets in, Chelmsford (described as a cultural desert by some) is getting rained on and in the process, artwork is popping up all over the city’s streets.

All the artwork is made from water resistant paint, so the stenciled artwork is created from the contrast of wet and dry pavement. The artwork is semi-permanent and biodegradable and will fade away over a two month period.

The theme of the artwork relates to our water supply and the massive cultural historical and environmental importance of Chelmsford’s Three Rivers. Five local artists - Lynn Excell, Bethan Coutinho, Lucy Rhian Evans, Laura Trevail and Memory Kwada - collaborated with Victoria Button, Project Manager and artist, to create artwork in seven locations across the city including Bond Street, the Cathedral, the parks, Market Square and Oaklands Museum. Community workshops were held in late 2016 and in 2017 to decide on the theme and to create some of the designs that you can find on the streets today.

Funding The project came out of the Ideas Festival 2016 which Victoria Button and Lucy Rhian Evans co-directed. They successfully found funding through Celebrate - Big Lottery Fund. This enabled them to spend money on the festival and in particular this project.

Due to austerity and stretched budgets, the Ideas Festival 2017 received zero cash support, however we hope that through successes like this project that the Ideas Festival in 2018 can find favour with sponsors and funders to be bigger and better than ever!

The Chelmsford Civic Society, who has sponsored this project, has already been successful in securing £9,750 for the Ideas Festival 2018 from Awards for All and the Big Lottery Fund, which is a great starting point to build upon.

At Bond Street Lynn Excell, a published colouring book artist, has created beautiful river wildlife stencils which lead you to the river.

At the Cathedral you will find a well and nymph image, relating to the historic statue of the Naiad outside Shire Hall that was the public fountain for over a hundred years and the original wells of the city, where inhabitants would have obtained fresh water.

Above: Victoria Button, Project Manager of Rain Art and artist, working on a stencil for the Cathedral, The Nymph and Well.

Left: Slither Like a Snail by Lynn Excell, local artist. A family friendly piece in Bond Street near the Everyman Cinema.

Quiz Answers

Chelmsford is very unusual due to it having three rivers, the River Chelmer, River Can and River Wid, and two that join ‘conflux’ - the River Chelmer and the River Can. The rivers have had a massive impact on how the settlement developed into the city we know today.

Victoria Button, who also created the Marconi mural at the train station said: “Projects like these are key in creating a strong cultural identity for a city, it builds civic pride. A strong cultural and arts scene has massive economical effect on a city, which can’t be underestimated. You only have to look a figures for Hull, the UK’s current City of Culture, to see the positive impact of more jobs, more hours of work available etc. So I hope that more businesses and that the local authorities take action or increase their efforts in supporting cultural enterprises within Chelmsford city.”

Family Friendly Families are welcomed to take part in The Rain Word Hunt, where children and families can collect a letter within each artwork and fix them together to find a rain related word. All correct answers will be put into a prize draw to win a watery related prize!

You can find out more about The Rain Word Hunt through the website at www.rain-art-chelmsford.com. Or visit the info-mural, which is on the High Street near Shire Hall on a disused building.

1. Stairs 2. Socks 3. Believe 4. Face 5. Look 6. Money 7. Drunk 8. Dead 9. Hair (fair) 10. Legs 11. Sun 12. Table 13. Boots 14. Shirt 15. Strides (trousers) 16. Luck 17. Road 18. Jew 19. Laugh 20. Clock (dickory dock) 21. Joke 22. Corner

23. Liar 24. Piano 25. Car 26. Bath or scarf 27. Head 28. Shoes 29. House 30. Eyes 31. Money (readies) 32. Feet 33. Wigs (of figs) 34. Sister 35. Potato (hayter) 36. Hat (tat) 37. Wife 38. Slippers (kippers) 39. Hair 40. Coal or mole

30 www.moulshamtimes.com

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Carols by Candlelight - All Saints Church, Writtle CM1 3EN - Wednesday 13 December 2017 8pm Writtle Singers extend a warm invitation to Carols by Candlelight on Wednesday evening 13th December, where you can relax in the festive atmosphere enjoying a range of seasonal music, familiar and new, including carols for all to sing. A selection of prose, poetry and organ music will enhance the Christmas mood of this enjoyable evening.

The concert takes place in All Saints Church, Writtle, conducted by Christine Gwynn with organist Simon Harvey. Full information and tickets can be obtained from www.writtlesingers.org or call 07815 966978. Tickets are also available at James Dace music shop, Broomfield Road, Chelmsford.

Tickets: £12 / £5 (£2 supplement on door) includes seasonal refreshments Free admission for children under 16.

Registered charity no: 1056334 www.moulshamtimes.com

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