Moulsham Times September 2016

The Orange Tree

Lower Anchor Street

Dressmaking | Alterations | Curtain Making

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Issue Number 45 - September 2016

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MT Welcome

Hi readers

Here we are in September!

Still plenty going on though! On September 23rd at Chelmsford City Football Club we have the Trembling Wilburys (see the advert on page 4).

At the end of the month John Lewis is due to open - along with many others - in Bond Street. Exciting times for Chelmsford!

Enjoy your month!

Regards Paul & Nick

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Disclaimer: It’s Your Media 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 Media Ltd. No part may be reproduced without the prior written permission of It’s Your Media Ltd. Reg Co No. 09154871. Printed by Printwize.

Looking to extend your property?

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3

O’Connors, Hall Street - Amazing Flowers

O’Connors Irish pub asked us to photograph their beautiful flowers. They are are very impressive, I am sure you will agree!

We Don’t Think One St Patrick’s Day A Year Is Enough...

Saturday 17th September From 12.30pm

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A Big Walk for the Wee Man 2 - Saturday 13th August This year I can write first hand about the 13.2 mile walk as I joined in too.

The weather was perfect; not too hot and some cloud cover helped keep the temperature down. Around 25 of us (plus 2 dogs!) set off on a Heybridge bound coach at 8.15am and comenced the walk after a minute’s silence to remember Nipper at 9am sharp.

Papermill Lock was a welcome sight at just around the half way point where a slice of Victoria sponge gave a well needed sugar boost!

Steve Seager, who owns the Anchor, had set himself a challenge to beat last year’s time of 3 hours 11 minutes and he smashed it with a new time of 2 hours 54 minutes, so a huge well done to him, as well as congratulations to everyone who took part.

Second leg towards the Fox and Raven was a lot easier as the ground improves and in what seemed like no time, we were sat outside the pub with a well earned drink!

The total raised at the moment stands at £2,156. You can still donate either in the Anchor or at www.justgiving.com/fundraising/ awalkfortheweeone2. By Paul Mclean

The walk was tough on the feet as the ground along the canal path is as rough and uneven as you might expect and also you have to dodge the odd stinging nettle along the way.

From County Hall by Cllr Dick Madden

I have today returned from a family holiday in Minorca, which I have to say was restful and enjoyable, though the grandkids kept me busy and entertained every day.

As I write this article the V Festival is at full blast and I take my hat off to all those who have attended over not necessarily a dry weekend. I was the local Police Community Inspector when the first V Festival commenced in 1996. In those days I would police the Chelmsford Spectacular in Hylands Park, which most of the time was warm weather. Then this massive music festival arrived and has been here ever since. I have to state I support the festival as it brings in revenue not only to the City Council, but other financial gains are made by local businesses - and the festival played a part in Chelmsford achieving city status, so long may it continue.

On another succes for our city, we now know that the John Lewis store will be opening soon. However, I do have some concerns with the increase in vehicles coming into our city centre as a result of the new shopping area surrounding John Lewis, so have formally written to my Essex County Council Cabinet colleague, Eddie Johnson Cabinet Member for Highways, asking him to consider opening the Essex Traffic control centre on Saturdays from the opening of John Lewis until the early part of January 2017 when it can be formally assessed on its impact. As you can gather, this control centre is not presently open at weekends. I have in the past made similar requests surrounding the potential Christmas shopping traffic impact on our highway infrastructure, and over those periods the control centre has been opened temporarily.

Now a bit of a plug for Chelmsford City Council. From the 5th to the 16th September the We are Chelmsford fortnight will take place.

Residents will be invited to take part in activities and free taster sessions. These are designed to inform people about everything Chelmsford has to offer and what the council provides. some even offer a behind the scenes view of council services for those who live, work, shop and play in our city.

The fortnight will culminate with the We are Chelmsford event itself

which will take place on Friday 16th September. This market-style forum in our city centre will showcase the range of services offered by the council (and you will have the opportunity to speak with and ask questions of council staff face to face) with a range of activities taking place throughout the day.

If you want to know more about this fortnight, visit www.chelmsford. gov.uk/wearechelmsford.

Back to my holiday, I’ve still got another week before I officially return to County Hall. I do hope you and all your family have had a wonderful summer, see you all again in October.

BE SAFE - Dick Madden

Essex Police Musical Society

Essex Police Musical Society presents Fab at 50 at the Essex Police HQ Assembly Hall (Sandford Road, Chelmsford, CM2 6DN) from Wednesday 14th to Saturday 18th September 2015 at 7.30pm plus a 2.30pm Saturday Matinee.

Fab at 50 celebrates the 50th anniversary of EPMS, with music from all the shows they have performed over the last 50 years.

The cabaret style event includes solos, duets and chorus numbers, bringing you some of the most popular and recognisable show songs.

This is a great evening’s entertainment and tickets are amazing value at £9 each, with £7 concessions on some performances. You are encouraged to bring your own drinks and nibbles. Visit our display in Chelmsford Library from 28th August to 4th September.

For further information or to book online direct and choose your seats, visit the website at www.epms.org.uk, or email essexpolicemusicalsociety@gmail.com.

Don’t have online facilities? Contact the booking line on 07867 851 355.

From The House by Sir Simon Burns Democratic National Convention During the last week of July I was extremely fortunate to attend the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia when history was made.

For the first time, a major American political party nominated a woman to run for President of the United States, Hillary Clinton.

Over the four days of the convention we heard from a host of senior Democrat figures. The first key note speaker was Michelle Obama, the current First Lady, who electrified the convention as she talked about the need to make America even better for the next generation.

The theme of the convention was Stronger Together and the Vice Presidential nominee, Senator Tim Kaine, and leading Democrat senators, Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders all spoke in support of the presumptive nominee.

The former President, Bill Clinton, made a highly personal speech about his wife. In a powerful address to the convention he spoke of her strengths and experience.

Barack Obama. He made a fantastic speech reflecting not only on his legacy, but also extolling the virtues and capabilities of Hillary Clinton.

Time after time, the convention rose to its feet to applaud as the party rallied behind Hillary Clinton after what had, at times, been a fraught and bitter nomination process.

The convention drew to a close with Hilary Clinton’s acceptance speech. Her challenge was to explain to the audience - both in the Convention Centre and more importantly those watching at home on television - her vision for America, what motivates and drives her and how she sees the future of America unfolding under a Clinton presidency. If the instant opinion polls taken after the speech are to be believed, she accomplished this with an approval rating of 73%, compared to her Republican rival, Donald Trump, who when he delivered his key note speech to the Republican Convention the week before had an approval rating of 57%.

The campaign for the White House will continue until the 8th November when either Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump will be elected as the 45th President of the United States. Key swing states like Michigan, Wisconsin, Florida and Pennsylvania, will be the ones to watch as the world waits to see whether the United States of America will elect its first female president and Commander in Chief.

The best speech of the convention came from the current President, 6 www.moulshamtimes.com

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7

MT Fitness Neck Pain, It’s a Pain in the... Neck!

Last month I said I’d run a mini series on back pain, so to continue on from my article on slipped discs, here’s a little bit on neck pain.

I’m guessing a fairly large percentage of you lovely readers have had a day or two where you walk around like a zombie, unable to turn your head; the sort of days where you become very good at using your mirrors in the car!

fully present itself after a crash, and people get odd little symptoms pop up all over the place as their body adjusts and compensates.

The term ‘whiplash’ is not a diagnosis in itself. It’s a blanket term that describes widespread strain to muscle, ligament and joints and often there is inflammation involved too. With whiplash, it is very important that a professional can help you with your recovery and check that there aren’t any compensation patterns that your body has picked up which may cause other problems down the line.

Stress Related Tension You may have heard of our ‘fight-flight mechanism’? This is where our nervous system tells our body to be ready to run away from a tiger.

The problem is, we don’t see many tigers these days. If we did, and we managed to avoid being its lunch, we would be back to chilling in the sun a few minutes later. However, today’s stress can go on for months and years, and this can lead to our muscles being on guard for all that time.

Treatment involves retraining the muscles and joints through massage and stretching, but also with breathing exercises, meditation and lifestyle advice.

And lastly…

This is something that affects us all now: Our phones!!! Looking down at a phone or tablet makes your neck muscles work up to 8 times harder than they would if your head was upright (depending on how far you drop your head). Please be mindful of this and try to keep a good posture when using these devices that we are all addicted to!

In general and as I always say, keeping gently mobile is the best prevention - and then the best remedy - for most things. But if you need any more specific help, get in touch with your trusty osteopath :) If you have any questions, get in touch at: 01245 522 360 www.fortephysicalhealth.co.uk chris@fortephysicalhealth.co.uk

Or maybe some of you have a more chronic problem, where stress and tension just makes the area very stiff? Or worst of all, maybe there are some out there who have had whiplash from sudden trauma like a car crash or a fall. Well hopefully I can shed some light on all these things and put your mind at ease.

Deadlines for the October edition Articles - 16th September Print ready art work - 22nd September

A ‘Cricked’ Neck This is where you can wake up with pain for apparently no reason. Maybe you slept awkwardly, or maybe there has been some stress in your life that tightened the neck and predisposed a little strain. Either way, it can seem like an awful lot of pain comes from not much of an onset!

The reason in this case is that there are a lot of pain receptors in the joints, so when the joints get stuck, your brain knows about it! Thankfully, despite the excruciating pain, these injuries can be helped quickly with massage, manipulation and exercise. Although it doesn’t feel like it at the time, gentle movement will get you better quicker.

Whiplash This is less common, but when it happens it can be horrible. Whiplash is a funny thing and can take weeks to www.moulshamtimes.com

8

Superfoods are Just Like Superheroes - Pretend As a kid growing up I’m sure you, like me, were obsessed with superheroes, enthralled by their gravity defying superhuman skills and seeming immortality. I can remember dreaming about being Spiderman, firing out webs to fend off supervillains and I am sure you were the same.

Not content with our good guys being superhuman we had to have bad guys that were not just bad but Superbad! We’d have been about as happy as Joey Essex in a library if Superman spent all his time fighting your common or garden criminal (the type that sold class C drugs from a bedroom in his mum’s house) so we got Lex Luthor, a power-mad billionaire, inventor and scientist intent on the annihilation of Superman.

What’s this got to do with exercise and nutrition I hear you ask, well if you think about it, the fitness industry is not too dissimilar, it loves to have superheroes and supervillains. Search the term superfoods on the internet and you’ll come across any number of blogs, vlogs and articles extolling the virtues of a seemingly infinite number of superfoods (many of which have been written by people with an admirable and enthusiastic zeal for the topic yet have little or no formal qualifications).

But do these superfoods actually have superpowers?

Not so, if you listen to many experts, namely the scientists working on behalf of the NHS who look at all of the available evidence (not just cherry pick pieces of research which suits their cause) they’ll tell you that so called superfoods do not have superpowers. Beetroot, blueberries, goji berries, green tea, pomegranate juice, wheatgrass [or insert any number of superfoods here] can certainly benefit us but perhaps be nowhere near as mind-blowingly beneficial as many would have you believe, especially if not consumed in ridiculously high doses. In the vast majority of cases they are no more beneficial than more common, cheaper types of food. Don’t believe me? Have a look at the vast number of nutrients contained in blackberries – the

fruit equivalent of a homeless person – the fruit which most people walk past without noticing, which are found growing abundantly in hedgerows up and down the country and cost absolutely nothing.

So what about the nutrition equivalent of the supervillain?

Well for this you can almost take your pick. It seems at some point or another almost every major foodstuff has been cast in the role of supervillain. Recently it has been sugar, before that it was carbohydrates (incidentally sugar is a form of carbohydrate too) and before that it was fat, heck even protein hasn’t been without criticism.

So what’s the problem with having foods classified as super good or super bad? The problem is it can lead to disordered eating. For example, many people will eat the occasional superfood believing the powers held within it will trump the negative effects of a poor diet.

Similarly, those people who are perceived to be very health conscious and endlessly ‘watch what they eat’ might have a very bland and even nutrient deficient diet if they believe that certain foods are super bad for them.

The take home message…

Think of nutrition in terms of cops and robbers not superheroes and supervillains. There is no one supervillain (super bad food) that can wreak untold damage, just like there is no one superhero (superfood) which can save the world, just plenty of everyday police officers working together (the equivalent of a nutrient dense and balanced diet) to fight against everyday criminals.

Thanks for reading.

To book your free trial personal training session, or to book a place at one of my bootcamp classes, or of course for more detailed nutrition advice please do not hesitate to get in touch.

Matt matt@mlrpt.co.uk |mlrpt.co.uk | 07939316401 | twitter.com/mlrpt www.facebook.com/mlrpt

O STEOPATHY & S PORTS M ASSAGE IN C ENTRAL C HELMSFORD We’re here to help...

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MT Gardening

I hope that all are well rested and have enjoyed this summer and have had a chance to get away and relax? However, as you all know the garden is a demanding beast and I’m afraid it won’t stop for anyone! This summer has seen some rather hot and balmy days and also the odd thunder storm, playing havoc with watering duties.

Only just the other day I was watering tubs and containers in the rain! It just wasn’t enough to rely on mother nature - I had to boost the supplies. That aside, other than watering and liquid feeding on a regular basis, there are just a few other jobs that shouldn’t be left too long.

This is the perfect time to look through the myriad of seed and bulb catalogues streaming through the post for colour ideas this autumn and importantly, early next year. Don’t just look out for decorative interest, which is important, but sometimes so is disease resistance - especially for any edibles. With perennials I’m also looking for those plants that are self-supporting - I just don’t want to deal with link stakes or canes everywhere.

One of the things I love to do is grow on lilies in pots and secrete them in the bed and borders as a form of successional bedding.

They’re ideal for giving height, instant colour and scent by the bucket load. However, once blooms have faded they need to be removed and popped at the back of the garden to die down naturally - don’t forget to water though, and feed to enrich the bulb for next year’s display. Unfortunately you now have gaps… what to do? Maybe plant up slightly taller pots with perennials such as Rudbeckia, Echinacea and or varieties of grasses. All of these flower well, but also improve with age… don’t we all! Rudbeckia and Echinacea have fab flowers, but have even better autumn and winter colour with their superb deep black seed heads - very striking. Grasses, on the other hand, produce flowers that are almost everlasting, plus they have foliage that colours well as it ages and doesn’t need to be cut down until

February next year. Doing this will extend the season of interest and ensure your garden remains a talking point with friends and family.

Start to Collect Seed from Plants.

Recently I collected spent flower stalks of Aquilegia vulgaris (columbine). Harvest them carefully, because as soon as you touch the stems the seed falls. Cut flower stems down to the base of plant or to an outward facing leaf and turn carefully into a large paper bag and let nature take its own course.

Once seed has dropped, sieve to separate any coatings etc from the seed. Once complete, seed can be stored in a clean envelope, labelled and dated, and stored in a frost free dry place. Believe it or not I use the fridge, as long as its around 5°C (41°F), as this will ensure that viability is retained for as long as possible. Use as and when required. Aquilegia can be sown fresh in seed trays and left in cold frames or kept away from over exposed areas. Sometimes they germinate early, if so keep them moist, NOT saturated, and allow them to grow on for at least ½ year. This will enable a more stocky plant to develop. Pot up and grow on for another ½ year before setting out into the ground. Failing this, you can also sow in February.

Plants will be ready to be move on early/late summer. Check out this RHS link to collecting, storing and sowing a range of seed: www.rhs. org.uk/advice/profile?pid=675.

I can’t believe it, another year has gone by and we are due to start another academic year at Writtle University College - notice the name change? Check out the college website for a full update: www.writtle. ac.uk.

If you’re looking to update your knowledge and skills or wishing to pursue a career in horticulture, give the team a call on 01245 424 200. Alternatively, come and chat with us anytime. Check out this link for further details: writtle.ac.uk/Information-Events.

Good luck and happy gardening!

For any gardening tips, contact Tom Cole, Senior Horticultural Lecturer, Writtle College, Chelmsford, CM1 3RR by post (including a SAE) or by email at tom.cole@writtle.ac.uk.

10

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Juice Kitchen Now Open!

Juice Kitchen opened its doors to its first customers at 7am on Friday 5th August. Juice Kitchen is a venue that offers something for everyone from meat eaters, vegans, vegetarians, gluten intolerants or those just wanting a freshly pressed juice.

h St he Higrd T 1 . o N sfo Chelm 1BE CM1

Founded by Richard Blacklock, Juice Kitchen was born out of a frustration at the lack of healthy eating food-to-go or eat-in venues, as people currently lead lives that are busier than ever and therefore have less time, but are also more aware than ever of the types of foods they are putting into their (or their families) bodies.

At JUICE KITCHEN we will always offer a tasty range of healthy, freshly prepped food with a tonne of cold-pressed juices and super food smoothies - perfect for keeping you healthy, nourished and at the top of your game.

We sincerely hope to make you as passionate as we are about eating a diet of great tasting produce that is sourced as local as possible, with us aiming to keep approximately 85 pence of every pound we spend local (although we’re yet to find avocados in Ingatestone!).

We know how difficult it can be to get hold of decent, wholesome food when you are at work or out and about so...we created JUICE KITCHEN. We promise that we’ll only serve the freshest and most wholesome food every day... all you have to do is eat it!

All the staff at Juice Kitchen are united by our commitment to health, wellness and community and over the coming months you will see us partake in various charity events that benefit those less fortunate than most of us reading this. Hopefully this will be one of the aspects of our business that endears us to the local community as we try to give something back.

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On the food side, we offer a range of breakfast bagels that come in gluten free or plain versions and sit alongside porridge or Greek yoghurt with a variety of toppings. Our lunch menu, which changes on a regular basis, offers a wide variety of wraps, some of which are vegan friendly, gluten free. There are also various salad pots with an offer available during August giving folk a chance to try our products and receive a free hot drink with any breakfast purchase, or a free juice or smoothie with any lunchtime purchase or wrap or salad pot.

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the healthiest ingredients we can source, which works alongside our authentic Italian coffee that comes from Lavazza coffee.

Moving forward, we hope to offer a delivery service to local businesses or individuals and external catering provision as an alternative for group business meetings, offering fruit platters alongside our healthy wraps and juice cleansing. We will also offer meal preparation delivering healthy pre-prepared meals to clients homes or businesses, based upon a meal plan designed by your personal trainer - alternatively, we can put you in touch with a local trainer/nutritionist who can design a plan around your daily activities.

As we try our best to cater for everyone, you will find an array of brownies, protein balls and slices that are all made in-house using www.moulshamtimes.com

As a local business we utilise social media a lot to keep in touch with everyone, so if you have not already liked our page on Facebook, you can find it at facebook.com/JuiceKitchenChelmsford, or our Instagram link is @juicekitchenchelmsford.

We hope to see you soon!

11

Rotary Looks to the Future of Sport

Millions of people all round the globe have been glued to their televisions as the Rio Olympics unravelled. We have been inspired and in awe in equal measures at the achievements of these wonderful athletes who have dedicated the last four years in order to take part in the world’s greatest sporting event.

I was tempted to use the adjective ‘young’ when describing these athletes, but along comes Nick Skelton at the age of 58 to win gold in the individual show jumping so there is hope for us all. Competitors come in all shapes and sizes, so we can all get involved given a bit of talent and massive commitment. We all bathe in the reflected glory of the achievements of the British medal winners as they gain a record haul, but many others are worthy of our admiration - those who achieve personal bests, those who unexpectedly rise to the occasion and those who have overcome adversity.

Sports we don’t normally take much notice of suddenly rise to prominence. Without really understanding ‘horse dancing’ we appreciate the skills of rider Charlotte Dujardin. How many trampolines will be installed in back gardens throughout the country following the exertions of Bryony Page? There are, of course, many big names who also delivered such as our wonderful cyclists and Mo Farah, Andy Murray and Justin Rose, but the unsung heroes brought a lump to the throat as we shared their delight. The vast range of sports is staggering and Great Britain came to the fore in so many. Apart from those mentioned above, we were winners in - and on - the water, on the track, in gymnastics, hockey, shooting, various combat sports and badminton, and all these serve to inspire the next generation of young people.

working in the community. If you would like to become part of the Rotary organisation, then visit www.chelmsfordrotary1240.org, or give me a call on 01245 260 349. It is a decision you won’t regret.

Stan Keller

General Knowledge Quiz by John Theedom (Answers on page 31) 1.

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What year was The Good Life launched?

What is a skink?

Who was the last British king to die in battle?

What is Gareth Malone famous for?

What is TV detective Foyle’s first name?

What is meant by the term alphanumeric?

Which year was David Beckham born?

What is a polyglot?

What is the condition monophobia?

What do the initials H and G stand for in HG Wells?

What is the meaning of scion?

What is natation?

What do the initials TIA stand for?

What is pugilism?

Why is a signet ring so called?

What is an epistle?

Where is The Chelsea Flower Show staged?

What is meant by the term GM products?

When was Spaghetti Junction on the M6 opened?

What religion were the Cadbury family?

What sport did Eric Cantona play?

What was Elvis Presley’s first wife’s name?

Which year was the UK’s first recognised Bank Holiday?

Who is the manager recently sacked by Manchester United?

Where on your body is your axilla?

Rotary plays a part in encouraging sport and providing some financial support. One notable success was Greg Rutherford who won a gold for the long jump on Super Saturday in London four years ago and he was quick to acknowledge the help that Rotary had given him when he was a relatively unknown up-and-coming competitor.

There are many other examples, particularly when it comes to disabled sports. Just recently Alfie Hewitt won the doubles at Wimbledon in a special wheelchair supplied by Rotary. Tanni Grey Thompson, probably the greatest paralympian of all, is seen at Rotary events to support all levels of competition and to thank Rotary for the part it plays in giving everyone the opportunity to enjoy sport. A young girl, Samantha Kinghorn (remember her name) was given a Rotary Young Citizen Award this year after she broke two of Tanni’s records and she was also made an honorary member of her local Rotary club. Samantha had been working on her family farm when she was crushed in a freak accident. Rather than feel sorry for herself she found a different course to express her sporting prowess and she competes in wheelchair racing over 100, 400 and 800 metres. Hers is one of many inspiring stories and there will be others come to light in September and November when there are Rotary Disabled Games which are a joy to the competitors and the organisers alike.

There are other ways Rotary shows its commitment to sport, such as donations to SportsAid and supplying kit for junior football teams. A little help goes a long long way. In fact, such is the esteem of Rotary that top sportsmen such as Usain Bolt and Lewis Hamilton donated personal memorabilia for auction at a recent Rotary Golf Day. Looking to help future sporting talent is just one example of Rotary 12

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MT Baking by Alison Motley

Chocolate and Blackberry Mini Muffins Wild blackberries picked from the hedgerows at this time of year are the best - the flavour, size and juiciness are so much better than anything shop-bought, and purple stained fingers or the odd scratch are a small price to pay for such a beautiful bounty. I love blackberries eaten straight from the hedge, atop yoghurt and cereal for breakfast, blitzed into smoothies, cooked in a crumble with apple or tossed into cake batter.

These little beauties make full use of the blackberry. Not only is the frosting a shade of beautiful mauve, each muffin hides a whole blackberry baked inside. I baked them using a mini-muffin tin, a frivolous purchase, but great fun and perfect for baking mini pies and tarts too.

To make it easier to get the muffins out of the tin I lined each hole with a narrow strip of baking paper slightly longer than the size of each hole. You can then grab the ends of the paper with your fingers and easily lift the muffins out of the tin. If you line the tins with mini cupcake cases this won’t be necessary.

Chocolate and Blackberry Mini Muffins (Makes approx. 24, depending on size of tin holes) Muffins 175g self-raising flour 2 tablespoons cocoa powder ¼ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda 75g butter, softened 100g caster sugar 1 medium egg, lightly beaten 125ml milk 24 blackberries Frosting 50g unsalted butter, softened 130g icing sugar 24 blackberries for decoration, plus a few for frosting Purple food colouring (optional)

As for desserts, who could resist cute individual trifles, cheesecakes or tiramisu in small glasses, jam jars or ramekins?

1. Preheat oven to 180C/Fan 160C/Gas 4. Grease a 24-hole mini muffin tin and line with strips of baking paper.

2. Sift the flour, cocoa powder and bicarbonate of soda into a bowl and set aside.

3. In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar together using an electric hand mixer until pale and creamy. Beat in the egg.

4. Sift the flour mixture into the sugar and butter mixture and pour in the milk. Quickly fold everything together with a large metal spoon. (Sifting the dry ingredients twice helps the muffins to rise as you should not overmix this).

5. Using a teaspoon divide the mixture between the prepared muffin holes, about one heaped teaspoon per hole and gently push a blackberry into the top of each muffin. If you have any mixture left, use it to make one or two regular sized muffins or cupcakes.

6. Bake for 10-15 minutes until the muffins have risen.

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

8. Meanwhile to make the frosting, beat the butter in a large bowl until soft. Sift in the icing sugar and beat until smooth. Crush a few blackberries with a fork and then pass through a sieve or tea strainer. Add the sieved juice little by little, beating well until you have a soft and fluffy icing. You may not need to add all the juice.

If you prefer a stronger colour add a little purple food colouring.

9. Spoon the frosting into a piping bag fitted with a large plain nozzle and pipe a swirl of icing onto the top of each muffin. Top with a blackberry.

Best of all, as the saying goes ‘a little of what you fancy does you good’ so you can enjoy a little treat without feeling guilty, unless of course you eat twice as many! Happy Baking!

I would love to hear from readers with anything baking related. Drop me an email at motleybakes@aol.com, or visit www.motleybakes. co.uk.

Anything baked in miniature is super cute and instantly popular.

Miniature bakes can look stunning at parties and make great edible gifts. Somehow they look more sophisticated and technical than their regular sized versions, yet can be achieved quite easily. It can be as simple as cutting brownies into bite-sized cubes and dusting them with icing sugar or drizzling them with melted chocolate. Traditional cakes, like the Victoria sandwich, can be baked in square tray bake tins, sliced into sophisticated finger sandwich slices and filled with jam and piped cream.

A small pastry cutter can be used to cut out miniature cake layers from a sponge. Take three layers, a contrasting coloured frosting and some sprinkles and you have some sweet looking little layer cakes.

Alternatively, try baking mini cakes in ramekins, oven-proof mugs or simply a clean food can, greased and lined with baking paper. This works particularly well for individual fruit cakes.

Piped goodies like macarons and meringues are easy to scale down and bake in miniature as are free-form items like pasties, biscuits, bread rolls and pizzas. Just remember to reduce the baking time, probably by about one third, and keep an eye on them so they don’t burn.

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15

Essex Rock Histories: Jerimiah Marques by John Power Jerimiah, or Jerry to his friends, was born in Guyana on the NorthWest coast of South America in 1951, and was ‘press ganged’ as he puts it, by his parents to come to the cold climate of England when he was ten years old. The family lived in the various North-East London locations of Highbury, Dalston, Clapton, and Hackney, where his favourite sport was boxing: A wise choice in East London! His father played the harmonica and sang calypso, before turning into the stereotypical pork pie hat wearing black mod into R&B and ska. Jerry also had an English teacher who encouraged his interests in ska and bluebeat music and so he became involved with a group called Amber.

In 1971 Jerry talked his girlfriend and soon-to-be wife into moving to Braintree where he found shift work easy to get. Although his wife had been successfully employed in secretarial work in London, she found work less easy to come by in Braintree and soon found herself ‘trapped’ into the domestic role of bringing up two young daughters.

Jerry, on the other hand, became involved with a family group of four brothers and a cousin who were all keen to become musicians, and he began playing bongos and hand drums with them. As he was slightly older than the boys, he soon became the front man and did half the singing in the band, which they called Invasion and played ska and reggae - on mostly homemade instruments at first. Through other Rasta Brothers he also met up with the Wailers in London, and after seeing them play wound up in a recording studio when Bob Marley was making an album. At least one song was written in the car on the way to the studio. Jerry also met a drummer in Braintree called Steve Cutmore, who was to play a part in his musical future.

Invasion lasted about four years before Jerry went his own way and the boys turned towards rap music. By then he was developing the harmonica skills further that he had picked up from his father.

With Steve Cutmore on drums, Malcolm Birch on guitar and brother Nigel Birch on bass and vocals and Jerry on vocals and harmonica, a band emerged called Crack. Their first gig was at Crittalls Social Club supporting a GI from the then US air base at Wethersfield called Eddie Jones, a man with London musical connections and a maker of guitars. Crack morphed into Booze and Bloose. They also had ‘Cupsy’ Cutmore on drums, Steve Saunders on lead and bottleneck guitar.

Bob Smith also played lead and rhythm guitar, Fergie Fulton was on bass and John Skelly on guitars and vocals. Pete Nash joined later on keyboards.

The band entered for the Banks’s Brewery Best Blues Band competition in 1979. They were so good that the judges moved them from the first heat straight into the final, where they then won the competition. The prize was to cut a vinyl album, supposedly with blues recording legend Mike Vernon, but he turned out to be double booked. The album was however completed in 1990 after a week in the studio down in Eastbourne and consisted of reworking old blues standards as well as using some of the group’s own material. The album, and self penned title track, was called Running Late. John Skelly was not on the album and the keyboards are credited to Pete Simpson. The other half of the prize was a European tour supporting Chuck Berry. By the time Chuck reached Brentwood Sports Centre he seemed fairly washed out and a little uninspired as he jangled his way through his hits in about three quarters of an hour and duck walked off the stage without an encore much to the audience’s dismay. That really left Booze and Bloose as the shining stars of the show, even though they had performed before Chuck.

At that point in their career all the band members got star struck and wanted to turn professional, all except Jerry, who said: “I’ve got two kids to support and can’t gamble on maybes.” So he decided to keep his day job in the building trade. The band got a new singer and carried on for another two years after an eight year career with Jerry, but without him they had lost the main attraction. Mike Vernon had said of him that he was the only person he knew who could improve on Howlin’ Wolf’s version of his song Smokestack Lightnin’. Praise

indeed!

Jerry of course, didn’t give up music, but the split led to another group who they called the Marques Brothers. First of all it was just Malcolm Birch on guitar and Jerry. They felt they didn’t need drums as these could be at overpowering levels in sound checks, especially in small venues. In the early ‘80s they played Glastonbury Fayre. They were later joined by Gippy Mayo, who had been with Dr Feelgood after Wilko Johnson and a later version of the Yardbirds. When Gyp went back to the Yardbirds he was replaced by Tony Vanes, then Tim Le Grace and finally Jeff Shaw. The band expanded up to five members for well paid gigs, and after a string of ten gigs in Madrid they morphed once more, this time into the Blue Aces, adding drums again in the shape of Mike Thornton, while Pete Nash returned on keyboards sometimes using bass pedals or sometimes the group were blessed with Ian Jennings on a double bass until Orlando Sheerer took over on that instrument.

Big Joe Louie then started on guitar until he was followed by Louis Fielding. Jerry relinquished harmonica to Laurie Garman to concentrate on vocals. Their first CD was called Chicago Blues and a second was being mastered at the time of writing and will be called Winning Hand. Booze and Bloose did produce a cassette before Running Late called Nobody Knows, which Jerry preferred to the vinyl’s production.

Never standing still, in 2012 Jerry started gigging again with a pre-existing ska band, called the Skagills, for some of their gigs in between those of the Blue Aces. Lenny Henry has also ‘discovered’ him for a Sky TV project called Lenny Henry Gets the Blues.

Pete Nash died in 2012 of liver failure and Gippy Mayo in 2014 of cancer. Such is the rock lifestyle.

Books by Local Author and Moulsham Times Writer John Power Listed on Amazon Nu Tantras of the Uttarakaulas: Indian yoga philosophy. £8.75 Uttarakuru: Practical Tantrik yoga techniques. £6.75 Pagans and Witches of Essex: Local folk history. £7.75 A Sense of Place: Local and Essex history. £7.75 Madaece: A novel in Beat Generation genre. £8.75 Postage included for UK

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Music and Blues in the City by Nick Garner

It’s September already and that means it’s time for Blues in the City Festival 6 - more on that in a while.

We have had some great gigs, Noasis played at the football club and were stunning - see a full review in the latest City Times. We also had Bex Marshall with her band at the Bassment, this was her first gig in Essex for many years as most of her time is spent in the States and Europe - the destination they set off to straight after the show. Bex is not only a great singer but also a great guitarist and songwriter. We had a good house and they loved her and kept on wanting more but they had to finish to catch the ferry from Dover. The next time she plays in the UK l strongly urge to go and see her. Opening the night was our friend Ben Buddy Slack from Blind Dead McJones who has just released a solo album. He was, as always, really good and funny - we were not sure what he would be like solo but will defiantly be booking him again.

Before the festival we have some other great shows coming up. At the Bassment on Wednesday 14th September we have Steve Morrison, who was a finalist the other week in Sky Arts Guitar Star programme.

Out of the many thousands who applied, Steve made it to the last three and many said he should have won - so do not miss this opportunity to see, hear and meet this guitar maestro. Supporting him is a young and very up-and-coming musician, Connor Selby. So don’t be late! See the advert in the magazine for full details.

On Friday 23rd September we have a fabulous show at the football ground with the Trembling Wilburys, which is the name George Harrison wanted to call the Travelling Wilburys originally. The band is made up of top session musicians who will astound you with how good they are musically and vocally. They will not only be playing the music of the Wilburys, but also Roy Orbison, George Harrison, Tom Petty, Bob Dylan and Jeff Lynne. You can find all the details in the advert in this magazine.

This year’s Blues in the City Festival is again raising monies for the Remus Horse Sanctuary near Stock, as they need in excess of £500,000 a year just to run. I am happy to have some sponsorship again from ADBLY, who came up to me and just said we are up for it again this year. What a great company they are and for those of you who do not know them, they do the ground works for many of the new developments in Chelmsford. Also sponsoring are Printwize, who not only now print our magazines but have also been supportive of the festival with printing tasks and making a donation - thank you. Plus Chelmer Web Design who look after and maintain our website for free and Sign Masters who print our banners and also Round Tower who brew us a beer and then donate money back to us as well, and not forgetting It’s Your Media and Paul my business partner who allows me so much space in the magazine.

on the big stages at festivals and with the release of a new album are destined for greatness. Then it’s Northsyde, what a great rocking band this is and they will be joined by a special guest. Our next act is Nicky Moore who has played for us a few times in the past, but you can never tire of his amazing voice and wit - though this will be his last ever electric show with the Blues Corporation. Though he tells us that he will continue to play acoustic shows with Danny Kyle. Now for a blues supergroup made up of Bad Influence and the Monday Band; we did a similar line-up a few years ago and it was stunning.

Featuring Richard Hayes on guitar and Valerie Cowell Hayes on vocals and rhythm guitar from Bad Influence and Pete Stroud from both bands on bass, with Steve Simpson on vocals, guitar, mandolin and fiddle and Sam Kelly on drums. What is not to like about this band?

Day 3 starts again in the Black Horse at 1pm with the Blues Consortium who blew everyone away the last time they played. Then to the Star and Garter for the wonderful Delta Ladies playing their mix of world, Americana and blues. Then it is off across to the west end of Chelmsford for the rest - we start at the White Horse with Andy Twyman who plays a multitude of instruments at the same time while singing and making you laugh - a must for all. Then we head back to the Ale House for the great Jimi Whitewolf, formally of the Dave Jackson Band - we love Dave’s great voice. For the last two acts it is off to the Bassment with a double header to close the festival, first on is Salvation Jayne who are roaring to the top, as are Red Butler who will be closing the festival. This is going to be a party and a half for us all.

As always please keep going to see live music as without you the audience we will lose it.

For more information on the festival and Blues in the City gigs go to www.bluesinthecity.co.uk or www.facebook.com/ bluesinthecitychelmsford. For the shows at Chelmsford City Football club go to www.itsyourmusic.co.uk.

Now to the acts and what a great line-up, with many of the acts being British Blues award nominees for this year as well as past winners.

We start day 1 on Friday night at the Chelmsford Social Club (door 6.30pm) and we (Jamie Williams and the Roots Collective) open the festival at 7.15pm. Next up is a special with Blue Swamp, who if you are not familiar with them are a real must-see, especially as they have Robbie McIntosh playing with them as their special guest. After them there is the awesome Jerimiah Marques & the Blue Aces - it has been too long since they last played in Chelmsford.

Day two and we start with roadhouses all over the city which are free to enter but we would be very happy if you would make donations in the charity buckets. We start with a bang at the Black Horse in Moulsham Street with Catfish, who everyone is talking about being the next big blues act. Then equally as good we move to the Star & Garter for Elles Bailey who has an amazing voice and band. Then we cross over town to the Ale House for Dove & Boweevil who are achieving so much right now and heading to the top. We are then back to the Social Club for our second night and wow again, I am amazed with all who are playing for us this year. We start here at 5.30pm with Saiichi Sugiyama and his band, they are now playing 18 www.moulshamtimes.com

The Gospel According to Caroline Where has the summer gone?

Though many parents and carers may be actually feeling glad that the children are due back to school and the holidays are over!

September brings with it a new term, new uniform or maybe even a new school. These can be challenges for pupils and teachers alike. We expect so much from our schools that our children are educated to (of course) Einstein standard and that they are fulfilled and happy individuals that reach their full potential! Working with children myself I know how hard it can be with even just a few children, to hold their attention and stretch their imagination and to keep them interested, let alone a class of 30.

We can all be inclined to ask too much of our family, friends and children. We push them sometimes without justification and for our own purposes and motivations and not for their own good. The Bible though is full of stories where simple acts of kindness and caring have had a profound effect on someone’s life. In 1 Corinthians the apostle Paul talks about how we should have ‘faith, hope and love, and of the 3 the greatest is love.’ We may not all be Einstein or go on to have high earning high powered careers, but we are all capable of sharing deep and profound love and this can be our greatest gift to each other.

Restaurant and Takeaway

Sunday Buffet Adult - £8.50 Child - £4.50 1pm-6pm

To find out what we exciting things are happening at Christ Church, visit our Facebook page - Christ Church URC Chelmsford.

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

Chelmsford Heritage Open Days (8th to 11th September) This September sees again the return to Chelmsford of the Heritage Open Days events when a host of properties will be open to the public with free access. The event this year is hoping to be as successful as last year with a wide variety of activities taking place.

There will again be access to the grounds of Pleshey Castle, tours of the Salvation Army building, a special talk on the history of the Cathedral and a walking Marconi history tour of the city centre.

Marriages Mill will be open with tours around the mill allowing access to the operation that normally takes place behind closed doors. The Essex Record Office will also be open and holding a special event called Creativity and Archive. Again this year, Hylands House will be available with tours and a special exhibition on the Gooch family. The Essex Police Museum will be welcoming visitors and there will also be an exclusive guided tour around Chelmsford Museum.

The YMCA will again open its doors with a guided tour of the building, and we are very excited to have two new properties open this year; The Writtle Agricultural College and the Little Baddow History Centre.

Local history has to include our beautiful churches and this year we have a great selection from the modern to the traditional. All have special events going on at various times over the long weekend and these range from a flower festival at Little Waltham to a bell ringing competition at All Saints Church in Writtle.

All Heritage Open Days events are free, however some of the tours are very popular so it’s worth booking in advance to avoid disappointment. Details can be found at www.heritageopendays.org. uk - search events for ‘Chelmsford’.

Look out for the posters and flyers or the Heritage Open Days advert on page 26 for details of all the events.

Run by Chelmsford Civic Society on behalf of Chelmsford City Council.

MT Therapy by Jenny Hartill Couples Counselling Part 2:

Last time I explained about Social Exchange Theory and the costs/ benefits analysis model in terms of couples counselling. Today I’m looking at this from a different perspective - what if one or both of the people in the relationship believe they have a lack of alternative and that is why they want to stay in the relationship?

Furthermore, if this is the case, can they sustain a stable relationship if they feel the relationship isn’t that rewarding?

Although it is true that rewarding relationships are more likely to be stable, this is because the person would expect there to be a lower level of alternatives. However, in couples therapy the therapist must bear in mind that unsatisfactory relationships may remain stable because one or both people in the relationship believe there is a lack of a better alternative. In other words, better in than out because there isn’t a better option. These relationships have been conceived of as non-voluntary relationships by Thibaut and Kelley (1959). An extreme example would be married individuals who stay in violent relationships could be thought of as participating in a non-voluntary relationship - the individuals remain together because of the absence of better alternatives (Gelles 1976). However, in my opinion there would only be one person remaining in the relationship for this reason because the person doing the beating is more likely to gain a benefit from the relationship - that of power over the other individual.

Another perhaps more common example with couples counselling is that both individuals have low self esteem and believe that ‘no-one else would have me’. I believe this is a very important part to Social Exchange Theory, because the individuals involved could have even started the relationship on the grounds that no-one else would have them and once the therapist has discovered this, they would have to ethically think about how to (or even whether to) help the couple realise this because it could change the entire nature of the relationship - ie it could end the relationship!

relationship. Really, couples therapy is about learning how to have empathy with each other. There are a few situations that I see often, here is a snap shot along with some examples of what I would ask the clients to help them gain clarity about their relationship: Opposites attract: Extravert v introvert. One of you is introverted and gains energy from being alone, they need alone time to recharge. One of you is extroverted and gains energy from being with others. What can you both do for each other that allows the other what they need to feel better? For example, extroverts can leave the introvert alone once in a while. Introverts can find a way to tell the extrovert what they need - perhaps using a signal - so the extrovert knows what to do and that the introvert isn’t being rude or ignoring them, they just need a rest! This encourages teamwork and promotes a less stressful environment. The extrovert needs people and to know their partner is listening. How can we facilitate this within the relationship?

It’s not me it’s you: Placing blame. This does nothing. I can absolutely categorically confirm that nobody on this planet is perfect. If they’ve annoyed you, chances are you’ve also annoyed them at some point.

Therapy isn’t about blaming and then fixing the person, it’s about learning how to communicate. In this case I encourage the couple to explain - in great detail - what annoys them and why. I always say ‘explain to them as you would to a five year old - not in a patronising way, in a detailed way’. We can then discuss alternative behaviours and actions the clients find helpful.

We always argue: Lack of teamwork. This usually happens when one or both of the couple are being defensive. I would encourage them to look at their own behaviours and cognitions, how are they interpreting the world? What is their own internal truth? Do they feel attacked? In this case I teach non-defensive language and have them practise it. I also need to look at any external factors affecting their stress levels kids, work, family etc.

If anyone needs any counselling or hypnotherapy you can visit my website www.cloud9-therapy.co.uk for more information.

The Comparison Level of Alternatives (CLalt) (defined as the lowest level of outcome a person will accept from a relationship in light of available alternatives) is also related to the experience of dependence. Dependence is defined as the degree to which a person believes that he or she is subject to, or reliant on, the other for relationship outcome. The degree of dependence is determined by the degree to which the outcomes derived from a relationship exceed the outcomes perceived to be available from existing alternatives (in other words, ‘I’m better off here than anywhere else’).

Dependence may be experienced as one of the costs of participating in a relationship, but this is probably determined in part by the level of satisfaction experienced with the relationship. The Social Exchange Theory says that dependence is tolerated in highly rewarding relationships - I disagree. I think that sometimes being dependent on someone and being aware of this dependence could be torturous for someone who desperately wants to leave the relationship. For example, in a violent relationship the victim may be desperate to leave but feels that they can’t because the other person supports them financially, or because they are afraid the person will come after them if they do leave. This is not an example of tolerating dependence in a highly rewarding relationship, this is the pure fact that the costs (lack of safety) outweigh the benefits (freedom). I doubt a couple like this would come for counselling, it would depend on the level of violence, but as a counsellor if I suspected anything I would have to think through the ethical implications of seeing this couple.

I would seek advice from my supervisor in this kind of situation because it could become dangerous for the victim.

Usually couples come to counselling because they both want to stay together. Although Social Exchange Theory is fascinating and can be of help, especially in determining boundaries as a couple and how the relationship used to work and what they both get out of the 20

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The Habit Paradox by Mark Roberts I am writing this article whilst on an extended holiday in the US and I am having a great time. The reason I am telling you this though, is not to boast, but rather to tell you about some things that have happened whilst on my holiday that have allowed me to focus on the role that habit plays in our lives - both good and not so good.

extent of putting you or someone else in danger, or maybe cause you a bout of severe embarrassment.

A big part of my family holiday has included driving, which brings with it a number of challenges, mostly related to driving on the right-hand side of the road in a left-hand drive vehicle. When this is combined with a scant knowledge of the rules that apply when driving in the US - the unusual road signs and road markings - having to remember that the right-hand lane on freeways and interstate highways is the slow lane and having to consciously assess every turn that I make especially left turns across dual carriageways - well, it has made for some interesting family conversations on the road.

One way of achieving this is to mentally note each activity being undertaken in the moment and then carry out the task whilst mentally observing what is being done. You do not need to over-think it, as this may cause interference with your performance of the task.

Simply note what you are doing and carry on with your activity.

You may be thinking, ‘so what!?’ after all, you soon pick it up and settle in to the new patterns. Of course that is true to a degree, driving on the highways is relatively easy, but driving around town is a whole new ball game - especially when faced with strange rules on turning right at red traffic light signals, oh and the satellite navigation stopped working. Well, hopefully you are getting the picture. The challenge has been that none of these things has come naturally to me, because my brain has been programmed over many years to act on auto-pilot in a UK driving environment.

It doesn’t stop there: Even a simple act like crossing the road requires conscious thinking, like remembering to look left first, rather than right. Then not being sure whether US drivers will actually stop whilst I am on the crossing because I haven’t fully internalised the rules that apply outside of my UK experience.

Now I don’t want to sound like I am making too much of a fuss, because I am really not, it’s just that these simple things focused my mind on the fact that we are all creatures of habit; habits we have learned and internalised over our lifetimes. Many of the things that we take for granted, like driving a car and crossing the road have become second nature to us and are so deeply ingrained in our psyches that we carry them out on auto-pilot, without a second thought. My driving experience in the US has kind of put the L plates back on again - in my mind at least!

I have written about the power of habit before, but my recent experiences have caused me to focus more closely on the important role that habit really plays in our day-to-day lives. On the plus side it enables us to learn and internalise behaviour, allowing unconscious, auto-pilot activity. This is a really important feature and ensures that we do not have to constantly re-learn common tasks every time that we perform them. It also allows us to multi-task, so that we can carry out the mundane tasks with little thought or effort, whilst our conscious mind can focus on more complex activity.

On the downside, habitual conduct can cause difficulty when we are acting on out-of-date information, or as in my case with my US driving experience. The rules were outside of my habitual experience - my ‘habit muscle’, if you will, was working against me. My point here is that habit has both benefits and non-benefits, which creates something of a paradox.

What does this mean for us mere mortals? Well, you may be thinking, does this really matter, especially if the benefits outweigh the nonbenefits? In truth, it may not make too much difference to you at a practical level, but you will experience those occasions when you feel ‘consciously incompetent’ where your current experience is at odds with your learned behaviour in similar situations. Or more simply put, your usual habitual response fails you. It could even fail you to the

In coaching situations, I promote ‘living life intelligently’ and part of that means living life with present moment awareness. I am not suggesting that we should remove habitual conduct from our lives as that would make life far too tedious, it is after all a very useful tool!

That said, it can help to be more consciously aware of daily activity, ensuring that we are fully present in the moment and at the very least, acknowledging that we are acting out of habit.

The upside of doing this is that it will encourage you to be ‘more present’ in your own life. So much of life can just pass you by through ‘unconscious, habitual activity’ and it would be a great waste to miss out on your own life in such a frivolous way.

When you start to practise being truly present in every moment, you will find that this will soon extend this to other parts of your daily activities and you will start to live your life with greater intelligence. As your practise improves, your level of self-awareness will grow, as will your perspective on life in general. This will lead to more happiness and a greater sense of personal fulfilment.

To your success…

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

Please call Michael on:

07976 693457 or email Info@m-specservices.co.uk

Electrical Installation & Maintenance M-Spec Services based in Chelmsford cater for all your electrical requirements, no job is too big or too small. You are always guaranteed a professional service at competitive rates.

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01245 830811 / 07976 693457

Wine Corner Hi everyone, I hope you are feeling summery at last, although I am writing this at a folk festival in Suffolk and it is showery and the wind is quite strong. We are in our caravan and regretting that we put up the awning, it is acting like a sail and we may disappear back to Chelmsford soon, without the car!

Finishing off writing today, it’s very warm. I went to the local shops and got some bread, by the time I got home it was toast!

Yes, I did say we were at a folk festival. There is a first time for everything. It was very interesting, lots of people dressed in colourful clothes, lots of very talented performers, lots of beer, but sadly it seemed, only a choice of one red and one white wine. I realised that some ‘folky’ people have a reputation for drinking beer, but a better choice of wine would be appreciated. They did sell gin though. It is from Adnams, a brewer in nearby Southwold. They have been well known for their beer for years having been originally founded in 1872, but in 2010 they ventured into distilling. They produce a range of spirits now including the gin (very nice it is too), vodka and whiskey; a single malt and a triple grain, made from wheat, barley and oats.

Back home, I have discovered a lovely French Sauvignon blanc called Kiwi. Apparently, it is named after the fruit but is produced using the new world (New Zealand?) technology and the combination works for me. I am not too keen on the New Zealand stuff (just a personal choice), but recognise that the wine-making processes there produce a very good product, so the use of French grapes results in a very nice wine and I enjoy drinking it.

I used the term ‘new world’. This distinguishes wines from the long established wine-making countries like France, Italy and Spain, as well as some South American countries, where wine-making has been taking place since the 14th century. With the new world wines, wine-making did not start until the 18th century. Vines from South Africa were transported to Australia late in that century and the first commercial sales of wine were in the 1820s. So the ‘new world’ in wine circles is hardly new, but newer than the old world, if you see what I mean. Argentina and Chile did not appear as wine makers until the early 20th century.

I can see over twenty different wines at a wide range of prices. There are others - Pinot gris, Chardonnay and even some Riesling wines.

Reds include Pinot noir and Merlot. Although classed as new world, New Zealand’s first successful vineyard was created in Hawke’s Bay by, yes you’ve guessed, missionaries. They brought Pinot noir and Syrah vines from France.

The changes to New Zealand wine production came in the late 1960s and early 1970s when the UK joined the EEC, which put an end to historic trade terms and banned the import of meat and dairy products into Europe. Consequently, there was a reduction in the demand for these products, so the Government investigated alternative usage for the land previously used as pasture. At about the same time, the licensing laws for the sale of alcohol were updated. Prior to this, pubs were only open for an hour a day and closed on Sunday, and finally, the tradition of bringing your own wine to restaurants was introduced.

All of these things resulted in an increase in the interest in wine production. Sauvignon blanc gradually developed and in the 1980s the Marlborough vineyards were producing, what many wine experts called, the best in the world.

So get to the wine merchants and try some.

Bin end chuckles I met a guy who produces crosswards the other day. I can’t remember his name but it was a something t something r...

I’ll tell you what makes my blood boil, crematoriums.

Keep calm and carry on drinking (in moderation).

New world wines are normally produced in hot countries and the grapes are generally riper. This leads to wines of higher abv and one of the reasons for the popularity of these wines round the world.

This has influenced the old world producers I think, and even some wines from the Loire Valley in France, for example, are 14% or higher - probably unheard of until recently. Often the lighter whites from this area was 11%, but they have responded to customer demand.

Look out - been thinking again. Some sayings are clearly incorrect, take drunk as a skunk: I have seen some skunks on television and at the zoo, but I have never seen a drunk one. In fact, I have done some research and a skunks life expectancy in the wild is between two and four years, so they would never get away with just one drink in a pub, let alone enough to get legless!

Bald as a coot: I have checked and the coot is a black and white duck with a loads of feathers, even as a very young chick it is covered in feathers. Clearly, someone with little or no hair has no similarity to this. Not many people I know have a full head of feathers. Someone somewhere is trying to fill us with false information!

Not at all connected, but as I travel around the city, I pass many garages selling cars. What I am desperate to know is why the hatch back cars always have the tailgate open. Are they saying that this is their best feature, or LOOK you can get stuff in the back of the car using this clever door thing? Most car sales do this so please someone let me know why. It’s driving me mad!

New Zealand has a reputation for good wines. Their range of Sauvignon blanc is very large. Looking at one major wine sellers list, 22

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

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23

Live Dosa Celebrated its 2nd Anniversary

While Live Dosa celebrated its 2nd anniversary in July, it reminded us why it is different to the other Indian restaurants in Chelmsford. It is not only the food but also the culture that comes with it. For the past two years Live Dosa on Duke Street has been serving the flavours of Kerala, the southern coastal state of India, to Chelmsford. From a humble start in a kiosk in Chelmsford market to the restaurant on Duke Street, the flavours have remained constant through honest and traditional ways of cooking, using a distinctive mix of herbs and spices which are abundantly grown in the fertile lands of Kerala.

Being a coastal state not only makes Kerala a hot destination for seafood, but also makes the land fertile to grow rice, coconut, herbs, spices and many other vegetables. This is reflected in the restaurant’s menu which offers a huge selection of flavoursome seafood and vegetarian dishes forming a perfect balance with tempting meat dishes, making the menu tantalizingly unique.

The event that marked the 2nd anniversary of the restaurant brought to us a scrumptious Keralan feast and gave us a glimpse of the South Indian culture through performance of Bharatnatyam, an Indian classical dance.

This September Live Dosa will bring us another cultural glimpse of Kerala in the form of Onam celebration through Onam Sadhya.

Sadhya in Malayalam (the local language of Kerala) means a banquet and Onam Sadhya is an all vegetarian affair.

Onam, the state festival of Kerala, is celebrated with much joy and enthusiasm for ten days. These ten days brings friends and families together, bringing joy to people’s lives. No matter what religion Hindu, Muslim or Christian - every community in Kerala unites to celebrate Onam. Perhaps this is the reason why the festival of Onam has a special place in people’s hearts and why it is also the state festival.

The festival commemorates the start of the harvest season in Kerala and more importantly, celebrates the homecoming of the mythological demon, King Mahabali. Legend has it that in his reign nobody went hungry and nobody died of illness. Seeing people’s devotion to him, the demon king was shunned to the nether world by the gods but allowed to come back from the nether world once a year to see his people. The people of Kerala commemorate the homecoming of this king with great delight.

The festival brings out the cultural riches of Kerala in form of traditional dance, folk music and the Vallamkali, the famous snake boat race of Kerala. Just like any celebration in India, Onam is incomplete without a food. Onam is usually celebrated with a huge vegetarian feast, Onam Sadhya, a feast fit for a king.

Live Dosa will be serving the Onam Sadhya, the festive feast from 13th of September till 18th of September. A banquet of 15 to 20 vegetarian dishes cooked using age old methods (and more traditionally, served to the table on a banana leaf). It doesn’t matter if you are a vegetarian or not, the food is delightful enough to convert you to vegetarianism even if just for a day.

You can book tables by calling 01245 697 440 or by emailing at bookings@livedosa.co.uk.

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Monday-Thursday-11.30am-11pm Friday & Saturday-11.30am-midnight Sundays -11.30 – 10pm Food Served Daily Lunch & Dinner To reserve a table email: scott@pinupbeers.com/07709669355 @theunitedbrethren @theubpub

Chelmsford Mosque 13a Moulsham Street Thursday 8th September from 2pm - 7pm

Ami’s Diary

The filming of the zombie production in Nottingham was a bit of a disaster - we left home at 6am to get there in time.

But when we arrived, the crew hadn’t even arrived. There were about 200 of us queuing up to have our special FX make-up done, but there was only 1 make-up artist. It was a really hot day, so after waiting for 2 hours in the sun and the filming already being delayed, we decided to leave as we knew we would not get home until really late and were going on holiday the next day. I was disappointed as I had prepared for the role, but lots of other people did the same and what I learnt was that it’s really important for film crews to be organised.

I had an amazing time in North Devon at a surf school. The weather wasn’t very good, but it didn’t matter once I was in the water. I was really proud that by the end of the 5 days I was able to stand up and surf properly, which is what I wanted to achieve.

Family Friendly Jokes What do you call a fake noodle?

An Impasta!

Did you hear about the race between the lettuce and the tomato?

The lettuce was a head and the tomato was trying to ketchup!

Why did the picture go to jail?

Because it was framed!

What do you call a baby monkey?

A chimp off the old block!

Who earns a living driving their customers away?

A taxi driver!

I was only back home for a few days and then went on a cruise around the Mediterranean. We started in Venice in Italy, then went to Katakolon and Santorini in Greece, then Kusadasi in Turkey, Valletta in Malta and back to Rome in Italy. I enjoyed it and got to see lots of different places and the food was amazing. The shows were brilliant - especially the dancing and singing, but I prefer to be performing on the stage than watching other people perform.

What is the tallest building in the world?

The library - it has the most stories!

I’ve got an open day at the Weston School of dance in September where we’re performing Mamma Mia again which I enjoyed doing. Then I’m back at school to start my GCSEs and bronze Duke of Edinburgh Award.

What did the candle say to the other candle?

I’m going out tonight!

What is brown and has a head and a tail but no legs?

A penny!

Random Facts About Music A song that gets stuck in your head on repeat is called an earworm.

Metallica is the first and only band to perform on all seven continents after playing a concert in Antarctica called Freeze ‘Em All. 1 in 10,000 people have perfect pitch, the ability to recognise a pitch without any reference.

The CD was developed by Philips and Sony in 1980.

The harmonica is the world’s best-selling music instrument.

The first pop video was Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen, released in 1975. www.moulshamtimes.com

A piano covers the full spectrum of all orchestra instruments, from below the lowest note of the double bassoon to above the top note of the piccolo.

Music was sent down a telephone line for the first time in 1876, the year the phone was invented.

Melba toast is named after Australian opera singer Dame Nellie Melba (1861 1931) Leo Fender, inventor of the Stratocaster and Telecaster, couldn’t play the guitar.

A grand piano can be played faster than an upright (spinet) piano.

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27

All About Moulsham Lodge

Moulsham Lodge Community Trust

MLCT are hosting a MacMillan Coffee Morning on Saturday the 1st October, starting at 10.30am until around 1.30pm - or until the cakes run out, which never happens at MLCT!

As well as raising money for local people, we don’t mind helping out national good causes when there’s a cake involved. As always donations of cakes will be very welcome, all we ask is that you include a list of ingredients for those with food intolerances.

Interested in Photography? FREE taster course - Photography Training Courses, Image Workshops & Location Photography Around Beautiful Essex. With city photographer & tutor John Puczkowski.

If it is just a hobby, interest or passion you have for photography and you would like to learn and improve your skills in taking great images, join professional city photographer and tutor John Puczkowski in the classroom and on location. This is a great way to learn about your camera and equipment and understand light and composition as well as exploring and experiencing how to take great pictures by learning through the eyes of a professional photographer.

Working as a group or individual, John will be able to give you that special attention you require to achieve results you have always wanted. No matter what standard or ability you consider yourself to be, learning and understanding and building on the knowledge you already possess, you will undoubtedly see dramatic changes in the way you take photographs. There is nothing more satisfying and rewarding than achieving the final results through complete control of your camera and being satisfied with the final image. Courses are open to people of all ages and abilities. Please register your interest via the contact details below.

07411 808 731 (text for call back) - enquiries@mlct.org.uk. Or Moulsham Lodge Community Hub on social media.

Cllr Mark Springett - Moulsham Lodge Ward My column this month is dedicated to former Councillor of Moulsham Lodge - Cllr Philip Firth, who sadly died last week.

Philip was the one who got me into local politics - I was taking a bundle of newsletters for delivery to him from the Moulsham Lodge Community Centre Action Group and he just totally surprised me by saying I should think about getting involved. I did and as they say the rest is history.

Here are a few memories from Philip’s time as Councillor of Moulsham Lodge.

Philip moved to Chelmsford and Moulsham Lodge from London back in 1964, they both enjoyed the village community atmosphere of Moulsham Lodge (something I firmly believe still exists today). In 1981, Philip was asked if he would be willing to serve as a governor at Moulsham. He readily agreed, and was at first on the governing boards of the infants, junior and high schools. In those days, the duties of school governors were considerably lighter, and the bank for which he worked was keen to encourage community connections and happy to allow Philip the necessary leave to attend the termly governors meetings and school visits.

In November the same year, Philip was also elected Borough Councillor for Moulsham Lodge Ward. By the time Cllr Firth had spent his first three years with all three Moulsham Schools, the duties and responsibilities of school governor were gradually expanding and developing and he had to cut his involvement back to the junior and infant schools, which were run by a joint board of governors. When Central Government recommended that infant and junior schools should no longer have joint governing bodies, Philip had to choose between the two, Cllr Firth plumped for the infants school.

One little boy turned around, stared hard at Cllr Firth, and demanded loudly for all to hear: “WOT have you done wiv your TEEF?” The Queen’s visit to Chelmsford in July 1988 to commemorate the centenary of the borough saw Philip as Mayor of Chelmsford accompany Her Majesty on the walkabout that day. The road was lined by excited schoolchildren, many of whom had brought a single flower or posy to offer to the Queen. As she approached, one small child, obviously very keen to present his offering and totally oblivious of protocol, thrust the flower firmly through the railings and hollered joyfully: “’Ere y’are, Queen!” Cllr Firth was impressed by how relaxed and happy Her Majesty was with the children.

Philip was even mentioned in Parliament when our MP Simon Burns in 1989 was trying to move legislation to allow local authorities to fine ‘litter louts’ - he said of Philip: “Local authorities, public-spirited individuals and Central Government are trying to tackle the issue, but their efforts are hampered by the sheer scale of the problem.

For example, Chelmsford Borough Council has an excellent ad hoc Cleaner Chelmsford Committee which, under the leadership of the Mayor, Councillor Philip Firth, does an excellent job.”

Philip served the community of Moulsham Lodge as a councillor for 30 years, so there are many more stories which could be told but we don’t have the room here. It was his involvement in the Community Centre action group that was the catalyst for what MLCT have achieved today. That community spirit which he so enjoyed when he and his wife first moved here, was responsible for the success of the public campaign to stop Essex County Council selling the land off.

Philip worked tirelessly for the residents of Moulsham Lodge and Chelmsford and will be remembered by many.

He had always enjoyed the particular spontaneity and outspokenness of very young children, as well as recognising the tremendous value and importance of the earliest years at school. An example of the infants’ directness and honesty which always makes Cllr Firth smile occurred one day when he was at Moulsham Infants after a visit to the dentist. Two of his front teeth had just been extracted. There was Photo: 1988 (Essex Chronicle) a fire drill at school that day, and as the children followed instructions and lined up in the playground at the end of the drill to be counted, 28

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Girls and Boys Brigade

At the end of July, 2nd Chelmsford Girls’ and Boys’ Brigade companies from Moulsham Lodge and our friends from 7th Chelmsford Boys’ Brigade (based at Springfield) went on our annual canvas camp to North Walsham, Norfolk for a week.

The camp was attended by 19 boys and 7 girls between the ages of 11-18 years with a group of dedicated members of staff. Among the highlights of the week was kayaking, archery, a night-hike, caravan destruction derby (Great Yarmouth), a visit to Pleasurewood Hills and the Friday Night Extravaganza. We were blessed with fantastic weather and although tired and worn out by the end of it, everyone seems to have enjoyed themselves.

After our summer break, weekly activities start again during the week beginning Monday 12th September. Although new enquiries are welcome in all sections, we are particularly recruiting for the younger sections (5-11 years) which run on a Tuesday evening, so if you know anyone who would like to give us a try please contact us by email enquiries@2ndChelmsford.org.uk, or by phone on 07810 644 746.

Campers in front of the minibus kindly lent to us for the week by Stoke College, Stoke-by-Clare.

Tile Kiln Corner by Linda Mascot

Mike Shah is a familiar face in and around Tile Kiln and has been for the past 30 years, he originally took over the then VG convenience store on the parade of shops, and for the past 6 years has run the Clay Pigeon pub.

Born in Kenya, Mike’s family relocated to England taking advantage of their British passports when it became problematic for his father to carry on his clothing business due to the Republic of Kenya becoming independent in the late 1960s. The family originally settled in Coventry where Mailesh picked up the nickname ‘Mike’ as a 10 year old boy - and it’s stayed with hIm ever since.

Mike and his wife Nayna moved to Old Moulsham and took over the lease of VG Stores in Galleywood before buying the freehold of the shop in Tile Kiln. Originally, the convenience store had a butchers section at the back, but not knowing much about butchery, it was converted to a general store. Meanwhile his two children attended Mildmay Infant and Junior schools which Mike www.moulshamtimes.com

describes as ‘really good schools.’

Since taking over the pub and returning it to its original name (it was previously The Birdcage), Mike has extended it, given it a total overhaul and given the pub a more family feel, offering excellent food at reasonable prices; typically steak, burgers and ribs, with fish and chips on Fridays for £7.95. Mike is planning to extend the menu by introducing more traditional pub food as well as hosting live music nights on the last Saturday in the month with a variety of singers and bands playing motown, rock and rat pack favourites, as well as the usual quiz nights every Tuesday at 8.30pm and charity karaoke events.

The pub is family friendly with frequent bouncy castles and an outdoor seating area. I attended a recent music night with the excellent band, Gunrunners, who played rock classics including poignant Bowie covers to a packed audience - it was a really good atmosphere.

Mike has been instrumental in organising recent street parties and commented: “Tile Kiln is a great estate, local people are friendly and happy, it’s a great place to have a business and I really enjoy trading here, everyone is affable, I’ve made many good friends and I’m happy to stay in this area.”

For more information or to book the restaurant, phone Mike or Hannah at the Clay Pigeon on 01245 358 971.

Twitter: @lindamascot Email: mascotlinda@gmail.com 29

MT Charity

A charity event, organised by Matthew & Keeley Williams, took place on the 13th August and it was a huge success.

We played a 5 a-side football match at Moulsham High School whish was followed by a BBQ at our home in Moulsham (Marlborough Road).

We built a wet sponge stock where people could throw sponges, water balloons and buckets of water.

We would like to thank everyone that helped raise awareness and money for the Williams Syndrome Foundation and we managed to raise £820.

A special thank you must go to Cleancare Int who helped raise a large amount of the donations.

John Lewis Chelmsford Announce First Local Charity Partnerships

John Lewis Chelmsford can today (11th August 2016) reveal the first three local causes it will support as part of its local charitable giving scheme, Community Matters. The announcement follows a call to action from local residents to nominate charities that matter to them.

The programme will see £3,000 split between three important local charities every three months.

The Community Matters scheme allows customers to decide which charity they would like to support by voting at the shop with a token, which are handed out to customers with each purchase. At the end of each round of voting, John Lewis splits the donation between three charities according to the proportion of the customer vote they received.

The scheme will launch on the shop’s opening day, Thursday 29th September 2016.

The first three local organisations that will be supported by John Lewis Chelmsford are: The Lovely Lily-Mae Organisation - Established in memory of Cathedral School pupil Lily-Mae McKinstry, who was tragically diagnosed with a Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG). The organisation raises funds for clinical trials for other children fighting the disease.

Farleigh Hospice - a local charity meeting the needs of local people affected by life limiting illnesses and to support those who have been bereaved across mid-Essex.

Chelmsford City Mencap Football Club - A volunteer-led football club for young adults with learning and physical disabilities. Alongside the health and wellbeing benefits, the club provides opportunity to be part of a team, increases self confidence and meet new friends.

Laura Rawstron, branch manager at John Lewis Chelmsford, said: “Helping in the local community is an integral part of the John Lewis Partnership’s founding values and the Community Matters programme provides us with a tremendous opportunity to support causes which are close to the hearts of local people. We’re delighted with the number of nominations we received from the public and we’re looking forward to celebrating the incredible contribution these charities make to the local community. There are so many deserving causes in Chelmsford and we look forward to working with many of them in the future.”

Vicki McKinstry, Lily-Mae’s mother and founder of The Lovely Lily-Mae Organisation said: “DIPG is a rare and terminal brain tumour affecting over forty children a year in the UK. With the support of John Lewis customers, we can help to find a breakthrough in treatment and give hope to our children.”

Alison Stevens, Chief Executive of Farleigh Hospice said: “We are delighted to be one of the first Community Matters causes for John Lewis Chelmsford. The small gesture of donating green tokens will make a huge difference to local people affected by life limiting illness, and will enable us to help them at their time of greatest need.”

Alan Stoppard, Chair of City Mencap FC and one of the team’s players, said: “We are so pleased to be supported by John Lewis Chelmsford. All our players work very hard to do well as a team and the club makes a real difference to the lives of our players - it shows them they can achieve and be part of the community. The donation will be used to pay for new training resources.”

Community Matters is part of John Lewis Partnership’s on-going commitment to support the communities in which it operates, aiming to engage customers, partners (staff) and suppliers to make a lasting change.

John Lewis Chelmsford’s 90,000 sq ft shop represents an £18m investment in Chelmsford by the retailer. As well as offering more than 65,000 fashion, beauty, home and electrical products, the shop will bring together the retailer’s best services, including a beauty treatment room, a Foreign Exchange bureau and a nursery advice service. Customers will also be able to take advantage of John Lewis’s click and collect facility and benefit from 20 minutes free parking in the Bond Street car parks.

Cartoonist/illustrator Colin Blundell - a local cartoonist/illustrator for hire. Comic strips designed, kids’ bedrooms, personalised cards, books illustrated, prints ad cards for sale at The Ideas Hub. Contact: 07742 078 590.

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Grave Care

The headstone cleaning and grave tending service for those who need a little extra help.

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Auto Services

A well established local garage based in the heart of Chelmsford for all your motoring needs.

42 Milmay Rd, Chelmsford CM2 0DZ Tel: 01245 262869

Quiz Answers 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

13.

April 4th 1975.

A type of lizard.

Richard III. Forming choirs.

Christopher.

Able to use letters and numbers.

May 3rd 1975.

Person who speaks several languages.

Fear of being alone.

Herbert George.

Offspring or family.

The act of swimming.

Transient Ischaemic Attacks.

14. Boxing.

15. They were used to make a sign on a wax seal.

16. A letter.

17. In the grounds of The Royal Hospital.

18. Genetically modified.

19. May 24th 1972.

20. Quaker.

21. Football.

22. Priscilla.

23. 1871.

24. Louis van Gaal.

25. Your armpit.

Saturday 10th September

Let’s Sing Out Loud - It’s September!

Have you always had a secret, burning desire to sing with other people and learn to use melody and harmony? But you’re not quite sure if you can sing and you don’t have much confidence? Are you looking for a relaxed, inclusive and encouraging, environment, where you can work at your own pace?

plenty of extra opportunities to socialise at the several charitable and fund-raising events at which we are invited to perform each year.

Even people who have never been on stage before enjoy themselves so much they can’t wait for the next time!

If so, stop - and read on! You have found exactly what you’re looking for!

There are vacancies for new singers in Chelmsford from Thursday 15th September 2016 (Colchester starts on Monday 12th September 2016).

Sing Out Loud is a group for men and women aged 20s to 80s, and of any level of singing ability. It doesn’t matter whether or not you have sung before. Experienced and new singers are welcome. There are no auditions and no need to read music as we learn by ear. We meet for ten weeks during each school term.

Why not call us, to book yourself into a FREE taster session and maybe bring a friend? If you know someone who’s sitting at home, alone and would love to make new friends, why not invite them, too?

We’d love to see you and look forward to meeting you one Sing Out Loud Thursday!

Sing Out Loud started in Chelmsford 8 years ago and a second group was opened in Colchester 2 years ago. If you miss a session in Chelmsford, you are welcome to catch up in Colchester or to drop in to meet the singers in your sister group for a bit more practice.

Everyone knows the benefit of singing for physical and emotional health. We’ve been told that whatever is going on outside, people leave it behind when they start Singing Out Loud. They go home afterwards feeling both relaxed and exhilarated all at once. How wonderful is that!?

It’s the same repertoire in each group and may include anything from folk, jazz, 1920s/30s and 1960s/70s, through to contemporary pop, or even singer-songwriter material.

You will meet lots of new people, and make good friends. There are www.moulshamtimes.com

For more details (dates, time, venue, and costs) please call: 07853 132 633, or email info@sing-out-loud.co.uk. Website: www.sing-outloud.co.uk.

31

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