Moulsham Times September 2017

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MoulshamTimes

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

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Dr Feelgood at Chelmsford City FC September 29th See page 27

Issue Number 56 - September 2017

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MT Welcome Hi readers,

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Off

Welcome to the September edition.

We have lots of first time advertisers this month, so please support them and let them know that you saw their ads in the Moulsham Times.

All dry cleaning

We are back at Chelmsford City FC this month, with Dr Feelgood playing on 29th September (see page 27 for details).

Enjoy your month!

MT

Regards Paul & Nick

Deadlines for the October edition Articles - 18th September Print ready art work - 24th September

MT

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MT Therapy by Jenny Hartill Hi everyone, as I mentioned in my last article, I have invited some therapists that practice from Chelmsford Therapy Rooms to write articles so that you can see the different types of therapists and therapies that are available. I asked some therapists to write a small intro about themselves so you can have an example of the variety that is out there! We’re not all counsellors at Chelmsford Therapy Rooms; we also have hypnotherapists and nutritionists. Here are a few introductions from some of our therapists:

Heidi Livermore

“I’m Heidi Livermore of New City Counselling. I’m a person-centred counsellor, which basically means that the counsellor and client work together to enable the client to feel that positive change is possible.

“When I moved to Chelmsford in 1980, we had half-day closing on Wednesdays, and many of my driving lessons took place in the High Street (before it was pedestrianised, not just because I was a random driver).

“Before training as a counsellor, I worked in the city for 30 years and learnt a lot about anxiety, stress and anger. Before counselling became more mainstream, it was customary to either just suffer in silence or self medicate. Fortunately, things are changing.

“If you feel that bits of your life just aren’t working, please don’t feel that you have to struggle on your own. Get in touch and we can think about where you’d like to be.”

Sarah Day

“Hi, I’m Sarah and I’m a nutritional therapist. I help men and women to achieve a healthier lifestyle by making manageable changes to their diet and lifestyle. Whether they have a health concern that they want to address such as digestive issues/bloating, low energy, weight loss, or if they just need advice on choosing healthier options.

“I first became interested in nutrition about 5 years ago, my diet and lifestyle wasn’t the greatest! I was overweight and unhappy, but by making some big changes and being committed I was able to lose weight and feel so much better and more positive. I knew that what I put into my body had a huge impact on my health, so I then decided to study nutrition so that I could also help others.

“I studied for 3 years at the College of Naturopathic Medicine and am now practising privately. I really enjoy helping people and seeing how my clients have improved the way that they feel through good nutrition.”

Matt Harvey

“Hi, I’m Matt Harvey, I provide cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) in Chelmsford and the surrounding areas. CBT is a well known form of psychotherapy, and is recommended for the treatment of anxiety and depression by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence.

“I specialise in working with complex problems, male mental health and the treatment of adults. My way of working is non-judgemental, insightful and stimulating, and I strongly believe in the importance of the therapeutic relationship, collaboration, working with people’s existing strengths and personalising treatments to precisely meet their needs. I also strongly believe in the importance of ensuring a good evidence base for a person’s treatment, so I only offer tried and tested treatments.

“When I’m not working I like walking in the countryside, spending time with my partner, reading, films, and all the usual stuff. I also like playing the Xbox, but I’m absolutely rubbish at FIFA!”

Carleen Scott

“Hi, I’m Carleen Scott. Working as a clinical psychologist, I enjoy specialising in working with clients who have experienced neurological difficulties, particularly acquired brain injuries. I have also worked with adults who experienced trauma as a researcher and therapist.

“I believe in working with our values, differences and possibilities.

Although we experience difficult or challenging times in our lives, by being connected with what we value can help empower us to overcome and manage anxiety, depression, challenges and stresses that come our way. I have trained to use evidence-based therapies and work integratively using various models such as CBT, narrative therapy, mindfulness techniques and acceptance and commitment therapy.

“As a person, I think it is important to embrace what is different about ourselves and use this as a source of strength. We are more than the sum of our experiences; we each have stories to tell and learn from.”

So there you go! This is just a brief example of of the types of therapists that work from Chelmsford Therapy Rooms. In the future some of these therapists will be writing articles so you will see a more in-depth view of who we are and how we work. As you can see, therapists are people too and many of us have our own life experiences to thank for choosing therapy as a career path. As private practitioners, we work quite differently to the NHS as we do have more flexibility - whether that’s flexibility with appointment times, session lengths or how long we treat a client for.

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

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Vicky Ford the MP for Chelmsford homework before term restarts.

I am often asked what MPs do when Parliament has its summer recess.

This is not a time to put my feet up; it is an important chance to catch up with local issues and do some

In the first part of the break I’ve met our police chiefs, the fire service and local GPs, as well as the bosses and burns team at Broomfield Hospital which is just over our constituency boundary. In Chelmsford, I’ve been discussing infrastructure plans with the County Council and thinking about alternative ways to address the air pollution in the Baddow Road area, since many residents are concerned that the proposed ‘bus gate’ may cause other problems.

Greater Anglia on their promised rail improvements.

Its not all work though. I spent a great morning watching Essex taking on the West Indies at the county cricket ground and will be taking a couple of weeks off on holiday with the family.

Happy summertime!

I joined the Skills Minister to meet apprentices at e2v, and have met with other local companies, including radar experts at BAE, electric vehicle developers at Tevva Motors and a group of the excellent Moulsham Street traders.

Local voluntary sector organisations often work with some of our most vulnerable residents. The J’s Hospice told me of their support for young adults with life limiting conditions, and Open Road explained how they help people overcome drug and alcohol addictions. Arts classes at the very vibrant Ideas Hub are packed out, often with young people, but the Hub is also loved by many who may otherwise struggle with loneliness. They are urgently seeking a new home and all suggestions would be really welcome.

Brexit will be a big issue when Parliament restarts, so I’ve been working with the Manufacturers Association, EEF, and leading tech, Ecommerce, media and aerospace companies to understand their priorities for Brexit and beyond. I’ll have busy trip to Northern Ireland and Ireland to discuss customs and border matters which will be a key part of all our trade agreements in the years ahead.

Later in the summer, I will be visiting Chelmsford Prison and grilling

From County Hall - by Cllr Dick Madden

As I write this article I have just received a telephone call from my wife Kathryn informing me that our youngest daughter has just given birth to Harriet Rose. Mum and baby are well and me, grandad, is crying. All our congratulations to my daughter Laura and son-in-law John - but most importantly, to Harriet Rose.

Harriet Rose, born today, is our latest arrival as a resident of Chelmsford - in particular Old Moulsham - where she will reside. I reflect on the present world she will grow up in, but in particular our own community of Old Moulsham, Moulsham Lodge and our city centre.

Recently I have been interviewed giving my memories and observations on living and growing up in Chelmsford since 1969.

There is no doubt our now city has developed considerably over the past 13 years. Mostly positive, though our highway infrastructure is, and continues to be, challenging. It is not the roads that have outgrown the city, it is the continuing significant increase in the volume of vehicles on our roads. Hence for several weeks now ECC Highways have been carrying out a public consultation in Chelmsford on how daily congestion may be unlocked. Thank you for those of you have attended presentations or given views online through the ECC website.

on the A130? Although the dual carriageway remains open in both directions, your frustration is evident in your emails to me, describing sitting in queues during peak times and viewing a coned off empty third lane. Though the third lane was to open this summer, investigations have shown the need to reconstruct the ground alongside the carriageway as a preventative measure to protect against the possible risk of embankment slippages. In other words, until the embankments are reinforced we don’t want you ‘falling over the edge’. It is still the plan that this work will be completed by the end of the year.

Congratulations to all you pupils who have received your recent A level results. Again, another good year. As I write this article, GCSE results have not been announced for this year, but I do hope you pupils have now received the results that you were hoping for - good luck.

Like last month, I will end on my ongoing dialogue with Chelmsford City Council and Chief Officers of Essex Police regarding aggressive begging and visible drug taking abuse. All I can tell you is that I am now confident we are being listened to and that activity is taking place which I consider will achieve positive results.

I am now off to see Harriet Rose...

BE SAFE

Talking of roads, one question I am asked is why all the cones Dick Madden 6 www.moulshamtimes.com

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MT Fitness

All hail to the Scales... Or maybe Not! By Matt Russell Ahhh the good old scales, just one of many topics which divides the fitness industry. On one side you have those that love them and weigh themselves every hour, on the hour. On the other side you have those that rarely use them and instead rely on assessing levels of body fat to measure the effectiveness of a diet.

Where do I stand? Regular readers will be unsurprised to hear that I stand, unashamedly somewhere in the middle (give him a pillow I hear you cry, for he’s going to get splinters up his bum from sitting on the fence too much). Let me explain why…

The Scale Lovers The coaches that only rely on scale weight to chart the progress of a diet are using a very crude measurement, for they only measure total body weight. They fail to measure the amount of muscle mass that is either being built, maintained, or most likely being lost! (remember maintaining muscle mass is key to LONG-TERM WEIGHTLOSS).

Many of these coaches will also overly emphasise the need for dietary restriction, ie, eating much less whilst putting very little (if any) emphasis on exercise. This is because exercise helps to retain muscle mass and therefore retain bodyweight, which does not look impressive on the scales!

In essence, many of the scale loving coaches are purely interested in you losing total body weight - and they’re not too bothered as to whether that weight comes from losing muscle, water or whatever.

This approach can lead to some disordered eating patterns and often a quick return of the weight once the diet has finished.

The Body Fat Measurers At the other end of the scale (excuse the pun) are those that swear by using callipers or bioelectrical impedance to measure a diet’s effectiveness. Generally, these guys have a much more rounded

approach to weight loss as they are keen to maintain muscle mass through exercise whilst combining it with a reduced calorie diet.

However, whilst they may be well intentioned, some of their methods are often left wanting, because commonly used body fat assessments (callipers, bioelectrical impedance) can be rather inaccurate. Of course, more accurate forms of assessment are available, such as DEXA, but the high cost leaves them a rather unrealistic option for most people.

So, What’s the Answer?

A simple method I recommend with my online clients is to chart their progress in the weight room alongside assessing their weight on the scales. If they’re improving with the weights, and their scale weight is reducing, I know that they are at least maintaining some sort of muscle mass.

I combine this with the mirror test too. Whereby a client stands alone, naked in front of a mirror and has a good look at themselves. If there’s lots of wobbly bits that they are not happy with, we’ll continue with the dietary restriction and training. This continues until they are at least happy(ish) with what’s staring back at them!

In Conclusion...

The most commonly used methods of assessing body composition, scales and bioelectrical impedance are from perfect and perhaps far too much importance is placed upon the results they yield.

There are plenty of fit and healthy international athletes out there who’d surprise you with how much they weigh, yet there’s not an ounce of fat on them!

Likewise, don’t be too obsessed with what a machine tells you is your body fat percentage either. Trust your eyes (unless your Stevie Wonder of course) and see if you like what you see in the mirror - if you’re not trim enough, keep with the training and reducing the calories.

If you are keen to use body fat callipers, make sure you get someone whose proficient at using them to do the test for you, at least this will increase your chances of a more accurate test!

Many thanks for reading, Matt For more balanced exercise and nutirition advice, or to book your free trial session at my bootcamp class, or your free personal training session please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

Also, if you enjoyed this, please tell your friends - oh and follow me on social media too... matt@mlrpt.co.uk www.mlrpt.co.uk 07939 316 401 www.twitter.com/mlrpt www.facebook.com/mlrpt www.twitter.com/mlrpt

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Every Day is a Healing Opportunity I have been thinking a lot about time recently and how finite it is as a resource. I’ll be honest, it’s the sort of topic that makes my head hurt!

It is so easy to float through our days, getting dragged into this thing and that and before we know it, a day, a week, a month has gone by and what we really wanted to do hasn’t been done.

on time... All these things accumulate during the day to accelerate healing.

When injured, it’s important to have an awareness in how you spend your time. In fact, rather than spend time, I have started to think of it as investing in time. I ask: Is the way I’m using my time now going to pay dividends in the future?

If my back is sore, is the time I spend sitting at the computer writing an email going to contribute to my recovery? No. Would the walk to chat to a colleague help flush away the inflammation, activate my muscles and stimulate my nervous system in a way which will help me recover? Yes!

Philosophers have written about this for the last 2,000 years, and it is by no means a new problem. However, the likes of Socrates and Plato didn’t have the advanced algorithms of Facebook and Twitter to deal with! Those things suck you in!

There was a psychological study published where researchers asked groups of people if they thought they were spending their time wisely while they were scrolling though social media, and inevitably the answer was ‘yes’. They then asked the group at the end of the day if, looking back, they thought the time was well spent, and, well, you can guess what the answer was a big, fat ‘no’!

This shows us that the world is out to trick us. It tricks us in how we choose to spend our time, and this is bad because until the DeLorean is built for real, we’re not getting those minutes and hours back.

The concept of using time well cropped up in the clinic this week. I was chatting to a patient about how best to recover from their back injury. We’d already gone through some exercises and they had a rehab plan, but there were some lifestyle tips we could bring in as well.

Things like getting up from the chair every 20 minutes, walking to chat to someone in the office instead of sending an email, walking 15 minutes instead of driving three, eating well and going to bed

The investment is that by choosing to walk, I am helping my back recover and also getting my communication task done. And they say men can’t multitask…

When in pain, your lifestyle choices are just as important as the treatment you have and the exercises that you do. We can help you with the treatment and the exercise, but the lifestyle is a choice you have to make for yourself.

Choose to invest in yourself, with your time and your energy, and think of each day as an opportunity to heal.

If you need any help with pain relief or kick-starting those healthy habits, you can get in touch at info@fortephysicalhealth.co.uk, 01245 522 360, or have a peek at our Facebook page (search ‘Forte Physical Health’) where we put out lots of videos to help you.

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MT Gardening With all that sun and great sunshine, plants everywhere are just thriving. As a result they’re burgeoning with growth, so much so that it’s worth reducing excess growth to bring them into check.

For me it’s worth reducing - by half - a number of perennials that have either completed their major flush or are just fading or even flopping over too much. Hardy geraniums, catmint, Knautia and even any spent early flowering asters would be worth cutting down by half using your secateurs or a pair of sharp shears and composting any debris for recycling. As a result, plants will be more compact and potentially produce one last flush of flowers before the first frosts.

On another note it’s also worth trimming back hedges to maintain their shape and form. I’ve just bought a new battery operated reciprocating hedge trimmer, as there’s nothing better for creating crisp and sharp edges on any hedge.

I’ve used box plants to contain my borders. This is such a great plant with its small, evergreen oval leaves and dense growth; an ideal foil for any plant.

For best results prune these hedges when foliage is dry to reduce the spread of box blight. To make it easier for cleaning up after pruning, lay down a sheet for prunings to drop into then just fold up the sheet and drop off spent foliage into your compost bins.

any seaweed based products as the potassium helps to thicken cell walls and ensures plants are more resistant to attack.

With the same theme of pruning, don’t forget to tie in rambling and climbing roses. In fact any climber such as honeysuckles and clematis. I’m just about to prune and tie in the growth of a lovely rose called Veilchenblau growing on a pergola; a mauve hybrid multiflora rose cultivar and the best known violet rambler.

Take out the old flowering wood to the ground or to where there is a vigorous vegetative growth.

This growth needs to then be tied into the framework. Once in place, tip the end of the shoot and then move onto the next limb. And if you’ve got any clematis from Group 3 (these all flower on new growth) such as viticella types or an olde favourite Niobe, prune to 2-3 junctions above the ground and liquid feed with tomato fertiliser. Sometimes you’ll be blessed with one last flush of flowers for the remaining year.

For those of you with vegetables, and in particular sweet corn, don’t forget to keep watering to help develop the cobs. I’ve grown a number in my vegetable trug this year and they’re around 7ft tall, so in addition to watering, feed with tomato feed and earth up the base to aid support.

To boost good healthy growth for the remainder of the season, apply a liquid feed containing good levels of nitrogen, or better still

In the same vein, keep feeding all tomatoes, squashes and pumpkins. All of these are very demanding and require regular feeds. One other thing I’d do with the squashes and pumpkins would be to reduce excess growth and even cut out poorly sized fruit to leave energy remaining to go into the rest of the plant - it’s all about quality not quantity for the best results.

Lastly, well done to all those that have just received their GCSE and A Level results. If you’re considering a career in horticulture, then contact the Writtle University College now and over the next few weeks and we’ll chat through any full or part time options.

If you’re interested in developing your theory or practical horticultural skills as a keen amateur, or someone wishing to pursue a change in career, then why not contact us for more information?

For RHS Level 2 Certificate in Practical Horticulture email christina. lavelle@writtle.ac.uk for information on availability of days and times.

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

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Music and Blues & Roots in the City by Nick Garner Since last month Jamie Williams & the Roots Collective have returned from France where we have just recorded our first album for our record label 3M’s Music, and I have to say it is sounding great so far and we are looking forward to releasing it around spring 2018 on vinyl as well as CD and download.

Coming fast on the heels of that show at the football club we are proud to be the opening gig for Wille and the Bandits’ autumn tour.

Previously they have played the Bassment, but they have got too big for there now, so the football club it is. So get your tickets fast for this show and the others.

We had a great time out there and worked with a great sound engineer called Paul Madden who has worked with many great and big artists over the years. We were based at Paul’s home and studio, which he built using the old analogue technique based around the desk that came out of Ronnie Lane’s mobile studio.

See all the adverts in this magazine for full details of what’s on where, what time and ticket prices - and of course, where you can get them from.

While there, I managed to get us a gig in a French Bar where they spoke no English - and I spoke no French! They were great people and we went down really well and sold quite a few CDs afterwards too.

When we returned to the UK, we went straight to Cambridge where we played the Cambridge Rock Festival. We are now looking forward to finally getting hold of our new album after it has finished being mixed and mastered and getting out there and promoting it.

The V Festival has come and gone and as we go to print, the UB Festival and the Alternative V Fest at Asylum are taking place in Chelmsford. Both are free to enter and both have a host of great live acts playing.

I recently hosted my regular night at the Bassment with two great acts from the world of blues with Martin McNeill opening the evening playing some great slide and blowing a mean harmonica. Then Split Whiskers stepped on to the stage to play their brand of blues, with a mix of originals and a few covers performed in their own inimitable way. This band is made up of some of the best musicians I know, and with Gilby’s (often questionable!) sense of humour, it always makes for a great night. Magic Johnny is simply one of my favourite guitarists, he has a style all of his own and it is just magic. Along with the rhythm section and keyboards, they makeup a band who should be right at the top - and when you see them you will wonder why they are not.

Another date for your diary is Halloween Saturday 28th October, when Blues & Roots in the City will rock the Bassment from 3pm to 9pm with four great rock acts. So far we have the Dirty Strangers, described as ‘the Clash meets the Rolling Stones’ - and at times you may a find a Rolling Stone or some other well known musicians joining them on stage. As well as this, we have the return of Red Butler in their new fabulous format - I think they have got even better.

We also have Cambridge’s The Hot One Two, who are described as ‘The Stones meets AC/DC and Iron Maiden’. The final act we are just waiting to confirm...

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

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

There is quite a lot coming up this month that I am involved with, as well as all the other great live entertainment in and around our city.

Just pick up a copy of the City Times to find out what’s on where.

On Saturday 9th September at the Bassment, the great Malcolm Bruce (son of the late Jack Bruce of Cream) will be playing. Like his father, he is an amazing multi-instrumentalist and a great singer/ songwriter. Supporting we have - for the first time in a long time - the Lemoncurd Kid playing a rare solo show for us.

On Thursday 21st September, the Bassment hosts another great in the form of John Verity, who used to play with Argent as well as Phoenix (the band he formed with Bob Henrit and Jim Rodford both from Argent and who often play together today in John’s own band).

So one or both are likely to be with John for the show.

Support will be from Southbound, which is really exciting for me, as they are a great band. So we are gonna rock the Bassment that night for sure!

Then on Saturday 23rd September we have another show at the Bassment with two of Southend’s best playing. We welcome the Roy Mette Band (who you know are always great) and Gary Porter and his band, who we only get to see rarely these days, so put this date in your diary now - as is the norm, it’s only £10 to get in.

On Friday the 29th September at the football club we are excited to tell you that we have Canvey Island’s finest - the one and only Dr Feelgood. there is nothing I can say that hasn’t been said before about this awesome band. To open the night is Billericay’s brightest rising star, Connor Selby and his band, who not only will stun you with their playing, but also with the voice and the songs as well.

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MT Baking by Alison Motley

There is some baking that you do for special occasions (like birthdays, family get togethers or friends coming for dinner), when you want to bake something with a wow factor that looks as good as it tastes and has everyone ‘oohing’ and ‘aahing’ with delight. Then there are the days where you just want to bake something to eat all by yourself, preferably with a mug of tea and your feet up in front of the telly - I like to call it comfort baking.

When I’m in one of those moods it’s always biscuits that I crave.

Though as much as I love a packet of chocolate digestives, you can’t beat the flavour and texture of a home baked biscuit or cookie and they are one of the easiest things to bake.

One look at the ‘use by’ date on a supermarket biscuit packet that I bought last week tells me all I need to know about what must be in those biscuits for them to keep until July 2018 - a good enough reason to bake my own! After all, the whole reason home made biscuits will be stale 2 days after you bake them is exactly why they taste so good - the lack of preservatives and additives. It also gives you the perfect excuse to scoff the lot before they go off!

This is one of my favourite cookie recipes and if you love peanut butter, you are going to love these. Don’t be alarmed by the quantity of peanut butter, it’s what really makes these cookies taste so great and replaces some of the butter. Just be sure to use a crunchy peanut butter and a good quality one that is 100% peanuts and not containing oil. Slightly salted peanut butter is fine - I must admit I prefer it as I love the contrast of a slightly salty biscuit with a sweet chocolate drizzle.

Talking of the chocolate drizzle, it isn’t strictly necessary and probably an overindulgence on my part, so feel free to omit it and eat the cookies plain and unadorned if you prefer.

These peanut butter cookies are not the prettiest things you’ll ever bake, but it doesn’t matter as that is not what comfort baking is all about. These cookies haven’t been made to be seen as they will only be travelling as far as from the cooling rack to my sofa - they’ve been made to be eaten and that’s just what I’m off to do right now!

Happy baking!

Peanut Butter Cookies (Makes approx. 24) 100g butter, softened 225g crunchy peanut butter 100g light brown soft sugar 1 egg ½ teaspoon vanilla extract 125g plain flour ½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda 50g dark or milk chocolate for the drizzle (optional) 1. In a large bowl cream the softened butter, the peanut butter and the sugar together.

2. Crack the egg into a small bowl, add the vanilla extract and lightly beat. Gradually beat the egg and vanilla into the butter mix until combined.

3. Sift the flour and bicarbonate of soda into the rest of the ingredients and stir until combined.

4. Cover the bowl with cling film and put it in the fridge for 30 minutes to chill until firm. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 180C/160C Fan/Gas 4 and lightly grease two large baking trays.

5. When the cookie dough has chilled, spoon out rounded teaspoonfuls and using your hands roll each spoonful roughly into a ball.

6. Place the balls on the baking sheets and gently press flat with a fork.

7. Bake the cookies for 12-15 minutes until lightly coloured only – take care not to let the edges get too dark or the cookies will become too hard on cooling. Transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool.

8. When the cookies are completely cold, melt the chocolate in a bowl over a small pan of just simmering water (make sure the bottom of the bowl is not touching the water).

9. Using a teaspoon, drizzle the melted chocolate over the top of the cookies and leave it to set.

I would love to hear from readers with anything baking related. Drop me an email at motleybakes@aol.com.

Travellers Tales: Brittany and the Channel Islands the airport for relatively light aircraft.

by John Power The ferry from Poole Harbour on England’s south coast has led us out on a couple of adventures worth noting. When deciding to explore islands off the English coast, in this case actually nearer the French coast, in 2007 we decided to look at the Channel Islands and were told that Jersey, the largest most southerly island with its capital at St Helier, was the most beachy and commercialised. So we chose Guernsey instead as being more our style.

There are other smaller islands, like Alderney and Sark as well as even smaller ones. All are British Crown Dependencies, but self governing with their own parliament. All became infamous during the Second World War due to their occupation by the Nazis from within a year of the war starting. The Germans announced their intention to invade and immediately 80% of the island children were evacuated to the English mainland. Compared to many other occupied countries, the remaining islanders seen to have faired relatively well, although they were subjected to the same racial tests and some were sent to camps in Germany or other occupied lands.

Buildings and other infrastructure suffered, but in post-war years rebuilding was done by German labour forces by way of reparation.

The islands, being the nearest that the Nazis got to England, were a big feather in the German cap and immense concrete and steel sea defences and gun emplacements are still in evidence as we saw in Guernsey. Rather than the difficult demolition option, they were shut to the public, but 60 years after the war and with bad memories diminished, they are now historical curios.

The fun for us really began once the ferry had gone outside of the protection of the extensive lagoon size Poole harbour, on what turned out to be the last ferry allowed out that day before the sea was considered too rough for further crossings. Once outside the protective arms of land we were tossed and turned across the whole expanse of the channel. The bar staff had the delightful task of handing out and disposing of sick bags as the food and drink ordered earlier found its way back into the ship’s refuse collection. The ferry arrived late at the port to the north of the islands capital, St Peter Port, as it was getting dark. When we checked our luggage some was missing, so I had to go back on to the ferry to find and retrieve it, which was not easy in a hurry as the ship prepared to continue to Jersey. I just managed to avoid that extra unwanted voyage which would have separated me from Brenda at the dock in Guernsey.

When the taxi dropped us at the complex of chalets we were booked into, we collected our keys and stashed the luggage and quickly turned to thoughts to food, as due to the depositing of our earlier lunch in sick bags our empty stomachs were beginning to complain.

That far out of St Peter Port there was only one chance - the local pub. It had a sign with the menu saying that we had just missed the time for last orders, but we talked to the landlord, who understood our plight and agreed to ask the chef to extend his normal cooking hours slightly. We thought the pub might be too upmarket for the likes of us sea urchins, but, after a while noticed that all around the walls were framed photos of motorcycles. Some of the customers wore leathers, and there were a few crash helmets lying around. The pub turned out to be host for the local branch of the Harley Davidson Club. Though the bikers turned out to be quite passive compared to a group of ladies belonging to a local sports group collecting for a charity. Our sea urchin fears turned out to be unfounded!

In the morning, we could see St Peter Port stretched out below us in the bay from the heights of the St Martins parish that we were in, and so off we ventured, in now decent weather, to investigate. The town has all one could hope for in terms of shops and restaurants as well as a few places of historic interest such as Hautville House, where French author Victor Hugo, best known for Les Miserables, had lived in exile after upsetting the French establishment with his writing and political views. A large war museum is in the centre of the island near

The whole island is of a size that the ordinary service of a circular bus route takes only a couple of hours. The south of the island is the hilly and rocky half, while the northern half contains the lower lying land and extensive beaches. We did some spectacular coastal walks along precipitous coastal pathways along the south of the island. Further west, trails took us past the harsh concrete Nazi fortifications; desolate, but explorable. More our kind of holiday compared to the beach or pool variety. The ferry journey back to Poole proved far calmer than our outgoing crossing!

Brittany and Carnac Our other outing from Poole Harbour also proved to be a calmer crossing, this time to St Malo on the north coast of Brittany. The focus of the whole trip was to visit the extensive 5,700 year old standing stone complex at Carnac on the south coast of the Brittany peninsula. A train took us from St Malo to the regional capital of Renne, where we enjoyed an evening of feasting and drinking and a night’s sleepover before heading back to the grand old railway station to pick up a southbound train to Vannes, then Auray en route to Carnac.

The town of Carnac itself is split into two halves: Carnac Plage, a popular seaside resort fronting out onto the south coast, and CarnacVille, the built up inland area to the north before reaching the stones.

The stones themselves are arranged in long rows over three or more fields and are the largest group of neolithic menhirs in Europe. They are actually older than the pyramids of Egypt. The grouping of the stones is divided (for convenience of description) into three areas, known as the Western Alignements de Menac, with 1169 stones in eleven rows, the Central Alignements de Kernealio (or Place of the Dead) with 1029 stones in ten rows, and farthest east are the Alignements de Kerlesean with 555 stones in thirteen lines. All run parallel to the shoreline, but set far enough away for the growth of the town between them and the sea - about 1km from north of CarnacVille town.

The purpose of the stones has long been debated, with ideas that range from the downright wacky to those that have focussed on scientific measurement. Certain alignments have been shown to mark midsummer and midwinter moonrise and midsummer and midwinter moonset from a central stone to outlying ones. That suggests a seasonal agricultural calendrical function. There is a burial tumulus to the south of the centre of the complex which may or may not be connected to the original purpose of the the site’s construction.

It is thought that the stones were added to at annual festivals rather than assembled as one formation, and used as a socially cohesive activity celebrating clan tradition. But many have since been removed by farmers as a hindrance to farming, or builders seeing a ready source of building materials. The sizes vary from around three metres high to just small stumps of rock. The smallest, being easiest to remove, have suffered the most. The dating of the stones easily predates Celtic occupation of the area, but whoever the builders were, they have left a highly impressive monument to their ingenuity.

We investigated the beachy seashore resort areas before our return journey, but found ourselves going hungry on our last day due to the antiquated religiously inspired licencing and Sunday opening hours laws in Vannes, and had to make do with ice cream only until the evening after the evening services had taken place. I don’t know if things remain the same in 2017.

ANGLIA RUSKIN UNIVERSITY CULTURE INITIATIVE

Please call Michael on:

On the 7th of February this year, Edith Miller of the Ideas Hub assembled a motley crew of creative individuals and Arts Council and County Council reps in the Cramphorn Theatre with the purpose of opening a dialogue about the place and expansion of the creative arts in Chelmsford now that it has acquired city status.

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The hall was packed and ideas were many. One suggestion put forward and followed up was that the university be approached to exhibit visual art to demonstrate talent in the local area. The Art Department for the university is on the Cambridge campus at the site of the School of Art, so Chelmsford has always lost out, but the idea was passed from the Alumnus Association, who received the first enquiry, to the uni’s Public Engagement Officer, and she took the idea on board.

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.

As a result, from this September there will be displays of work in an area now dubbed the Riverside Gallery in the campus on a roughly monthly basis. It begins with a display of abstract photography by a group of photographers called Picture Now (see picturenow.org for more details).

• Smoke Alarm Installation • Fault Finding • CCTV & Fire Alarms • Fuseboard Upgrades • Access Control & Intercom Systems • Rewires • Test & Inspect Certification

They meet at Writtle College under the leadership of Tracy Vine with the aim of ‘exploring photography as a creative, expressive medium’. The exhibition is entitled Imagination.

Life T M Hack

Use an egg slicer to quickly chop strawberries!

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Kathy Mates Day Centre, 17 Cottage Place, CM1 1NL Adult Ukulele Courses

Courses start 21st September 2017 at 6.30pm

Drop in class 7.30pm8.30pm £2 per session.

After main class (INSTRUMENTS AVAILABLE WITH COURSE FROM £20)

Moulsham Schools

Governing for the future more) greatly rewarding.

If you have an interest in bringing your skills and experience to that table, regardless of whether you have ever done anything to do with education or schools, and if you think you have the enthusiasm and thought to add to a wider team that seeks to make a positive difference for the children, then we would love to hear from you which could lead to you joining the MJS Governing Body.

Following the significant redevelopment of the school’s site in 2015, the new space and facilities (for teaching, sports and catering) gave this school an enormous boost, and now it has new goals and challenges to look forward to. There are exciting times ahead and we would love for you to be involved.

There are many different types of school governor that you could be. A listener, a team player, a leader, an insightful explainer, a compromise seeker, a task owner or a skill provider. You may already be one of those or you can take the opportunity to become one, but either way, being a school governor offers the chance to play a role in something important - to contribute in your own way to the best of your abilities in relation to the education of children at one of the many important schools in our area.

Moulsham Junior School is one of those schools, and if we consider that it is one of the largest junior schools in Essex, its importance is all the greater. We have the privilege of looking after the educational development of around 600 pupils who are varied in their social and ethnic backgrounds, which makes for a rich and very interesting student body to govern and you can be part of that.

It takes a limited commitment of time, but every minute you spend on governing will be of enormous value. Governing, in its broadest terms, is about collectively agreeing on the best way forward for the school - from teacher and assistant recruitment, to residential trips for the kids, to what to spend on new facilities, to the school’s strategy and focus on particular subjects on the curriculum and then seeing that implemented for the benefit of all age groups at the school and, by the wider impact that will have for the local community in which they live.

Like any enterprise, it may not all be plain sailing. Sometimes there are tough conversations and even tougher decisions, but the governing body is made up of a number of people for a reason; so that they can reason with one another to achieve the best outcome. The educational environment that you read about in the political pages is sometimes challenging, but it can be equally (if not 18 www.moulshamtimes.com

A special Moulsham Infant School welcome is extended to all of our new children, parents and staff. I am sure that everyone will settle quickly and happily into our school.

During the last half of the summer term the new reception children had induction afternoons to get them used to school and parents had an induction evening too. We all had a busy ‘meet the teacher’ afternoon where the new reception children were in school meeting their teacher. Year 1 children met their new Year 2 teachers and Year 2 children went over to Moulsham Junior School to meet their new Year 3 teachers. It was a very exciting day!

We held an open evening where all of the current children enjoyed the opportunity to show their parents their work and to introduce them to their new teacher.

For those of you who are new to Moulsham Infant School we deliver high quality teaching, ensuring that learning is purposeful, challenging and fun. Through our engaging curriculum we aim to enable children to become confident, thoughtful, resilient individuals equipped with the skills that they need to make a positive contribution to society.

In our nurturing, stimulating and reflective environment, we encourage children to become independent learners who are proud of their achievements. We believe that by working in partnership with parents, carers and the wider community, we will help children achieve their full potential.

We hope that everyone enjoyed a relaxing and sunny summer holiday and that the children are refreshed and ready for a new fun year.

Our motto at Moulsham Infants is ‘where learning is fun’ and we look forward to the fun continuing this year!

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Are you Getting your Own Way - by Mark Roberts As a coach, it is common for me to listen to clients listing the obstacles that are blocking their achievement. It would be impossible for me to list all of what I refer to as the ‘usual suspects’, however there are a few that are worthy of mention and appear, on the face of it at least, to be solid and practical excuses.

Top of the list and probably the most obvious, is lack of money to fund the project. Funding is often a central theme that will make or break a project. It’s all well and good having a great idea, but if you can’t pay for it then it is likely to end up dead in the water.

Another obstacle that features high on the list is time. Time of course is the most limited of resources. Once the moment has passed it has gone forever - there is no turning the clock back.

Closely linked to the issue of time is being too busy. I know this seems identical to the issue of time and this is understandable reasoning, because they are two sides of the same coin. The difference is that being too busy may simply be an issue of prioritising workloads - reassessing how many of the metaphorical balls actually need to be kept in the air.

A favourite of mine is the mantra that circumstances are just not right at the moment. This claim when tested, often proves to be unfounded and can sometimes indicate a general unwillingness to commit.

Now, it’s entirely possible that the circumstances I have described, along with many others, are genuine and real concerns preventing the start of a project. On the other hand, there may be some other not so immediately obvious reasons preventing things moving ahead.

What I am getting at here is the innate ability of human beings to make excuses for not doing something. This tendency to make excuses usually arises out of uncertainty and fear. Fear can arise from things such as a predicting failure - a lack of confidence in personal ability, or maybe even a not uncommon fear of success.

attention and mental effort how you talk to yourself. A voice in your head will be telling you what to do and how to do it, sometimes being supportive when things are going well and at other times being critical, telling you to get it right or to do better. This is an important point to note, because how the ‘telling voice’ relates to the person actually ‘doing’ is a key factor in determining how well the task is performed. In short, everything depends upon your relationship with yourself. You will be aware of the phrase ‘sometimes you can just try too hard’. When you try too hard it often causes tension and poor performance which can result in giving up through fear of failure.

Gallwey identified that when the telling voice is very active, it can use up the energy necessary to perform the task well. In simple terms, if you quieten and relax the telling, judgemental voice in your mind, the other part of you is free to focus and carry out the task with more elegance.

The key to greater success in any of your endeavours, using the inner game analogy, is to get out of your own way. This is achieved by developing harmony between your judgemental mind and the part of you that actually carries out the performance. The development of two important inner skills is required to enable this to happen. First it is important to learn how to let go of self-judgement, and second to learn to trust in the natural learning process that will evolve from this.

The art of success lies in knowing that you have the ability to learn. If your inner voice is telling you something different, then the outcome will very likely become what I refer to as a self-fulfilling prophecy.

If you want a different outcome you could start by telling yourself something different, or maybe you could just stop that voice, relax and then just do it and learn.

To your success…

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

In the Inner Game of Tennis, Timothy Gallwey uses the game of tennis as a metaphor. He describes how there are always two games going on: The actual game (in his case a tennis match) and the inner game, which is the game we play inside ourselves. In Gallwey’s narrative, this is where the actual game of tennis is won or lost. Gallwey’s metaphor of tennis can of course be overlaid to any life situation where there are challenges to overcome, and it is also a highly useful tool in identifying those blockages that prevent progress.

In Gallwey’s model, he refers to the blockages as interference and offers a simple equation: Performance = Potential – Interference.

In simple terms, how you will perform is directly related to your actual potential to succeed, less the interferences (blockages) that are holding you back. In simpler terms, as the title of this article suggests, you may just be getting in your own way. You are the blockage.

In Gallwey’s book, tennis is simply a metaphor for playing the outer game of life. He describes the inner game in the following narrative: “…this is the game that takes place in the mind of the player, and it is played against such obstacles as lapses in concentration, nervousness, self-doubt and self-condemnation. In short, it is played to overcome all habits of mind which inhibit excellence in performance.”

How you manage your life will very much depend upon how you play the inner game.

You may have noticed when you are preforming a task requiring 20

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Wine Corner Hi there everyone, I hope you are either enjoying a summer holiday or have one planned in the near future. We are taking the caravan to France soon and very much looking forward to it. I say summer, but as I write this I can just see all the bushes swaying in the back garden through the rain!

I have read a report of some research at the American Chemical Society and the University of California which shows that a lot of what I have found out about drinking wine has a sound foundation.

The shape of the glass does affect the taste of the wine - the shape concentrates the aromas and taste of the wine. Serving red wine at room temperature and white cold is an outdated idea. Room temperature differs from room to room and through the seasons.

Even in the UK, the temperature in most houses is over twenty degrees. This advice was given years ago, when most houses did not have central heating, so the kitchen and living room were often hot, but the rest of the house was not. With white wine, a lot of us serve it too cold. A good bit of advice is to put a bottle of red wine in the fridge for about half an hour and at the same time take the white out.

I know from experience that some reds, especially the lighter ones, taste great cooled. I have been in some places where the red wine is stored under the cabinet lighting and gets warm. I have refused several bottles of wine in pubs and restaurants for this very reason.

Oxygenating wine does make it better, so carry on swirling your glass!

Finally, all of the wine notes describing flavours are accurate, some are in the wine from the the grape itself. Fruiting, for example, but others come from the barrel it is stored in, so it is not rubbish when they mention say, ‘vanilla’, because they have been aged in oak. So next time you have a glass, look at the back of the bottle and see if you can pick out the flavours listed.

I was thinking the other day (I know, I must have too much time on my hands) about songs that perhaps should not be played at weddings or funerals. It would not be good if the first song at a wedding breakfast was It’s All Over Now (the Stones). Crying in the Chapel (Elvis) is not too good, nor is Love Will Tear Us Apart (Joy Division), or What Becomes of the Broken Hearted (Jimmy Ruffin).

For the funeral, don’t play Light My Fire, Stayin’ Alive (Bee Gees) or Going Deeper Underground (the Tramps). So take care and think of the relatives!

I was reading a daily newspaper recently and an advert for hearing aids for the elderly caught my eye. According to the ad, pensioners were stampeding to get the product. I can’t help thinking that it would not be a good idea to have older people falling over each other and ending up needing hospital treatment, let alone a hearing aid.

On the subject of us older generation, I overheard a conversation where someone had seen the phrase ‘hands free’ and they were asking their friend what it meant. Her friend slowly explained that it meant when they could could walk across the room without a walking stick!

Where do you shop for wine? Probably the most popular places are supermarkets and wine merchants in the UK. Over the past few years I have been shopping in Calais. The supermarkets over there are cheaper, mainly because the tax on a bottle of wine is about 5 cents, while in the UK it is well over £2 - so that’s a saving for a start. Some of the wine outlets just outside of the town give fantastically good value. Several will pay for your crossing if you spend more than £200, so you can get a ferry crossing. Spend an extra £50 and you can use the shuttle, so all you have to pay for is fuel and a bit of lunch if you wish.

You can order online and this means when you get to Calais your order is waiting for you on the day. Just check it out, pay, and off you go. If you want to browse and taste, there are generally about 150 wines to taste, so if you’re not driving you can have a great time comparing each one. Well not all 150, but you know what I mean.

The prices start from about £1.49 a bottle and there are also loads at between £2-£3. These include some well known wines that you will see in UK supermarkets; Frontera Cabernet Sauvignon from Chile, Wagon Tree Merlot, from South America, Hardys Arrival Chardonnay and many more. They sell a great range of fine wines as well, so the choice is great. We pop over in the morning on the shuttle, get the wine, do a bit of other shopping, get some lunch and get back in time to join the end of the queue for the Dartford tunnel! If you prefer of course, you can make it a long day trip and pop down to the Opal coast.

I recently bought some wine from a wine club (yes I do go posh sometimes) and in the mixed case there was a wine called Cabalie.

It is mainly Granache blended with Syrah and Carignan. It was produced in Pays D’Oc and it’s lovely. There was also a Sicilian Pinot grigio, which was very tasty. It is a good way to buy wine, and has some great tasting notes so that you can impress your friends. The main reason I like the occasional case from a club is that there are always pleasant surprises.

There have been a couple of reports in the newspapers recently, and I thought that I could have saved the author’s money. One was an extensive survey regarding car accidents. They concluded that the period between 5pm and 6pm on a Friday was the most dangerous, and that Sundays were generally the least. I spent over twenty five years travelling up and down the A12, so I could have told them that for the price of a phone call. The other explained that if people are told the price of an expensive wine before they drink it, it will taste better. I think I missed a trick all these years, because I could have told them that as well - and saved them all the expense of the trial!

Bin end chuckles: What do you call a little round cake that sings great blues?

A Rolling Scone!

What do you call a fireplace that blasts out fabulous songs?

A grate singer!

Keep calm and carry on drinking (in moderation).

Life T M Hack 22

Freeze leftover wine in ice cube trays to add flavour to sauces and stews at a later date!

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Christ Church in New London Road: To slightly misquote a well-known saying “Ask not what you can do for your church, but what your church can do for you?”

Imagine the smiles on children’s faces when they come to Baby Ballet or the sound of them playing at Toddler Group, the sound of chatter at a seniors’ lunch, the silence of a Meditation Group or the pleasure of people enjoying a concert. All this and much, much more happens at Christ Church in New London Road.

Churches are not just for Sunday worship, but a vibrant part of the local community and here at Christ Church we like nothing better than having our building full of local people. But we want to get to know more of our neighbours and serve the community around the church.

So, we put our thinking caps on: How can we make more friends and how can we support our community?

Out of this came the idea to set up an online community hub that people can visit to find out what happens in and around Christ Church. The hub is for people to list events or information about their groups - you don’t have to meet at Christ Church, but simply be within 3 miles of the church. We will also have a Monthly Spotlight where we can highlight the work of a local group or charity.

Like all churches we like to find ways of supporting charities, so the question was: How can we meet more people, raise some money for charity, have fun and launch the community hub? Eureka! We can host a Macmillan Coffee Morning on Saturday 30th September from 10-12 with (of course) coffee and cake plus quizzes, a colouring competition (for adults as well as children), build a tower out of jelly babies and spaghetti and other activities to make this a fantastic morning.

At the coffee morning there will information available about local www.moulshamtimes.com

groups and activities and Macmillan Cancer Care. If you want to advertise your group, please contact Jean on 01245 354 529 or email 164cm2office@gmail.com.

Whilst at Christ Church your group can sign up to join the community hub. Not a member of a group? No problem, join the email list and we will let you know what is happening in and around Christ Church.

We are Christ’s church, alive in our community.

You can find out more about Christ Church at christchurchchelmsfordurc.org.uk, on Facebook: Christ Church URC Chelmsford, or on Twitter: @ChristChurchCM2. .

Life T M Hack

Separating an egg

Crack an egg into a shallow bowl, then hold the mouth of a plastic water bottle near the yolk and gently squeeze. When you release the squeeze, the yolk will be sucked out, and you can deposit it into another bowl!

23

Rotary Gets Down to Planning In the holiday season much of the country seems to slow down. The schools break up for holidays, which has a knock on effect with lots of families taking their annual leave, so less business is carried out during the second half of July and August. However, there is no such respite for Rotary as the summer months, at the start of the Rotary year, provide time for future planning.

With the new teams in position from 1st July, there is time for reflection on what has worked well in the past whilst bringing in fresh ideas or a different angle on such successes. With the huge range of events and projects undertaken by clubs throughout the world, it is essential that planning is done conscientiously so the smooth and efficient is seamless for the new year.

There are several youth competitions run by Rotary and these usually involve organising local heats followed by district finals, regional finals and national finals. We all know you can’t start thinking about the event a week beforehand. Think about the organisation for a wedding or even a birthday party and it will give just a hint of what’s involved in putting on a major event, then multiply that by the number of events organised by Rotary. Staying on the subject of youth, each year there are separate competitions for Youth Speak, Young Chef, Young Photographer, Young Writer and Young Technology. This involves a massive amount of work contacting schools and clubs, getting the entries, booking the venues, arranging adjudicators, sorting out the refreshments and perhaps inviting the Mayor and so on and so on.

If this wasn’t enough, thus far I have only mentioned youth competitions, but there are also numerous more projects for young people, plus those for the elderly and people with disabilities. So perhaps you are now getting a feel for the work necessary at the beginning of a new Rotary year.

Sierra Leone mud slip is the latest disaster area in which Rotary is involved In addition to all of this, unfortunately disasters have no respect for the holiday period and can occur at any time. Last week we had the mudslip in Sierra Leone where hundreds of people died or lost their homes. When disaster happens Rotary steps in with aid, shelterboxes, water filtration units and any other assistance vital to keep the local community alive. Since natural disasters are inevitable, Rotary has in place a special disaster fund ready to be used for immediate support to those affected. Aid also is arranged from the donating Rotary clubs direct with a Rotary club in the disaster area, so virtually nothing is spent on administration and certainly not a penny disappears through corrupt practices.

To provide an effective response, planning is essential and this

applies equally to the administration and fellowship sides. I am already working on the conference in October 2018 in Southampton ensuring there will be inspiring and motivational speakers, first class accommodation and good entertainment. As I have written in previous articles in this magazine one of the mainstays of membership is the friendships you make and the strong social programme that is an essential part of a vibrant club. After all, why would you want to belong to a club where you don’t feel happy?

Rotary is always on the lookout for like-minded people willing to put something back into the community. If you think this sounds like yourself please visit www.rotary1240.org or give me a call on 01245 260 349.

Stan Keller

Quiz Time (answers on page 31) 1. Which piece of music accompanied Torvill and Dean to Olympic Gold success?

2. Who was the youngest Beatle?

3. Who wrote the music for West Side Story?

4. Who did Marc Almond duet with on his first number 1 hit?

5. Who was the lead singer with the Animals?

6. Who had a 70s hit with Feelings?

7. Why didn’t Gustav Holst include Pluto in his 1918 orchestral suite The Planets?

8. Which jazz musician was known as Yardbird, or Bird?

9. What is the correct title of the music sometimes referred to as Danny Boy? 10. What does the musical term ‘da capo’ mean?

11. The march entitled Liberty Bell (By Sousa) was the title music for which TV comedy programme?

12. Name the only Lebanese born act to top the UK chart?

13. Which future chart topper compered the Buddy Holly and the Crickets UK Tour in 1958?

14. What was George Michaels first solo hit called?

In each of the following cases, name the lead singer of the band.

15. Nirvana 16. Wizzard 17. The Sex Pistols 18. Spandau Ballet 19. Blur 20. The Verve 21. The Human League 22. The Kinks 23. Bad Manners 24. Wet Wet Wet In which songs would you find the following characters: 25. Lill Magill 26. Yoko (brought her walrus) 27. Tommy and Becky 28. John and Julie 29. John Brown 30. Dracula and his son 31. Sister Suzie brother John Martin Luther Phil and Don 32. Harry Truman Doris Day 33. Mrs Avery 34. First mate Cooper 35. Vera Chuck and Dave

Wild Camping If you like your creature comforts wild camping may not be for you, however, if you like nature, tranquility and freedom, consider wild camping. As the name implies, wild camping is at the opposite end of the spectrum to ‘glamping’ - there are no tipis or yurts, just you and whatever the landscape has to offer. Different countries

and make the most of a night in a campsite. When choosing where to wild camp, being away from other people is a prime consideration, however Rich and I believe being next to water is essential, be it a river or lake. The water will vary in temperature between freezing cold and cold, but don’t let this deter you from making the most of it to get clean. Wild camping does not mean you have to be dirty and smelly.

have different laws regarding wild camping; here in England as in Germany, it is illegal. In Scandinavia, The Balkans and Spain it’s legal, whilst in many countries such as France it seems to be tolerated.

Sharing your bath with nature is liberating and free.

My good friend Rich and I set out early in June this year to ride our motorbikes to Sicily. We had the luxury of five weeks before we had to be home. Our plan was simple: head over the Alps, drop down into Italy and continue south to Sicily before heading back - no hurry, no stress. We packed only the essentials; passports, money, minimal lightweight camping gear, a few clothes (everything else could be purchased en route) and set off on a sunny, Sunday morning for the Channel Tunnel. As we rode away from Calais, with the sat nav set to ‘avoid motorways’, we headed south through beautiful small towns and villages, smiling all the way, stopping only for an essential cold beer and provisions for the evening meal.

Before dusk, somewhere in rural France, we turned into a small lane looking for somewhere to camp. 10 minutes later we found a small grassy area surrounded by a forest to the east and farm fields to the west. We ensured our camp was as hidden as possible, erected our small tents, cracked open a beer and on a small expedition stove we cooked dinner. As we watched the sun set over the fields we contemplated the days and weeks ahead, how exciting it is to travel into the unknown, not knowing where we would sleep each night. We woke early, packed and before we set off towards the Alps, cleared our camp site of all evidence that we had been there. In addition to choosing a wild camping location, it’s essential to remove everything that you take to the site - litter, beer bottles and beer bottle tops.

Arriving late, leaving early and never staying more than one night is considered wild camping etiquette. If we behave considerately and responsibly, the communities we camp in will continue to welcome us.

Over the coming couple of weeks, we wild camped next to the bluest lake in Western France, a river crashing down from the Alps towards the Mediterranean and when we arrived at the sea, a sublime spot on top of a mountain overlooking Monaco to the south and views across the Alps to the north. Not only did we have the best views on The French Riviera that night, the sense that we probably shouldn’t have been there added to the enjoyment, the vin rouge at €2 a bottle tasted so much better than €50 bottle below us in Monte Carlo.

Let’s talk hygiene. So, no toilets or hot showers in the woods. When travelling there are cafes, restaurants and service areas which you can use, and of course from time to time you can spend some money

After France, we headed south through Italy and when we arrived at The Amalfi Coast, we changed our plans, turned left and took a boat from Bari to Dubrovnik. We spent the following weeks riding,

wild camping and using the odd hostel (in the cities), as we passed through The Balkans and Eastern Europe before heading home.

I would advise doing some research before wild camping, had Rich and I followed this advice, in Italy we could have avoided waking up to seeing signs stating, ‘wild boar shooting here every Wednesday & Saturday’, fortunately for us it was Tuesday! We left finding a place to put the tents up too late, it was getting dark as we rode up the steep dirt track deep in the dense forest. Upon emerging from our tents in the morning we saw the many signs nailed to the trees around us! A few weeks later in Bosnia we realised we were camping in an area which either had - or still has - ‘land mines’. Another time, we camped next to a military airfield where planes were landing at night.

I can enjoy glamping as much as anyone, but I can also enjoy the freedom of wild camping too. Many of us have hectic lives and to spend a night or two camping in the wild without the usual modern conveniences is wonderful, there is something exciting about receiving so much and not having to pay for it. Having off road motorbikes meant we could ride deep into forests and camp where nobody had been before, the feeling was amazing. Create your own experiences. I know once you’ve tried it you’ll do it again.

Spot the Difeerence (answers page 31)

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27

All About Moulsham Lodge & Tile Kiln

Moulsham Lodge Community Trust

Our choir, New City Voices, recently performed at the CRIX Music Festival in Hatfield Peveral. As well as backing a fantastic Pink Floyd tribute band, we also performed a few of our own songs. This was the choir’s biggest audience to date, it’s not easy standing up in front of 500 people when your not used to such a big audience. I hope that sometime next year we will have the chance to record a one off CD to raise money for charity. We have some more major venues that

The photos are from the Pink Floyd concert, of our solo performance and waiting for our soundcheck with the band.

We are now almost at the final hurdle with the 99 year lease for the Community Station. As ever, the legal process is very slow but the end is in sight. We have been discussing our future plans for a possible reconfiguration of the station to allow us to create a community café, this means knocking walls down etc, so will need agreement from our landlords. We may also consider making the main conference room bigger; this will allow better opportunities to hire it out to larger groups, as we have missed a few opportunities due to our limited room sizes. We’ll update you as soon as we can.

We’ve been raising money to put a defribulator on the outside of the Community Station and with the choir concert last year and the ladies from our Copper Pot coffee mornings. We are getting near our target - hopefully this time next year one will be in place so that the community can benefit from having one so close.

are still in the planning process for next year, so keep an eye out for these in future issues of Moulsham Times.

Telephone: 07411 808 731 Email: enquiries@mlct.org.uk Twitter: @MLCTStation and search for us on Facebook

Cllr Mark Springett - Moulsham Lodge Ward

The proposed Baddow bus gate that has been outlined in the current highways consultation has caused quite a stir amongst local residents. By the time you read this the consultation will be closed, so I hope you managed to have your say in time. My position on the scheme and other schemes in the consultation document is that none of them will solve the underlying problem that Chelmsford only has 4% road capacity left, we just can’t build any more major roads.

Tweaking the road network will only move traffic from one problem area to create another. So what can we do? After all, there is a limit to what £15 million pounds can pay for.

We have options for additional Park & Ride schemes which are already well used by commuters. We could improve the bus service, I for one will not use them as they are so unreliable and for some don’t offer a convenient or affordable alternative. We could also increase the capacity of the cycle storage by the train station or nearby. Alternatives are the solution, not moving the problem around the city - and yes, a two way flyover would in my opinion make a huge difference to one of the biggest pinch points in the UK at the Army & Navy.

So just to be clear, I’m not in favour of the proposed Baddow Bus Gate as it will have a negative effect on thousands of local residents, 28

but, as it would probably ease traffic flow around the roundabout, highway planners will probably give it the go ahead. Hopefully though the significant public opposition to this scheme may, just may, make them reconsider.

Something else which I would like my position to be clear on is the John Shennan Playing Field proposals. I do not approve or agree in any way the proposal in the Draft Local Plan for up to 200 houses on the field. We need to keep this as green open space, but as a community we need to make more use of it, which we haven’t until now as we thought the contamination was too high to consider options for the site. MLCT will be asking the community for ideas for John Shennan and how we can make more of the space. I once asked whether a community orchard could be planted, only to be told that contamination would make this impossible. Has this changed?

I hope so, as I’ve heard of some very good ideas that would make this more widely used by local residents. If you have any ideas let me know.

My regular councillor surgery is the first Saturday of every month at St Luke’s Church between 11am and 12 noon, it’s also St Luke’s regular coffee morning. Just pop in and say hello and we can discuss the weather or local issues, or contact me on 07411 808 731, or email mark.springett@chelmsford.gov.uk, or Twitter: @markspringett, or find me on Facebook.

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Tile Kiln Corner - by Linda Mascot

Mildmay Junior School held it’s fifth annual Governor Award Ceremony in July to recognise outstanding effort of pupils across all year groups with two special awards. As a governor, it’s a great privilege to help present the awards and celebrate such positive attitudes to learning which inspire other children.

and Tom Taylor.”

Acting Headteacher Sophie Pooler said: “Our Governor Awards are a valued annual event here at Mildmay and something which the staff and children look forward to. It is a fantastic way to thank everyone for their hard work and dedication over the previous year. The main award is given for an outstanding contribution to school life, which this year was won by Kitty Day

On behalf of the Governing Body, congratulations to all children who received awards.

Kitty Day and Tom Taylor who received the award for outstanding contribution to school life at Mildmay Junior School

2nd Chelmsford Boys’ and Girls’ Brigade For the last few weeks of the session before the summer break, all sections took part in a summer session which involved such activities as pond dipping at Marconi Ponds, indoor games evening, bowling and an evening of magic for the younger ones, along with visits to Hylands and various outside activities for the older groups. The Boys’ Brigade also held their annual awards evening.

Although the companies don’t meet over the summer, the older sections of the Boys’ and Girls’ Brigade went to Sandringham, Norfolk at the end of July for their week long annual camp with their friends from 7th Chelmsford Boys’ Brigade, who are based at Springfield. The camp was very successful and all those attending (including several for the first time) enjoyed it despite some inclement weather.

We start back in the week beginning 11th September and although the younger sections are nearly full, we still have spaces in the 8-11 years age groups for both boys and girls. Please email enquiries@2ndchelmsford.org.uk, or phone 07810 644 746 for further information if you have a son/daughter who is interested in attending.

LADIES! Camp attendees at Sandringham

Not to be missed!

Shoe sale by Hotfooted Shoes Organised by Inner Wheel Club of Chelmsford Mildmay On Saturday 14th October at Keene Hall, Galleywood This is your chance to buy new winter shoes and boots from a wide selection of styles. All are offered at really competitive prices. Don’t miss this opportunity. Remember –there is no such thing as too many shoes!

There will also be stalls with clothes, greeting cards and Xmas gifts.

Coffee /Tea and homemade cakes also available.

All profits go to Barrow Farm Riding for the Disabled (charity no 113980) £2 entry

BB Award evening www.moulshamtimes.com

29

Local group hoping to save lives Did you know that heartburn can cause cancer? Apparently 85% of us don’t!

The patient support group, Barrett’s Essex, affiliated to the charity Barrett’s Wessex, is to hold a free public meeting to discuss acid reflux (heartburn), Barrett’s Oesophagus and cancer and its treatment.

It will be held on Wednesday 27th September at Great Baddow Community Association Millennium Centre, Baddow Road, Chelmsford CM2 9RL, from 6.30pm to 8.30pm, with talks by upper GI surgeons, Sritharan Kadirkamanathan and Priyantha Siriwardana from Broomfield Hospital, and chairman of Barrett’s Wessex, Chris Robinson.

“Many people keep taking over-the-counter antacids day after day without seeing their doctor,” says Chris, citing a typical story reported to him recently at a supermarket awareness day. “A lady came up to us to tell us of her brother-in-law. He’d been taking Gaviscon every day. It was only when he found he couldn’t swallow, he saw his GP. Three weeks later he was dead.”

Oesophageal cancer is the fifth greatest cancer killer of men in UK, which leads the world in deaths per capita to this largely avoidable condition, claiming the lives of one person an hour on average. However, if it’s detected at the cancer stage it’s usually too late though its pre-cancerous condition, Barrett’s Oesophagus, is treatable.

“Those of us with Barrett’s,” says Chris (himself a sufferer), “receive treatment and surveillance to look for pre-cancerous changes whence it may be treated to prevent the cancer developing.”

About 18 months ago, Chris published a 120 page fully researched, colour illustrated encyclopaedia, Down with Acid, about acid, reflux, its complications and management written in layman’s language. It has proved so popular, a second edition has just been printed. Free

copies will be available at the meeting.

If anybody would care to contact Barrett’s Essex prior to the event, they are most welcome to either by emailing barrettsessex@gmail. com, or calling Carol on 07974 188 480, or visit: sites.google.com/ site/barrettsessex.

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Spot the Difference Answers:

Quiz Answers: 1.

2.

3.

4.

Ravel’s Bolero George Harrison Leonard Bernstein Gene Pitney (Something’s

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Gotten Hold of My Heart).

5. Eric Burden 6. Morris Albert 7. It wasn’t discovered until 1930 8. Charlie Parker

9. Londonderry Air 10. From the beginning 11. Monty Python’s Flying Circus 12. Mika 13. Des O’Connor 14. Careless Whisper 15. Kurt Cobain 16. Roy Wood 17. Johnny Rotten (John Lydon) 18. Tony Hadley 19. Damon Albarn 20. Richard Ashcroft 21. Phil Oakey 22. Ray Davies 23. Buster Bloodvessel 24. Marti Pellow

25. Rocky Racoon (the Beatles) 26. Garden Party (Ricky Nelson) 27. Coward of the County (Kenny Rogers) 28. Jilted John (Gordon is a Moron) (Jilted John) 29. I Shot the Sheriff (Bob Marley) 30. The Monster Mash (Bobby ‘Boris’ Pickett) 31. Let ‘em In (Paul McCartney) 32. We Didn’t Start the Fire (Billy Joel) 33. Sylvia’s Mother (Dr Hook And The Medicine Show) 34. Friggin in the Riggin (Written by Anthrax but also performed by Sex Pistols) 35. When I’m 64 (the Beatles) 31

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