WHAT A FABULOUS EVENING AT FRIDAY'S FUN WALK TRUST CELEBRATIONS IN BILLERICAY

Fun Walk Trustees Sandra, Christine and Sylvia posed with
 John Baron MP and Town Crier Jim Shrubb

Friday evening was the place to be in Billericay, Essex where many charity-minded participants who took part in our annual  Funwalk Trust 2023, were able to meet other friends and guests and receive their certificates to great applause. 

Since 2002, when our charitable organisation was founded by John Baron MP, we have enjoyed these friendly gatherings and Friday's event was much enjoyed. 

Along with representatives from a large number of charities, the Billericay 2393 Royal Air Force cadets were on hand to meet and greet our guests supported throughout the evening by Billericay's Town Crier, Mr James Shrubb and, of course, Mr Baron.

Working alongside the Billericay Fun Walk Trust members, are our friends, the members of Basildon, Billericay & Wickford CVS  who want to help charities, community groups, sports clubs, churches, playgroups, schools and good causes that serve our community in the best possible way. Here is a great trio who were on good form at Friday's event.

 

http://www.thefunwalktrust.co.uk - interested?  Do come and join us.

THIS MONTH'S BOOK CLUB GUEST ANDREA J MILES ON PHOENIXFM THIS MORNING

Lots of calls this morning re Andrea Miles who was our literary guest on PhoenixFM today presented by our supersonic Michelle Ward.

Andrea has published four books published by Green Magic and is working on several other projects. This busy author has also also published a number of articles and written work over many years for numerous national journals and is a well-known astrologist and medium. Our full interview will appear later this week via this post and on the PheonixFM website.

ALL SHALL BE WELL - A WONDERFUL NEW BOOK WILL BE LAUNCHED TOMORROW IN DEVIZES, WILTSHIRE

    

                    THE LIFE OF MARY ESSBERGER

A wonderful novel, by Richard Essberger

Pre-order from Quacks Books, York

£15.99 - 01904 635967 - website - design@quacks.info

Meet the author – bookings and pre-orders

6 for 6.30 pm, Wed 15 Nov, Devizes - 01380 725944 - devizesbooks@gmail.com

Noon, Thu 16 Nov, London - 01904 635967 - Friends House

Noon, Tue 21 Nov, York - 01904 635967 - Quacks Books

A synopsis

 

In 1938 Mary, a young Englishwoman in London, meets Josef, an anti-Nazi Austrian refugee who has escaped from Vienna to Prague. They fall in love.

 

Josef, unknowingly, carries a deadly secret. In 1934, during the Austrian Civil War, as a member of the Schutzbund, the Austrian Social Democrat’s paramilitaries, he had witnessed in the Vienna Woods a young Englishman taking orders from a Soviet OGPU general.

 

After the German invasion of Austria in 1938 he is betrayed to the Gestapo (by his own mother, no less) as a member of the underground. He escapes by night, on foot, across the border to Prague. Then, after the Munich Agreement, with the Nazi grip tightening on Czechoslovakia, he escapes again by train and ferry via Poland to London, assisted by Czech military intelligence and the Quakers (who shortly afterwards help set up the famous Kindertransport rescue trains; Warner Brothers' shortly to be released film, One Life, is about that story).

 

In 1940 Josef is interned and shipped to Canada, despite MI5 - for whom he is working - trying to prevent this. Letters in both directions take three months and both are wracked by doubt... ‘Has he survived the U-boats?’ ‘Has she survived the bombs?’ ‘Does he, does she, still love me?’ Released, Josef returns in early 1941 to London in the middle of the Blitz. Soon, in Brixton, they marry.

 

For the third time he joins the Czech Army and is later trained by SOE. But then, out of the blue, his ‘unknown’ secret catches up with him. In MI5’s wartime headquarters in Blenheim Palace he sees the man he first saw in 1934 in the Vienna Woods. Yet neither his MI5 controller nor, at first, Mary, believes him when he says this man, Philby, is a Communist.

 

In 1950 Josef takes Mary and their daughter by train - the Arlberg Express - to meet his family in Vienna, where Russia is one of the four allied occupying powers. At Semmering, in the Alps, an NKVD lieutenant and Red Army soldiers attempt to drag him off the train... 

 

But that’s enough, let’s not give the ending away. Not least because it’s hard to know.

IT'S GOOD TO HEAR THAT ONE OF MY EARLIER BOOKS WILL BE RE-PUBLISHED SOON

 

PROUD OF THE CONSTANT WORK OUR SUPER NHW CYBERCRIME REP CARRIES OUT FOR US IN BILLERICAY

 

For Crimes and suspicious activity NOW phone	999
For other non-urgent contact and reporting a crime that has already happened	101
Alternatively you can report non-urgent incidents or suspicious activity and crimes online at https://www.essex.police.uk/  and click on the appropriate button
Action Fraud is the UK’s national reporting centre for fraud and cybercrime where you should report fraud if you have been scammed, defrauded or experienced cyber-crime in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. If you have been defrauded i.e. lost money phone or report online at  https://www.actionfraud.police.uk/reporting-fraud-and-cyber-crime If someone has tried to defraud you but you have not lost money, phone or report online at https://www.actionfraud.police.uk/report-phishing	0300 123 2040
CRIMESTOPPERS To give information anonymously phone or report it online at www.crimestoppers-uk.org	0800 555 111
The information you provide is very important to us, so please make sure that we can use it effectively, by reporting it correctly through the proper channels. Thank you.

INVITATION TO HAZEL'S QUIZ NIGHT - SATURDAY 18 NOVEMBER - BILLERICAY COMMUNITY ARCHIVE

 

ANOTHER LITTLE ENCOUNTER

 

SO MUCH FUN BEING INVITED TO TALK ABOUT OUR WRITING CIRCLES ON RADIO, BOTH NATIONAL AND LOCAL

Here we have a little history about our very local community radio station PHOENIXFM whose studio has been so popular at the Brentwood Centre and where you will meet such great characters including our Chair Paul Golder.

The history of Phoenix FM is two stories – one of trying to become a full-time FM-licensed radio station, and one of actually being being one.

Early years

The station was formed in August 1996 by a group of people whose aim was to bring a full-time radio station to Brentwood. This group all had experience in running another station, Mayflower FM – and you can read the story by seaarching for their website.  here.

Any group can run a temporary FM radio station in the UK – as long as they have the money, means and reason for doing so. These licences – RSLs (Restricted Service Licences) – allow a group to broadcast on FM for 28 days on a specially allocated frequency. It’s a good way for aspiring community radio stations to prove that they can get on air, evidence demand for their service, build audiences and so on – especially true in the days before internet radio.

The Phoenix took to the air for the first time on 29 December 1996 and over the next ten years we ran a total of 12 RSL broadcasts, including two in Basildon under the name Eastgate FM.

In 1999 we decided to change our name to Phoenix FM and in 2001 we started broadcasting online 24 hours a day – the first community radio station in the UK to do so.

We originally broadcast from the old Information Centre in 14 Ongar Road in Brentwood and from there we moved to the Hermitage and then Hutton Poplars Lodge.

The Radio Authority (forerunner of current radio regulator Ofcom) announced in 2004 that they would be advertising a new set of community radio licences in the UK. We applied late in 2004 and in typical regulatory fashion, waited 18 months for the adjudication. In February 2006 we received the news that Phoenix FM was going full time!

The FM years

The station moved to new studios at the Baytree Centre in Brentwood and set a launch date of 23 March 2007. We also employed a full time station manager to look after fundraising and programming.

In 2012 we moved to the Brentwood Centre and we took on a full-time Sales and Promotion Manager in 2013 to deal with increasing numbers of local businesses who wanted to sponsor shows or advertise with us.

And we’re still going strong today!

THE 2023 OPENING OF PARLIAMENT

 

Such a wonderful occasion this morning seeing King Charles and Queen Camilla together at their first 'Opening of  Parliament'  occasion.

When I worked in Westminster so long ago, it was one of the best events I was able to take part in every year.  

NEWS FROM OUR LOVELY FUN WALK 2023 - LOOKING FORWARD TO OUR 24 NOV CELEBRATION

 2023 Fun Walk: Event Photos

This year’s Fun Walk had over 70 local charities and community groups registered and an estimated 2,000 supporters took part in sponsored walks across Essex.

The participating organisations are currently collecting their Sponsorship Money and the Fun Walk team is set for a grand reveal of the amount raised at their Celebration Evening on Nov 24 ^th.

The Fun Walk Trust helps charities, local schools and churches, grass roots sports teams and other community groups raise funds for their projects and initiatives, and a bonus pot from local businesses tops up the amount each organisation raises themselves.

John Baron MP and Chair of the Fun Walk Trustees said:

“We are delighted with all the photos we have received of people taking part and are happy to share some of the highlights.”

“We remain truly grateful to the local businesses who have chosen to support the local community through a donation to this year’s Fun Walk Bonus Pot. They include Swan Housing, IFE Global Logistics, Greater Anglia, Reactive Integrated Services, Anisha Grange Care Home, Butyl Products Group, Tunnelcraft, Mr Barrie Stone and others.”

For more photos and information please visit the Fun Walk website: www.thefunwalktrust.co.uk