TIME'S UP - NEW YEAR AHEAD!

 Wishing you all a happy healthy New Year!

NEW YEAR AHEAD - MY EIGHTEENTH YEAR OF BLOGGING! WISHING ALL READERS A HAPPY NEW YEAR

 Now reprising some of my books that have brought me such great readers and new friends particularly over the last year.  It was lovely to be invited to Waterstones in Brentwood last week by Ross, their Manager who has helped wonderfully in displaying and promoting Essex authors - so much appreciated.  Wishing you all a healthy, happy 2024!

WISHING ALL MY READERS AND WRITERS A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS

 

CHRISTMAS PAST IN ESSEX BY ELIZABETH WALLACE

CHRISTMAS PAST IN ESSEX

Once again Elizabeth Wallace's superb book is selling well in town.  Christmas Past in Essex is fascinating. The author describes the life and times of the people in the county at this special time of the year. She outlines the life of the rich and the poor and how they celebrated. Many of the folk migrated to Essex from the London area and, of course, they brought with them their distinctive customs and traditions that are still used at Christmas-time.

Christmas Past in Essex offers the reader an extraordinary historical glimpse into lives of the people of Essex. From the little girl who fondly recalls her Christmases in an orphanage to Jack Bartlett, the Billericay postman who diligently delivered the post and then returned home to fall asleep over his Christmas dinner. There are scores of wonderful stories and excellent photographs, many of which have never before been published.

As Elizabeth collected the wonderful memories and treasured photographs, she was mindful of the responsibility placed in her hands. To this end, she recorded the memoirs verbatim, and was therefore able to keep the individual’s voice and essence. There are more than 60 fascinating photographs, original artwork from Essex artists and over one hundred intriguing stories, customs and traditions contained in Christmas Past in Essex.

Elizabeth hopes that readers will enjoy the stories and photographs contained in Christmas Past in Essex and in doing so will rekindle pleasant memories of their own Christmases that will be handed down to future generations.
Publisher: Tempus Publishing ISBN-13: 978-0752444635 £9.99

WELCOMING NEW MEMBERS TO BRENTWOOD WRITERS' CIRCLE - NOW IN ITS 83RD YEAR

 

LOOKING AFTER OUR COMMUNITIES - ESSEX NEWS VIA POLICE DISPATCH NEWSLETTERS

 As you may or may not be aware, Essex Police have Dispatch Newsletters which members of the public can sign up to. Dispatch provides our communities with a weekly overview of news from Essex Police, along with crime prevention advice, information about our latest job vacancies, top tweets from a selection of our Twitter accounts and remembering former colleagues who have sadly died.

 

Since August 2021, Essex Police have gained 10,000 subscribers and they hope to keep growing.

 

Dispatch brings together news and information published by our officers, staff and volunteers, so that those who live in, work in and regularly visit Essex, can go to one place to find out what's been happening across the county that week.

 

Dispatch is a digital newsletter which means once you sign up, it's sent directly to your email inbox.  It's completely free and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Sign up today and stay up to date with how our Essex Police are helping people across Essex, keeping you safe and catching criminals.

 

The link is below:

 

https://www.essex.police.uk/police-forces/essex-police/areas/essex-police/au/about-us/dispatch/

 

A LITTLE NOSTALGIA NOW AND AGAIN - TALKING PICTURES TV WITH THE FOOTAGE DETECTIVES

 

 TALKING PICTURES TV - FABULOUS SLICES OF FILM AND TELEVISION NOSTALGIA-   ACROSS SEVERAL CHANNELS - SEE BELOW

            Talking Pictures TV MD Sarah Cronin-Stanley and father Noel Cronin

I've often written about my interest in films and television programmes from the past, so was delighted to discover Talking Pictures TV (found it on Freeview Channel 82) which made its appearance in May 2015. Recently, the Hertfordshire Life Magazine published my six-page article which so many people have enjoyed reading. 

Sunday afternoon at 5pm is the high spot for this platform which is drawing in millions of viewers, particularly The Footage Detectives. Mike Read and Noel Cronin showing us some precious footage of films from long ago. Great slices of nostalgia. More filming is taking place as we speak and the team at Talking Pictures has been filming more episodes of The Footage Detectives this week. 

 

You can watch Talking Pictures TV on Virgin 445, Freesat 306, Freeview or Youview 82 or on the Sky digital satellite platform, channel 328.

BENJAMIN ZEPHANIAH - GREAT SADNESS TO HEAR OF OUR FRIEND'S PASSING RIP

Courtesy and copyright of  photographer Adrian  Pope

So many of our colleagues in the SWWJ were saddened to hear of the passing of Benjamin who was well-known in our Society.  I had the pleasure of meeting him at a special vegan lunch some years ago at Brentwood School in Essex and found we had such a lot in common.  Learnt a lot about his vegan experiences and still use his recipes.

Enjoyed his poetry which was simple and loved by children and adults alike, as were many of his latest books and films.  

ONCE AGAIN OUR AMAZING FUN WALK IS IN THE NEWS

 

2023 Fun Walk Smashes Fundraising Goals  

POSTED ON 29/11/2023 BY ADMIN

29
Nov

FUN WALK EXCEEDS £1.5 MILLION RAISED SINCE INCEPTION.

At a special celebration evening last week attended by many local charities and community groups, John Baron MP, shared that with the 2023 annual walk, the Fun Walk has now reached a phenomenal milestone, as the total raised since it was founded in 2002 has now exceeded £1.5 million.

This year’s Fun Walk raised over £85,000 with an estimated 2,000 supporters taking part in sponsored walks across Essex. The funds will be used for a wide variety of local charities and good causes including those supporting young people, mental health, disability, environmental, educational, community sporting and advocacy groups.

John Baron MP and Chair of the Fun Walk Trustees said:
“I’d like to congratulate all of the Fun Walk participants who have taken the time to fundraise for their local charities and community groups. £1.5 million is a huge achievement and we are so pleased and proud to have reached this milestone.

“We couldn’t have done this without the generous support of local businesses, whose donations this year allowed us to pay a 40% bonus over and above the money each organisation raised themselves. Our 2023 sponsors include Swan Housing, IFE Global Logistics, Greater Anglia, Reactive Integrated Services, Anisha Grange Care Home, Butyl Products Group, Tunnelcraft, Mr Barrie Stone and others.”

SNAP Fundraising Assistant Fiona Townsend said:
“Thank you so much for the bonus SNAP will be receiving from the Trust. It really is appreciated. We are already excited and looking forward to getting involved again next year.”

Sophie Ede, Chief Executive Officer Hearing Help said:
“Thank you so much for enabling us to organise this fundraising event – we had a great time completing the walk again this year, and are hugely grateful to you for the opportunity.“

BATIAS Advocacy Manager, Kate Knight said:
“Thank you to everyone at the Fun Walk that organises this event every year. It is such a valuable resource for some of the smallest charities.”

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

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

HALLOWEEN TALES IN ESSEX

Today is All Hallow's Eve in our town. Already the pumpkins are sitting alongside furry spiders, black paper-crepe weirdy-looking witches are sprawled among yards of white guaze as the witching hour approaches.  Children dressed as witches and wizards, devils and imps are preparing to perform their tricking and treating appearances - all fun during this strange time of the year.    

But as we all know, witchcraft was no laughing matter a few hundred years ago in England.   Mere suspicion that someone was dabbling in the black arts could mean a death sentence. Medieval folk had long suspected that the Devil was carrying out his evil work on earth with the help of his minions. In 1484 Pope Innocent VIII declared this to be the truth in his Papal Bull. This kicked off the big European Witch Craze, which lasted for nearly two centuries.

 

The hotbeds of the witch-hunts were the German-speaking lands, France and Scotland.  In 1645 England, notably Essex, was in the grip of witch-fever. Between 1560 and 1680 in Essex alone 317 women and 23 men were tried for witchcraft, and over 100 were hanged. In 1645 there were 36 witch trials in Essex. Some of them were held at Brentwood. At least half a dozen Brentwood women around 1575 were hanged, so the records tell us. All appeared to be old, lived alone, except for their companion cats.
 

Brentwood Assizes  (which used to be in the High Street) were where the trials took place. The three-gabled Assize House had been built under a deed of 1579 and sited where 84 High Street is now. Judicial luminaries such as the celebrated Chief Justice Parker became associated with Brentwood Assizes. The infamous Matthews Hopkins – known as the Witchfinder General – who tyrannised the Eastern Counties during his two-year search for witches - was known to have visited Brentwood. 
 

Trials were held here for local felons, some of whom received death sentences.  South Weald registers tell of seven people who had been hanged and were buried on the same day.  These heartless events often attracted huge audiences.  The condemned were taken by cart along the Ongar Road to Gallows Green, a point close to the triangle leading to Doddinghurst Road where the unfortunates met their end. In past centuries phantoms have been recorded around Gallows Green (shown on the 1777 Andre & Chapman map) but these days, the constant traffic flow would undoubtedly frighten them off.

CELEBRATING BRENTWOOD WRITERS' CIRCLE WITH AN INSPIRATIONAL AUTHOR

 Hardly seems any time at all since I began blogging in 2006. Now the blogging world has rapidly expanded and I'm pleased that my earliest readers are still with me. Obviously, many share my passion for reading (join me on Book Club @ PhoenixFM with Presenter Michelle Ward) and writing - that continues non-stop.  Have some interesting commissions coming up, both in book form and features - watch this space!

Today, the Brentwood Writers' Circle enthusiasts gather monthly at our regular venue at the Bardswell Social Club in Weald Road, Brentwood. At our last gathering in October was a great all-day event with a gorgeous lunch and a chance to meet Ian Ayris who was a great speaker and contributes a regular column with The Writing Magazine.You can learn more about Ian on the PhoenixFM website.

 PM

OFF WE GO TO HALLOWEEN PARTIES

 

HALLOWEEN FUN - THAT TIME AGAIN!

As a gardener, we are not surrounded by pumpkins this year, but still enough to do a little carving and I have a beautiful little pumpkin grown by Sally Kent which will soon end up in a delicious pie.

Our local Barleylands Farm Shop at Great Burstead is a wonderful fairyland of pumpkins, huge specimens, all ready to carve out some fabulous faces.

Currently, the kitchen is full of onions, apples and other locally picked fruit and veg for my preserving pan and I'm using my own recipes (which were published in The Telegraph book). I don't use pumpkin for my home-made wines - have tried it many years ago, but hardly worth the work involved. Maybe some of my readers have had more success? Do let me know? 

ANOTHER SUCCESSFUL COMMUNITY ARCHIVE GATHERING AT SATURDAY'S BILLERICAY LIBRARY

This special annual Saturday in October is always fun and a chance to meet other local folk connected with our very special little Essex town. 

I especially enjoyed learning more about the latest acquisitions from the Essex Record Office via Vicky who gave a fascinating talk about the founding of the ERO, with spectacular documents dating from one thousand years ago. We enjoyed some great talks from local history enthusiasts, particularly from one of our own members linked to the history of our sister town of Billerica in Massachusetts US. It was a fascinating day and we learned so much about Billericay's past. 

Vicky (ERO) Val (Family History) & Brian Hughes Author & BCA

  

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAUREEN DUFFY

 

Wishing Maureen Duffy FKC,  President of the Authors' Licensing Collecting Society a very happy 90th birthday on Saturday. With thanks for all you have achieved for writers and poets. 

Maureen Duffy FKC (English,1956) is the author of more than 30 published works of fiction, non-fiction, poetry and plays. She graduated in English from King’s in 1956 and became a Fellow of the College in 2002.

LOOKING FORWARD TO SATURDAY'S HISTORY FAIR AT BILLERICAY LIBRARY

We are all looking forward to this year's Billericay Community Archive History day on Saturday (10.00am-3pm). It will be a pleasure to help folk learn more about our town and its past.  Local family history assistance is available and there will be photographs and displays around Billericay Library, as well as talks by local historians and knowledgeable members of Essex Record Office. A warm welcome awaits.   
 

SOON TO VISIT DODIE SMITH'S FORMER HOME IN FINCHINGFIELD, ESSEX

Dodie Smith was once best known in the United States for her children's book The Hundred and One Dalmatians, which inspired an animated film from Disney -- and, later, the live-action movie starring Glenn Close. Her other major work, the 1948 novel I Capture the Castle, was out of print here for many years (though it has always had a following in Britain). But with the book's 1998 reissue, and the 2003 release of a film version from BBC Films, modern readers are rediscovering Dodie Smith.

As a young woman, Dodie's ambition was to be an actress, and she enrolled at the Academy of Dramatic Art (later the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art) with hopes of going on the stage. But at five feet tall, she was "too short and not attractive enough," in her own words, so she gave up acting and took a job at Heal's in London, where she became the store's toy buyer. However, the theatre was always at the back of her mind and in 1929 she wrote avery successful play, Autumn Crocus, followingthis with a number of other successful plays, including Dear Octopus, which starred John Gielgud.

During World War II, Dodie and her husband, Alec Beesley, moved to America to avoid the British draft. She wrote screenplays for Paramount and formed "great friendships" with other writers, including Christopher Isherwood. Although she missed her home, the couple stayed in America for many years after the war ended -- they didn't want to put their Dalmatian dogs through the six months' quarantine that was then required to bring pets into England.

Homesickness helped inspire Dodie's first novel, I Capture the Castle, which evokes a peculiarly English version of genteel poverty. The 17-year-old narrator and her family, who live in a dilapidated house built onto a ruined castle, belong to "that odd class of intelligent and cultured people who are also unskilled and unemployable," as Salon writer Charles Taylor put it. From its much-quoted opening sentence ("I write this sitting in the kitchen sink") to its bittersweet ending, Smith's witty coming-of-age tale has captivated adolescent and adult readers alike. Writers from J. K. Rowling and Susan Isaacs to Armistead Maupin and Erica Jong have praised it for the merits Penelope Lively summed up as "a good story, flourishing characters."

Dodie's other well-known work, The Hundred and One Dalmatians, was published in 1958 and is now considered a classic work of children's literature, though not all fans of Disney's 101 Dalmatians realize that the movie was based on a book. (Dodie's sequel to Dalmatians, a fantasy titled The Starlight Barking, bears no resemblance to the Disney film sequel 102 Dalmatians). Towards the end of her life, Dodie produced four volumes of autobiography: Look Back with Love: A Manchester Childhood, Look Back with Mixed Feelings, Look Back with Astonishment and Look Back with Gratitude.

A few of the author's plays are still produced occasionally, but she remains best known for I Capture the Castle and The Hundred and One Dalmatians. As Sue Summers pointed out in The Guardian, "Two prose classics in one lifetime is more than most writers achieve."

BIRTHDAY CELEBRATIONS FOR MY FAVOURITE ACTOR - GLYNIS JOHNS

GLYNIS JOHNS (ONE OF MY FAVOURITE FILM ACTORS CELEBRATING HER ONE HUNDREDTH BIRTHDAY - GLYNIS' LIFE STORY IS A FABULOUS ROMP

Lovely to hear the voice of of one of my favourite film actors Glynis Johns, who celebrated her 100th birthday on 5 October.  I met Glynis in London in the late 1950s and have now mentioned her in my new book. She was born in South Africa to another favourite actor of mine, her father Mervyn Johns and classical concert pianist Alys Maude Steele-Payne. 

"I've been working at something ever since I was born!" she mentioned in the new video (credit ABC 7) referring to her early start as a child star. Johns quickly established a persona in light comedy roles as a wide-eyed, slightly ditzy performer with big eyes, an abundance of blonde hair, and a husky voice with a plummy accent, all of which she displayed in more than 60 films from 1938 to 1999, including State Secret and Mad About Men. Glynis was Oscar nominated in 1960 for The Sundowners, and is now the oldest Oscar nominee currently living. A Tony winner, she made her Broadway debut in 1952, and appeared on the New York stage in Gertie, Major Barbara, Too True to Be Good, and The Circle in addition to A Little Night Music. In A Little Night Music, which awarded Johns her Tony, she introduced the Sondheim classic "Send In The Clowns". Said Johns of the song, "I got applause for that. I loved doing it, I felt it."   Glynis now lives in Los Angeles. 

LOOKING FORWARD TO MEETING MEMBERS AND GUESTS ON SATURDAY 7 OCTOBER 10.00am-4.00pm BRENTWOOD WRITERS' CIRCLE

 All systems go towards Saturday's bonanza of writers and all things to do with publishing and books, listening to the Writing Magazine's columnist IAN AYRIS and a super lunch. Check our website www.brentwoodwriterscircle.com and see a little of what we do (and have done for 82 years).

SEPTEMBER GUEST MARGARET MILLS ON PHOENIXFM RADIO'S BOOK CLUB

 

Our zoom meeting with super PhoenixFM Presenter Michelle Ward this morning was a lovely catch-up with Margaret Mills, an experienced WEA tutor, writer and superb researcher into all things linked to Essex history. Margaret is well-known in Brentwood and Billericay and further into Essex. 

Here is the link to the interview.

Did you hear about the Monkey, The Candlestick and the Fire? BOOK CLUB September! - Phoenix FM

FIFTY YEARS OF DUXFORD AIR SHOWS - SO PROUD OF OUR ESSEX BASED FLYING HISTORY

Courtesy Imperial War Museum

 

50 Years of Duxford Air Shows The history of flying displays in the UK dates back to October 1909, when the country witnessed its first ever aviation meeting. Today’s air shows are among the UK’s largest outdoor events, attracting several million spectators each year. During Duxford's time as an active Royal Air Force station, from 1918 to 1961, it was no stranger to large-scale public displays. Given this heritage, the decision by IWM to revive Duxford’s air show tradition in the early 1970s was an apt one. The inaugural 'Duxford Air Day' took place on 14 October 1973. It was to be the first of many. This 14 October, IWM is marking 50 years to the day since that first event with a special flying display at Duxford Flying Finale. Book tickets now.  The story of Duxford Air Shows is told inside 50 Years of Duxford Air Shows, a limited-edition bookazine which charts the highlights of the past 50 years through unseen photographs and archival material from original programmes. www.iwm

Become an IWM member for 10% off Flying Finale tickets IWM members receive 10% discount on Duxford Air Show tickets, including Flying Finale, as well as a host of other Flying Season benefits like priority booking on selected events and free entry to Duxford Flying Days.  As a member, you'll also receive year-round free admission to IWM Duxford, Churchill War Rooms and HMS Belfast, as a thank you for helping to protect our world-leading collections and historically important sites.