Out & About: A Plethora of Guests on #LoveYourCommunity Month and a Shout Out for Support for CRY for Matthew

Love Your Community Month

#LoveYourCommunity has been a weekly theme at RedShift over Valentine's Day for a few years now. This year, as part of our #ListenOnline2018 campaign, we have made a whole month #LoveYourCommunity, as we believe there are hundreds of ways in which we, as a community radio station, can share and promote our superb community here in South Cheshire.

Already this month we have interviewed artists, performers, faith groups, charities, a chef, a food blogger, a pre-school, a hula-hoop instructor and a singer. We have also interviewed the Mayor of Cheshire East, Cllr Arthur Moran; the ex-Mayor of Nantwich and now Chairman of the Food Festival, Christine Farrall; the High Sheriff of Cheshire, Sarah Callander Beckett; the owner of Nantwich Bookshop & Coffee Shop, Steve Lawson; Michelle Shipman, owner of Offbeat Brewery in Crewe and Mike Lenz from the Crewe Heritage Centre.

Guests due in over the rest of our #LoveYourCommunity month include Camille Renaudon from Hibberts Solicitors, who are one of our longest supporting sponsors of both RedShift and numerous other community organisations; Peter Mascarenhas talking about the Primary School Enterprise Challenge; Chris Edwards, Dairy Trainer and new member of the team at the International Cheese Awards and Georgina Lamb, fundraising managhttps://www.mixcloud.com/RedShiftRadio/playlists/fresh/er for the RABI (Royal Agricultural Benevolent Institute).

We are also running a competition each week of February to win a Google Mini speaker so you can listen to RedShift all around your home or office just by saying “Google, play RedShift Radio”. Please visit www.redshiftonline.org/google to enter the very easy competition.

Most of our programmes are made available via our Listen Again service found via our website: www.redshiftonline.org/listenagain. Hopefully this sample of diverse guests will inspire Chronicle readers to tune in and catch some of our community programmes which are all produced and presented by volunteers.

During March we will be hosting a #BigBroadcast month, this means that instead of our live programmes starting at midday and running until 10pm, we are going to be broadcasting live for an additional five hours a day. I will be swapping my night owl habits for early starts to present a daily breakfast show and Steve and Helen will pick up the baton with a daily mid morning and lunchtime show to take up through the day.

If you would like to join me on the breakfast show (or indeed, any other shows), please call 01270 440 750 and we can book you in.

Shows at Crewe Lyceum

Last week I experienced two very different moods when leaving the same venue. On Sunday 3 Feb, I took my mum and fiance Michael-John to Crewe Lyceum Theatre to see Totally Tina, the most superb Tina Turner tribute act (MJ is a big fan!). I have to say, she was brilliant and we all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and left the theatre on a high and singing our hearts out to Simply The Best.

Two nights later, last Tuesday, the three of us were back at the Lyceum, this time to see Birdsong, an adaptation of the WW1 story by Sebastian Faulks. This was a very powerful play that really hit home the horror of war. Needless to say, we left the theatre in a much quieter and thoughtful state than after Tina Turner!

CRY for Matthew

On Saturday night Michael-John and I ventured over to Oswestry to attend a dinner-dance in aid of CRY for Matthew, a charity that we have supported since our friends Sue & Chris Dewhirst lost their son Matthew to an undetected heart defect five years ago. We had a super evening, and although I fell off my extended “Dry January” wagon and had a few vinos, it was well worth it! I am not sure of the total raised but the raffle alone brought in £600 so that was great.

The charity is looking for corporate sponsors as well as raffle prizes for their Gala Ball to be held on Saturday 10th November at the Chester Grosvenor. If you can help in any way, please visit the website where Sue's contact details can be found.

Radio Stoke's Louise Stones on RedShift Radio

My final mention of the week goes to Louise Stones from BBC Radio Stoke who very kindly made time for our presenter Caroline Taylor-Mullington to interview her about her career in broadcasting. I gate-crashed as I had not visited Radio Stoke before and was overwhelmed with how welcome Louise and her colleagues made us. The interview on Caroline's show, Fresh, will be available very soon via the Listen Again function on our website.

Out and About: Liz's Funky Week with Lashings of Christmas Cheer

The Funky Choir singing at Sainsbury's, Nantwich

Volunteer of the Week

I am going to start with my Volunteer of the Week because this week I am dedicating it to a popular group of volunteers who bring lots of joy and cheer wherever they go. The Funky Choir, led by the very witty, Mr Funky himself, Brent Robinson.

The Funky Choir.com ("don’t forget the dot.com!") has been around a similar length of time as RedShift Radio so you could say we have grown up together! We have welcomed them at many of our events from singing on the Community Stage at the Battle of Nantwich in the freezing cold, to flag waving at the Queen’s 90th birthday Gala in St Mary’s Church and the RedShift Community Garden at the Nantwich Show to our Christmas Fair at the Crewe Lyceum.

The Funky Choir is far more than just Funky ... they are a friendly, welcoming and fun bunch who meet weekly at The Georges Community Centre on West Street in Crewe to practise for their constantly growing list of performances.

I have enjoyed seeing the choir grow over the years and now that my mum has joined having moved up here from Surrey last year, I can see just how much of a supportive and friendly community choir Brent has built.

My Mum happily keeps me informed about which care home, hospital or community event they are next playing and I know that not only does the choir put a smile on the faces of the audience, but also the sense of wellbeing and joy that each member of the choir gets from singing together is priceless.

This photo was taken on Saturday at Sainsbury’s in Nantwich where the Funky Choir sang for over four hours to help the local branch of Riding for the Disabled with their bucket collection. Have a Funky Christmas Funky Choir and thank you for everything you add to our Funky Community!

Betty and Ann Parkin

Betty and Ann at St Mary's

Moving on, and I must mention another pair of volunteers that bring joy to lots of people: Betty and Ann Parkin, my father in-law’s lovely donkeys. They were out again on Sunday for their annual visit to St Mary’s Church, Nantwich for the Nativity service.

Don’t worry if you missed them, Betty and Ann will be at St Margaret's Church, Wrenbury for their final outing of the year on Christmas Eve at 3pm for the Crib Service.

Merrily, Merrily ...

Last week I enjoyed two carol services: one at my nephew's school, St Anne’s in Nantwich and one at St Margaret’s in Wrenbury. Seeing my nephew sing was lovely and we realised that, just like his Mummy, Auntie Liz and Grandma Ruth, he's not exactly pitch-perfect, but belts out his tunes with a smile and giggles!

Sadly though, I feel the need to include a little rant here. I was walking home with my mum and nephew after the service at St Anne’s (about 5.45pm) and I was horrified that TWO cars didn’t even slow down at the zebra crossing, let alone stop while we patiently waited there.

What shocked me even more was my sister telling me that this is a regular occurrence - even in daylight! Drivers please slow down at zebras - especially near schools!

Lots of Christmas Cheer

Christmas is of course a time for parties and having had more than my fair share this month, it's safe to say that I have completely fallen off the diet-wagon! Last Thursday I was out with my fellow Tropic girls for a superb meal and dancing at the Crown Hotel, Nantwich, which served up the best Christmas dinner so far! On Saturday we had Christmas with our old neighbours and friends and I ate mountains of the legendary Diane Kilby pâté.

On Sunday I enjoyed another lovely Christmas meal with my girlfriends at The Globe in Nantwich, although this time I went off-piste and opted for the Thai green curry with king prawns - not a stuffing ball or sprout in sight, but very tasty!

Lots of Santas ready to run ...

The Annual Santa Dash

Sunday saw a huge gathering of Santas (and the odd reindeer and snowman!) in Nantwich Town Square. Sponsored by The Ruk Group, the annual Hope House Santa Dash had to be postponed the week before due to the snowy weather but it got in full swing this week, despite the miserably wet weather. Participants were able to choose to run either 2.5k or 5k and considering the weather, there were almost 200 people running to raise money for Hope House.

And Finally ...

On Monday, after writing this article, I will be at the Oddfellows on Welsh Row for our office team Christmas dinner AND to celebrate the fourth RedShift engagement of the year - Helen Gregory our Office Manager who got engaged on her birthday weekend to the love of her life, Mark Thompson. Congratulations Helen and Mark!

This article appeared in Crewe Chronicle on 20th December 2017.  Please look out for my "Out and About" page each week in the Crewe Chronicle. For more information about any of the items in this article, please email us here at RedShift or call us on 01270 440 750.