Community News: #SpringCommunityExpo18, the big RedShift Quiz plus Crewe Gang Show & a DriveMe Supercar Review

Liz Gives a WI Talk

Last week I was invited to give a talk about RedShift to the Haughton Faddiley & District Women’s Institute who meet at the Goodwill Hall on the second Tuesday of each month. I thoroughly enjoyed meeting the ladies and finding out about their club.

#SpringCommunityExpo18

We have been putting the finishing touches to the schedule for our Spring Community Expo at Rookery Hall on Thursday 19 April. We’ve introduced a later start and finish (11.30 am - 5.30pm) which will hopefully allow for people to work in the morning and then join us in the afternoon for a few hours.

Also new this time are our panel discussions, one called “Commercial and Community: Working Together” and the other called “Business Essentials” which will help anyone starting up, or already in business. We have our usual Speed Networking, Exhibitors and Keynote Speakers. The event is sponsored by Hibberts Solicitors and Rookery Hall who are once again providing a super buffet lunch. Delegate tickets are just £15 and available from our website under the RedShift Events section.

RedShift Annual Quiz: Fri 23 March

Our Annual Quiz THIS FRIDAY is at Nantwich Town FC. We are raising funds to buy ourselves some new football commentary kit and run training course for new commentators over the summer. As always, our fabulous quiz master Paul Boniface has put together a super quiz with our signature “live” music round. We have space for four more teams, so please call 01270 440 750 if you would like to join us.

I spent the latter half of the week down in Surrey visiting old haunts and catching up with friends ahead of my wedding in May, so as I have been away, I thought I would ask a couple of RedShifters to share with me some of their local “Out and About” activities this week.

Crewe Gang Show

Firstly, Kelly-Ann Davies, our Wellbeing Weekly presenter and longtime volunteer who has been very involved with the Crewe Gang Show and local Scouts for a number of years. Here’s what Kell had to say about the impending 80th anniversary of this vibrant, dynamic and creative showcase of local young talent ...

“From 2 - 5 May, over 100 children, teens and adults take to the Lyceum Theatre to stage the fabulously entertaining Crewe Gang Show.

 supercar, blast, 

The cast of Beavers, Cubs, Scouts and Leaders  is a polished and professional show with lots of laughs, and a few tears. There will be well-known songs, brilliantly choreographed dances and hilarious sketches.

The Gang Show is a nationally recognised Scouting event and Crewe has had its own Gang show since 1938. It is produced, promoted and performed completely by volunteers - just as Scouting is - and dozens of people have given their time to create something memorable for audiences and the youngsters involved.

It really is something special to be part of ‘The Gang’ and you can see this on the faces of the performers. Support from the community for this very special 80th Anniversary is encouraged in the form of sponsorship, raffle prizes and above all, audience participation! Please do book your seats by contacting the Crewe Lyceum Box Office on 01270 368 242 or book online via crewelyceum.co.uk.”

Review: DriveMe SuperCar BlastOur second contributor this week is 12 year old presenter of Musical Monday, Daniel Achterhuis

Dan Achterhuis presenting at RedShift

who is not only carving himself a career in radio broadcasting with his cousin Ben Davies, but also as a supercar driver or commentator. Here’s Dan's report on his DriveMe Supercar Blast.

“After winning a Facebook competition with DriveMe, yesterday I finally got a chance to drive six sensational supercars!

As I arrived, I could hear the aggressive roar of the engines and see the mile-long circuit infested with dream supercars. One of DriveMe’s flagship cars and my dream car is the Lamborghini Huracán!

I got to drive it and WOW does it go fast! Much to my parents' horror, I got up to 90mph in falling snow! While I was in the very-American Mustang, snow started to fall fast, but I still managed to get up to 70mph and I’m still alive to tell the tale! All in all, the day was a dream come true and I can recommend DriveMe to any Automotive Enthusiast …

So there we have it, I never would imagine myself being able to give a review of a SuperCar drive in my Out and About! Thank you very much to Kell and Dan for your contributions this week.

This article first appeared in The Chronicle on Wednesday 21st March 2018. If you would like to get in touch with RedShift, please call 01270 440 750 or email hello@redshiftonline.org.

Community News: Nantwich Museum's Spring Quiz Night

Nantwich Museum's Spring Quiz Night in aid of museum funds will take place at 7.00 pm Sunday 15 April at Crewe Vagrants Sports Club, Willaston, CW5 7EP.

Always an enjoyable evening, the quiz will be overseen as usual by museum volunteer and popular quiz master, Wyn Jones and will include a raffle.

Entry is by ticket only which costs £5.00 per person (including refreshments) and are available from the museum.

Teams of four are ideal but not essential and could be made up on the night.

For tickets and further information contact Nantwich Museum:
01270 627104
enquiries@nantwichmuseum.org.uk 
www.nantwichmuseum.org.uk
www.facebook.com/nantwich.museumoffical
twitter.com/NantwichMuseum

Community News: Hibberts’ Long Serving Solicitor Completes Her Last Case

Hibberts Solicitors are celebrating the illustrious career of Alison Dolphin as she retires from the firm after 37 years.

On 29^th March property matters expert, Alison is completing her final case before closing the file on her legacy with Hibberts.

Formerly a partner and head of the Whitchurch office, Alison has a unique history with the firm. She is the fourth-generation solicitor from her family with her father, great aunt and great grandfather all prominent solicitors in previous branches of the firm. Her great grandfather owned was then called Henry Williams & Co. Her great aunt, Edith Williams then took over and became the first ever female solicitor in Shropshire.

Alison commented: “I am proud of my heritage with the firm and it’s been excellent working alongside my father, John Roberts, for most of my working life, in the place that I was born which I think is quite rare for most people.”

Alison, who began her career in family law has helped hundreds with their conveyancing needs and is now, after a long and successful career, focusing on relaxing, travelling and as a keen runner, improving her personal best time.

Managing Partner, Stewart Bailey commented: “Alison has been a huge asset to the firm and her wonderful history with it is extraordinary. She will be greatly missed by the firm and by our clients, many of whom she has represented for 2 generations. She has great plans for her retirement and we wish her all the very best in this new chapter in her life.”

For information about the excellent team at Hibberts Solicitors log on to www.hibberts.com.

Community News: Nantwich Camera Club Special Event Lecture "Another Day At The Office"

Nantwich Camera Club will be hosting another "special" photographic lecture at 7.30 pm on Tuesday 27th March at their meeting room in Regents Park, London Road, Nantwich, CW5 6LW 

John Gardner, a professional photographer, from Wakefield, Yorkshire will present his talk "Another Day at the Office".

His projects are diverse with both studio and location photography, including industrial work, architectural, commercial, products, weddings, fashion, portraits, proms/events, pets and
corporate images.

Ever since childhood he has been passionate about wildlife, particularly birds, travelling far and wide to capture natural history and landscape images. He regularly lectures to photographic and natural history societies. 

"Another Day at the Office" draws upon his wide range of photographic activities providing
an insight into his wildlife work and commercial ventures. His website for commercial work is johngardnerphotography.com and for natural history wildscenes.com.

Members of the public in general and other local societies with photographic interests are very welcome to attend, for which there is an entrance fee of £5, payable at the door. It would be helpful, though not essential, for those wishing to attend to book via
nantwichcameraclub@hotmail.co.uk.

Community News: "The Face of Nantwich" Exhibition Opens at Nantwich Museum

"The Face of Nantwich" exhibition has opened in the Your Space Gallery at Nantwich Museum running until Saturday 14 April. By local artist Cath Kelly and featuring some well known local people, it will be of interest to a wide range of visitors.

Cath Kelly was born in the Nantwich area and has lived locally all her life. After years of raising a family and working in education, she finally found time to turn her attention to her artistic talents, in particular painting exquisite portraits.

The fact that she has not had a formal art training might have added to the unique way she has captured the personality of her subjects. Using oil paint or specialist pencils, she has varied the style to suit each individual, to capture something more than a photograph could portray.

Entry to the exhibition is free. The featured portraits are not for sale but a limited number of commissions may be taken as Cath moves on to future collections of paintings, including equine and local wildlife for ceramic and giftware.

For further information contact Nantwich Museum:
01270 627104
enquiries@nantwichmuseum.org.uk 
nantwichmuseum.org.uk
facebook.com/nantwich.museumoffical
twitter.com/NantwichMuseum

Out & About: Grant Funding Workshop, Regent's Park Broadcast and Welcome to New Presenters

Roll on Spring please! I thought I had escaped the winter sniffles but alas, this week I have been fighting off a tickly throat and runny nose. Fortunately, I don’t think it has taken hold, but I think that is only because I have forced myself to take it easy, go to bed early and consume copious amounts of echinacea and vitamin C (I am a little obsessed with the stuff!)

Grant Funding Workshop

Last Tuesday I attended a superb grant funding workshop lead by Stephen Wright from Grant Funding Skills. The three-hour workshop was packed with hints, tips and examples of good and bad funding applications. I am now on a mission to secure funding for a variety of projects, not to mention some much needed new studio equipment as most of ours has been in constant use for nearly eight years!

I am delighted to say that Stephen will be one of our panel speakers at our next Community Expo on Thursday 19th April at Rookery Hall Hotel. He will be joined on the panel by Su Turner, of Insight to Impact Consulting, offering advice in governance and leadership in education and the Third Sector, Jo Grubb of JG Creative Communications who helps businesses and charities with their branding, Andrea Holland who helps with communication in both sectors and Dianne Parrish from Cheshire Connect, a brilliant organisation that links charities to commercial organisations for non-financial and practical support to either help them grow or become more sustainable.

Please do contact me if you would like to attend as a delegate, or an exhibitor and next week I will provide a full run down on who the Keynote speakers will be.

Regent's Park Nantwich Broadcast

Last Friday I presented a mammoth six-hour Business Day show all about Regent’s Park, the site where we are based on London Road in Nantwich. It was the grand finale to our #LoveYourCommunity month at RedShift where all through February, our guests have been individuals, schools, community and commercial organisations that are active in our Crewe & Nantwich community.

We have interviewed over 60 people and learned heaps about things that are going on right here on our doorstep. Please visit our Listen Again page on our website to catch up with the interviews.

Our #RegentsParkDay included interviews with the ladies from Pressed for Time Ironing Service, Young Gas and Oil, The Nantwich Therapy Centre, Little Angels Pre-School & Nursery, Beastmasters Thai Boxing, Inches Weight Loss Gym, AJH Accountancy and Hullaballoo Kids. This is just as small sample of the dozens of great small businesses we have here at Regents Park. You can hear all the interviews at www.redshiftonline.org/regentspark.

Welcome to Two New Presenters

Last week we welcomed two new young presenters; Sinead D'Abreu-Hayling who has sung at a number of our events over the last two years has joined with her old school friend Ellen Adby to host a musical theatre show on Sundays at 3pm. Ellen has Tourette’s but certainly doesn’t let her tics get in the way of learning a new skill.

Being able to train and give opportunities to people with certain life challenges like Ellen is something that I am really proud of about RedShift. As an online radio station, we are not subject to the strictness of Ofcom so opening our doors to people that may not get the chance to present radio through traditional FM stations is something we value greatly.

Battle of Nantwich

We had our debrief meeting of the Battle of Nantwich last week. The feedback was very positive and I would especially like to thank the new volunteers and sponsors that we have recruited this year following a plea for help via this article. I would also like to mention however, that the event does reply on people paying to go on to Mill Island to watch the Battle and unfortunately, this was the lowest year yet for income, largely due to the number of people who stand on Waterlode and refuse to make any donation.

If you would like to help out with the next couple of big events for us: The Big Day Out and the Nantwich Show - both in July - please call 01270 440 750 and we can let you know about the volunteer opportunities.

Out & About:

In My Free Time ...

Yay! We’ve had two days of gardening weather at last! I have been longing to get out and tidy up my garden for weeks and last weekend we set-to and blitzed and pruned almost everything. Now we have to sit tight and cross our (green) fingers and see if we have done it at the right time and amount: like my cooking, I am an experimental gardener!

I have also enjoyed my final week of a sewing evening class at Brine Leas school. I have fiddled and faffed about and am really pleased with my cushion, eight metres of bunting and wonky bag. I thoroughly recommend looking at the Brine Leas evening classes: great facilities and a super range of courses. I think Garden Design or Cookery is next on my hit list.

Nantwich Show 2018

The Nantwich Agricultural Society’s AGM took place last Monday at Dorfold Hall. About 60 people attended and heard a full summary from Michael-John Parkin and his team of volunteers. Unfortunately, gate entries were down by about 3,000 people on the day last year due to the weather, so can we all start the sun dances a bit earlier this year as I am convinced we are due a good one!

On a serious note, the Nantwich Show relies heavily on volunteers and sponsorship from local companies and I am helping to recruit both. If you can offer any kind of assistance, either in the run up to, or during the event, please get in touch via hello@redshiftonline.org or call me on 01270 440 750.

Big Day Out 2018

On Tuesday we had a Big Day Out meeting and I am delighted to say that we have some exciting news to share. This year, the family day out will take place on Sunday 29th July from 12 - 8pm and there will be lots more music in the schedule. We can also announce that the two charities who will benefit from the fundraising activities on the day are Hope House and RABI (Royal Agricultural Benevolent Institution).

Once again, we are seeking volunteers and sponsors for this event and I would love to hear from you if you would like to help. We are also hosting a Big Day Out launch night, creatively called the Big Night Out at The Studio in Nantwich on Friday 8th June. More details to follow but do save the date: it's going to be a great night of live music for all to enjoy.

RedShift Radio: #ListenOnline2018

Over the last week I have interviewed Sarah Callander Beckett, the High Sheriff of Cheshire, Sarah Hunter from the Cancer Research UK’s Race for Life team and a Valentine's Day special chatting to Anabel Hannam from introductions agency Intro North West and her associate Andrea Crump who coaches women in confidence and communication skills to improve their dating success.

My favourite show of the week however had to be another of our Junior School Run Taster sessions, funded by the Baker Wynne and Wilson Community Grant we received last year. I spent a rather warm, and snug, 1.5 hours in the studio with 10 children from Pear Tree Primary School. We had a great time: I love how chatty and relaxed children are in the studio, usually after the first five minutes!

The children shared their experiences during their special STEAM week (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Maths). You can “Listen Again” to this, and most of our community radio shows via www.redshiftonline.org/listenagain.

Obituary: Peter Bebbington

I will finish by dedicating my article this week to Peter Bebbington about whom I wrote a few months ago. Sadly Peter lost his battle with cancer and was buried at St Margaret's Church in Wrenbury last Friday. It was a lovely service and so nice to hear all about Peter’s life, his achievements and his dedication to his community.

As Captain of the Tower, I think Peter would approve of my invitation on behalf of the St Margaret's Bell Ringers to anyone who may be interested in having a go at bell ringing. My fiance Michael-John would be happy to show you the ropes (literally!) and introduce you to campanology in memory of Peter. If you are interested, then please email me on hello@redshiftonline.org or call 01270 440 750.

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.