Out & About: Interviewing Laura Smith MP at UTC and RedShift's #BigBroadcast

It’s been more “In and Around” than “Out and About” this week: I have enjoyed staying close to home and studio, avoiding the grotty weather and thanking my lucky stars that I have not had to do much travelling in the snow this week.

I did venture to the Crewe Engineering & Design UTC to interview MP Laura Smith during her visit to the University Technical College. It was also my first tour of the full site since the final phase of the build and what an incredible facility it is.

Having an education establishment here in Crewe that offers such a broad range specialist STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) training opportunities with industry standard equipment is quite remarkable.

The UTC has harnessed very strong links with local and national organisations such as Bentley Motors, Air Products, Arriva Trains and Siemens, all providing ongoing support and training to students with a specific desire to follow a career in STEM subjects.

You can hear my interview with Laura Smith and the students on Friday morning between 9-10am as part of #SunnySideUp, our new breakfast show hosted by yours truly and Jasper my trusty companion.

#BigBroadcast

On Monday we began our #BigBroadcast which is a 28-day trial of full time broadcast output (8am - 11pm everyday) until 31 March. As an internet station we have always respected the fact that listening to us has not been as easy as if we were on traditional FM radio.

Now however, with the arrival of wifi speakers, wifi in some new cars and mobile apps supporting our streaming, tuning into your local community radio online really has never been easier.

We are trying really hard to reach out to our community and ask you to give us a listen and give us feedback that will help us to keep improving. Already for this month's #BigBroadcast we have over 70 guests booked in and four key themes. Our theme until Sunday is #ApprenticeshipWeek, followed by #LocalMusic week, then #LocalSport week and March wraps up with #HomeGarden week.

I should mention perhaps, for those who may not use or know about social media, my use of #hashtags is relevant to the way we promote and discuss our programmes and themes in the online world.

On my #SunnySideUp show I will be joined by various RedShift presenters all ready and able to teach me a thing or two about music (I am rubbish at remembering names of songs or bands!)

I am also looking forward to having guests Barry Ellams and Andrew Cain from the Chronicle join me every Wednesday between 9am and 10am to talk exclusively about the news they have published.

Following SunnySideUp each morning, Helen Gregory will host a #FeelGoodDaily show from 11-midday. Helen will be keeping listeners motivated with great music and interviews with people from our community, as well as tips and tricks for feeling the best you can every single day.

Steve Bebe will steam into another new show, an extension to his #WhatsHappening show that he usually presents on a Tuesday, which now becomes a daily programme between 12pm and 2pm.

With the usual programmes and varying guests and themes, I feel confident that we appeal to lots of people in our community, so please give us a listen and let me know what you think. My email is hello@redshiftonline.org and phone number is 01270 440 750 if you would like to get in touch and share your views.

RedShift Annual Quiz

Finally, our Annual RedShift Quiz takes place on Friday 23 March at Nantwich Town Football Club. We are proud of our unique style of quiz that includes food and a LIVE music round for just £8 per person.

To enter your team, please visit redshiftonline.org/redshiftevents and click on the QUIZ link. This year we are raising funds to run another Football Commentators' course and replace equipment so we can train more commentators to support the club with home and away commentary.

Final mention this week has to go to my sister Poppy Philiben to wish her happy birthday and my Mum to wish her Happy Mother’s Day on Sunday!

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

Community News: Can You Help With Research Into Dyslexia and Dyspraxia?

Helen Kay, from Nantwich, is researching the relationship between poetry and dyslexia/ dyspraxia as part of her MA in Creative Writing course at Manchester Metropolitan University.

She is staging an exhibition about dyslexia, dyspraxia and poetry at Crewe Lifestyle Centre from 4th to 11th August 2018. The exhibition aims to record the experiences of people with dyslexia and dyspraxia and to show that many are highly creative.

Helen would like to hear from people with dyslexia and/or dyspraxia. She would welcome a short poem, a piece of flash fiction or even an audio or video clip about any aspect of dyslexia/dyspraxia – people’s gifts or experiences and the experiences of those around them.

If you would like to submit a piece for the exhibition, please send your name, age and a short sentence about yourself, giving your consent for the work to be used in a display or film to be shown in a public place, by 1st May 2018 to Helen via: hekay1958@gmail.com. Please state if you wish to remain anonymous.

Helen Kay said: “I would love to hear from people with dyslexia/dyspraxia. It would be great if people could send me either a poem or a piece of flash fiction about any aspect of their experience. Audio and visual submissions are also welcome. The aim is to incorporate these into the exhibition.”

Community News: Mental Health Consultation to Start

A 12-week public consultation on proposals to redesign specialist mental health services for adults and older people experiencing severe or long term mental ill-health is to start on Tuesday (6 March).

The consultation relates to services available to a population of 480,000 people across Eastern Cheshire, South Cheshire and Vale Royal. Specialist mental health support is provided for approximately 7,000 adults and older people each year in these areas. 95 per cent of that care is provided in the community.

Dr Ian Hulme, GP with Meadowside Medical Centre in Congleton and clinical lead for mental health at NHS Eastern Cheshire CCG, said: “We are proposing a redesign of these services to significantly improve mental health support, with a focus on early prevention and more choice. 

"User and carer feedback, along with recent clinical audit recommendations and inspections, told us that some things in these services work well but that other things need to change for the better.

“One service user told us that they ‘deserve to thrive, not just survive’ and I, together with clinical colleagues across Eastern Cheshire, South Cheshire and Vale Royal, are united in our view that this proposed model of care will support people with specialist mental health
needs to do just that.”

Dr Teresa Strefford, clinical director for commissioning, NHS South Cheshire CCG and NHS Vale Royal CCG, said: “Most people can be supported very effectively in the community with the right range of services. 95 per cent of the 7,000 people we currently support with specialist mental health needs receive that care in the community and we want to improve it.

“The new model of care we are proposing would provide new services so that there is better access for people to help keep them well and active in the community. It would also provide much greater choice of services for those in, or at risk of, crisis, and support people with dementia and those who care for them to stay in their own surroundings.”

Dr Anushta Sivananthan, consultant psychiatrist with Cheshire and Wirral Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, added: “People have told us they want more personalised care, more support in the local community, and one point of contact for crisis care. They also want a choice of support in different places – for example, at home, in a drop-in centre or in a crisis bed and that they don’t want to be in hospital unless it’s absolutely necessary.

“We value the feedback we have already received and we now ask service users, carers and the general public to get involved with this public consultation and help us shape better services for the future.”

The consultation runs from 6 March 2018 to 29 May 2018 and no decision will be made until after the consultation findings have been fully considered. Any new service arrangements would be introduced gradually into 2019.

For more information, visit easterncheshireccg.nhs.uk where the online survey and details of the public events are published.

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.

Community News: Free Tickets to Cheshire's Top Attractions - Get Yours Now!

After the success of the first release of free Resident Festival tickets to some of Cheshire and Warrington’s top attractions, hundreds more free tickets will be available to download from today (27th Feb), with another batch available on 8 March. 

The festival, taking place between 17 March – 25 March, is a way of thanking local residents for welcoming more than 62* million tourists into the county each year. The Festival coincides with VisitBritain’s English Tourism Week and is being supported by Cheshire East Council, Cheshire West & Chester Council and Warrington Borough Council.  For tickets and further information, go to visitcheshire.com/cheshireresidentsfestival.

In addition to the existing attractions, tickets are now available for the National Waterways Museum in Ellesmere Port. The museum offers interactive and virtual reality technology to help visitors experience what it would have been like to work on the waterways. The number of tickets available will vary according to the attraction and everyone applying must have either a Cheshire or Warrington postcode.

Brendan Flanagan, Head of Rural and Cultural Economy, Cheshire East Council, said: “There has been huge demand for the Resident Festival tickets and I am delighted. This is a wonderful way to celebrate the county’s tourist industry and recognise the importance of residents. Our residents make a vital contribution to what we can offer and the welcome given to visitors.

“Cheshire East has a great mix of outdoor experiences, unique events and high-quality experiences. We look forward to welcoming residents from across the county to enjoy sites like the world-famous Jodrell Bank, Nantwich Museum and the Silk Museum. Residents can also visit magnificent gardens like the Jacobean splendour of Macclesfield’s Capesthorne Hall and Gardens, the quintessentially English gardens of Arley Hall and the award-winning gardens of Tatton Park.”

“As a local resident it is sometimes easy to think that because you’ve been to an attraction some years ago, it won’t have changed.  But Our top attractions are always thinking of new ways of engaging visitors and offering new experiences. For instance, we are delighted that this January, Jodrell Bank applied for the outstanding prestigious UNESCO World Heritage Status.

Elsewhere, attractions that are opening their doors to Cheshire residents include industrial gems like the ‘Cathedral of the Canals’, the Anderton Boat Lift; Port Sunlight Museum, Congleton Museum; Tarporley’s Cotebrook Shire Horse Centre and Sandbach’s fully working pottery, the Potters Barn.

Katrina Michel, chief executive of Marketing Cheshire, said: “This is a great chance for Cheshire residents to have a great free day out and celebrate the amazing tourist attractions on our doorstep. We hope as many residents as possible join in the fun.” 

For further information contact:  Fiona Young at 01244 851867 or at f.young@marketingcheshire.co.uk

*VisitBritain/VisitEngland plays a unique role in building England’s tourism product, raising Britain’s profile worldwide, increasing the volume and value of tourism exports and developing England and Britain’s visitor economy.

Working with a wide range of partners in both the UK and overseas, its mission is to grow the volume and value of inbound tourism across the nations and regions of Britain and to develop world-class English tourism product to support our growth aspirations.

Tourism is currently worth £127 billion to Britain’s economy and as Britain’s seventh largest export industry, inbound tourism’s economic contribution is currently valued at £26.2 billion.

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.