All posts by jedski

Brighton Life, Features

Column: Life In Isolation

I have to say I’m amazed. Although self isolating, as a normally very active and social 75 year old, I’m coping really well, particularly as I have set myself a routine to keep me sane. I wake at 7am as usual, make a cup of tea and then return to my bed which has now become my Throne, and I love it. I read, then watch something on catchup before calling friends and dealing with paperwork. My cat thinks she’s gone to heaven, as she lies on my bed and enjoys uninterrupted attention. Finally, I’m forced to get up, if only to avoid turning into a complete bed potato.

With fine weather, I have been doing plenty of gardening. Every leaf shares equal attention, the invading moss on the cobbles is now only allowed to remain for aesthetic effect, the plants are fed, watered and spoken to  with fondness, and the patio is swept almost out of existence. Then, before I know it, the time has come for my one walk.

I alternate between the beach and the park,( each, being but a minute from my house.)  The unusual tranquility of the now deserted beach, takes me back to the words of Blake.

 

“To see a World in a grain of sand,

  And a Heaven in a wild flower,

  Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand,

  And Eternity in an hour”

 

In the park I’m reminded of how I utilised my time, all those years ago, when returning home having dropped the children off at school each morning. With little time to prepare for my journey into the W, End for rehearsals, ( in those days I was involved in numerous musicals,) I would take advantage of the quiet and empty space to do my vocal warm ups.  Now that these are redundant, I converse with myself in French instead. It is good practise, and I and me always agree, never correct each other’s mistakes, and enjoy each other’s company.  Wonderful.

A further self indulgence, is rediscovering my repertoire of opera arias I learnt over fifty years ago at music college. Now, I join Maria Callas and Joan Sutherland, and sing along at the top of my voice. I love it, and I thank God that the students next door have all gone home.

Preparing my evening meal has become something to look forward to each day ,as this has been an opportunity to rediscover the contents of my freezer. I try to remember when I cooked such delicious dishes. God knows how long they have lurked in the dark, but thankfully I have not poisoned myself yet. So these delicacies are a treat to look forward to later.

In the meantime, I have a choice of occupations for the afternoon. One such is to cull my collection of paperwork and photographs.Sadly, the object of this exercise is forgotten within seconds.  This is my history, I rationalise. So all that is achieved is a small trip down memory lane, but oh what pleasure this gives me. However, with nothing discarded, it refuses to return to its dark and lonely quarters, and it is only with a great deal of cajoling and persuasion that it finally relents, in the hope that it may once again, in time to come, see the light of day

Another treat is to, re-assess the contents of my over bulging wardrobe. I am instantly shamed. Why on earth do I still have clothes I  brought with me from London 22 years ago?  It takes me only a few minutes to justify this stupidity. Some garments no longer fit, but who knows? I may lose weight, and after all, if this lockdown lasts for too long, my darling daughter may tire of doing my weekly shop, and my freezer might finally be empty.

Other clothes are in need of repair.Hooray!  As long as I’m able to see well enough to thread a needle, It will simply provide me with a new occupation. And what of the faded fabrics? Well, I may not have dye at hand, but it will be something to look forward too when the shops re open. And the realisation of this ,immediately justifies why I still have hundreds of carrier bags in the cellar.  I confess, my one concern, is that since I am unable to invite anyone to visit, my motivation to tidy up has completely disappeared.

Yes of course, I do miss my children, whom I now only see at the front door when they deliver supplies, and  I hate not seeing my grandchildren. However,( and I never thought I would hear myself this,) thank goodness for Technology which has revolutionised all our lives. There  are so many means of keeping in touch. Speaking, seeing and sharing are still with us.

And so the weeks go by.   I am happy, and I am so lucky. I  know I’m privileged, and my heart goes out to each and every person, who through no fault of their own, is finding this hard.  I am so so sorry. I just hope we will come out of this as a more compassionate and caring society.

And of course, our thanks must go to all those who endlessly help us day to day. But most of all, to our selfless, generous and tireless NHS workers.  My alarm clock is set for 7.55 pm each Thursday for the big clap. We will come out of this, but their contribution can never ever be repaid. Bless each and every one of them. May we never forget.

Kate Dyson

 

 

 

 

Brighton Life, Music, The Arts

Peter Batten’s Jazz Corner: Bird song

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Have you heard of “The Bird”? Charlie Parker, known as “Bird”, was a very great alto saxophonist and the major creative force in the jazz style known as Bebop. During WW2 he became widely admired and then idolised, in the United States, for his fantastic ability as an improviser. When that War ended his fame and the jazz style called Bebop immediately spread around the World. The effects of that explosion are still felt today. Here in Brighton jazz is enjoying a new surge of interest. Although the musicians and their music have a healthy variety, an influence from the Bebop era can be felt everywhere.

But Bebop was not the only jazz style to emerge from WW2. Something very different was born, – and much of it was hatched outside the United States. First let’s be clear about dates. No jazz of any recognisable style began before 1900. Then the early “traditional” style began to be played, most obviously In New Orleans. The first recordings date from the years of WW1. More and more bands appeared, recording began in earnest and the focal centre moved up the river from New Orleans to Chicago. Jazz also grew rapidly in importance in New York. By 1927 this early style, based on the interplay of trumpet, clarinet and trombone reached its peak. It then began to disappear into minor clubs and bars. Very few young negro musicians were interested in this style. They quickly took up their places in the new “Big Bands”. [Do not forget that racism in the USA meant that until well into the 1940s Big Bands were either white or black]

What happened in WW2 was quite a surprise. In Holland, in France, in the UK, in Eastern Europe, in Australia, amateur jazz bands often of self-taught musicians began to attempt to play in what they believed was an early and purer style of jazz, unspoilt by the commercialism which dominated the “Swing” era from 1935. By 1945 these bands were beginning to attract enthusiastic fans. It was a new phenomenon.

Peter Batten

Features

Memories: VE Day Then and Now

On 8 May 1945, VE Day, my cousin Sheila Freeman (née Grant) was living with her parents, Emily and Chris Grant, her sister Pam and brother Roy, Auntie Rose and Uncle Ernie King, Val and Michael, my Mum (expecting me in late October) and dad-to-be, Thomas Mayers, home from three and a half years’ service with the RAF. All of them lived at 9 West Hill Road with Gran. Sheila said that there was a street party outside and dancing. I have a family photograph taken by my Dad of that event.

This year, we decorated No 1 Highview Avenue North in Patcham with the White Ensign on the flag pole and flags pegged to the washing line with red, white and blue pegs; VE Day bunting fixed between a trellis and the Wandering Minstrel Rose bush; and British Legion bunting held in place by tent pegs in the raised flower bed in our front garden. VE Day 50th Anniversary tea-towels were pegged to the net curtain in the lounge and I re-used my daughter’s Mother’s Day gift basket to arrange all sorts of poppies collected over the years with decorative pastel coloured butterflies on sticks. The NHS poster in the porch of a rainbow has had ‘VE Day 75th Anniversary Celebration’ added to Easter, Mother’s Day and St George’s Day events. I collected displays of suitable photos and photo albums and had them close at hand to show either passers-by (at a distance) or my husband, son and daughter.

One good thing during this period is that, though always conscious of keeping a safe distance apart, we have met old neighbours from the far end of the Avenue; newly moved in neighbours; and those who moved in decades ago. Every Thursday night we have gathered outside our houses and rung bells, banged gongs, bashed saucepans and lids, as my poor hands are too marred by frequent washing to clap.

We have enjoyed distant encounters with young couples, families and oldies making the best of the beautiful weather. I take my sketch book to the Lilac Park as we see it in full bloom. Our Lilac tree is now passed its best but I painted it while it was in its prime, as well as the plants, shrubs and roses I can see while sitting on my patio. We see the little girl in the garden alongside the bottom of our garden bouncing on her trampoline.

On May 10 my husband drove slowly up West Hill Road and I was so taken with the decorations on both sides. I forgot to take special notice on No 9. I hope you all had a safe and peaceful celebration to mark the 75th Anniversary of VE Day.

Sandra Cooper

Money Matters

Column: David Foot

Here I sit, putting finger to keyboard. The sun is shining, the birds are singing, the sky is blue. You would think that all was well in the world. Barely any traffic noise. The water is clear, the air is fresh, and maybe, we are just starting to creep out from the horrors of arguably the most disruptive – non war – event, that has occurred in this country, in the last 100 years. Tens of thousands of lives have been lost, hundreds of thousands of businesses have closed, some never to re-open, and our lives will be changed forever. Maybe only slightly, for many, but nothing will ever be quite the same again.

Sure, our Nescafé, PG Tips, Best Bitter, Pinot Noir, or whatever your preference, will taste the same. But will you still get it from the same place? Our major supermarkets will still exist, but they are increasingly losing custom to the “discounters”, and will those that in their new working from home environment, have gone back to using local stores (where they have been open) remain loyal, or revert to their “big shopping” habits? Will our local pub(s) be open as before, or will their punters carry on drinking cheap booze, at home? (a Director of a large “PubCo” of my acquaint, recently said that up to 50% of their pubs might not reopen). My point (thank heavens, I hear you say) is that none of us know what effects this pandemic will have on the world (and thus the share values of the businesses in it) as we know it. However, it may be worth putting things in perspective. As I write, there have been some 6 Million confirmed cases of Covid-19 worldwide, with 360,000 deaths. Sadly, around 38,000 people have so far lost their lives to it, in the UK. In the “Spanish Flu” pandemic of 1918/9 some 50 Million souls lost their lives, 228,000 of them in the UK. In the Battle of the Somme, some 125,000 British soldiers died: one battle alone. Not to detract from the horror of losing someone to Coronavirus, many cases of which, some will say, could have been avoided. Just to illustrate the relevant scales.

Maybe it is because our world has changed so much, in the last 100 years, that the effects of this disease are having such an effect, and may well have in the future. Our High Streets are already changed, some beyond recognition. Even more shopping has moved “online” during the lock-down, how much of that will never return to the old-fashioned way? How long will it be, before we are happy to be squeezed in together, in “pile ‘em high, sell ‘em cheap” aircraft, or on public transport, without being concerned about what we might catch? After the World Wars, and the last pandemic, people just “got back to normal”. Now we are being threatened with “new normals” whatever they may be, and we will just have to wait and find out how different they are.

From an investment perspective, most share values have taken quite a battering, and probably the greater part of those will bounce back, to some degree. People have been eating and drinking, and will continue to do so, so the producers have, in the main, fared reasonably well. They should continue to do so. My feeling is that a fair amount of larger company shares have been “over sold” and will recover, in time. Well managed UK Investment Trusts might well prove to be worth a punt, particularly if they have an element of “gearing” (they have borrowed, to invest) as this tends to make them fall more in falling markets, and vice versa. My usual warnings: don’t invest money you may need in the short term, always expect to invest for at least five years, and don’t “keep all your eggs in one basket”. So much has changed, since our last edition. Until we see how much has changed again, in the next couple of months, enjoy the sunshine!

David Foot

Brighton Life, Environment, Features, Health Matters

Lockdown Ideas: Global Sharing Week

Globally, we have enough surplus food, shelter and water to end poverty, hunger and homelessness. Global Sharing Week is the largest annual mass engagement campaign to promote and enable the sharing of vital resources with those who need them most, whilst protecting the planet at the same time. Created by the Brighton-based charity I created, The People Who Share, Global Sharing Week reaches over 100 million people worldwide. This year, with the world suffering the challenges of the Covid-19 crisis, Global Sharing Week will see a phenomenal online campaign to ensure that those in need receive the resources they need to survive the crisis. Projects and vital resources from food banks, to groups making PPE for frontline healthcare workers will be listed on a global map at globalsharingweek.org

Participation is open to all, everyone can play their part by adding projects and available resources to the Global Sharing Week map and sharing what’s there. Global Sharing Week helps us to demonstrate that where we have poverty, we can have prosperity, where we have loneliness, we can have community and where we have landfill we can have reuse.

The People Who Share is currently running Covid-19 Food Relief, a campaign to ensure that nobody in the UK goes hungry during the Coronavirus crisis. Currently, 1.5 million adults and 830,000 children in the UK are not getting enough food, whilst 53% of NHS workers are concerned about accessing supplies during the Coronavirus pandemic. (The Food Foundation, YouGov Poll, March 2020).

Covid-19 Food Relief is a mass call to action and a one-stop source of information to help people find food urgently, donate or volunteer. By making vital supplies easy to access, and galvanising the UK’s population to act now, we can help save lives. At The People Who Share, we believe that a united effort can mean that nobody goes hungry during this crisis.

Covid-19 Food Relief has been created to promote and support organisations including FareShare, The Trussell Trust, FoodCycle, Independent Food Aid Network, Meals for the NHS, The Careworkers’ Charity and many other community groups working on the frontline to ensure that everyone in the UK has sufficient food.

If you are hungry to help, you can volunteer or donate to a range of organisations working to provide #FoodRelief to those who need it most during the Covid-19 crisis at www.thepeoplewhoshare.com To get involved or find out more information email: foodreliefC19@thepeoplewhoshare.com Let nobody go hungry during the Covid-19 crisis.

 

Benita Matofska

Global Sharing Week 2019, saw 540 events take place in 211 cities across 49 counties on every continent, creating massive social impact. To get involved, find or register a project or shared resource head to globalsharingweek.org

 

 

Brighton Life, Environment, Features

Lockdown Books: Generation Share

It’s official, Brits are turning to books during lockdown, with 1 in 3 of us reading more since the March directive to ‘stay at home, protect the NHS and save lives’ began. My own book, Generation Share, published last year by Policy Press has just been voted ‘top isolation read for a positive future’ by Forbes. The idea was born right here on Compton Avenue, when fed up of the barrage of negative news, I decided to embark on a journey to bring the positive stories of change-makers worldwide who are building a more caring, sharing society.

As a public speaker, changemaker and former journalist, my mantra has become, ‘to change the world, we need to change the narrative’, so I set out to do just that.

I invited Hove-based photographer and visual storyteller, Sophie Sheinwald to join me as I wanted to inspire positive change and bring these incredible stories to public attention in a way that people could connect with and feel part of. Each of the 200 change-makers interviewed for Generation Share, tell their stories in their words and along with my social commentary and Sophie’s stunning photography, it’s been dubbed ‘the big yellow book of hope.’

Each chapter showcases the extraordinary stories of social entrepreneurs and innovators who are tackling pressing issues such as climate change, poverty and inclusivity. You’ll meet the UK entrepreneur who has started a food sharing revolution, the creators of a life-saving human milk bank, a trust cafe and  the founders of a fashion library who are changing the world

The book itself is made from 100% waste materials, with fair trade, ethical production. Each copy sold, plants a tree and educates a girl in the slums in Mumbai through change-maker Aarti Naik’s Sakhi School for slum-based girls. Currently, proceeds have been helping Aarti run a Digital School ensuring that slum girls can stay at home safely during the Covid-19 crisis and run a food drive for some of India’s poorest families.

I’m proud to say Generation Share has been loved worldwide and has even sparked a global movement of change-makers. I believe, although our planetary resources may be finite, our potential to share is unlimited — inside each of us is a change-maker, just waiting to be unleashed.

Benita Matofska

Generation Share by Benita Matofska and Sophie Sheinwald can be purchased online from Policy Press with a 50% discount until the end of May using the code APRIL50 at checkout. Proceeds plant trees via the Eden Reforestation Project and support slum-based girls in Mumbai via Aarti Naik’s Sakhi School initiative.

https://policy.bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/generation-share

For more information on change-making and Generation Share, Benita can be found @benitamatofska or benita@thepeoplewhoshare.com

Features, Health Matters

Gut instinct

How do we build a robust immunity?

Immunology has over the years been a fast developing field. It is clear to all of us today more than ever that building strong immunity will be something to strive for as it is the key to keeping dis-ease at bay.

The immune system is a complex integration of synergistic segments that are continuously bombarded by stimuli – from both internal and external sources. If we want to truly support our immune system we need to have a long look at our lifestyle, diet, exercise regime, stress management and sleep patterns. More stressed we are more the body uses vitamin C. If we don’t sleep enough less time the body has to repair and we are also likely to go for more alcohol or caffeine which are not helping. Movement of any kind is important to keep the lymphatic system healthy which produces B and T cells which are the special forces of the immune system. Many of us are now shifting our priorities around self-care. We want to feel calmer and are more intrigued about our immunity and about our body and health in general. These are good signs.  

Eating more plants and fermented food like fruit, vegetables, legumes, nuts and seeds are rich antioxidants and will help with decreasing inflammation in our bodies by fighting free radicals. Berries are rich in phytonutrients anthocyanidins which support the fight against bacterial, viral and fungal infections. They contain plenty of fibre which will support your gut function populating it with good bacteria which in turn can improve your immunity. Our gut contains 2/3 of the body’s immune system and it is the largest barrier against the outside world together with our skin. 

Book your free 20 minute chat with Helena to discuss any of your heath concerns and how she might be able to support your health. Please email helena@nutritiouspantry.co.uk to book your space.

Helena Taylor

Brighton Life, Environment, Features

Lockdown Poem: Like Riding A Bike

Like riding a bike

 

We do half-moons around each other’s

personal safety circles,

past carbuncled stumps, potholed

pavements, car bonnets.

 

Yet, pure-as-glass children

still shout out to strangers,

amidst this absence of playful

passing bys and high-fives.

 

We have to shrug it off,

this yearning for touch.

Back and forths across park fields –

must postpone hugs.

 

Where does it end?

Where is the line crossed?

If a learning-to-ride child

wobbled and then flopped

 

off their bike –

knees all scuffed –

would we stop and pick them up?

They’re learning too,

 

all these new rules,

the sliding scale of age,

teachings of temporary measures.

Would exuberant youth

 

stick out a palm to

the two-metre long

reach of help and refuse?

Picking up their bikes,

 

no shrieks, return to size-four feet

to hop back on the seat

and go again.

 

 

Christy Hall

www.mybrowblog.co.uk/

 

 

Brighton Life, Eating Out, Features

Lockdown Food: Chilli Pickle

It’s been a cook’s dream, these last few months of Lockdown, a chance to rifle through new recipes, follow our favourite chefs on Instagram Live and finally nail that sour dough. It seems that time and incarceration has finally taught Britain how to cook. But two months of isolation with a 21-year-old vegetarian daughter and a pescatarian husband has left me salivating for a locally sourced, high welfare pork belly, lamb shank or butter-soft tenderloin.  We (ok, I) have a rule in our house: one dish at any one mealtime. The days of cooking pasta for the kids, fish for husband and meat for me are way gone; eating these days is for grown-ups.

Except when we get a take-away.

Ah the joys of a banquet of bowls of steaming spices and mix and match flavours, a treat I’d thought was on hold in these days of empty restaurants and furloughed chefs. ‘Park by the Waggon and Horses and we’ll bring it up’ said Dawn from The Chilli Pickle, our favourite Indian with its dishes drawn from the Sperring’s annual family adventures across the sub-continent. I’ve listened to their stories of the long drives and extraordinary finds across India as they follow tips and hunches and head to hill stations and toddy shops, beach shacks and street markets to find the best food in off-road India and bring it back to Brighton; it’s why it’s always in the top 20 Brighton Best Restaurants.

It’s heart breaking to look at that list and wonder if the chefs and teams that work so hard to bring Brighton such extraordinary variety and quality will recover.

So what a glorious treat to find The Chilli Pickle open for take-away. And of course, it’s not just any old take-away; they’ve been delivering since before Deliveroo came to town, their dishes prettily divided into sweet little railway trays, inspired by those served on the long train journeys still so much a part of Indian life and which Alun and Dawn first discovered on their honeymoon.  We peeled them open to find Jed’s Keralan fish curry and Loulou’s aubergine and peanut curry while my Old Delhi tandoori chicken breasts on the bone were too unwieldy for such pretty compartments, and oozed fenugreek butter into tin foil which I drizzled into my fluffy basmati.

Tonight, we’ll be back to beans, Mexican black, Italian cannellini, French flageolet or English carlin, always delicious with endless herbs, spices and sauces to make dinner time a treat.  But a Thursday night Chilli Pickle while West Hill claps for the NHS? I think it could become a thing.

 

17 Jubilee Street BN1 1GE

Thechillipickle.com

01273 900383

 

Gilly Smith

Brighton Life, Features, Music, The Arts

Lockdown Music: Kitchen disco, Brighton style

“What does a DJ do when they can’t DJ? They get creative. Covid-19 has set us all back socially and kept us housebound, but for me it involves more than not being able to go out and let off steam. It has impacted my livelihood.

Since the lockdown I’ve had to find ways of keeping myself entertained as well as maintaining my passion for playing records- and, of course, earning a crust.

One of those ways has been to DJ online every Friday, usually via my Instagram Live (if I don’t get booted off for copyright issues). The idea behind these online DJ sets is that each week I will name two genres for my Instagram followers to vote for. Once a genre has been chosen, I’ll select my records for the set. When Friday evening arrives, my ever-lively girlfriend Rebecca and I will begin to entertain the troops. Rebecca is my hype girl. Basically, she’s the Bez to my Shaun Ryder or the Flava Flav to my Chuck D. We like to keep it fun and interactive so we’ll often respond to comments and openly encourage requests. The third member of the DJ crew is Cleo, our large cat.

The other string to my bow is painting. My art is inspired mostly by the pop-artists – Patrick Caulfield and Duggie Fields particularly.

I take commissions and most of my work so far has been portraits of people who have commissioned them. I’m constantly working through a backlog of commissions, but I’m always open to more. Painting really is so therapeutic, and we’re working on a new collection, inspired by Cleo walking through the wet paint”.

Henry Padgham-Wickett

Instagram: @_henry_wp

Facebook: Henry WP

Henry Pic