Taking stock

HEY all you Sunshine Smile Crew  members this is for you !

Not a member ?  Then sign up and help infect the world with SMILES.

42 members - all tasked with every day making at least one person SMILE.

2.31am - I can't sleep - my head is buzzing - don't need to be in the radio studio for a couple of hours so let me write this page and take stock of our SMILES.

MEMBERS & SMILES: Ok our Facebook Group is

new - how long have we been operating -  2 weeks or is it  3 ?  42 members. Can I just check that ever member is making at least one person smile every day. 

If every member were to ask a Facebook friend to join the crew we would have 84. Could we target ourselves to get 100 members by this time next week ? We need 100,000 if we are to infect the world with smiles.

CRMK: Can I just explain that the five shows I broadcast each week on Radio CRMK are not part of The Sunshine Smile Crew - the radio is my hobby, my way of relaxing. 

But I do use my radio shows as part of my making people smile.

Every day there is a PODCAST of my show - please use these in your bid to make people smile.  I generally have the PODCAST on-line by 9.300am each day. As well as the links above you can always check the latest editions on the home page of our website: www.geriatricdj.com 

PLEASE CLICK HERE and check yesterday's podcast. You will hear how some amazing teenagers made me smile.

WOODSTOCK: This is our weekly circular e-mail to members of our local councils inviting them to share lovely things happening in their wards. The e-mail sent out today is only the second but so many members of MK Council and local parish councils are sharing their SMILES.  Last week I met with two members of MK Council, spent time in

Bletchley & Fenny Stratford Town Council's office and have engaged with many more on-line.  LOVELY !

FOOD BANK: Right now we are not doing enough to help Milton Keynes Foodbank make people smile.

For reasons of logistics the project we were going to have with Bletchley & Fenny Stratford Christmas

Lights Switch On is not going to happen. Sad but this is a wise decision on the part of the council.

I do have an idea to do something during Lent which I will share with you soon.

Above are some items collected at West Bletchley Community Centre. We set up a collection point there

but it merged into what a user group at the centre was doing - BRILLIANT !  We need to start pushing to set up more collection points.

On Monday 28th October I am planning to make my START THE WEEK show on CRMK Rocking With The Food Bank.

WINTER NIGHT SHELTER:  A few things happening here. Saturday 23rd November - Bletchley & Fenny Stratford Christmas Lights Switch On we have JUNCTION 14 LADIES CHOIR on the main stage. We

have a pop up stall - a car boot stall without a car ! - to raise a few quid. I am working on a Christmas Music Quiz to hand out. The beginning of November marks my 200th show on CRMK, my 69th birthday (DAMN !) and the start of the 2019/2020 season for MKWNS.  I

am planning an overnight radio disco party where supporters can sponsor tracks.  I hope to have this fully planned by the end of the coming week.

Milton Keynes Winter Night Shelter is having a fun evening to which

we have, or will, be donating a couple of prizes for their silent auction. One of these is a copy of my book Peter's Magic Fountain Pen.

Through WoodstockMK we are building a good relationship with members of MK Council, I am engaging with the council's CEO who is a great guy. However, I can name FOUR people who the heartless systems within Milton Keynes Council have made homeless in the past month !

PIGGIE ALFIE: How come nobody has written a song about a pig ? For Piggie Alfie at Curly Tails

Rescue Centre in Newton Longville I had to play MUD GLORIOUS MUD on the radio and that was all about a hippopotamus ! 

When I was in the YMCA the other week I spoke about Piggie Alfie and residents were so keen to do something for Alfie and his friends. Sadly, staff at the YMCA have not answered my e-mail.  I think a kick up the backside is due.

HI HO SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY:  The Geriatric DJ NEVER broadcasts a single track without his Sheffield

Wednesday Scarf.  That scarf is a bit legendary and has been to some special places. Here it is tied to a cell door in Alcatraz !

I have a fun project where I sponsor the goals the boys score in every game. I sponsor them on a rota for Milton Keynes Winter Night Shelter. I always write to thank

the team member who scores the goal and I always chat post-match to my friend Club Director Trevor.

I pay out to these causes for the goals scored at the end of each month. Currently I owe Milton Keynes Winter Night Shelter £17.50 and MK Food Bank £5. Tomorrow's game away to Middlesborough

will be for Piggie Alfie.

We are trying to get other people to sponsor goals their team score for good causes close to their hearts. During a recent visit to Stadium MK I shared the idea with its community staff but the words Deaf and Ear come to mind. NOPE MK

Dons will never be Sheffield Wednesday !

WORKTREE: I am very new to Worktree, a fantastic organisation going into schools to have fun with teenagers and help them make career and life choices. I did a session at Leon School, at YMCA MK, at Hazley School and two at Oakgrove School. Here I am with the team at Oakgrove. 

OMG what an incredible place OAKKGROVE is !  Talk about smiles, the place is infected with them. What lovely teenagers. You know I bet they all went home and said to their parents: I met this silly old man at school today but he really made me laugh !

MAX ROBINSON: As the writer Max Robinson I am not writing anywhere near as much as I once was.

My head is full of books but just no time to write them.  My book Peter's Magic Fountain Pen is to be an item within a silent auction for Milton Keynes Winter Night Shelter.

I have started Book Of The Week on our website: www.geriatricdj.com where The Bridge House is currently featured. 

My show Tuesday Terrific Tunes on 7th October will be songs from my books.

TEENHEROMK: This is up in the air, I am juggling many things like crazy but once we have the steering group in oration this is going to be so big - MEGA

BIG ! The aim is to find enough teenagers 17+, you can become a blood donor on your 17th birthday, to repay the debt of our amazing, fantastic, incredible hospital

to NHS Blood and Organ donation.

We are running a bit behind my original schedule to make this happen, behind because there is so much interest but when it comes to SMILES this will be incredible.

NON BORING PEOPLE: Are you a boring, middle of

the road, average white person like me ? Even as an old man if I needed an organ transplant it would happen but if I were of Afro-Caribbean or Asian origin my chances of an organ would be 2%. The other 98% = death !

Last week the little team working to engage different non-white average people met with Milton Keynes Councillor Mohammed Khan. Watch this space because things are happening.  SMILES of life are about to shine.

DRUGWATCHMK: Things are not moving a fast as I would like but some VERY firm things are dropping

into place.  The last person you blame in this situation is the addict.

Criminal gangs are preying on the vulnerable, the average member of the public has no idea as to the extent of criminal activity in Milton Keynes.

When our SMILES get involved criminal drug dealers will be put out of business and the prison service will need to employ more staff !

COUNCILLOR DAVE ASHFORD: What do you think, should this happen ? On 22nd October West Bletchley Council will consider my taking on the vacant seat for Fairways Ward ? I am thinking that if I take this on I can take SMILES into my ward and invite people to join in the SUNSHINE SMILE CREW. What do you think ?

Ok..... 4.23am - OMG have I really been that long writing the page ?  Better head off to the radio studio I guess. www.crmk.co.uk 6am am to 8am - join me and SMILE.

DrugWatchMK

Does the average citizen of Milton Keynes, of anywhere in the country, have any idea at all as the the extent of criminal drug dealers operating in the area where they live ?

Politicians get excited but only play lip service to knife crime. Knife crime and drug dealing go together hand in hand.  The addict is a victim of the criminal gangs just as much is a victim of stabbing. The last person you blame in this situation is the addict. He/she needs help.

This is a bridge over a major road in Milton Keynes.

Every day people, good people, walk over it oblivious to the fact that this is a notorious location for criminal drug dealers to ply their trade.

This sign is adjacent to the bridge. Are there really cctv cameras ?  If so who is monitoring them ?  Why are the criminals not in the least bit scared about the cameras ?

This is the area of shrubbery to the right of the bridge.  Looks innocent enough. Or is it ?

Walk inside the shrubbery there is a clearing littered with rubbish. Rubbish, the odd beer can but nothing all that sinister.

Press on and you will find this !

A horrific collection of needles, syringes, cooking plates and the grey plastic bags the addict can pick up free of charge from a pharmacy. You could go into a pharmacy and ask for these items, they will be given to you free of charge and with no questions asked.  No health checks - no offer of support - off you go, this will help you when you meet the criminal gangs !

What kind of drug addict is going to crawl into the bushes after getting drugs from his/her criminal dealer ?  Surely he/she would go home to cook and inject. This is a site used by homeless rough-sleepers who the dealers have made great process over the past year in targeting the most vulnerable people in

society. YOU DO NOT BLAME THE ADDICT - he/she is a victim !

I am not sure if there are cctv cameras or not, I do not understand why they are there if they are indeed there - this site is within 400 yards of a police station and magistrates court !

May I suggest the law-abiding residents of our town, every town and city in the country, need to stand up and say ENOUGH ! You have a right to know what is happening. You have a right to demand the law does something about it and stop pretending the situation does not exist. The addicts have a right to protection, to help - THEY ARE VICTIMS.

Come on society WAKE UP !

I took these photographs at 9am on Monday 23rd September. I will go back in a week and see if anything has changed.

Come on society WAKE UP - protect the vulnerable and demand the criminals are locked up !

Forget Harry Potter meet Michael Upton

Maureen and I are frequent visitors to Stowe National Trust Gardens near Buckingham. This is the Gothic Temple in the grounds.

Forget Harry Potter allow me to introduce you to Michael Upton The Lonely Ghost.

I have had an idea for a story for years about a young boy whose family was employed by The Duke of Buckingham at Stowe. Michael dies and wanders round the vast grounds of Stowe where can no longer speak with his friends. He is The Lonely Ghost.

My 69th birthday is still more than a month away but Maureen has said many times that she would like to hire the Gothic Temple for a holiday to celebrate my 70th Birthday.

Perhaps I should let her book The Gothic Temple and for me to celebrate my birthday there writing the story of The Lonely Ghost.

I took this picture at Stowe, I thought the tree resembled a face. Gary suggested I could work the

tree into the story. Great idea Gary.

How about Michael makes friends with the swans on the lake at Stowe.

My friend and next door neighbour, Graham, asked how I am getting on with my latest book Fantasies Of A Geriatric DJ.  The book is finished inside my head, I just have to write it! 

To give myself a kick up the backside and get more words flowing from Max Robinson aka The Geriatric DJ I have started a new feature on the website BOOK OF THE WEEK.  Could I invite you to have a look ?

All of mys stories, of course, have music in them. I have started BOOK OF THE WEEK with what I feel is my best work The Bridge House.

This week my show Tuesday Terrific Tunes is being presented by a guest. Then on Tuesday 1st October I will be playing some Hippie Music. Tuesday 8th October I am

 
playing Tunes From My Books - yes there is so much music in the writing of Max Robinson I can easily fill two hours on the radio.

OK - I'd better get on and broadcast today's show I guess - START THE WEEK 6am to 8am www.crmk.co.uk - join me.

I am going to play around with this today - see if I can use it as a pre-introduction to all of my shows:

I am here calling for a revolution....

I am here formally calling for a revolution in our country. Will you join me ?

We don't have a government in Britain any more so it should not be too difficult to achieve. No we do not have a government, we do not have political parties we have just a collection of malformed wobbling jellies.

Let's replace all the rubbish thrown at us every day, let's replace it with happiness, let's replace it with love, let's replace sadness with love.  Will you join me ?

Let's replace it with things like this.

Withing a couple of hours of launching WoodstockMK a member of the council sent me this to add to the BREAKING NEWS PAGE.

Isn't that lovely.  Come on you council members across Milton Keynes, join the revolution and flood The Sunshine Smile Crew with more like that.

This letter arrived yesterday in response to Smile Cards and gifts lovingly made by Maggie we put in the relatives room at the Intensive Care Unit in our hospital.

If you are reading his blog page please join THE SUNSHINE SMILE CREW - every member is tasked with making one person smile every day.

Tomorrow I will be back on the radio at 6am with the first of five daily breakfast shows www.crmk.co.uk  - 10 hours of broadcasting, probably something like 150 tracks to play. At the end of every show I read our Smile Poem which invites listeners to get out there and infect the world with smiles. On Friday my show had listeners in USA UK GERMANY FRANCE

  SINGAPORE  TURKEY  INDIA  PAKISTAN  RUSSIA  INDIA  VENEZUELA and 

SAUDI ARABIA - Come on infecting the world with smiles aint going to be that hard is it ?  If we get our act together there isn't an intensive care unit in any hospital anywhere in the world that could stop the epidemic.

Posting on social media happy, smiling and encouraging things can I invite you to share this today.

PLEASE......................

Did you see the post on THE SUNSHINE SMILE CREW'S PAGE, the post from Becky ?

I met Becky while I was working in YMCA MK on Friday - by the time I got home she had joined The Sunshine Smile Crew and made her first post. PLEASE SUPPORT HER.

Can I ask you, within Milton Keynes Council,  who do you

think, is the group of people who work the hardest. I have always admired the Bin Men. They don't walk about their job they RUN - they are always happy, courteous and smiling.  I tell you if every employee of Milton Keynes Council worked with the same attitude as do our Bin Men we would have the greatest local authority anywhere in the world. Sadly our council staff in general do not match our Bin Men.

Let me play something for the Bin Men then I am going to ask the same question again but in a slightly different way.

Slightly changing the question: Who do you think has the hardest job to do within Milton Keynes Council ?

Yesterday I toured our local crematorium with the architect who designed it and the manager who every day has to oversee the funerals using it.

So Mr Architect what do you believe is your greatest piece of work ?  Milton Keynes

Crematorium ! Weird ?

So what do you do for a living ?  I run Milton Keynes Crematorium. Weird ?

NO NOT WEIRD !  The building was deigned in love and it is run in love.  It is built on ley-lines, did you know that ?  It is built on ley-lines of love.

In my family we run our own funerals, we make them smiling,

fun and happy times as we celebrate the life of the loved one who has left us.  LOVE has always flowed to us naturally from the staff at the crematorium and has always made the event a beautiful occasion.

During yesterday's tour I was told about the different music families request and how LOVE can accommodate what ever is wanted. When it comes to my time can I please have a disco ?

I launched the first edition of Dave's Disco on the radio last Thursday and I am eagerly looking forward to this week's show - 6am to 8am THURSDAY - www.crmk.co.uk 

I'll play something from that show for you in a moment but before then can I talk about my birthday.  OMG my birthday - 3rd November 2019 when I will be SIXTY-NINE YEARS OLD. Actually that day is a triple date for me. NO I am not three times sixty-nine = 207 years old.

Something from Thursday's playlist:

I am also going to play this:

Life is a disco so dance !

3rd November marks my birthday - it also marks my 200th show on Radio CRMK.  AND it is also the start of Milton Keynes Winter Night Shelter's 2019/2020 season. Believe me the lovely people who run this organisation caring for our homeless rough-sleeping friends are in for a tough season. I

am planning a ten hour disco where people can support the work by sponsoring the tracks I will be play. Just one condition - every penny of sponsorship must be given in LOVE and from a HAPPY SMILING PERSON - someone who has caught the smiling epidemic our revolution is seeking to infect the world with.

This in the playlist for that disco.

Tomorrow - 6am to 8am www.crmk.co.uk I will be broadcasting START THE WEEK. As well as playing some fanatic music - I only play fantastic music - I will be talking about all the happy smiling things I have shared here on today's page: Councillor Zoe Nolan's WoodstockMK post on BREAKING NEWS - Maggie's gift and the lovely letter from The ICU in our amazing hospital - Becky's post and the ley-line of love at our beautiful crematorium.

On Tuesday's show the music will be played by former Mayor of Milton Keynes - David Hopkins - he has called his playlist THE THEME IS LOVE - here's something David will be playing:

I am going to end now with something we have in THE SUNSHINE SMILE CREW - beautiful music to start and end your day.

So join the revolution - get out there - SMILE AT THE WORLD AND THE WORLD WILL SMILE BACK. When you have done that relax at the end of a beautiful, happy and smile filled day to this: