We've got a lovely bunch of coconuts !

Freddie wants The Sunshine Smile Crew to put together a lovely bunch of coconuts....

A bunch of real coconuts as well as a metaphorical bunch but every single one has to be wrapped in love.

We have always supported The Food Bank. A couple of months ago I suggested we were not doing enough and introduced the phrase ROCKING FOR THE FOOD BANK. Well friends in The Sunshine Smile Crew we really are Rocking and Rolling for The Food Bank.

Since joining West Bletchley Council in October I have been visiting The Food Bank outlet at Saint

Andrews Church in our council area. I take a small number of fresh items for guests to pick up, among those items there have been coconuts.

Yesterday I was told that the first item to be picked up last week was a coconut. KING OF SMILES Stewart Bailey, can you see the corn on the cob

holders you donated ?  Two families are now using them. Stewart you also gave a jigsaw puzzle and some fun Roald Dahl items which are now in hampers of love which will be given out to families in Christmas week.

Richard, you gave so many gifts of love that I had to make two trips from the car park to take everything inside yesterday.

King Of The Smiles Stewart, you gave us The Smile Card, a major job I have to do every week is to print and laminate more cards. Yesterday I put a couple out with the gifts to be told by Food Bank team members: YES, people always pick the cards up.

As a part of my five radio shows each week, running up to Christmas I have a feature ROCKING FOR THE

FOOD BANK. From Monday until Christmas Day I am going to change the playlists so the rocking happens with these two songs: COCKNEY CLASSICS - I've got a lovely bunch of coconuts and THE DAVE CLARK FIVE - Good old rock and roll.

In a bit I will come to the METAPHORICAL COCONUTS, be patient, but can I stick with the literal

for the moment.

A coconut in Morrissons costs 80p. Would you donate a coconut I can take to St Andrews and The Food Bank next Friday ?  You can either give me a coconut or 72p and I will buy one for you.  72p ?  I get 10% discount at Morrissons so a coconut costing 80p less 10% discount = 72p.

I have just published on YouTube today's Advent Window.

All the good causes The Sunshine Smile Crew

works with can be found with each Advent Window.

Leaving The Food Bank I went to Windmill Hill Golf Centre which is within the council ward I am proud to represent. The lovely people at Windmill Hill are hosting an evening of Retro Pop in support of The Food Bank. Sunshine Smile Crew member Graham will be playing the music while King of The Smiles Stewart and The Geriatric DJ will use a metaphorical bunch of coconuts to make the evening rock and roll.

From Windmill Hill I then met up with Smiling Darren. I wanted to pick Darren's brain for a couple of Sunshine Smile Crew projects.

Darren and I have been friends for 37 years, since the days when he was a teenager at Leon School and I was his head of year. Here's a picture of some of my LEONITES - Leon School students.  See if you can pick out Darren.

Darren let me play something for you. You will understand its significance but do not tell anyone will you !

Did you pick out Smiling Darren in that pic ?  Here he is !

Now the coconuts are going to get metaphorical - stick with it and everything will become clear. (I hope)

Friday 6th December 2019 ended with my proudly attending West Bletchley Council's Christmas Lights Switch On.

It was a very simple but lovely evening.

Actually I found myself a little bit confused. I said to both the Chairman of West Bletchley Council and to our Council Clerk that I could not put my finger on why the evening was so special. I have been to many different "lights" events but this was by far the best.

It was walking home when I realised why the evening was so extra special.

Some people would say it was a community event organised by West Bletchley Council but it was NOT. No it wasn't.

This was the West Bletchley family of residents coming together for a simple happy time time of friendship.

Holne Chase School Choir performed but to use the word CHOIR is not right - IT IS NOT ENOUGH to describe the singing. This was a group of children singing together and having fun while Mum, Dad and everyone else watched. It was beautiful.

Am I making sense ?

Those coconuts at The Food Bank were, indeed are, special because ONE they are simple and TWO because they are wrapped in love.

As I said I have been to many different Christmas Lights Switch On events over the years but Friday 6th December 2019 in West Bletchley was by far the best of all. No doubt about that.

BEST because it was simple - it was genuine - it was natural - it was filled with love. IT WAS FAMILY.

Within our Advent Windows this image appears.

I am right am I not ?

Do small things with great love ?

Just as this is at the centre of all the projects The Sunshine Smile Crew works with so it is the heart of Dreamsai !

No coconuts but lots of food made with love for guests as we threw open the doors of The Buzzy.

You can't miss The Silly Old Man dressed as Santa but just look what Mariuz did with our smile stickers.

Mariuz you are an incredible man. You came to The Buzzy a month ago as a guest, we talked for two hours after which you joined The Sunshine Smile Crew. A week later you joined Dreamsai and I nick-named you the Head Cook and Bottle Washer.  I am so very proud to count you as a friend.

Stewart Bailey, we put your freebie box out for guests and it was an immediate success. Thank you so much for making this happen.

We put out teddies for adoption and now several have new homes.

No coconuts but so many, many small things with GREAT LOVE.

Queen of the kettle, Julie always asks guests if they want milk and sugar in their tea or coffee. She does not ask how many spoonfuls of love. She piles every cup with love. Julie, if ever you opened a business you could put

both Costa and Starbucks out of business overnight !

The milk you put in those cups, Julie is it by any chance coconut milk ?

I love Dreamsai, I love sitting and chatting with the guests who come through the doors. There is a magic in the air.  I have just realised - DREAMSAI you do use coconut milk in all the food you cook !  Today's curry was lovely. As for the mince pies - was there grated coconut in them ?

As the doors to The Buzzy closed until next week it was back to West Bletchley and the fabulous family day the council and local churches put on.

That word - FAMILY - the lights switch on was a success because family (and coconuts) were at the centre of operations.

Something special, very special........

Council vice-chairman, Ernie, was there with his beautiful pipe organ.

Ernie has raised so much money with his music for Willen Hospice.

Have a look at the notice to the side of the organ.  Bottom right, what can you see ?

Stewart Bailey - KING OF THE SMILES it's one of your smile cards. We gave that to Ernie last summer and there it was proudly on display.

THANK YOU STEWART............

THANK YOU ERNIE.........

Here's a letter the postman brought this morning.

It's from someone else who has one of our Smile Cards, a simple letter wishing The Sunshine Smile Crew well.

Is it true Your Royal Highness that you are partial to a coconut ?

So there you go, a kaleidoscope of small things all with GREAT love which have passed our way over 48 hours.

The success of the lovely West Bletchley Council lights was having FAMILY right at the centre. Family is at the centre of The Food Bank. I am proud to count the Red Kites and golfers at Windmill Hill as part of my family of friends. 

DREAMSAI... Family with the biggest possible F !

Do small things with GREAT love and throw in a coconut or two while you are at it !

Friday 27th December 2019

Stewart Bailey - KING OF THE SMILES !  I swear that has been some thought transfer between us ! On the left is the SMILE Stewart sent over first thing this morning. He also sent this:  Something to mention on Air & on the blog?

When filling out your Christmas cards this year, take one card and send it to this address: A Recovering Soldier, c/o Complex Trauma or Neuro ward. Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre, Stanford Hall, Stanford on Soar, Loughborough, LE12 5QW Or RCDM, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Mindelsohn Way, Edgbaston, Birmingham, B15 2WB. Would be great if you could pass this on. Just a quick copy n paste. Please show them that they are never forgotten and their actions and sacrifice will always be appreciated. A simple gesture goes a long way! For the price of a stamp. What they give is priceless or even better donate to them the amount you would spend on cards and stamps.

Then I found this post on Facebook:

On Friday 27th December I will be banning all Christmas music until Advent 2020. My show that day is to be titled: THEY GAVE THEIR CHRISTMAS SO WE COULD ENJOY OUR CHRISTMAS.

I spent a couple of hours yesterday writing to all of our local emergency services, to our hospital and

local care homes thanking them and sending cards for staff giving up their Christmas for others. STEWART I have added those wonderful people to my list, cards will be sent out by the end of the day. May I invite all reading this to do the same.

I have not written the playlist for Friday 27th December yet. I like to be well ahead when it comes to writing playlists, with five shows and ten hours of

broadcasting I have to keep ahead of myself. I have written the list for Boxing Day - 26th December and will this week-end work on 27th. Not sure yet what I will include but I promise it will be fun - lots of fun as we all thank those who gave their Christmas so we could have our Christmas.

All the above was written in the studio. I am back home now and have decided how I am am going to play 27th December. Listen to today's PODCAST and get the flavour. We are going to have a ROCK AND ROLL PARTY.

Escape From Armageddon

Did you catch my show yesterday ? Wake Up With The Classics featured the iconic music of Jeff Wayne telling the story of H G Wells War Of The Worlds. Check the PODCAST.  Great music and at the end of the story the world does escape Armageddon. 

But that was fiction. What about fact ?

My show on Monday 11th November took the title THEY

GAVE THEIR YOUNG LIVES SO WE COULD LIVE OUR OLD LIVES. 

FORTY MILLION people were injured in World War One, TWENTY ONE MILLION died in The Great War - the world to end all wars. This is my grandfather, I never knew him, he did not die in the trenches but from tuberculosis contracted in the trenches.

In World War One we came close to ARMAGEDDON but did manage to escape.

That escape did not prevent another attempt at Armageddon. This is my Uncle Billy, I never knew him. His Lancaster Bomber was blown up on a raid over Germany on 8th March 1945. He was part of the world's 3% of its population who died in World War Two. Another escape from Armageddon.

Going into schools each week to work with teenagers I was so deeply impressed with the attitude of those teenagers in remembering those who gave their young lives so we could live our old lives.  Attending the Remembrance Service at the war memorial within the location where I am a

council member I was impressed by the age range of people there, from babies in pushchairs to elderly in wheelchairs.

In one school there was a teenager wearing a hippie shirt. I commented. He then launched into talking about Woodstock. That was 50 years ago ! 1967 The Summer of Love, 1969 Woodstock and the hippie movement changed pop music across the world, it was a reaction to The Vietnam War where another quarter of a million perished as the world again escaped Armageddon.

If it had not been for Nikita Khrushchev backing down during The Cuban Missile Crisis US President J F Kennedy would most certainly have pressed the button and our planet would not have escaped Armageddon. 

Is suicide part of the human make up ?  It would appear to be so from 1914 to the present day.  YES THE PRESENT DAY. This time we will NOT escape Armageddon.

Driving to the studio this morning to present my Thursday show I drove through Central Milton Keynes, an obscene collection of Climate Cowboys determined to destroy the world we live in.  Milton Keynes, a local authority which is claiming it wants to be the greenest city in the entire world. I

can think of a rude word to describe that but let's settle for RUBBISH !

This is my fourth blog attempting to bring to YOUR attention the way Milton Keynes is destroying the world we live in.

My page published on 6th November 2019 achieved only 34 hits !

Part Two of my attempt to name and shame the Climate Cowboys of Central Milton Keynes published the following day again achieved only 34 readers !

Even when Santa said he was going to boycott Central Milton Keynes that only achieved 18 readers !

Yet a year ago on 3rd December 2018 when I fooled about with Christmas pop music 2,698 read my scribbling.

Unless there is a dramatic change of mind right across the world this time we will NOT escape Armageddon. I am involved in so many projects playing music to make people smile, be happy and show love. My working week is always somewhere between 60 and 65 hours.    BUT WHAT IS THE POINT ?  Why love and care for people when we are destroying the world in which those people live ?

I have four grandchildren, I love them so much. Will they live to be grandparents themselves ? Will there be a world in 60 years time. Not if we continue the way are heading.

Last summer, wasn't that a crazy season, I was in London when the heat ground us all to a halt.  Another day I went into the radio studio to pre-record. It was so hot I could not work and had to go home. Driving home after broadcasting last week I was angry to find that Marlborough Street had been closed, closed with no diversion in place. Traffic chaos. How I cursed Milton Keynes Council but the road had not been closed for maintenance, it was closed due to flooding.

Another blog I wrote, this time on 21st August called for us to bring back the hippies.

I contacted Extinction Rebellion - YES I did and told them of my concerns for the way Climate Cowboys are destroying Milton Keynes as a starting point to destroy our world. They were not interested. We need the hippies.

There are 22 million trees in Milton Keynes and 229,941 people live here. Let me grab the calculator.... 95 trees in Milton Keynes for every

member of the population. According to Google there are three trillion trees in the world and a population of 7.7 billion. I am not sure if the calculator can cope with this but let's try.....That's 389 trees for every person. THERE ARE NOT ENOUGH TREES IN MILTON KEYNES !

As a local Councillor I boast I represent the greenest ward in the greenest part of Milton Keynes, that is true but it is not green enough.

Trees are the lungs of the world. There are not

enough trees !

CLICK HERE and read something I found on MKFM's website.

I am a vegetarian. For most of my life I ate meat then drifted into vegetarianism. I then looked at my little dog Jake and though how disgusting it would be to eat him !  Now as a confirmed non-meat eater I understand how serious mass raising of animals to eat is for global warming.

If every local authority across the world planted 389 trees for every resident and if every human being stopped eating meat PROBLEM SOLVED ! We would escape Armageddon.

If not..........

The Death Penalty

In last week's edition of Pick Of The Pops the time machine went back to 1958 when the death penalty was in force in Britain.  I played this song from Lonnie Donnegan and told the story of a man who was executed at Winson Green Prison in Birmingham. I said how I sang this song putting his  name in place of Tom Dooley. My mother told me not to do that as it was disrespectful. I have tried to find the executed criminal using a Google search but found no mention.

So do you believe in the death penalty ?

In 1981 I was called to jury service at Aylesbury Crown Court where we tried three drug smuggling cases. In the first case we found the accused innocent, in the second one was found guilty and one innocent, in the third we returned a guilty verdict. ALL were guilty but cases prepared by UK Customs were just not strong enough.

In that third case one jury member was arguing reasonable doubt but I launched into  fierce declaration of guilt and changed the sway of the jury. The accused went to prison. Had capital punishment been in force would I have set myself up to change the jury verdict in the way I did ?

YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM THIS PLACE TO THE PLACE FROM WHENCE YOU CAME AND THEN TO A PLACE OF LAWFUL EXECUTION WHERE YOU WILL BE HUNG BY THE NECK UNTIL YOU ARE DEAD. MAY THE LORD HAVE MERCY ON YOUR SOUL.

The only words a judge was allowed to speak when passing the death sentence in a British court.

As a teenager my father knew a man, Sir Donald Finnemore, who was a high court judge and had spoken those words several times. I remember Sir Donald coming to our home and walking into the sitting room where I was doing my homework. I was in awe. No I was scared, scared stiff. Here was a man who held the power of life and death over criminals. I stood up and stuttered as I spoke.

As a teacher at Leon School I had an extended essay project I ran debating the death penalty with students in my English

classes.  We studied cases where an innocent person was executed.

Timothy Evans was hung by the neck until dead for the murders Reginald Christie committed.

Derek Bentley was a young vulnerable adult who fell in with an under eighteen year old criminal Christopher Craig.  Together they robbed a warehouse, Craig had a gun. When the police arrived and told Craig to drop the gun Bentley said: LET HIM HAVE IT CHRIS. Bentley shot and killed a police officer. The prosecution said those words meant shoot him. The defense said it meant hand over the

gun. Both were found guilty of murder. Bentley was executed but because Craig was under age he served a prison sentence.

In my book The Case Files of Dave McDermott a fictional criminal is fascinated by locations of past crimes. One of these is the A6 Murder which took place between Bedford and Luton. I remember this case as a young lad. It was a major news item.

James Hanratty was found guilty and executed in Bedford Prison. There have always been doubts as

to his being guilty.

So if the death penalty were still in force and I was again doing jury service how would I feel about my vote taking away a person's life ?

Would I have made the impassioned appeal to fellow jury members as I did and changed their minds to bring in a guilty verdict ?

How would I feel if I were part of a jury that found someone guilty, that person was executed then subsequently found to be innocent ?  How did the jury members in Timothy Evans case feel ?  

I was in San Francisco some years back when a convicted murderer was executed in the gas chamber. The press and media coverage before and after the execution was OBSCENE !

Margaret Thatcher's government gave parliament a free vote on the restoration of the death penalty. Parliament voted not to bring it back. What is your opinion ?

I began by saying the three cases I tried as a jury member were drug smuggling.  All involved bringing cannabis (A

Class B drug) through Heathrow Airport. If there was a referendum today to bring back the death penalty for dealing Class A drugs I would vote, indeed I would campaign, for all convicted drug dealers at any level to face those words: YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM

THIS PLACE TO THE PLACE FROM WHENCE YOU CAME AND THEN TO A PLACE OF LAWFUL EXECUTION WHERE YOU WILL BE HUNG BY THE NECK UNTIL YOU ARE DEAD. MAY THE LORD HAVE MERCY ON YOUR SOUL

YES, there was a Tom Dooley, he was a real person and he did die on the end of a hangman's rope !

Where were you when you heard ?

Where were you on 16th August 1977 ? Where were you when you heard that Elvis Presley, The King of Rock and Roll had died ?

I was on a beach in Cornwall.

Elvis Presley died at the age of 42 !  My show TUESDAY TERRIFIC TUNES featured two hours of music from The King. Click here for the PODCAST.

Allow me to dispel a couple of myths. NO - Elvis Presley was NOT a drug addict. He was a sick man who was dependent on prescription medication. YES he did die on the toilet. He suffered a heart attack, fell to the floor and was found in his own vomit.

What about 22nd November 1963 ? The day John F Kennedy, President of The USA was assassinated. Were you even born ?

It was a Friday and I was at my local youth club when one of the leaders came in and told everyone the news.

No you are probably too young to remember, I doubt you were born. It was the

height of the Cold War, we all expected to die in a nuclear holocaust. If Kennedy had his way we would have !  At the time of The Cuban Missile Crisis it was Soviet Union leader Nikita Khrushchev who backed down. Kennedy would have pushed the button.

What about Kennedy's brother, Robert Kennedy ? He was assassinated on 6th June 1968 ? He was running for president when he was shot dead in Los Angeles.

I was 17 years old and working as a management trainee in Lewis's Department Store - Birmingham.  I remember the news coming in as if it was yesterday.

John Lennon assassinated on 8th December 1980. Leon School lunchtime disco. I remember so clearly the news, I can picture Jimmy McCarthy stopping the music and putting on a Beatles single. For the rest of the disco we only played songs from The Beatles.

31st August 1997. The death of Princess Dianna.

It was a Sunday morning, I was in the kitchen making some toast to take upstairs for Maureen and I to have breakfast.  A reporter was speaking about the accident, I wondered who had died as the report was so dramatic. 

When her name was announced I and the rest of the world was stunned.

One more. 24th January 1965. The day Winston Churchill died. He was ill and his death was expected, it was not sudden like Elvis Presley, John and Robert Kennedy,

John Lennon and Princess Dianna.

I was 14 years old. His funeral was held on a Saturday. I had a job in a local hardware shop. I went to work that day wearing a shirt and tie, a black tie.

We teenagers had heard so much about this man from our parents and grandparents.

Icons in life, it is not strange how the dates of their deaths have gone down in history. I doubt my passing will be anything like theirs. Where were you on these dates ?

16th August 1977

22nd November 1963

6th June 1968

8th December 1980

31st August 1997

24th January 1965