Flippin Heck It's Friday !

3.25am FRIDAY 26th April 2019.....

Never mind THANK GOD IT'S FRIDAY.....

I say....

FLIPPING HECK IT'S FRIDAY AND I HAVEN'T FINISHED THURSDAY YET ! 

As you read today's page the best bit is at the end BUT you will have to read everything else before you get there.....

I love presenting my Thursday radio show - Wake Up With

The Classics but listener figures are never up to those of my retro-pop shows other days of the week.  Yesterday's show was Music From The Ballet - I love the ballet.

I was in the studio at Stupid O'clock, as I always am, got through a lot of work then sat back to relax as I broadcast the music.

Broadcasting a retro-pop, rock and roll show, always wakes me up and fires me like a cannon into the day but gentle, beautiful music from the ballet just made me want to chill out and do nothing for the rest of the day.

I was thinking to gently float through Thursday,  I had a lot to do but I would wend my way through the day as ABBA would suggest...........

Andante, Andante !

Then the phone rang.  It was Smiling Darren wanting to talk

about Saturday and our Rock and Roll party at Bletchley Bandstand.

So there was I driving through the morning at around 30mph.  Darren increased the speed of life's Jaguar to 70mph.

I was out doing something or other, can't quite remember what, when I got home there was a card in my letter box saying I had missed a delivery - a parcel had been left with my neighbour.  I collected a huge parcel.  I was expecting something but thought it would come in a small padded envelope. Life's Jaguar suddenly increased its speed to 150mph !

I am surprised a security firm was not engaged to deliver that parcel ! IOt was so valuable, containing autographed footballs and shirts from five different Barclays Premier League clubs.

Opening the parcel my throat tightened and my eyes welled with tears. Such love, such kindness !  These amazing gifts are for SUNSHINE SMILE DAY.

With my Jag's turbocharger flat out I raced round to see Lisa and drop off some car boot stuff for the bric-a-brac stall we will be running alongside the music at Bletchley Bandstand on Saturday. Thank You William Hewitt for opening the bandstand to us.

Leaving Lisa I had to pull over and read a text which bleeped up on my phone.  It was from Martin saying he could get

another football autographed by a club.  THANK YOU MARTIN.  Martin teaches Ukulele so to say thank you let me play this.

Driving off after reading the text the Jag was up to 200mph.

Back home I began packing the Jag's boot with all of the equipment needed for Saturday's Rock and Roll Party.

Did you see this item of news on The BBC or read the post I made on Facebook ?

1.6 million parcels were given out last year by The Food Bank. Each parcel would contain an average of 10 items meaning 16,000,000 items of love.

I then drove to Milton Keynes Food Bank to collect a banner which we will put on the bandstand tomorrow.

Today, Friday, I will be collecting a banner from Milton Keynes Winter Night Shelter to put on the bandstand

tomorrow.

With life's Jag sitting on the drive saying PHEW - would you please take me to the garage and put a bit of fuel in me, I started working on a poster for SMILE DISCO.

SMILE DISCO is being held to support Milton Keynes Food Bank and Milton Keynes Winter Night Shelter.

It was Rachel's husband, David, who came up with the lovely phrase A SMILE - A COIN & A TIN TO GET IN. Thank You Paula for hosting the disco.

While I was doing this Maureen was designing fliers for us to hand out at the Bandstand.

Maggie posted this on Facebook yesterday.

Maggie is my personal on-line matron. She also posted something on Facebook as a message to me.....

THANK YOU MAGGIE and THANK YOU SUE for the kind words you added !

I played this song on yesterday's blog.

It was playing on the car CD as I drove to the studio yesterday and was playing in my mind all day long. I actually switched the car CD to repeat.

But back to Maggie's original post.

I chatted to Lisa and to Smiling Darren about this.

We play music to make people smile, to be happy and to inspire love for good causes.

Our music supports families with a child sick in hospital. For those families this is a time of great stress.

I don't personally like the term MENTAL ILLNESS or MENTAL HEALTH CONDITION.

If we stub our toe it hurts. If we cut our finger it hurts.

Different life events stub our mind or cut our brain.

We play music to bring love to those who are homeless and

rough sleeping.  Please do not tell me that a friend in such a low position in life is not suffering mental anxiety.

We play music to inspire love for The Food Bank.  Every family who turns to The Food Bank because they are hungry has a pain in their mind as well as an ache in their stomach.

I have a mental health condition - you bet I do.  SO DO YOU !  You can stub your brain just as easily as you can stub your toe.

No, I do not like the phrase Mental Health Issues, we need to come up with something more accurate and loving. When we play music to inspire love we need to have a soothing motion to support the anxiety people are going through. Does that make sense ?

I want to thank PAUL FOSTER for every day, without fail,

checking the Facebook posts about our music and its love.  I want to thank ANDY who every day shares those posts. I want to thank PAUL STANLEY who every day promotes the love within our music and supporting good causes.

5.09am.....

Life's Jaguar is resting outside the studio. Resting ahead of its turbocharger making the jump to light speed again today. I

promise to put some fuel in your tank.

Do you remember the old TV advert - PUT A TIGER IN YOUR TANK ?  Life's Jag, I will put a tiger in your tank later this morning. PROMISE.

Now for the IMPORTANT BIT - remember what I said at the beginning of the blog ?  OMG I wrote that almost two hours ago.

As you have read through today's page I have mentioned those who crossed the road ahead of my speeding Jaguar:  SMILING DARREN - LISA - MARTIN RIDDY - MAGGIE - SUE - PAUL FOSTER - PAUL STANLEY - ANDY - MAUREEN - PAULA - WILLIAM - ARIF - RACHEL...... Without them the engine of my Jag would have failed to start.

What do SMILING DARREN - LISA - MARTIN RIDDY - MAGGIE - SUE - PAUL FOSTER - PAUL STANLEY - ANDY - MAUREEN - PAULA - WILLIAM -  ARIF - RACHEL...... all have in common ?

They are - every single one

of them LEONITES !  Leon - The School of Love.

So that was Thursday....

Better get on with Friday I guess.

6am to 8am I will be live on the radio with PICK OF THE POPS - www.crmk.co.uk.

The PODCAST will be available at about 9am.

Never forget that LIFE IS A DISCO - SO DANCE...

And NOBODY can dance a disco quite like a LEONITE.

Time for breakfast - got some YUMMY bits from the bakery in Lidl where Arif is manager...

A smile a day keeps bad luck and sadness away

I want to thank all who tuned in to listen to SMILING DARREN and myself on the radio yesterday and to thank all who sent in messages during the show. SO KIND !

Apologies for the fact that the PODCAST was not published yesterday. IT IS HERE NOW.

I left home at 1am yesterday, returned briefly at lunchtime, then was out working again to finally sit down at 4pm. Within all of that I forgot to publish the PODCAST - sorry.

3.18am, I am back in the radio studio working and getting ready for today's show at 6am. Driving to the studio this was playing on the car's CD player. I just can not get it out of my head.

Darren, Smiling Darren, worked with me for much of yesterday. If he had £1 for every time he said SMILE he

would be a wealthy man. If I had £1 for every time I said LOVE my wealth would probably match his.

I don't believe in god but I do believe in DESTINY. It was DESTINY that moved Darren and I to bump into each other in a supermarket a few

weeks back - I had not seen Darren since he was 17 years old when he was a student at Leon School and I his head of year. (Darren we won't tell everyone you will be 50 in November !)

Darren has now joined the team managing THE SUNSHINE SMILE CREW and the music we play - MUSIC TO MAKE PEOPLE SMILE, BE HAPPY AND TO INSPIRE LOVE FOR GOOD CAUSES. Several times yesterday Darren said to me - I do not want anything for myself from this, all I want is to make someone smile every day.

Paul, from The Sunshine Smile Crew Management Team, sent me a text message at five minutes to eight last night.... Quiet today. Hope all is OK.

Sorry Paul, racing from A to B to C yesterday and going via Z kept me away from the laptop.  I am fine but THANK YOU for your concern THANK YOU for your love.

I think it was on Tuesday, it could have been Monday, I was with Josh heading off to do some work with the SMILE. The phone rang. As soon as the call ended it rang again. Then in came a third call. When that ended I said:  OH FOR A QUIET LIFE. With a smile on his face Josh replied: You - a quiet life !  You'd never cope !

Darren - see what you are letting yourself in for.

Yesterday Darren and I met with Lisa to talk about SUNSHINE SMILE DAY.    Lisa is doing an incredible job heading up our number one event of the year.  Lisa I don't think we have a coconut shy booked for the day yet !

A SMILE A DAY KEEPS BAD LUCK AND SADNESS AWAY

When I broadcast on the radio I use a computer system called VIRTUAL DJ. During my brief spell at home I managed to connect my laptop with Virtual DJ to our 1970's traditional disco twin deck. WOW !  I am not a technical guy but it

works.

Not at STUPID O'CLOCK, just at SILLY O'CLOCK, on Saturday Darren and I will be setting up the twin deck and Virtual DJ on Bletchley Bandstand for a ROCK AND ROLL PARTY.

At not quite so silly o'clock Lisa will be joining us, she is bringing Husband Kevin and their grandson.

THANK YOU so much Bletchley and Fenny Stratford Town Council for letting us use the bandstand for our party.

We will be PLAYING MUSIC TO MAKE PEOPLE SMILE, BE HAPPY AND TO INSPIRE LOVE FOR GOOD CAUSES.

We will be outworking Darren's mission all I want is to make someone smile every day. 

We will be handing out sweets, balloons, smile stickers and fliers to tell everyone about SUNSHINE SMILE DAY.

Lisa will be running a bric-a-brac stall and tomobola, as well as playing the music I will be testing our VINYL TOMBOLA ahead of SUNSHINE SMILE DAY.

 We will be handing out invitations to SMILE DISCO.

At the bandstand we will be featuring the two good causes SMILE DISCO is supporting....

MILTON KEYNES FOOD BANK and MILTON KEYNES WINTER NIGHT SHELTER.  Today and tomorrow I will be collecting material from both fantastic organisations to display at the Rock and Roll Party.

Chatting off microphone during yesterday's show Darren and I pondered we should remake this video using members of SUNSHINE SMILE CREW !

I am getting a bit nervous about Darren !  Here he is dressed in SUNSHINE YELLOW. For SUNSHINE SMILE DAY he is going to dye his hair YELLOW !

This next picture shows my granddaughter checking out my hair for

the SPONSORED HAIRCUT on SUNSHINE SMILE DAY.

Darren is cutting my hair with all proceeds going to Curly Tails Pig Rescue.  I had imagined that Darren's role would be ceremonial and there would be a trained hairdresser on hand. NO - this is not how Darren and Lisa have this planned. Not only that but Darren is not going to use scissors but and electric razor !  Darren may have YELLOW HAIR but I will be yellow as in cowardy, cowardy custard from head to toe !

Darren, I think you will make a lot of people smile.

Lisa, is it true you are going to use my sheared hair as a prize on the tombola !

Anyone know where I can buy a wig ?

So..................................

What are you doing on Saturday ?

Can we extend an invitation for you to come along to Bletchley Bandstand and dance to the music we will be playing ?

Buy some junk from the bric-a-brac stall.

Have a go on the tombola.

DANCE - I'll dance to this if you will.

Well life is a lot more fun if you are silly !

AND Life is a DISCO - SO DANCE !

4.38am - at 6am I will be live on the radio www.crmk.co.uk

DO LISTEN.

Today's show is WAKE UP WITH THE CLASSICS.  I know everyone associates me with retro pop but classical music is my favourite and within that I just love the ballet.  Today's show is nothing but music from the ballet.

LIFE IS A BALLET SO POINT YOUR TOES !

FINALLY - I can not get that song from the car CD out of my head so here it is again !

I HATE SCHOOL !

PART ONE...

I HATED school - hated it with a vengeance. If you can afford £1.99 you can READ JUST HOW MUCH I HATED SCHOOL.

School was dull....school was boring....school was monochrome.

For me, my schooldays were in no way the happiest days of my life. I have a feeling that for most of us growing up in the 1950's and 1960's it was the same.

Rock and Roll followed by The Swinging Sixties were a reaction to the monochrome.

The horrors of World War Two were vivid in the memory of society.

I was born in 1950 yet rationing was still in force. People did not have a lot of money and if they did there was not a lot they could buy with the cash.

We went to school to pass examinations and get a job. My parents' and grandparents' generation went to school to pass the time until they could serve their country, to die for their country. 

I never knew my Uncle Billy, he was killed on 8th March 1945 when his Lancaster Bomber was shot down during a raid over Germany.

It will cost you £2.99 to read Billy's story.

So what were your school days like ?

LEONITES what were your school days like ?

Thanks Kimberly Cheney-Cade for sharing that photograph. I will add it to the LEONITE gallery I am working on. CHECK IT OUT.

LEONITES did you know that there was an atomic warning siren on the roof of the tower block. When, not IF - WHEN, World War Three came it would warn residents of the end of the world.

LEONITES do you remember the school dining room ?  Do you remember there were two dining rooms but only one was in use ?  The small dining room could not be changed as the space was designated for use by civil defence when world war three came.

This horrible picture ran on the front page of a British newspaper. It so accurately depicts the horrors of The Vietnam War. Britain was spared that horror but it was an every day feature of life and gave rise to the hippie movement and 1967 The Summer of Love.

It's 3.19am, I'm in the studio rattling the keys on my laptop to write this blog. At 6am I will go live with my show MUSIC

FROM MY VINYL COLLECTION.


I will be nervously looking at the broadcast computer to see how many listeners I have to my show.

Audience figures ?  

Where does the line between being effective and my cruising on an ego trip rest ?

World War One....World War Two...The Cold War...The Vietnam War.....  BAD TIMES....nothing like the horrors of those years today !

No, but we do have horrors which would have been beyond comprehension when I was a child, when my father was a child.

If any generation within those years had been told about The Food Bank or The Winter Night Shelter they would not have believed such organisations could exist.

I do not need to explain, do I ? ........what these organisations are. Every reader knows. No matter where in the world a reader is there will be similar organisations.

My Uncle Billy who gave his life before he reached his 21st birthday would wonder if his

sacrifice and that of so many others was worth it.

Few on Tuesday 23rd April 2019 would disagree that politicians are a lower life form. The BeauroRATS who spend their lives putting ticks in boxes with no understanding of anything beyond the red tape they generate by the mile......

Are they responsible for a society that needs a Winter Night Shelter and a Food Bank ?  I am not sure, their failing activities do not help but ultimate responsibility does not rest

with them.

We are actually living through World War Three, Not the way we perceived it. The nuclear warning siren on top of Leon School may not be sounding, the school's unused dining room has not been brought into force by Civil Defence but we ARE living through World War Three.

I have not played any music on  today's  blog !

I will in a moment.  I will play music in PART TWO of today's page.

LEONITE Maggie posted that thought on Facebook this morning.  Maggie is a wonderful lady who radiates love and kindness.

I play music to make people smile, be happy and inspire love for good causes.

LEONITES, I want you to join me in a battle here in World War Three. I want you to play music with me.

With YOUR help WE can win this little battle and bring the war closer to an end.

LEONITES I hope your memories of school are a little more positive than my own. The years have shown that LEON SCHOOL in the 1970's and 1980's was THE SCHOOL OF LOVE. I want you to bring that LOVE as the weapon to win the battle here in World War Three.

It's NOT actually a Leon Disco, the music is being provided by a former student from DENBIGH SCHOOL.

I will, however, be the DJ.

SMILE DISCO is open to EVERYONE.

LEONITES I want you to lead the dancing - I want you to win the battle - to win the battle with love.

I am not sure what the capacity for the hall at Milton Keynes Irish Centre, we will not tell LEONITE Paula who runs the centre, but let's aim for..... 300 people coming to SMILE DISCO....400 ?

Let's say we get only 250 people.....

If each person brings just one tin that gives us more gifts for The Food Bank than even the biggest Supermarket in the area donates in a month.

If each person gave £2 that would put £500 towards the 2020 season for Milton Keynes Winter Night Shelter's work.

So LEONITES will you bring your love and make this  happen ?  Win the battle in World War Three to make ours a better society to live in.

YES, I hated my own school days. I wish I had been a LEONITE but I am not sure I would have wanted me as my head of year !