I celebrated my Big Birthday last Friday – How can I be 70?
It was only about 3 months ago I was 35!
I had an absolutely brilliant day thanks to some very good friends.
I had no idea what was going to happen, but I was picked up at 8am, put in a car and blindfolded.
We made our way into Billericay as it turned out, The blindfold came off to reveal that even more friends had joined us.
As we walked along the High Street I wondered “where on earth can we be going at this time in the morning!”
We ended up at the station and boarded a train. Two trains later we arrived at Hoxton in the London Borough of Hackney. More puzzlement as we walked the streets of Hoxton. We arrived at The Regents Canal where a narrowboat was waiting for us.
My friends had hired the boat for the day to take me on a journey to Camden and back!
We had a party on the boat with food and drink, music and dancing!
It was phenomenal and absolutely mind blowing that my dear friends had gone to so much trouble for me, I had a fantastic time.
So it’s a very big thank you to Julie, David, Heather, Joanne, Lin, Lynda, Georgie, Sam, Bronwyn, and Millie the dog!
You are all legends!
Back in May this year I had the privilege of wishing Billericay resident Dorothy Lukes a happy 91st birthday after her daughter in law Sandie Duffy got in touch.
Sandie has been in touch again to say that sadly, Dorothy passed away this week. Sandie said “Now that Dorothy is finally at peace after a long battle, any chance you could play her one final song, anything by Tom Jones or Michael Ball would be great Thanks in advance xx” Well Sandie, I’m so sorry for your loss, I played two songs for Dorothy, Tom Jones – The Green Green Grass of Home and Michael Buble – Home,
Dorothy Lukes
Also on today’s show –
A table tennis player will fulfill has lifelong ambition to represent his country at age 70 – more than 50 years after he first picked up a paddle.
High Street in Brentwood is set to be closed for more than a month as part of gas works.
Billericay Foodbank needs your help
More than £100m of premium bond prizes remain unclaimed.
Martin’s Choice – My song request for this week is by Oleta Angela Adams who was born May 4, 1953. An American singer, pianist, and songwriter. She found limited success during the early 1980s, before gaining fame via her contributions to Tears for Fears.
In June 1985, while performing in a hotel in Kansas City, Adams was heard by a guy called Ian Stanley who was the keyboard player from the band Tears for Fears while they were in Kansas City, midway through their “Big Chair Tour”. The next night Stanley, Curt Smith and Roland Orzabal from Tears For Fears had dinner at the club where Adams was again performing and they collectively decided that they would approach her with an offer for her to work on their next album, “The Seeds of Love” Adams accepted the offer, and two years later the guys from Tears For Fears got in contact with her again to invite her to join the band as a singer and pianist.
In 1989, the album was released and the single “Woman in Chains”, sung as a duet by Adams and Orzabal and with Phil Collins on drums, became her first hit. Adams then embarked on a world tour with Tears for Fears in 1990, performing by herself as the supporting act at the start of each show and remaining onstage throughout the Tears for Fears set where she would provide piano and vocals.
She then went on to record her own albums, “Circle Of One” and “Evolution “ these were both top 10 hits in the UK; “Circle Of One “ yielded a Grammy nominated cover version of Brenda Russell’s song “Get Here” which was a top 5 hit in both the UK and the U.S.
I could have requested any of the songs by her that I’ve mentioned but I’m going to request her Song “Circle Of One” off the album of the same name, although released as a single it didn’t do as well as her hit “Get Here”but it’s a great song.
You can listen to the show here – 
