Life of Hope

Never eat more than you can lift.      

Miss Piggy quoted in The Times                                           

Our big event during the week was the Access to the Air: Community Radio Conference which we held on Monday 23 April 2007 at AFC Bournemouth.  

The purpose of the Conference was to explain what community radio is all about and how organisations; be they commercial, voluntary or local government; can use it to get their message out while also developing communication and other related personal skills.   

Various people spoke at the Conference including the YMCA President, the Archbishop of York John Sentamu, Douglas Eyre the Chair of Bournemouth 2026, Blair Crawford the Bournemouth YMCA Director and members of the Hope Team.   

The event seemed to go well with around 200 people attending the two sessions.  

During his speech, Kevin Potter the Hope FM Launch Manager referred to our impending launch as a time ‘when the cows come home to roost’. I have to say that after that I did not take in much more of Kevin’s talk as I was trying to picture in my mind a Friesian cow sitting peacefully on an oak tree surveying the surrounding countryside.  I must admit I found this rather difficult. 

  Kevin has lived for most of his life in South Africa and he assures me that ‘cows coming home to roost’ is a common saying in South Africa.

So all I can think is that either their cows are somewhat smaller than ours or that trees in South Africa are an awfully lot bigger than those you find in Europe.   Have you come across any sayings from other countries that just do not make sense in our culture? Why don’t you share them with us?

It is hard to believe but the following is true. The mind boggles as to why it takes two days to cover the course content !! 

Dozens of male council workers in Blackburn and Darwin are to be sent on compulsory breast-feeding courses. A spokeswoman said that the two-day awareness training would make the men more sensitive to the needs of nursing mothers.

Insanity is hereditary; you can get it from your children.

              Anthony Powell quoted in The Independent

A Norfolk policeman has been named personality of the year in Lithuania, thanks to his efforts to make immigrants feel at home in Great Yarmouth.   When PC Gary Pettengall became a beat officer, he found that many newly arrived workers in the seaside resort were desperately ignorant of local customs, and vulnerable to exploitation. So he bought a Teach Yourself Lithuanian course, and launched a scheme to help them.  The Lithuanians spread the word back home and PC Pettengall found himself nominated for the prestigious Pride of Lithuania award, which he duly won.

Time continues to fly by and it is now only 5 weeks until Hope FM starts to broadcast full-time on 90.1FM.  One by one we are getting things done on our ‘to do’ list, although sometimes progress seems very slow.  

Last Thursday was a particularly bad day for me work wise. Have you ever had one of those days that everything you try to do takes five times as long as it should? Well that is what happened to me last Thursday.  It started with sent emails continually bouncing back, continued with printers getting continually jammed then running out of ink and ended with me breaking the photocopier when trying to sort out yet another paper jam. Jobs that should have taken 30 minutes were taking a couple of hours.  

In fact after the photocopy incident I decided that I would not take the lift back down to our office, as the lift was bound to get stuck between floors, so I walked down the four flights of stairs instead.  Have you every had an ‘everything turns into a disaster day’? Why not share your experiences with us?

We often receive comments about the name of our Radio Station. Normally along the lines of ‘that’s an interesting name’, which is probably just a polite way of saying they are not sure about it.  

The Oxford Dictionary defines the word ‘HOPE’ as: expectation and desire combined; feeling of trust; person, thing, that hope centres in.  

As I travelled up yesterday to watch my football team, Watford, play Manchester United in the Semi-Final of the FA Cup it was with just a little hope that they would win. As this game really was a giant against a minnow. So I guess in my case, going back to the definition, I had the desire but not the expectation.  

In terms of Hope FM, this name is a great definition of what we are all about. We really do want to make a positive difference to our broadcast area, so we have the desire. Previous experience,  when we have been broadcasting on a part-time basis,  has encouraged us to believe that through giving people in our community a voice to express their views and also training them to become broadcasters, we can make a difference; so we have the expectation as well. So we really are Hope FM.  

Bringing the definition of ‘HOPE’ back to a personal level what are your hopes, or using the Oxford Dictionary definition; what are your hopes and expectations? Why not let us know?

A terrorist is a man with a bomb but no air force

                                    Bruce Kent quoted in The Independant

A confused cockatoo thwarted her family’s Easter by trying to hatch their chocolate eggs, Pippa aged 17, has been jealously guarding the 20 Cadbury’s Crème Eggs for two weeks. Owner Geoff Grewcock from Warwickshire, said: ‘If you try to take one she goes crazy.’

Another week has passed and it’s now 7 weeks until Hope FM goes live 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.  We are now four in terms of staff in the Office, but time is still passing too quickly, with our ‘to do lists’ growing every longer. Plus there are now four lists compared to only two a week ago.  

 As well as working in the Office, three of us have presenting responsibilities, so there is that to think about as well.  I am scheduled to present the Afternoon Show from 2.00pm until 4.00pm, three days a week; Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.  

The plan is for the Show to be a magazine type format with interviews plus regular features of around 4 to 5 minutes in length.

As yet I have a blank piece of paper, mainly due to the fact that I have given the subject very little thought.  So you folk out in cyberspace, have you any feature suggestions that I could use?  The target audience is the 30+ age group in Bournemouth, Poole and Christchurch area.    

I look forward to receiving your comments; please keep them Family Friendly!!