Bench Talk Jo Hilditch

Today the tables are turned and it is Jo Hilditch who is being interviewed by Tricia Thomas with whom she conducted her very first podcast. Nearly ex-High Sheriff, Jo talks about her year in post. A year that started with the restrictions of Covid and over a year later Covid is still present, but poses less problems for our daily life. Jo discusses with Tricia the activities of her Shrieval year, and looks back ruminating how she has got to know a whole new strata of Herefordshire. Talking of the many charities that she has come across during the year, as well as her fundraising event - Wingwalking; and of specific charities to whom the funds will be distributed. The tourism economy has been such an important part of Jo's activity during the year that her three top tips are difficult to pinpoint!

Today Bench talk comes from the nave of Hereford Cathedral where you can hear the organ, the choir and even a young child running around screaming!

Today I am talking to John Eden who is the Chief Executive of the Herefordshire Association for the Blind as well as being the Director of Music at St Martins, Hereford. As well as being a deeply Christian man John also runs the Hereford Church Singers about which we talk today; and also about music more generally in the community and how things have changed in schools around music and how the digital era does not help musical appreciation.

Today Bench talk comes from the seat at the organ at St Martins Church high above the beautiful nave.

Today I am talking to Beth Fortey who is a breast cancer survivor.  We’re going to talk about her journey over the last 18 months, of diagnosis, treatment and recovery and much more besides.  Beth is resilient, positive and looking forward to a future where her hair is properly grown out! She’s also looking forward to giving a bit back and when she recovers all her energy she will be looking to getting back in the workplace and volunteering her services to the community.

Today Bench talk comes from a bench in one of Yelenis treatment rooms where Beth has had her 6 free treatments as well as joining others for restorative chats with friends who have gone through the same. Strangely we are sitting in front of a large wall covering of a peaceful sea; and we couldn’t be further from the sea in the middle of Herefordshire, but it’s very calming!

Vicky Nicolson-James is the mother of lovely Clementine. 18 year-old Clemmie has profound and multiple physical and learning difficulties and has been looked after assiduously by her mother and father, as well as being at Westfield Special School in Leominster. Having a disability of any sort makes life difficult for the individual and of course the rest of the family especially when out and about trying to do the everyday things we all take for granted; as well as visiting tourist attactions. Vicky is making it a project to improve awareness in the community with her Accessible Herefordshire campaign – imagine if you can’t take the family out because there’s nowhere suitable to change your child. This podcast will make you realise how lucky you are – if you know nothing about living with a disability, or with a person with a disability this podcast will give you an understated view and help you appreciate the resilience needed and so well displayed by this lovely lady. It is particularly poignant for me as I had a sister Nicky, who was very similar to Clemmie, and was one of the early pupils at Westfield, so I well understand the daily struggles.

Today our bench was in the quiet kitchen of Westfield Special School.

Please welcome my oldest podcastee! At 90 years old Alan Blake was inspired by Captain Sir Tom Moore to go the extra mile. And so he has. Living on the banks of the River Wye in Hereford he decided to walk round his garden enough times to be the equivalent of the steps taken to to climb Mount Everest. That’s 556 circuits of his steep riverside garden - incredible! His wife Valerie suffers from Parkinsons so this is an obvious charity for Alan to support along with the Hereford Rotary and the parish of Burghill where he lived for many years. I first walked with him at the beginning of my tenure, so it was wonderful to be with him on the day he finished.

Our bench today is at his house, at the top of his garden, looking onto the River Wye just downstream of the Victoria Bridge - a good place to relax following his exhausting climb!

Daniel Lister was the “Covid Mayor” of Ross.  His redemptive story shows us all how if you make good choices in your life you can find your way to a respected way of living.  For Daniel it was not always thus.  Brought up in East Anglia, Daniel fought his way through his teens and twenties (literally and metaphorically) where his life involved leaving home as a teenager, dealing drugs, couch surfing, some sexual abuse and difficult family relationships.  Listen to him talk about the troubles of his early life and how he found his way into employment and then to becoming a town councillor for Ross, and eventually becoming Mayor. But this isn’t all he does – his firm opinion is that doing positive things in the community really helps you get over all the difficulties that you may have confronted in your past and in turn you can help others as he has proved in his current job. And his volunteering around the community is non-stop – amazing he has time to sleep!

 

Today our noisy Bench is in the Tap House in Ross on Wye – a micropub of great local renown and Daniel’s regular watering hole.