Mary’s Column Mary, 93 in July, is quite possibly BHBN’s oldest and biggest fan.
I
’m Mary and I think I might be BHBN’s oldest fan. I’ll be 93 in July (2020) and I have listened to BHBN everyday since I found out about the station nearly 7 years ago by Donna Joseph the presenter of Good Vibrations, Donna is my neighbour in Great Barr, Birmingham. Donna had not long started her request programme, and BHBN had just started airing online, so I was very lucky to be able to listen from home. I’ve lived in the same house in Great Barr since I was 3 years old and have been house bound now for 13 years. It wouldn’t be the same without BHBN. I know most of the Presenters and get mentioned quite alot, and l always let them know I’ve been listening and how much I enjoy their shows. I think it’s wonderful that they all work as volunteers and give so much of their time, especially Dave Horton the Vice Chairman/ tech man/ web designer, he does so much and is such a lovely man. It’s no surprise he won the HBA’S John Witney Award 2 years ago, well deserved I’d say. Until I was bed bound 6 months ago, I used to help produce the light lunch programme by listening to ensure there were no repeats throughout the week.
This was great for me because the light lunch programme plays my favourite big band music. I would gladly listen with my pen and pad in hand and report any repeats back to Dave at the end of the week. I’m hoping I’ll be able to still help BHBN in some way or another soon because I would like to give back to them as much as they give to me. I also have my own feature on Donna’s Good Vibrations on a Monday called Mary Favourites, where Donna calls me up and we have a chat before playing my favourite songs for that week. I have lots of favourites over all decades, it’s not just the oldies I like. I listen to BHBN on my ipad which I was eventually persuaded to buy with my cousins money he left me after he died. Whilst I wasn’t sure at first I can say now that it was the best decision. I can’t imagine my life now without it, being able to have real time access with my family in New Zealand, catch up on my favourite TV programmes and of course listen to BHBN.
Mary x
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