Stargazing with Mark Willis - February/March An amazing science fact: You thought that the telescope was the oldest astronomical tool, right? Well it turns out that the Ishango Bone beats it by 20,000 years! The Ishango Bone is thought to be a lunar calendar, found in what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo. 28th February - 20:00: Planets are a bit shy at the moment. The only one on show is Uranus. However, if you don’t mind getting up for 5am, you’ll see Jupiter, Mars and Saturn due south. At 05:10 the International Space Station rises in the south and passes between Mars and Saturn. The good news is that later in the year, the planets Jupiter, Saturn and Mars will become evening objects for those of you (like me) who are not morning people! 2nd March: The full Moon was known by native Americans as the full worm Moon because at this time of the year when the ground would begin to soften, this Moon would announce the earthworms rising to the surface.
find Mercury and Venus just one degree apart and then the planets are a little further apart on 20th. Be careful of glare from the setting Sun. 18th March - 18:15: Looking due west, Mercury and Venus are now in conjunction with the slim crescent Moon below. Again, be careful of glare from the setting Sun. New Moon: On 15th February and 17th March there will be a new Moon. This means the skies will be extra dark which is a great opportunity to see planets, galaxies and deep space objects. As usual, email me with your questions…. Mark Willis presents Willis Wireless every Monday at 7pm on Chelmsford Community Radio on 104.4 FM and online at chelmsfordcommunityradio.com.
3rd March at 18:00 and 20th March at 19:00: Looking due west, you’ll
Twitter: @WillisWireless Email: mark.willis@chelmsfordcommunityradio.com
Chelmsford Jazz Club
We’re also looking at other venues around the city for events outside the regular Cramphorn Theatre Sunday sessions.
Chelmsford Jazz Club at the Cramphorn Theatre has been a regular part of live music in the city (or the town as it was back then) since 1985. After a strong start, audiences started to fall away even after a very successful Humphrey Lyttleton concert in April 1988, and we hit a crisis in late 1989. The November newsletter from that year said: “It is with deep regret that your committee has to tell you that in all probability this will be the last concert that the club will be able to present. In going ahead with the concert, and presumably getting our current level of support, we will be left with nil bank balance at the end.” But it wasn’t the end after all. The next newsletter we have (January 1990) reports on ‘a new beginning’ and announces a ‘Dixieland Express’ concert with Digby Fairweather and Dave Shepherd. It was a Sunday at 12:15 in the Cramphorn - same as our concerts still are to this day, but the ticket prices were £3 for members and £4 for nonmembers. Those prices may have risen since then, but we still remain one of the less expensive jazz venues around while continuing to present very good quality musicians and bands from all over the UK and beyond. After 33 years we are planning something of a relaunch this year to attract a new and younger audience with a wider variety of styles of jazz while retaining the core of swing, mainstream and early bebop styles that the club’s success has been based around. The success of events such as the Writtle Jazz & Blues Festival shows that the interest and enthusiasm is out there - all we have to do is tap into it! We replaced the old dark and gloomy website with a new one last year (www.chelmsfordjazzclub.co.uk) and introduced some other changes to make the club more approachable and audience friendly.
Quiz Answers
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
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11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20.
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Last November we worked with Chelmsford Community Radio to launch a new monthly jazz show Chelmer Jazz Time based around the club, but also aiming to cover all the live jazz in and around Chelmsford no matter who puts it on. The show goes out 7pm - 8pm on the fourth Sunday of each month and it’s also on CCR’s catch-up service and the club website where there is a page dedicated to the radio show. The January show featured an interview with rising star singer Sara Dowling (www. saradowling.co.uk) who gave us a truly memorable concert last September - and some excellent news is that she will be back at the Cramphorn in September this year. Chelmsford Jazz Club membership costs just £10 for a single membership or £15 for joint, and that gets you £4 off your tickets - £12 for members and £16 for non-members. You can join online on the website, or just come along to a concert where Christine, our Membership Secretary, will be delighted to sign you up. We look forward to meeting old and new jazz lovers at the Cramphorn. Come and join us!
21. Because early phones were wall mounted 22. F1 and motor cycle racing 23. Sandy 24. Lauren Becall 25. Thiamin 26. Butterfly 27. Michael Caine 28. Vera Duckworth 29. Shaving the top of the head 30. Knowles
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31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. 40.
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