2025 S3Ep9 Anything for a Biscuit – Essex Therapy Dogs Take the Lead

Spending time with a dog is many people’s idea of the best time ever. The absolute adoration and love a dog can give is so special, and the charity Essex Therapy Dogs recognises this.

They have 288 dogs across Essex who, with their owners and entirely voluntarily, spend time in schools, care homes, hospitals, airports and workplaces, just being dogs. And this means people who are sad, stressed, anxious or ill get the chance to stroke, play with and enjoy all a dog can offer.

The Brentwood Buzz has been to meet Maple and Jessie, two of the Essex Therapy Dogs for this week’s podcast.

If you want to find out more about Essex Therapy Dogs you can contact them via their website: https://essextherapydogs.co.uk/

2024 S2Ep13 Keeping Safe in Brentwood with Meridian Kung Fu and Essex Police

Brentwood is a town with low crime levels and a general feeling of safety. But some people, especially women, feel less safe when out for a run or walking home in the dark.

In the last couple of years Essex Police and Brentwood Borough Council have worked with local martial arts instructors to offer free self defence classes to anyone who wants to sign up to come along.

The Brentwood Buzz has been to join them.

2024 S2Ep5 The Beast of Brentwood

If you thought the Beast of Brentwood was a large black panther-like creature spotted roaming the town’s parks in the early 2000s, think again.

Today’s Beast is the bane of Brentwood Park Run’s participants – a lung-challenging 5k course around Weald Country Park.

The Brentwood Park Run is one of the friendliest and most inclusive free activities available in the town on a Saturday morning, so The Brentwood Buzz has donned some running shoes and headed off to Weald Park for a bit of a weekend workout.

If this sounds like your sort of thing, you can find out how to register for the Brentwood Park Run at http://www.parkrun.org.uk/brentwood

2023 S1Ep24 Chantilly – The Pink Place on Crown Street

If you’ve not popped into Chantilly aka The Pink Cafe on Crown Street for a spot of lunch, a cup of coffee, or one of their amazing afternoon teas, you’ve been missing out!

Co-owned and run by two cousins, Natalie and Sally, Chantilly is a great little independent tearoom. The Brentwood Buzz visited Chantilly and co-owner Natalie Sutherland to find out why the cafe has become the go-to place for people needing a coffee and a catch up.

S1EP10 The Brentwood Buzz – Mario Corile

Summary

Anyone who has walked past the Spread Eagle Pub on Queen’s Road in Brentwood will be familiar with the wonderful murals which regularly appear on the wall opposite the back entrance to St Thomas’s Churchyard. The artist behind these murals is artist Mario Corile (http://www.corile-design.co.uk/) , and a couple of weeks ago I happened to see him painting his latest artwork on the pub wall. It was too good an opportunity to mis so we had a chat about his work and what brings him to Brentwood on a regular basis.

Transcription

S1Ep9 The Brentwood Buzz – Jane Bennett of Bennetts Funeral Directors

Summary

The cheerful and ever-changing displays in the windows of Bennetts Funeral Directors in Brentwood reflect the company’s long-standing position and importance in the lives – and deaths – of many Brentwood inhabitants.

But if you think the funeral business involves little more than a long car and some men and women in black suits, you may wish to think again. There are qualifications and regulations, training and a good eye for a good hearse needed. Jane Bennet took over her family’s firm more than thirty years ago and had to learn it all from scratch so The Brentwood Buzz has been to meet her and find out some of the finer details of planning a funeral.

Transcription

2023 S1Ep8 Make Your Market in Brentwood

A special additional episode of The Brentwood Buzz today, celebrating young entrepreneurs in the town who have been taking part in Brentwood’s first ‘Make Your Market’ event in the Baytree Centre.

The Covid pandemic made many young people take a good look at their lives and passions, and the outcome seems to have been the enthusiastic decision to make, create and sell all kinds of products. Brentwood has never been a place lacking in entrepreneurial vigour, and Brentwood Borough Council have embraced this by bringing ‘Make Your Market’ to the town and encouraged those aged under 30 to take part.

Things started small today, but they will grow, and there’s no doubt The Brentwood Buzz will be talking to the likes of Charlotte (Minus Cloud Nine), Lucy (Amara London) and Lily (DottysCreatives) again in the future as their business careers develop.

http://www.brentwoodconnected.co.uk

S1Ep7 Marc Sardinha of Hey Joe Music

2023 S1Ep7 Music, coffee and a hefty dose of nostalgia is what you get at Hey Joe!, Brentwood’s only independent record shop. The shop in the Baytree Centre is run by Marc Sardinha, who decided Brentwood was the perfect place for the shop he wanted to open and he moved here three years ago.

This week on The Brentwood Buzz Marc explains why Brentwood offers everything he wants for home and work, and runs through what’s hot and what’s not in the music scene at the moment. And if Sam Ryder or Depeche Mode tune in to The Brentwood Buzz, Marc would be happy for them to come and do a turn at the shop.

If you’d like to know more about The Brentwood Buzz, or think someone you know would make a brilliant guest, please get in touch at TheBrentwoodBuzz@gmail.com or via The Brentwood Buzz on Facebook.

NB Since this episode was recorded in 2023, Hey Joe Music has moved to Ropers Yard Off Crown Street in Brentwood. You can browse for records, have coffee and cake or a wine or beer and Marc has a host of music events and gigs to attend too.

https://heyjoemusic.co.uk/

2023 S1Ep6 Chicken and Frog Bookshop – Natasha Radford

Nestled in the heart of Brentwood’s wonderful Crown Street is the Chicken and Frog bookshop, run by Natasha and Jim Radford. The bookshop provides a focus for young readers wanting to find new inspiration, and for adults who want to read something which might be less widely available online or in High Street chains. The shop embraces diversity and everyone is made to feel welcome – unless they are a chicken…

This week The Brentwood Buzz visits the Chicken and Frog to meet owner Natasha Radford to find out what Brentwood, and books, mean to her.

2023 S1Ep5 – Early Doors Productions Bring Original Musical to Brentwood

Summary

S1Ep5 The Brentwood Buzz has been given exclusive access to rehearsals of a new and original musical, ‘If They’re Human’, by the talented team at Early Door Productions.

Early Doors Productions rehearse and perform in Brentwood, and their latest show, set in a concentration camp in Second World War Germany, promises to challenge audiences when it comes to Brentwood Theatre on 1st-4th March 2023.