Fairtrade quiz

It's a trip to Richmond for the quiz crew tomorrow night (Saturday) for a special quiz on behalf of Richmond's Fairtrade group. We've done it in the past for the Walking and Books festival, but now of course with Solid Gold Sunday we're not available that night. The quiz is being held in the Town Hall from 7pm, and there'll be a stall offering Fairtrade goods, including some truly excellent wine. Don't forget too, if you've got a deserving cause we can run a quiz for you. All you need to do is organise a venue, organise an audience, and organise an odd prize or two - we'll do the rest!

The blog is back - watch this space!

In Solid Gold Sunday this weekend (13 November 2011) our theme is Location, Location, Location - and already our regulars have come up with literally hundreds of song titles, some way out of the box too! You might expect songs like New York, New York, but what about Girls on Film? Good thinking! Solid Gold Sunday is on Fresh Radio from 7pm every Sunday evening. Find us on AM and FM around the Yorkshire Dales, or on line at www.freshradio.co.uk - please share as our promos for the show at Fresh are down!

Weather with you!!!

(It's a song title!). I suspect we're going to be very grateful for our air-conditioned studios at Fresh HQ as Steve Joy calls it; I finished the news yesterday and then sped up to Grizedale Forest, while Julian braved the crowds at Otley Show. 

Grizedale first, and we stopped off for a bite to eat at the Bridge service station near Newby Bridge. The car was parked in the shade of a hedge at the side of the car park, but when we got back in the outside temperature gauge read a massive 37 degrees! It settled down at 31 when we set off, but it was still sweltering. Up to Grizedale via a fantastically scenic route, courtesy of the Sat Nav, and a chat with Forest Ranger Dave Lowe, who told us of the many changes since we were last there. The Visitor Centre and Cafe are simply amazing - and hugely popular, as is the Go Ape adventure course and the mountain biking. Most business opportunities seem to be franchised, which is a great way for the Forestry Commission to help make up a funding shortfall. Sadly the only other option is to sell off parts of the estate, with the almost inevitable loss of access to the general public, and when you consider what a huge net contribution these forests make in terms of recreation, public fitness and even helping to lock in carbon, it just doesn't make sense NOT to protect them and keep them in public ownership. 

From Grizedale we were going to make our way back home, but the road leading up to Dent via Kingsdale just looked too tantalising! When you come over the top to Deepdale the view is just breath-taking, especially on a day like yesterday. Thornton Lane is a gated road, going round the western and northern end of Whernside, one of the Three Peaks and ending up in Dentdale (not far from Dent Station) via Deepdale Lane. Then it was back up to Ribblehead, where it was too disappointingly hazy to take pictures, and back home via Settle. 

All the way round we were able to listen to Julian at Otley Show, which sounded fantastic. He was able to make use of the very latest technology to not only broadcast from the show, but also take control of the playout system at the studio, something that just a few years ago would have been impossible. Hopefully it will mean we're able to do many more "outside broadcasts" throughout the summer at the various shows we'll be attending.

Right - a bit of show prep for tonight now - we're on the letter F in the Solid Gold Sunday ABC of Pop and Rock, and will be featuring (amongst many others) Fleetwood Mac, Foreigner and Frankie Goes to Hollywood. 


Solid Gold Sunday on Fresh 7-10 tonight; don't miss it!

End of an era - and Solid Gold Sunday

It was quite an emotional last quiz at the Unicorn last night. The hotel is closing for around four months, having been bought by Wetherspoons. They're going to spend the time renovating the place before re-opening. What happens after that is anyone's guess, but they have retained the staff, which has to be good news. It's frightening to think we've been doing the quiz there for 20 years, initially for Stray FM in Harrogate before I moved to Fresh Radio. I'm going to miss the regulars - in fact I was quite surprised at how emotional I felt at the end!

Solid Gold Sunday entered its second week this week - I felt a little easier on Sunday night, but it's a long time since I did programmes, so I'm still a bit rusty. Lots and lots of feedback though, and all good, which was nice. Got a night off this coming Sunday to celebrate my birthday, but there'll still be lots of good music while I'm away! Back next week though with the letter C in the ABC of Pop and Rock, another teaser in the Mystery Music Challenge, and some more classic tunes in the "Sloppy Bit" - the last hour of the show.

There's more than 70 members on the Facebook page for the show - look for Fresh Radio's Solid Gold Sunday. It was quite amusing on Sunday night, with all of the feedback coming in via Facebook. Every time someone sent a message an audible pop came out on air! Fortunately I've sussed how to stop it now. Don't forget, if you've any requests or dedications either log onto the Facebook page (and become a friend!) or e-mail me personally at work - james.wilson@freshradio.co.uk