A day in the life of John Bradshaw, ex-chairman of Shoreham Beach Residents' Association

Hello and welcome to my blog. It's lovely to see you again.
     I'm feeling tired and grumpy this morning.  Got no-one to blame but myself. I stayed up too late, boring myself rigid with our company accounts.
     Tiredness is no excuse for slacking so time to return to another of the 2010 series on "a day in the life of." Today you have a chance to re-read John Bradshaw's contribution.

John Bradshaw, 74, lives on Shoreham Beach with his wife, Judy and Punch, their Jack-Russell cross. He has two grown up stepsons and has been Chairman of Shoreham Beach Residents Association for over 10 years.

“I always get up between 6-6.30 am. Always eat breakfast, and then the day starts. I listen to Radio 4 because I find that it gives me a lot of information. I always read newspapers. I walk the dog, usually on the beach in the morning and in the afternoon I walk Punch along the riverbank, Widewater or on the Downs. The weather is usually kind to us, but not always, but it doesn’t matter. Punch doesn’t like the rain. I’m not sure that I like it either.

     In the summer I usually swim in the Harbour. I love it when the tide is in high at 6.00 o’clock in the morning and I can go and swim, usually on my own.

     I’m retired, and it’s the best job I’ve ever had in my life. You can alter things; you can do things you like, not necessarily when you want to, but when it’s convenient, let’s put it that way.

     I’m the Chairman of Shoreham Beach Residents Association. I’ve probably been Chairman too long, but it’s very interesting because it gives you knowledge of what is going on in the area, you can help people out, you can look at very interesting things. At the moment we are very heavily involved in the new footbridge which many, many people have got massive ideas on, a lot of which are not going to happen. It all comes really down to a question of costs. We have been consulted and we’re now waiting to find out from the engineers exactly what is going to happen. One thing that people haven’t quite realised yet is that the car park is going to close during the period of construction because it’s going to be used by the workmen. That is going to cause a lot of hassle and a lot of problems for people, but it’s going to have to be lived with I’m afraid.

     I also do charity work. I was employed in the newspaper and magazine distribution industry and we have a charity called Old Ben or NewstrAid, it’s got two names. It was set up by Charles Dickens, so it’s been going for a long time. I’m the Almoner for West Sussex which means that I visit beneficiaries in the area. I’m also the Treasurer for the Sussex Committee which does fund-raising and things like that and on the National Welfare Committee. I find this very interesting and it gives me the opportunity to give something back to a trade that I worked in for forty-two years and gave me a good living.

     I’m usually in bed by 11.30 and I go to sleep almost immediately.”

In February 2013, after 12 years of service, John stepped down as Chairman and took up the position of Vice-Chair.

I promise to be more alert next week when I hope to bring you a behind the scenes look at this year's  Adur Festival. Thanks for dropping by and ta-ra for now.