Coping With Lockdown
Felixstowe’s 7 Year Old DJ!
Amelie is 7 years old and lives in Felixstowe with her mum Lucy, step dad Steve and big brother Oliver. During lockdown she has been learning a very exciting new skill – how to DJ! Here’s Amelie’s mum, Lucy, to tell us all about their story…
Initially the thought of home schooling was quite overwhelming! But we soon realised we may not be qualified teachers but we have a lot of skills we can teach the kids.
Their step dad Steve has been DJ’ing for many years and is an avid collector of vinyl records. He wanted to share his love of music with Amelie so he set her the challenge of researching an album each day. Amelie had to research 3 things about it, rate the album out of 10 and explain why she liked/disliked it.
Steve then wanted to show Amelie how to mix the music and was quite shocked when she said she didn’t realise girls could be DJ’s!!
He introduced her to some famous female DJ’s and decided to teach her the ropes. It was clear very early on that she had an ear for music and was soon mixing records. They decided it would be a fun idea to put on a live show via Facebook for family and friends and set up the Masquerave encouraging everyone to dress up and have fun.
She was a natural and absolutely loved doing it. Steve posted a photo on Twitter which was picked up by Lauren Laverne from BBC Radio 6. She loved the story and contacted her colleague Mary Ann Hobbs who offered for Amelie to choose some music for the All Queens Mix which celebrates females in the music industry.
The show was fab and has been followed up with two interviews on Felixstowe Radio with Rob Dunger, an interview with Nihal Arthanayake from radio 5 and an appearance on Newsround!
https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/52946935
Steve and Amelie put on a second show using the Twitch app and Amelie chose to extend her All Queens Mix using female artists. With rainbow feather wings, crimped hair and glitter cheekbones she looked fab! She is an utter joy to watch and we are all bursting with pride for her.
Her next show will be live on Twitch (twitch.tv/coxy211) Saturday 27th June 3-5pm to celebrate what would have been Glastonbury 2020.
She would like to raise some money for charity and has chosen Suffolk MIND due to the fabulous work they have done to support very vulnerable people during lockdown. During her show you will be able to purchase a virtual festival pint for £5 via Just Giving.
I think most parents will relate to the pressure we put ourselves under to get this home schooling right. But we must remember, we are parents not teachers and our job is simply to keep our kids happy and safe.
When we heard about Annette and John, we just fell in love with them and couldn’t wait to share their story with you all. Here’s Annette to tell the tale of how their love story started…
John and I met quite by chance on the Felixstowe prom last year. We both used to walk the prom on our own every day and for several months we would just say hi and pass the time of day as we passed by each other going in opposite directions.
One day towards the end of August, as I joined the prom from the bottom of Bent Hill, John was walking in the same direction. That day, we had our walk together, and found that we had plenty in common and the same sense of humour. At the end of the walk, we arranged to meet up the following day for another walk together, and as they say, the rest is history!
We began spending time together on a daily basis and love very soon blossomed for both of us (although John maintains that for him it was love at first sight!).
By the end of October John had proposed, although by then I think we both knew it was a foregone conclusion.
We had planned to marry on the 28th May at St John’s Church with Reverend Andrew Dotchin officiating, but that was of course prior to Covid19 and the lockdown, and our plans (along with many other people’s plans) had to be put on hold.
However, Reverend Dotchin came up with a lovely idea so that we could still mark the proposed date of the 28th May, by having a socially distanced Betrothal Service. This is an unofficial ceremony in which one makes a promise to marry at a future date. We had a lovely day which could almost be described as a dress rehearsal for the real thing. The ceremony was held in my sister Jo’s garden, and she did us proud with her efforts of decorating the garden in the appropriate colour scheme which was absolutely magical.
Obviously, we have been avidly watching the news for information on when weddings would be allowed to resume after lockdown, and we are very glad to say that we got married officially this morning at St. John’s Church at 11.30am. We were beyond excited! 😍😍
Because of the Betrothal Service which took place in May, we already have a gorgeous collection of photos.
A big thank you for the photos must to to our good friend Fran Comer who did a wonderful job of being the official photographer.
Annette and John
On behalf of us all at The Felixstowe Magazine, HUGE congratulations to Annette and John… your story is adorable and you’re a truly lovely couple! x
It’s been such a pleasure to see so many articles come in from local people doing their part to make a difference. Though lockdown is going through the process of lifting, we’d still like to continue to shine a light on these local gems. This article is by the lovely local lady, Bev Lambert…
During lockdown I have been making various sewing items. I have donated 242 face coverings to people/key workers in my community. I have since been selling these to the wider community. I have been making a number of little bears ‘(as below) which have been donated to many people within my community just to bring a smile on a face. I have also donated some of the below pocket pillows which I make to sell.
My sewing page can be found on Facebook/Twitter & Instagram “Berty Lamb Handmade“. I make various items using my sewing and embroidery machines.
I am also the founder of Over the Rainbow Children’s Charity, a charity to support local children across Suffolk who are living with a life limiting or serious illness, by providing specialist equipment to help day to day living. The charity is run 100% by volunteers. I also made this large key worker hanger and raised £100.00 through a silent auction. I donated the £100.00 to Captain Tom Moore’s JustGiving page. The winner if the auction was Glebe House Residential Home in Hollesley. I have donated various sewn items to Glebe House including some lavender filled hearts which I initialled with each of the residents first names. The staff all received a Ginger Ginger key fobs, including care staff, kitchen staff, maintenance staff etc all key fobs were relevant to the jobs they did within the home.
Thank you to all the key workers, charities and local people out there. We’ve been in this together and it’s be an honour to be part of the positivity.
Bev Lambert
A Family of Litter-Pickers
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