It’s the fourth FOPS (Friends of Prostate Sufferers) Roadshow coming up on Monday 6 October. The Roadshow is FOPS’ greatest coup to date. Aimed at men of a certain age, the evening includes a blood test, a Q&A session with leading urologists plus counselling. Men of 50+yrs are encouraged to go to The Junction at Christ Church to get their PSA levels (prostate specific antigen hormone, (released by prostate cells) checked free of charge. The Mediwatch Bioscanner machines deliver a PSA result in 15 minutes and will be run by specialists including our local pharmacists and nurses.
The Chorleywood based group FOPS is one of our most active local charities and was launched in 2009 with the sole aim of helping men affected by prostate cancer in Chorleywood and surrounding area.
“ We have come through prostate cancer treatment ourselves” says FOPS Chairman Bob Arthy, “and by working together we have helped other sufferers get their lives back together. We meet regularly and run fund raising events but most of all we provide a sounding board for other men in the area who are treading the same path and experiencing the same problems we have encountered.”
FOPS Roadshow, Monday 6 October from 6.30pm, The Junction, Christ Church.
To reserve a place email info@thefops.org.uk or call 01923 282199/01895 824672 or 01923 282105
Evening sponsored by The Peppermill and The Rose and Crown
SELLOUT JAZZ CONCERT
In the summer FOP
S organised a concert with Janet Seidel and her Trio at Christ Church …
The Australian jazzers were met with a standing ovation. It’s the third time ‘Australia’s First Lady of Jazz ‘has played a fund raising gig for FOPS with partner Chuck on guitar (and ukelele) and brother Dave the double bass. The trio didn’t hesitate in fitting a Chorleywood gig in as part of their British tour (the day after Ronnie Scott’s!) as a favour for FOPS founder/Chairman Bob Arthy who had become a friend on their first visit to Chorleywood in 2011 when they were staying in Chorleywood as part of a house swap.
” We went for a bracing walk on the Common and ended up in the Rose and Crown. There was a fire blazing and we squeezed in next to two gentlemen who were talking about guitar chords. When Chuck realised they were musicians we started chatting. Now we have lot of friends in Chorleywood and are really happy to be back!”
This year they have swapped houses with a couple from Hounslow.
Classically trained in piano, Janet turned to jazz in her teens when she discovered the Great American Song Book. She has performed with many different sized bands but the Trio, she says, works a treat.
“Chuck often makes the guitar sound like percussion so we don’t need drums! I value the sound of acoustic instruments. Our current set list changes but we use Song Book standards from the 20s to the 50s
Janet has played to audiences as big as 100,000 but prefers small cabaret gigs.
“ We all love intimate spaces and especially the natural acoustics of old halls and churches!”
Christ Church made the perfect venue. The set covered a vast selection of numbers from Cole Porter to Peggy Lee, Ella Fitzgerald and Johnny Mercer and included a couple of humorous songs. Towards the end of the evening the trio performed “Vaya con Dios” most 
famously recorded by Les Paul and Mary Ford, following a request from audience members Peter and Pam Lennon.
Chuck played Peter Lennon’s Gretsch guitar for the number which Janet explained was perfect for the ‘whammy bar’ effect
The whole audience joined in the final number Bye Bye Blackbird
The evening was punctuated by an auction of original paintings in aid of the Melkonian Foundation helping Street Children worldwide.
” It was by far the best show that FOPS have ever staged!” says Bob Arthy, “It was a marvellous night, we are so thrilled with the response of the public.”