Radio Features

It was the Ray Clark Breakfast Show producer Alison's birthday on Tuesday (sorry, age not to be divulged).

Alison really is surprised!

Neither Tom nor I made any mention of it - I think that secretly Ali was just a little sad about this - until the naughty boys took over.

Tom has the info and the pictures:

"It was a very special week this week on the Ray Clark Breakfast Show - Producer Alison had a birthday.

"For weeks she'd been trying to keep it secret but we found out! For a special birthday surprise we got her an inflatable bucking bronco. Luckily she loved it!

"Hold tight Tom, don't let go!!

"She got her own back on me, however. On Friday I was sent to 'Bradwell Outdoors' and in high winds had to climb a 35 foot high telegraph pole and jump across to a trapeze high above the earth - very scary!"

Who do I think I am?

Most of us love the idea of finding out who went before us, what they did and where they did it.

I'm talking family history here, and recently my second cousin Zoe presented me with my ancestral history, going back to Burnham-on-Crouch in the 1700's. My Great Grandad and his father... and his father too, were oyster dredgermen.

More oysters come ashore at Mersea

I wanted to know what their job entailed, so I went to Mersea Island to talk oysters with local man Richard Haward and it seems that apart from engines replacing sails nothing much has changed.

But the really exciting thing was that, just possibly, my Great Great Grandfather battled with pirates from Tollesbury, as those old Burnham boys helped themselves to part of the river bed. Listen to the story.....

Bridie Rules O.K.

Another great week with 'The Story That You Write'. Thanks to Phil, Sandra, Lynn and The Story Lady - and the invite is there for you to join in, please do....

And this weeks clues:

Footwear, deep in a Scottish loch = Shoeburyness
Small parts of a wheel will make an entrance = Coggeshall
Frankly my dear, the professor gets top marks = Rettendon (Rhett/ten/don)
A quiet pasture fro chickens = Shenfield (Shhh/hen/field)
Saucepans out to graze = Panfield