Not only was I all “fingers and thumbs” today, doing battle with the equipment – and losing (my fault – not the equipment!) but I think I must have transmitted some of my dodgy vibes to Frances Clamp who collapsed with a coughing fit midway through providing us with the lowdown on a stalwart of Brentwood’s economy back in the 1920’s and 1930’s – but more of that later.

In the first hour of the show we looked at a couple of items of real quirky news. First off was the amazing announcement by the authorities in Swaziland that witches have been banned from flying above an altitude of 150 metres. Anyone caught flying a broomstick above the limit will face a £35,000 fine. Earlier a Swazi MP called for a hike in taxes paid by witch doctors to help ease the country’s financial crisis. A risky move one supposes, always assuming that affected persons might consider putting a spell on their tormenters!

Meanwhile closer to home it seems that council officials in Brighton and Hove are resisting a demand to investigate the sudden appearance of a wormhole to another dimension. A concerned resident reported that the vortex had opened up on a local road in which he was walking his dog. Only concern that his affenpinscher (a toy breed of dog) was is in imminent danger of being sucked into the portal, prevented him from closer inspection. Passing the same spot on a later occasion, he reported that the anomaly had seemingly grown and was now emitting an unsettling yellow light with a large snake emerging from the wall! A spokesperson for the Brighton and Hove City Council said that officials had no plans to investigate the claim. Odd you might think given that some people might feel that there are a good many councils living in another dimension.

Anyway back to Frances Clamp whose subject today was SELO LTD, a subsidiary of Ilford Films. The company was founded in 1926 but ceased trading under the SELO name in 1946 although the name was maintained in Brentwood as the Selo Factory. Even now the name lives on as THE BRENTWOOD-SELO SUB AQUA CLUB, which was founded 50 years ago by a group of swimming enthusiasts employed by ILFORD FILMS LTD, meets right here at THE BRENTWOOD CENTRE every  Friday evening at 8:30.

Listen again to what Frances had to say (without her coughing fit) right here: – [audio:https://www.phoenixfm.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Bygones-21st-May.mp3|titles=Bygones 21st May]

See you again next week.

Scott