Paul Golder writes for the Brentwood Gazette

We welcomed the man behind a great new initiative to the Phoenix FM studio last week – Matt Everard.

Matt has formed a new group called BARK – Billericay Acts of Random Kindness. The idea is to gather up an army of local people who are willing to donate a few hours every month and pool resources to help others.

He chatted to Bob Simpson about how he wants people in Billericay to tell the group what needs to be done, so they can set about solving it, but overall the aim is to encourage and engage in random acts of kindness.

Matt’s group already has over 1,500 members and although they haven’t been together very long they have already helped to collect items for a new outdoor play area. You can find out more about BARK by listening to the interview on phoenixfm.com.

*** We were delighted to hear that our recent fundraiser that we hosted with Shenfield Cricket Club raised £1,940 for Saint Francis Hospice. I would like to say thank you to Keeley Smith for another fantastic live performance, to our very own Steve Roach for his organisational skills, and to all those people who kindly donated raffle prizes.

*** We’ll be chatting to local businesspeople over the next few days on air including Dr Pragyan Sahu from the Revive Hair and Skin Clinic.

We’ve also got live music in the studio from Leigh Luscious, Olivia-Jayne, Daniel Molyneaux and Adam Nichols.