Paul Golder writes for the Brentwood Gazette
We’ve paid tribute on air to Frances Clamp, a long time contributor to Phoenix FM who sadly passed away recently.
Frances has lived in Essex all her life, arriving in Brentwood in 1973.
She joined Brentwood Writers’ Circle, eventually becoming Chair and President. At one point, she was responsible for attracting more than 60 writers to the group.
Frances has been interviewed dozens of times on air about local history, recording more than a hundred stories in our Brentwood Bygones feature with daytime presenters Scott Ross, Michelle Ward, Alan Johnson and others.
Frances was also a published author who wrote many local history books – I particularly enjoyed her 2010 book “Brentwood Our Heritage”.
Not only extremely knowledgeable, Frances was always very friendly and amiable and we’re going to miss her as part of our community radio team.
She would often come in with her friend and Brentwood Writers’ Circle colleague Sylvia Kent who has very kindly contributed articles about Frances to our website and on air.
Michelle Ward has also interviewed her son David about his mother’s life and career. You can hear the interview again at phoenixfm.com, along with almost 15 years of audio contributions from Frances herself.
