Dave's Blog

                  Upturning The         Status          Quo Hi and thank you for joining me for this week's blog post "Upturning The Status Quo! So let me begin this post by defining what "Status Quo" really means (and no it is not just the name of a highly successful band!) The dictionary definition of Status Quo is as follows "The existing state of affairs, especially regarding social of political issues"  "The way things are now!" In my role as a Personal Development coach I consider it my duty to challenge my clients' status quo - because if they do not change they will continue to remain exactly where they are!  That equates to my clients and I having exactly the same conversation a year from now!  Should that happen it would mean that I had been a crap coach! So that said, let me ask you a question...... "When was the last time you did something for the first time?" I woul...

                                    RAISING                                                                                       AWARENESS!                                                                                                                           Hi, it's DAve  Thanks to you for joining me on the blog po...

                       "I am a person who thinks,              not a number!" Merry Greetings from here in Ilfracombe Have you ever wondered how many people refer to you as what's her (or his) name.  They really don't know who you are and I often ask myself why this should be? I have a theory about this - maybe when they were told your name (either by yourself or someone else) they were not really concentrating on the job in hand or is something else at play?  It is a known fact that things you learnt only recently are actually the hardest to remember, because they have not embedded themselves in your mind. Also a lot of the time this happens because you were paying close enough attention to the information you were given.  It could be that you were desperately trying to prevent your wine from spilling out of your glass and onto the floor. Alternatively you may have been thinkin...

         Friday Update      (+ a cautionary note!) Hi thank you for joining me and welcome to this latest peek into the crazy world I inhabit! But first an introduction to me................ I am DAve! Musician, poet, songwriter, photographer, life coach, author, husband, dad and (although I really do not like to admit it that because of the fact that I am getting older) a Grandad to Owen and Evie. When I moved to N.Devon many years ago I had no plans for the future, I was working for myself and now all these years later I could not be much more settled if I tried. The only real drawback with the move was that because the area is slightly economically depressed there is not a lot of call for my (paid for) coaching services. However, that said, I still work in the entertainment industry that I love and that gives me my day to day living. Right enough about me............... let us take a look that something else A Cautionary Note (I do serious stu...

The Story Continues… We are now coming more up-to-date – as I said at the end of the last part I had set up CauldronFM   The station was created to provide a resource for those who followed a Pagan path both nationally and internationally, and also to be the platform for music created by Pagan artists. The shows also contained articles and discussions that were of interest to a Pagan audience. The establishing of this service proved popular, and soon it had att racted enquiries from fellow Pagans with regard to them joining the station as presenters. One of the potential candidates was a lady from America who goes by the name of Raven Moonshadow. At the time she was co-presenting a podcast called Pagan Moonbeams which was a service designed to introduce young people to the Pagan tradition The podcast had been running for some time and Raven was seeking a new challenge.  I auditioned her (merely a formality) and she joined the team. Raven and I worked together and she is a hig...

So having completed our fact-finding mission Dave and I submitted our findings to the Council, but (to cut a long story short) the project was curtailed because Dave had accepted a promotion and that meant he had to move to another local authority. This effectively brought an end to the plans as far as we were concerned and I returned to working with music and musicians, and dreaming of someday having a radio presence. Eventually I moved to Devon  (where I still live) - a move that proved to be very worthwhile. I retrained and reskilled and became qualified as a life coach but I also set up an artist management business and predominantly began working with bands.  For one particular band I put together a major 6 week tour (something that they had never done before) and took them to have 3 tracks recorded in a professional studio (owned at the time by 10cc's touring keyboard player Steve)  During this tour I became acquainted with a number of local radio presenters that re...

Hi and welcome to the third part of this series of insights into my life that was leading to:- how I became and still am a broadcaster (and more) It has been an interesting journey for me and filled with WoW moments all along the way. So when we left the story last time I promised a bit of a wow moment so here goes….. Dave Wycherley and I were tasked by Halton Borough Council to investigate how they could help the up-and-coming musicians of Widnes and Runcorn.  After some research we identified that around the county several local authorities had provided Rehearsal space (the old church/the citadel) but others had gone a stage further and had provided recording facilities. So we just had to go and investigate! The first place we went to was a “studio“ near Ormskirk – sadly this was a great example of how not to build a recording studio – it was basically a rehearsal space – and even that was definitely lacking. It was located in the heart of an industrial estate without any form of...

Hi and welcome to the second part of this insight into my life as a radio presenter.  Runcorn Town Hall (unknown photographer) When we left the story at the end of Part 1 we had reached the point where I had been approached by Dave Wycherly (Halton Borough Council's Arts Development Officer) with a view to me joining his team based at Runcorn Town Hall (pictured above).  Although this was a voluntary post it brought the strength of the team to the grand total of 2! Between us we were charged with the development of, and the raising awareness of, The Arts in the Borough of Halton.  This was by no means an easy task but it was one that we felt we could bring to justice! One of the first things that was accomplished was the addition of a live music tent at the up and coming Spike Island Festival.  This event was actually sited on Spike Island which was very close to a major chemical plant.  The event included all of the usual fair type attractions plus a superb ski...

Hi and welcome to the first part in a series of posts about my life as the presenter of radio shows and the twists and turns along the way...... I thought that this way I could provide a small insight into another aspect of my life  - that of "The Merlin" - presenter on  Cauldron FM (The Sound Of Magick)   and  Capstone Radio - the sound of the North Devon Coast I began my radio "career" over 20 years ago when I was invited to be a guest on a radio station that was broadcasting under a Restricted Service Licence (meaning it was allowed to broadcast on FM for 4 weeks.  It was designed to provide a community based broadcast. The one I joined was HaltonFM and it was broadcasting to Runcorn / Widnes and part way towards Warrington. The presenter of the show I was on was a man called Dave Pichilingi (a name that was destined to become quite well known).  He went on to be a significant player within the local community - becoming a senior member of the staff at P...