The Brentwood Buzz

Brentwood's ever growing policing team works from the Policing Hub in Brentwood Town Hall, led by District Commander Tina Cooper, a police officer for 18 years and a recent recruit from the Met Police.

The Brentwood Buzz has been to meet Chief Inspector Cooper at the Policing Hub to find out what brought her to Brentwood and her main priorities for tackling crime and keeping Brentwood residents safe.

A locally written play celebrating female friendship through a lifetime is coming to Brentwood Theatre at the beginning of November. Local Girls, a company of women aged from 7 to 80+, has created 'Sometime Soon' - a play with music - based on a monologue written for a previous show by one of its cast members.

The Brentwood Buzz has been to meet the women behind the project.

You can see the show at the Brentwood Theatre from 3rd-5th November - tickets available from the theatre.

The Brentwood Buzz is back after a summer break, so fire up the Bat Signal and head off to a new shop in Town. Comic Book Villains is Jason Rutland's first shop in Brentwood, but he's a comic book sales veteran. So tune into the latest Brentwood Buzz to find out what's brought him - and Batman - to Brentwood.

St Thomas's Church is the Parish Church for Brentwood, set in the centre off Brentwood at the end of St Thomas's Road off the High Street. For the last few years the Reverend Matthew Austen has been curate at the church, known as Father Matthew to the congregation and hundreds of school children in local church primary schools.

Father Matthew is about to leave Brentwood to take up at new post at Christ Hospital School in Horsham, so the Brentwood Buzz has been to see him to hear about his interesting life to date, and what he will remember about the town.

Early Doors Productions bring a Shakespeare-style romcom romp to Ingatestone Hall's courtyard this week (19th-22nd July 2023). The Brentwood Buzz has been to the final rehearsal at Ingatestone Hall to hear from the play's author, Justine Cartledge, director Amy Clayton and some of the cast about the joy or doing a light-hearted comedy outside in the English summer.

Brentwood is fortunate in having one of the best youth musical groups around in the form of BOSSY Theatre, which puts on full musicals in proper theatres with a cast aged 11-18.

Bus BOSSY is in need of a new boss, as current Musical Director Max Harris is heading northwards for the joys of marriage and a new job.

The Brentwood Buzz has visited BOSSY during rehearsals for their new show, Footloose, to find out how much they will miss Max, and what a new Musical Director will need to bring to the table.

Pick up any newspaper featuring a picture of the Prime Minister or a Cabinet Minister, and there is a good chance it was taken by Brentwood-based photojournalist, Ian Davidson.

Ian's lived in the town for 35 years, moving here to work for Ford and then following a career which took him to Crawley, the City and now, most often, the press pen at Downing Street.

This week The Brentwood Buzz meets Ian in the town's United Reform Church to hear how a good picture is worth a thousand words.

The St Thomas Music Foundation runs a series of free lunchtime concerts throughout the year for anyone who happens to be in Brentwood town Centre on a Friday lunchtime.

The concerts are held in the glorious setting of St Thomas's, the parish church for the town, and organised by Thomas Rayner, an aspiring opera singer who grew up and went to school in Brentwood.

This week The Brentwood Buzz has been to St Thomas's to meet Thomas in another podcast which showcases some of the wide range of music and musicians we have in Brentwood.

If you know anyone who would love to chat to The Brentwood Buzz, please get in touch at [email protected]