Volunteering Experiences

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We currently have 14 students and 2 leaders, Mr and Mrs Gough, from the Arnewood School in Hampshire in UK staying at Chanters Lodge. They are spending 4 weeks here in Livingstone and are here to complete charity work at the Lubusi Orphanage and Maramba care home. Following that they will be completing a building project for the school in Mukuni Village, then moving on to ALERT to do environmental work with the lions and elephants. They will complete their 4 weeks with a safari in Chobe National Park in Botswana. They are doing some great work in our community and we’re grateful to them for that. If you would like to learn more about their visit then take a look at their website. Chanters Lodge are happy to assist you in arranging all your excursions and activities whilst you’re in Livingstone, for more information visit our activities page.

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Another Aussie Experience!

Connie Stevens & Wallis Woodhams

Meet Connie Stevens and Wallis Woodhams (above), Australian travellers and guests on the most recent edition of the Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient featuring Jay Hillz. ‘The Experience’ is our weekly radio show airing at 20.30 hrs CAT every Sunday night on Zambezi 94.1 fm, Livingstone leading local radio station. Our guests told listeners that they were traveling as friends, that they both hailed from Perth, Western Australia and that this was their first visit to Zambia. In fact they revealed that this was also their very first visit to Africa! “Is it what you expected?” Asked Milli Jam. They thought about the question for a few seconds and then answered “on the whole yes!”

Connie and Wallis said that they were almost half way through their two week trip to Zambia and that they were loving it. They had already visited Botswana for a full day safari in Chobe NP where they had seen ‘thousands of elephants’. They had walked with lions, and on the morning of the show they had completed a half day birding safari in the Mosi-o-Tunya NP in Livingstone where they had been lucky enough to see more than thirty three different species of birds, all correctly identified by their knowledgable and charming guides. They had also see the rhino in the park on the same trip. In addition to that, they had seen Victoria Falls and visited the Livingstone Museum. On the previous Saturday they had dined on the five star dinner train in Livingstone.

The music on the show was great with tracks from Fuse ODG, Ellie Goulding, Naughty Boy featuring Beyonce and Arrow Benjamin. Milli Jam and Jay chose work from T Sean ft Jusic, Ruff Kaida and T-Boy, Christina Millan, Urban Hype and Cynthia Morgan. Our pick of the week was Sam Smith’s haunting ‘The Writing’s On The Wall’ and we closed with the appropriate for Livingstone ‘Heatwave’ from Robin Schultz ft Akon. Connie said she loved classical music whereas Wally was more into music from the 50’s and 60’s.

Our guests told us that Connie was the manager of a bird shop in Perth, selling exotic birds and also garden ornaments, while Wallis was in the earth moving business preparing construction sites. Connie is a widow with a son and a daughter and two grand children, Wallis is a divorcee and has two sons. They had heard about Chanters Lodge, where they were staying, through Dianne Rapson, a frequent visitor to the lodge and a three time guest on our show. Connie and Wallis were well pleased with the recommendation.

Asked where they would like to be and what they would like to be doing 10 years from now, Connie said she would like to be retired and relaxed, Wally said he would like to be working, relaxing and fishing!

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The Norwegian Experience 2015!

Meet Rakel Trondal and Robert Hovde (above) from Trondheim, Norway. Rakel and Robert were Guests on the most recent edition of the Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient featuring Jay Hillz, our weekly Sunday night radio show airing on Zambezi 94.1 fm, Livingstone’s leading local radio station. Robert is the Deputy Head Teacher at Saksvik Primary School and Rakel is a secondary school teacher at Hommelvik Secondary School in Norway. Both were staying at Chanters Lodge as part of a group of 17 educationalists from Norway on a visit to Zambia.

For both Robert and Rakel it was, they told our listeners, their first visit to both Africa and Zambia. “Is it what you expected?” wondered Milli Jam. “Far, far better!” Replied Rakel quickly. So far they had visited Chobe National Park in Botswana and had loved the wide range of animals they had seen ‘in the wild and not in a zoo”. They had experienced a real tropical thunderstorm during the night on that trip. They had plans for a visit to Victoria Falls during their stay and would be spending three nights in Mongu, Western Province.

“Mongu’s not usually on the tourist itinerary” commented Milli Jam. Our Norwegian guests explained that the purpose of their visit to Zambia was to make physical contact with the schools in Zambia with whom their schools in Norway were ‘twinned’. In Robert’s case his school is a friendship school with Zambezi Basic School in Livingstone and Rakel’s school is a friendship school with Holy Cross School in Mongu. They had brought letters and books to give to the students in the Zambian schools with love from their fellow students in Norway. They expected to collect similar from the Zambian schools to take back to Norway.

The music on the show was good as usual. We opened with tracks from DJ Fresh ft Ella Eyre and Ne-Yo. The guys dropped work from West African Wizkid as well as Zambia’s T-Sean ft Tyce. Other were from Chef ft Macky 2, Ed Sheeran and Ozzy. Ozzy’s ‘If Only’ was our oldie of the week and the prize we give to the first listener to text us the name of the artist on the track was quickly snapped up. Our pick of the week was Sam Hunt’s major country smash ‘Take Your Time’ We closed with 5AM from Calvin Harris ft Tinashe.

Rakel told us that she’s married with three children, two boys and a girl. Robert is also married and has a boy and a girl with ‘another one on the way’. Didn’t they wish that their families had travelled with them to Zambia. Of course they did but pointed out, rightly, that it was an expensive undertaking. Robert revealed that he’s a fan of Rosenberg FC in Norway and of Watford FC in UK. But, he told us ‘handball’s my game’. Rakel loves ballroom dancing and travel. She and her family had visited many countries in Europe in the past including Turkey, Spain and Germany. She is an ardent fan of U2 and is looking forward to attending their concert in Berlin later this year – a treat afforded by her husband.

Asked where they would like to be and what they would like to be doing in ten years’ time, Robert hoped to still be involved in education, Rakel in education and in politics. We wished them the best of luck, thanked them for coming on the show, and for supporting Zambian schools as well as our lodge!

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1st 2015 Experience!

A very Happy New Year to all our blog readers, radio show listeners, friends and fans on social media as well as Guests, Staff and supporters of Chanters Lodge, Livingstone, Zambia! That should have been how we opened the first edition of our weekly radio programme on Zambezi 94.1 fm in Livingstone but I guess we just said ‘Happy New Year’! Our show is called the Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient featuring Jay Hillz and goes out at 20.30 hrs CAT every Sunday night.

First Guest of The Week on the show for 2015 was Malimba Bob Mwiinga (pictured above). Bob is a teacher at St Mary’s Girls Secondary School in Livingstone and teaches all Grades from 8 up to 12. His speciality is language and he teaches the girls both English Language and English Literature. He obtained a degree in Education from the University of Zambia in 2009 and taught initially at Mwata Day High School in Kalomo. He told listeners he had been teaching at St. Mary’s for the past two years. Malimba (meaning ‘colours’) was raised in Lusaka by his parents, both workers at Zamtel, Zambia’s main telephone company and providers of internet at Chanters Lodge. Bob said his parents were now retired. He completed his Grade 12 at Kafue Boys Secondary School. Milli Jam wanted to know the biggest challenge Bob faced in his work and his answer all centred around student indiscipline – “there’s a surprise!” We said sarcastically. Class sizes at St Mary’s are about 35 students per class.

We opened the show with a brand new theme tune for 2015 – TINA (This Is New Africa) from African star FUSE ODG. Jolly good track it is too! We featured recordings from The 1975, John Newman, Nicki Minaj, and Jesse J. Zambian artists Bobby East and Roberto were also featured. Our oldie of the week was Rihanna’s ‘What Now’ and one lucky listener won dinner for two with drinks at the lodge. Jay’s ‘pick of the week’ was a remix of Roberto’s smash hit ‘Amarula’ featuring Slap D and Zonefam.

Bob said he liked all kinds of music, except reggae. His favourite international artist of the moment is August Alsina and locally he favours Slap D. He supports Arsenal FC in UK – his favourite current player is Alexis and all time player Thierry Henry. He’s been a fan of the club since 2002. He has not done the bungee jump at Victoria Falls – “scared of heights”, he said. Bob is on Facebook and is also on Twitter @MalimbaMwiinga. He told us that he had a little experience on radio when he had shared a show with Zambezi fm’s Praiz Mash.

Asked where he would like to be and what he would like to be doing ten years’ from now, Bob said he would love to have his own business as well as still to be teaching.

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Zambezi 94.1 fm ft Aaron Mertz

Meet Aaron Mertz, guest on the most recent edition of the Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient featuring Jay Hillz. There were two things different about this show. Firstly, Zambezi fm has changed its frequency from 107.7 to 94.1 fm. Apparently this is a temporary change – the station hopes to obtain a frequency lower than 90.0 fm to make it more accessible to local taxi drivers whose radios only reach that range. Secondly, Jay stood in for Milli Jam on this show, so he was the Ingredient and I featured! We managed. Milli Jam had been struck down with an eye infection. There’s also a rumour that he’s started jogging!

Aaron told listeners that he’d arrived in Livingstone that afternoon from South Africa and would just be in Zambia for about 48 hours, before taking the night train from Victoria Falls to Bulaway, then on to see Harare and the Great Zimbabwe Ruins. Whilst in Livingstone he would be taking the one day safari to Chobe NP in Botswana, as well as swimming in Devil’s Pool on Livingstone Island right on the edge of Victoria Falls. He was also looking forward to spending a few hours at the Livingstone museum. Aaron hails from Chicago but is currently living in New York City. He is a postdoctoral fellow at Rockefeller University working in the laboratory of mammalian cell biology and development. “Ah!” We said! Aaron did his undergraduate degree (summa cum laude) at Washington University in St. Louis (Missouri, USA) and his doctorate (with distinction) at Yale University. He isĀ  also a Rhodes Scholar from Oxford University in UK. He told us that he had very much enjoyed the two years he’d spent in England but had not learned how to play cricket or to support Arsenal FC…..

The music on the show was good as usual. we opened with new tracks from Mark Ronson ft Bruno Mars, and Oliver Heldens ft KStewart. Both current smash hits in UK. Jay dropped items from Doc Shebekza, Afunika, Kritic and DJ Khaled. Our ‘oldie of the week’ was a track by Jo Klassic ft PJay. Listeners have to text us the name of the artist on the track, but on this occasion no-one won the prize. One contestant forget to mention their own name and another knew the name of the track – Method 2 – but did not text the name of the artist. So, no-one won the dinner for two with drinks at the lodge on offer! There’ll be another chance on the next show.

Aaron revealed that when he’s not working or travelling (his first love), he plays the cello and in fact had recently given his first concert with a friend. He loves classical music and opera and living in New York gives him the chance to go to live shows. He also loves cycling and makes full use of the ‘Public Bikes’ now available in the city for the public to rent, cycle and return to a cycle bank. He revealed that he’d found out about Chanters Lodge from the Lonely Planet Guide Book and TripAdvisor on the internet. He was happy with the choice he’d made to stay with us. Aaron is still single and has one older brother.

Asked where he would like to be and what he would like to be doing in ten years’ time, Aaron said that he’d like to be a University Professor in Physics and Biology with his own research laboratory. Given Aaron’s academic achievements already, in our opinion that’s a ‘nobrainer’!! Unlike Mr Mertz who is clearly super brainy!

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The Slim Will Experience!

Meet Slim Will (above) aka Bwalya Chanda, radio presenter, marketing expert, and Guest on the most recent edition of the Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient featuring Jay Hillz, our radio show airing on Zambezi fm, Livingstone’s leading local radio station. It was a special edition as it was Milli Jam’s birthday though we refrained from singing ‘Happy Birthday To You’ on air!

First up Milli Jim wanted to know how Slim Will got that name observing that now anyway, Will was not that slim! Rude boy! Bwalya explained that when he he’d been at Namwianga Secondary School in Kalomo he’d been a rapper and needing a name he’d chosen Slim because he’s a fan of Eminem and Will through Will Smith. The name had stuck. Slim Will told listeners that he had first become involved with Zambezi fm in 2008 when he’d applied for a position as a presenter only to be rejected. However he had been lucky to be appointed to the marketing department which had been his way in to eventually doing some presentation. He now had a full time job with Government in the Ministry of Home Affairs as an assistant registration officer but still presented part time on the station. He also had business interests in Black Rock Foundation and Deemac Entertainments – both involved with events production, marketing and management.

The music on the show was good as usual featuring tracks from Jennifer Lawrence, Blonde featuring Melissa Steel as well as Ottawa and Olly Murs featuring Demi Levato. The guys dropped a latest Zambian smash hit from Chinzy Kelly as well as Diva from Petersen. Others were from Ne-Yo and Eminem ft Sia. We closed with Tiesto’s ‘Light Years Away’.

Slim Will told listeners that he loved the music of the 90’s which he felt was more real than the current hits. His favourite international artist is still Eminem, locally he favours Cheffy and Macky2. As we went on air there was great tension across Zambia to see whether Zambian singer Macky2 would win Big Brother Africa and the US$300,000 grand prize. Unfortunately he was ‘evicted’ third from the end but he did very well. Slim Will supports Mufulira Wanderers and Manchester United, his favourite Man U players, Ronaldo and a certain Wayne Rooney. He told listeners that his relationship at the moment was ‘complicated’, but he was delighted to announce that he had very recently become a father following the birth of his 15 day old son Ben. He has a foundation diploma in IT from Livingstone Institute for Business and Engineering Studies.

Bwalya advised listeners to put education first ‘so that they knew what they were doing.’ In ten years’ time he hoped to have a high position in the Zambia Civil Service, to still be involved in entertainment and to have done well in business. He wanted to ‘make a difference’ and we had no doubt that this hard working, personable self assured young man would do just that.

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The Laura Miti Experience

Our weekly radio show – The Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient featuring Jay Hillz – was back on the air last Sunday after a two week break due to national mourning, following the death of Zambia’s President Michael Sata. During national mourning in Zambia only solemn music may be played on radio stations, and the music on The Experience is far from solemn! We feature latest international and Zambian hits interspersed by chat with our Guest Of The Week. On this show we were delighted to welcome Zambian celebrity Laura Miti (above), well known writer, human rights activist and political commentator. We don’t usually ‘do’ politics on the programme but Laura weighed in hard given the current state of flux in this country prior to the upcoming presidential by-election on January 20th 2015.

Laura told listeners that she is employed as a public service accountability monitor by the Research Institute of Rhodes University in Grahamstown, South Africa. By coincidence, she said, she is responsible for reporting on the Zambian situation and therefore travels frequently between the two countries. “Legally but not practically” married she has one son completing Grade 12 this year and three sons of her (ex) husband who call her ‘mum’. The Research Institute monitors and trains public service accountability in all of the SADCC countries. Civic actors, MP’s and journalists are amongst those with whom Laura interacts. In Zambia Rhodes University works in conjunction with Caritas, Zambia. “And is there public service accountability in Zambia”? We wondered. Laura smiled…..

The music on the show was good and featured tracks from Gareth Malone and his All Star Band, One Direction, Passenger and The Veronicas. Others were from Jay Rox ft Cleo, Femi Alade and Coztem ft Camster. We give a prize of a dinner for two with drinks at the lodge on the show to the first person to text us the name of the artist on our oldie of the week. On this show Jay and Milli Jam chose a Zambian track by Frankiss ft Manas, but no-one won the prize! “Better luck next week!” We said.

Laura told listeners that she loves tennis and football. In her younger days she was a keen follower of Power Dynamos in Zambia and even used to travel to away matches. These days she supports Arsenal. Milli Jam and I were happy about that! Her favourite tennis player is Raphael Nadal. At one time she wrote columns for the Post and Sunday Times newspapers but right now is not published – except on Twitter, which she confessed to love! She completed Grade 12 at Roma Girls and obtained a degree in education at the University of Zambia. She would be in Livingstone for the following week and although she had no plans to bungee jump she told us that one time she had done the gorge swing. Milli Jam also had no plans to bungee jump – as usual!! Music wise Laura loves John Legend.

Asked where she would like to be and what she would like to be doing ten years’ from now our intelligent, personable and outspoken Guest said she wanted to be back in Zambia and very much involved in charity work, especially the feeding of young, vulnerable children. She also wanted to be a granny. We thanked her for appearing on our show.

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The M Vibe Experience!

We were delighted to welcome Mambo Mulenga (above) as our Guest on the most recent edition of the Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient featuring Jay Hillz. Why ‘The M Vibe Experience’ in the title? M Vibe is Mambo’s radio handle. ‘The Experience’ is an hour long live show broadcast every Sunday night at 20.30 hrs on Zambezi 107.7 fm, Livingstone’s leading local radio station. Mambo told listeners that he had joined Zambezi 107.7 fm in July of this year and currently hosts three shows per week – two on the graveyard shift between midnight and 05.00 hrs. His third show is a combo with one of the other station’s presenters and airs every Wednesday evening, known as ‘The Evening Glide’. He was happy with the attention the programme was receiving both locally and internationally.

Mambo explained that he had been mostly brought up in Botswana where his dad was working as a doctor. On completion of his secondary education he had come back to Zambia and enroled in the University of Zambia completing a first degree in Human Biology. Here he had met his wife, well known Zambian singer Kanji, a lawyer in the military wearing her other hat, with whom he has two children Cassie and Andrew. Sadly the couple are currently apart. Mambo is also marketing manager for a new firm M Vibe Media, which is a publishing and marketing company. The business has just published two books written by Mambo’s dad, Dr Mulenga, ‘The Sceptics’ and ‘Life’s Pitfalls’. Good reads both.

The music on the show was good, opening with latest tracks from Calvin Harris featuring John Newman, and Ne-Yo featuring Juicy J. Jay dropped tracks from Kid Ink and Zambian act JK. He also featured DJ Fresh. Our oldie of the week was by Judy featuring Cactus and the prize we offered of lunch for two with drinks and a swim at the lodge was quickly snapped up. My pick of the week was Fall Out Boy’s super new track ‘Centuries’ and we closed with The Vamps featuring Shawn Mendes and a revamp (!) of the old Simon and Garfunkel track ‘Oh Cecilia’!

As you can see Mambo Mulenga’s supports Man U and he, like the rest of the world, were celebrating that team’s first EPL win of the season on the afternoon of the show. We moved on. M Vibe’s musical taste is Zambian and African, particularly Nigerian music. His favourite artists? Wife Kanji and Exile on the local scene, late Aliya internationally. Mambo is fond of playing chess when his busy schedule affords him the time.

Asked where he would like to be and what he would like to be doing ten years’ from now, Mambo said that he would like to be firmly established in business, preferable in the real estate market. We wished him the best of luck and thanked him for appearing on our show.

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The Travellers’ Experience

Meet Verrinia (VJ) and Stephen (Steve) Rees (above), travellers and Guests on the most recent edition of The Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient featuring Jay Hillz. The Experience is our weekly Sunday night radio show airing for an hour on Zambezi 107.7 fm, Livingstone’s leading local radio station. VJ and Steve, Guests at Chanters Lodge, told listeners that they had only just arrived in Zambia following a trip through South Africa, Namibia and Botswana.

The couple told listeners that they hail from UK. In 2008 they decided to give up their well paid managerial jobs in local government and start to travel. They had subsequently been just about around the world following an itinerary they had drawn up in their early days together. They had met through work and friends and had been married for 19 years. “Was it love at first sight?” Wondered Milli Jam, who loves that question! Steve replied that he was ‘smitten’ while they were dining out for the first time together in an Indian restaurant in Maidstone, Kent, such that he failed to eat his curry!

VJ explained that she had been mostly employed as an archivist back in the day, while Steve was an environmentalist and clearly still maintains a deep interest in environmental and eco issues. Their visit to Zambia would not only include a visit to Victoria Falls but would continue with visits to both Kafue and South Luangwa National Parks. Steve said he had had a passion to visit South Luangwa ever since he had seen a programme in the Survivor series on UK TV when he was very young. He would soon realise his dream! Both VJ and Steve have a love for, and a keen interest in, wildlife. They talked of leopard and wild dog that they had seen on their travels in Southern Africa.

The music on our show was international, local and latest as usual. We opened with tracks from Lilly Wood and Ariana Grande. Milli Jam and Jay chose music from Pompi, Elbow, Eve and Chester ft IC. Our oldie of the week was a track from Jo Klasic ft P Jay called ‘Method 2’, and the prize of a dinner for two with drinks at the lodge that we give to the first person to text us the name of the performing artist on the track, was quickly snapped up by a certain Musa.

Steve and DJ told listeners that so far their visit to Livingstone had mostly consisted of sorting themselves and their laundry out, following months on the road mostly camping. They planned to visit both sides of Victoria Falls during their stay and were also interested in a sunset cruise as well as a swim in Devil’s Pool on Livingstone Island.

After their visit to South Luangwa they would be off to Malawi and Mozambique. They told us that due to more family issues than they had expected back in UK, they had in fact been back to Europe more times during their travels than they had originally planned.

Music wise Steve singled out Peter Gabriel as one of his all time outstanding artists. Generally he was in to rock but both said they had not much time to listen to music while they were travelling. Steve loves rugby and being Welsh born especially the Wales national team. He also supports Swansea City in the EPL.

Asked where they would like to be and what they would like to be doing ten years’ from now this appreciative, friendly and fascinating couple said they would like to be travelling – Europe in summer, the rest of the world when Europe was cold!

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The Travel Camel Experience!

Meet Shane Dallas (above) aka The Travel Camel, Australian, traveller, public speaker, adventurer and Guest on the most recent edition of the Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient featuring Jay Hillz. The Experience is our weekly radio show airing every Sunday night from 20.30 to 21.30 hrs CAT on Zambezi 107.7 fm, Livingstone’s leading local radio station. The show is a lively mixture of great music, and chat with our guest of the week.

Shane told listeners that he and travelling companion Maureen had been in Zambia for about a month, having arrived in Zambia from Dar-es-Salaam via the Tazara railway. Scheduled time for the trip? 48 hours. Actual time for the trip? 67 hours! Nevertheless Shane said they had both loved the experience. Having reached Lusaka they set off again for South Luangwa NP where they stayed for about two weeks at Marula Lodge which they had loved. They were lucky to have witnessed both a leopard and a lion kill. This adventurous couple had arrived in Livingstone about ten days before the show. The highlight of their time in Livingstone had been seeing and photographing the fantastic August lunar rainbow at the amazing Victoria Falls. Shane’s Tweets on Twitter featuring the moonbow had been a big hit with his 10,000 or so followers!

The music on the show was good and had our guest and his companion dancing in the studio! We opened with latest offerings from Enrique featuring Sean Paul, as well as Twin Atlantic. Milly Jam and Jay chose tracks from Zambian star Cleo as well as Coldplay, Jay Rox another Zambian artist, and the late great Castro. Our oldie of the week was One Direction’s What Makes You Beautiful and the prize we give to the first listener to text us the name of the performing artist on the track was quickly snapped up. Mpazeni won dinner for two with drinks at the lodge. My pick of the week was by Meaghan Trainor and we closed with Benediction from Hot Natured.

Shane told listeners that although he is partially based in Dubai, he had in fact been travelling for the past 600 days! He also told us about the travel radio show on Dubai High fm which he guest hosts from time to time. Shane blogs as he travels and earns his living by training people in public speaking as well as in the art of social media. His expertise is in high demand. He and Maureen were due to leave for Zimbabwe a few days after the show, and would travel to Bulawayo by train. They were scheduled to arrive in Harare in time to celebrate Shane’s 50th birthday in September also attending the tripartite cricket tournament there at that time between Australia, South Africa and Zimbabwe. Cricket is Shane’s great love! Music wise he told us that his favourite artists of all time is The Beatles.

Asked where he would like to be and what he would like to be doing ten years from now, Shane said he would like to have a permanent base somewhere, but still to be travelling – with Maureen we assumed.

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