Dr Margaret Sherrat (above), Guest on the most recent edition of The Chanters Lodge Experience with The Milli Jam Ingredient told us before we went on air ‘I don’t want to talk about myself’! And indeed she did not! We did manage to garner that she was a doctor in an inner city practice in the city of Newcastle in the north east of England, that she had been doing the job for some thirty years and that it was a pretty tough assignment. We also gathered that she was active in her church and that one way or another she had done a lot for charitable causes, the vulnerable and for people with problems. We loved her humility as she started to tell listeners all about how difficult it was to live in the north of England in the middle of winter when all the ice and snow made getting to work so difficult!

Margaret was staying at Chanters Lodge with a friend from England of Zimbabwean origin and told listeners that she had found out about our lodge from two guide books – Lonely Planet and Bratt’s Guide to Zambia. She and her friend were happy with the lodge and the friendly staff. They had been to see Victoria Falls from both sides of the border and had been amazed at its size and beauty. They had taken a sunset cruise on the Zambezi from the Zimbabwean side which they had enjoyed, especially as they had seen a lot of wildlife in and on the banks of the river. They had clambered down to the boiling point by rapid number one on the Zambian side, and Margaret told listeners that this had reminded her of fell or mountain walking in UK which was one of her hobbies.

Dr Sherrat explained that she preferred classical music and that her favourite composer was Chopin. On this show we gave her some of the latest international and Zambian popular music from artists such as Justin Timberlake, Jay-Z, 50 Cent, Eminem and Adam Levine. George dropped tracks from Mampi as well as Angozed a Zambian/Angolan combo with a great track translated as ‘Move Your Body’. We speculated that the Chanters Girls listening back at the lodge would be doing exactly that! Milli Jam featured tracks from Flo-Rida with Sia and Far East Movement. Our oldie of the week was Redemption Song by Bob Marley and the prize we give to the first person to text us the name of the performing artist was quickly won. Our pick of the week was Biffy Clyro’s ‘Black Chandelier’ and we closed with Robyn’s electrifying ‘Dancing On My Own’.

Margaret told listeners that she and her friend had really enjoyed their game drive in the Mosi-o-Tunya NP that day and had seen a whole variety of different game including elephant, giraffe and hippo. She hoped that when they went to Chobe NP in Botswana the following day they would see lion, but I warned her that it was a bit of a lottery. She explained that she had travelled quite widely to countries as far apart as America, Bangladesh and South Africa, including visits to India. She rented rooms to students in Newcastle and had made lots of friends that way. She explained that she was involved with Food Banks in England and told us how the system operated to help people with financial challenges to eat regular meals.

Asked where she would like to be and what she would like to be doing in ten years’ time, Margaret said that she was not sure, but volunteering in Africa was one thing that came to mind.