Highlights from Afternoons on Cabin, sponsored by Discount Tyres of Herne Bay, on Tuesday 6 May 2025, with two sets of guests. I was joined in the first hour by Jim and David from Age UK to talk about Men’s Shed, an initiative focused on the mental health of men over 50.

Then, in the second hour, Lawrence Jackson, a filmmaker and lecturer from the University of Kent, joined me to talk about the reason we love to hate novelty records. Orville’s Song, Seven Tears and Rock Me Amadeus. Why did the songs do so well in the charts when the critics panned them?

There are also all the usual features, including a look at what is screening at the Kavanagh, community news, birthdays, On This Day In History, and a VE-themed poem from Susan Norvill called ‘The Few’.

The Few

Now eighty years have passed, we feel the weight of time
Which lies so heavy on this hallowed day,
Yet Churchill’s Few have found their rest at last,
The spirit of their lives still sensed by us today.

So many died as little more than boys
Tasked with relentless flights to save our isle,
While others lived out quiet lives in grief,
With mental scars of this land’s greatest trial.

Now none remain, the silence deafens all,
They sleep in peace and we salute The Few,
Who gave their lives, so young, yet old,
For freedom’s sake, we thank them for their sacrifice anew.

Susan Norvill, May 2025