Grays’s broadcaster is looking for Inspiration

A THURROCK broadcaster is looking for inspiration from local residents.

Jag Singh from Grays has a radio show with the Basildon Radio station – Gateway 97.8Fm every Sunday at 3pm.

Jag said: With my guests I will be covering such topics as:

Anti bullying

How to deal with Retirement

Youth Development and many more.

"It would be great for the Thurrock community to hear the good messages sent out through my show to and for the people.

Home

We asked Jag to tell us a little bit more about himself.

BIOGRAPHY.

I grew up in East London in the 1970’s. My family were the only ethnics in the whole entire area so we faced many challenges from the racist dominating groups of this time. My brother and I were bullied on a daily basis by pupils/teachers and the ordeals did not stop at school, it also leaked into our home life.

We were young growing Asian Sikhs and at that time the country did not know or understand our religion, hence the ridicule towards our long hair/turbans and colour of our skin was a frequent constant excuse for insults and brutality.

The front windows of our house would be smashed by hooligans for fun on a regular basis, either by a brick, beer can or any other object that these hooligans could get their hands on. 


Eventually our house burnt down in 1979, luckily we all survived and as I saw the house burn away in the fire, at nine years old I made myself a promise, the promise was that when I grew up, I would do whatever I could to prevent bullying and encourage motivation, hoping to make a difference.

Due to the bullying and childhood I had, I was unable to read or write at the age of thirteen. I had been too busy trying to stay alive. Once I learnt to read, I spent the next 25 years reading any books I could get hold of and eventually entered the motivational field and read about the greatest motivators of our time and adapted their methods.

I am currently working as a Transport Team Manager with Tesco (15 years) and they have encouraged me to complete and fulfil my promise that I made at the age of nine to myself by allowing me to enter projects for Community and Charity work. 


In April this year, I was invited onto the Sky TV UK - Sikh Channel (Harjit Kaur) to speak about my book that I have written for children to read when they are older: The Indian Summer: East London 1970’s and spoke about the challenges that Sikhs/Asians have faced in Britain. During the show the interviewer asked me if I would like host my own TV show. I agreed and called it: You Can! Inspiration for life! With no experience in filming or interviewing I took the plunge as my desire and passion to get the good messages out to the people was strong. The viewing ratings were great!

Please find below kind messages from some my guests. 


“It was great to speak to Jag. It was clear that he had done his research, and his interview manner made me feel relaxed and not pressured at all. His questions had a natural flow, and allowed me to deliver a positive message on behalf of Kick It Out.”Â

Troy Townsend – Education and Development Manager – Kick it out! 


‘Jag Singh is a natural communicator and presenter of exceptional talent. The fact that he volunteers his time says more than words can about the strength and depth of his enthusiasm and passion for broadcast. I have worked for many years with the media from the national to the international. Jag deserves gratitude for the hard work he does and will continue to do so.’ Â

Peter Carroll, Architect of the Gurkha Justice Campaign. 


Jag approached the Anti-Bullying Alliance to support a programme he was making on bullying for Sikh TV. Jag experienced systematic physical, verbal and emotional bullying throughout his schools years and has significant passion and drive for making a difference to children’s lives today. He conducted the interview with professionalism and a heartfelt understanding of the issues. We would not hesitate to recommend Jag – both as an interviewer, but also to tell his own story of growing up within a Sikh family in 70’s London. Sadly racist bullying is still rife in our country today and we need people like Jag out there reminding us of what it was like then – and what we’re in danger of returning to if discrimination and hate go unchecked in our schools and communities.

Lauren-Seager-Smith – National Coordinator – Anti-Bullying Campaign

Also this year I was very fortunate to be invited to the Secondary School William Edwards in Stifford Clays to conduct my very own written workshops – Respect and Inspire. I spoke to 60 children (chosen by the school) about motivation and Anti bullying. 


"Jag lead a number of small group sessions during a “Respect and Inspire” day at William Edwards. Jag was enthusiastic and got all the students involved and engaged from the start. The students were interested in Jag’s views and beliefs and have used these ideas to complete work within other subjects. Jag was easy to work with and met a number of staff on the Focus Day. I plan to work with Jag again during future events. I would like to thank Tesco for allowing Jag time to visit our school and for providing free pens and pads for the students to make notes on”

Emily Gardner – William Edwards School, Stifford Clays.Â

I have completed all of the above voluntarily; it has all been achieved through the ongoing support of my employer Tesco. 


Recently, I have been assisting the Community Radio Station – Gateway 97.8 FM based in Basildon, Essex. The radio station were awarded the Queens Award for Voluntary Service last year. Again with no experience in radio programming I took on the challenge to have my own show on the station titled: The Inspiration Zone. After hours of training and support from the radio station finally my first show was aired a couple of weeks ago: the topic was -Sikh’s in Britain. It was heard by many. I interviewed my brother (Bob Singh) who spoke about his upbringing in the 1970’s and how Sikh’s overcame these challenges and have now become a major part of this country we all are proud to call home, Great Britain. 


Due to the success of the show it was aired and repeated again. During The interview we spoke about how Britain has changed and how it has become a much better and safer place for all ethnics to live in peace and prosper. However, there is still much work to be done around Anti bullying, Motivation and Equality not only in our schools but our work places and major organisations as education around these subjects and many more should be compulsory in order to maintain fairness amongst our people. 


I believe that all structures or buildings should have a strong foundation otherwise they will eventually collapse. So I have also joined the NSPCC as a schools volunteer and will be visiting Primary schools very shortly to conduct assemblies and workshops with the NSPCC. Our children are our future and prevention is always better than cure, so that is why I will be concentrating on helping the NSPCC hoping to make a difference. I have many other projects lined up for 2016. I have also been DBS checked by the NSPCC.