ABC Founder Simon Collyer Speaks to BBC Essex Presenter Dave Monk About HSBC Branch Closures

RADIO APPEARANCE - Simon Collyer ABC founder was a special guest on the BBC Essex mid-morning show Thursday 21st January 2021 with presenter Dave Monk. 

We chatted about HSBC and their branch closing program announced this week. 82 HSBC branches are set to close. How will this affect the low paid and those with mental health issues?

Is this a trend we expect to see more of as the Internet and technology play an evermore prominent role in peoples lives? But what about those left behind on the wrong side of the digital divide…? 

You can tune in to Dave every weekday morning between 9 am and noon for the lifestyle issue that is important to you.

Image: BBC Essex HQ in Chelmsford. 

Dave is a fan of local radio and he has had a varied background; including owning his firm of solicitors, a wine bar and bistro, run a disco and worked in nightclubs, as well as lecturing in law. For Simon Collyer, this meant being interviewed by someone with life skills and who has been around the block more than once.

Dave has a great voice for radio, with great warmth, texture, tone, and a touch of humour. Being interviewed on the radio can feel like that you are in the finals at Wimbledon - you know a ball is coming at you, but from what direction, how fast and with how much topspin? It can be a bit daunting, to say the least. Dave’s style puts you at ease straight away and allows you to develop your arguments without feeling you are going to be aggressively jumped on as soon as you have made your first point. Sometimes this style of very aggressive interviewing backs people into a corner and Boris Johnson has been reluctant to appear on some TV shows as a result. That's no good for democracy. 

We must thank BBC Essex, presenter Dave Monk and his producer Victoria Polley and Chris Penhall for the opportunity and the exposure.

We have been chatting to June Prunty, PA to the BBC Chairman about how we can get noticed nationally. We must thank June for her advice and guidance in navigating the organisation known so affectionately as 'Auntie'.  The BBC is facing competition from Sky and Netflix and many young people use YouTube as their main entertainment medium. News that failure to pay the licence fee is no longer going to be a criminal offense is good news. Many utility companies are coming up with schemes to assist those on benefits, including but not least Virgin Media and Scottish Power. Often these schemes are not advertised. Perhaps the BBC could create a reduced rate scheme for those struggling? It would reduce the motivation to break the law by those who genuinely cannot afford the licence fee in full.  

This was our sixth BBC Essex appearance. We long to get into the fray and mix it up nationally - to see that those on low incomes get treated decently - enough to live on, including their children, adequate warmth and to have a roof over their heads. Our time will come, just you wait.  

ABC comment: We have had a contact from a US military organisation that helps Vets find their feet, and that has indirectly opened a door into the Pentagon. We want to be able to give more assistance to the military, those serving or in the process of leaving the forces, and of course Vets.