Joe Ennis has written for Action Forum for many years with a series of articles about the local area surrounding Rainham.

 Joe's daughter Annabel has collected these articles together and created a website with them which is a fantastic record of these articles and a great resource to read them through again.

Joe Ennis - Nature notes and Rides from Rainham

In August 1978, Joe started contributing a column to Action Forum, a free monthly community magazine for the rapidly-growing population of Rainham.

Joe's 'Rides from Rainham' explored local places of interest by bicycle. Spoiler alert: Joe's travelling companion and literary foil 'Kemsley' was in fact Joe's bicycle: a three-gear Raleigh 'Palm Beach'. It was a ladies bicycle, bought by then-nursery nurse, Eve, in Bristol for a week's wage. This thrift reflected the post-war era Joe and Eve grew up in.

Joe's articles were often accompanied by an illustration or sketched map, sometimes drafted by his own hand, or occasionally by Eve.

After nearly two decades, Rides from Rainham was retired and Nature Notes sprung to life in Action Forum. In Nature Notes, Joe's destinations were no longer limited by pedal-power, and he invited his readers to enjoy nature and the changing seasons in places accessible by foot, bicycle, car and train.

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