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Hello and welcome to the 
Brentwood. 

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Buzz a podcast. 
Celebrating all that's good 

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about the people and places of 
Brentwood, Essex. 

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I'm Kay Bellwood, King Georges 
playing fields in Brentwood 

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snuggled between Hartswood Rd., 
Engrave Rd., the railway line 

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and Hartswood are the towns much
loved venue for everything from 

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water play, skateboarding, golf,
football and rugby to crazy 

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golf, dog walking, children's 
play, tag active and a lovely 

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cafe for a coffee with a view in
the last five years. 

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King George. 
'S has got. 

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A new pavilion, splash park and 
adventure play zone run by 

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everyone active on behalf of 
Brentwood Borough Council. 

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Keely Heisman is the general 
manager for everyone active at 

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King George's Playing Fields, 
and she's been telling the 

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Brentwood Buzz how she came to 
be in the town. 

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I've lived in Brentwood for most
of my life actually was about 8 

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years old and with my family, 
I've got a lot of family in 

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Brentwood. 
I moved to Chelmsford when I had

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my children, but I've come back 
to Brentwood and I'm now working

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here at King George's. 
I did start at the Brentwood 

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Centre, but now, yeah, now I'm 
over at King George's working 

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for. 
Everyone active, so presumably 

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if you were eight when you. 
Arrived in Brentwood. 

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You'll have childhood memories 
of the. 

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Park. 
Absolutely. 

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I used to come here when they 
had the paddling pools. 

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Remember the paddling pools and 
the the little cafe with the ice

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creams? 
Yeah, I used to come over here 

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quite a lot with a child. 
Is it nice to come back now? 

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It is and it's so different. 
I was talking to some customers 

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the other day that had been 
coming for 50 years and they, 

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you know, we was discussing our 
memories and. 

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Because it's it, I mean, it is 
the King George's playing 

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fields. 
It's technically not a park, but

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it is the King George's playing 
fields. 

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And I think probably the biggest
change has been in the last sort

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of 678 years with the the 
building of the pavilion so. 

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It was March 2022, so it'd be 
five years. 

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Next year you would be having a 
celebration. 

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But yes, with the pavilion, we 
like to sort of see as a 

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community hub. 
We have lots of community groups

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here, regular customers. 
Obviously we've got the splash 

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park over there and adventure 
play. 

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Inside. 
We've got the soft play and 

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ninja tag, a sensory room. 
It's very inclusive and 

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accessible for everyone. 
You you work for everyone 

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active. 
They they run, they have the 

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contract essentially for to run 
this on behalf of Brentwood 

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Borough Council. 
Yes, we've got. 

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A good relationship with 
Brentwood Borough Council, yeah.

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And we've got the contract for 
the next 15 years, so. 

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Oh, OK. 
Excellent. 

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We are very fortunate in having 
the the King George's playing 

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fields because it is, although 
we've got the the big pavilion 

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which is a a hub, it's the sort 
of place where now the 

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Strawberry Fair is held in the 
fields as well. 

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Is that something you get 
involved? 

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In yes, we get really heavily 
involved in the Strawberry Fair.

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We've got that on the 14th of 
June this year. 

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So we've got a stall and we're 
going to, it's going to be kind 

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of a sports theme. 
So we're going to have lots of 

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sports coming on just over the 
other side of the park, up by 

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the splash pad, yeah. 
And and what who's your 

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clientele? 
Because at the moment it's 

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school time so there's not so 
many kind of teenage children 

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in, but there's quite a few mums
and toddlers in at the moment. 

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Is that your usual clientele or 
does it change as the day goes 

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on? 
It depends what we've got going 

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on. 
I mean, obviously there's lots 

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to do for family here. 
You could literally come here 

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for the whole day and there's so
much to do. 

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But we also have our regular 
customers that have been coming 

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for a long time and they 
yesterday actually, we've got a 

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really lovely story from 
yesterday. 

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We've got regular friends. 
They actually met here and one 

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of them plays the piano for the 
Alzheimer's Society on a regular

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basis. 
So we bought him a keyboard here

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so that he can play for us when 
he comes. 

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Sadly he's recently had a 
stroke, but we welcomed him back

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for the first time yesterday and
he played the keyboard for the 

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first time and he was able to do
it. 

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It was very emotional. 
It wasn't, it was all crying. 

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It was just so lovely and it was
so appreciative. 

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But they speak so highly of us. 
They're like part of the family.

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So and like I say, we have 
community groups, so we have 

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home schooling groups come in. 
We've got you Create yourself 

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Calm Bright Futures. 
We're also in touch with 

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Hopefield Animal Sanctuary at 
the moment. 

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We're going to volunteer there 
for them during volunteers week 

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in June and we're gonna have a 
donation station set up here for

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them. 
So that's really nice. 

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We've got a nice relationship 
with them. 

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We have networking events here, 
so we've got one on Friday 

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actually, and I think there's 
another one in a few weeks on a 

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Monday. 
So that helps us to sort of make

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connections with different 
people and invite them along. 

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And yeah, we sort of build 
connections like that with whole

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quiz nights, fundraising quiz 
nights. 

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We've done that for breast 
cancer and the bank and seller 

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Trust. 
We've we've done it for the 

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spread of Smile charity. 
So we do a lot of fundraising 

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and a lot of work with 
charities. 

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We did Pajama Rama for children 
with council. 

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We've had Lennox Cancer Trust 
charity in as well for an 

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afternoon tea. 
So yeah, we are in touch with 

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lots of local different 
charities and community groups. 

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Yeah. 
Now you've lived here for or 

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been in the area since you were 
8. 

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Does that mean you kind of like 
come across, you know, people 

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that you know, perhaps when 
you're working the part people 

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are coming in, you go, I know 
you. 

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I remember you from however long
back. 

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Yes, I do. 
Yeah. 

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Blasts from the past. 
So yeah, quite often if I'm on 

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reception, I'll see people that 
I've went to school with. 

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Obviously, I'm still friendly 
with a lot of people that I went

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to school with. 
I went to Brentwood County High 

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School, actually my partner now 
I met when I was 17 in 

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Brentwood. 
We didn't see each other for 30 

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years. 
And it's that's a nice little 

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Brentwood love story that we're 
that we met up again after all 

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these years. 
So yeah. 

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How are you with dog Walker? 
Speaking as somebody with a dog,

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can you? 
Can you bring your dog here? 

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Unfortunately you can't bring 
your dog into the pavilion, but 

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we have the kiosk up a splash 
which we we have open as much as

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we possibly can for the dog 
walkers. 

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We are in talks with the council
at the moment about perhaps some

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benches, but we we would like to
be able to invite people with 

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dogs a lot more to the Fillion, 
yeah. 

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Because we're quite a bit 
community in the, in the in the 

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playing fields, we all get to 
know each other and and and find

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friends. 
It's quite fun. 

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It'd be nice to come for a 
coffee afterwards. 

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Yeah, you come quite often, 
don't you, with your dog? 

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Yeah, Yeah, that was a nice 
story because you said you've 

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got an allotment over the over 
the other side. 

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Yeah. 
And, and I think you you have a 

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a relationship with somebody at 
the allotment as well for the 

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with the cafe. 
We do, yes. 

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Yes, she comes in some for some 
coffee beans because apparently 

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it helps your crops grow. 
Yes. 

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Yeah, coffee grounds. 
Yes, it's it stops the slugs and

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and it, it, it fertilizes the 
soil. 

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It's brilliant. 
Yeah. 

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Yes, you're one of our regular 
customers. 

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So what's your training to be 
able to do a job like this, Run 

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a pavilion, deal with the kind 
of like the splash park and the 

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the the adventure play? 
What sort of training do you 

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have to be able to do that? 
Well actually I've always worked

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with children, so I've got the 
qualifications to work with 

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children but with everyone 
active. 

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When I first started I was at 
the Brentwood centre on customer

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service. 
Their training programme for 

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staff is for colleagues. 
That is wonderful. 

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I then trained up to be a sales 
manager and from a sales manager

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I was in a contract customer 
service manager. 

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I then took on the events and 
social media and I've also do 

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the finance and admin. 
So just learning the different 

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areas of the business and the 
training that comes with that. 

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I'm also at the moment on the 
emerging general managers 

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course, so that's obviously 
helping me. 

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My sister was actually the 
general manager of King George's

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and she's just moved to Clements
Hall. 

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So because I was on the emerging
GMI was on secondment and 

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luckily I've been able to keep 
this position and and I love it.

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You know, everyone active really
does support its colleagues and 

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progressives people where to 
where they want to be. 

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So if you're doing social media 
and finance and admin, is there 

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anybody else needed or are you 
just a a one woman machine? 

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Absolutely. 
I definitely couldn't do it 

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without the team. 
They are. 

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They are a godsend. 
We're just sharing out those 

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responsibilities now. 
I've taken on general manager. 

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Then obviously there's room for 
other people to progress into 

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those different areas. 
And do you have a kind of a plan

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for the future? 
How can you develop things 

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further? 
We are looking at different 

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things all the time. 
At the moment. 

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We've got a different kind of 
plan that we're looking at for 

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Ninja Tag and we've got lots of 
different activities happening. 

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We're always putting on 
different events. 

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I've just been in touch for a 
lady who's going to do cheese 

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and wine evenings. 
We've got sip and paint 

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evenings. 
So like I'm saying, although 

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it's a family and lots of things
to do for the children, we're 

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trying to progress the the 
activities that we've got for 

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adults of an evening. 
We've got a great relationship 

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with the Golf Club, Hartswood 
Golf Club. 

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So we're kind of in partnership 
with them to try and get some 

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more ladies into golf and 
children into golf. 

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So all the time are in meetings 
trying to think of what what 

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else we can do to bring the 
community together. 

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Yeah. 
And what, what about elsewhere 

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in the the park? 
Are you just the pavilion, the 

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adventure play and the splash 
park? 

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Or do you have things to say 
about what else happens in the 

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park as well? 
You know, I mean, could we get 

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adult gym equipment or something
like that? 

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For example, that would be a 
decision for the council. 

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Ultimately, that's a fantastic 
idea. 

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We've always talking to them 
about different things we can 

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do, you know, is there something
different we could do a Venture 

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Park because it's not used as 
often as we'd like it to be 

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because of the age of the 
children then being at school. 

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Obviously we've got the fun days
happening in the summer. 

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We want to bring some more 
activities for things outside in

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the summer. 
We've got the Strawberry Fair, 

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but there's also another talk 
with the council about a fun day

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where we'll have different 
activities to what we usually 

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do. 
So yeah, there's lots of 

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conversations and things 
happening. 

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And it is a lovely place to 
come. 

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I mean, today it's bright blue 
sky, the blossom is out and 

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we're overlooking the the 
Bowling Club, which is, I mean, 

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is Immaculate as always. 
And it just feels like a very 

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community orientated space to 
be. 

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Definitely. 
It's beautiful. 

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Like you said, we're sitting 
outside today looking at these 

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lovely views. 
We're actually holding a wedding

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here in May and they came and 
looked and just just couldn't 

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believe how beautiful it was. 
A lot of people don't realise 

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it's here and that's hopefully 
what this kind of thing helps to

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improve because it's it's 
hidden, it's in beautiful 

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grounds. 
But when you actually come and 

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like you say, you've been coming
for a long time and you can 

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appreciate her, how lovely it 
is. 

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And it's, and you're, you're 
doing weddings now we're not 

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doing weddings, but you can, you
can book it for that kind of 

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event. 
So weddings and parties. 

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Yes, we had an anniversary party
not that long ago where they was

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doing line dancing in our 
Jubilee suite and the staff was 

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encouraged to join in. 
So we had a lovely evening with 

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00:10:09,240 --> 00:10:10,320
those. 
It was really nice. 

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00:10:10,320 --> 00:10:13,840
We have here parties, baby 
showers, christenings, all all 

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sorts of different things. 
What will make you stay here, 

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00:10:17,200 --> 00:10:19,160
Stay in the job, stay at King 
George's? 

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00:10:20,320 --> 00:10:25,040
The colleagues and the customers
and I just love the fact that 

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00:10:25,040 --> 00:10:27,360
we've got our regular customers.
We're like a family, We really 

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00:10:27,360 --> 00:10:29,720
are. 
It's just seeing the same faces,

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00:10:29,720 --> 00:10:32,200
watching the children grow, 
doing the different activities 

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00:10:32,200 --> 00:10:35,760
that we're doing. 
I just, I love my job, I really 

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00:10:35,760 --> 00:10:38,800
do. 
Thanks to Keely and the team at 

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00:10:38,800 --> 00:10:41,640
King George's Playing Fields for
being so welcoming. 

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00:10:42,120 --> 00:10:44,720
The Brent Abbas has been back to
meet one of the community groups

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00:10:44,720 --> 00:10:47,400
using the pavilion. 
Create yourself calm and you'll 

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00:10:47,400 --> 00:10:49,760
be able to hear that episode 
with them soon. 

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00:10:50,120 --> 00:10:53,360
For now, please like, share, 
tell your friends and pop to 

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00:10:53,360 --> 00:10:55,960
King George's for a walk and 
some play.