Speaker 1: Hello. I'm Ray Lee and this is the Gillingham Podcast
Speaker 1: for anyone living in the Gillingham and Spa area. I'm
Speaker 1: on Gillingham Meadow today talking to Ben Perry, who's the
Speaker 1: chair of the Gillingham Rising group. Ben, what's the idea
Speaker 1: behind Gillingham Rising.
Speaker 2: So, Gillingham Rising has been born out of a group
Speaker 2: of first and foremost business owners that are all based
Speaker 2: in the town. It's actually spiraled to a lot more
Speaker 2: of a wider group than that, and we have people
Speaker 2: who are just residents, we have people from some existing
Speaker 2: organizedas and the whole idea behind Giving and Rising is
Speaker 2: to create social and economic opportunities for giving in town.
Speaker 2: And some of the mechanisms we're using for that are
Speaker 2: like our fair today where we've got independent businesses coming
Speaker 2: onto the meadow. Hopefully should be a good family funday,
Speaker 2: bouncy castles, we've got some animals down from Manchester Farm
Speaker 2: to kids' activities and then various stools. So this is
Speaker 2: our first event and hopefully first of them. Any More,
Speaker 2: we'll be concentrating on things like art projects, community driven
Speaker 2: projects and basically engaging people from the community to come out,
Speaker 2: be sociable, get involved, and the whole idea behind that
Speaker 2: is that it helps to create footfall into the town,
Speaker 2: which means our town's businesses can thrive and we can
Speaker 2: create lots of interpend. The business opportunities within Gillingham brilliant.
Speaker 1: So have you had much response today? We've got many
Speaker 1: many people coming down today.
Speaker 2: Yes, we have actually for an event that we only
Speaker 2: got a sort of official go ahead for about three
Speaker 2: weeks ago. We have got quite a good collection of
Speaker 2: traders from local businesses. Dor food, raw pet foods are
Speaker 2: here for example. We've got some candle makers, we've got
Speaker 2: some wood turners, we've got some food vendors, ice creams,
Speaker 2: coffee and so it's turning into or shaping up to
Speaker 2: be a great event today, beautiful weather, hopefully Tariff Gillingham
Speaker 2: come out and see what we're trying to do to
Speaker 2: support a community.
Speaker 1: So people that want to join, is it going to
Speaker 1: be like a club or an association you can join
Speaker 1: and get benefits from.
Speaker 2: Yes, well it's a very open it's a very open
Speaker 2: group and we are we are forming a community interest
Speaker 2: company so that we can be officially recognized as a company,
Speaker 2: but with the community interest company criteria, all your profits
Speaker 2: and any assets have to get locked back into the company,
Speaker 2: so no one involved has as a sort of personal
Speaker 2: agenda if you like. I mean, it's all about you know,
Speaker 2: building that community community spirit. Also getting a community interest
Speaker 2: company criteria together, and that allows us to approach bodies
Speaker 2: that will provide funding. You know, we're looking at lottery,
Speaker 2: community grant found funding. We'll be looking at potentially some
Speaker 2: arts council funding as well and see if we can
Speaker 2: put some art projects that make the town a nice
Speaker 2: place to visit and stay. And while you're visiting and staying,
Speaker 2: maybe people spend a couple of quid and the independent
Speaker 2: businesses do well.
Speaker 1: So I assume that the town council are fully behind
Speaker 1: all this.
Speaker 2: Yeah, town Council. We're making headway with the Chamber of Commerce.
Speaker 2: The three RP charity are very prevate in Gillingham, and
Speaker 2: so the idea of Gillingham Rising is not to compete
Speaker 2: or to obstruct any of these other organizations, is actually
Speaker 2: to work with them. So you know, as I said,
Speaker 2: it's a very open group and the only real agenda
Speaker 2: is to bring positive situations to Gillingham. However they may look.
Speaker 2: And so as I say, art projects, you know, summer events.
Speaker 2: We're looking at something maybe around Halloween as well, and
Speaker 2: so things that just give people something to come out
Speaker 2: to and enjoy. And so yeah, that's the whole sort
Speaker 2: of driver behind the organization.
Speaker 1: So is this likely to be an annual event?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean the thought behind the market was that
Speaker 2: actually Gillingham's historically a market town. I moved here about
Speaker 2: five years ago. I think there was still a weekly
Speaker 2: market just about surviving, but unfortunately shut down, you know,
Speaker 2: not long after I lived here. And so, you know,
Speaker 2: my thing with the high street is, well, where's our baker,
Speaker 2: where's our butcher, where's our you know, fruit and veg stool.
Speaker 2: You know, we have four of the biggest supermarkets in town.
Speaker 2: A lot of people drive in by the shopping and
Speaker 2: drive out. So the hope here is to create some
Speaker 2: independent businesses that give another scope to Gillingham, not just
Speaker 2: being a kind of drive in and drive out destination.
Speaker 2: We have, you know, huge amounts of development going on
Speaker 2: around Gillingham, which you know presumably will mean lots more
Speaker 2: young families or lots more families because that's the kind
Speaker 2: of development that's being done. And so if we don't
Speaker 2: provide something for these people to to sort of pitch
Speaker 2: into in a community sense, then people will just remain
Speaker 2: insular and remain separated. So yeah, it's about bringing community
Speaker 2: together and trying to create a vibrant high street because
Speaker 2: I believe Gillingham was once a very vibrant high street
Speaker 2: and you know, sadly nationwide high streets are in decline.
Speaker 2: So let's try and reverse that with some good, community
Speaker 2: spirited projects that benefit the people that live here and
Speaker 2: visitors that come here.
Speaker 1: Brilliant, So, anybody listening, who's who may be interested in
Speaker 1: Gillingham Rising. What's the best way to contact.
Speaker 2: So we have an hour, We have an email address
Speaker 2: Gillingham Rising at outlook dot com. We also have a
Speaker 2: Facebook page under the same name and an Instagram so
Speaker 2: by any of those methods, please get in touch. We're
Speaker 2: open to all ideas. No idea too small, no ideas
Speaker 2: too silly. You know, we want we want it to
Speaker 2: be a fun, fun organization that is known for doing
Speaker 2: things that are good for the community. So if you've
Speaker 2: got an idea, please get in touch. We'd be happy
Speaker 2: to hear from you.
Speaker 1: Brilliant, lovely well, thanks ever so much for your time.
Speaker 2: Absolutely.
Speaker 1: I'm talking to Stuart from the Repair Cafe and Gillier. Stuart,
Speaker 1: what sort of stuff do you do there?
Speaker 3: Well, we've got a huge range of things that people
Speaker 3: bring in. Here's actually an example, I've got it on
Speaker 3: the table here. So some of the most popular items.
Speaker 3: We've had lamps, vacuum cleaners, trousers, toasters, get a lot
Speaker 3: of Roberts radios in, we've had record players and then
Speaker 3: we do some mechanical bits and pieces on as well,
Speaker 3: and we've fixed a few bicycles. Yea big range really,
Speaker 3: so people just to get the idea from the TV
Speaker 3: program or well, no, it's of Repair Cafe dot org
Speaker 3: is a it's got over three thousand different events around
Speaker 3: the globally, so it's part of an international organization that's
Speaker 3: been set up nonprofit, sort of volunteer based one.
Speaker 1: So so if you've got something that wants to fix
Speaker 1: in what do you do?
Speaker 3: Just come on down. Yeah, we've we've got an Instagram
Speaker 3: site and the Facebook SiGe. I haven't got a website
Speaker 3: so people can find the website. It's Gillingham Repair Cafe
Speaker 3: dot org dot UK.
Speaker 1: Well done.
Speaker 3: It should be easy enough to be able to find
Speaker 3: have you gone to Facebook and search Gillingham Repair Cafe.
Speaker 3: It's Gillingham, Dorset Repair Cafe.
Speaker 1: Yeah obviously. Yeah.
Speaker 3: Otherwise it's chilling, yes, because we can go in since
Speaker 3: I think twenty twenty one now, and we picked so
Speaker 3: many things, you know, I come away from each event
Speaker 3: sort of mesmerized by the range of things that people
Speaker 3: bring in. Somebody bought it for a lady brought in
Speaker 3: an old tape recorder that was sentimental to it stopped working.
Speaker 3: It was just the contact that we made the play
Speaker 3: button work. So we cleaned that up and got that
Speaker 3: work and she had some recordings on it from when
Speaker 3: she was a teacher from you know, twenty years ago,
Speaker 3: and she hadn't heard them for ages. So it's doing
Speaker 3: bits like that and fixing. We fixing teddies and some
Speaker 3: sort of coloredy toys.
Speaker 1: So is it mostly small stuff you do or yeah.
Speaker 3: Portable things, yes, really. Obviously. We don't go out and
Speaker 3: we don't take things away. We try and fix them
Speaker 3: at the event. So we give about about an hour
Speaker 3: of the time to each repair and sometimes we have
Speaker 3: to draw a line and go that's too complicated, it's
Speaker 3: too difficult, or sometimes they need parts and we can't
Speaker 3: fix it on the date, they might have to come
Speaker 3: back on the second visit. So we also volunte here
Speaker 3: at the wind Can to repact as well. Quite so
Speaker 3: we sort of where are you actually located there. It's
Speaker 3: in the Vicary school rooms, just next to opposite Saint
Speaker 3: Mary's Church on Queen Street. And is that just every
Speaker 3: day or it's every second Saturday of the month, So
Speaker 3: it's once a month, every second Saturday in the afternoon
Speaker 3: from twelve thirty to three thirty and people can just
Speaker 3: turn up. You can email us or contact us before
Speaker 3: if you've got any in any questions about our device,
Speaker 3: want to get an idea whether it's something we can
Speaker 3: fix before you bring it down. We've done lots of
Speaker 3: kitchen aid mixers and things like that and they can
Speaker 3: be quite heavy to bring down, so some people want
Speaker 3: to be sure that we can have a look at it.
Speaker 3: So yeah, we want to spread the word, get more
Speaker 3: people aware of what we're doing and popping down get
Speaker 3: things repaired.
Speaker 1: Fantastic. Well, thanks very much for your time.
Speaker 4: Thank you.
Speaker 1: I'm now talking to Phil from the Gillingham Community Cinema. Phil,
Speaker 1: how's the cinema work?
Speaker 4: We have a number of volunteers who put on a
Speaker 4: show once a month on a Thursday evening. We've got
Speaker 4: a large screen, a pretty good projector and surround sound system.
Speaker 4: So when we show these sort of films.
Speaker 5: Just for Christmas, we had Down to Abbey the Finale.
Speaker 5: We followed that with the Choral and we had H's
Speaker 5: for Hawk and Hamnet and our next showing is going
Speaker 5: to be The Roses. So we've had a wide selection
Speaker 5: of films. We've had the Bob Marley buyer pick, the
Speaker 5: Amy wine House buyer pick. So it's a very contemporary
Speaker 5: and varied range of films that we're able to show.
Speaker 4: How often?
Speaker 1: How often is the cinema held.
Speaker 5: Once a month on a day in the VSR which
Speaker 5: is the church the schoolroom, yes, opposite Mary's Church.
Speaker 4: Refreshment six pounds per adult and one pound for children,
Speaker 4: the whoever an interval at halftime we should sell ice
Speaker 4: creams and whoever a small drinks bar as well with
Speaker 4: soft soft drinks beer wine.
Speaker 1: So so if people are interested in want to know
Speaker 1: more about him, how can they contact you?
Speaker 5: Around the town there is advertising and on it you
Speaker 5: will see a phone number.
Speaker 1: Seven eight one seven three seven nine double oh.
Speaker 5: Six yes, and that will take you straight through to Gordon,
Speaker 5: our chief organizer, who will put you on the list
Speaker 5: for the next.
Speaker 3: Showing right Love.
Speaker 1: I'm sorry I didn't catch you on.
Speaker 5: And I am Kate and I'm representing Messy Church was
Speaker 5: again is another of our right MESSI Church is an
Speaker 5: act footballer no different telling no I but a y
Speaker 5: Messy Church is an activity that I've been involved in
Speaker 5: for about ten years and it's a way of reaching
Speaker 5: out to churin and families and offering them activities related
Speaker 5: to a theme like this this particular Sunday and in
Speaker 5: September we're looking at creation, so we give the churren
Speaker 5: a range of fun activities, crafts and we'll be doing
Speaker 5: a treasure hunt in the churchyard tomorrow afternoon and then
Speaker 5: we have a short worship session usually sing a song
Speaker 5: and then we have a lovely team. So it's a family.
Speaker 1: Event which churches help and.
Speaker 5: It represents well, it represents all the churches grosskilling and
Speaker 5: our helpers come from range of churches. So it's it's
Speaker 5: Christian activity, but it's Christian in its broadest sense and
Speaker 5: it takes place in again the same building the VSR
Speaker 5: opposite Mayory's Church three o'clock and it's on tomorrow Sunday
Speaker 5: the twelfth, and then there's another session will be on
Speaker 5: Sunday the twentieth of September.
Speaker 1: So how do people get in touch if they're interested?
Speaker 3: They just turn up, just turn up.
Speaker 1: Yep, okay, there is no phone number.
Speaker 5: They just come along brilliant. I need to advertise to
Speaker 5: all the schools, all the Gillingham schools take half brilliant
Speaker 5: advertisers and put them on their parent mail.
Speaker 1: Thanks them so much for your time a pleasure.
Speaker 4: Cheers.
Speaker 1: If you're a member of a group or organization that
Speaker 1: would like to be featured on the Future Gillingham Podcast,
Speaker 1: then you can email me at Killingham Podcast at gmail
Speaker 1: dot com. Thanks for listening.