Podcasts about avon valley

Neville and Julie HoyPoy - Organisers Moondyne Joe Festival Come along and join in the fun at the FREE to attend Moondyne Festival held annually in Toodyay township. Everyone is encouraged to dress in pioneer period costume…come as a floozie, swaggie or street urchin. Or wax up and enter the fabulous Moustache Competition! The legend of Moondyne Joe, the Avon Valley’s legendary bushranger transforms the picturesque historical town of Toodyay, Western Australia into a lively all day festival, the highlight of the day being the re-enactment of Moondyne Joe’s various escapades throughout the town, his arrests and mock trials. Join in the fun with Moondyne Joe as he runs around town, robbing shops, escaping custody and being a general menace. Cheer on Joe’s gang, ‘floozies’, coppers, swaggies and the Town Crier. Toodyay Sunday 4th May 9am to about 4pmSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Send us a textThis is big. For the first time, a new product is being launched on the 6 Ranch Podcast (actually two new products from Spartan). AND we are announcing an opportunity for three people to join me next year at Avon Valley Safaris in New Zealand for a week of hunting with many species available. Check out the new gear from Spartan hereCheck out Avon Valley Safaris here

Over the past couple of decades, Meghan has worked in a variety of roles in the music industry in Canada- from artist management to festival, event and venue management. She even managed a world-famous recording studio for a time, in Vancouver. Her passions include providing spaces and stages for artists of all genres to play and creating memorable experiences for audiences through the lens of live music. As President of Music Nova Scotia, Meghan (along with the entire board and staff of MNS) advocates for the MNS membership in any and all ways that could further the careers of the talented artists and industry members in Nova Scotia. She has woven refreshing elements of empathy, acceptance and inclusion in her approach to board governance, which has positively changed the landscape of the organization's operations, community involvement, and relationships. Meghan now owns Bent Ridge Winery with her husband and business partner Glenn Dodge. In addition to managing the winery and restaurant, Meghan is also the Events & Weddings Manager for their new seasonal Events Pavilion, which will soon be home to a new live music venue in the heart of the Avon Valley, NS. Find out more @bentridgewinery@musicnovascotia

Patch reviews his recent family trip to Forest Holiday's in the Forest of Dean and then a live review of Fear at Avon Valley with Patch, Rich and Hannah Catley (Lockdown Loaves & Catley's Cafe/Bakery)

ScareTrack- FEAR at Avon Valley Scream Park 2023 / On-location Review Episode   We experience FEAR at Avon Valley Scream Park for the 2023 season. 5 mazes, 1 horror experience, fire shows, Lazer shows, street theatre and more!   Follow FEAR Instagram: @fearavonvalley Twitter: @FearAvonValley Facebook: /FEAR Avon Valley Scream Park ...................................................................................................................... BOOK YOUR TICKETS HERE: https://www.fearscreampark.co.uk/ ......................................................................................................................   Visit our website here: https://www.scaretrack.co.uk/ Watch our latest ScareCam vlogs: https://www.youtube.com/@ScareTrack ScareTrack merchandise can be found here:  https://fleshnmetal.com/scaretrack?limit=25     Social Media Facebook.com/ScareTrack Instagram- @scaretrack Twitter- @scaretrack Snapchat- scaretrack   Check out the Haunted Attraction Network here: https://hauntedattractionnetwork.com/   *Logo/Photo property of FEAR AVON VALLEY

W miniony weekend w Avon Valley, w Northam w Zachodniej Australii dwie polskie ekipy baloniarskie wzięły udział w 5tych światowych zawodach baloniarskich kobiet, Women's World HPT Ballooning CHmpionships.. Z członkiniami polskiej załogi: pilotem i drugim pilotem Malgorzata Bilską-Nowakowską i Polą Klepczarek rozmawiała Mira Danielewska.

This week we're going to be talking/arguing about what defines a Roller Coaster cred?! This could all end in tears. We also catch up on all the latest news including Fury 325 crack, Kingda Ka reopening, Chessington World of Adventures waterpark, Fear at Avon Valley and much more!

For this Western Regional Update, we caught up with grower Sandon Knipe who runs a mixed farming enterprise with his family. We caught up  in the field at his home farm based in Spencers Brook in WA's Avon Valley.Sandon explained they've expanded their enterprise away from this region, acquiring more farmland in the Jennapullin township, which is north east of the home farm. This was a strategic decision to chase a dryer climate, better suited to broadacre farming.In this chat, we chat about the evolution of Sandon's farming system, discussing how they effectively adopted a chaff cart, including the benefits of weed control and the ability to supplement their sheep feed.  In recent times, Sandon said they've been running out of time to burn dumps and they've been looking at moving away from this practice for the key reasons of social license, time, and nutrient management.  They've now acquired a Seed Terminator weed seed impact mill. We also catch-up on how seeding is going for the Knipe enterprise. The WeedSmart podcast is produced and presented by WeedSmart Project Manager, Jessica Strauss, with WeedSmart Extension Agronomist Peter Newman as co-host. Learn more about WeedSmart by checking out our website. Don't forget you can follow us on Twitter too.

After last week's heavy rain, the Avon Valley is in full flood. With so much going in the lake, it's going to be another hard few nights of fishing. Along with the fact that the night temperatures dropped to -5c and all the standing water froze and made driving conditions horrendous for the past 4 days. I struggled to get to the lake, avoiding flooded roads and closures, along with road works for burst pipes. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/richard-handel/message

Comedian and 'cat nerd' Russell Kane explains to Rob and Anne-Marie why he takes the training of his three cats, and pug, very seriously. From cat proofing the garden to teaching his pug Colin sign language, Russell is something of an expert when it comes to training animals. Does your pet suffer from persistent itchy ears or has your dog damaged its cruciate ligament? What happens when a meerkat is rejected by its mob? For Sammy the meerkat it meant a whole new life being the star attraction at Avon Valley adventure and wildlife park, teaching kids how to handle animals and giving the staff a boost on busy days! Anne-Marie meets up with Susan and Shelagh to discuss their equine therapy project helping children and young adults across NI. The BHS ‘Learning with horses' course helps young people who, for a variety of reasons, have become negative in their approach to education and life in general. The BHS Ireland provides those young people with a unique opportunity to learn through working with horses. You can watch live coverage of the Appeal Night on Friday, 18th November 2022. If you have a concern or query about your animal that you would like answered contact Rob and Anne-Marie by email at alrightpet@bbc.co.uk

ScareTrack- Fear at Avon Valley Scream Park / Review Episode 2022   ScareTrack visit Fear at Avon Valley Scream Park to experience their 4 returning attractions and their 2 brand new attractions. THE CORE, in which you have to wear waders in water! And the absolutely stunningly scary THE EXCORSISM    Follow Fear Instagram: @fearavonvalley Facebook: /FEAR Avon Valley Scream Park  ...................................................................................................................... BOOK YOUR TICKETS HERE: https://www.avonvalley.co.uk/events/fear-scream-park/ ......................................................................................................................   Visit our website here: ScareTrack Watch our latest ScareCam vlogs: ScareCam ScareTrack merchandise can be found here:  Merch     Social Media Facebook.com/ScareTrack Instagram- @scaretrack Twitter- @scaretrack Snapchat- scaretrack   Check out the Haunted Attraction Network here: https://hauntedattractionnetwork.com/     *Logo/Photo property of FEAR *All views expressed are of the individual host/guest    

Patch, Rich and Bonus Show co-host Matt are off to Fear at Avon Valley Scream Park to go through their interactive mazes and experience an exorcism... check it out!

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ScareTrack- It was FEAR at Avon Valley! After receiving 'what three words' in the post, and finding a USB stick in the woods with an audio recording, we can now confirm it was sent by FEAR!   Listen to the USB recording in this episode!   Follow FEAR Insta: @fearavonvalley Facebook: FEAR Avon Valley Scream Park   ...................................................................................................................... VISIT THE FEAR WEBSITE HERE: https://www.fearscreampark.co.uk/ ......................................................................................................................   Visit our website here: ScareTrack Watch our latest ScareCam vlogs: ScareCam ScareTrack merchandise can be found here:  Merch     Social Media Facebook.com/ScareTrack Instagram- @scaretrack Twitter- @scaretrack Snapchat- scaretrack   Check out the Haunted Attraction Network here: https://hauntedattractionnetwork.com/     *Logo/Photo property of FEAR *All views expressed are of the individual host/guest.

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Lying next to the River Avon just inside the Cotswolds, Avoncliff Wood is no ordinary wood. The site hosts one of the biggest trials in the UK to find biodegradable alternatives to plastic tree guards. As if that wasn't enough, it's also a living laboratory, revealing how ash dieback will really affect nature. Site manager Joe gives us a special behind the scenes tour to learn more. We also meet volunteer wardens Kay and James, and catch up with TV presenter Alice Beer who lives nearby. Don't forget to rate us and subscribe! Learn more about the Woodland Trust at woodlandtrust.org.uk Transcript Voiceover: You are listening to Woodland Walks, a podcast for the Woodland Trust presented by Adam Shaw. We protect and plant trees for people to enjoy, to fight climate change and to help wildlife thrive. Adam: Well, I've changed trains at Bath Spa for what appears to be a very small train which is taking me to Avoncliffe. Now, in fact, the train conductor has told me the platform is so short when I get there only one door is going to open. He came through asking “Is anybody getting off?” and I'm the only one, the only one. Well, I have to tell you, the station here is straight out of a 1930s style Agatha Christie film, that's what it screams to me. Beautiful signs, beautiful flowers, the River Avon just almost next door to the station, a great looking pub and down at the end of the platform one single man who I'm assuming is Joe Middleton with the Woodland Trust, site manager here and the guy who's going to show me around. Joe: So, welcome to Avoncliffe Wood in the Avon Valley just in between Bath and Bradford-on-Avon. We just crossed over the famous Avoncliffe Aqueduct and just followed the River Avon until we hit even Avoncliffe Wood which carpets the side of the valley across this area of the Cotswolds AONB, Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, right at the southern end of the Cotswold AONB. Adam: There's very little woodlands right here, so what's going on in this first field? Joe: So, we're just at the edge of our woodland creation. So we bought 20 hectares, about 40 football pitches, of ancient woodland – untouched for generations – and to buffer that, to try and expand carbon storage and fight climate change and the ecological decline we're seeing we actually bought another 10 hectares, another 20 football pitches, worth of agricultural fields essentially and meadows which were very intensively grazed and we've planted that up with over 5,000 trees to try and get the next generation of trees in here. Adam: Wow, okay so shall we go through, have a look? Thank you. Joe: So just next to us as you can hear the birds singing away, there are blackbirds, robins and blackcaps in there. There's one acre, here, just on the right-hand side, which was actually planted up 25 years ago by a neighbour. So, the very small one acre square now 25 years later is teeming with you know 30-40 foot birch trees, willows, hazels and hawthorns, full of cherry blossom and hawthorn blossom, and birds nesting, tweeting, and insects buzzing all around us! It's quite rare these days! So hopefully we think everything we planted up here, all 5,000 trees would look like that in 25 years. A proper young woodland. Adam: And you've clearly, I mean, they're not uniformly planted so there's a big patch in the middle which you've got nothing and they seem to be done in clumps, so why have you done it like that? Joe: Do you want to know what that patch in the middle is? That's a sledging lane. Right well so we carried out community consultation when we first bought the woodland. We asked all the locals, we said look there's this really lovely kind of big expanse of fields all around the wood, we want to buy it, we want it to, you know, fight climate change, we want to try and do our bit for wildlife. And they said whatever you do leave us a sledging lane because when it snows here this hill is perfect for tobogganing down. Adam: laughs you see I thought it was going to be for some really technical reason! You need to do that for a very specific reason, I didn't realise it was gonna be sledges. Joe: There are also wide rides, you know, big areas that people can walk through. We've created a really good path network in here as well in some areas and natural regeneration so there are areas unplanted and there are areas purely for tobogganing fun in the middle of snowy winters. Adam: And why not? It's very important. Now, the thing that we can see in this immediate field is a lot of tree guards and well I'm also standing by a little sign which says biodegradable tree shelter. I always call them tree guards, but this was called tree shelter. Now that is not by coincidence. The tree guards are a huge issue, aren't they? Joe: Yeah, I mean with governments pledging to plant millions if not globally billions of trees to fight climate, you know hold onto carbon, stop floods, we have to be able to do it without using oil-based plastics. For the last 35 years people have just, every tree that's gone in you know, not every one, but most trees that've gone in have been planted with a giant plastic tree guard which doesn't biodegrade, it litters, it causes microplastics, and people… Adam: And are they reusable those plastic guards? Joe: They are to a certain degree, they're not easy to recycle, there are some better recycling schemes now just starting. But actually, probably one in three are reusable. But a lot of places are too far to go and get them, people don't bother they get left and derelict and are expensive to go and collect every single one, especially when you're planting hundreds of thousands. So the biodegradable alternative is the absolute key. Find something that naturally, you know, biodegrades away back into the soil, doesn't harm anything, it doesn't use oil. Adam: Right, I'm just going to go up to… So, this is a biodegradable one? Joe: Exactly. Adam: It looks sort of yellowish and quite canvas-like but it's very it's very firm, it doesn't feel, I mean that feels a sturdy old thing this. Joe: Yeah so, we've got 5,000 trees we put in. We are using some old recycled plastic ones, so we've been given a few, but actually we've got 16 different types of biodegradable alternatives to plastic here. So, they range from cardboard, you know, made from paper or mulch to biodegradable plastics, which the jury is out on at the moment, to actually resins and oils from things like cashew nut shells and pine resin. We've got a train coming past us! Train noise Two and a half years ago, when we planted the 5,000 trees in all these biodegradable guards, we launched something called Big Climate Fightback, a big Woodland Trust campaign to bring people out to help plant trees and do their bit. And actually, we ended up with over 250 people arriving one Saturday – spades in hand – on the trains in all the train stations. And the people in Bath, and Bristol and Bradford-on-Avon must have thought “what on earth is going on?”, with over 250 people arriving with spades on the platforms. And they came in here, they planted trees en masse – school kids, families, local groups. Everyone came here to try and plant trees and with that we, you know, told people about the problem of plastics and we've basically now got one of the biggest sites in the UK for trialling an alternative to plastic – to try and protect these trees so they get to five, seven years to get to a good height where they're no longer susceptible to browsing by deer, by rabbits, by voles, which is the main reason the shelters and guards are here to protect them. Adam: And correct me if I'm wrong but there is a sort of school of thought saying well don't use any guards. I mean it's now sort of established practice that you've got to use a guard otherwise the tree won't survive, but there is this sort of vague thought we never used to use guards in the distant past, so why have we suddenly got obsessed with them? Joe: I mean deer numbers are higher than they've ever been, it's a huge amount of browsing by deer with no natural predators, so it's complicated, that is the simplest answer, but putting up a giant 6-foot fence is probably you know the other solution which is in a lot of cases, depending on size, it can be much more economic, more practical. Very small areas – probably not massive areas, but medium sized – deer fencing is probably the answer, but then you've still got rabbits and voles you've got to fence out. So, doing nothing, over-planting, natural regeneration – we've got an area if you look up to the edge of the woodland we've left the buffer zone of about 20-30 metres around lots of this woodland, all around it, with nothing, we've just fenced it off and we're just going to allow the woodland to expand – every one of those berries and those nuts and seeds that drops into the ground will hopefully just have a, you know, wild natural generation. Like Knepp with a huge rewilding – that hope of what happens there doesn't happen as easily here but can take a long time. Hopefully that will establish woodland itself, but it may take 50 years. At the moment we've got a climate emergency on us and amongst us, so we have to do something now so planting trees is a very good quick solution. Adam: A huge issue because if we are planting for ecological reasons what we don't want to do is every tree comes with its own polluting plastic. I mean that's not the future. So, the answer to that question may well lie in the thousands of experiments you're carrying out in this field we're standing in. Joe: Absolutely. Adam: Right, well I've stopped us walking. We better… I better get my steps in. So, let's carry on. Where are we heading to now? Joe: So, we're gonna go and find our two volunteer wardens in a minute. Adam: So, we've got two volunteers hard at work. I can see just up the hill a bit. Joe: So, this is James and Kay who are both our two volunteer wardens. They've been working now replacing broken, rotted, fallen biodegradable tree guards, replacing the trees as they die as well, and these two have been working hard to help keep an eye on them for the last few years for us. Adam: It's got them hard at work! Joe: They are incredibly hard at work. Hey guys how you doing? Kay and James: Alright? Hi! Hello. Adam: They do have you hard at work! So Kay and James, so first of all before we get to what you're actually doing, why have you been doing it? What's your interest? Why did you volunteer to do all of this? Kay: Well, you've been a volun… a member of the Woodland Trust for about 25 years. James: Well, it's about 35 years now. Kay: Since this is really on our doorstep, this is a perfect opportunity to get really involved with the Woodland Trust. Adam: James, I mean, you've been a Woodland Trust member for a very long time. And, ah the debate around trees has changed enormously. Hasn't it? James: It has, and I am glad that people have suddenly valued trees. I was in the military but, before that, I was out of Kent, out near Canterbury and my uncle was a farmer with orchards and basically from the earliest days I knew about the trees, the names of trees. The pollards at the end of the field as windbreaks, the various wetland trees down in the floodplains around the Romney Marsh area. But I already had a fascination for the massive oaks, the spectacular deciduous trees on the horizon I think made this this countryside look like it does, so British, and so English, with these gorgeous round shapes, compared to a lot of conifers you see in all the European places I've been to. Adam: Okay, talk me through a bit about what you're actually doing here – I mean, you know, hammer in hand I can see. Kay: Hammer in hand, we're replacing some of the tubes that haven't stood up to the wind and the rain. We found that circular rather than rectangular and… Adam: works, circular works… Kay: circular works, because otherwise if it's square they act as a flag, especially cardboard ones. When they get wet, they just disintegrate – as you can see there's lots of bare sticks around here, so yeah, we're going through and replacing them with circular ones. Adam: Fantastic, now I know that the local community were very involved with the Trust, sort of when the Trust took over and sort of designed this site. Tell me a bit about what the local community feel. Kay: That was a great day. We had two schools frog marched in, and yeah, with their teachers and staff and they planted the whole area, which was lovely – they were naming the trees as they were planting them. I know the whole village got involved with planting 5,000 trees over a progressive few weekends and subsequently James and I have been replanting the failures. Adam: And James I mean very clear how engaged you are with this sort of issue but to tell me about the feelings then of the local community and what they what they felt when Woodland Trust first came here and how involved others are apart from you two. James: So, I'm very pleased that people are actually accepting, on the whole, that their backyard has been filled with trees and shrubs which are growing up for their children's lifetime. Kay: We have had some objections to this, but they haven't given their reason why. I assume it's because it's used when we do get snow, which is very rare, it's the sledging field. The Woodland Trust have kindly left a gap for sledging but then they moan that the grass is too long so you can't please everyone all of the time. Adam: But when it was first thought about, and I think it's really interesting isn't it, that you say the community are largely behind this, but I think if others are listening to you now where they may be talking about a woodland on their doorstep created by the Woodland Trust or their own sort of organisation – I wonder what people's first reaction, what were their concerns and hesitancies that you heard about that may have been overcome? Kay: People don't like change do they? And at the moment it's, yeah, it doesn't look picture perfect with the stakes and the guards on, but you've got to envisage what it will look like in 10-15 years' time. You've only got to look at the hedgerow, which is behind us now, and at this time of year which is beginning of May, it's absolutely gorgeous. The blossom's out, the fresh burst of the leaf is so colourful and vibrant, what's not to like about having a wood on your doorstep? And we were very lucky. Adam: Okay, well brilliant, well thank you very much. Look I don't want to disturb you anymore but that's brilliant. Thank you very much. Kay: Thank you! Adam: So, we're gonna head up now to the ancient woodland. Now this is certainly unique in any of the Woodland Trust sites I've been to, because normally the Trust actively encourages people to come in, but this is the only site I've been to where the ancient woodland bit you stop people from coming. Oh, look this is… Joe: This is our nifty little fenced area which… Adam: We're going through the barbed wire so just be careful going… So, explain to me why you've unusually actually kept the public out of the ancient woodland. Joe: Ash dieback really is becoming a huge problem across a lot of woodlands I manage. I manage about 30 woods across the West Country and every one of them has large amounts of ash that really grows really well on these sort of limestone soils and in these hills around the Mendips, the Cotswolds. Gosh there's a huge Buzzard just soaring over the edge of the woodland there. So, ash dieback is killing off essentially all our ash trees. Estimates vary at the moment. You know recently it was about 95% and then people said it was around 60%. So, the latest estimate is that about 60% of our ash trees will die over the next 50 years. How fast they die is the worrying thing but when we bought the wood in 2019 ash dieback was blowing across the landscape. It is a fungal disease. It naturally spreads. It came over from Asia originally in infected stock of nursery trees being planted out. So, no one's been able to plant any ash for the last three years. It's now being reported all the way from the east of Great Britain, all the way to the west, every year, until it's spread and spread and spread now our mature ash trees – whether they're in a hedgerow, along roadsides and country lanes, whether they're in woodlands – ash trees are essentially dying en masse, and this is killing off everything that lives and breathes on those ash trees. Adam: And the reason you're keeping the public out is because the trees are dangerous, are they? They might fall? Joe: Yeah exactly, so where you have a path or road or property you have to maintain, you know, what's reasonably practical safety for people to be able to walk under it. We realise if we were to create a load of paths, allow a load of people into now what is a fantastic ancient woodland, but it has never really had any paths in, it's been undisturbed for generations – over 100 years now – we don't think anyone set foot in it. So, we didn't want to create any paths because we didn't want to fell any trees, so we've kept it shut and all the locals have seemed to have bought into that and are really pleased this is just a woodland for wildlife. They're happy enough to walk around the fields where we've created woodland. Adam: And is it also something of a laboratory to see what happens to ash dieback? If you really don't step in and try and do anything? Joe: Exactly yeah, so, in so many woodlands across Britain because of the large amount of public footpaths, people are having to fell for health and safety reasons, so there's not very many examples where if no one goes in and nothing happens, what happens to that wildlife? Does it also dramatic- dramatically decline, with the trees losing? Or are there some winners? So, are there some decay species? Some fungi species? Some insects, beetles that love decay rotting wood that increase? So we don't really know. So, this site we've turned into a living laboratory, this is a unique case of where we are monitoring the species within the wood, how they react to ash dieback over time. Adam: We're now going into the bit of ancient woodland which the public are locked out of and so we have got this big “keep out, closed due to ash dieback” (sign). Joe: You have exclusive access! Adam: Brilliant, now I gotta say, I mean I've got to take a photo of this because this is a sea of amazing plants. I'm really, I want to be careful where I tread, I don't want to disturb anything. Because I'm completely ignorant, what are these plants? Joe: Can you smell it? Adam: Yeah sure, it's extraordinary! Joe: This is wild garlic. Adam: Is that what it is? Joe: Ramsons are all in flower at the moment and now we can see for literally, well, hundreds of metres is the white snowy tops of these wild garlic flowers that are just coming up across the thick green leaves and when there's no path in sight you have to be careful where you tread. So, luckily wild garlic's quite prolific, so we'll tread carefully, but an undisturbed wood looks like this. It's like a sea, or a carpet of sort of snow. Adam: That is extraordinary, isn't it? Yes it is a sea of snow and that's the advantage of actually having undisturbed places. Is that it, I mean, yeah sea is exactly what it looks like. These sort of white foaming tops to the rolling green waves of vegetation. Quite amazing. Joe: All you can make out are the occasional tracks of foxes, badgers, stoats, weasels, that have gone through it, maybe the odd deer as well. But insects seem to be declining catastrophically. The ideal analogy is, you know, people used to drive around even in the 80s and you get windscreens splattered with bugs and insects. It just doesn't happen anymore and that massive decline of insects, it's unknown the reason, it probably doesn't help with, you know, when people are using lots of pesticide sprays across the countryside, along with climate change, but as all those insects decline so do our birds that feed on them, so are our bat species – so they're not fat enough to basically get through the hibernation and then when they come out of hibernation and the young are born there are just not enough insects so they don't make it through the summer essentially, and they don't have another generation that makes it. So, yeah, bat species are declining at the moment, so that's one of the first things we've noticed, and well ash are declining en masse. There were a lot of these species of ash that we're monitoring that are all dying en masse. Adam: I mean so that, I mean, …you're telling me all these terrible things Joe: Yes, I know. Adam: But I mean that's important it's still amazing landscape still isn't it? Joe: Absolutely. Adam: And that's always been true with woodlands. That decay brings its own new life and decaying trees are very important parts the of the ecosystem, but even given all of those challenges that you talk about are there any, are there any high points, any reasons for optimism? Joe: Well, wild garlic's obviously doing really well in this particular wood! But there will be some species that do, really, there will be some species of butterfly that you know do really successfully with the increased amount of light. But one of the best success stories, the best things you can do to feel positive about it is to go back out into those fields, plant the trees, the next generation, so that if some of these woodlands do suffer for whatever reason then we've got far more woodland habitat. We need to increase our woodland cover from about 13% to 20% fast and then if we get 20% – we've got the shrubs, we've got the tree species, got the rewilding areas – to be able to provide those homes for the species that aren't doing so well. That's the key I think is to plant the next generation, get there quickly. Our woodlands have a fantastic history and have been managed over time. This is just the next phase in the management to basically keep an eye and ensure our guardianship secures for that next generation in the next 50-100 years. Adam: Well I'm going to leave Joe to smelling his wild garlic, because TV presenter and journalist Alice Beer, who I used to work with, I know lives not that far from this woodland. Now I know she's out and about today so I'm going to call her on her mobile to discuss what the countryside around here means to her and her family. Okay, so just Alice first of all we should explain a bit about our history, so everybody… Alice: Oh must we tell everybody? Do you think we should? Adam: I think we should share a little bit. I used to open letters on Watchdog which was a massive massive programme at the time and I can't, do you remember how many people watched it? I can't Alice: Well I don't know I'd come to watchdog from That's Life and That's Life, which was before you were born Adam I'm sure, had 15 million viewers in its heyday and I think Watchdog was around 7 million viewers, which now is completely unheard of, but then you know it was just 7 million people watching it and more importantly 7 million people putting pen to paper. No emails, pen to paper, and thank God Adam Shaw was in the post room! Adam: Yes I was opening the 7 million letters with one or two other people and Alice was much more senior, so we would come to pass those stories onto Alice and of course, you are now, what's your official title? Alice: I suppose I'm actually probably daytime television presenter but I'm far too much of a snob to say that! I kind of dip in and out of various things trying to still help the little guy or pass on information. Adam: You have a regular spot on a very big programme, This Morning? Alice: Well, This Morning, yes, it's every day, it's now two and a half hours, they keep extending it! I am waiting for it to bump up against the Six O'Clock News soon! But This Morning it was, “can you do a piece on brisk walking and the health benefits”, as a result of some survey that came out, so here I am for the second time today brisk walking and broadcasting at the same time which is fantastic! Adam: Very good! Don't trip over! You've got a couple of dogs with you haven't you as well? Alice: I have, I've got Stanley who's my five-year-old schnoodle and his girlfriend Tilly and there are times when they become quite amorous in the long grass but I'm going to try and keep it clean for your sake! Adam: I knew you when we used to work in Shepherd's Bush in London, but you are now a country girl aren't you? Alice: Yeah, wellies welded to my feet! I grew up in suburbia and in North London suburbia and the countryside wasn't really important to me, but my parents took me out, took me and my sister out walking quite a lot. There was always “shall we do the walk through the woods”, “should we do the walk through the bluebell woods” which is slightly longer or “should we go up and round” which involved the hill. So, there was always a consciousness of walking in the countryside as a pleasant thing to do, but as we've got older, the countryside has become more important to me and we have been doing that thing, my partner and I have been doing that thing where we're trying to move out of London and we've settled on this beautiful village, beautiful functional village not far from Malmesbury in Wiltshire, which is where I am now, walking alongside the River Avon. So not too far from Avoncliff and the same body of water sort of flowing past me which is rather nice. Adam: How lovely. I know, I've seen you on This Morning as you're talking about wellbeing, and in terms of actually, with your consumer journalist hat on talking about the gadgets you could buy to help with wellbeing and having lights I think that show, sort of, natural light. I mean, how important do you feel it's been for you and your family during these rather difficult times to have access to nature and the outside? Alice: It's been everything to me. Everything. I've got teenage girls in fact it's their birthday today, their 19th birthday today, so for them probably it spells isolation for them because they didn't grow up in the countryside, or this this particular part of the countryside, so you know this means being away from their friends, but for myself and my husband it's been, it's been really important. For me to leave the house and walk in space because in London everything has felt very close and very claustrophobic and I'm mentally not good at that at all! So, I'm incredibly lucky to be able to breathe and give myself sort of mental and physical space away from other people. I was able to work from here, so I did sixty live broadcasts from, in effect, my back garden during lockdown. Adam: It's really interesting that you talk about your girls sort of feeling a sense of isolation because they came from the city and now are in a very rural area. I often find that it's a curious thing to get one's head round because really the nature debate about sustainability and trying to be better for the world is often very strongly led by young people. Alice: Oh it's theirs, it's completely their campaign! But I'm not sure that they associate it with, I mean, I feel like I'm treading on dangerous territory speaking, you know, putting words into their mouths because they're both very eloquent, quite passionate girls. I feel that I'm not sure that they would stand out in a field and say “we must protect this”. Probably coming from the city, they feel more that they see stuff, they see things going into bins, they see landfill, smoke, pollution. So, they see the big preservation of our world from a city perspective, probably more than standing in a field and thinking “oh this must never have, you know, thousands of houses built on it”, which is what probably makes me panic as much as anything. Adam: Do you get a sense of a change in people's attitudes in the way they behave, I mean, I think people talk about the need for ecological sustainability. I see amongst my friends and family, I have to also be careful about what I'm saying, I see less actually willingness to change personal behaviour than a willingness to say it's important, but they don't do an awful lot. Do you see that real difference? Alice: I'm a huge hypocrite, but I am now suddenly, it was probably about six months ago I was putting something in the bin, and it sounds like a strange Greta Thunberg epiphany, but it slightly was. I was putting some plastic in the bin, and I was trying to clear out a room and I was thinking this is going nowhere! This can't be recycled. This has to go underneath the ground, and this is not going to break down. I had a sort of panic about the fact that well if I was doing this and everyone was doing this and though I sort of have had that epiphany and I am changing my behaviour, and nothing particular triggered that, apart from me clearing out a bedroom and realising I had too much stuff. You know, which is odd, but you know, in terms of the big picture in the world I think it's very hard to make individuals feel responsible when we see big companies not taking responsibility. It's that sort of, well what difference is little me gonna make? And I've sort of had that, well I'm going to make a difference, so I will. I've had that moment and I think we have to all have that moment and I'm just about to fall into the River Avon, which could be interesting! I'm trying to encourage the dogs to have a drink. There you go guys, come on, look Tilly have a drink! Yeah well they're sort of having a drink, but I'm the one that's most likely to go in here. Adam: Well look, Alice, I feel split because I quite like the sound effect of you going in to end this, it'd be a great end wouldn't it! But on the other hand not a great way of re meeting after all these years. Look I will let you get on with your walk but thank you very much, thanks a lot. Alice: Thank you, thank you. Adam: Well, let's leave Alice Beer there and indeed all our friends at Avoncliff Woods. I do hope you enjoyed that and if you want to find a wood near you, you can go to the Woodland Trust website, woodlandtrust.org.uk/findawood and you can find a wood that's local to you. So that's woodlandtrust.org.uk/findawood. I do recommend you do that. Until next time happy wandering! Voiceover: Thank you for listening to the Woodland Trust Woodland Walks. Join us next month when Adam will be taking another walk in the company of Woodland Trust staff, partners and volunteers. And don't forget to subscribe to the series on iTunes or wherever you're listening to us and do give us a review and a rating. Why not send us a recording of your favourite woodland walk to be included in a future podcast. Keep it to a maximum of 5 minutes and please tell us what makes your woodland walk special, or send us an email with details of your favourite walk and what makes it special to you. Send any audio files to podcast@woodlandtrust.org.uk and we look forward to hearing from you.

News From Bayer.....Something For The Ladies in the Avon Valley See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Freedom from SAFE says the organisation has been overwhelmed with new arrivals of cats and kittens that they would love to adopt out to new homes. They also have an important message for owners out there. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Annual ride to highlight depression and suicide in the community.  Find out which towns it will be visiting in 2022. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

ScareTrack- FEAR at Avon Valley Scream Park 2021 / On-location Review Episode 2021    ScareTrack visited FEAR at Avon Valley Scream Park to experience their returning 4 attractions and their BRAND NEW attraction MALEFICA. Check out an EXCLUSIVE POV of MALEFICA on our Youtube Channel!   Follow FEAR Insta: @fearavonvalley Facebook: FEAR Avon Valley Scream Park #gifted ...................................................................................................................... VISIT THE FEAR WEBSITE HERE: https://www.fearscreampark.co.uk/ ......................................................................................................................   Visit our website here: ScareTrack Watch our latest ScareCam vlogs: ScareCam ScareTrack merchandise can be found here:  Merch     Social Media Facebook.com/ScareTrack Instagram- @scaretrack Twitter- @scaretrack Snapchat- scaretrack   Check out the Haunted Attraction Network here: https://hauntedattractionnetwork.com/     *Logo/Photo property of FEAR *All views expressed are of the individual host/guest.

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The Beverley to Perth Road Race has been WA's premier one day endurance race for well over a hundred years. The 185km route followed the Avon Valley between Beverley and Toodyay before heading through the Darling Ranges and finishing in Perth. Often the Finish line was often at the historic Peninsular Hotel in Maylands which, as it turns out, is the venue for the WA Historical Cycle Clubs upcoming exhibit! Annette Kent from the Club joined us to look at the events history and talk about next weekends event. If you'd like to head down to the exhibit, it's on the 18th & 19th of September at the Dome Café Community Rooms, 219-221 Railway Pde, Maylands. You'll find it inside the historic Peninsular Hotel in Maylands, opposite the Maylands Train Station. More details on the event can be found here https://westcycle.org.au/events/exhibition-beverley-to-perth-road-race/  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

ScareTrack - FEAR at Avon Valley Scream Park / Creative Lead - Mattia Pace Interview    Mikey interviews Mattia Pace, Creative Lead of Fear at Avon Valley Scream Park. They discuss the growth of FEAR over the last seven years and give listeners a few clues regarding their brand new 2021 attraction.    Follow FEAR Scream Park Insta: @fearavonvalley Twitter: @FearAvonValley FB: /FEAR Avon Valley Scream Park ...................................................................................................................... BUY FEAR TICKETS HERE: https://www.fearscreampark.co.uk/ ......................................................................................................................   Visit our website here: https://scaretrack.co.uk Watch our latest ScareCam vlogs: https://youtube.com/scaretrack ScareTrack merchandise can be found here: https://www.fleshnmetal.com/scaretrack   Social Media Facebook.com/ScareTrack Instagram- @scaretrack Twitter- @scaretrack Snapchat- scaretrack     *Logo/Photo property of FEAR *All views expressed are of the individual host/guest.

Farmers across Marlborough are picking up the pieces this morning following the weekend's devastating floods. Hundreds of people across the region were forced to evacuate as the area was hit by its largest flood on record. Darren Clifford runs a farm in the Avon Valley outside of Blenheim. He spoke to Kim Hill.

Farmers across Marlborough are picking up the pieces this morning following the weekend's devastating floods. Hundreds of people across the region were forced to evacuate as the area was hit by its largest flood on record. Darren Clifford runs a farm in the Avon Valley outside of Blenheim. He spoke to Kim Hill.

Eastlink WA has secured funding for planning over the next few years. Should the project proceed, it will take heavy vehicles away from Great Eastern Highway in the Perth Hills and Avon Valley and make travel much safer. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Skip the Queue is brought to you by Rubber Cheese, a digital agency that builds remarkable systems and websites for attractions that helps them increase their visitor numbers. Your host is  Kelly Molson, MD of Rubber Cheese.Download our free ebook The Ultimate Guide to Doubling Your Visitor NumbersIf you like what you hear, you can subscribe on iTunes, Spotify, and all the usual channels by searching Skip the Queue or visit our website rubbercheese.com/podcastIf you've enjoyed this podcast, please leave us a five star review, it really helps others find us. And remember to follow us on Twitter for your chance to win the books that have been mentioned in this episode.Competition ends October 31st 2020. The winner will be contacted via Twitter. Show references:https://www.roarrdinosauradventure.co.uk/https://www.linkedin.com/in/charles-adam-goymour-5248832a/Instagram #roarr_dinosauradventurewww.facebook.com/roarrdinosauradventurewww.twitter.com/roarr_dinowww.primevil-scare.comwww.applewoodholidays.co.ukwww.goymourhomes.co.uk Transcription:Kelly Molson:Welcome to Skip the Queue, a podcast for people working in or working with visitor attractions. I'm your host, Kelly Molson. Each episode, I speak with industry experts from the attractions world. In today's episode, I speak with Adam Goymour, Company Director, and Park Manager, at Roarr! Dinosaur Adventure. Sorry, I couldn't help myself. We discuss the government support for the sector. Reopening plans, audience engagement, and the positive impact of reopening with brand new attractions. If you like what you hear, you can subscribe on iTunes, Spotify, and all the usual channels by searching, Skip the Queue.Kelly Molson:Adam, it is so great to have you on the podcast today. Thank you so much for coming in. As you know, these podcasts start off with a little icebreaker question. So I have prepared some new ones for you today that you have not been able to prepare for. So have you ever met any of your idols?Adam Goymour:Have I ever met any of my idols? No, however, during the summer periods we've had a couple of celebrities visit us. Jimmy Doherty from Jimmy's Farm.Kelly Molson:Great.Adam Goymour:He came with his family, he spent the whole day here. I met him, we had a few photos. We also collaborate with our membership schemes and it was really a good occasion because we had the chance to have a chat, talk about business, just talk about life really. He asked for my number to ... sounds like a date really doesn't it?Kelly Molson:It does a little bit, yeah.Adam Goymour:So we could carry on that chat that we had, which was really good. The unannounced one we had was Tom Hardy himself, who came to the park, which was unexpected. I think a lot of guys were unsure if it was him or not. We had one of our bloggers in the park who did talk to me and say, "I think he's on the park." But she couldn't really confirm that or not. But learn to behold, until he was then leaving, to be only then know that he was on the park, but thankfully the blogger had some pictures taken off him and we could just re-share that.Kelly Molson:Brilliant.Adam Goymour:I didn't get the chance ... well, I haven't had the chance as yet in my life to meet my idol. But I think those are two significant people that were quite nice to have at the park.Kelly Molson:Are you a little bit disappointed that you didn't get Tom Hardy's number?Adam Goymour:Absolutely, that would be a cool collab, if I could get him to do a dinosaur video or one of those things he did on CBeebies Storytime, that would have been amazing.Kelly Molson:There you go. You've got a goal. You've got a goal for next time, right? That is brilliant. I love that, great story.Kelly Molson:Okay. I don't know that we're going to be able to beat those answers, but what is your favorite meal to cook and why?Adam Goymour:I love Italian food, but something I do cook because I rarely have a lot of time, being in a business, being quite active, having a few hobbies, I have a dog as well, I'm rarely at home for that long. So something I cook is quick and easy using Jamie Oliver's books, it's salmon fillets, and then I have gnocchi, some broccoli, and it takes 15, 20 minutes. So that's probably my go-to meal.Kelly Molson:Perfect. Nutritious and healthy as well, Adam.Adam Goymour:Absolutely.Kelly Molson:Okay. If you could watch only one film for the rest of your life, what would it be?Adam Goymour:Easy question.Kelly Molson:Oh?Adam Goymour:Jurassic Park, the original.Kelly Molson:I wasn't expecting anything less than that.Adam Goymour:Yeah, it's a keen favorite. My mum and I always used to watch it, and we used to have coloring books when I was four or five years old that we always used to do together. It was a film I loved, so yeah.Kelly Molson:And definitely the original as well, right? It was the best.Adam Goymour:Yeah, it was.Kelly Molson:Okay. So I know that you've listened to a few of these podcasts, so you might have already prepared for the last icebreaker question that I always ask. Tell me something that's true, that almost nobody agrees with you on. So your unpopular opinion.Adam Goymour:Yeah, I love that Greg James show. Rugby is better than football.Kelly Molson:Okay. See I always wonder what people are going to comment on, on Twitter, when we put stuff like this out. But I think that will be probably quite 50, 50.Adam Goymour:Well, football's a global sport, isn't it? Rugby's getting there. I think for all of the community values that rugby brings and the atmosphere you see at a rugby club. I've played it since I was about nine years old and joined my local club, Diss, when I was living in Banham in Norfolk, from about from the age of 16, I think it was. I've played there ever since, and it's been a fantastic environment to make friends, and to take myself away from the working environment, and keep myself fit and active really.Kelly Molson:Is that one of your hobbies still today, playing rugby?Adam Goymour:Yeah. I don't play it perhaps as regularly as I used to now, but I still play it fairly regularly.Kelly Molson:It's a real complete contrast to your working day isn't it, being on the rugby field?Adam Goymour:Yeah, it's still in that team environment. I love the team environment, I feed off it. So yeah, it's something where I've captained and I've been a part of the senior squad, so I do enjoy being in that leadership role. So that's another reason why I love it.Kelly Molson:Great, thank you for sharing. I hope Greg James does listen to this podcast one day and knows that I've still stolen this from him, but with the greatest intention because I'm a big fan. Thanks, Greg.Kelly Molson:Adam, I really want to ... there are loads of things that I want to talk to you about today and with a lot of these podcast interviews where we're talking about the future, I have to go back, because we can't not talk about what's just happened and what we're still dealing with. So I want to ask you a little bit first about how lockdown has been for you.Kelly Molson:What I saw was how very open, and authentic, and very quite vulnerable you were throughout it actually, in terms of the press reports and the news stories that we saw. I think that's really admirable, and it's something that I really admire you for. I just wanted to get a feel for how you felt and what you were going through?Adam Goymour:I think I can start off by saying it was a rollercoaster of emotions, particularly as an owner/operator in the sector. I furloughed myself after the initial onslaught of working through an unexpected closedown, and the implications of it. It was a balancing act, you balance out the practicality and emotions of closing down your business, having a hundred-plus staff that you're not able to offer work to, and finding yourself, after I furloughed myself, with time on my hands, which I never have had before. As I've been ingrained in a family business since I was a child, and it was the first real opportunity in a family business to stop, take a step back, and look at it from a different perspective.Adam Goymour:On a personal side, I was excising my dog Millie quite a lot, spent time with my girlfriend, Rosie, reading, catching up with films, phoning friends that I've not spoken to for a long time because I've just been so busy with work. Apart from that, however, it gave me a good deal of valuable thinking and planning time. But also as the prospect of reopening loomed, there was a huge amount of planning and preparation to do for Roarr! that was eventually closed for 105 days. Zoom meetings were essential to work with managers remotely prior to returning to work at Roarr! Also.Adam Goymour:So yeah, heck and all it went very quickly and it was surprising. There was calls to BALPPA, so the British Association of Leisure, Piers, Parks, and Attractions, and also NFAN, National Farm Attractions Network. They held some twice weekly, some of them were once weekly. There's also support from the Council, Norfolk Chamber of Commerce, and I was the representative, and that was obviously after I was furloughed, and I was the representative for the park.Adam Goymour:So, I was being pulled left, right and center, and trying to keep everything together as well as understanding it myself in the limited time that I had. So yeah, it was full-on really. It was going from, okay, this has just happened, to having time to myself which I've never had before, to then being pulled to left, right, and center to get things sorted. But I love a challenge, I'm a young man, I'm 32, nearly 33, and I enjoy the challenge and it's all about survival, but also the grace time as well. So it's really important, I want to come out of this growing and all the better businesses do in the tough times. So that's what I want us to accomplish.Kelly Molson:It actually sounds incredibly positive, Adam. I mean, I can completely appreciate how challenging the time was, running my own business myself on a much smaller scale than yours. I know the kind of challenges that we had in terms of team and making sure that we had enough revenue, and work, and things like that. But actually, it sounds to me from what you've just said, that it gave you quite a lot of time to reflect on where the business was, and maybe positive changes that you could make when you came back.Adam Goymour:Yeah, it certainly forced a lot of changes perhaps earlier than we had planned to because of the situation, which I love change. I'm a driver with change for the better, not for the sake of change. I've enjoyed that as another challenge really. That's the opportunity it's given, and I think in life you can look at things two ways can't you? You can either look at it and think poor old me, or you could look at it and think, "Are we going to nail this or what?" It's then given the motivation to the leadership team around me to drive it forward.Kelly Molson:Yeah, I love that. That really came across in some of the things that you were doing whilst you were locked down as well. Because one of the things that I noticed was how brilliantly you were engaging with your audience. Even if your audience couldn't come to the venue, you did a lot of things. Like there's a brilliant activity pack that you put together, for kids obviously, but I downloaded it. I mean, look at the backgrounds that you've got, your marketing team went into overdrive a little bit and it was really super positive. What was the response like from your customers during that time?Adam Goymour:Yeah, well firstly, with the marketing team, we didn't furlough them because they're our sales team, they're our communication team externally, and it's a backward step if you furlough those guys. They have really done a fantastic job, really proud of them for what they've done. But yeah, I mean with the audience in their own homes, what was the response like from the customers? We knew we had to keep connected with our customers and we had to look to engage with them in their homes. So we brought the Roarr! experience to them. We created a number of free downloads as you spoke about, from our coloring in dinosaurs, then making face masks, through to full-on activity book. And even a live dinosaur tour of the park.Adam Goymour:The response to the activity has been fantastic. We've had so many social engagements, customer survey responses, and feedback, in general, to say how welcomed they were in such a hard time, especially with kids at home and parents looking for activities to keep them busy. Something we're keen to continue to produce also, that we've spoken about, especially over the winter period as well.Adam Goymour:We also partnered with the local press to provide creative competitions over a four week period where kids and adults could both get creative, and also win a free family pass to the park. We had some great entries and it's been a really successful strategy for us during a pandemic to keep the brand alive, but also to engage with our audience and ensure we're the first place they wanted to visit once we are back open. Our visitor numbers have reflected that. We plan on keeping this going as part of our marketing strategy, ensuring we're giving added value and also ensuring our customers are engaging with us even when they're not on the park.Adam Goymour:So that hopefully gives a round synopsis, and I did speak with my head of marketing on that question really, because she is the brains behind it, being given the full trust and talent to get on with it. She definitely performed, she being Natalie Douglas, rather than she, her. Really proud of that, so that's something we had an opportunity to try, and that's what I said to the team, "God, we've got so much opportunity to try things. Let's see what customers do like, don't like, and just keep trying new things and just seeing what we can get out of it." Which we have got a heck of a lot. So yeah, a real positive.Kelly Molson:Yeah, it is a lovely positive. It's really lovely to hear you actually thank your team as well. I mean, I spoke to Natalie during lockdown down and I know how challenging that was for her as well. I know how much she had on her plate. So it's really nice to see you give that recognition. But I think what you did was perfect, and like you say, now that people are coming back, you've actually seen that translate into visitor numbers. I want to talk to you about that in a minute, but I think just going back to through lockdown like I said, you were very, very, open about the challenges that you were facing. I really respected that, you spoke out on BBC Radio Norfolk, you were in the local press quite a lot. How much of a help has that government support been for you, because you were very, very, vocal about needing help and needing support to keep the facility there?Adam Goymour:Yeah, well we are the worst-hit industry, one of the first to close and last to open and yeah, we need that support. I mean, the VAT reduction from the government from 20% to 5% has been a godsend and really helped us financially, especially since we have reopened. That ends, I think, end of January next year. I hope that extends. We had MP Jerome Mayhew visit us. He was specifically interested in looking at how we're doing, and he was the original founder of Go Ape! But also owns three trampoline parks. So we had a good chat and I said to him that these are the things that we need, but also explained about what government support we have managed to achieve because quite a lot of them we were over the threshold, so that was difficult. But the reduction for VAT for the tourist industry is something that the industry has campaigned for, for many years. We pay a lot more VAT than other countries in Europe in the same industry and it always baffles me considering how many jobs we provide, especially in the local industry, and especially in Broadlands, which is the council area in Norfolk and being Norfolk's largest visitor attraction. The council is certainly on board with doing what they can to help us and have been great through this period. So yeah, all the level of support they provided and devised with the rate support has been useful and welcomed.Adam Goymour:Unfortunately, the banks have not been as supportive as they could have been, despite all the government's best-laid plans. We lost a million pounds worth of income, which is obviously significant to hit our business. We have utilized the government's furloughing scheme. We have some concerns about the furloughing scheme stopping at the end of October and the impacts that we'll have on the hospitality, leisure, and tourism sector. So we hope that can continue, and I know there's been stuff in the news about it, but let's hope that they listen and that they do support us because I think the demand, especially in Norfolk, has been incredible. I had a rare weekend off last weekend and I spent time at another visitor attraction with my girlfriend, Rosie, and her friends. And you could just see the demand is there, and we also have a holiday park, it's called Applewood Country Holiday Park, it's in Banham behind the zoo, which my sister runs. The demand has been exceptional, but obviously, we've had to manage that as well.Adam Goymour:So, that's the support we've had, has it been good enough? I think it's as good as he can be, I'm not going to criticize the government. It's been an unprecedented time, they've done everything they can. I think we can always moan but what does it achieve? Not a lot. You either need to take what you can and campaign, and fight for it, or you can moan. So we decided to say, "Look, this is what we've been handed and we now need to look at it and resolve it." So yeah, I think it's been there or thereabouts, I just think a little bit more support from the bank would be helpful, however. We're looking at that at the moment with some help. So that'll hopefully put us through to ensure that our longer-term plans are not affected by sales of other things. So, yeah, interesting future ahead.Kelly Molson:Well, yes, it still is an interesting time, isn't it? I guess it doesn't stop when the parks open. That's what we need to look at. So let's talk about reopening because I guess it was a really difficult place to even start to think about because you've got so many variables to think about, the demand has been there, but I guess at the time you're questioning whether it will be, whether people want to come back or not. You've got challenges, operational challenges, in terms of how many of your staff can you bring back and how many staff will you need? How did you even start to put those plans in place?Adam Goymour:Well, initially I was going, "Oh my God." It's just absorbing information from all the different avenues you've got available to you. And just listening, and just watching, reading, taking everything on board. Thankfully I'm a really good, big communicator with people in the industry. So I knew where the help was, I sought that help. I attended Zoom meetings even at seven, eight o'clock on a Friday night, every Friday night, throughout the whole lockdown period. Speaking to the council, speaking to other owner-operators, and listened to the guidance from the government and just listening to them. But the government as we know, they did what they could and we didn't get the details until very last minute. They're telling you, you can reopen, but then give you the guidance five days before, or four days before. You've got to turn that around, trying to anticipate, try, and preempt what they're going to provide you.Adam Goymour:So the best way to look at it was also listening to other operators in other countries. So for example, Efteling in Holland, Europa-Park in Germany, big family-run businesses, they're just sitting behind Disneyland Paris as the biggest theme parks in Europe. I've got friends in the industry all over the UK. So speaking to them about specifics in some of our attractions where we have a common denominator in terms of similar attractions. So speaking to them. We did, however, still have animal keepers at the secret animal garden at the park, which was one of our attractions, worked throughout. As did a couple of our parks and gardens staff so it wasn't like a jungle when we got back because we quite like to have really nice prim and proper parks and gardens. It is a massive task, not only return to the park to its normal high standard presentation, but also to bend really with the whole situation to understand and implement all the additional COVID-19 protection requirements.Adam Goymour:So first goal was to COVID-19 train our various managers, understand what we're up against. Look at how many visitors we think we could get in the park before the guidance came out, and look at how many staff can we actually operate with to be profitable on less visitors, but also supplying that excellent service as best we can. Then it's also the denominating fact that we might have some staff that don't want to come back because they're scared, which is absolutely okay. We had to have those chats with people, and it took some time. But our managers were committed. Our leadership team was firmly committed and we had to collectively agree and implement COVID signage, sanitizer points, which probably cost us about six to eight grand. PPE for the crew. I worked with a company called Regency Purchasing Group, they were a fantastic group of people led by Alex Demetriou. He also owns a Pier, Weston-Super-Mare Pier, he's a fantastic person, very helpful. His team are brilliant, so they really helped to source a lot of things that we needed. We've worked with them for a number of years, can't recommend them enough.Adam Goymour:We had the closure of Dinomite, our indoor play. Dippy-Ville, which is another indoor soft play. Predator high ropes initially, but thankfully it reopened not soon after we had reopened the park. During lockdown period I was speaking to Innovative Leisure, so Phil Pickersgill is the MD for the UK side of that business. I was speaking to him on and off about how's that going to work? How are we going to do it? What information have you got? He collaborated with all the other high ropes manufacturers, suppliers. So they came as one and they worked together on how all these operators could open them up. They did a whole guidance document, which they went through the HSE to then support us as businesses, rather than them all working individually, which is fantastic to see, and to get hold of that early on, gave us a fighting chance.Adam Goymour:It has probably been our biggest challenge because there's only so many people you get on there, and obviously it's included in our price. But yet, to make it pay, we need to get certain amount of business in. So we then found out how many people use the attraction, because although we were counting the amount of people on there before, it was really interesting to see how many people went on that, but also other attractions that we didn't have to log how many people went on there in a day because it just happened. We didn't have to worry about social distancing.Adam Goymour:We had to look at toilets in terms of that was always the biggest conversation of any Zoom meeting with BALPPA, and NFAN, with owner-operators, how the hell are we going to do this?Kelly Molson:Yeah.Adam Goymour:You can do something different, some people did this, some people like that. I had backup plans in case something didn't work and I knew the cost of those as well. We had one way systems, we had a whole new IT system in terms of getting people pre-booked onto the park. Then it's working with our iPAL system who are inundated with all of their clients in order to get what we needed to open. So that was a challenge.Kelly Molson:It's incredible, I mean, just hearing you talking it through, everyone that listens to this podcast will be ... they are in the sector. So they do completely understand the same challenges as you, but I mean, it is quite epic, isn't it? When you start to go through that list of things that it's affected, or that you've needed to change, or review, or adapt in some way, it feels never-ending doesn't it?Adam Goymour:It is a huge, enormous task, it was high magnitude. It was something I enjoy doing because I must admit, I think I've walked our 85-acre park now a hundred times in terms of the customer journey. So I did it on my own to start off with, I got it in my head. I had to do it, but I needed the team to help me deliver it. But I had to start somewhere and say, "This is what we're going to do." So that was really exciting because it was my chance to go, "Look, I'm going to lead us from the front and this is how we're going to do it guys." I did it on my own, it took me a full-on day. So I probably got there by eight, left about seven at night, racking your brains with it. Then I got my health and safety advisor in, we went through it, we spent all day as well. And then we had a plan. We knew how we were going to do it. Obviously, we had to work with the local EHO, to go through all of that, and away we went.Adam Goymour:Then it's just putting the plans in place, getting the staff in, staging them as well. Then working on the details of how we're going to do it once we brought the managers in because they're the ones that are going to be operating it. Then it's just supporting them and being with them at every stage, and getting their teams in. Who's going to come in, who doesn't want to come in, all this sort of stuff. That was really interesting. Obviously, risk assessments had to be thorough. They had to be at the pinnacle of everything, without a solid foundation of a risk assessment, you cannot operate. So that was also something that we had to look at.Adam Goymour:Then you've got the additional things that the government gave. So it's like, now face coverings are required in shops. Thankfully, we'd already produced obviously with our great marketing team, all of our branded face coverings.Kelly Molson:Of course, you did, dinosaur masks. That's what we all need, dinosaur face masks.Adam Goymour:It's great. We've got a few different designs and we are the first people in the UK to really come up with them, I believe, I didn't say anybody come up with them before us. We worked with Regency again to get those made, and on the different BALPPA and NFAN calls, other attractions were saying, "Well, where do we get one of those?" And I was like, "Here's the information, go get it. It's a fantastic thing." You need to make it fun. We're a fun place to go, why be boring, be run of the mill, and have a boring face mask. You're here for a day out with family, make it fun. We don't want to scare children, obviously, so we need to have some tamer ones, but for those that like him, we've also got some other ones. And then after that, we saw an Instagram, that Jurassic Park, they decided to start doing some.Kelly Molson:It all started with your park. It all started with Roarr! Adam. Roarr!Adam Goymour:Yeah, and I can vouch for that because I didn't see anything on the internet that anyone else is doing with dinosaur masks, I think we can stand proud of that.Kelly Molson:Yeah, I really liked ... I love that, that you've injected that level of fun into something that actually could be quite frightening for kids. If they don't really fully understand what's happening, but what you've also talked quite a lot about, and it's something that we've just recorded an episode about is this sector cooperation. The sector coming together to help each other. I guess it has been one of those sectors that has always spoken to each other quite a lot, but it really seems like this situation has just brought out the very best in people. There's been so much knowledge share between attractions and suppliers, and that's just wonderful to see.Adam Goymour:Yeah, I think the industry is a lovely, lovely industry. Most of us are family-run businesses. We're families that are running these places. The biggest family-run theme park, I believe in the UK, is Paultons Park down in Southampton, the Mancey's, fantastic family, a very reputable business, a good brand. Like us, we're a family run business and we're similar age, the son, the owner there, James, and he's a really nice guy. We kept in touch all the time. There's a whole host of other young persons, similar to my age, where we meet up probably quarterly to chat through ideas, to talk about the industry. It's a lonely place and it's not ... although it brings so much to the country in terms of income, and jobs and everything, believe it or not, there isn't that many of us. It's nice to meet up and I really love the industry. It's great.Kelly Molson:Yeah, I bet. So let's fast forward to being open. You talked earlier when you said demand has been pretty incredible. What's it been like? What has it been like? Has it gone crazy?Adam Goymour:Yeah, it has and I think in a good way. I think it's taught the English people to love where they live. The amount of campaigns coming from Great Britain, which has been then put down to their local DMO's, Destination Management Organizations. So Visit Norfolk. Then you've got Visit Suffolk, obviously. Then that goes up to Visit East of England, who we're working a lot more closely with Visit Britain, to get the attention of the government, to give us some money. We're a larger tourism industry or area of the country than Cornwall, people don't know that and they should. We've got to shout about it more and more. So I'm certainly whenever I attend Visit Norfolk meetings saying, "We've got to do something about it." And keep putting my voice across with that because I've been given an opportunity to have a voice, which I love. So, again, a great bunch of people.Adam Goymour:So yeah, what's it been like since we reopened?Kelly Molson:Nonstop?Adam Goymour:Nonstop, it continues to be a roller coaster, lots of learnings. It's been busy. It's been exciting. We've managed, fortunately a bit after reopening initially, officially opened to new attractions that haven't been opened before. We had Dippy Live Show, so Dippy is our trademarked character. So Dippy the diplodocus, then we've had Dippy's Raceway. So we've got a specific area in the park now dedicated to Dippy, this yellow and purple dinosaur, which the kids absolutely love. Great merchandise, great brand bible-based around him. We managed to open those up. We already had some money spent on it, so it was just about putting it together. So thankfully it wasn't a huge cost, but it allowed the same amount of attractions to be open where we had to close some indoor areas. So that was a real, real plus, a real positive, something that we were very proud to be able to do in these really hard times. It gave something for our guests to talk about, and to think, "Oh yeah, that's new. We got to go there."Kelly Molson:No, that's a really interesting point actually, isn't it? Because like you say, you're opening up and you are competing with everybody else that's opening up. To be able to open with something new that nobody's been able to see before, that is really positive and really exciting. Obviously, going to be a crowd draw for you.Adam Goymour:Yeah, and Dippy's Raceway, side of Dippy's Splash Zone, which is a fantastic attraction and that's been our most popular attraction, which tells us we are putting in the right things. We're listening to our guests, we know what they like. For them to enjoy that, which clearly shows by the daily figures we get knowing how many people are using those attractions. That's been a real nice plus really, to see that materialize and come to the floor really.Adam Goymour:Other things it's just been seeing guests' behavior, seeing staff behavior, how we react in these times, and just seeing how we've pulled together as a team. We've had, at times when we do have crew shortages, which everybody knows you get, we've had teams muck in and do other jobs, which has been really good. That was something I set out when all the managers started. I said, "Look, we may have to obviously all muck in, which is pretty usual, but more so than usual to ensure that the park runs smoothly for our guests." And they have, as when the needs arise, they done just that. So it's been a lot about learnings, note takings, reacting really quickly when we needed to, constantly monitoring, adapting, and just getting things right.Kelly Molson:It is a lovely, positive story and it's wonderful to hear that you've been inundated with people coming back, and so positive that you've been able to open these new rides and these new areas. What does the next six months hold for you? You have PrimEVIL don't you, which is obviously big around Halloween time? What, what does the next few months look for you in the run-up to Christmas?Adam Goymour:Yeah, well number one, that'll be the reopening of our award-winning and Norfolk's largest indoor play area at Dinomite. Today we had our annual roster inspection, so we know where we're up to with that and can make all the necessary repairs. We've got a cleaning company coming in next week to give it a full-blown clean. Then we've got all the signage that's been re-wrapped today, using all of our trademark characters, to make it really fun and immersive because we've got to have one way systems, good ventilation, lower capacity numbers. So that's been a whole different ball game, setting all that up.Adam Goymour:What else have we been doing? So whilst we continue to enjoy some plans, we've had to sort out September tickets, October tickets, Halloween during the day, Halloween during the night, which has been a big topic of conversation as of late. Look at Christmas, we've got our plans, but we haven't completed them yet.Adam Goymour:PrimEVIL is something we've had to completely change how we do it. So we've got a dedicated team in house that look after it, we've been chatting with the other big Halloween operators in the UK. So Tulleys Farm, Stuart Beare, has the biggest Halloween attraction in the UK. So I've been chatting with him. Doug Douglas, from Avon Valley, near Bath. Tom Pearcey from York Maze, and a couple of others where you got Iver and Tom Robinson. We've just been going through the plans, what can we expect? What ideas have we got? There's also to ScareCON Group with Michael Bolton. It's going to be in bubbles, obviously, a lot lower capacity, walk around the attractions. We're going to have to eliminate some of the things where obviously it's not possible to have those during these times.Adam Goymour:We're also creating some fun stuff around it. So that's going to be called Route 666, which has got some fantastic graphics which we've done internally. We'll release tickets, and we'll just have to see what happens and just see what comes up. If we have to close it, we have to close it. We know what the cost is going to be. If we decided to go ahead with it and then we have to close it before we even start, we're prepared to make that risk, but it's a small risk in terms of what we could make if it does go ahead.Adam Goymour:So, that's what we've got going on at the minute, but obviously see next year of certainly got a lot of plans, what I want to do for the future. And we've got a longterm plan, which I've been doing in the meantime. Which is the future of the business and to make it what I want it to be? So we're working on that as well. So yeah, they're the main things at the moment.Kelly Molson:Good, it sounds super positive. I'm really pleased that you've been so busy. I genuinely have been just really impressed with the openness of how you shared what you were going through during lockdown, but also, it's just lovely to see how positive the reaction has been from your customers coming back. So thank you for being really open on today's podcast and sharing all that with us.Kelly Molson:I always like to end the podcast by asking about a book that you would recommend. So a book that has helped shape your career in some way or something, one that you would recommend to us all.Adam Goymour:Well as I said earlier, lockdown gave me the opportunity to indulge in some reading, which I've not always had the opportunity to do, or as much as I would like. There's been a couple of books really that have made a real impression on me, and Simon Sinek, I love listening to him and reading his books. You've got the original books like Why. And then there's, Leaders Eat Last, and I'll probably say Leaders Eat Last, to be honest. It talks all about leadership excellence, and I've got notes here right in front of me, which I make as I read the book because my memory's awful. So I have to write down notes and just refer back to it. I've got a huge green board behind me on my office wall, which is basically my brain and I'll just put it on there.Adam Goymour:He talks a lot about leadership excellence. Values talks about the value of empathy, a whole host of other things. The willingness to listen to your team, it's now really utilize everything that I've learned from that book and sharing it with my management team because they're a young bunch, and they're dedicated, enthusiastic, and I certainly want to invest in them. As a leader, I want to inspire, and to do more, learn more, and become more. We've got a real opportunity here, so it's just working with them, with my head of HR. He's fantastic, he helps me when I struggle to get my words out from the head when we got so much going on. It's working with them really and just utilize whatever I've learned from that.Kelly Molson:It's a great book, great recommendation. I love that you've turned that around and you want to empower your staff and your team to be able to use that as well. Well look, if you would like to win a copy of that book, then if you head over to our Twitter account, which is skip_the_queue, and you retweet this episode announcement with the comment, "I want Adam's book." Then you could be in with a chance of winning it.Kelly Molson:Adam, it's been lovely to have you on today. I think it would be lovely maybe to get you back on in a year from now and find out how all of those plans have developed as well. I think that would be great.Adam Goymour:I'd absolutely love to, that'd be great.Kelly Molson:Thanks, Adam.Adam Goymour:Thank you very much.Kelly Molson:Thanks for listening to Skip the Queue. If you've enjoyed this podcast, please leave us a five-star review. It really helps others find us. And remember to follow us on Twitter for your chance to win the books that have been mentioned. Skip the Queue is brought to you by Rubber Cheese, a digital agency that builds remarkable systems and websites for attractions that helps them increase their visitor numbers. You can find show notes and transcriptions from this episode, and more, over on our website, rubbercheese.com/podcast.

This weekend, Saturday 12th Sept 2020, I went away on an annual escape into nature to spend some time in silence to reflect on whatever comes up. This year was in Avon Valley, WA. Avon Valley is a national park in Western Australia, 47 kilometres northeast of Perth. It was named after the Avon River which flows through it. The area is an undulating plateau with the sides of the valley steeply sloping back to the river. We went on a 7 hours 30,000 Step Trek and found a beautiful spot to watch the sunset and the night sky light up with the milky way. In this episode, I give a quick update on my 12 weeks challenge and five truths I learnt about myself from the reflected practice as I delve into my unconscious through the power of nature, silence and additional support. I hope you enjoy today's episode, share it with your friends, join me on Instagram to chat. @martinmcphilimey

ScareTrack -Fear at Avon Valley Scream Park 2019 / On-location Review  The ScareTrack team visit FEAR and experience all 5 scare attractions, including their band new maze 'Vita Nova' Click and listen too our full review episode, on location from Fear at Avon Valley Scream Park. ........................................................................................................................... BUY FEAR TICKETS HERE: https://www.fearavonvalley.com/ ............................................................................................................................. Visit our website here: https://scaretrack.co.uk Watch our latest ScareCam vlogs: https://youtube.com/scaretrack You can support the show here: https://patreon.com/ScareTrack ScareTrack merchandise can be found here: https://smart-fx.co.uk/smart-artists/...   Social Media Facebook.com/ScareTrack Instagram- @scaretrack Twitter- @scaretrack Snapchat- scaretrack   #ad #gifted

This is a podcast of 2 halves! The first half is an interview with Fabian Yeo from Bristol who recently took part in the OCR (Obstacle Course Racing) World Championships, hear all about 3 gruelling days of running, jumping, climbing and carrying.  This sport is ever evolving and growing in popularity, to find out more go to www.ukocr.com or check out Fabian's blog https://gotmudonyou.tumblr.com  Secondly, we return to Fear at Avon Valley, well it is Halloween!! Apologies for the audio but we do capture a fortune teller and 7 mins of the experience of one of the mazes!! Thanks to Fear for having us back..

* Latest on the drought situation * Great new program in Merredin supported by police, business and local schools * Andrew is getting ready to compete in the Avon Descent * The casino comes to Bruce Rock! * Avon Valley band to launch new album at the Avon River Festival * Sounds of the Wheatbelt with Middleton Accountants - $470 - Friday guesses.

I thought I would replay this episode for Memorial Day! (http://growingwarrior.wpengine.com/) The Growing Warriors Project (http://growingwarrior.wpengine.com/) The Growing Warriors Project (http://growingwarrior.wpengine.com/)  is a program to train, assist, and equip veteran families with the skills, tools, and supplies needed to grow high quality naturally grown produce for their families, their communities, and their country. Tell us a little about yourself. Grew up in Maine, Avon Valley on a sustenance farm with grandfather with Uncles and family. Back in School at  St. Catherine’s College at the Berry Farming and Ecological Agrarianism Program (http://www.sccky.edu/academics/arts-sciences/earth-studies/sustainablefarming_ba.php) Wendell Berry was the forefather of 1975 and wrote the  Unsettling of America (http://smile.amazon.com/Unsettling-America-Culture-Agriculture/dp/0871568772/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1429135084&sr=8-1&keywords=unsettling+of+america) Earning a Community leadership and Agrarian Farming degree from the Department of Earth Studies at  St. Catherine’s College in St. Catherine, KY. Tell me about your first gardening experience? Lived on a small farm with family til he was 9 and then moved to the city. ABout 10 years ago started farming, working with lots of veterans who have very cool stories about why Looked at little organic farm wanted to impress the woman who would soon become his wife and said what do you think of this summer internship and she said “I think it’s sexy,” and so he signed right up. What does organic gardening/earth friendly mean to you? We have this system that doesn’t even classify the damages of this system we have now on the earth. Have to as a species need to understand the confines of the system. We live in a world where everything is connected, and we have to where the consequences of our choices, we have very special gifts we have been given.  It’s having respect for everything and its value … by not doing it we are giving a discredit to future generations. Not put here to leave this place worse off then we got here. “So for me organic gardening or earth friendly gardening means me doing my best to leave this place better then when I got here, I guess I’m paying rent …  stewardship.” Who or what inspired you to start using organic techniques? Had always before we had children or I met my wife, had always purchased organic foods. Grew up on land. And that first internship was on an organic farm. How did you learn how to garden organically? When you think about what a pesticide is, it’s designed to kill. Doesn’t make sense to do it any other way. There’s a new potato bug killer that you put on the roots, that you’re gonna eat? It’s just the right thing to do. We have decimated our soil over again, and again. Tell us about something that grew well this year. Hemp! We’re in the best climate for it, Kentucky has historically produced about 90% of the hemp this country has ever used.  Climate and soil is situated to it. For example you get a seed pack, and it says tomatoes will take 65 days for this variety to harvest. For all intensive purposes the seed pack for hemp said 110 days. But ended up harvesting 6-8’ plants at 52 days. Blessed with one of the best hemp crops in the country last year. Homecoming!! So what is hemp? Hemp is a member of the cannabis sativa family, is related to marijuana, but definitely different. Grown for it’s fiber. The federal limit for THC is .3 of a percent of the THC can be in a hemp plant for it not to be classified as marijuana. Yes, that’s .3% THC. (Jackie interrupts here with a point about a recent interview with President Obama on the show Vice where he talks to millennials about why they should be more concerned with climate change and the economy among other important issues then marijuana decriminalization.... Support this podcast

Sad to say guys, it's the end of an era for my time here at Triple M for the Central Wheatbelt and Avon Valley  Hope you enjoy the last Catch Up :) World According to Quinny- Quinny and I have had a ball of a time together on air, he let us know once again what's going on in Northam at the moment and I'm sure it won't be the last time you hear his pipes across Triple M. Melissa Price came on board this morning to chat about some of the positives that have come out of the budget for our region. Macca's last Avon Football Association preview with me this morning, a couple of anniversary mentions for the players and Macca himself will even be on the ground this week. The Avon Valley and Wheatbelt Advocate check in with the lovely Eliza Wynn

The 2018 budget is unveiled tonight and looks like there will be a focus on tax breaks and looking after our elderly with aged care. Speaking of budgets... I couldn't help but share a bit of a tune  Australia's Biggest Morning Tea events will be happening throughout the region very soon and the big one in Northam is set to be pretty great this year with Di Tinetti once again taking the reins, she let us in on what we can expect come May 24th. Barry Urqhart from Marketing Focus gives has a really interesting chat with me this morning about the evolution of service stations and what the future is going to bring with regards to our region within the Central Wheatbelt and Avon Valley.

Our WA Government has announced plans to cut $5 million in funding from our CRCs which will likely see operating hours cut and opportunities for trainees restricted. Aunty Fil gives her 2 cents this morning. Yongah Hill Immigration Detention Centre in our Avon Valley, Northam, has recorded the highest number of escape attempts in Australia... I think I might hold the record of most voicemails collected, the call is out there for anyone who's beaten my record. Under the Lino this morning- local history gem regarding the post office an, the discovery of Freo and 9-5 hits the charts.

*A trip to the movies is a highlight of the school holidays for many kids, but a cinema full of families had a shock when a trailer for a horror movie came on when they were least expecting it at a screening of Peter Rabbit, Aunty Fil gives her 2 cents. *I have a check in with Mia Davies who lets us in on her Anzac day and the local services she attended, she also gave us an update on how the fight for our Community Resource Centers are continuing and what we can do to help. * Eliza Wynn from the Avon Valley and Wheatbelt Advocate talked to us about the Clackline Post Office opening happening thanks to the Shire of Northam funding, more on council making a decision for a free RV and camping site in town and she had her very first viewing experience of a Northam Derby from the weekend just been.

 A world first trial at UWA is investigating if cannabis can help people suffering from chronic insomnia sleep. Merredin SongFest will be here before we know it and so the Choir Master, Langley Smith, of our local group ‘Achoired Taste’ t is celebrating 10 years this year and came in to give us all the details for what will be a magical, musical weekend. Mr Barry Urqhart from Marketing Focus had a chat with me this morning about effective advertising with a simple message and how our local businesses can do/implement that in the Central Wheatbelt and Avon Valley. Around the Towns- for the Shire of Toodyay, Merredith fills us in on tonight’s local candidate information session for the election in June and also this weekend, get your costume ready because the Moondyne Festival is coming!

Major Crime Squad detectives have located the body of a man, believed to be Dean Patrick White, in a camp area north of my home town Quairading. Macca gives us a preview into Round 3 of the Avon Footy Association games! Including the big derby in Northam on Sunday Wendy in Wyalkatchem just received a doggo called Winston, not only is he super cute but he's a special dog, he's going to help her vision impairment. Bella Pearson from Lions Hearing Dogs Australia has a chat with me about it all  Eliza Wynn from the Avon Valley & Wheatbelt Advocate gives us all the details on the big stories in the paper this week including the vote for a free camping spot in Northam

Eliza Wynn from the Avon Valley and Wheatbelt Advocate let us know about a new restaturant that is to be set up in the main street of Northam, we recently had successful graduated from our regional TAFE program and lastly we touched on the big issue lately which is the government cuts to our Community Resource Centres. Released on this date in 1974, The Great Gatsby was the film for Johns' Retro Review this morning, as always he gives us some great fun facts about the film you might not know about :)  Tina Pendlebury from the Cancer Council WA came on this morning to let us know about all the wonderful anniversaries we've got going on this year as well as some statistics as to how the fundraising goes back to families to need help from the Central Wheatbelt and Avon Valley. Kirra from our St John Ambulance Wheatbelt hub had a chat with me this morning about safety in the lead up to this long Easter weekend and also the fact that we do also seem to have a few snakes around the place. 

  Bushfire advice was issued yesterday for people in parts of Dale in the Shire of Beverley yesterday. The alert level for this fire has been downgraded as the fire is contained and under control. Judy from Beverly gave me a call this morning with a bit of an update on things. Galaxy Quest was our Retro Review film this morning with John from Grass Valley Quinnys' 'World According To'- He lets us know about the big school ball in on tomorrow night, cricket, indoor hockey and netball events and also the Northam Farmers Markets are back for this weekend  The big stories in the paper this week, Eliza Wynn from the Avon Valley and Wheatbelt Advocate gives us all the details.

A snippet of the big stories out in the paper this week, Eliza fills us in :)

The big stories this week with Eliza, the opening of the new Senses in Northam, we've got more representatives from our region for Australia in sport and a woman recently charged at the district court.

Eliza fills us in on what the big stories of the week are including a recent crime spree near Clackline, the damage from the weekend storm in Bakers Hill and also the fact that Merredin is raining men. 

Eliza fill us in on the big stories of the paper this week. Including young Dakota finally receiving her Australia Day award, the potential new iron ore project in to be developed in Northam and the St Joseph year 12 students kicking goals.

Grant Cooke, Local Farmer in Grass Valley in the Avon Valley and Sub Committee Chair of ASC talks about the Championships coming to the Avon Valley in October (8-16) and how you can help make the event a huge success by donating. To contact Grant his email address is cooke209@bigpond.com or phone 0427 229 809