Podcasts about pleasure beach

This is our first virtual zoom pod with each other...Jess is living it up in Long Beach LA and Zoe was living it up in erm....Pleasure Beach, Blackpool. We catch up all about our week so far in contrasting destinations, mile high clubs, back door families (lol) and an inspiring story for the girlies. Enjoy piggies and remember to join our Patreon for extra episodes every week, monthly specials, early access to events, giveaways and AD free episodes. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Der Park: Bottons Pleasure Beach Fantasy Island Die Bahnen: Runaway Train Queen Bee Rockin Roller Big Apple Family Roller Coaster Odyssey Little Dipper

On this week's episode we're headed back to Lancashire, and Eleanor is telling a spooky story based on a haunted attraction at Blackpool's Pleasure Beach... We start off by discussing St John the Baptist and his bonfires of bones, after which we head off to Lancashire!In addition to talking about Liverpool and its mythical protector birds Bella and Bertie, the county's shifting borders and the whaling industry, we cook up a delicious pot full of Scouse!After some folkloric chat about ghostly white hares, a gambler buried upright holding a winning hand of cards, and a giant who was friendly with William the Conqueror, plus some excerpts from this week's Local Legends interview with Lancashire resident and host of the Tales of Britain and Ireland podcast Graeme Cook, it's on to the main event: Eleanor's story "The Ghost Train."Speak to you again on Thursday for our new Three Ravens Bestiary bonus episode all about Kelpies!The Three Ravens is an English Myth and Folklore podcast hosted by award-winning writers Martin Vaux and Eleanor Conlon.Released on Mondays, each weekly episode focuses on one of England's 39 historic counties, exploring the history, folklore and traditions of the area, from ghosts and mermaids to mythical monsters, half-forgotten heroes, bloody legends, and much, much more. Then, and most importantly, the pair take turns to tell a new version of an ancient story from that county - all before discussing what that tale might mean, where it might have come from, and the truths it reveals about England's hidden past...Bonus Episodes are released on Thursdays (Magic and Medicines about folk remedies and arcane spells, Three Ravens Bestiary about cryptids and mythical creatures, Dying Arts about endangered heritage crafts, and Something Wicked about folkloric true crime from across history) plus Local Legends episodes on Saturdays - interviews with acclaimed authors, folklorists, podcasters and historians with unique perspectives on that week's county.With a range of exclusive content on Patreon, too, including audio ghost tours, the Three Ravens Newsletter, and monthly Three Ravens Film Club episodes about folk horror films from across the decades, why not join us around the campfire and listen in?Learn more at www.threeravenspodcast.com, join our Patreon at www.patreon.com/threeravenspodcast, and find links to our social media channels here: https://linktr.ee/threeravenspodcast Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Alex caught up for an exclusive chat with Adam Slevin the Director of Creative Design & Experience and Andy Hygate the Operations Director at Pleasure Beach Resort in Blackpool.The park is pretty much Alex's second home... so he was keen to discuss what happens behind the scenes to keep the park running with rides that are well over 100 years old, to the latest in modern roller coasters.

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, Founder of Rubber Cheese.Download the Rubber Cheese 2023 Visitor Attraction Website Report - the annual benchmark statistics for the attractions sector.If 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/podcast.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 in this podcastCompetition ends on 17th April 2024. The winner will be contacted via Twitter. Show references: https://carbonsix.digital/https://www.linkedin.com/in/pmarden/Paul Marden is the Founder and Managing Director of Carbon Six Digital and the CEO of Rubber Cheese. He is an Umbraco Certified Master who likes to think outside the box, often coming up with creative technical solutions that clients didn't know were possible. Paul oversees business development and technical delivery, specialising in Microsoft technologies including Umbraco CMS, ASP.NET, C#, WebApi, and SQL Server. He's worked in the industry since 1999 and has vast experience of managing and delivering the technical architecture for both agencies and client side projects of all shapes and sizes. Paul is an advocate for solid project delivery and has a BCS Foundation Certificate in Agile. https://www.rubbercheese.com/https://www.linkedin.com/in/kellymolson/Kelly Molson is the Founder of Rubber Cheese, a user focused web design and development agency for the attraction sector. Digital partners to Eureka! The National Children's Museum, Pensthorpe, National Parks UK, Holkham, Visit Cambridge and The National Marine Aquarium.Kelly regularly delivers workshops and presentations on sector focused topics at national conferences and attraction sector organisations including ASVA, ALVA, The Ticketing Professionals Conference and the Museum + Heritage Show.As host of the popular Skip the Queue Podcast for people working in or working with visitor attractions, she speaks with inspiring industry experts who share their knowledge of what really makes an attraction successful.Recent trustee of The Museum of the Broads. Our guests:Paul Wright from Made by WagAndy Povey from ConviousLooking forward to 2023: Key digital trends attractions shouldn't miss out onBernard Donoghue from ALVASeason finale, with Bernard Donoghue!David Hingley from BOP ConsultingVisitor Experience restructure at Tate, with David HingleyPaul Griffiths from Painshill ParkThe transformation of Painshill Park, with Paul Griffiths, Director of PainshillRoss Ballinger from Drayton ManorThe importance of building a great social community and process behind rebranding a 70 year old attractionDanielle Nicholls from Alton TowersThe importance of building a great social community and process behind rebranding a 70 year old attractionRachel Mackay from Hampton Court PalaceThe importance of Sector Cooperation with Carlton Gajadhar and Rachel MackaySophie from Eureka! The National Children's MuseumHow to write a website brief that agencies will thank you for, with Sophie BallingerElizabeth McKay, CEO of the London Transport MuseumDeveloping a culture of innovation, with Elizabeth McKaySimon Addison from The Roman BathsHow introducing variable pricing increased revenue by 2.3 million, with Simon AddisonDominic Jones from The Mary Rose and Portsmouth Historic DockyardAttraction partnerships and rivalries, with Dominic Jones  Transcription:  Kelly Molson: Welcome to Skip the Queue, a podcast for people working in or working with visitor attractions.Paul Marden: On today's episode, I'm joined by my co host, Kelly Molson, founder of Rubber Cheese, as well as a group of returning guests to the podcast. This is Kelly's last episode as the host of Skip the Queue as she's leaving rubber cheese after 21 fantastic years of the agency. Today we'll be turning the tables on Kelly as the guests ask her the icebreaker questions. We'll also be looking back at the impact the podcast has had as some of our guests share their experiences of appearing on the podcast with Kelly.Kelly Molson: If you like what you hear, subscribe on all the usual channels by searching Skip the Queue.Paul Marden: So, how you doing?Kelly Molson: I feel slightly. I feel slightly apprehensive. You just said, like, are you ready? Have you got your tissues ready? Like I have. I'm prepared.Paul Marden: Good. So, listeners, today is a big episode, as well as being on 99th episode is also Kelly's last episode as the Skip the Queue host. Yeah. So many of you will know that after 21 years heading up Rubber Cheese, Kelly has decided to spread her wings and move on to pastures new. Paul Marden: And while this is news from many of the listeners, I've had a few months to prepare for this. So I've been thinking long and hard about this episode of what can I do? And I thought it'd be nice to look back at some of your best bits, but I didn't feel like I should do that on my own. I actually thought the best way of looking back at your best bits are to bring your best bits back to us. So I'm just gonna admit a load of people that want to join the edge.Kelly Molson: Oh, no.Paul Marden: So we have got a host of po face and audience members that are going to join us today.Kelly Molson: I'm going to cry already.Paul Marden: Excellent. I've done my job to start with straight away, so everyone's joined us for a virtual leaving party. So I hope you've got your whatsits in a bowl and your cheese and pineapple ready for you as we look back over some of your best bits and enjoy a Skip the Queue episode at its best. And so, for those of you that are listening and not watching, first of all, where have you been? These aren't facestrail radio. You should be subscribing on YouTube and watch these lovely people. But if you're listening, let me introduce you to the host of people that are joining us. We've got Andy Povey from Convious. We've got Bernard Donoghue from ALVA. We've got David Hingley from BOP Consulting. We've got Rachel Mackay from Hampton Court Palace. Sophie Ballinger from Eureka!Kelly Molson: You're supposed to be on holiday.Paul Marden: Sophie from Eureka! The National Children's Museum. We've got Ross Ballinger from Drayton Manor. We've got Dominic Jones from the Mary Rose. And we've also been joined by some of your lovely Rubber Cheese colleagues that wanted to say hi and goodbye.Kelly Molson: Look at everyone's beautiful faces. Oh, God.Paul Marden: And the tissues are going already.Kelly Molson: Do you know what? Just before I came on, I was like, I'm not going to cry. I am completely in control of today. If it was yesterday, I would have cried, but I'm completely in control today. I am not in control at all.Paul Marden: So, long time listeners will know that we always start off with an icebreaker question. And Kelly never tells the guests what the icebreaker question is in advance. So I'm afraid, Kelly, it's your turn. Bernard, you're going to kick off for us today. Would you like to ask Kelly your icebreaker question? Bernard Donoghue: Thank you. Claudia Winkleman. I'm delighted to join this episode of The Traitors. Paul Marden: Have you got the fringe to be Claudia? I'm sorry.Kelly Molson: No, we have not.Bernard Donoghue: Kelly, it's World Book day tomorrow. You've received short notice. What book do you go as to work, please?Kelly Molson: Oh, I would. I'd have to take one of my daughter's books. So she has got this book called Oh, no, George. And it's about an incredibly naughty dog with. He's a ginger dog with a very long nose. I would have to dress up as George because he doesn't do himself any favours. He hopes that he's going to be good, but he's just. He can't cope with being good and he eats all the cake and he knocks over all the tulips in the house and he's incredibly lovable, but incredibly naughty. So definitely George. That's me. Right.Bernard Donoghue: It's a lovely insight into your personality. Paul Marden: Perfect. Kelly Molson:  Great question. Paul Marden: It is a great question. I hope you're ready for a few more because we've got some of these lined up for you. So the next. The next person that's going to join us, unfortunately couldn't be here today, so they sent me a little message that we'll play now.Paul Wright: Hi, Kelly. Remember me? It's Wag here.Kelly Molson: This is my old co founder.Paul Wright: My question to you. If every time someone clicked on a website and it made a sound. What noise would you want it to make?Kelly Molson: Oh, it has to be a big old fart noise, right? A real big wet one, like a whoopee cushion. Fart noise, please. Thank you.Paul Marden: So, Mrs. Marden, over breakfast this morning, as were talking through what I was going to talk about, said, oh, she's just going to say wet fart, surely.Kelly Molson: Absolutely.Paul Marden:  She knows you so well.Kelly Molson: She's my level Paul Marden:  Completely. Next up, we've got Mr. Andy Povey. Andy Povey: Hi, Kelly. It's been a while. So I'm very pleased to be here, but not for the reason that we are all there for. We spend a lot of time on the road, travelling around for our jobs. So my question is, what's your favourite motorway service station and why?Kelly Molson: I tell you what, Peterborough motorway service station. Because I know that I'm probably an hour from home then, so I'm nearly home. I've had a good few coffees in Peterborough service station.Andy Povey: I've not tried that one, I must admit.Kelly Molson: I mean, I don't know if it's up there with, like, the best, but, you know, I just. I know that I'm going to be home soon.Paul Marden: Bit depressing that the favourite motorway service is the one that's closest to home for you. Thank you, Andy. Next up, so here's a surprise. Danielle Nicholls from Alton Towers, you've managed to join us.Danielle Nicholls: So my question to you, Kelly, is you've worked with a lot of attractions and theme parks over the years, but which is your favourite theme park attraction or ride that you've ever been on?Kelly Molson: This is not a good question to ask, is it? Because I'm going to upset people. Danielle Nicholls: You can be diplomatic about it. Kelly Molson: My favourite ride, definitely not those ones that swing and literally make you one of them. My favourite ride. It's really hard. Yeah, it's really hard. Well, I was just trying to think of, like, where do I go with this? But I'm going to go with the one. It was mine and my dad's favourite when I was a kid and it doesn't exist anymore, which is really sad, but it's the Back to the Future ride at Universal.Kelly Molson: Which was absolutely epic and I can remember years ago queuing up like four times on the trot to go on it with my dad and he just. It was just brilliant. Absolutely absolute. I mean, I love that. I love eighties music movies. Yeah. My genre, anyway, but, yeah, that ride was absolutely incredible. Oh, that's amazing. Danielle Nicholls: I never got to do that one so very jealous. Kelly Molson: Good memories.Paul Marden: Paul Griffiths, can you take the floor and give Kelly a grilling? Paul Griffiths: Of course. Hi, Kelly. Good to see you. And good to see everyone else. We know that you love picking up souvenirs and knickknacks on your travels, particularly attractions. So what is your favourite souvenir you've taken away from one of your best tourist attractions?Kelly Molson: I've got them all here. Look at them. I've got my bounty on my desk.Paul Griffiths:  The show and tell answer then, isn't it?Kelly Molson: Look, I've got. Yeah. Okay. What's my favourite one, though?Paul Marden: For listeners, hey can't see you picking up a dodgy eighties ice cream box.Kelly Molson: This is my ‘80s. It's a Bijam economy vanilla ice cream tub, which my parents were obviously really keen on feeding us well as a child. But in it are, I mean, hundreds and hundreds of rubbers that I've collected from different places and attractions over the years. And they smell. I wish this was smellyvision because they absolutely smell divine. There's so many in here. But I think, again, this is. And this is for memories. I'm going to go with this one and it's really old. This is my Thorpe Park rubber.Paul Griffiths:  Very classic.Kelly Molson: Isn't it great? So it's got the Thorpe park rabbit on it. Rangers. Danielle Nicholls: Is it the Thorpe Park Rangers? Kelly Molson: Yeah. Yeah. Thorpe Park Ranger. Yeah. Thorpe Park. So that was, again, that was probably the closest attraction to the closest theme park to me as a kid, and we used to go there a lot and, like, my uncle used to take me there in the summer holidays. The whole family used to go. So that one has got really good memories. That's a great question, Paul. There's so many in here, though, that I could have chosen.Paul Griffiths:  I didn't age to have them all to hand, though. Kelly Molson: That sat on my desk.Paul Marden: So I promised you that we would try and faithfully stick to the format once you hand the Batman to me. So I'm going to give you a breather from being grilled by everybody. What was your unpopular opinion that you wanted to share with everybody?Kelly Molson: Peas. Peas. Peas are the food of the devil. Peas taint everything that they touch. Sometimes. Nobody tells you that there's peas in stuff on the menu as well. Like, I love a fish pie. Fish pie is delicious. When you open up a fish pie and someone's gone. No, we'll just throw a few handful of peas in there just for a laugh. That's not fun. You can pick them out of stuff, but you can taste them in absolutely everything that they are in.Paul Marden: That's not an unpopular opinion, that's just. That's just a fact. I don't know how everybody else feels about peas, but I'm a pea hater as well.Sophie Ballinger:  Oh, what about cheesy peas?Kelly Molson: No, cheesy peas. Even cheese would not make peas taste appealing to me.Dominic Jones: Wasabi peas?Kelly Molson: No. Danielle Nicholls:  Minty peas? Kelly Molson: No peas. I like beans. Beans are okay. And like edamame beans, which I like peas. But not peas. It's just a very distinct difference.Bernard Donoghue: Nurse. Nurse. She's out of bed again.Sophie Ballinger:  Where do you stand on mushy peas? Kelly Molson: Oh, so far from mushy peas. I did have to cook them once for Lee's old granddad. Oh, God. No.Paul Marden: Guacamole as. Who was it? It was one of the politicians and labour politics. Andy Povey: Peter Mandelson. Paul Marden: There we go. Peter Mandelson went into a fish and chip shop and asked to have guacamole with his fish and chips and it turned out was mushy peas.Kelly Molson: I'd eat guacamole with my chips. That's fine.Paul Marden: So should we go back to grilling you on some.Kelly Molson: This whole episode is just awkward questions for me. Is it great?Paul Marden: You've done this to everybody for 99 episodes. It's your turn to take one. Rachel Mackay from Hampton Court Palace, welcome.Rachel Mackay: Oh, hello. I've decided to go against the grade. I'm not going to ask your revision question because I know you'll just stare blankly at me anyway, so I'm going to go more general. What is your preference, running shoes or dancing shoes? Kelly Molson: Oh, dancing shoes. Dancing shoes all the way. I really miss dancing. You don't get to dance enough when you get older. Dancing is the one thing that I used to really love doing with my friends. Rachel Mackay: I thought you would say dancing shoes because also it gives you a bit of a heel.Kelly Molson: Which I need. No, you're absolutely right.Paul Marden: So the dancing. You'll be able to get them back out again soon because, what, Eddie's two now? Two and a bit. It will soon be birthday party season, where you'll be doing the hokey cokey and you'll be doing the conga.Kelly Molson: And she's already got all my moves. She's already got all my moves. Yeah, she's in the dancing zone.Paul Marden: Excellent. Next up, we've got somebody else that couldn't join us today, so they've sent us another little video to share with you. So this is Simon Addison from the Roman Baths and number two in the hour, top ten paid attractions outside London. And I say, sorry, Dominic.Dominic Jones: He deserves it. He's a great guy. And so is the Roman Baths.Paul Marden: Exactly. You haven't heard what he says yet.Simon Addison: Hey, Kelly, it's Simon Addison here from the Roman Baths. I'm really sorry that I couldn't be with you for the recording today. Before I ask you my ice breaker question, I just wanted to tell you about the impact that skip the queue is having, not just on those people who work in visitor attractions, but those who visit them too. Last month, I was walking around the National Portrait Gallery with Dominic Jones and a visitor genuinely pulled him over and asked him if he was the Dominic Jones from Skip the Queue. Kelly, you have created an absolute monster there.Kelly Molson: I love this.Dominic Jones: That is actually true. It actually happened. We were a bit bemused by it and were worried that someone had set this visitor up, but they genuinely wanted a Korean visitor attractions and had listened to it and I'd obviously said my name a bit too loud to Simon and they came up and asked for a picture. It was completely random, but brilliant.Paul Marden: I'm a little bit heartbroken because I actually genuinely thought they spotted the face and knew you from the YouTube.Dominic Jones: I think it was the voice, but, yeah, no, it was brilliant. It's all because of Skip the Queue, which is Simon's rise had a massive impact on everyone in our industry and actually people who want to join our industry. So you should be really proud. And hopefully that's the last random stranger that stopped me. But it was fantastic.Kelly Molson: Do you know what? I do feel really proud of that.Paul Marden: So, Simon's question.Simon Addison: Kelly, my icebreaker question for you is what is the weirdest piece of advice that you've ever received? And did you follow it? Thanks very much, Kelly, and thanks for everything. Thanks for all the episodes over the years and I wish you the very best of luck with everything.Kelly Molson: I'm trying to think what has been. Do you know, I have been given some advice about public speaking before, which I thought was quite strange. I used to really. I used to get really anxious about public speaking. It wasn't something that was massively comfortable for me. And I had loads of coaching from a really good friend of mine, Andy Loparta. And I don't know if it was Andy. I don't think this was Andy that gave me this advice. I'm pretty sure it wouldn't have been. But someone told me that if you go on stage and you clench your butt cheeks, you can't actually clench anything else. At the same time. And I'm like. I am, though. I'm clenching my butt cheeks now and I'm clenching my teeth so you can. But that's always stuck in my head.Kelly Molson: So I definitely tried it, but I don't know that it helped with my speaking whatsoever. I'm doing it now. Is everyone. Is everyone doing it now? Is everyone trying it? Everyone's doing it.Paul Marden: Standing desk practicing it right now.Sophie Ballinger: Yeah. Start bobbing up and down in my seat. You'll know why. Kelly Molson: There you go.Paul Marden: Lovely segue. Sophie Ballinger from Eureka. Why don't you ask Kelly your icebreaker?Kelly Molson: Hello, duck. Sophie Ballinger: Hello, duck. Hey, I've got a bit of a random one. I think I might have. It might have been asked you this in the agency interview many years ago, but I'm not sure because it's one of my favourites. Who would win in a fight between a badger and a baboon? Kelly Molson: I don't remember you asking me this. Sophie Ballinger: Should have done.Kelly Molson: Badger. I think Badger. Badgers are quite vicious, aren't they? You think the boots. Everyone's shaking their head. Oh, I think badger. I've never seen a live badger either, but I know that they're quite vicious.Paul Marden: We went into South Africa a few years ago and we stopped because we saw a troop of baboons on the side of the road and there were other people watching. So everybody got out their cars and they all stood around. All of a sudden, this alpha male baboon just crosses the road to the car behind us, opens the back door, gets into the woman's handbag when he's rifling through trying to find chocolate and she's sat in the front seat going absolutely crazy. So I promise you it'll be the baboon. So next up, we've got another video. Joining us this time it is Elizabeth McKay, CEO of the London Transport Museum.Elizabeth Mckay: Hi, Kelly. You were the nicest interviewer I ever had. So my question for you is equally nice, I hope. So, when you're getting around London, what's your favourite mode of travel? Is it tube, bus or cycle? Kelly Molson: Oh, I actually prefer to walk, so neither of the above. I know. Sorry. I'm sorry. I like. So I have to get the train in. So my train is the Liverpool street line. So I tend to get off. You know, I go. I'll go to Liverpool street and then I quite like to walk places. I do like the tube. Not gonna dis the tube, especially not to Elizabeth. But I quite like the opportunity to go and see stuff. And I think walking around London, everything feels everything so close together.Kelly Molson: So it's nice to be able to just walk and see things that you wouldn't normally see.Bernard Donoghue: Can I just point out that I've seen Kelly getting out of a disco rickshaw at least three times in the last week.Kelly Molson: Fake news. Fake news.Paul Marden: Now, Kelly, you did say to me that you had a few thank you messages that you wanted to share with people. So do you want to just have a couple of minutes to thank some people?Kelly Molson: Yes, I would. I would like to thank everybody because people have always been so incredibly generous with their time for me, and I'm always so grateful of that. You're generous to come on and talk to me. You're generous to come on and answer my ridiculous questions, but generous to share all your insight and knowledge. And I think especially through the pandemic, that meant an incredible amount to me and hopefully to our listeners as well. It really felt like people were coming on and sharing kind of a real time. This is where we're at. This is what's happening, and this is what we're doing about it. Experience. And it was amazing.Kelly Molson: The pandemic was incredibly difficult for everybody, but for me, the highlight was knowing that I was getting to speak to so many different people and being able to share that with other people as well. And it made it a really special time for me. So thank you for everybody that has ever come on the podcast and answered my stupid questions and shared all of their stuff with me. Thank you. Thank you to all of the listeners. I genuinely could not have imagined. I could not have imagined how well this podcast would go. I honestly can remember the day that I came in, I was like, “We should definitely do this podcast. I've been looking. I don't think there's anything like it. We should do it.” And my team going, “Yeah, how do we do it? I don't know. Let's just do it, though.”Kelly Molson: And this is what happens. I come up with these crazy ideas, and I'm the driver of them, but it's all the people around me that actually make the magic happen. And that is. That's for the podcast, that's for the survey, the report, the agency itself. All I've done is just kind of drag it along and share it with people. It's all the other people behind the scenes that do it. Steve works his magic every single episode. He really does. He cuts out a lot of swearing. The very professional introductions that I record separately to the interviews. Jesus. The amount of swearing that he has to cut out on those is ridiculous. So well done, Steve, mate, you deserve that award winning podcast editor title just for this. And Wenalyn. So Wenalyn down here waving. She.Kelly Molson: I mean, she really is the powerhouse behind the podcast because I'll get you to come on. We'll have a lovely chat. It goes over to Steve for the editor, and it comes back to, well, and she does everything. She does everything. She creates all the graphics. She uploads everything to the, you know, the website, she does the transcriptions, she creates, does all the podcasts, all the scheduling, all of the. All of it. So, you know, she really does do all the hard grunt work behind it. So thank you, Wenalyn. It's been such a lovely. It's been lovely to work with you over the years. Thank you.Paul Marden: Wenalyn wins the award for the longest distance journey into the meeting today because Wenalyn is over in the Philippines. Wenalyn wins this award in every single meeting that we have. So she does.Kelly Molson: She does. There is one more. Thank you. I wanna make, which is to the unsung hero of Skip the Queue. So it's for an old team member of mine, Ashley Mays, because if it wasn't for her, actually, there probably wouldn't be a Skip the Queue. She made this happen, really. Not only did she come up with the name, but she actually got one of our first guests to agree to come onto the podcast. Because I can't tell you how difficult that first season was. If you've ever gone back, it actually launched in July 2019. This podcast, myself and my co founder, Wag, who asked the ridiculous question I answered with a fart earlier. We both used to interview guests, but if you've ever tried to get someone to come onto a podcast and they go, great. Yeah.Kelly Molson: How many listeners and downloads have you got? You're like, none. Absolutely none. No listeners. You are our first guest. Please help us make something magic. That was quite a hard sell. Ashley had a family member who agreed to come onto the podcast, and it was actually Lynne Whitnall, who is the director of Paradise Wildlife Park, which is now Hertfordshire Zoo. She was the biggest name that we could have possibly hoped for in that first series. So really, that was the kind of catalyst for all of the other amazing guests that have come on since. 2019 was a really tough year for Rubber Cheese, and I had to let Ashley go at the end of 2019, and I'll tell you now, that was the single worst thing that I've ever had to do in my whole career as an agency owner, because she was brilliant.Kelly Molson: And I felt like I'd failed her at that time. So I really wanted to make sure that she got a big thank you. She's gone on and done brilliant things. Don't get me wrong, brilliant people always do. But that was genuinely the toughest thing that I've ever had to do. And it's probably my biggest regret of running the agency all of these years as well. So, yeah, big shout out to Ashley. She made a big difference.Paul Marden:  Every agency owner enjoys the fun bits, the launches, the winning new business. Nobody enjoys that bit. But it is this life, isn't it? So, yeah, it was a tough time for everybody, wasn't it? And you said that Ashley came up with the name as well, didn't she?Kelly Molson: She did, yeah. Skip the Queue was all Ashley. I take no credit for that whatsoever.Paul Marden: Amazing.Danielle Nicholls: What a moment that was. That was really touching. Kelly Molson: Thank you.Paul Marden: Keep it together, mate. You've still got a few minutes to go.Kelly Molson: Okay?Paul Marden: So let's segue for some light relief to Ross Ballinger from Drayton Manor.Kelly Molson: Now, I'm not gonna lie, I'm really apprehensive about this. Ross. Ross Ballinger: Hello, lovely. Kelly Molson: Hi, Ross.Ross Ballinger: It's so nice to see and hear you. I feel like.Kelly Molson: Likewise, mate.Ross Ballinger: I've only known you, like, a short space of time but you were such a champion for me and Danielle when you spotted us at theme park award a few years ago.Danielle Nicholls: Really.Ross Ballinger: And we're just so grateful for that. You spotted our passion and our energy for the industry and obviously we just gravitated toward each other. Anything you've done for all the other professionals in the industry as well. So true testament to everything that you've done it just. It's all paid off and everyone loves you and thank you so much for everything on Skip the Queue.Kelly Molson: Oh, mate.Ross Ballinger: No, honestly, I think that was probably one of the best years I ever had in the industry, really, because it, like, it did stem up a couple of things did, like, fall out at the back of it because it got. It got me a little bit of 15 minutes of fame that I really enjoyed. And then I managed to do some presentations with different things and owe credit to you, really, for just, like, putting us in the limelight for a little bit. Kelly Molson: I'm so pleased. I'm so pleased. I just want to tell the story because I met the two of you at the UK theme park awards. It was at Drayton Manor, wasn't it? And these guys are on the table behind me and I've never had such enthusiasm. You two were the light, I mean, that. It was a bit of a. It was a bit of a. It was a. It was a tough crowd, wasn't it? Everyone was quite subdued in there, but used to, like, “Yes,” shouting and just.Danielle Nicholls: Basically every time anyone won, even if it was like, Pleasure Beach or being anyone. We were like, “Yeah, go guys.”Ross Ballinger: We were wooing everybody.Kelly Molson: What awards do should be like. Like, you two were like the Persona of an awards day. It was. It was so good to meet you that day. I had the best day meeting you two, and I just knew that I had to get you both on the podcast, and you were such a little dream team at Drayton Manor. And now, you know, you've set off on your different paths, but it's lovely to see. For me, it's really. I think it's brilliant to see where you're all going and what your good things are.Ross Ballinger: Yeah. Thank you.Danielle Nicholls: That's really kind. Thank you.Ross Ballinger:  Yeah, it was just one of those cases of, like, sat in the right place at the right time and the rest is history. Like, yeah, loved it. Loved the meeting on that day. Instant connection, you know? And you just get an instant connection with someone who shares the same energy and passion and insight, and they understand what you're doing and what you stand for. So, yeah, it was a really good day. Loved it. My icebreaker question, I did have four. Actually, so I don't even know if Paul knows what. I'm going to be honest.Paul Marden: Well, I'm taking the other two that you did send me because they were awesome.Ross Ballinger: I'm going to go with, if you could switch live with any fictional character, who would it be?Kelly Molson: It's a really good question. You need to. You have. You've wrote all these down, right? This is a good one.Ross Ballinger: Yeah. Yeah.Kelly Molson: With any fictional character. I'm trying to think of all the books that I've just thinking about. Well, okay. I've got this thing about reading. Like, if you go on holiday, I like to take, like, a really familiar book with me on holiday that you've read, like, a million times. And I don't know why. I've read The Beach, like, a billion times, which is far better than the film. Like, far better than the film. And I can't actually remember a guy's name in it now. It's gone off my head. But the Leonardo DiCaprio character in the book, I will swap lives with him because I feel like that whole travelling culture, I never got to do that. I wasn't brave enough to do that when I was younger, and I'd really like to go and do it now, but it's really difficult for toddler.Paul Marden: Not brave enough to do that. But you were brave enough to jack it all in and set up an agency 20 years ago.Kelly Molson: Yeah. Should I have done the travelling? Who knows? But, yeah, I think, yeah, I would swap places with him, although he goes a little bit crazy towards the end. I'd take that.Ross Ballinger: Thanks for your long lasting impact on a door. Thank you very much. Love you.Paul Marden: Well said, Ross. Crack and jog. So I'm going to take that and segue off quite nicely now to a video from your greatest fan, my daughter, Miss Amelia Marden. She wanted to be part of this, but she's busy at school today, so she sent you in a question and she said,Amelia Marden: Hello, Kelly. I've seen the video of the roller coaster you and dad went on at Drayton Manor. My question is, what is your favourite sort of roller coaster? Vertical drop or a loop de loop? Love you from Amelia.Paul Marden: For listeners. I kept it together on that roller coaster. There was no noise. I was completely composed. Everything was fine until it started moving at the beginning.Kelly Molson: So was this. No, hang on a minute. Was this the, this was the in the Viking. This is the Viking one, wasn't it? Because we've been on two roller coasters together. And the second one, it was in the rain and there was a lot of screaming in my ear as well. The first one was. Yeah, the first one was relatively screamy as well. What is my favourite? I like the shock of a drop. I do like a loop a loop. I'm cool with those. But there's something about like that. There's a, there's a motion sickness thing with me that is a bit. So the drop one I quite like. And again, this has got another good memory of my dad is that is Terra Towers. He loves the Terror Towers drop so much.Kelly Molson: My dad's got this thing in his head about taking Edie to Disney. Like my dad. My dad best in, he'll be when she's five, he'll be like 76. So, you know, he's getting on and he's like, that's my cutoff point. We're going to go to Disney when she's five, whether we all like it or not, because I can't do it any older than that. And he's like, we're going to go on Terror Towers, aren't we, Dad? I don't know if you should, dad. It's almost, I feel like maybe it was trigger of a heart attack. I don't know. A bit worried. But he's adamant that he's, you know.Paul Marden: He's going to Edie's five and we're taking them on to Terror Towers.Kelly Molson: Maybe it's going to work, Dad.Paul Marden: I think we don't need to set dad's expectations, teacups. And it's a small world and that's about it.Kelly Molson: Yeah, I'll have that chat with him.Paul Marden: And we have got a message in from Mister David Hingley.David Hingley: So I sit in a lot of meetings with Kelly, either in person or online, in her role as a trustee at Museum of the Broads. And it's usually not as dramatic as it might be. We talk about steamboats, coal, and our upcoming Pete exhibition, which is fascinating but can lack a bit of drama. So my question is, if every time you enter a room for the rest of your life a piece of entrance music plays, what piece of music are you choosing and why?Kelly Molson: Oh, my God. I've never thought about this question. This is a great question. Why has everyone given me really good questions now that I'm leaving? You idiots.Paul Marden: David is promising to play this at every future trustees meeting. As you arrive, he'll have Spotify on the phone ready to play.Kelly Molson: What would be my entrance music? I feel like it's got to be something. It's got to be something dancy where I can get my groove on. So I feel like. Like this someone's. Loads of people have probably said this, but I feel like. Like here comes the hot stepper. Would be a good one for me because I can, you know, I can drive in. Here come the odd stepper, you know?David Hingley:  I'll record the next trustee meeting museums of the broad and circulates to this group.Kelly Molson: Oh, please do.Paul Marden: Thank you, David.Kelly Molson: I'll tell you what. I'll do it at the AGM. I'll dance in at the AGM.Paul Marden: So last up, we have Mr. Dominic Jones from the Mary Rose, who, along with Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, the third most popular paid attraction outside of London in the hour list released yesterday.Dominic Jones: Yeah, very happy about that. Very happy.Paul Marden: I can take you one better because still the undisputed most listened to podcast guest on Skip the Queue as of yesterday. Wow.Dominic Jones: I honestly can't believe that.Paul Marden: I know, I know. It's not as if you haven't dined out on that fact several times before.Andy Povey: He doesn't like to talk about it, Paul.Kelly Molson: He's so shy, doesn't he? Dominic Jones: I am shy. I don't talk about myself. That's incredible. What did you say number one?Paul Marden: Number one by country mile, I might say.Kelly Molson: Yeah, by nearly a hundred downloads, actually.Dominic Jones: Oh, well, that's fantastic. I'm absolutely honored about that. I have to say, I am so sad that Skip the Queue with Kelly is coming to an end because it's kept me company on many a motorway journey, on many a day when I've had a really tough day at work and thought, you know, what's going to cheer me up is Skip the Queue. Because not only do you motivate and inspire the next generation, like the person that sort of bumped into me and Simon, but you also motivate, inspire all of us. And actually, without Skip the Queue, and to be fair, ALVA as well, I don't think I'd have this amazing network of friends and colleagues that really keep me sane in some of the tough times.Dominic Jones: So I know we often talk and Bernard talks about how visitor attractions are like sort of the fourth emergency service, I would say, when it comes to working in a visitor attraction, you and ALVA. So Skip the Queue and ALVA are the emergency services, because without you, I don't think we'd be sane. Absolutely. You've made such a difference to my personal life and I can't thank you enough. But for an icebreaker question, one of the things that irritates me on Skip the Queue is you can tell who Kellys favourites are. So if she has someone from the zoo and she likes them, whats your favourite animal? Or someone from a theme park, whats your favorite ride? And then she gets people that she just asks really difficult icebreakers. So I was thinking, how can I get the most random, hardest icebreaker?Dominic Jones:  And I was trying to remember, but when I was a child in the eighties and nineties growing up, a lot of my friends had Sky TV. We couldn't afford Sky TV. We had BBC One and BBC two. Well, on Sky TV there was this thing called WWF. Now, this was before the Internet. So I went to the library and worked out that it was about looking after animals. Turns out it wasn't. It was actually wrestling. And so I used to sort of been in the playground, talk to my friends, but never ever watching it, never really understanding it. So I'd be in my bedroom. I was very young at the time, pretending to be a WWF wrestler. I was the praying mantis, because I did watch BBC 2 a lot. Mantis, one of the very strongest animal in the animal kingdom.Dominic Jones: But if you were a wrestler in the WWF, what would be your wrestling name?Kelly Molson: I used to love the wrestling.Dominic Jones: I bet you did. I bet you did.Kelly Molson: I did. We went. So they did the one in the UK. They did the royal rumble and I had the finger and everything. Yeah. I used to like the bushwhackers and rowdy Roddy Piper and Jake the Snake. I was well into it. I was really into it. Yeah. I was not cool at school until I was well into the wrestling. So what would be my wrestling name?Dominic Jones: Yeah. And why?Kelly Molson: The trouble is, I'm a bit of a lover, not a fighter, so don't think I'd actually make a very good wrestler. I'm not actually that aggressive. Looking at me as if I've said something crazy, then I'm not a fight. I might have a fiery temper, but I'm not a fighter. Oh, God. It's. I don't know what rhymes. Like, Kelly's a really rubbish name to rhyme stuff, but Kick ass Kelly, it's rubbish, isn't it?Dominic Jones: Good, that'll do.Kelly Molson: Okay. Kick ass Kelly. Yeah. I don't know what would be my costume. There'd definitely be some neon in there. I feel like I'd be like the eighties girl. Like neon leggings and leg warmers and stuff. Yeah.Dominic Jones: And maybe some fire in the background as well, just to spice it up. Yeah.Kelly Molson: Yeah, maybe.Paul Marden: I reckon there's got to be some cheese in there as well. You need some. You need some cheese in that wrestler name, ain't it?Kelly Molson: There's not many cheeses that begin that, like, rhyme with Kelly either.Dominic Jones: The worst ever icebreaker. I've ruined it.Kelly Molson: Good question. No, I like it.Dominic Jones: Oh, I should have done. What's your favourite boat? That's what I should have done.Paul Marden: Oh, come on then.Kelly Molson: What's my favourite boat? Well, it would have to be the falcon or the. Can't remember the name of the other one.David Hingley: Well, the other one.Kelly Molson: Is it the Marsh Harrier?David Hingley: That's the one.Kelly Molson: There you go. At the Museum of the Broads is a wonderful museum. You can also take your family out on a little boat trip. It's also dog friendly as well, you know, bring all your friends.Dominic Jones: Great. Plug in one of your recent episodes. I was listening and thought about booking a holiday. It was a great plug in the last episode. You did?Kelly Molson: Well, if you do fancy a little holiday trip to Norfolk, you know, there's a little holiday cottage that you could. You could hit me up for, Dominic. So just, you know, let me know.Dominic Jones: Absolutely.Paul Marden: I reckon I should have got 20 quid in my pocket every time you mention that guest house.Kelly Molson: I really hope that someone books someday and they're like, “We heard it on Skip the Queue.” “Yes! It worked.”Paul Marden: They'll insist on a discount. Thank you, Don. That was amazing. If any of our listeners would like to support any of the other guests and boost their listener figures to compete with Don, I'm going to put the details of everybody's episodes in the show notes, because frankly, Dominic Jones: Why would you do that?Kelly Molson: That's mean.Dominic Jones: Why would you do that? Surely this is the end now. Number one, the end.Paul Marden: We're talking load of nonsense and I need to put something in the show notes. So I thought I'd put the episodes that everybody was in on the show notes. Can you exclude one, Paul? Oh, I'm sure I can, yes.Dominic Jones: I think yours is okay, Andy. I wouldn't exclude you. Yours was a great one. Paul Marden:  So they'll all be in the show notes. And lastly, all of our guests asked to pick a book that they love. So Kelly, what's your book?Kelly Molson: I read this book right at the very start of my agency journey. A very good friend of mine, he's been a coach of mine for a number of years, said that you should read this book, and it is How to win friends and influence people by Dale Carnegie. It's a very old book, but it is a classic. And this book opened my eyes and ears. So it really taught me how to understand and listen to people. And I think for me, building an agency like we have over the years, so much of that comes down to listening to people, understanding what their challenges are. You know, we have to network. You know, a lot of what we do is based on reputation and how likable you can be and all of those kind of things.Kelly Molson: And this book really gives you an understanding of that, about what it is to be likable. And you shouldn't have to teach this to people. Like, really, it's pretty common sense, but, you know, it can be difficult for people to understand, like, why you should listen to people and why you should just let people talk. And I think a lot of the things that I learned from this book, I have applied to the podcast, so I just want to read out a little synopsis. Well, some of the things that I think are really important about how you listen to people, and it's. It's about becoming genuinely interested in other people.Kelly Molson: And I hope that has come across in this podcast, because every single person that has come on and shared with me has just given me so much to think about, and I've learned so much from you all. It teaches you to smile, like smiling is just so important. I've always been amazed at how many people that don't smile back when I smile at them when I'm out walking the dog in the morning. Just smiling is the simplest thing that you can do to connect with somebody. Remembering people's names. Remember that a person's name to that person is the most important sound in any language. Make sure that you can just remember people's names. Be a good listener. Encourage others to talk about themselves. And I hope that I've done that. I've always hoped this podcast, you know, it's not about me.Kelly Molson: It won't be about Paul. It will be about all the guests that come on and still continue to come on and talk to us about their stories and their challenges and their initiatives and all the brilliant things that they do. And I hope that I have gone above and beyond in making other people feel important. And I hope I've been sincere in doing that as well because it is all about you. You all make this podcast amazing and I genuinely am so grateful that you've allowed me into your ears and allowed me to share everybody else's stories in a really fun way. So thank you.Paul Marden: Kelly, that was really. Yeah, awesome. Listeners. If you'd like to win in Kelly's book, then head over to the show announcement on X and retweet as saying, I want Kelly's book. That just leaves me to say that we are busy planning season six now. Wanlyn and I met yesterday with Oz to start brainstorming ideas for what we can do in season six. If you've got ideas, then send them in. Let us know on Twitter. We'd love to hear those X, I should say. If you would like to appear in an episode, let us know, because I love to interview people. So let us know if you'd like to come onto the podcast, that would be amazing. That's about it from all of us here today. So I want to thank my lovely co hosts, the Skip the Queue alumni.Paul Marden: I want to thank the rest of the Rubber Cheese team that came along as well. I want to thank you, Kelly, for everything that you've done for us and thank the lovely listeners. I look forward to seeing you all in the next episode of Skip the Queue.Kelly Molson: Thank you so much. This is amazing. Thank you. 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.   The 2023 Visitor Attraction Website Report is now LIVE! Dive into groundbreaking benchmarks for the industryGain a better understanding of how to achieve the highest conversion ratesExplore the "why" behind visitor attraction site performanceLearn the impact of website optimisation and visitor engagement on conversion ratesUncover key steps to enhance user experience for greater conversionsDownload the report now for invaluable insights and actionable recommendations!

Classic and historic is the city of Blackpool in the UK. Your typical seaside town with a promenade and lots of activities. One of the most recognisable activities is Blackpool Pleasure Beach, a park originally inspired by Coney Island and owned by a family for generations now. The current CEO Amanda Thompson explains the curious city of Blackpool, the history of this historical themepark and why it is important to know and understand your market. A lovely interview, recorded live during IAAPA Expo Europe in Vienna 2023. For more about Blackpool Pleasure Beach visit: https://www.blackpoolpleasurebeach.com/

'I wanted to write a queer love story, Blackpool is crying out for literary renditions and I'm obsessed by Ulysses.' Helen Palmer is here to talk about her Ulysses inspired queer love story, Pleasure Beach which is published by Prototype (more info here!) Enjoyed today's episode? Leave a tip!: https://ko-fi.com/liambishop Rippling Points Corrie and the Tower: setting a novel in Blackpool.  Time please: The enduring appeal of a novel set in a day Reference Points James Joyce Julia Kristeva Coronation Street

This week Andy Hygate (Director of Operations at Pleasure Beach) joins us to talk all things Pleasure Beach as well as catching up on all the latest news!

Have you ever wondered where the relaxing sounds you listen to come from?  When you take this Journey of Relaxation with me you will know exactly where and when it was recorded.These relaxing sounds are coming to you from Pleasure Beach on September 19, 2021 3:30 pm.New intro Support the showTake a moment to find the beauty of nature every day,Duchess of the DunesTikTokFacebookYouTube

I ate an amazing cheeseburger over the weekend. The problem is, I found a long hair in it just as I was about to finish it. Is it wrong that I pulled out the hair, then finished the burger?Ladies with long fingernails freak me out for an odd, but for a logical reason.Imagine being on a rollercoaster and it stopping mid-ride, then you're forced to climb down a wet and steep staircase, all while the cold wind knocks you around. Yeah, that happened over in the UK on The Big One ride at Blackpool's Pleasure Beach.Beatriz Flamini - a 50-year-old Spanish athlete - went underground in a cave, in complete isolation for 500 days so scientists would be able to study her. Sounds like a beautiful vacation!People had the chance to get married in front of the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile while it was in Las Vegas. I can't help but drop some negative truth bombs on this.I take you down my weird thought process that ultimately ended nowhere… or did it end somewhere? I honestly don't know.The 17th century equivalent for ‘Go to hell!' was ‘Turd in your teeth!' - Please use this in your life!! PLEASE!!Buy some cool Colorado merch! Buy anything using this link https://1876.co/?sca_ref=3453594.hKEYgzNcVW and you'll be helping out the podcast!

What would you do if the only bridge to your community burned and the town refused to rebuild it? The residents of Long Beach, CT found out the hard way and it destroyed their entire neighborhood, leaving nearly 50 beachfront homes abandoned. In this episode of the Abandoned America podcast, we'll explore the tragic story of what went wrong, how the fate of Long Beach was tied to the defunct Pleasure Beach Amusement Park located next to them on the peninsula, and what happens when the towns around you turn their back on you in a time of crisis. Show Notes: https://www.abandonedamerica.us/the-story-of-pleasure-beach Taunton State Hospital photo gallery/podcast text on Abandoned America: ⁠https://www.abandonedamerica.us/pleasure-and-long-beach Support the podcast on Patreon: ⁠https://www.patreon.com/AbandonedAmerica --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/abandonedamerica/support

We're back! To open Season 4 of Benjamin's Britain we've invited our history teacher friend Paul along to talk all things Northern. Lancashire born Paul, leads us through through the history of the iconic seaside town of Blackpool, it's Pleasure Beach, drag scene and social culture. And his alternative landmark has a very similar flavour...You can now buy us a coffee if you enjoy our episodes - https://www.buymeacoffee.com/benjaminsbritainWe'd love you to subscribe and rate us on when you listen to your favourite podcasts. Follow us at @benjaminsbritainpod on Instagram for social content and updates.

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, Founder of Rubber Cheese.Download the Rubber Cheese 2022 Visitor Attraction Website Report - the first digital benchmark statistics for the attractions sector.If 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/podcast.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 in this podcastCompetition ends July 31st 2023. The winner will be contacted via Twitter. Show references: https://twitter.com/AndyHygatehttps://www.linkedin.com/in/andy-hygate-50351a45/https://www.blackpoolpleasurebeach.com/https://www.blackpoolpleasurebeach.com/events/walk-the-big-one/ Andy Hygate is the Director of Operations at the iconic UK amusement park Blackpool Pleasure Beach. Andy has worked in visitor attractions for over twenty years - including as a General Manager of Blue Planet Aquarium in Cheshire and also Oakwood Theme Park in Pembrokeshire. In Blackpool Andy heads up a team of almost 200 staff who operate the rides and deliver the guest experience - including High Adventure Experiences - 2023 will be his eight season in Blackpool.  Andy also claims to be a rollercoaster aficionado having ridden over 600+ coasters worldwide. His current favourite coaster (though it changes all the time) is Iron Gwazi at Busch Gardens in Tampa.    Transcriptions: Kelly Molson: Happy New Year, everyone. 2023 at Skip the Queue is packed with more amazing guests, and we're starting the new year with a really great one. In today's episode, I speak with Andy Hygate, Director of Operations at Blackpool Pleasure Beach. We are talking about walking The Big One and how to develop an exclusive experience from an everyday safety process.If you like what you hear, you can subscribe on iTunes, Spotify and all the usual channels by searching Skip the Queue. Kelly Molson: Andy, welcome to Skip the Queue.Andy Hygate: Hello. It's nice to be here. Thanks for inviting me.Kelly Molson: Well, it's my pleasure. Just to let everyone know, we're recording this today, as we do, on YouTube and I've got this halo-like effect over my head.Andy Hygate: Okay. Ray lights.Kelly Molson: I look quite angelic, don't I, Andy? Quite festive. If you're watching this on the YouTube channel, you will understand what we're talking about, but this is not good podcast material. Sorry. Anyway, Andy, we're starting with some icebreakers.Andy Hygate: Okay.Kelly Molson: I've got a good one for you. I know that you are a big old rollercoaster fan. So I want to know, and this might be a little bit like asking who's your favourite child, or who's your favourite dog. But I want to know, what's your favourite rollercoaster?Andy Hygate: Oh, wow. I mean, it changes all the time. I guess I have kind of a top three, but I've recently been lucky enough to go to Orlando and I went on a ride there called Iron Gwazi, which is a RMC rework of what was a classic wooden coaster into a steel coaster that's got inversions and so on. And it's one of those rides where if you're a roller coaster fan, it's everything that you want from a roller coaster, from an incredible, and I think it's almost beyond vertical first drop. It's got inversions on a wooden structure.But it was one of those rides that just didn't let up until it hits the brakes at the end. I mean, it blew me away. It was incredible. But then I say that, I also went on the VelociCoaster and I was lucky to get in the front seats, which is the Islands of Adventure. I went on that at night. And again, I mean, that was an incredible ride. So at the moment it's probably between those two. Maybe I can't pick a favourite. But yeah, both incredible intense, fabulous long rides. Really, really good stuff.Kelly Molson: Okay. Do you know what? The VelociCoaster, feel like I've been watching that happen for years on Twitter, because they've been really good at feeding little snippets of what's been happening before it's launched, like the design of it. I just feel like I've seen it. It's just been happening for so long.Andy Hygate: The weird thing is sometimes you watch these things on YouTube, particularly if you watch POVs of rides and you think what the ride is going to ride like. And we've got a double-launch coaster and effectively that's what VelociCoaster is. But that last inversion, which is really low over the water, you have to go on it to experience what it's like. I can't describe it to you. It's one of those you think you're coming out, which is not good, but you are obviously not. But it is just, I mean, yeah, it just blew me away. Absolutely blew me away.Kelly Molson: Amazing. Great recommendation, Andy. All right. Okay, next one. Who's your idol and have you ever met them?Andy Hygate: I don't know. I mean, there's a rollercoaster designer, a German guy called Stengel who is behind many, many of the designs of the world's best coasters. I'm a coaster geek and I'm a big fan of B&M, and I guess I would love to meet them, but I haven't. I don't know because they always say don't meet your heroes. And so I kind of think that I'm not really sure that I would want to.Kelly Molson: Keeping a distance, probably safer. What's the weirdest food you've ever eaten?Andy Hygate: Weirdest food. Before I was five years old, I'd had more birthdays in America than I'd had in the UK. And I remember on my fifth birthday having an ice cream birthday cake. And the fact that I can still remember this, 30 whatever years later, I remember that being something that was very unusual at the time. I don't know now. Yeah, I mean, that's quite cool, actually. To be honest, I've got a big birthday coming up in a couple of years and I'd quite like an ice cream birthday cake for that now.Kelly Molson: There you go.Andy Hygate: I suppose that's weird.Kelly Molson: Putting it out there, just getting the hints in already for Andy's birthday.Andy Hygate: Pretty much. There you go.Kelly Molson: Love it. All right, Andy, what is your unpopular opinion? What have you got to share with us?Andy Hygate: You know what? I think camping should be banned. And particularly, level above that, glamping. I guess, again, for me, if you go on holiday, you want to stay somewhere nice, I think. My experiences of camping are always being freezing cold, in soaking wet, and being covered in mud. When you wake up in the morning and you've been like you've slept outside effectively, and it's just a different level of cold. And I don't get the whole thing about... People say, oh, I don't know, "I'm connecting to nature, or the great outdoors."And I actually do like the outdoors, but if I go anywhere, I want to at least stay... Well, if you come to Blackpool, you don't want to be in a tent. You want to be in a nice hotel, which you can obviously do here. But I don't understand the appeal of it. I haven't done it for probably 30 years, but my whole recollection of camping is being freezing cold, soaking wet, and it being thoroughly unpleasant. So yeah, I would ban the tents.Kelly Molson: Oh, Andy. That's a really strong opinion and I like it. Have you ever been glamping? Have you ever done the one level up?Andy Hygate: I've seen it because it appears. I mean, a lot of places and particularly there seems to be a thing with safari parks. I can't think of anything worse than being asleep in a safari park. It's always a beautiful white tent, isn't it, when it's glamping? But ultimately, you're sleeping next to a lion enclosure. And in the middle of the night, you get picked off by one of the animals. I obviously sound very passionate about this, but glamping is supposed to be a luxury, but it's not a... I don't know. Having plastic champagne glasses in a canvas tent, to me is not luxury. Sorry. That sounds awful.Kelly Molson: No. Do you know what? I think it's my favourite opinion of the year. Listeners, let me know what you think over on our Twitter account if you agree with Andy. It's very strong, very strong unpopular opinion today. Oh, I love that. All right. Well, Andy, I'm going to guess that your background isn't in camping or nature, but tell us a little bit about your background.Andy Hygate: Okay, well, I'm the Operations Director for Blackpool Pleasure Beach and I've been here for eight seasons. But I've worked in attractions for over 20 years. I actually used to work at a famous aquarium in Cheshire for many, many years. I basically had the opportunity to go and run a theme park, a small theme park in Pembrokeshire down in Wales, beautiful park in the country, a theme park called Oakwood. And I went and worked there.And one of the reasons I went and worked there is because I've always liked roller coasters. And so from as young as I can remember, I grew up in Kent and we used to go on day trips to Margate. Not camping trips. And I used to go on the rides at Dreamland there. And I was hooked, I was obsessed with it. And so obviously when I got the chance to come work at Oakwood, it was a no-brainer because they had big rides. And I learned about rides, how to operate rides, the maintenance involved and all of that kind of stuff.And then that kind of opened the door, really, for me to work in other parks, and that's ultimately why I work here. But I think I'm very, very lucky to work in an industry that I'm passionate about. And the fact that I love roller coasters, we've got 10 roller coasters at Blackpool Pleasure Beach. And so for me to work with those every day is a real privilege and really good fun. And part of my job is literally to go and ride rides. And if you told me that when I was 10 years old, I just never would've believed that that was a possibility.Kelly Molson: That's very lovely. This comes up quite a lot with our guests, actually, because it is an industry that people tend to work in from a young age and then work their way up. And they love it, they really love it. And it's really nice listening to people where they're like, "I get to do this for my job, but this is fun." And it's really nice to hear. I'm going to guess, Andy, only because you mentioned that you got a big birthday coming up, but I'm going to guess that you are maybe a similar age to me and you would remember Dreamland as Bembom Brothers.Andy Hygate: I do, yeah. Bembom Brothers Amusement Park.Kelly Molson: Yeah, because I can remember, because I'm from Essex and then I can remember my granddad taking me to Bembom Brothers when I was really little and riding the wooden rollercoaster that they had there.Andy Hygate: Railway, yeah. It's still there.Kelly Molson: Yeah, good times. Good times. All right. So Andy, today, I'm really interested in this. I think this is such a great topic for our listeners. What we're going to talk about is how you've developed an exclusive experience from an everyday safety procedure, which sounds crazy, but tell us a little bit about how this idea came about.Andy Hygate: Well, it's a strange one. But we're talking about an experience called Walk the Big One. And for those of you that don't know, Blackpool Pleasure Beach has a very large roller coaster, which is still, some 25 years later, the tallest rollercoaster in the UK, a rollercoaster called The Big One. It's 235 feet tall, and basically guests can pay to come and walk up the ride after the park closes, up the main pull up, which is the main lift and the sort of slow part at the start of the ride.And we're obviously located right next to the beach, so you get an absolutely spectacular view. And when I say spectacular, it's a really difficult one to describe. But if you don't know Blackpool and saw the sunset. So something else, I mean, I said I've just been to Florida and I think I would say our sunsets are comparable with theirs. Maybe the temperature's not quite the same. But what we were ultimately able to achieve is roller coasters generally have steps running up the lift hill and that's no different to our coaster.They're there for safety reasons so that ultimately if there's a stoppage or you have to clear a train of guests or whatever, that you can walk people down. But by using those we were able to give people this very unique experience in a controlled and safe way, where they get this unbelievably photogenic and unique experience, which only really, and certainly compared to the number of people that ride the ride, only a handful of people get. When people go on roller coasters, one of the things that you don't want, it's a very modern problem, is trying to stop people from taking photographs or filming on rides, because inevitably they drop their phone, and you don't want things falling and all of that kind of stuff.But by doing a controlled walking experience like this, it means that people can get those amazing pictures and so on. And people love putting that on social media and all of that kind of stuff. So how it actually started, though, well, again, there's two versions of this depending on who you speak to. And I can say that because it started before I started working here, so I don't know which one is true. But one of them is that we had a corporate inquiry from a group that had hired out a room and were having an event at the Pleasure Beach. And they wanted to do something different with the boss of the company. And again about taking a crazy photo or whatever and they asked if they could take them to the top of The Big One.And so they looked into it and the safety aspects and so on and were able to achieve that. So that's one possibility. And then the other one is that a member of staff went on a trip to Australia and walked up the Sydney Harbor Bridge and came back and said, "That was an amazing experience. Wouldn't that be really cool if we could replicate something like that in the park?" And so depending on who you believe, depends on where this started from. But all I know is that when I started here, we were running on Friday evenings throughout the year, we were running three walks a night taking groups of six people up the structure for an hour.And an hour is the whole thing. So you come and you do a little safety briefing, we kit people up. You'll be pleased to know people are connected with a safety line whilst they're doing this and we show them how to use it and so on. And then we walked them up the structure to the top. We do it in stages, because, as I said, it's over 70 meters high, so it's 420 steps to the top. We do it three times in an evening, so our leg muscles are quite...Kelly Molson: Nice. Good workouts.Andy Hygate: Quite good. But you basically walk people up and you stop at 50 foot intervals. We tell them a little bit about the history of the ride and some facts about the ride and so on. And also, what you notice is as you get higher up you get to see more and more at the park and also beyond the park as well. And you get that different sort of vantage point. And so by the time you get to the summit, which is the bit that everyone's looking forward to, if it's a nice clear day, you can look one way and you can see across the estuary, and you can see as far as Southport. And then you look the other way and you can literally see the Lake District. And you've got the Blackpool Tower and you can see the whole of the town set out below you.And it's an incredible experience, and even though I've walked up the structure loads of times, for me, I still get a thrill out of doing it and I'm still always impressed by the view. So for the first-time guest that's coming to do it for whatever reason, because we get loads of people doing this for... We get rollercoaster enthusiasts, which obviously you can understand why they would want to do it. But we also get people that are doing it for charity events and we get people that have had it as a surprise present and they've turned up at evening and didn't know really anything about what they were going to do. And so there's that whole mix of different people doing it and for different reasons and whatever. And again, once you get to the top, again, other people are getting different things out of it.We get the people that are serious photographers that want the sunset walk and so on. And then you get the people that are Facebook crazy and want to do Facebook Live at the top so all their mates can see it and so on. And it caters, really, for all of those people. What's quite cool is you can start with six people that don't even necessarily know each other. Sometimes you do get a group where it's six people that do, but we've had it where you've got six people haven't met before and then by the time they get to the end of it and they're back down on the ground, there's this kind of camaraderie that's been built up by having this experience.And they're always towards the staff because it's us that do it, it's the rides team that walk up. They're always so appreciative. And I think finding out stuff that you wouldn't find out normally when you visit, little tips and facts about the ride and little interesting oddities about how roller coasters work and so on makes it a really good experience. So yeah, I mean, I know that was a very long answer to-Kelly Molson: That was a great answer. It's a great answer and it leads me on to some of the questions that I've got about what's it brought the attraction? Because you talked there about a lot, so there was a lot to take in there. And some of the things you talked about were when people go up, you've got these incredible views and people want to take photos of that, they want to do Facebook Live. I guess you've got so many different audiences that that appeals to as well, like the rollercoaster nuts or just people that just want that Instagram moment. What has it brought, the attraction?Andy Hygate: For us, it's brought us into the experience market in a way which is something that we wouldn't have necessarily... I mean, the rollercoaster was never built with that in mind. It was obviously built as a thrill ride and the fact that are stairs there, and I'm sure we'll talk a little bit about Walk the Woodie later on. But the stairs are there for a functional reason and so you can do track inspections, and so in the event there's a stoppage there's a way for people to get down and a safe way and so on. And I think it's been able to make use of something that's already there or existing in a different way that's also such a memorable way.And invariably, I said, for all those people doing those different things, whether it's taking photos and posting them on social media or whether it's Instagram or whether it's Facebook or whatever it is that they're doing it for. And we have seen, particularly over the last five years doing it, there is, I think, this explosion in experiences and experience culture and people wanting, instead of... You are buying an experience, ultimately, and then you are showing other people that you've done that experience.So that's a big part of what social media is and a big motivator for doing it. But I think it's great that you can have that mix of people. And you even get the people that quietly... We've had people that live in Blackpool that can see the structure from their house because it's a tall structure I have always just been curious about it and just want to come and walk up it. And that's what's great, that you get that mix, really.Kelly Molson: It's opened up the park to a different audience, I guess, because those people might not have come along and come on and taken a ride on the rollercoaster or spent the day at the park. But there they would come along in the evening and walk up it and be able to spot their house from the top of it, I guess.Andy Hygate: Yeah, no, it's definitely true. And also you get people that have driven up from London, which is quite a long way from us, and so on, to do an experience which is pretty unique. And it's certainly unique in our location. And there are all those different reasons for doing it, makes it a really good thing. And I also think we are catering for a desire to have an adventure. I mean, roller coasters ultimately are that as well. I mean, the great thing about roller coasters is that people are searching for a thrill and an experience. I mean, even me talking about those rides that I was talking about before, I was absolutely thrilled or blown away by them and so on.But people want to go on a ride where you have the illusion of danger, that ultimately in reality is actually a very safe experience. And actually you could relate this to that as well, this experience, walking up something. You're at a very high height, you're on a slender gantry. And the structure moves, it's designed to, it's good that it moves in the wind and so on. You wouldn't want it to be brittle and so on. That all adds to the adventure. So you're getting that experience but in a way which is actually a really safe way of doing it.Kelly Molson: Yeah. It's brilliant. It's still incredible to me that something that you would've done on a daily basis anyway you've been able to develop into this incredible experience. So it's brought you a different audience. It's obviously brought you more revenue, right? So you mentioned earlier you do three walks.Andy Hygate: Yeah, so we take six people on each walk. And they pay obviously for that experience. And it's a premium-priced experience because you're getting something which is a small group of people, it's after the park is closed and all of that side of it. And this is with the experience economy or people looking for those things. People are prepared to pay extra. For one, you're getting that level of service and insight that you wouldn't get necessarily normally, and talking directly to people that work on the ride and know about the ride and so on.If you were here as a visitor, you'd probably just queue up and go on the ride, have a great experience, find it thrilling and then off you go, where people like to, I think, have a curiosity about the behind the scenes, how things work and so on. And Walk the Woodie, which is the version of this that we do on one of our wooden coasters, is the classic example of something where we've taken something that we have to do every day. So this is the rollercoaster geek in me. There's two different types of coasters. There's steel coasters, which are the ones that you find where they invert, and most modern coasters are steel coasters. And then you get wooden coasters, and Blackpool Pleasure Beach, we are really lucky to have four, which is really unusual, classic wooden coasters, all built in the 1920s and '30s.I mean, these rides, rides like the Grand National and so on, which are iconic rides. When you think of our park, if you ask people about our park, they'll mention those rides. But for me, the fact that people want to come and ride a wooden coaster. It's 90 years it's been thrilling people and they still find it a thrilling ride and still want to go on it and so on. I think that's incredible that people want to do that, and what that says is those attractions, even if they were built in the 1930s, are still brilliant attractions and that people still want to come and ride them.Now, part of looking after and the maintenance of a wooden coaster is that you do daily inspections of them, and you literally walk the entire track of the ride, which you can do on a wooden coaster because unlike on a steel coaster, you've got a walkway literally the entire length of the ride. And so we have an in-house structures team and construction team here, which is part of how we maintain the coasters and are able to keep them going and so on, have to walk the entire track every day. And so every morning before the park opens, nice and early, doesn't matter what the weather is, our team of structures people will come and walk alongside the entire track, carrying out an inspection and making sure there's no problems, no issues, no rot, no nails where there shouldn't be, all of those kind of things so that the ride's ultimately safe to open.And with this stuff I'm talking about with offering experiences, we suddenly thought, well, wouldn't it be great if the general public had the opportunity to do something that this very selective group of people were having to do every single day of the year when we're open? And that's really how that experience came about. And I think The Big One gave us the confidence to look at other rides and other attractions that we've gotten and start to think, actually, what is it that we do that people would pay to come and do as well? And Walk the Woodie a hundred percent came out of that.Kelly Molson: That's absolutely brilliant. And I think when we spoke briefly before today, you mentioned that you've got special merchandise that people can buy. And do they get a piece of Woodie? Don't worry, folks, it is structurally sound but they do get a piece of Woodie.Andy Hygate: I have to say, with wooden coasters, people... And I can use this, I said this to some of my American friends and they have no clue what I was talking about. But wooden roller coasters, it's like Trigger's broom. And part of the maintenance of them is that you are constantly working on them and you are constantly replacing the wood. So actually how much of the structure, the original structure is still there a hundred years later or whatever. And anyway, so we're always carrying out that work. And when we did Walk The Big One, we wanted people to take away something after the experience. And actually I've got one here, look, to hold up for you.Kelly Molson: Oh, brilliant.Andy Hygate: You get this medal at the end of it. And it's for some people, particularly if you're scared of heights, which we do get, it's an achievement if you've made it to the top and all of that kind of stuff. And invariably, what actually happens with that as well is that when you get down and you give them a medal, they all immediately have their photo taken with it and so on.So again, it feeds into all the stuff I was saying about social media and so on. So anyway, with Walk the Woodie we thought, well, wouldn't it be nice if we could do something like that? And we thought about a medal and so on. And then we thought, well, hang on a minute, we've got all this wood that we've removed from the ride as we've replaced and updated it. Why don't we chop it up into little pieces and give people a piece of the ride to take?Kelly Molson: It's a genius idea. Not only is it a brilliant piece of memorabilia, it's sustainable too.Andy Hygate: Well, yeah, exactly. And actually what's cool about it is the wood itself often has... You can see the rungs of the original growth in the tree and so on in it. And I'll tell you a really nice piece. People always want the chunk that's got the nails sticking out a bit or the bit with the flaky paint or whatever it is, just because it's all... There's a certain, again, this whole experience thing, people want authenticity. And I think that just plays into that. And also if you are going back afterwards and you've got home and you're telling your friends or your family what you've done, if you're producing a piece of wood from that very ride that's a piece of history and all of that kind of stuff, it just adds to the thing.So yeah, I mean, we always say to people that do it, look, we don't do any hard sell or anything, at the end of it you get those things as part of the experience regardless. But then we do some merch which is exclusive. I mean, I'm wearing one of The Big One pieces of clothing, which we only sell to people that have been on the walk that evening. So the guests in the park can obviously, when they come and visit they can buy Big One mugs and pin badges and Big One everything if that's what they want, of course. But you can only get this stuff by participating in the experience. So it makes it quite special, really.Kelly Molson: Yeah, it does. It's brilliant. I mean, really, we are recording this episode in the run up to Christmas, listeners, but this will launch, this is obviously going out in the new year. And I think this is such a good message to start the year on. And it's something that has been talked about at a number of the ALVA meetings that I've been to and it's something the industry's been talking about in the run up to Christmas season is about that level of experience and doing things that are different, because it is what people are absolutely craving for. And they will be happy to pay the higher price point for doing something that's really special and something that's really unique, and just something that's of real interest to them as well. You are hooking into people's real desires with these unique experiences. I think this is such a brilliant story. Your dates sell out really quickly as well, don't they?Andy Hygate: Yeah, I mean, we've just put on our 2023 dates online. And what we find is that there's a lot of... Well, because of the social media aspect of it, there's a lot of word of mouth about it anyway. And also we got a lot of repetition. Again, I think it's because it's so unique, but in the case of Walk The Big One, the other thing that we find, because we do it from March but we also do it through until the autumn. And you can come along in, I don't know, in the spring and do it and it can be sunshine and lovely and bright and so on. But then you hear that actually you can come back and you can do it in September when the illuminations are on in Blackpool, when it's dark, and the experience takes on a whole different thing altogether. And to walk up effectively in the darkness and just see the lights along the fragile miles along the coastline is a beautiful and very different experience.Kelly Molson: Yeah, I bet that's amazing. So do you get a lot of repeat visits for something like this?Andy Hygate: Yes. What you do is you'll find that those people that do it in the spring, we say, "Oh yeah, we do it in September." And they say, "Oh, I didn't know that." And so that happened certainly early on with it, we were finding that people came back to it. And then obviously once it built up a bit of a reputation when we started thinking about these like Walk the Woodie with the wooden coasters, what you found is that people had done Walk the Big One and knew it was a really fun experience, had a great time. Suddenly thought, oh, well, actually I want to try that as well. And I think it was emotive in a different way because with The Big One obviously it's really tall, and there's no getting away from that. And the thing is, the payoff on that one is that you're going to get that amazing view right at the top and so on.With Walk the Woodie because we've walked the track on them on the Big Dipper, you're not going to go as high at all because the ride's only like 60 feet tall and so on. It's a different experience but in some ways it's, I don't want to say more fulfilling because they're fulfilling for different reasons, but it's certainly more challenging because you're walking a lot more of the track than you would do on Walk the Big One. But also it's that insight that you're getting and that understanding of how the ride's maintained, how it works.And as much as I can describe to you what it's like to walk along a rollercoaster track, when you actually do it, you suddenly get some kind of... The bit that always shocks people is that we start at the end of the ride and we actually walk backwards. And you walk from where the break run is and where the ride would normally end and you do the last little bunny hops, which are the last part of the ride when you're on it, and you do them first. When you're on the ride because the ride's coming to an end, those little bunny hops don't feel like the first drop.You think, that's the end of the ride, they're not very big, and so on. When you have to walk them actually you realise that what you thought was small bunny hops are actually quite large and steep and so on. And it gives people a different appreciation for the ride. And so we've had people that have done Walk the Woodie and then gone back on the Big Dipper when they've come back to the park as a regular visitor, and said that it has totally changed the way that they view the ride and they've got a totally different appreciation for it and how we maintain it, how we look after it, all the work that goes into it. But also an understanding of the scale of these things and so on. And you would never get that just by going on the ride itself, I suppose.Kelly Molson: That's really cool, isn't it? I mean, there must have been, with both of the rides, Walk the Big One and Walk the Woodie, there must have been some challenges that you had in terms of opening this up to general public. I'm sure health and safety was an absolute nightmare. What kind of challenges did you come across, and how did you overcome them? And what would be your advice for other attractions that were looking maybe to do similar or just looking at things that they already have that they could make more of?Andy Hygate: As an idea, I mean, what I would say to people is don't be afraid of an idea. And it was true, when we first came up with Walk the Woodie, and said, this is what we want to do, or we want to try and do it, before we'd even touched the ride or even looked at what the reality of doing of that, I do remember, I remember being told by several people, "You're not going to be able to do that. Not with the general public. It's not going to work." Then there's this problem, this problem, this problem and all that. And we kind of chipped away at those things and thought, well, okay. Well, we know that we do this every day with our staff, and how do they do it safely? And so what do they know that we don't?So we spoke to them and we started doing risk assessments and all the sort of boring stuff, I guess, but the stuff that you really do need to do. And then we did some practices. And we literally walked the entire track with a team of the operations staff in conjunction with engineering and worked out a way to make it work. And some of the challenges were one, yeah, because whenever you do anything different you have to convince some people that it's going to work. So you've got to make it, whatever you're doing, safe. But what I've found is that by actually physically having a go at stuff and getting input from other people and feedback and so on, in the case of Walk the Woodie, we were able to work out a route that we thought, yeah, actually we could do this with the general public.There were bits of it where there's some of the ride, you don't walk the entire track, you walk probably about a third of it during the experience. There was some bits of it where I thought, actually, I'm not sure that this is going to work really well with the public. I'm not sure what they would get out of that. I'm not sure if this is too challenging, this bit, and so on. And we sort of just crafted it into something which also had to work in a certain amount of time and so on. So I guess my advice would just be, don't be afraid to think about doing something that you haven't done before. We've got a great team of people that I work with in my department, and often it's just by chatting to people, you can come up with these ideas, which at first might sound silly or whatever. But I remember us talking about it and someone saying, "Wouldn't it be fun if we could walk in the footsteps of the engineers?"And that sounded really exciting, before you've even heard what it is. It's peeking behind the, I don't know, the curtain to see how things work and so on. And there's a natural sort of curiosity to do that. So I would say to any other attraction that they will have stuff which is unique to them, which people will be interested in having that experience. And the trouble with, I think, one of the things that we always warn our staff about just generally is that in terms of guest service in an amusement park, there's a massive difference between visiting an amusement park for one day as a guest maybe once or twice a year and going into an amusement park every single day because you work there.You have to be really careful when you work there you don't become complacent and you lose that air of magic that a guest will have when they go there just once or once a year or whatever. And so we do a lot of reinforcement with our own staff to make sure that they're remembering that that's the first time that the guests have seen that, when you might have seen it or experienced it 500 times. I think that aspect of it's quite important as well.Kelly Molson: That's really good advice, actually, and that's really interesting, isn't it? Because we always talk about that it's the people that make the experiences, but those people have to genuinely still be excited about it even though they've seen that thing 50 billion times. Because it's the visitor's first time they've seen it and they need to be equally as excited about it as that person that's seeing it for the first time.Andy Hygate: Absolutely. And then on these experiences, that aspect of it actually becomes easy and quite infectious. Because what you see, particularly with... We've involved some of our seasonal staff in delivering these events and they get massive amount out of it. And they learn a few facts or a few stories or whatever and they retell them. The reaction that they get from the people that are stood in front of them when they're stood on the ride talking about it is always positive and that builds their confidence. I've seen members of staff go from being shy and retiring to being stood 150 feet up The Big One, talking to the general public, answering questions, pointing out things on the horizon, all of that kind of stuff. And I'm quite proud of the fact that we've been able to achieve that, both for the guests and also for the staff as well.Kelly Molson: Yeah, it's brilliant. It's really interesting as well, in a couple of weeks on from this episode we have an episode speaking to the London Transport Museum. And it's all about innovation and fostering a culture of innovation. And what you said earlier about don't be afraid to have those ideas and come up with those ideas with your team, I think that just goes to show that you have fostered a culture where people are comfortable to bring those kind of ideas to the front, regardless of how crazy they might seem at that point. But they're encouraged to bring those ideas to you and to see where they can go.Andy Hygate: Yeah. And we've been lucky that that also continues. I mean, Walk the Woodie, we are really excited about 2023 because the ride that you are basically walking, which is The Big Dipper rollercoaster, it's a hundred years old next year. So it's got a big birthday coming, a big centenary and so on. And so we were thinking about Walk the Woodie and thinking, well, actually, now that we've done it and we know how to do it and so on, what can we do differently? Because it's its birthday coming up and people are excited about it, enthusiasts know about it and they're expecting us to do something and so on. And so we started looking at what we could do differently. And so anyway, we've come up with a product for one year only for next year, which is a version of Walk the Woodie but it's called Walk the Woodie 100, for obvious reasons. And we're going to do it differently.And so again, it's about not just resting on our laurels. We've come up with something which is we think guests are going to like. We went through a very similar process to how we came up with the original idea, but we went back to the idea and thought, well, actually, what can we do that we didn't do last time, and what would be different? And we've now got the experience of we had people telling us what they liked about it and so on. And so I'm not going to tell you exactly what we're doing because we want it to be a bit of a surprise. But we are going to do something different with it next year. So people that have done it before can come and they will have a different experience, and people that don't know anything about it or whatever and maybe they're hearing about it on this, I don't know, will come and have a hundredth birthday special version of the experience.So it's always about innovation and keeping things moving and trying to come up with other stuff. And in this particular instance, the fact that it's a ride's hundredth birthday, which is a big deal, really, for a ride, was the motivator, but it could be for any other reason as well.Kelly Molson: Love it. Again, brilliant advice, Andy. It is about coming up with these unique ideas with things that you already have, generating that repeat interest from people that have been on it once but can come back and do it. And then you are expanding on that again by developing on the experience because there's a big event or a big thing happening that year. I think it's such good advice for attractions. So thank you for sharing today. What else have you got coming up? Is there anything else that's coming next?Andy Hygate: We're always looking. I mean, obviously, Walk the Woodie 100 is the big thing. We've done Walk the Woodie, but we haven't done it in the way that we're going to do it. And I think making it unique just for one year, so we're only going to do it like this for one year, it's kind of a cool thing. But I haven't mentioned our other experience, which is Walk the Big One XL, which I probably should because in a way that's a similar kind of... We only introduced that in 2022 and so that's a relatively new version. But what we did with that, and so this will be the second year that we've offered this, basically was quite targeted. And it was targeted at enthusiasts, and I've said that I'm a ride enthusiast, and so we knew that there was this demand there for people to find out more. And Walk the Big One, it's an amazing experience, but it's done in an hour.You're here and gone in an hour, which is fine for a lot of people, but for enthusiasts they might want to know a little bit more and they might want to see some other locations around the ride. So again, we revisited Walk the Big One and thought, actually, what is it that we can do differently that would specifically target that group of people that want to see more or want to know more in depth information? And so again, we went and looked at the ride. Again, we were careful not to get blinded by the fact that we see things like the break run every day. So for us that's not a big deal. But actually for a guest to come and stand on the break run, learn about the station design, learn why it's the way it is, how we put trains on and off the ride and so on, to them is actually really interesting because that's not something that they get to see or hear about every day.And so we worked out a way to take people to different locations on the ride, including a couple of locations that we've never been to really with guests before. Which we've got a platform, and because The Big One is a gravity driven ride, like a lot of rollercoasters. So what that means, in case you don't know, is the train is taken up to its highest point, usually with the click click click noise. It's on a chain and that's the anti-rollback because you don't want to go backwards down the hill. And then when the train is released at the top, it's free-rolling. And there's no brakes on the train, it's only when it goes to a block section, which is either partway round or near the end of the ride, that you can actually stop the train. So a rollercoaster, particularly in our case, which are built right next to the sea, can be affected by wind and so on.And you have to make sure that in the event that a train dipped or didn't make the course, maybe it was slowed down by the wind or whatever, although we do monitor that while we're operating, obviously. But on the rare occasion that something like that could happen that you could get people off. So what that means is you have platforms around the ride, where if the ride stopped for whatever reason, again, gravity would kick in, the train would stop at the lowest point, and you've got to be able to go and get to that train and take people off. And so we thought, well, wouldn't it be cool if you could take people to those locations and they can stand on them and get to go... Again, bits where you would never normally get to go anywhere near. So we take people on, we take them to the brakes first, as I said, then we take them out onto... There's one that has a particularly good view of the beach and the sea and so on.So we deliberately, because it's the most photogenic, we take people there and they get to stand on the platform next to the track and they get some amazing photos that you would never, again, never normally be able to get. And then we take them to the block brake. And we were quite deliberate in this, in that we were increasing the height throughout the experience. And so each location that you went to was higher up than the one before. So it effectively gets more exciting as the event goes on. And the block brake's 110 feet off the ground or whatever. If you've been to the ride, you think that's near the end of the ride. It's not that exciting. And people, when you walk them up, are suddenly shocked at actually how tall it is and the view that you get across the whole park. You get, again, these wonderful photos. And the feedback that we get from guests when we do that is that it is just we couldn't believe that they were able to be up in that location.And then we end, effectively, with the regular Walk the Big One. So we take people right to the top of the ride. It's a much longer experience. The whole thing lasts about 90 minutes. If you're a coaster geek, then you're going to love hearing all of this. And the fact that you get to go to all of these places. And we deliberately walk people through the staff route through the park rather than the guest route through the park.Kelly Molson: That's cool.Andy Hygate: Again, they get to see bits that they would never normally get to walk and so on. And again, it'll be our second year of doing it. If you are a rollercoaster enthusiast and you come on Walk the Big One XL, we're hopefully going to deliver you a proper geeky in-depth look at how a rollercoaster is operated. And again, going right back to the start of it, it's offering an experience that... You're almost offering, although you do have to pay for it, it's almost like a money can't buy experience. Because to be able to do that is really rare.Kelly Molson: Yeah, I guess as you were talking, when you were talking about taking guests through the operators' way through and not the guests' way through, I was like, it's really an alignment to being a zookeeper for the day and being behind the scenes on that kind of thing, that kind of level.Andy Hygate: Yes, absolutely. You go through a gate that to us is a gate that we go through every day and we are not bothered about it, but to a guest it's somewhere in the park they've never set foot in before. It's underneath the structure of another ride. They can get a photo of somewhere where they wouldn't be able to go normally. All of that stuff, all that which just adds to that feeling of, one, it makes the person feel special because they're being given information and a look at stuff that they could never normally see. And two, they're getting this experience that runs alongside it that's just really, hopefully for them a really memorable experience. And then they get all this other stuff, optional stuff at the end of it as well.And I think one of the big bits of feedback that we have about it, and it was interesting that you said about the people, and I do think that you can take people to all of these cool places. The bit that brings it alive is the staff talking about it. Particularly when it's staff that work on the ride and have that knowledge of the ride and know the park and all of that kind of stuff. It's those bits and pieces that when we get feedback about this, and they're the bits that people really love and really latch onto. And yeah, I'm pleased that we're able to deliver that for people.Kelly Molson: Oh, it's brilliant. I've loved talking to you, Andy. This has been so interesting to hear about. I love how passionately you talk about it. You genuinely love it and it really comes across when you talk.Andy Hygate: Hopefully, I mean, roller coasters are fun ultimately, aren't they? But to be able to do these kind of things with roller... I think back, I was saying when I was a kid going to Dreamland or whatever, if I could have walked up the roller coaster in Dreamland, I would've been the happiest kid in the world. So we are trying to offer that, I guess, now to-Kelly Molson: Well, there you go. Andy, you've got your big birthday coming up. I hope you're listening, Dreamland, because you know what will make Andy happy for his birthday. You should do a little hookup, maybe do a little trade with their team and your team.Andy Hygate: I'd love to.Kelly Molson: Brilliant. Andy, what book have you got to share with us today? We always ask our guests to share a book with our listeners.Andy Hygate: Yeah, I've picked a book by a director, a film director called Derek Jarman. And it's a book called Modern Nature. And don't worry, it's got nothing to do with camping or anything like that. He's sort of an inspirational person to me. But why it's important to me is actually it's based around... The guy lived effectively in a beach hut in Dungeness, which is down in Kent, which is where I'm from originally, in a situation which is considered by many to be... It's somewhere that's not that far from where my parents live. It's probably about 20 minutes drive.And to some people you would describe, particularly in the winter, you'd describe it as blink. And it's a pebble beach and so on. And there's something about the English coastline and beaches and so on that I really like. And I like the fact that we have seasons. I like Blackpool in the summer, but I actually like it in the winter as well. This book is kind of like a diary, really, about how he's built a pebble garden, because it is literally on the beach, in the shadow of a nuclear power station, which sounds horrible, but actually I think it's a really inspirational thing. And I think you can see beauty in stuff which is unconventional and so on.And the fact that he's managed to build a pebble garden and have plants in an area which is a harsh environment that can be seen as bleak, but actually I think there's great beauty in that. And that all comes across in that book and its very inspirational, conversational style makes it a really memorable book for me. And it's also somewhere where whenever I go back to Kent, I always go down there for fish and chips. And there's something, it sounds really strange, but sitting in the car in the winter, having fish and chips and listening to the power station humming in the background, it's actually really sort of reassuring. I don't know.Kelly Molson: It's not an experience I've ever had, Andy. I feel like I'm going to have to add that one to my list.Andy Hygate: No, I realise that sounds really odd, but I guess I've got an emotional connection to that place as well. And the fact that someone's written a whole book about it and their connection to it is what connects with me. So yeah, that's probably my choice.Kelly Molson: I think that is a great book choice, Andy. I've never heard of that book, but I'm absolutely going to check it out. Listeners, if you want to win a copy of Andy's book, you know what to do. Go over to our Twitter account, retweet this episode announcement, and you'll be in with a chance of winning it. Andy, it's been an absolute pleasure to chat with you today. I think this is a wonderful podcast to start the new year off on. So thank you for coming on and sharing with us. And I look forward to joining you up in Blackpool at some point to Walk the Woodie.Andy Hygate: Yeah, you must do. Looking forward to it. It's been a pleasure. 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..

Ashwood City take on SkyBet Championship side Blackpool in the Third Round of the FA Cup. Before the game, Chief Executive Chris 'Woody' Woodall takes Club Chairman Patrick Nolan to Blackpool Pleasure Beach. Paul Waggott as Patrick NolanAdam Jarrell as Chris 'Woody' WoodallJoel Emery as Dan WatsonEpisode written by:Joel EmeryEdited by:Adam JarrellDirected by:Adam JarrellExecutive Producer:Joel EmeryWith thanks to:The Ashwood City Season Ticket Holders & Shareholderswww.patreon.com/ashwoodcityWARNING. This podcast contains explicit language and content some listeners may find objectionable.This is a work of fiction. Any similarities to persons living or deceased, organisations, places or events is purely coincidental. All scenarios are from the author's imagination. This podcast is protected under copyright.Listener discretion is advised.The Offensive is property of Primley Limited. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Steve Hewlett is a ventriloquist from Basingstoke, Hampshire, England. He was a finalist on the seventh series of Britain's Got Talent. Hewlett has previously headlined Cromer Pier.He auditioned with a puppet called 'Arthur Lager', depicted as an old man with grey hair. Hewlett's audition was aired in a montage on 18 May 2013. He made it through, and subsequently through to the semi-finals. He appeared again in the semi-final on 1 June with Arthur Lager, and a puppet designed to resemble Simon Cowell, one of the judges. The routine involved Arthur flirting with Amanda Holden. He finished in the top three, and with eventual winners Attraction already through to the final, it was down to the judges to choose the second place in the final between Hewlett and Jordan O'Keefe. It was a split decision, so it was referred back to the public vote, revealing that with 15.1% of the vote, O'Keefe was through to the final, compared to Hewlett's 12%. This left six singing acts in the final, which generated complaints; Holden defended this, and the number of singers on the show, saying "We left it to the public, they wanted Jordan so that was the right decision. You can't argue with the public's decision."However, earlier in the week, it was revealed that the judges would choose a wildcard act out of the third-placed finishers to compete in the final. Hewlett was seen as the popular choice. It was revealed on the night that Hewlett was indeed the wildcard. He performed again in the final with Arthur Lager (now wearing a Onesie) and the puppet of Simon Cowell (wearing a swimsuit and life jacket), as well as a puppet of Sinitta, along with a musical number in the shape of "We Go Together" from Grease at the end, involving the Simon and Sinitta puppets. Despite rave reviews from the judges, Hewlett finished fourth, just narrowly missing out on the top three with 14.7% of the vote, compared to Richard & Adam's 15.4%.It was revealed the day after the final that Hewlett had been signed to the entertainment agency ROAR Global. In 2014, Hewlett led a team of challengers on the TV quiz show Eggheads. He took the puppet Arthur Lager with him. Going Solo In 2016 Steve appeared as a guest on BBC's Strictly Come Dancing reading Terms & Conditions with his new sidekick Rod Vegas.Also in 2016, Hewlett supported Kenny G on his UK tour in Manchester, Birmingham ending at London's Royal Albert Hall which was followed by touring America & England in the Andy Williams Christmas Extravaganza with The Osmonds.He also supported Jimmy Osmond on his Moon River & Me Tour in a week's residence at Falls Casino, Niagara Falls, Canada in 2017.His first UK Tour ‘Thinking Inside The Box' was filmed in The Haymarket Basingstoke and 2nd ‘30 Years of talking To Myself‘ was filmed at Blackpool's Pleasure Beach in 2018.From November 5th to December 23rd 2019 Steve proudly returned & hosted The Thursford Spectacular in Norfolk for the 4th time. His characters included Arthur Lager, Vinnie the Vulture & a member of the audience twice a day for 7 weeks.In July 2020 Steve started a new Podcast project ‘Eyes & Teeth' where Steve talks to his favourite Comedy Icons. Out September... Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's finally here - the Beachlife Ranch festival in Redondo Beach! Join us as we chat about our expectations of the show, the delicious brunch we ate, and the song Pleasure Beach! Of course, we digress into convos about Always Sunny in Philidelphia, Bryan Adams, and how we would create a video for this song.  Don't worry - there will be an episode next week all about the show! 

W. Michael Boyer, the producer of Law and Legitimacy and North Carolina-based attorney, joins Norm to begin the week.  Norm opens the show with a plea to Attorney General Merrick Garland to give the transparency to the American public that the AG is pretending to give. Where is the search warrant affidavit that was used to support the issuance of the search warrant as served and executed on President Donald Trump's personal home in Mar-a-Lago? Why is it that the American people have to rely on the ovations of the DOJ in an attempt to understand whether the rather unprecedented search and seizure of a former president is justified? Mike agrees and offers a broader perspective from which to approach the issue. According to Mike, the AG has a real brand problem and this development will not do much to mitigate the fallout from his efforts to classify vocal parents at local school board meetings as domestic terrorists.  The duo take a brief respite to talk about how to better design bathtubs for old people before moving on to several other stories that are top-of-mind: the Viriginia Episcopal Diocese's resolution to give $10MM to the cause of reparations, the most livable cities in the United States, and Pleasure Beach! Like, share, and subscribe! Norm is live every weekday from 12pm ET to 2pm ET on WICC 600AM/107.3FM. Stream Norm live at https://www.wicc600.com/. Follow @PattisPodcast on Twitter.

W. Michael Boyer, the producer of Law and Legitimacy and North Carolina-based attorney, joins Norm to begin the week.  Norm opens the show with a plea to Attorney General Merrick Garland to give the transparency to the American public that the AG is pretending to give. Where is the search warrant affidavit that was used to support the issuance of the search warrant as served and executed on President Donald Trump's personal home in Mar-a-Lago? Why is it that the American people have to rely on the ovations of the DOJ in an attempt to understand whether the rather unprecedented search and seizure of a former president is justified? Mike agrees and offers a broader perspective from which to approach the issue. According to Mike, the AG has a real brand problem and this development will not do much to mitigate the fallout from his efforts to classify vocal parents at local school board meetings as domestic terrorists.  The duo take a brief respite to talk about how to better design bathtubs for old people before moving on to several other stories that are top-of-mind: the Viriginia Episcopal Diocese's resolution to give $10MM to the cause of reparations, the most livable cities in the United States, and Pleasure Beach! Like, share, and subscribe! Norm is live every weekday from 12pm ET to 2pm ET on WICC 600AM/107.3FM. Stream Norm live at https://www.wicc600.com/. Follow @PattisPodcast on Twitter.

Like, share, and subscribe! Norm is live every weekday from 12pm ET to 2pm ET on WICC600AM/107.3FM. Stream Norm live at https://www.wicc600.com/. Follow @PattisPodcast on Twitter. 

Like, share, and subscribe! Norm is live every weekday from 12pm ET to 2pm ET on WICC600AM/107.3FM. Stream Norm live at https://www.wicc600.com/. Follow @PattisPodcast on Twitter. 

Norm kicked off "The Norm Pattis Show" with a story about the Pleasure Beach Bridge being torn down after decades of sitting dormant and callers went crazy. Throughout the show, Norm and his guest, Mike Boyer of Carolina Craft Legal, took calls and tried to piece together what's actually going on at Pleasure Beach. Image Credit: Hearst Connecticut Media

During"The Norm Pattis Show" today, Norm took calls on what happened at Pleasure Beach in Bridgeport and why it was closed at least one day this past weekend? From that spawned memories from callers as well as ideas of what happened. Image Credit: BrigeportCt.Gov

The Modcast Weekly, Tuesday 6-8pm Mod, Interview, Podcast https://totallywiredradio.com/modcast/ Become a Friend of Totally Wired Radio... https://totallywiredradio.com/support/ Guitarist and Producer in Organ-Mod band Pleasure Beach and member of The Third Degree, plus producer extraordinaire to bands such as The Brand New Heavies, Emma Noble, Laville, The Filthy Six, Jon Allen, Tristan Longworth joins Well Suspect's Richard Searle to talk about his life in music and all things music & Mod!

Seit nunmehr fast zwei Jahren kann man nicht mehr unbeschwert in Clubs feiern. Damit wir nicht vergessen, wie das einmal war und hoffentlich wieder sein wird, zeigt die Sammlung Goetz Videokunst aus den 90ern im Münchner Nachtklub „Unter Deck“.Von Tobias Kronewww.deutschlandfunkkultur.de, FazitDirekter Link zur Audiodatei

This week we're joined by Thrill Riders (Marcus) and we're talking about Alton Towers Fireworks, what's happening to ICON at Pleasure Beach? Energylandia shares Sweet Valley concept art and the US travel ban has finally been lifted!

Live from Ben's house! contact us at thegoldenhourwithbenandjorden@gmail.com

Escape to the seaside and enjoy the sounds of a day at the fair. As the country comes out of long periods of enforced lockdown, it's good to be reminded of the fun things that bring people together, and escape to a happy place, with reminders of holidays, childhood, excitement and wonder. The Pleasure Beach at Great Yarmouth is a family-run business that has stood on the sea front for over a hundred years. It mixes the latest fairground ride technology with vintage favourites. This Slow Radio experience takes in one of the first days of opening after the fairground's Covid-enforced shutdown. So forget your troubles for half an hour and come and ride on the Big Apple Coaster, the carousel and the dodgems; take a fairy tale trip on a mechanical snail, dare to visit the Haunted Hotel, and watch out for the Barrel of Laughs. Producer: Sam Hickling

Escape to the seaside and enjoy the sounds of a day at the fair.As the country comes out of long periods of enforced lockdown, it's good to be reminded of the fun things that bring people together, and escape to a happy place, with reminders of holidays, childhood, excitement and wonder. The Pleasure Beach at Great Yarmouth is a family-run business that has stood on the sea front for over a hundred years. It mixes the latest fairground ride technology with vintage favourites. This Slow Radio experience takes in one of the first days of opening after the fairground's Covid-enforced shutdown. So forget your troubles for half an hour and come and ride on the Big Apple Coaster, the carousel and the dodgems; take a fairy tale trip on a mechanical snail, dare to visit the Haunted Hotel, and watch out for the Barrel of Laughs.Producer: Sam Hickling

Kitty Harris is a Tik Tok performer with over 500,000 friends and growing watching her little shows. Not only can Kitty sing and write songs and dance but she has a natural comedy talent that shows through her tik tok sketches and is the reason she has stood out in this popular social media platform.I met Kitty and her brother Shenton in the Algarve and in Blackpool at the Harris family home whilst meeting up with their parents Sarah & Keith Harris.Keith was a huge inspiration to me as a ventriloquist and performer and if we were not chatting on the phone, he was texting me and always ended the text with "Eyes & Teeth" and you can see how much that has influenced me.To pay tribute to Keith after his passing in 2015, Kitty, Sarah and I teamed up with Nick Thomas and his Qdos Entertainment team to put on a Spectacular night of variety in Blackpool and it sold out fast as the industry and fans of Orville & Cuddles alongside Keith pulled together to remember a Great man.Kitty that night shone twice putting together 2 hit performances with her dance group and she even joined me on Tour and in a summer season at the Pleasure Beach in 2017 & 2018.Kitty just keeps on performing, find out more as I welcome to Eyes and Teeth - the finale of Future Stars - Kitty Harris

The Blackpool Tower's still there, but the Pleasure Beach is gone...

NEWS EDITION - We talk about the future of Drayton Manor as rumours circulate that it will focus on the family market plus we reflect on the Robbie Williams Pleasure Beach stories. Joined by Mikey from ScareTrack Podcast! Visit our store & #purchthemerch https://www.redbubble.com/people/ThemeParkLoopy/shop?asc=u Socials: www.facebook.com/themeparkloopy www.instagram.com/themeparkloopy www.youtube.com/themeparkloopy www.twitter.com/themeparkloopy ScareTrack: www.instagram.com/scaretrack www.youtube.com/scaretrack Coaster Sam Blog: www.instagram.com/themeparkloopy Theme Parks by Brett: www.instagram.com/themeparksbybrett

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 March 31st 2021. The winner will be contacted via Twitter. Show references:Laura is Head of Content at the National Football Museum in Manchester, UK, where she is responsible for overseeing the collections, exhibitions and communities teams. Prior to working at NFM, she held leadership roles at Oxford University Museums and the National Trust. Laura has 8 years’ experience as an independent museums consultant, a role in which she worked with museums of all types and sizes to improve resilience through transforming organisational practice, better understanding audiences, improving evaluation, and developing innovative programming. Laura holds a PhD in Museum Studies from the University of Leicester, UK, for research into resilient community engagement practice in museums.Outside of work, Laura likes going to gigs, exploring new places and visitor attractions, watching football (her own footballing ability is, sadly, non-existent), enthusing about dogs (particularly her own rescue Staffy, Chance), and spending far too much time scouring vintage shops to find the perfect 80s dress.www.nationalfootballmuseum.comhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/laurafcrossley/Twitter: @lfcrossley Jon is Exhibitions Manager at the National Football Museum and has worked in the sector for 15 years. He’s worked on a number of exhibitions including Curator of the show ‘Strip: How Football got Shirty’. Born in Blackpool, his seaside upbringing has had an impact on his exhibition ethos of bright colours, cheeky humour where appropriate, experimentation and “what’s the worst that could happen?!”. Prior to working at NFM, he served candyfloss to the punters at Blackpool Pleasure Beach and worked in the curatorial department at the Manchester United Museum. With a remit to lead the National Football Museum’s move into digital, Jon has co-presented the Museum’s successful podcast and developed a popular online version of the ‘Strip!’ exhibition.Outside of work, Jon is a vinyl obsessive and adores electronic pop and guitars. He supports the mighty Tangerines of Blackpool FC and is a season ticket holder at the cathedral of football, Bloomfield Road. He likes visiting attractions and travelling a lot, with a preference for open spaces where he can freely walk and drink ale (not at the same time!) in the countryside.  www.nationalfootballmuseumstrip.comTwitter: @introspective81 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'm joined by two guests, Laura Crossley, Head of Content, and Jon Sutton, Exhibitions Manager at the National Football Museum. We discuss why it's helpful for museums to have a podcast and what you need to think about strategically if you're going to create one. We also talk about their new podcast, Strip!, and all of the lessons learned from creating it. If you like what you hear, you can subscribe on iTunes, Spotify, and all the usual channels by searching Skip the Queue.Kelly Molson: Jon, Laura, thank you so much for coming on the podcast today. Look at us as well. We've dressed for the occasion. We'll have to do a little standup, we've all got our strip on. Our favorite strip and all will become clear a little bit later why we are dressed as our favorite football teams today. Kelly Molson: Okay. As ever, we start with our lightning round. Jon, I'm coming to you first. What is the greatest movie that you have ever watched?Jon Sutton: I don't know. Karate Kid's very good. Karate Kid's a good film.Kelly Molson: With Karate Kid, are you a massive '80s fan? Is this your thing?Jon Sutton: Yeah, that's one of the films that left a great impression on me. I'm watching Cobra Kai at the moment, which is the follow-on.Kelly Molson: Can we talk about Cobra Kai? Because we were obsessed. I wasn't feeling very well, and I tucked myself up on the sofa with a duvet and Karate Kid. I was like, "Everyone keeps talking about Cobra Kai. We should do it. Let's start it tonight." Oh my God. Genuinely, did the whole two series in less than a week. We just smashed through it.Jon Sutton: Yeah, I'm stopping it. I'm calming it down because I don't want it to end. I think we got a bit giddy and then I'm calming it now because I want to... Series three is coming very soon so I want to make it that I'm there for it.Kelly Molson: So, you haven't seen the last episode yet?Jon Sutton: No, I've not seen the second, I've only just joined the party.Kelly Molson: It's feel good, isn't it? That's what I love about '80s films, they're really feel good. That was a great answer.Kelly Molson: Okay, Laura, I'm coming to you. What fictional family would you be a member of if you could be?Laura Crossley: The Simpsons. That's really obvious, isn't it? Partly because my family was absolutely obsessed with The Simpsons and even now, I find myself saying catchphrases. Like, "I have a feeling that we are going to win the lottery." Or like, I'm a vegetarian and I always quote things from the Vegetarian and I think other people know what I'm talking about but I'm like, "Oh no, it's just me and my family who know that."Jon Sutton: It was on the first day when you said, "Cowabunga dude." Laura Crossley: I skated in, in a hat. Kelly Molson: Love it.Laura Crossley: When I was younger particularly, I would get a lot of grief about basically being Lisa. Like when I was younger, I was very, very right on. I was a vegetarian and in the episode where she becomes a vegetarian, she can see bits of animals. That was exactly like me.Jon Sutton: Can you play the saxophone then?Laura Crossley: Can't play the saxophone but I could play the flute. I was in an orchestra, I could play the flute.Kelly Molson: Oh, that's close enough.Jon Sutton: Going to play the piano.Laura Crossley: And in my peak teenage years, I did go out, but I also spent early Friday evenings in Salford Youth Orchestra. So, I was really cool.Kelly Molson: You really are Lisa. You've already joined the family, you're there. Oh, I love it.Kelly Molson: Okay, we're going to go to your unpopular opinions. Jon, I'm going to come to you? What's the thing that you think is true but nobody else agrees with you on?Jon Sutton: I think it's humanity's worst invention, umbrellas should be banned really. I hate them. They're a weapon, pretty much, and particularly as people are more and more on their phones these days while they're walking down the street, if they're carrying an umbrella, you could lose an eye.Kelly Molson: Do you not think that this is an issue with people looking at their phones rather than the umbrella though?Jon Sutton: No, I think it was even before. I thought everybody hated them. Apart from Rihanna, I thought everybody hated them.Laura Crossley: I don't think I've ever hated an umbrella. I lose a lot of umbrellas. My mum once bought me 11, you know those little pocket-sized ones? She bought me 11 of them for Christmas one year. I had a whole stocking full of one pound bargain umbrellas because I just leave them in places.Jon Sutton: That's the thing, you think, "Well I don't want to spend a lot of money on them because I'm going to lose it," but if you buy a too cheap one, it's going to be inside out, probably leave things, it just doesn't stop revolving that's the problem.Kelly Molson: That's a great answer. Again, not really what I was expecting but interesting. All right, Laura, what's yours?Laura Crossley: Mine's going to sound really geeky now which is that I think that often theme parks are better at talking about history, teaching people about history and the environment than museums are.Kelly Molson: Oh wow, okay.Laura Crossley: Do you remember when we could go on holiday and things like that last year?Kelly Molson: The good times.Laura Crossley: We could go to other countries and it was really nice. I went to Florida last year and I didn't really go to Disney as a kid or anything but it was really fun last year and I nearly came back and wrote a big blog post about all the things that museums can learn from theme parks because I think they can learn absolutely loads. But one of them definitely is about teaching people about history and the environment and science because it just talks about things, you don't even realize you're learning. You think you're just on a ride or having fun or in a queue or just walking for a different land or watching a film or doing something that's just really fun and then you come out and you're like, "I've just learned about this new [inaudible 00:05:55] a new kind of animal that I didn't know about. I've learned about this really interesting thing in history that I didn't know about."Laura Crossley: Obviously, we can't see the original objects and that is a really good thing about museums but I just think the way that theme parks are quite sneaky about the way that they teach people history. Maybe it's mainly Disney because that is a big theme across Disney.Jon Sutton: I worked five years at the Pleasure Beach, Blackpool Pleasure Beach, for five years. I must admit I didn't really think about it from that point of view. I felt that I was not getting paid enough. I wasn't very good at doing candy floss either, terrible. If you asked me for a stick of candy floss and I would give you them through gritted teeth. I'd really try and shove a bag onto them because a bag was much easier to make.Kelly Molson: Oh, I always fancied a go of that though.Jon Sutton: Oh my god, it's really hard. It's so hard. Laura Crossley: Really?Jon Sutton: Particularly in Blackpool where it's windy all the time. The machine's quite dangerous as well because it spins around but you have to make sure you've got the right amount of moisture on the edge of the... You can't have too much moisture but you need some moisture for it to stick to the sides. It's really, really hard.Laura Crossley: It's like science.Kelly Molson: I've learnt so much today, I really have. I haven't even asked you any good questions yet. I've learnt loads.Jon Sutton: Museums are a breeze compared to producing candy floss.Laura Crossley: That's really interesting.Kelly Molson: I think, Laura, it's about making it fun.Laura Crossley: Yes absolutely, and immersive.Kelly Molson: Yeah, and then you don't really realize that you're learning, so you suck it in.Laura Crossley: Yeah, the other thing I really like is that it's really multi-sensory. You can hear music or read stuff and the atmosphere and so you just, yeah exactly, you don't realize you're learning. It's just really cool. Whereas at museum's I think sometimes, we don't talk enough about the story. I think sometimes it's just like, "Oh, there's another object." As Jon knows, I'm not the biggest fan of labels in museums. Maybe that's an opinion that won't go down well with the museum sector but I do think we put far too much stuff on labels and always want people to read everything.Laura Crossley: And I think sometimes it's nice to also help people use their imagination and tell a story, and not just be like, "This is a thing. Look at this thing and here are some facts about it." It's just, I don't think it's very engaging.Kelly Molson: Well, this leads us really nicely actually to what we want to talk about today because the reason that we are dressed in our strip is because we want to talk about your new podcast, it's called Strip the Podcast, but it's in line with the exhibition that you've got running at the moment which is Strip! How Football Got Shirty. And I guess that goes a little bit hand in hand about what you're talking about in terms of telling a story about something. So Laura, just for our listeners, can you just give us a little overview of what the National Football Museum is.Kelly Molson: I mean, it says very clearly what it is in its name, but what do you do there?Laura Crossley: We do all sorts of things. We are England's only national museum for football and we basically explore the impact that football has on all our lives and how it shapes identity and a bit like I was saying about telling stories, we are moving much more towards telling stories and sharing other people's stories about the diversity of the game. So we are not just about talking about men's elite game, although that's obviously a big part of football but we're also about the women's game and also, I think a really good thing that we can do is challenge attitudes around homophobia and racism. Laura Crossley: I watched that Anton Ferdinand documentary last night and just thought, "Gosh, there's still so much work to do in terms of challenging racism in football." So we're trying a lot more to tell those difficult stories and hopefully change attitudes and make football something that's really welcoming for everyone because it's something that touches all of our lives, even if you're not a football fan, it's not something that you can escape. It's something that you might dip in and out of or you'll know people who like football and so it is about telling those really broad stories and for me, about celebrating diversity and making everybody feel like they have a place in the game and that they're represented in football.Kelly Molson: Lovely. And Jon, the exhibition is something that you've been organizing. So can you tell us a little bit about what this exhibition is about? Again, How Football Got Shirty, I think we could maybe hazard a guess at that.Jon Sutton: There's no shorts or socks in the exhibition. That was the first thing. We're not having shorts, we're not having socks, it's just shirts. So yeah, it's got over 200 shirts going right back to the Victorian era, so it's very comprehensive. We did the first century of football shirts because there wasn't an awful lot of change and then we branch out into the '70s of Admiral and the dawn of replica shirts. And then we've got some bangers from the '90s, lots of the bright and the garish ones. We've got a bit about the retro revival. Got a real controversial hall of shame area which actually, the six shirts in the hall of fame are all pretty good shirts, to be fair, generally. But they're there almost for a malfunction of design, that's why they're there like that.Jon Sutton: And then right through to the present. So one of the big things now is eco-friendly shirts, so sustainability and we've also got loads of shirts from the women's game as well because I think we're the first exhibition that have worked out that basically women can play football too and women wear football shirts.Jon Sutton: There's been football shirt exhibitions in the past or there's almost like kit experts and things like that but I don't think the women's game and the shirts that women wear has been told yet. So it's really comprehensive. One of the toughest things is having to do the top 20 shirts of all time. It's so subjective.Kelly Molson: Yeah, I'll bet.Jon Sutton: I'm a Blackpool fan and I didn't put a Blackpool shirt in the top 20.Kelly Molson: There's no Tottenham shirt in the top 20 either, I checked.Jon Sutton: There are a lot more Arsenal shirts than Tottenham shirts as well.Laura Crossley: Oh dear, anyway.Jon Sutton: The shirt you're wearing is in the exhibition. Kelly Molson: It's a great shirt.Jon Sutton: We've got a Jurgen Klinsmann shirt as well when he did the dive celebration. We've got that in the museum as well. It's not in the exhibition.Kelly Molson: Perfect moment. Okay, so great exhibition, great museum. You've been shut for most of this year which has been a challenge all around in the sector. So what I really want to talk about is what you've done to engage your audience while you've been shut, and one of the great things that you've done is launch the podcast. It's a big thing to do, it's a bold move, and that's what I want to talk about today really. So I guess my first very short question, which has probably got a really long answer is, why a podcast?Jon Sutton: To be honest, I don't really listen to podcasts, so it was quite hard presenting one because I didn't really know much about the basis of being the host on a podcast, I'll be honest. And I think David realized that very quickly, our digital producer. I think David realized that too when we started.Kelly Molson: What have I let myself in for?Jon Sutton: I was amazed. On the day, luckily Tim, who is our graphics and interpretation producer, basically the three of us in our exhibitions team, we kind of led it I suppose, and luckily, he'd done a script which was really helpful because I was going there without even a script. Laura, why did you [crosstalk 00:13:36].Kelly Molson: Yeah, how did you come to the decision that a podcast is the thing that you're going to create to engage people with? How did that process work?Laura Crossley: I think a podcast would... because I joined the museum almost a year, just over a year ago, and even when I joined there were talks, before we even knew about COVID, there was talk about doing a podcast as a way to reach the audiences and share our stories in a different way. I think because our mission is all about sharing stories and a podcast, I think, and that narrative, is a good way to do that.Laura Crossley: So we'd always thought about doing a podcast and then Jon's team got some funding and it made sense to make that about the Strip exhibition. But certainly, when we then shut, for me it became more of an imperative. I know that museums decided to see lots of different things during lockdown but we have on our strategy, the aim to build a virtual museum, basically reflect the galleries and the content of the museum, but digitally, whether that be in our social media content on YouTube or via podcasts or whatever it might be.Laura Crossley: And so I saw this year as a way for us to just experiment because what other year do you get... I mean, obviously, it's been a bad year but the one positive, I think, is that it's allowed people to throw caution to the wind and just say, "Well, we'll just experiment with lots of different ways to engage people because why not? And if it doesn't work then it doesn't matter and we learn from it."Laura Crossley: And I really hope that that's something that museums take into the future. I think we always try and plan and try and be perfect, whereas actually, I think experimentation is much more exciting and just seeing what happens and not really worrying too much if things don't work because so what? You've learnt lessons and you try again. So for me, that was the really good thing about a podcast and also, I did really feel for them. Strip opened in my first week at the museum, and so it was open for what, three months, and then shut.Laura Crossley: And I could tell when I joined, I mean, Jon can talk a lot more about it because it's his exhibition, but I went to the opening night and I remember just thinking, "Wow, so much passion and love and care has gone into this exhibition," and it was incredibly sad to see it have to close, well, the whole museum have to close. So I think we focused a lot on putting content out about Strip. Partly for that, because it was just such a great topic, something that was really engaging. Something that we know that if the museum had been open, lots of people would have come to the exhibition and we really wanted to give them the chance to experience it in a different way.Jon Sutton: Yeah, on the day, the last day of March before we closed, we did a frantic tour around the exhibition and we got our own Strip website as well dedicated to the exhibition. And in co-curating the exhibition, we had so many assets. I'd spoken to a lot of the kit manufacturers, a lot of the kit experts. We'd had a panel discussion, been out to some clubs. We had so much and then only so much of that can go into the exhibition.Jon Sutton: So we're sitting on all these assets and I think we divided it so some went out onto the Strip website but then even then, we had so much and we just thought, "If we theme it right, we've definitely got a podcast here." And so we've managed to use some of those assets in the podcast but also recorded new interviews with people as well for it. So luckily, I think we've done a decent job on it.Kelly Molson: So you've done six episodes, is that right? Six episodes so far. Let me just go back a bit because what you said is really interesting, Laura, and I think I agree with you in terms of playing with things this year. We all know it's been a challenging year but it has given us that opportunity to do some new things and do some different things that we don't know if they're going to work, we don't know what the reaction's going to be but let's try it, right? Very much the same with this podcast that we're on. I had no idea what the... We'd pre-launched it the previous year. Hadn't really got a lot of traction and thought, "Let's bring it back. There's a lot of people that are potentially sitting around maybe with not a lot to do at the moment. Maybe we can give them something to listen to."Kelly Molson: And so, that was the objective really. What can we push out there that'll be helpful and engaging for people right now. So with the podcast, did you actually set any objectives for it or was it purely, "We're just going to do this, see what happens."Laura Crossley: I think this is what we were grappling with a little bit because we were kind of pushed into doing digital before we'd written a big strategy about it, and as I said, I don't think that's a bad thing. It's kind of like writing a strategy for research and development which isn't a bad way to do it. For me, Jon might disagree I don't know, but it's about engaging more people in a deeper way and growing those audiences and also hopefully, some of the people we engage will actually physically come to the museum. Acknowledging that some people who live in different countries might not actually physically be able to get to the museum now or in the future.Laura Crossley: But for those people, making them aware of us and getting a kind of loyalty to us and looking out for our stuff and feeling part of the museum and then for other people, hopefully encouraging them to come through the door and become physical visitors.Kelly Molson: And I guess you won't see that until a bit later on potentially, whether you do make that shift from people that are listening to the podcast, to coming along. Jon, I've got so many questions about the podcast because I know myself personally, how much time and effort and a challenge it can be. You said earlier, you've never made a podcast before. Have you ever been a guest on a podcast? Have you ever had any interaction with any of them?Jon Sutton: No, I don't think I have. I don't even think I've been a guest. I think I just assumed they were a bit like radio but not live. I have listened to some podcasts but not many, so I had no experience really.Kelly Molson: All right, so you were at the point where you've got all your assets and you think, "Yeah, we've got a podcast here. We can create some content and its valuable content, it's interesting." Where did you start because that's a big learning process, right? To saying, "I've got this idea about a podcast, I've got all this stuff, now I need to make a podcast." What did you have to learn?Jon Sutton: Well luckily, [crosstalk 00:20:02]. The first episode was a bit... Looking back now, if I listen to it now, I think it would be quite rustic and a little bit raw. One thing I did before we did the podcast, I listened to some other podcasts about football shirts. They were all pretty good, generally, but at the same time, I thought they might be slightly better at presenting than we would be. They may be more confident in front of a microphone, et cetera. But at the same time, I thought they might not necessarily have the assets we've got and also the knowledge that we've acquired in curating the exhibition.Jon Sutton: So that was a bit of me that thought, "Well, what's the worst that can happen with this thing and if we are terrible, at least we've got the guest to pull us out." The first one we did wasn't the best but then the next one we did was really good and then what we did was we went back to the first one and re-recorded it. But we did that with most of them, so it wasn't necessarily really a quick process. Sometimes we'd start in the morning, rattle through in say, an hour, get lunch. Then we'd go, "Actually, I think we could do that better now."Jon Sutton: So most of them, we did it in two takes. There was a period where we recorded, I think, probably three or four within a two week period because we were going into the museum, say, once a week when we could. And we found that we found a rhythm to it and then there was one episode, the last episode in the podcast, which I think is actually somehow the best one. We'd been about three, four weeks between recording the fifth and the sixth and that day, we had Linda working on it. She was fantastic. We had Tim working on it, he was fantastic.Jon Sutton: Whatever reason, I think I might have had a couple of too many drinks the night before or something, but I was absolutely appalling. Nothing was flowing that day, it was awful, but listening to it, you can't tell. So, David's a magician.Kelly Molson: So you had in-house editing skills, which is a huge bonus because we outsource our editing, we've got a brilliant, Steve is our... He's an award-winning podcaster. I have to just give him a little plug there. But that's the one thing that we didn't have in-house, so we were like, "Well that's something that we need to get professional help with." That's a huge cost saving and, like you say, it means that you can go back and do things again, so you've got that time.Jon Sutton: I mean, there's a lot of to-ing and fro-ing as well. David would cut something, for example, and I'd go, "David, you just cut me." The pinnacle moment of the podcast, for once I was really funny in that point and David's just like, with a straight face, "It wasn't very funny at all, Jon."Kelly Molson: Steve does this to me all the time.Jon Sutton: That's the thing. Just because you're the host doesn't mean you get any kinds of rights, do you?Kelly Molson: None at all. My bits are always the bits that have been cut. Jon Sutton: The weird thing, I've been finding myself cutting myself as well. So when we have the to-ing and fro-ing, I'll say to David, "You need to cut me at this point," because I sound like an absolute imbecile. And it feels weird being the... It's almost like if you did an exam or something and you're the teacher putting the red pen through your own examination.Kelly Molson: What about equipment or anything like that? I'm just thinking about other museums that might potentially be looking to make this decision and do something like this. Did you have to invest heavily in any specialist equipment or did you have things that you just got? Did you just get by with what you had?Jon Sutton: Yeah, I think what we try and do with each exhibition is we try and purchase bit by bit, like piecemeal, I suppose. Little bits that make us stronger in the future so we've got a legacy from each project we work on. I'm not really technical, I'll be honest. I think we got new headphones and the new microphone but we had some other microphones. I remember though, I had the worst microphone. It wasn't a massive outlay. The other thing is, David is really particular and Tim, we are quite particular, but I think really, you don't have to have mega-quality to do it.Jon Sutton: For me personally, I think the stories and what you're going to tell is more important than if there's a little bit of hiss on it, for example. And we did have to lower our standards a little bit because we did some interviews with people via Zoom, et cetera, for it. So it's not all slick, I suppose. But yeah, it wasn't a massive outlay and luckily we've managed to, each exhibition we do, we try and buy a little bit of stuff.Kelly Molson: All right, two questions. What went well and what didn't go well?Jon Sutton: I think we managed to replicate the themes of the physical exhibition, I suppose. If you hadn't seen the exhibition, I think you would've got a good flavor of what it was about and I think, actually, at times, we even went a little bit further. In the exhibition, for example, there's a Lewis FC shirt and it's got What If on it as a hashtag and it's about the fact that they are the world's leading club on equality. Their men and women's teams get exactly the same resources, same pay. There are not many clubs doing that.Jon Sutton: And you've got a label on it and we're really strict, I think it's 50 words on a label, but we then take it one step further, so we then in the podcast, feature somebody from the club about what that stance means. So in a way, it looks at it and expands on it. It adds more to it. So I think in that respect if you think about the podcast and the Strip website as a duo in digital terms, I'd still want people to come and see the exhibition but you're getting a really, really good flavor of what we're about.Jon Sutton: Things that didn't work was, you can't really tell, but it's quite a time consuming, I think, recording a podcast. David's having to do a lot of editing. Tim, our digital producer's doing the theme music to it which obviously you don't have to do, go down that route, but he was bringing his own symph-pop tune-age to the proceedings. But even writing the script's quite time-consuming as well, so you've got to dedicate quite a lot of time to it really but luckily this year, we've been able to do that with lockdown and that experimentation aspect.Jon Sutton: I suppose one thing is that if you're doing it, don't see it as an add-on to what you're doing really. I think you need to build it in from the start. I think in the past, we'd never done a podcast. We've done online exhibitions on our website but they've been very much afterthoughts. Whereas we did build it into our thinking when we opened the exhibition in, I think it was November. 2019, we knew we were going to do some of this stuff but when we had the lockdown, it almost accelerated it, I suppose.Kelly Molson: Yeah, that makes sense.Jon Sutton: Nothing major. I remember the police sirens going off quite a lot when we were trying to record and then the lift would be going up and down, so it makes a racket. You've got to choose your space as well. Kelly Molson: That is really good advice actually because our podcast has been a lot better since I've been recording it at home. I do get the occasional dog bark but that's better than the constant trains that go past our office. So, it's swings and roundabouts.Kelly Molson: This brings me to a really good question to come back to you on Laura, actually, and it's something that you mentioned before we started speaking which is around what you said about not just bolting a podcast on, thinking about this strategically. Why is it helpful for museums or attractions to have podcasts and what do you need to think about strategically from the start if you're going to go down this path?Laura Crossley: I'd say this for everything about digital museums, that I think we can get a little bit excited about the word digital and just go, "Oh yes, we need a thing. We need a digital thing and if we get a digital thing then we're going to engage lots and lots of people and then they're all going to come to the museum and it's all going to be amazing." And I try and remember back to my Masters, which was a long time ago now, so before we were talking about things like podcasts, we talked a lot about digital interactives and it was in the first session where the lecturer was like, "Digital interactives are great but they will break and you have to have a reason for doing them and there has to be an audience in mind."Laura Crossley: And I think sometimes with digital, we don't plan with audiences in mind. It's like everything that we know about audience-centric planning goes out the window because we think, "Digital. Cool. Amazing." And I love digital stuff and I do listen to podcasts. Adam Brookson's podcast is my happy place and I do think they can be really good for museums in order to tell those stories and engage people who might not have heard of the museum before. Build the brand. Engage them with stories that they wouldn't hear if they weren't in the museum. Laura Crossley: Keeping engagement with audiences. I suspect that some people who listen to the Strip podcast have come to the exhibition but want more information and also, as I said, potentially convert people into visitors to the museum. But I think it's really important firstly, that there's a reason to do it. The podcast took a long time, it wasn't the quickest digital thing that you could do, so you do have to have a reason for doing it. I also think, really thinking about who the audience is and is the audience right for a podcast or should you do something like a YouTube channel or should you get a TikTok channel. I don't know, all the various different digital things that we can do.Laura Crossley: And also really plan it into strategic planning because the time it takes, the capacity, the resources. It can feel like it's free because you might not have to buy loads of equipment but it's not free because it takes people away from doing stuff on the galleries and the museum. So it is really important to schedule it in and make sure that you have the provision for it. And although I think that museums are getting better at having roles, actually it's been really interesting, over lockdown, I've seen so many more roles for digital content producers who just solely focus on blogs and podcasts and digital channels. So I think that's definitely going to be a trend that continues but you do need someone to take ownership of these things and not just say, "Oh well, someone will do it at some point."Laura Crossley: So yeah, definitely have it in the strategic plan. Have a reason for doing it. Know who your audience is. Test if it's the right thing to do, and it's fine if you have all of those things and then you try it and it doesn't work because then you can evaluate why it doesn't work, but you need to know why you're doing it. And also I'd say, next week, we're doing an evaluation session about the podcast which is really important to me because again, I want it to be a learning experience. So there'll be things that have gone really well and there'll be things that haven't as much but it'd be good to really test that. And I'd also really like us to talk to people who listen to the podcast and hear what they think about it and whether it has done what we set out to do.Kelly Molson: That is really good advice, and actually, my next question was going to be, what would be your best piece of advice to other museums who were thinking about doing this? But I think you just summed it up absolutely beautifully there, Laura. Jon, have you got anything that you would add to that in terms of your best piece of advice for a museum that's thinking about starting a podcast?Jon Sutton: Yeah, I think I might have covered some of it already but it's things like building the time, don't see it as an add-on, what's the audience? The Strip, I knew that we already had an engaged crowd for that and also it's not particularly niche either. We're not going for necessarily the most niche subject in the world, football kits and what they represent. Particularly at the moment, I think lockdown brings in... This year, if anything, has brought in a real nostalgia to yesteryear, hasn't it? Jon Sutton: The first shirt, basically, I ever had. Wore it when I was eight years old. It's an adult one but it's the same design, so I knew there was an audience for it. So that's how we built around the exhibition but if we were talking about football studs, for example, boot studs or something like that. I'm not sure whether that-Kelly Molson: That's like the niche that, isn't it? I definitely wouldn't have listened to all six episodes of that podcast, Jon.Laura Crossley: [inaudible 00:32:44].Jon Sutton: Exactly, but the thing is, you need to realize what you're presenting isn't niche. I'm not sure all museum people do that, I think you get bogged down in the day to day and maybe you need that bigger picture of actually what I do is quite a niche.Kelly Molson: Great advice.Jon Sutton: So we knew with this one it wasn't too niche.Kelly Molson: Really, really good advice. We're coming towards the end of the podcast. On every episode, I ask my guests if there's a book that they would share with us and it can be a book that's either helped you in your career or just a book that you really love and our lucky listeners get to win this book. So Laura, what have you chosen for us?Laura Crossley: Well, I was racking my mind for museum books because I did a Ph.D. in museum, so I have obviously read some amazing and really not so amazing type of books. Some amazing museum books that have really shaped my career but I was thinking about what book do I actually really love and again, remember that I'm a geek. The book that's really stayed with me for a long time is, Of Mice and Men, which I read when I was in year 10 doing my GSCEs, a long time ago now. And I was thinking, "Has that affected my museum career?" And I think it has because of all the books that I like, like that and The Catcher in the Rye and A Room with a View. Well firstly, they're all set in the past. Well for me anyway, they might have been contemporary at the time but for me, it was reading about the past and so I think that kind of bringing history to life.Laura Crossley: A bit like I said about theme parks. I think that books can do that as well really, really well and sometimes in a more emotive way than museums do. I think museums have the power to do it but they don't always do it. And also, all those books are about this big and you can probably read them in a day if you put your mind to it. And again, I think that's why I really like the power of storytelling but not over using words, just telling, a bit like with films. I just want an hour and a half. I just want to watch Stand By Me in an hour and a half and be told a really good story. Laura Crossley: And the same with books, just tell me a really emotive, evocative story, that paints this amazing picture and transports me into that world. I don't need too much and that's what I think museums should really aim to do as well. Think about storytelling and description and emotional engagement, as well as just, "Here's an object," and expect people to be engaged with it. Kelly Molson: I love that. I love that you've tied your book choice in with your career and how it's focused you on what you do. Jon, what about you? What have you got to share with us?Jon Sutton: Bringing you back to football shirts. When we were starting this exhibition, there was two books that stood out. One of them was book that was The Worst Football Shirts Of All Time, and I was flicking through it and I was like, "Well, that's a banger, that's a banger. These are amazing shirts. This book is so wrong." But the thing is when you look at these best ever shirts and worst ever shirts, often they're the same, they've just put opinion. But the book really that got the exhibition, made me say, "We're definitely doing this exhibition and we need to bring this author in," is a book called True Colors by John Devlin. He's done various books. His latest book is all about international kits.Jon Sutton: He does these beautiful illustrations of the shirts. He draws every single shirt, for example, England. He will have drawn in that book, every shirt that England have worn. Really nice illustrations. The passion for the subject comes across, the depth comes across as well. His books are amazing and we actually hired him as an exhibition consultant on the basis of his brilliant books.Kelly Molson: Wow, bet he never saw that coming when he was writing his books.Jon Sutton: No exactly. We can't feature every club in the exhibition, we've got 200 shirts, but there is this rainbow of football shirts that he drew for us and so most clubs are covered under that, for example, Derby under white, for example, Tottenham under white. And so, True Colors by John Devlin is my choice and it's the right one.Kelly Molson: Great but I love that book has been part of this journey that you've been on with the podcast as well. It's really great to tie it all together. Well as ever, if you want to win a copy of those books, 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 Laura and Jon's books," then you will be in with a chance of winning them.Kelly Molson: I've loved having you both on today, it's such an interesting topic because I've a personal experience of just how difficult it is to start a podcast, edit a podcast, all right, Steve does the editing, but pull a podcast together. Think about who you're going to have on as guests. It's a huge amount of work and I think it's a brilliant task that you've gone ahead and done this.Laura Crossley: Can I just say, I think yours is brilliant. It's so good.Kelly Molson: Thank you.Laura Crossley: I think that visitor attractions have a lot to learn from each other and I sometimes think museums can be quite snobby and not see themselves as a visitor attraction. Whereas actually, one of the best things we can do is give people a good day out. We should sometimes just relax a bit and say, "Actually, a really great thing we do is give people a good day out."Kelly Molson: Yeah, it's making memories, isn't it? So six episodes of the podcast have been released, what's next? Do you think there's any more episodes coming?Jon Sutton: David was really, really brutal in his editing, so I think there could be something in a bloopers episode, like a special. He'll probably tell me, 'No," but I was thinking like some of the bits, sort of me being stupid generally.Laura Crossley: You've said it now in public, so that's it. [crosstalk 00:38:40]. Kelly Molson: It's a commitment.Jon Sutton: It'll get vetoed, I know it will. It never gets their own way. I think it's probably it for Strip for the time being but then we're going to look at hopefully something that talks about the other stuff we do as a museum. So something that isn't exhibition focused but is about our general offer and the stories we want to tell and the power of football ultimately.Laura Crossley: I think for me, really feeling down to who it's for because we could just do it in so many ways and tell so many different stories and maybe that's something that museums do grapple with a bit, that unless it's about a special exhibition, you have to really think about who it's for and what you're trying to do, otherwise you could do a podcast that just never ended and you talk about a different random thing every week.Jon Sutton: That doesn't mean it's not going to have those studs [crosstalk 00:39:28].Kelly Molson: Honestly Jon, if anyone wants to listen to a podcast about football boot studs, email me and let me know and I'll pass this onto Jon but I think I'm going to get very few emails about this.Laura Crossley: That's episode 527.Kelly Molson: Guys, it's been so good to speak to you today. Right everyone, if you want to listen to the podcast, it's called Strip! The Podcast and you will find it on all of your usual podcast channels. Go and download it, it's really entertaining. I have listened to five of the six episodes now and look, I'm a football fan, I love football shirts and I really, really enjoyed it. I think you'll get a lot out of it if you're a football fan in general. So definitely go and download it.Kelly Molson: All that's left for me to say is, "Thank you both for coming on."Jon Sutton: Thanks very much, brilliant.Laura Crossley: Thank you, I love the Skip The Queue podcast, so it's really cool. Thank you so much for inviting us.Kelly Molson: Thank you for making it... It's the guests that make it, so thanks.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.

No one is safe from this man's tongue - Steve Allen takes to the airwaves on LBC every Sunday to Friday morning from 4am. Hear all of Steve's show with the news, travel and breaks taken out.

Against the bright lights of Blackpool, a supernatural killer is at work and a dark and dangerous love affair begins… A sinister, disturbingly romantic seven part podcast drama written by Marty Ross (BBC’s Catch My Breath & Ghost Zone and Audible’s The Darkwater Bride) and starring Con O’Neill (Chernobyl, The Batman) and Rhiannon Clements. A contemporary Gothic horror tale set against a background of life on the narrow edge between Pleasure Beach and wild cold sea, between secret desire and a deadly evil. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Against the bright lights of Blackpool, a supernatural killer is at work and a dark and dangerous love affair begins… A sinister, disturbingly romantic seven part podcast drama written by Marty Ross (BBC’s Catch My Breath & Ghost Zone and Audible’s The Darkwater Bride) and starring Con O’Neill (Chernobyl, The Batman) and Rhiannon Clements. A contemporary Gothic horror tale set against a background of life on the narrow edge between Pleasure Beach and wild cold sea, between secret desire and a deadly evil. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Against the bright lights of Blackpool, a supernatural killer is at work and a dark and dangerous love affair begins… A sinister, disturbingly romantic seven part podcast drama written by Marty Ross (BBC’s Catch My Breath & Ghost Zone and Audible’s The Darkwater Bride) and starring Con O’Neill (Chernobyl, The Batman) and Rhiannon Clements. A contemporary Gothic horror tale set against a background of life on the narrow edge between Pleasure Beach and wild cold sea, between secret desire and a deadly evil. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Against the bright lights of Blackpool, a supernatural killer is at work and a dark and dangerous love affair begins… A sinister, disturbingly romantic seven part podcast drama written by Marty Ross (BBC’s Catch My Breath & Ghost Zone and Audible’s The Darkwater Bride) and starring Con O’Neill (Chernobyl, The Batman) and Rhiannon Clements. A contemporary Gothic horror tale set against a background of life on the narrow edge between Pleasure Beach and wild cold sea, between secret desire and a deadly evil. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Against the bright lights of Blackpool, a supernatural killer is at work and a dark and dangerous love affair begins… A sinister, disturbingly romantic seven part podcast drama written by Marty Ross (BBC’s Catch My Breath & Ghost Zone and Audible’s The Darkwater Bride) and starring Con O’Neill (Chernobyl, The Batman) and Rhiannon Clements. A contemporary Gothic horror tale set against a background of life on the narrow edge between Pleasure Beach and wild cold sea, between secret desire and a deadly evil. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Against the bright lights of Blackpool, a supernatural killer is at work and a dark and dangerous love affair begins… A sinister, disturbingly romantic seven part podcast drama written by Marty Ross (BBC’s Catch My Breath & Ghost Zone and Audible’s The Darkwater Bride) and starring Con O’Neill (Chernobyl, The Batman) and Rhiannon Clements. A contemporary Gothic horror tale set against a background of life on the narrow edge between Pleasure Beach and wild cold sea, between secret desire and a deadly evil. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Against the bright lights of Blackpool, a supernatural killer is at work and a dark and dangerous love affair begins… A sinister, disturbingly romantic seven part podcast drama written by Marty Ross (BBC’s Catch My Breath & Ghost Zone and Audible’s The Darkwater Bride) and starring Con O’Neill (Chernobyl, The Batman) and Rhiannon Clements. A contemporary Gothic horror tale set against a background of life on the narrow edge between Pleasure Beach and wild cold sea, between secret desire and a deadly evil. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Against the bright lights of Blackpool, a supernatural killer is at work and a dark and dangerous love affair begins… A sinister, disturbingly romantic seven part podcast drama written by Marty Ross (BBC’s Catch My Breath & Ghost Zone and Audible’s The Darkwater Bride) and starring Con O’Neill (Chernobyl, The Batman) and Rhiannon Clements. A contemporary Gothic horror tale set against a background of life on the narrow edge between Pleasure Beach and wild cold sea, between secret desire and a deadly evil. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Averil Mansfield is a retired vascular surgeon and was the first female Professor of Surgery in the UK when she was appointed in 1993. She was born in 1937 in Blackpool, where her father worked as a welder on the attractions at the Pleasure Beach. She was an only child and an avid reader when young. After perusing a library book on early advances in surgery, she decided, at the age of eight, that she wanted to become a surgeon. She studied at the University of Liverpool and spent her early working life in the city. Appointed a consultant surgeon in 1972, she moved to London eight years later with her second husband. She became a consultant vascular surgeon at St Mary’s Hospital in 1982 and remained there until her retirement in 2002. One of the leading vascular surgeons in the country in the 1990s, she was a key figure in proving the safety of vital life-saving vascular operations: the stroke-preventing carotid endarterectomy, an intricate procedure to unblock the carotid artery, and surgery to repair a thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysm. These surgeries have helped save thousands of lives by reducing the risk of strokes by 50%. In the early 1990s, she set up an initiative called Women in Surgical Training to encourage more women to take up the profession. In addition to becoming the first female Professor of Surgery in Britain, she was also the first elected Chairman of the Court of Examiners at the Royal College of Surgeons of England, served as Chair of the Stroke Association for five years following her retirement, and as President of the British Medical Association. She lives in London and has three step-children and six grandchildren from her late husband. DISC ONE: II. Waltz by Dmitri Shostakovich, conducted by Steven Sloane, performed by Radio Symphony Orchestra of Berlin DISC TWO: A Transport of Delight by Donald Swann & Michael Flanders DISC THREE: Piano Concerto No. 2in B Flat. Op.83 – 3. Andante – Piu adagio by Johannes Brahms, conducted by Andris Nelsons, performed by Hélène Grimaud (piano) and The Vienna Philharmonic DISC FOUR: Farewell to Stromness by Peter Maxwell Davies DISC FIVE: Quartet for Piano, Violin, Viola and Cello No. 1 in G minor K478: Allegro by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, performed by Daniel Barenboim (piano) Kian Soltani (cello) Michael Barenboim (violin) Yulia Deyneka (viola) DISC SIX: Pavane, Op. 50 by Gabriel Fauré, conducted by Yan Pascal Tortelier, performed by BBC Philharmonic and City of Birmingham Symphony Chorus DISC SEVEN: Dancing Queen by Abba, performed by Christine Baranski, Julie Walters and Meryl Streep DISC EIGHT: "Schwanengesang", Ständchen by Franz Schubert, performed by Peter Schreier (tenor) and András Schiff (piano) BOOK CHOICE: A book of poetry LUXURY ITEM: A grand piano CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Piano Concerto No. 2in B Flat. Op.83 – 3. Andante – Piu adagio by Johannes Brahms, conducted by Andris Nelsons. Performed by Hélène Grimaud (piano) and The Vienna Philharmonic Presenter: Lauren Laverne Producer: Cathy Drysdale

This week Mike’s chat with Bruce Wawrzyniak about his management/promotion company Now Hear This and his two podcasts; Now Hear This Entertainment and Catholic Sports Radio continues!  In part 2, Mike & Bruce’s discussion on the entertainment industry continues, with discussions on pitfalls for entertainers, what “sweat equity” is, the value & variety of collaboration (along with plenty of examples), Bruce’s public speaking, the importance of consistency & putting content out there in all aspects of entertainment, and many other topics are discussed.  Now Hear This: http://www.nowhearthis.biz/ - Now Hear This Entertainment Podcast: https://apple.co/2CuebdU - Catholic Sports Radio: https://catholicsportsradio.net/  In case you missed last week, part 1 of their chat includes how Bruce started on his journey to create his company Now Hear This, as well as his two podcasts, his involvement in the Olympics as the chief press officer and other sporting events, Bruce’s favourite countries of the ones he has visited, how podcasting has helped both Mike & Bruce’s conversational skills, five minutes of fame and more!  In the last episode of GCC; number 98, Mike & Megan travelled around the North of England, going to sites in Liverpool, Blackpool and the Lake District. The podcast is discussing the sorts of things they got up to and how Megan found driving for it! The topics include an Ghetto Golf, VideOdyssey, Puffle Waffle, Pleasure Beach, an aquarium & wildlife park, kayaking, an illusions museum and more!  Mike appeared on episode 8 of Max Byrne’s Mandatory Marvel & DC show about The Killing Joke. Mike also appeared on Tony Farina’s Indie Comics Spotlight to talk about the comic series Second Coming (Episode 13). Check out the podcast ROOM where Mike is in episode 1 of season 2 called “All Roads Lead To Room” as well as the episode "Jen And The Blob"!  Mike has another show, called Star Wars: Comics In Canon – all episodes can be found on Comics In Motion’s podcast feed and episodes will be out every Saturday; episodes 0-22 are now out, speaking about Chewbacca, the Galaxy's Edge, the Vader Down crossover, Lando, Mace Windu, Vader after A New Hope, the Fallen Order prequel comic, how Obi-Wan & Anakin almost left the Jedi order, Cassian met K-2SO, Beckett before Solo, The Rise Of Kylo Ren, Darth Maul beyond The Phantom Menace, how C-3PO got his red arm, Operation: Cinder, Captain Phasma, The Last Jedi comics, Mon Cala & more - https://apple.co/39mut2Y  Genuine Chit-Chat is a part of the Brit Pod Scene, so be sure to check out the other members of the family as well as the BPS podcast – www.britpodscene.com Instagram – Twitter – Facebook – YouTube – Stitcher - Podbean - Spotify You can also email us at GenuineChitChat@outlook.com with any reviews, comments or suggestions.

This week Mike talks to Bruce Wawrzyniak about his management/promotion company Now Hear This and his two podcasts; Now Hear This Entertainment and Catholic Sports Radio. Part 1 of their chat includes how Bruce started on his journey to create his company Now Hear This, as well as his two podcasts, his involvement in the Olympics as the chief press officer and other sporting events, Bruce’s favourite countries of the ones he has visited, how podcasting has helped both Mike & Bruce’s conversational skills, five minutes of fame and more!  Now Hear This: http://www.nowhearthis.biz/ - Now Hear This Entertainment Podcast: https://apple.co/2CuebdU - Catholic Sports Radio: https://catholicsportsradio.net/  Part 2 will be out next week, where Mike & Bruce’s discussion on the entertainment industry continues, with discussions on pitfalls for entertainers, what “sweat equity” is, the value & variety of collaboration, Bruce’s public speaking, the importance of consistency, putting content out there and more, so be sure to check that out! Promo by The Urban Twist Podcast: https://anchor.fm/UrbanTwistPodcast/  Last week, in ep 98, Mike & Megan travelled around the North of England, going to sites in Liverpool, Blackpool and the Lake District. The podcast is discussing the sorts of things they got up to and how Megan found driving for it! The topics include an Ghetto Golf, VideOdyssey, Puffle Waffle, Pleasure Beach, an aquarium & wildlife park, kayaking, an illusions museum and more!  Mike appeared on episode 8 of Max Byrne’s Mandatory Marvel & DC show about The Killing Joke.Mike also appeared on Tony Farina’s Indie Comics Spotlight to talk about the comic series Second Coming (Episode 13).Check out the podcast ROOM where Mike is in episode 1 of season 2 called “All Roads Lead To Room” as well as the episode "Jen And The Blob"!  Mike has another show, called Star Wars: Comics In Canon – all episodes can be found on Comics In Motion’s podcast feed and episodes will be out every Saturday; episodes 0-20 are now out, speaking about the Galaxy's Edge, the Vader Down crossover, Lando, Mace Windu, Vader after A New Hope, the Fallen Order prequel comic, how Obi-Wan & Anakin almost left the Jedi order, Cassian met K-2SO, Beckett before Solo, The Rise Of Kylo Ren, Darth Maul beyond The Phantom Menace, how C-3PO got his red arm, Operation: Cinder, Captain Phasma, The Last Jedi comics, Mon Cala & more - https://apple.co/39mut2Y  Genuine Chit-Chat is a part of the Brit Pod Scene, so be sure to check out the other members of the family as well as the BPS podcast – www.britpodscene.com  Instagram – Twitter – Facebook – YouTube – Stitcher - Podbean - Spotify  You can also email us at GenuineChitChat@outlook.com with any reviews, comments or suggestions. 

This week, Mike & Megan are travelling around the North of England for about a week, going to sites in Liverpool, Blackpool and the Lake District!For a bit more detail, Mike & Megan speak for 5 different recordings for their trip, discussing the sorts of things they got up to and how Megan found driving for it! Their discussions include an Ghetto Golf, VideOdyssey, Puffle Waffle, Pleasure Beach, an aquarium & wildlife park, kayaking, an illusions museum and more! This episode was recorded on Mike’s phone while in a moving car (often on the motorway) so if you’re a new listener, be aware this isn’t the usual quality of the show and it’ll go back to normal next week! Last week, in ep 97, Mike spoke with actress, author, education coordinator and Sin City Cinephine; Ms Tonya Todd about a great many things, including Tonya giving information on her upcoming live performance before delving into Shakespeare and Tonya’s writing, the lack of diversity in writing & media, Tonya got into acting, the X-Men, the Marvel Cinematic Universe and more! Mike appeared on episode 8 of Max Byrne’s Mandatory Marvel & DC show about The Killing Joke.Mike also appeared on Tony Farina’s Indie Comics Spotlight to talk about the comic series Second Coming (Episode 13).Check out the podcast ROOM where Mike is in episode 1 of season 2 called “All Roads Lead To Room” as well as the episode "Jen And The Blob"! Mike has another show, called Star Wars: Comics In Canon – all episodes can be found on Comics In Motion’s podcast feed and episodes will be out every Saturday; episodes 0-20 are now out, speaking about the Galaxy's Edge, the Vader Down crossover, Lando, Mace Windu, Vader after A New Hope, the Fallen Order prequel comic, how Obi-Wan & Anakin almost left the Jedi order, Cassian met K-2SO, Beckett before Solo, The Rise Of Kylo Ren, Darth Maul beyond The Phantom Menace, how C-3PO got his red arm, Operation: Cinder, Captain Phasma, The Last Jedi comics, Mon Cala & more - https://apple.co/39mut2Y Genuine Chit-Chat is a part of the Brit Pod Scene, so be sure to check out the other members of the family as well as the BPS podcast – www.britpodscene.com Instagram – Twitter – Facebook – YouTube – Stitcher - Podbean - Spotify You can also email us at GenuineChitChat@outlook.com with any reviews, comments or suggestions.

*CoasterTrack* - Pleasure Beach Experience / Scott Bickerton Interview Mikey interviews Scott Bickerton from PBE. They discuss PBE's youtube channel, meets, memories and more.   Follow PBE  Insta: @pleasurebeachexperience Twitter: @ClubPBE Facebook:Pleasure Beach Experience ........................................................................................................................... CHECK OUT THE PBE HERE: https://www.pleasurebeachexperience.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   *Logo/Photo property of PBE.  *All views expressed are of the individual host/guest.

In the very first episode, I am joined by Rich Mackenzie (who you my know as Mullet) from YouTube Channel Pleasure Beach Experience. Rich and I sit down to have an open chat about his own mental health over the past decade and how the passing of his father impacted his depression and anxiety. Massive thank you to Rich for being on the Podcast (and being the first ever guest!) and big thank you to Lady Mackenzie who, due to technical difficulties when recording, didn't get to eat dinner! Let me know what you think of this episode by following RMC on Twitter @RMC_Podcast. Interact and let me know what you want more of. Please Note: This episode contains some strong language. Please do not take anything said as advice. Myself and Rich are not professionals and we're merely discussing our own experiences. What works for us, might not work for you. Should you feel like you need to chat, remember that you can talk to the Samaritans by calling 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org. You can check out the Samaritans website via www.samaritans.org. Other great charities dealing with Mental Health include CALM (Campaign Against Living Miserably) www.thecalmzone.net / Mind mind.org.uk / The Mix: Essential support for Under 25s www.themix.org.uk / Young Minds youngminds.org.uk / Movember uk.movember.com / Place2Be: Improving Children's Mental Health www.place2be.org.uk Want to be Calm? Check out the Calm App. The Calm App is the #1 app for Sleep, Meditation and Relaxation / www.calm.com Want a unique reflective Diary? Check out the Reflectly App. "Reflectly is a journal utilizing artificial intelligence to help you structure and reflect upon your daily thoughts and problems. Your personal mental health companion." / www.reflectly.app

What action would YOU take?Leave a comment below !!!!

Attraction Images Monday Night LIVE : EP06 Special Guest Phil Select Arts Talking all things Blackpool, Pleasure Beach, Illuminations, Merlin, Blackpool Tower, Central drive project, sink holes and much more. Oh and we discuss in detail a RMC conversation of the Grand National Rollercoaster. 

Inside the Pleasure Beach workshop, a Morecambe foodbank goes viral and robots in Blackburn. Plus, best selling Brexit mugs and St. Anne's is blooming better than Southport!

Here's Strange Brew : Love Songs #8 - a collection of the conversations from the regular radio show, where people tell me all about songs they love...and sometimes more....much more... This one features We Cut Corners, David Kitt, The Sugarhill Gang, Pleasure Beach, So Cow & Oh Boland. Every Friday at 9pm & Saturday at 7pm on 8radio.com. Strange Brew : Songs Of The Day playlist - https://open.spotify.com/user/gugai www.strangebrew.ie www.facebook.com/strangebrewgalway www.twitter.com/@strangebrewirl gugai@strangebrew.ie

Die Parks: Botton's Pleasure Beach Fantasy Island Die Bahnen: Rockin Roller Odyssey Millenium

Aidan and Ewan sit down to talk Theme Parks! After a long hiatus, we’re back in January 2018 for a new episode jam packed with coaster/theme park nerdery. Check out our new YouTube page: goo.gl/tX57Lh

David Kitt tells me about a song he loves (it's by Cass McCombs), and there's a track off his new album, You, plus new music from Talos, Animal Collective, Come On Live Long, Pleasure Beach, Tayne, Why?, Real Estate, plus some Ports and The Redneck Manifesto! Tune into 8radio on FM on weekends in February & March on 94.3FM (Dublin), 105.5FM (Limerick), 106.7FM (Cork) and 87.7FM (Galway). Strange Brew - indie beats, alternative rock and good vibrations from the past, the present and the not too distant future with gugai. Every Thursday night at Róisín Dubh, Galway, Ireland and every Friday at 8pm & Saturday at 7pm on 8radio.com. www.facebook.com/strangebrewgalway twitter/@gugai gugai@roisindubh.net

Talos! A brand new song from the Cork band, and Mr.Talos himself tells us about a song he loves, and there's music from We Cut Corners, Glimmermen, Dan Deacon, Slow Place Like Home, Nothing, Dinosaur Jr., Arab Strap, The National, James Vincent McMorrow, Julia Jacklin & Pleasure Beach. Strange Brew - indie beats, alternative rock and good vibrations from the past, the present and the not too distant future with gugai. Every Thursday night at Róisín Dubh, Galway, Ireland and every Friday at 9pm on 8radio.com. www.facebook.com/strangebrewgalway twitter/@gugai gugai@roisindubh.net

Morning Show host John Richards presents a summer mix of new music from around the globe featuring Seattle's NAVVI, Ireland's Pleasure Beach, London's Big Deal and Norway's Death by Unga Bunga.   1. Mitski - Your Best American Girl 2. NAVVI - Close 3. Fear Of Men - Sane 4. The Kills - Heart Of A Dog 5. Local Natives - Past Lives 6. The Blessed Isles - Caroline 7. Pleasure Beach - Magic Mountain 8. 50 Foot Wave - God's Not A Dick 9. Big Deal - Avalanche 10. Ten Commandos - Staring Down the Dust 11. Islands - Back Into It 12. Death By Unga Bunga - Best Friends 13. Fruit Bats - Humbug Mountain SongSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

While they were in Brighton to perform at The Great Escape Festival, hotly tipped Irish band Pleasure Beach called in for a chat and for a live session which was captured in 360 degree video. It's the first time that any act's session has been captured in 360 in a radio studio in the UK or Ireland. Pleasure Beach performed Never Come Close which was a world exclusive performance and first play. To listen to the session in full and to enjoy it in 360 video or virtual reality visit - https://youtu.be/6_tkIqIrscU What's the Craic is a weekly Irish radio show that broadcasts on Brighton's Radio Reverb on 97.2FM, DAB and online at radioreverb.com. You can hear it live Mondays at 8pm or catch the repeat on Tuesdays at 3pm or Saturdays at 1am GMT. You can follow us on Twitter at @whatsthecraicrr or on facebook.com/whatsthecraicrr for up to date news on whats coming up on the show and to get in touch with us. #Brighton #Hove #Sussex #podcast #technology #virtualreality #Irish #music #session #live

The ever lovely DJ Kormac waxes lyrically about one of his favourite songs, new music from September Girls, Frightened Rabbit, Slow Riot, Fat White Family, Coves, Nada Surf, Pleasure Beach, DJ Shadow feat. Run The Jewels, Rusangano Family, Funeral Suits, No Monster Club, and a bit of The Flaming Lips in there as well. Strange Brew - indie beats, alternative rock and good vibrations from the past, the present and the not too distant future with gugai. Every Thursday night at Róisín Dubh, Galway, Ireland and every Friday at 9pm on 8radio.com. www.facebook.com/strangebrewgalway twitter/@gugai gugai@roisindubh.net

We are lucky enough to have Feel Good Lost's Brendan Canty stop by to tell us about one of his favourite songs, plus new music from Rusangano Family, Frightened Rabbit, Whitney, Land Lovers, Toby Kaar, The Thermals, Pleasure Beach, Funeral Suits and The Joy Formidable, as well as Jason Lytle, Giant Sand and Kimya Dawson. Strange Brew - indie beats, alternative rock and good vibrations from the past, the present and the not too distant future with gugai. Every Thursday night at Róisín Dubh, Galway, Ireland and every Friday at 9pm on 8radio.com. www.facebook.com/strangebrewgalway twitter/@gugai gugai@roisindubh.net

Featuring music from John Grant, Pleasure Beach, Giveamanakick, Oliver Cole, The Mountain Goats, The War On Drugs, The Antlers, Elaine Mai, Young Wonder, Daithi and more...

BlooTalk is back with an “end of season” special from the famous British seaside resort of Blackpool. Our guests include Blackpool Pleasure Beach deputy managing director Nick Thompson, Blackpool Council's director of place, Alan Cavill, and Iain Hawkins, head of Merlin Entertainments' Blackpool cluster. The north west tourist destination has been visited by 70% of the UK population at one time or another and now it's attempting to reconnect with lapsed visitors with a host of new attractions and upgraded infrastructure projects. Join us for almost an hour of conversation to discover how a failed casino bid paved the way for Merlin's expansion in the town, why IP-based attractions have helped the Pleasure Beach attract a more family-friendly demographic, and how the traditional Illuminations festival is facing new competition from Halloween events around the country. We also catch-up with Charlie Read over a rather dodgy Skype connection for some of the latest stories for Blooloop.com and news of the three blooloopLIVE conferences planned for 2016. Podcast presented by Owen Ralph. #Blackpool #Themeparks #Attractions

Alistair Cooke examines the over-sensationalism within the British Press towards a parasitic virus affecting New York and examines the damage of hurricane Floyd.