Frances Taylor

The Planet Reigate Podcast

48: Our ‘Harlequin’ Q&A, more great stories from local volunteers, the sound of steam on local train tracks… and more

My name is Frances Taylor and I work alongside a lovely group of people in Age Concern Merston and also Live at Home or MHA. They're another gorgeous lot of people and I suppose what I get out of it is what you give, I get back. You know, some of the clients at Age Concern They're lonely, so you stop and have a little chat with them.

The Planet Reigate Podcast

48: Our ‘Harlequin’ Q&A, more great stories from local volunteers, the sound of steam on local train tracks… and more

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Or they might have a little worry, and they'll offload it to you. And if you can listen sometimes, that's all what some of these people want, just to listen. The centre manager, she... She just says, can you do this today? We're really short today because we're always short of volunteers. And then the live at home. I'm more of a driver.

The Planet Reigate Podcast

48: Our ‘Harlequin’ Q&A, more great stories from local volunteers, the sound of steam on local train tracks… and more

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My mum was live at home and it used to give me a Wednesday off. And I used to look after my mum full time all the time. So Wednesday off was, I just loved it. So I gave back to live at home by having coffee mornings in my house. And I have at least 25 of the clients now. and I make all the cakes, etc. And then that helped them make money for Live At Home.

The Planet Reigate Podcast

48: Our ‘Harlequin’ Q&A, more great stories from local volunteers, the sound of steam on local train tracks… and more

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So it's another form of me giving back what I received for my mum.

The Planet Reigate Podcast

48: Our ‘Harlequin’ Q&A, more great stories from local volunteers, the sound of steam on local train tracks… and more

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I also volunteer up at Gatton Park. So when we had the volunteers party, each one of us would bring something. And there was a gentleman who said, I'm making a sausage meat platter. So I said, oh, good, I quite make those. He said, yeah, but not like mine. And he sort of quoted, oh, I put Worcester sauce in it and I put red onions.

The Planet Reigate Podcast

48: Our ‘Harlequin’ Q&A, more great stories from local volunteers, the sound of steam on local train tracks… and more

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So I said, oh, well, in mine I put... And then I said what I put in. So we almost became a competition. And then it was like whose was best. So he used to win hands down. So I thought, I've got to up my game. So then I put cranberries in because it was Christmas time. Well, that was the deciding factor. So sausage rolls with a few cranberries is what makes it... That's the secret.

The Planet Reigate Podcast

48: Our ‘Harlequin’ Q&A, more great stories from local volunteers, the sound of steam on local train tracks… and more

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Oh, are they? Gosh. Yes. We'll bypass those, shall we?

The Planet Reigate Podcast

48: Our ‘Harlequin’ Q&A, more great stories from local volunteers, the sound of steam on local train tracks… and more

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Yes, very. Keeps the local economy up.

The Planet Reigate Podcast

48: Our ‘Harlequin’ Q&A, more great stories from local volunteers, the sound of steam on local train tracks… and more

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It's thriving as far as we've got members and we've got some really lovely volunteers. We always need more. Volunteers is our... Because you go out on the bus, you're an escort. And then funding. The money just seems to fly out the door. So to raise the money, we do a once a month charity shop. Everything's hung, everything's beautiful.

The Planet Reigate Podcast

48: Our ‘Harlequin’ Q&A, more great stories from local volunteers, the sound of steam on local train tracks… and more

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The donations that we get, you know, with labels on brand new things. So the last one that we've just had, we managed to make quite a lot of money.

The Planet Reigate Podcast

48: Our ‘Harlequin’ Q&A, more great stories from local volunteers, the sound of steam on local train tracks… and more

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Yeah, but it's ongoing. We had a couple who were 70 years married. So a beautiful bunch of flowers was bought and Everybody had a glass of wine. But all that has got to come out of the funds.

The Planet Reigate Podcast

48: Our ‘Harlequin’ Q&A, more great stories from local volunteers, the sound of steam on local train tracks… and more

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In Weldon Way in Merston, just down from where the Moat House Doctors is. Right near the football club, just to give a few pointers. We do get a good clientele that comes, but obviously we'd like more to come to the charity shop.

The Planet Reigate Podcast

48: Our ‘Harlequin’ Q&A, more great stories from local volunteers, the sound of steam on local train tracks… and more

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You know, there was a lady I was talking to the other day and she was a fisherman. Well, when you saw this lady that struggles to walk and had one or two health problems, and she was so interested in what she caught in the past, where she fished. And they've all got a little story behind them. Another lady she married, got loads of grandchildren now in France, and she names them all.

The Planet Reigate Podcast

48: Our ‘Harlequin’ Q&A, more great stories from local volunteers, the sound of steam on local train tracks… and more

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And she's 100, just coming up to 101 this Christmas. And they've all got a story of their own.

The Planet Reigate Podcast

48: Our ‘Harlequin’ Q&A, more great stories from local volunteers, the sound of steam on local train tracks… and more

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Lots of them were the fallout from London, because we used to call that the GLC estate, which is now more or less run by Raven. And so they came down from London when I was just a little girl, and they were the most delightful people. And some of those originals, you know, a top end of the 80s and 90s, but... They're the salt of the earth.

The Planet Reigate Podcast

48: Our ‘Harlequin’ Q&A, more great stories from local volunteers, the sound of steam on local train tracks… and more

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They mingled in what we called was South Merced and it will always be the new estate, 60 years old. But they were just marvellous people. You know, real Londoners, real Cockneys and...

The Planet Reigate Podcast

48: Our ‘Harlequin’ Q&A, more great stories from local volunteers, the sound of steam on local train tracks… and more

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Oh, it is now. You've got the new generations and that coming in. Equally, like some of the young people here tonight, they're just wonderful, some of them.

The Planet Reigate Podcast

48: Our ‘Harlequin’ Q&A, more great stories from local volunteers, the sound of steam on local train tracks… and more

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They were so young, you know, 17, and the two girls... Well, I don't think they were much more than 17, 18. And to give up all that sort of time. They were smashing. Yeah, really nice.

The Planet Reigate Podcast

48: Our ‘Harlequin’ Q&A, more great stories from local volunteers, the sound of steam on local train tracks… and more

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It's a massive eye-opener, watching what people do, other people do. And, you know, it actually humbles me when they're working with people with learning difficulties. Different skills, you need so many different skills. But, yeah, honestly, it was a wonderful, lovely experience. Yeah, I was very lucky to be here.