The Planet Reigate Podcast
77: The Reigate kids’ group with members from across the south-east… and more
Fri, 28 Feb 2025
77: The Reigate kids’ group whose members come from across the south-east… and moreFor Saturday 1st March 2025 This is how we’re reflecting and celebrating our love of life around here this week:TIMECODE - 00:00 - What’s in this episode. 05:40 - Planet Reigate area news 14:40 – Reigate Roulette. 77: The Reigate kids’ group whose members come from across the south-east… and more 18:30 – Guest: This week hear from Helen and Vicky who met 20 years ago when they were both in East Surrey Hospital maternity ward. They are not only great friends but also business partners, because soon after they left hospital with their babies, they found they had to struggle against the system to ensure their children had the same opportunities as other kids.And that struggle became a charity, PSDS, which is based at their new HQ in Reigate, and helps hundreds of families across the south-east. 31:40- The Good Time Guide: things to do and places to go 36:25 – Planet Reigate Stars: thanking local heroes. This week, praise for the local night-bus hero 38:00 - The Sixty-second Soundscape. This week from Earlswood Lakes. If you get value from The Planet Reigate Podcast, please give us value back in return; click here to support us with a small donation: www.buymeacoffee.com/theplanetreigatepodcast or share us with your colleagues. A list of ‘the best of the guests’, and a link to hear each one, is on this Facebook post: https://tinyurl.com/prpbest *CREDITS:The seven-note Planet Reigate Theme is ©Peter StewartOther music www.Pond5.com:NEWS - ThomPie Item ID: 75456323GUEST BED - by SoundKit ID 089259782GTG - inspiringaudio Item ID: 116855857STARS - jwsaudio Item ID: 073206386 SOUNDSCAPE PolkadotFlowersMusic Item ID: 136304431ROULETTE – RyanRapsys Item ID: 080062947 Listen: https://linktr.ee/PlanetReigatePodcast Web: www.ThePlanetReigatePodcast.com Facebook: www.Facebook.com/ThePlanetReigatePodcast Insta: theplanetreigatepodcast Email: [email protected] Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Chapter 1: What is the focus of this week's Planet Reigate episode?
Hello, welcome to your Planet Reigate podcast. So this, Planet Ears, is how we're reflecting and celebrating our love of life around here this week in consecutive weekly episode 77 with me, Peter Stewart. Well, this week we hear from Helen and Vicky, who met 20 years ago when they were both in East Surrey Hospital Maternity Ward. They're not only great friends, but also friends.
kind of business partners as well. I'll explain more a little bit later on in this week's show. In the news, what's the future of the post office and village shop in Betchworth? We have news of big changes for the convenience store there. A new beer has been developed by one of our local breweries.
Chapter 2: What significant changes are happening in the Reigate area?
Details later why administrators from a local Facebook group have had to ban several people this past week. In the Good Time Guide, news of a local litter pick. how your kids can learn woodland crafts and cook campfire treats in Earlswood over the next few weeks. Plus, a local repair cafe goes on the road and comes to Betchworth. Details on the way.
A new dog tracking exercise takes place in Earlswood soon. Sounds intriguing. I'll explain more a little bit later on. And a local choral society put on a free show of a piece of work They've only just learned earlier on in the day. Later on, how you can get involved both as a singer and as a watcher as well. Plus, Planet Reigate stars this week. Praise for a local night bus hero.
Catherine from Reigate tells us what she loves about living life around here in the best bit of Britain in our roulette feature and our 60-second soundscape. Before we go, at the end of the show, natural sounds from a place you know. This week... one of our local lakes.
This is the Planet Reigate podcast with Peter Stewart.
Yeah, the return a little bit later on of Rygate Roulette. Yeah, our friendly in-house robot Roberta asking questions of someone who lives locally about what they love about living here. The best bit of Britain, the planet Rygate area of Rygate, Redhill, Merston, Buckland, Betchworth, Brockham, down to Charlewood and over to Hookwood and also outward as well.
and obviously we include Hawley in that too. Wherever you're listening to the Planet Reigate podcast, you're really welcome along. And yeah, we're going to be asking Catherine this week what makes this area home for her and her recommendations for the best things to do and places to go.
I was talking to Ben last week, it was about 10 days ago at time of recording, I was speaking to Ben, caught up with him for coffee and we had a chat about all sorts of things, about AI and
and about the podcast as well and he mentioned that he was getting married at St Michael's Church in Betchworth and I said yeah yeah did you hear our feature on that on the show and he said no what was that I said Well, it's the church, yeah, that's featured in Four Weddings and a Funeral. Yes, yeah, he knew that, that's quite famous.
But I said, back in episode 35, I actually went round the church and talked about some of the famous plaques and memorials and carvings and the font and the doors and the war memorial and the big oak wooden chest and all sorts of things that you can actually see in the first, what, ten minutes of Four Weddings and a Funeral.
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Chapter 3: How did Helen and Vicky start their charity for children with Down syndrome?
kind of vaguely aware of it but there's um it's obviously got historical links to the area and how come it's an estate and it kind of it's got such an influence uh over that whole area and what does it own and where can you go and anyway that's another story so the estate wants to ensure that the post office and the shop and the cafe continue to be part of
And great for them for setting you up and refurbishing it. But they are now offering that business for sale. So it could be a community buyout. Several people getting together, the village getting together. They realise it's going to continue to be a community asset. Volunteers help run it. Maybe some professional paid staff as well. Something like what they do in the archers on Radio 4.
Or maybe a single person would like to run it. I don't mean they don't have to be married, but I mean, you know, one person, one family, one business. Or maybe someone with a chain of similar interests.
Maybe there's somebody that owns a couple of convenience stores or post offices in the area or wants to branch out into convenience store and post office because they maybe got a local garage or whatever. Now, it's just the shop and so on. It's not the upstairs flat. And a couple of other details here. Leasehold rent is £7,200 a year.
And the asking price, including the furniture and the fixtures, what do you reckon the asking price is for this? So the leasehold rent is...
just over seven grand a year how much is the business going for because i always think that's quite interesting if you have in your own mind's eye how much you would pay for that rather than hearing a price outright you kind of get to know your your feelings a little bit better about whether it's overpriced or underpriced don't you whether it be a chocolate eclair in a patisserie or whether it be a car or a post office cafe and general store in betchworth
Let me give you, while you're thinking about that, the turnover is between 100k and 200k a year. Okay, so that's giving it a bit more context. And the post office salary is £36,000 a year. So obviously that's a paid member of staff running and operating the post office. And the asking price for this is... £35,000, furniture and fixtures included. So are you interested in that?
You can dot around the internet and you can find some more details. But if you want some more information, get in touch with me and I'll put you in touch with where that business has been advertised for sale.
Now, a couple of weeks ago on the Planet Reigate podcast, I brought you news about how well East Surrey Hospital is doing compared with the national average with the various stats regarding trolley waits, A&E, ambulances, backlogs and cancer care and so on. And you can go to episode 73 of the Planet Reigate podcast if you're interested in that. this from Pilgrim Brewery this week.
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Chapter 4: What are the local highlights in Reigate as shared by residents?
Welcome to Rygate Roulette on the Planet Rygate podcast. My name is Roberta. I am the Reigate roulette robot. I want to find out more about what you love about living here.
My name's Catherine. I'm from Reigate.
Spin the wheel to play and I'll ask you a question. What is your guilty local pleasure?
Probably would be to Reigate nails. To go and get my nails done because they are very good and they last. Oh, they do SNS, which is a gel that they put onto your nails and it's very good and they have a good range of colours. They are just on West Street, just up from Rygate High Street.
Where is your favourite bridge?
There's a bridge in Brockham that actually is really nice. So you walk down from Brockham Green and you can walk the dogs down and that is actually quite good to play poo sticks as well.
Where is your favourite building or architecture?
I do like St Mary's Church in Reigate, because my children used to go to school opposite, so we used to spend a lot of time there. It's a beautiful church inside, and the carol services were always very good.
What is your favourite local view?
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Chapter 5: How can you participate in the Reigate community events?
So let's go in. Thanks very much. Vicky leading the way. Actually, this is for all age groups. That's very important to know, isn't it, Helen?
Yes. I mean, we literally run services from babies up to young adults, as Vicky said. But we have different services running on different days, different activities and clubs. It's where our preschool services run three days a week.
Let's just go into the kitchen because this isn't just somewhere to make teas and coffees for the staff and the helpers, is it? Because, as you say, it's for various age groups here that you're going to be able to help.
one of the big things these children need is to learn how to live independently. So we get six young people in here cooking, making sure they can create quite simple meals.
And Helen, as you lead us through to the next area, tell me about some other work that you're encouraging the young people to get involved with to go on to the next part of their lives.
So with our teenagers, I think, as Vicky said, a lot of the focus in what we're doing is on life skills and social skills. But we really would like to make sure we are fully integrated within our local community. And I think having our own building is part of that, being visible and being seen and our young people being seen.
So ultimately, of course, we want our young people to go on to get jobs and be paid for their work and be part of their community. We've had young people doing work experience in restaurants and cafes. But each of our young people has their own skill set. what they would like to do for a paid job.
At this stage for us, it's very much about equipping our young people with as much confidence and communication skills and life skills to be able to become as independent as possible.
Vicky, you just opened the door into a room that says on the outside, occupational therapy.
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Chapter 6: What are the challenges faced by local administrators in Reigate?
It's a shame we're not here when there's a hubbub of activity, of excited laughter and so on, and people having fun but also learning things as well. But despite everything, you're not here all of the time, are you?
The building is here, obviously, all the time, so we don't fill it 24-7, seven days a week. We are very much open to members of the community coming
having a space here as well using the building and that's something that's already started to be established just in the first year of us being here so if it's a play group or a coffee morning or a meeting or a knitter natter that kind of group anything like that people can come along and well obviously i've got to speak to you first they can't just rock up and and organize maybe a one-off or a regular
Yeah, absolutely. We've had a whole range of inquiries. We're actually also members of Reigate Business Guild because we want to be very much part of the community. So, you know, there's a lot that we can do here.
So we were really pleased to find this site in the middle of a neighbourhood where we have got people who wander by and ask us questions. You know, we're...
hoping to build a garden a working garden outside for the children that's one of our next projects you know and i think the neighbors can get involved and people can come and help look after the crops that we put out there and you know just getting everybody involved i think it's a really important part of who we are and makes a really good story for the young people as well we are a charity run by families for families and we're fully self-funded so we don't receive any government grants or funding so all the services that we offer all the activities obviously the upkeep of the building is
PSDS is responsible for that and responsible for finding the funding. So, of course, if people would like to get involved in fundraising or make donations, we welcome that. But we're very proactive ourselves in raising funds, as is our membership of families.
Vicky, you must have had hundreds of young people that have been through your doors at various locations over the past 20 years. That's a long time, isn't it? You're going to keep going and help another few hundred?
Definitely, we will. And we need the next generation of trustees to come through. That's what we really need help with, I think. But yeah, definitely, these children will continue to grow. We've got some babies at the moment. So in 20 years, they'll be where our children are now. So, you know, we've just got a 25-year lease on this building. So that's definitely on our long-term plan.
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