Bridlington: Meet the new owner of Bondville Model Village
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00I started out as a children's day nursery owner about 17 years ago, and I had my son Tommy 14 years ago
00:11and as he grew and developed he never met his movement milestones and he's physically disabled
00:17and a wheelchair user. Having Tommy has completely changed my life, it's changed our whole family life
00:24for the better, the biggest learning curve having and raising a child with a disability
00:31or special needs but one amazing amazing journey. And that's something you have dealt with
00:37professionally as well isn't it? I dealt with it professionally a lot throughout the years,
00:42throughout my career I met lots of families with children with different needs, different abilities
00:48and special needs but something changes when you're directly involved and when it's your own
00:55child. In our children's nurseries we dedicate whole spaces and use them as sensory rooms so
01:03we'd have bubble tubes, lighting, sounds and all sorts really but as well as having a dedicated
01:09space, sensory play would run through every aspect of the nursery because it's so valuable and so
01:17useful to have when you've got young children. And what made you actually sell up the nurseries
01:24because obviously you also thrived in that environment? Yes, thinking about and coming
01:29to the decision to sell my children's nursery business was huge, it was such a huge decision
01:37and one that I never thought I'd make actually but after 17 years of growing the nursery business
01:44and being all in it had all of me, I don't think I had a holiday without working and there was no
01:51maternity leave because I had children throughout that period of time as well and I just felt it was
01:57time to change, it was a big bold move and very very scary for me but it just felt the right time
02:06and to do it so that I could be more present for my boys, for my family and yeah just have a change
02:12of direction, yeah. And tell me about what you do now and how you got into that? So now I had a little
02:19bit of downtime after selling my business and I bought a new business called Bondville Model
02:28Village. The favourite part of being a nursery nurse and a nursery owner was what we called
02:34small world play so anything miniature, so farm yards, setting farm yards out, setting play scenes
02:41out, you know fire stations, car garages, anything miniature really rocked my boat, I loved it. So this
02:47is like a dream for me to run, it's a whole village in 12th scale miniature, there is
02:55churches, there's a harbour, there's boats, cars, a whole village that you get to walk around, set in an acre
03:01on the seaside, completely different vibe and it makes me so so happy and other people
03:07and as I've kind of grown the business and been involved in it, it's really important to me to
03:14reflect everybody and anybody so the aim is that any visitor comes and will be able to relate
03:20to some aspects and I'm really enjoying that. I think the world's quite a tough place at the moment
03:26and it just brings, you cannot be grumpy there, you get there and it's just lovely. That's what
03:34you'd said to me before, it really struck me when we were talking off camera about
03:40your passion for accessibility and inclusivity and that it's not always just being practical,
03:47it's actually about talking to the person as a human and that's something else you're passionate
03:52about with the disability campaign. Absolutely, so I feel that I have a calling, I've mentioned
03:59about one of my boys Tommy who's a wheelchair user and he's physically disabled and the journey
04:06that that's taken us on and 10 years ago when he was a little boy starting school I was not strong
04:12enough to, you know, bang on the drum and talk about accessibility issues and disability but
04:20now I feel strong and I feel like I've got stuff to share and I've got work to do, I don't know why
04:28but it's strong and it's really lovely with Bondville Model Village, so kind of through the
04:35work there, you know, we have so many visitors that have got additional needs, the wheelchair
04:39users, it is accessible and it's a really lovely platform to welcome people in and role model
04:46how we should, you know, work on inclusivity and accessibility. It's not rocket science but people
04:53do struggle with it, you know, because it's unless you're directly involved it's hard to know, you
04:58know, what way to go so I love talking to people about all things accessibility and inclusion
05:07and I'm really enjoying growing that as well, yeah, being a bit of a voice for families like my own.