00:00 Good afternoon, my name is Phil Jewett, Group Arts Editor for Sussex Newspapers and also
00:06 Chairman of the Festival of Chichester. And in that capacity I'd like to say a huge welcome
00:12 to our new Festival of Chichester Principal Sponsor, Kenton Budd. We are absolutely delighted
00:18 to welcome you to the Festival as our Principal Sponsor. Fabulous to have you on board. And
00:24 you're saying that in a way becoming our Principal Sponsor is an extension of the work that you
00:29 do in the community anyway. You've been an estate agent in Chichester for quite a few
00:33 years haven't you? I have. Many, many years actually. I can't believe it's now been 30
00:40 years and counting. I don't know how that happened. I remember when I used to work with
00:46 the Chapessage Boys. Well you enjoyed doing it, presumably. Well yeah, I've worked, absolutely,
00:49 but where those years have gone. I worked to work with people and they'd been in the
00:53 business for 20 years and I thought, wow, they're old. Wow, how could you do it for
00:57 that long? It's incredible. And suddenly you find yourself, you know, 30 years on and actually,
01:04 absolutely, genuinely enjoying it more than you ever have. And the reason for that is
01:11 you suddenly, and maybe it comes with a sort of middle age, you actually start to appreciate
01:16 people more and appreciate how interesting people are. And I'm a terrible talker with
01:24 people. I'll talk for hours. I have to sometimes tell myself to shut up, you know. But, you
01:28 know, if I'm meeting someone at their house or we're looking at a house, they're normally
01:34 far more interesting than the house. I often say that the house is almost a by-product
01:41 of what I do. What I do is, I'm very lucky about what I do and where I do it. Genuinely,
01:50 I get to meet lots of really lovely people. 99.9% of people are great. They're fantastic.
01:58 They've all got a story. Sometimes people come to you a little vexed or a little bit,
02:03 you know, thinking someone's upset them. What's going on? Because we all know buying and selling
02:07 houses can be rather stressful. It doesn't have to be, but there's always, there's always
02:14 be a few ripples in your mood. But the huge enjoyment I get out of it is the people I
02:20 meet. And when I go home in the evening, I can chat to family and say, "Guess who I met
02:25 today?" This fascinating person, you know, talk about the house, I just met this person
02:30 who did this. I mean, I met a guy the other day and he was a test pilot from, he was one
02:38 of the first pilot to land on HMS Hermes, I believe. I'm thinking, "Wow, you were a
02:45 test pilot. That's so cool."
02:47 And is that connection with the outside world, the community, is that what interests you
02:53 in becoming more involved with the festival? Because you have been on the fringe of the
02:57 festival, just a bit involved in a more minor way. But now you are.
03:01 When I was much younger, there were various sort of festival sort of things. I remember
03:09 doing a singing event. I can't remember what it was called, but I was thinking about 16,
03:14 17. And I sung in the church hall in Chichester in a singing competition. It was part of some
03:20 sort of singing festival. And prior to that, when I was nine, I was on stage at the festival
03:27 theatre. When I did the Chichester, the first time they ever had amateurs or children on
03:33 stage. And there's a show called Nickel, it's Nickleby and Me. It was a musical version
03:38 of Nicholas Nickleby. And it had some very well known actors in it who didn't mean anything
03:43 to me at the time. But I got paid, I think, 120 pounds the whole season. And I bought myself
03:50 a digital watch that played Edelweiss. And I was so not into musicals at that time.
03:56 I remember I had no idea that was from Sound of Music. It was only sort of in later years
04:01 when I actually saw the show. Yes, that's funny. I should buy that, having been in musicals.
04:05 So from a young man, I've always been involved with music. Music has always been in my bloody
04:10 I was always in the Chichester Youth Orchestra and Wind Band when I was at school and in
04:15 jazz bands, all sorts of things. And then sort of moved on to singing. So it's something
04:19 I've always absolutely loved, but as a really good hobby and something that's always made
04:25 me feel good. And as I get older, the more I appreciate, you know, other people's talents,
04:30 really, going to see local events, you know.
04:33 So becoming part of the festival is a continuation of that, isn't it?
04:38 Being part of the festival is just being right in the heart of it, because there's so much
04:43 that goes on. There's so many events. So for me, it's a natural connection. Yes, it's a
04:50 lovely way to promote our business, but very genuinely, it just feels that's a lovely connection.
04:58 It just feels a natural connection. It is something that I love.
05:03 You were saying really interestingly that your business also undermines to you just
05:09 how important culture is to Chichester insofar as you get a sense of why people come to Chichester
05:13 and culture is a big part of that, isn't it?
05:17 I agree with you 100%. I mean, last week, I was at a local artist's house and I was
05:24 advising her and her husband on the house and values and all that sort of thing. It's
05:29 like, wow, you're a brilliant artist. And then, you know, and a few months ago, it was
05:35 quite sad, actually. I sold a gentleman's house. He'd actually passed. I was selling
05:40 on behalf of his daughter. And I discovered, although I knew him previously, I had no idea
05:47 that he had gone to RADA Drama School. His housemate at drama school was John Hurt. And
05:56 he was Julie Waters' acting coach when she was at the Polytechnic. And this was before
06:02 educating Rita. And I'm going, wow, I didn't know that. So what I know about the people
06:09 I meet, because my job is all about people and chatting to people, the festival Chichester
06:14 is one of those things that brings people in. They come and stay for a weekend. They
06:18 go and do Airbnb, whatever. And they go, wow, what a great place to live. A lot of people
06:24 within retirement, but not necessarily. But people move to Chichester because it's maybe
06:29 a lot of it's, when I say it's a mini London, it's not. But you jump on the train of Victoria
06:36 and you'll see big advertisements for the festival theatre and hop on the train and
06:41 get down to the festival theatre. And that draws you in. And the festival of Chichester
06:46 is just one of those big things that I think you probably feel as someone who's very much
06:54 in the heart of arranging, I probably don't appreciate how important it is and how good
06:57 it is. Often when you're in the middle of something, you don't quite see that.
07:00 We all need to look up a bit more occasionally, don't we? But yes, to see the wider perspective.
07:05 Oh, it's true. I just have the joy of meeting people. You know, I could be showing them
07:11 a house to buy and they say, I say, what brings you to Chichester? They say, oh, we come down
07:16 every summer to see what's on. You know, the festival of Chichester is one of those big
07:22 draws that the main theatre obviously is as well. But they just come down for the time
07:28 it's on. You know, people will come and take an Airbnb or take a hotel or holiday cottage
07:33 just to go and see as many events as they can. And that's wonderful. And it gives an
07:39 awful lot to the performers as well, to give them an outlet as well. So it's and it makes
07:44 you feel good. It's like anything in life. If it makes you feel good, then that's good.
07:49 That's a good thing. It's how it makes you feel. And Chichester just has that feel.
07:53 Anton, at the festival, we will make you feel very, very good indeed. It's really lovely
07:58 to have you as principal sponsor.
08:00 A pleasure.
08:01 And thank you ever so much for joining us. Great to speak to you.
08:05 Thank you, Phil.
08:06 Thank you, Gabe.
08:06 [BLANK_AUDIO]
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