Bridlington: Meet the new owner of Bondville Model Village

Yorkshire Post

Watch Bridlington: Meet the new owner of Bondville Model Village - Yorkshire Post on Dailymotion

Transcript

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.

Category

Transcript

Recommended