Poodling Around

Born in Blackpool but largely unaware (until working on a new travel PR project), of the huge role that the popular seaside resort played in World War II, Jane Hunt interviews John Coombes, director of award-winning Blackpool visitor attraction, the Spitfire Visitor Centre. John describes how the atmospheric wartime-themed attraction came about and the history of its home - Hangar 42 - a largely untouched hangar, built in May 1939, where the steel walls might shake but also speak secrets of what happened here during the aerial conflict with Germany and World War II, particularly during the Battle of Britain. Listeners will see Blackpool through different eyes, after learning how the whole town was transformed during the War. They will hear about the men and women who came together in the resort to defend Britain from invasion and win the war. It's a chance to discover the role that Polish and Czech pilots played and why they called Blackpool home. You can also learn why the resort was the ideal place for a major RAF training base and what those supporting it endured and did for the common cause. From there, you will discover how the Spitfire Visitor Centre brings this all to life and what you can see there, whether you are an everyday visitor, a school pupil or someone with a particular interest in the military and armed forces. Hear about a 'world's only' simulator. Discover who wins in the junior battle of the sexes when it comes to certain aviation skills. Pick up a hint of a true bucket-list experience that you could enjoy in a Spitfire and appreciate why Google Earth can be a real friend, at times, when it comes to aviation history. Try to imagine life at RAF Blackpool, or on a bombing raid to Berlin - another brilliant simulator experience - and be fascinated by a true fact - why Blackpool pretty much escaped being bombed, despite having around 830,000 RAF personnel passing through it during World War II. Listen to this podcast and then treat yourself to a very different experience in Blackpool, or become a volunteer at the visitor centre and a key storyteller of a story that needs to be told. And, if you are from Blackpool, take pride in what you learn. Finally, this is the opportunity to discover why this visitor attraction is much more than just being about planes and is actually a custodian - or reminder - of national identity, in so many ways.

Ahead of the 2025 Grasmere Lakeland Sports and Show, Jane Hunt talks to Paul Abbott about a brand-new sport that is parachuting into the Grasmere Sports programme this year. This is the Grasmere Hike and Fly - a paragliding event that encompasses navigating between waymarks, to land and register a visit and then fly off again, around the course, and back to the starting point, on the Grasmere Sports showfield. Jane, again promoting this event with her company, Catapult PR, discovers why this is such an appropriate and suitable sport for inclusion at Grasmere Sports and what it will take to win the paragliding race. She also finds out more about who is competing and what the aim of putting this race on this year will be. Opportunities to get involved in other ways are also explored and Jane and Paul both hint at plenty of other reasons to visit the show in 2025 specifically and in a future year, if you can't make it this year.

Jane Hunt catches up with Alex Lewis, a Scottish student who also just happens to be a multi-title stone skimming champion, having won titles around the world. Jane first met Alex in 2018, as part of her travel PR and tourism PR promotion at Catapult PR. Having promoted the All-England stone skimming championships for about 10 years at that point, she soon recognised how Alex's performances on Lake Windermere, in Cumbria, were beyond phenomenal! Jane discovers all that Alex has done in his international stone skimming career since then, what it takes to be a champion stone skimmer and what lies in store in the coming months. She gets to the bottom of which are his favourite places at which to skim stones and his views about the future of stone skimming. And, she also picks up a champion's tips on how the average person should go about skimming stones and the required technique. With so many children having developed a love of skimming stones that has lasted a lifetime, this is an episode that will strike a chord with many, evoking the nostalgia of those wonderful days spent on the riverbank, lake side or beach.

Jane Hunt delves into Cleveleys' rich tapestry of history, myths and legends, as she provides insights into her very local coastal location of Cleveleys, on the Fylde Coast, near Blackpool, in England's north west. Jane highlights some of the amazing facets to Cleveleys that she has largely discovered in the course of her travel PR at Catapult PR. The podcast focuses on the numerous shipwrecks here, the tales that surround them and how these are remembered today, but also covers everything from a tsunami to the mystical world that can be explored by strolling along the promenade and hunting down intriguing sculptures. Discover a 'baddy' that the kids will just love, his instrument of destruction and the thing that helps prevent him carrying out his dastardly plan but also find out much more about the history of the town and other things to track down. With lots of interesting facts to discover, this episode is an eye-opener for those who only associate this part of the coastline with the Blackpool Illuminations and Blackpool's attractions It concludes with Jane pondering whether a message in a bottle would ever reach her favourite musician, Axl Rose, in Malibu, or just be washed up on the beach in nearby Fleetwood.

Ahead of World Topiary Day 2025, on May 11, Jane Hunt chats to Brianna Reid, a dedicated horticulturist at the glorious Longwood Gardens in Pennsylvania. The reason? Well, unlike many other gardens in the USA, Longwood has its own topiary garden, for which Brianna is responsible on a daily basis. Jane, on the scent of a great visitor attraction story as ever, as a tourism PR specialist at Catapult PR, discovers the back story of topiary at Longwood Gardens. With Brianna, she explores how the French origins, love of travel and lavish lifestyle of the gardens' founding father probably contributed to a little bit of England and France being found at the heart of the Longwood experience. The pair talk about the first yew trees to enter this space and then a development in the 1950s, which made this a much greater vision. Whimsical topiary, formal topiary and the use of the topiary garden as a link between different gardens at Longwood, Pennsylvania, is all discussed. Brianna offers her personal insight into the garden, what she loves most, what secrets can be found there and what wildlife also call it home. There is a discussion about weather conditions and topiary and also wasps nests! Brianna's description should inspire many a tourist or local resident to want to experience this US visitor attraction for themselves. Jane compares and contrasts things at Longwood to the experience at Levens Hall and Gardens, the founder of World Topiary Day – a creative idea of Jane's, from 2020. This has dramatically underlined the existence of the world's oldest topiary garden there and helped drive more visitor numbers to this historic garden, located in the Lake District, Cumbria. Brianna explains the pride she feels in being able to play a part in World Topiary Day and also whets Jane's appetite for a visit to Longwood, by explaining all about the magnificent fountain experiences that can be enjoyed there. With Jane left speculating whether there is a show based around Guns N' Roses music, she concludes the episode by determining that Longwood needs to be added to a list of places and visitor attractions at which she really does need to poodle around in person.