Lawford Lawford Parish Council Podcast

Dean Smith is a highly skilled fitness instructor and proprietor of Fitness@Summers Park, Lawford. Dean has an infectious energy and has a life story to match. In this episode we exploreDean's early life in Lawford, and the personal tragedy that acted as a catalyst for his wanderlust and his embrace of life thereafter We travel with Dean from Spain, to Azerbaijan, from USA to China and lots moreWe hear about the sliding doors moment that lead to Dean & his wife Grace meeting and the ...

Today we chat with Gipe Giddings of "Yoga with Gipe". The conversation is wholly inspiring, with Gipes energy and enthusiasm for yoga & for life, shining through. We coverGipes origin story, starting life as a child refugee from Tanzania, where her father spent 11 years as a political prisonerGipes early years in dance & artistic designGipes route into yoga and specifically Iyengar Yoga, developing her stunning studio in Lawford and the gratification she gets from being both a t...

We recently had a brilliant chat with Alison Baker & Jon Abbott of Manifest Theatre in Manningtree. In keeping with Manningtree's moniker as England's smallest town, its also home to a bijou theatre which seats just under 100 people, yet packs a punch in terms of the variety & quality of performances delivered. In the chat we talk about the history of the theatre and how it has evolved over timewe chat about its role in the heart of the community and how it supports everyone from...

On this episode we ae joined by Kirsty Buxton from Acorn Village which is a fabulous facility in Mistley focused on supporting adults with learning disabilities. In this chat we cover The history of Acorn Village and the passion that drove its formationThe services provided for both live in adults and for those in the communityThe scale of Acorn Village - employing more than 170 people in our community The volunteers who support the village and its residents And we get so...

In this episode we chat with Dagmar Grafton of Manningtree Credit Union which provides community based banking in our area. We learn A little about Dagmar, including how she recently became a UK Citizen after 50 years of residencyThat while the Credit Union provides banking services, with all the regulatory supervision of a bank it is a community based not for profit organisationCredit Unions are member-owned financial co-operative, democratically controlled by its members, which offers ...

In this brilliant chat with Valerie Pretty, Treasurer of the Manningtree Rotary, we learn about all the fun had & social good done by the Rotarians in our community. We chat about local projects such as new seating on Cox's Hill (part funded by Lawford Parish Council Grant), the refresh of the shelter on the Walls, the Rotary's role in tackling Polio elimination and lots lots more.Val is a force of nature, involved in so much so we took the opportunity to talk about some of the othe...