New Workshop - Art as a vehicle of energy

What:         Acting workshop
Who:           Directed by Ana Baldaia - for women- all levels of experience
Where:        East London (Venue to be confirmed)
When:        Sunday 3pm-5pm (10 sessions starting 29 January)
Why:          To unleash the creative self in each individual, boost inner confidence and find a safe place of expression
How much: Donation base towards space rental

About

Ana Baldaia is a traveller, a qualified teacher and a theatre practitioner. She studied acting in a 4 years conservatoire course completed in Portugal and directing at Michael Howard Studios in New York. She created Roof Theatre Project in NY, and CLIT in Lisbon, both laboratories for theatre research. Has directed workshops in the USA, Brazil, Spain, India, and in England and through these has developed her research towards the fundamental technical principles that engender the performer’s presence in scenic life, as an analogy to the fundamental principles of living better, more fulfilled and successful lives. As an actor, has participated in different shows, the most recent one being ‘Beauty’ in ‘Vixens in the Hoods’, at the RVT, directed by Didi Hopkins.

The method

An ongoing laboratory where theatre is a research for the self, an experience where the method is searching for the method. Each performer learns therefore to create their own inner laboratory working with their own craft: body, mind, emotions, dreams, memories, and voice.

The process

1. Finding the way into a black journey - formation of the group - games, body, voice, emotions, improvisation
2. Finding the vehicle for the journey - formation of the self - body in space, breathing, relaxation, sensitivity, concentration
3. Being present in the journey - formation of the performer - character, material, outcome

The outcome

This will vary according to what each participant will bring to the workshop, their level of experience, interests and preferred creative outlets. We could be looking at a collective local showcase, performance or just a group of people who met and grew together.

Roof theatre current research topic: women’s presence beyond gender

Contact email: anabaldas2002@yahoo.com

Ana Baldaia's blog: http://anabaldaia.blogspot.com/

Dance theatre workshop blog: http://dancetheatreworkshop.blogspot.com/

Websites: Exclusive Pride - exotic destinations for lesbian and gay travellers

New travel website - Exclusively Pride

Exotic destinations for gay and lesbian travellers.

Planet London attended the launch event for Exclusively Pride at Ku Bar on Thursday 27 October 2011.

Exclusively Pride is a new web based travel service offering gay holiday makers and travellers something different – a safe, tailor made holiday or travel experience without being confined to the usual gay resort hotspots such as Gran Canaria.

Specialising in Exotic and luxury travel, Exclusively Pride aims to meet your needs – by finding what you want, and using their expert knowledge to ensure you find those “hidden gems”. You will receive advice and support on how to stay safe as a gay traveller and information on how gay friendly particular countries are using the Exclusively Pride star rating.

Top destinations currently offered by the company include Southern and East Africa, India and paradise honeymoon getaways.

We spoke to owner, Gerla Pusey-de Boer, about where the idea came from to set up the service. Dutch born Gerla has always travelled throughout her adult life, and has worked internationally, in cities such as Cape Town, in the travel and retail industries. After years in the food retail industry, Gerla realised that travel was an industry she wanted to explore. 

Three years ago, there wasn’t much of an interest in tailored, luxury travelling, but recently the interest has picked up, in particular with gay clientale. From there, Gerla realised that there may be more gay people wanting to travel to exotic destinations but who felt unsure of the safety issues and who would avoid some fantastic destinations because of lack of information or bespoke travel arrangements that could provide a unique holiday experience. 

The idea is the people can choose a holiday of their own making and Gerla will co-ordinate the logistical arrangements, working with trusted suppliers and negotiating friendly rates for lesbian and gay travellers. The focus is on responsible travelling – learning about real communities through experienced local guides, who we are assured, leave the travellers “in good hands”.

The site offers inspiration for those who do not know what they want, based on Gerla’s own travel expertise. Gerla is truly passionate about travel, and wants to share that with those who might not normally go down the luxury/bespoke travel route with some real ‘out of the box’ thinking at the planning stage.

Photos sourced from Exclusively Pride Facebook page

Review by Katie

Interview: Lara A King, singer, songwriter & stand up comedian

**Funny Women Winner 2011** | **L-Talent Finalist 2011**

Lara A King's website

Planet London caught up with Lara in the Mint VIP area overlooking the exhibitor hall and main stage shortly before she performed to the Big Gay Lifestyle Show visitors.

Cool and collected as ever, Lara talked to Planet London about L-Talent, performing and what she likes about living the gay lifestyle.

We congratulated Lara on her excellent performance in the L-Talent finals earlier this year. She commented that there had been a really high level of talent and it was great to have a platform to promote lesbian talent and that in particular, the Brighton heat had been a great night with a good atmosphere and an appreciative audience - some 400 lesbians.

Lara, performing in the Funny Women slot, said it was really exciting to have the opportunity to perform as a funny, gay woman.

She thinks that events like the Big Gay Lifestyle Show are important as they are a chance to spend the day hanging out with lots of gay people. When we asked Lara what her favourite aspect of the gay lifestyle was, she quickly responded 'shagging women'. Enough said!

There are busy times ahead for Lara following her performance at the Big Gay Lifestyle Show, she is being whisked away to Brighton to headline at the Pavillion Theatre; there will be more Funny Women gigs and she is writing music in preparation for a tour in early 2012. Keep an eye on our events calendar for the London gigs, and on Lara's website for all her gigs.

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Read our overall review of the Big Gay Lifestyle Show here.

Review by Katie and Naomi

Interview: Rosie Wilby, comedian, musician, writer and broadcaster

Rosie Wilby's website

Planet London managed to grab 5 minutes with Rosie before she compered the Funny Women slot at the Big Gay Lifestyle Show. Rosie has been involved with Funny Women since she made the final of their competition in 2006.

Rosie also hosts Femmes by the Thames, a diverse cabaret night held every 2-3 months on a Wednesday night at the Royal Vauxhall Tavern. The night showcases female music/comedy/character/poetry performances and has been running at the RVT since February 2010. The night is a spin off from Rosie's cabaret night 'Femmes on the Thames' that used to be held monthly on the Battersea Barge. "The RVT doesn't bob up and down quite so much" Rosie remarked.

Rosie told us she thinks LGBT events such as Pride are an important feature of the gay scene, but they need to be clear on what their message is and who they are for. She said the gay lifestyle is very social and also political but otherwise is pretty much the same as everyone elses.

Additionally, Rosie also presents a radio show called 'Out in South London', Tuesday nights at 6.30pm on Resonance104.4fm. The radio show has become a big success, and it started out as a monthly show on South City Radio, a community radio station based in Peckham, but when that lost its funding for adult programming Rosie moved the show to Resonance FM as it had developed a good following, where it is now a weekly fixture. The show has attracted some high profile guests including Stella Duffy and Sarah Waters and features only LGBT guests and music by LGBT artists, receiving excellent reviews in The Guardian, Time Out and South London press.

But that is not all Rosie is up to at the moment, she will be touring with a 90s nostalgia-based comedy show 'Rosie's Pop Diary' (which she has already taken to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe earlier in 2011) which looks back on stories and memories, fan letters and reviews of Rosie's time in a 90s brit pop band. Look out for her London tour dates on Planet London's events calendar, and find out more about everything Rosie is up to on her website. 

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Read our overall review of the Big Gay Lifestyle Show here.

To listen to previous episodes of the radio show, visit the Out in South London website.

Review by Katie and Naomi

Coming soon: Big Gay Lifestyle Show

Date: Saturday 22 October
Location: The Grand Connaught Rooms, 61-65 Great Queen Street, London WC2B 5DA
Time: 11am - 1.30am
Entry: free until 3pm (thanks to last minute sponsorship by G3 and Out in the UK)*/ £20 incl evening access

* you need to register on the website in advance to get the free entry

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This Saturday 22 October is the much anticipated Big Gay Lifestyle Show in the Grand Connaught Rooms, Covent Garden.

Billed as both Europe's biggest gay indoor lifestyle show, and the first of its kind in the UK, the event itself is more like a festival, in that there are in fact a number of events, activities and things to do and see.

Sponsored by Gaydar, supported by Google, and in partnership with Stonewall, this event certainly appears to be launching with a large range of big brands, and a few small ones too (the full list hasn't been released).

11am - 5.30pm

During the day you can pop along to visit the exhibitor stands and walk around the lifestyle village. While you're there you can visit the main stage and see acts including London Gay Men's Chorus, Julie Jepson (comedian) and Funny Women (hosted by Rosie Wilby).

6pm-7.10pm

Gay Bingo and cabaret in the Drawing Room and Edinburgh room keeps you all entertained whilst the grand hall is transformed ready for the evening's entertainment.

7.30pm-1am

The main stage kicks off with a bang, and more acts continue into the night including Pam Ann, Jill Jackson and Slum Civilians (hip hop dance troop).

11pm-7am

There is also now an official after party at Fire in Vauxhall, just flash your wristband from the event and they'll let you in for free!

Limited tickets only are available on the day for the evening section, and your free entry won't get you in, so it is best to get your ticket online in advance to ensure you aren't disappointed. You can buy tickets here.

On top of all that, you can get wine tasting between 12.30 and 2pm with Barefoot Wines, Stonewall are offering 100 free 'Some People Are Gay - Get Over It' t-shirts to the first people through the doors, and there is a chill out zone where you can get a chair massage - and so much more!

We can't wait, and no doubt we'll see many of you at this event at some point!

Review by Naomi, 18 October 2011

The lesbian scene - where has it gone?

Today's news of the closure of First Out at the end of the month started with a Tweet from the bar stating "Dear friends, the news is bad. First_Out Cafe will be closing its door on 29th October. Come and say goodbye. We are all very sad." Following this were several Tweets and Facebook status updates in shock and disbelief. (also reported by Pink News) It is a sad reminder of the state of the lesbian scene in London right now.

This year we have also seen the end of G Spot due to the loss of the venue and the closure of The Green in Islington, and in recent years of course the Glass Bar and Chocolate Lounge both lost their homes. Remember Rush in Soho, another victim? We should also not forget that for a time the Candy Bar was under threat until it was bought by the owner of Ku Bar.  Ghetto moved to the City in search of lower rents and suitable venues available at weekends, but with more and more events moving to City locations, what happens if these hire rates continue to increase too? Of course, the first venue to become a victim in the last 6-7 years was Vespa at Centre Point.

As a result of increased costs in leasing property, we are seeing a move towards venue owners becoming event organisers – forced to use non-scene, less well located venues – on the outskirts of town or in the City which is largely closed at the weekend. There have been some great events launched over the years, but even these, it seems, struggle to stand the test of time – with many events coming and going. 

This month alone both Other People's Property and DirtyConverse have announced that they are going on hiatus, and it appears that attendance at some club nights is also reduced. But on the flip side, new events such as Bijou (monthly at Tart Bar), Howlers and Halo (from Good Girlz Gone Bad at Hidden) have started up... the scene it seems is still carrying on as ever, evolving and changing to meet the needs of lesbians in London.

Alongside a demise of independent lesbian venues, this leaves a tiny selection of women-only or women-centred gay venues around, which are aimed at a small section of the hugely diverse lesbian, bisexual, queer women's community in London. If you want a safe space in which to go for a quiet drink and a bite to eat where do you go now?

Many people have their opinions on why venues close. "Lesbians don’t go out" is often cited as a primary cause. But there are other factors influencing things – the recession means perhaps people can't afford to go out as much; rental prices have sky rocketed in London, pricing small independent venues out of the market; lack of up to date information about what there is on offer for our communities in the Capital, perhaps – don’t forget we set up Planet London for precisely that reason.

We need to let the closure of First Out be a warning to support our scene, or we may see the further closure of more nights and venues. We need to realise that we may have to travel outside of zone 1 in order for these independent businesses to be able to operate and run.

Interview: Clare Summerskill, stand-up, writer, actress, & singer-songwriter

Clare's website

Clare Summerskill tells Planet London how being a lesbian has influenced her career

“After studying history at university, and having such a great time in the drama society there, I applied for drama schools and ended up going to Drama Studio with my best friend and cabaret partner, Alice Arnold (who now reads the news for Radio 4).

Over the next few years I worked as an actress, performing in Rep, Community Theatre and in the West End but in between jobs I performed a lesbian cabaret act with Alice called, originally, “ALICE AND CLARE” (I was the Clare half) and that was when I got excited about writing lesbian material in the form of sketches and comedy songs for predominantly lesbian and gay audiences.

Many years later when Alice was mainly working at Broadcasting House, she told me one day that she no longer wanted to perform the act and so I was left thinking ‘How on earth can I carry this work on, not being part of a duo?’

Well, the answer was to quickly learn how to write and perform stand-up, which as I discovered was quite a different skill from acting in sketches with a comedy partner.

So I worked away at this new and somewhat enforced path in my career and then, when I felt I had got the gist of it, I created full length comedy shows and performed them in theatres, where, because of my theatrical experience I naturally felt more comfortable than in comedy clubs. Now my one woman comedy shows include all the aspects of my writing that I have honed along the way: stand up routines, comedy songs theatrical sketches and monologues.

Alongside my comedy work I have also, over the years, written several plays for theatre; some for other companies but many for my own theatre company, Artemis. Artemis is project funded and so every couple of years or so I’ll write and perform with other cast members in a play, usually based on interviews with a particular group of people about their own experiences around a certain issue.

I have, to date worked mainly with older people, (LGBT and straight) and with mental health service users. The plays I am probably most proud of are Gateway To Heaven (based on older LGBT people’s memories) and Hearing Voices (based on stories from patients’ experiences in psychiatric wards). Both of these shows toured around the country and were funded by The Arts Council.

With my theatre writing I am interested in showing lives and stories about people whose experiences are not always portrayed either in theatre or on TV or in the media. I’ve learnt over the years to accept that as long as I do this there will probably be a lack of mainstream interest in my work but the upside is that on my journey I have made so many friends and met with such kindness working in the non-commercial world that it inspires me to continue with what I call my ‘soul’ work.

With regard to my lesbian based shows I am proud to not only be gay but to have the opportunity to talk about lesbian and gay lifestyles, experiences, relationships and outlooks in my comedy work.

There are now, thankfully, several “out” lesbian comediennes working on the circuit and on TV but there is still a pressure on them from the straight world not to “go on about it” too much. That seems to be straight people’s greatest fear! That we are not only gay but that we might talk about it… a lot. Remember Ellen’s final sitcom episodes about her own experiences of coming out and her consequent exile from mainstream television for a few years until she tacitly agreed not to “go on about it” again too much?

But as some of you might know, I quite enjoy ‘going on about it’! I think that we, as lesbians do not have nearly enough programmes, stand-up routines, films, literature etc about our own life and loves and we have to watch straight people ‘going on’ about what they get up to all the time, to a point where we don’t even notice that we’re always watching straight stuff and ‘translating’ the feelings, emotions and experiences from theirs into our own.

So yes, much of my material is about being gay, and it’s taken from my own experience of the world, of my friends’ lives, of my exes. It’s ‘our’ story I hope that I’m portraying, dramatising, laughing at, and hopefully I’m making into a good night out with the audience recognising in my material themselves, their friends, and their own exes.

As lesbians we are still very much a minority in this society and like other minorities I believe that we should be able to celebrate and enjoy our difference.

I’ve recently completed the first leg of a tour of my latest one woman show, Well That Explains It. As well as containing comedy, songs and theatrical monologues it also covers a little of our own lesbian and gay history.

I felt that this had not been done before in a stage show even though there is now an increasing interest in our past and how we as LGBT folk have got where we are today. So I hope I have addressed this particular subject with the respect it deserves as well as with humour, accuracy and a certain warmth and fondness.

Next year I will be touring the show again to several more theatres around the country so look out for forthcoming tour dates on the events page of my website.

I am currently writing a book from edited interviews by fifty older LGBT people about their lives and loves which also explores how the Lesbian and Gay movement has advanced over the last seventy years. And in the next few months I will be recording my fourth album of songs, a mixture of comedy and ballads which will hopefully be out in 2012.  

Candy Bar Girls Planet London Tweet up – the drinking game!

Date:               Thursdays @ 10pm
Location:         Channel 5 (also available on 5 on demand) 

How to play

Watch the Candy Bar Girls next Thursday and play the Planet London Candy Bar Girls drinking game next Thursday @ 10pm.

Have your shots or favourite tipple ready and lined up... and look out for key words and events and every time you see them, take a shot!

That’s right, just before the next episode, we’ll go live, and using the list below, take a drink every time you see or hear anything on the list below! Just in case it’s hard to spot, we’ll be watching and tweeting every time it’s drinking time. Follow us on twitter @planetlondon

• Repeat footage – anything you’ve seen on the show before
• Stock London footage
• Someone saying they are ‘single’
• Someone saying they are ‘loved up’ or ‘in love’
• A shot of the front of the Candy Bar
• Someone calling someone else ‘babe’
• Seeing someone you know

Interview: Stella Duffy, author, playwright, improviser and performer

Stella's blog website

Stella Duffy is the author of seven literary novels including her latest, ‘Theodora, Actress, Empress, Whore’. Two of her other novels, ‘The Room of Lost Things’ and ‘State of Happiness’ were both long-listed for the Orange Prize.

Stella talks to Planet London about the importance of keeping going, Buddhism, getting to grips with social media and support from her mother and partner in the recipe for her success as an author, playwright, improviser and performer. 

Stella has also written the five novels that comprise the Saz Martin crime series; eight plays; and over forty short stories, winning the 2002 CWA Short Story Dagger and Stonewall Writer of the Year in 2008 and 2010 respectively. In addition to her writing work she is an actor and theatre director. She wrote and presented the BBC4 documentary How to Write a Mills and Boon and has reviewed for The Review Show (BBC2) and written articles for most major newspapers in the UK.

Stella began her career writing theatre pieces for performance at school and university, although at the time she did not consider herself a writer. In fact she didn’t feel like someone from her background (the youngest of seven in a working family) could be a writer. 

In 1986 she returned to her native London after growing up in New Zealand and here she learned to write whilst working in improvisation - these days she teaches improvisation for writers as a way into story telling - and out of that experience she wrote and sold her first ‘book’ Calendar Girl (1994). However, Stella warns “it wasn’t as easy as it sounds”. It took years of trying, working extra jobs to pay the bills, and a whole lot of perseverance.  

We asked Stella where she turned to for support, and her first words of advice were to dig down into that inner strength and to “keep going through the rejection, keep going through the dejection, keep going through the early acceptances, and all the whilst you think you have not achieved success”.  Rejections could be for many reasons; lots of great pieces of work do not get published or picked up if they are not fashionable at the time; it could also be because of how you are measuring success. Stella describes herself as a “jobbing writer who gets paid to do what she likes doing” rather than a successful author (and a successful author she is, in our opinion).

Stella’s practice and belief of Buddhism has provided support during some of the major challenges and alongside meditating twice a day, it helps her acknowledge what’s really important and face the challenges freelance work brings. Stella chants twice a day, in the morning and evening, and this gives her the regularity and discipline she misses out on not working in a 9-5 role. She says that it helps her escape the day to day worries and access another part of herself, the creativity; and is a reminder that “we are more than our work”.

The people Stella refers to as giving her emotional and practical support are her mother and long-term partner. Her mother, who passed away 8 years ago, gave emotional support and “understood” why Stella chose the creative path, and that her life was going to take a different direction from that of her six siblings. Her long term partner (now wife) Shelley Silas who is also writer and understands the life, has been a “huge bonus”.

Stella is now in a position where she thoroughly enjoys her career. She works with people she likes (of course, she didn’t know these people twenty years ago). In particular, Stella likes the opportunity to work with a wide range of people of all ages. She sees this as beneficial on both sides; to learn from them all and to give something in return. She thrives on the choices that being freelance offers, and the thrill of not always knowing what’s next. 

It has been challenging at times, especially when Stella had breast cancer a few years ago and didn’t have the luxury of sick pay, so she had to keep working whilst ill. But she “loves work, and working, and doing work” even when she’s not being paid, and she is always in the midst of several projects at any one time. 

Stella is looking forward to what the next decade will bring and the freedom of accepting success isn’t about having to achieve a certain something by a certain age. 

The mantra of “Keeping going” still rings true and is used to overcome new challenges, such as adopting social media which was “scary at first” but working for Stella now as a great way to communicate, campaign and connect with people. Stella’s blog and twitter are great examples of how work, social interest and socialising can come together.

Stella has a large number of successes to be proud of, just take a look at her biography. But success for Stella is about more than the work achievements. Being known and acknowledged as a campaigner and advocate for gay rights, for example, placing high on this year’s Time Out Pride Power list, is just as important. 

Stella is also a fantastic motivator and supporter of writers and gay people, which you can see in her blog responses, as well as being a long-time activist who is proud to have given support to Stonewall and gay-positive campaigns. 

But, she notes that there’s still lots of work to be done there; we still need messages about helping people coming out and helping people who are gay at different stages in their lives, such as care homes that are accessible for older gay people.
And of course, there’s her 21 year relationship which still flowers. And Stella mentions her garden with glee; she is growing lovely things like courgettes. 

The books aren’t all there is, but there is pride as she talks of Theodora – “one of my best, and well received”, and its potential to break the American market for her. The future holds a number of possibilities; the anticipated sequel to Theodora, film projects, theatre projects seeking funding and ideas for more novels. Not too much is set in stone, but there is excitement at all the possibilities. 

Review by Katie

Up and coming interviews: Olivia, My Urban Pad

Olivia, My Urban Pad
website

Olivia Finn established My Urban Pad, which specialises in residential property refurbishments throughout London, in 2008 after working for another London based residential refurbishment company. She had been working in the industry for the previous five years and wanted to try going it alone. 

Olivia says “I didn’t want My Urban Pad to be one of the burley, macho building companies that litter the market as I think there is a huge amount of people that find these intimidating. 

I had noticed when speaking to potential female, gay and elderly clients that they were dubious about letting builders into their homes due to the macho nature that usually surrounds the industry. I had even been told by one previous client that although she was the bread winner and the decision maker in the family the builders originally quoting for her simply ignored her in meetings and spoke to her husband.

Our basic aim is to make the refurbishment process as pain free to the client as possible.

I also want our clients to feel that they and their homes are being treated with the upmost respect.”

Olivia offers some advice to business start ups, “When you are a small company working on a small budget you rally in as many people as you can to help!” and tells us that she was able to draw on the support from her artistic family who helped design logos, brochures and flyers and of course the much needed on-going mental support of family and friends, but that otherwise the business success us due to putting in the hard work required when going it alone. 

She says “Every day is a challenge as you have to be on the ball all the time and on the hunt for new work especially in the economic climate we are currently in. I started the business just before the recession and I won’t lie that it hasn't been hard, it has!” 

Also, "You also have to deal with everyone thinking they are a DIY and building expert, telling the team what to do and how to do it even though they don’t have a clue. You can give advice until you are blue in the face but if a client wants to do it their way you just let them…..and then they ask you to come back and do it your way!! Also finding the perfect team is so tough. Thankfully I have a wonderful site manager that I can fully rely on."

Olivia describes the job satisfaction she gets working for herself, that makes the hard work worth while “I love seeing the client at the end of a successful project. It sounds corny but when you have someone tell you that you have just built their dream bathroom and they just want to shower all day it’s great! All the team get together and have a group photo especially after a big project. They are tiring and sometimes stressful but everybody on site loves it when you know the place looks great. Each project that runs well and finishes with all parties being happy is a success.”

Looking forward, Olivia’s plans for My Urban Pad are clear, "The long term goal is to be solely working on our own portfolio but until that day we are going to keep doing what we do and get more teams out in London."

Up and coming interviews: Debbie, inventor of the Frog BracKit

Britain’s Next Big Thing – Debbie Evershed, BracKit
website

Debbie Evershed, inventor of the Frog BracKit, creative designer and engineer, and contender for Britain’s Next Big Thing, tells us how being a co-parent and patience were crucial factors in the creation of her award winning product which is now sold in Habitat and online.

Debbie says, “The idea of the Frog BracKit came about 11 yrs ago when I worked as a carpenter and was setting up a re-claimed wood centre, and I also had to look my daughter who was about 8 months old at the time. I put her in a baby bouncer that usually hangs from the door frame, but instead, I tied it to rafters and hung loads of toys around. She loved it and soon I was rigging it up in parks and the garden.” This practical solution, alongside Debbie’s love of design and her drive to take things forward, led to the exploration of the multi hanging Frog BracKit. Debbie says “I had to do it. The burning question for me was to know if I could do my dream job in design, risk all in the process just to know, and to live without the regret of never trying!”

It took a few years to get the design and development of the BracKit up and running – as a more versatile garden product eventually, rather than a baby bouncer hanger, and in the meantime Debbie learned about CAD, design, Manufacturing, finance, packaging shipping duty, VAT and a million other things. Then one day, the first delivery of the BracKits arrived. 

Since then The Frog BracKit has won a platinum award at the British Invention show (2008) and been featured on Britain's Next Big Thing on BBC as well as selling successfully despite the current economic climate. Debbie points out “It is a slow and expensive process though, I made tons of mistakes!” What has supported Debbie throughout the process has been “Friends who have invested cash and skills, which I couldn't have done without, and Business Link.”

Debbie really enjoys the design and developing ideas aspect of the business, and can’t wait to do more of that. Once the setting up of the business is fully established, Debbie hopes to be able to hand over the day to day stuff over to her business partner, and concentrate on the designs. She says, “I love working for myself, and paying myself, when we do well!”

The plans for the future of bracket include selling through Homebase who are interested in doing a test run in 50 of their shops next spring, can't wait for that, and getting established in the market so Debbie can start developing all her other designs! The Frog BracKit has also brought out other aspects of Debbie’s creativity, she says “I also love writing and have started some children's stories”.