Latest / The Folkestone & Hythe Sports Podcast / RECAP PART 3 OF 2025 SPORTY INTERVIEWS WITH TOM ASPINALL,RACHEL HADEN,PAUL EGAN AND HIS SON CHARLIE ON RADIO FOLKESTONE

Transcript

RECAP PART 3 OF 2025 SPORTY INTERVIEWS WITH TOM ASPINALL,RACHEL HADEN,PAUL EGAN AND HIS SON CHARLIE ON RADIO FOLKESTONE · The Folkestone & Hythe Sports Podcast

• 0:06
  Speaker 1: A beautiful South there, nice gentle song there, as we
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: crack on in this third hour of our recap in
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: twenty twenty five.
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: So we're not going to hang about.
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: We've got some more interviews to get through now. The
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: next one is from a gentleman who turned his life
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: around by asking for help when he was at a
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: low ebb, and now his situation improved when he joined
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: a running club and then went on to spearhead the
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: folks the Wombles. So let's listen again to Tom aspinall.
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: I'll tell you what we can do.
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: We're gonna have a little music break and I've got
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: this lovely little song here that I've dug out. And
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: after we've played this song, I don't think it's ever
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: been played on this radio station before, but we're going
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: to play this song and then you are going to
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: tell me all about it.
• 1:11
  Speaker 3: You're going to washing up.
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: Well, what the first for radio Folkston a womble song?
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: Cool was that?
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: But there is a story to it, isn't there that
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: Tom tell us about the wombles of Folkston.
• 1:42
  Speaker 4: Yeah, well it's I'm a big Wombles fan, so it's
• 1:46
  Speaker 4: not just that, but I am so we actually have
• 1:48
  Speaker 4: a Folks in Wombles litpicking group in town which I
• 1:52
  Speaker 4: sort of spearheaded early on the Wombles charity, which I
• 1:55
  Speaker 4: think people will remember you.
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: I remember growing up with the Wombles were just too
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: off here and I wish I was going to google
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: the names. The only one I can remember was Madame
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: Chalais and they mentioned in the song there. But I
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: mean this Wombles group, if you like, was it is
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: it a nationwide thing and that's got splinter groups.
• 2:12
  Speaker 4: Have you with, well, it's little picking has been obviously
• 2:15
  Speaker 4: around for so long. There's a lot of homegrown groups
• 2:17
  Speaker 4: that just go out and clean their area and will
• 2:20
  Speaker 4: obviously show pride in where they live, and Folks and
• 2:22
  Speaker 4: Wombles sort of prime wanted to sort of bring some
• 2:26
  Speaker 4: of this together.
• 2:27
  Speaker 5: And it's a charity that supports supports groups like us.
• 2:30
  Speaker 4: And I was, you know, as a fan, I was
• 2:33
  Speaker 4: tuned into the Wombles and I thought, well, folks and
• 2:35
  Speaker 4: would be a brilliant area because I know we've got
• 2:36
  Speaker 4: so many community groups and charities that do such amazing things.
• 2:39
  Speaker 4: I thought, well, who else I've got a tattoo of
• 2:42
  Speaker 4: a womble?
• 2:42
  Speaker 5: I thought, yeah, I know.
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: Good jobs radio. You don't have to show us.
• 2:46
  Speaker 5: I don't worry.
• 2:47
  Speaker 4: Yeah, see behind the scenes. But yeah, we've done. I
• 2:51
  Speaker 4: think we're in our twelfth thirteenth little pick now. Every
• 2:55
  Speaker 4: week we just get about thirty lips come along, all
• 2:58
  Speaker 4: different ages of well and Litlan's love It who never
• 3:02
  Speaker 4: grew up with the Wombles, so I don't have that
• 3:04
  Speaker 4: touch point, but I think it's that message sort of
• 3:06
  Speaker 4: looking after your environment, cleaning up where you live, and
• 3:09
  Speaker 4: actually just like getting to know new people as well.
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's just being brilliant and do you pick the venues.
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: We have a little team that.
• 3:17
  Speaker 5: Yeah, we ran out the equipment. We've got high visits.
• 3:19
  Speaker 4: We meet up at a sort of central point and
• 3:21
  Speaker 4: we sort of split them off into the Lee's town center.
• 3:24
  Speaker 4: We've gone into Chariton, We've recently gone down to the
• 3:28
  Speaker 4: beach which during the summer which can see a lot
• 3:30
  Speaker 4: of litter, and then up the folks in Warrant as well,
• 3:33
  Speaker 4: is a really important country area that we want to
• 3:37
  Speaker 4: do more of and I want to sort of build
• 3:38
  Speaker 4: the Wombles as much as I can, hopefully during this
• 3:42
  Speaker 4: winter as well, organizing food pantries and things like that.
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: Which would be really And when's your next one?
• 3:48
  Speaker 4: This Saturday eleven am, meeting at the Civic Center.
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: Oh okay, and is it like, come along any come along?
• 3:55
  Speaker 4: We got your equipment, wear some gloves, sturdy shoes obviously
• 3:59
  Speaker 4: if the weather's doing, if it's raining, prepare yourself. We
• 4:02
  Speaker 4: have been wet a couple of times. Yeah, but it's
• 4:05
  Speaker 4: a lot of fun.
• 4:07
  Speaker 5: Obviously. You can come along for as long as you like.
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: Okay, right, okay, Well, good luck to the wombles. And
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: it's nice to give them a bit of a promotion
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: because the other thing was we won't go into this,
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: but unfortunately some time ago we lost the town spruceer
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: and his team that did a great job. And it's
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: nice to know that there's someone else that can step
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: in those shoes.
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: Right. So we're going to get back to running.
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: Now. You've got a job to do on Sunday morning.
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: So tell us about I can't know, you know, your
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: journey to this, to this half marathon with South Kent mind,
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: and you know, does it mean anything special to you?
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: Is there any particular reason why you're running for self
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: Kent mind?
• 4:44
  Speaker 5: Yeah?
• 4:45
  Speaker 4: So I've had difficulties with mental health for parts of
• 4:49
  Speaker 4: my life I had. I've had depression before, so it's
• 4:53
  Speaker 4: quite close to my home, close to my heart. Really
• 4:56
  Speaker 4: a lot of this and like charity's like southa Mind
• 5:00
  Speaker 4: obviously support people who have gone through hard times and
• 5:03
  Speaker 4: are currently still going through hard times and offer them
• 5:05
  Speaker 4: a bit of a lifeline, you know, with whether it's
• 5:08
  Speaker 4: outreach and support, guidance, signage and even just like activities
• 5:12
  Speaker 4: and things like that. So I thought it was a
• 5:13
  Speaker 4: brilliant sort of charity to run with Help because it
• 5:18
  Speaker 4: helped me.
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: So when you had these, if you like lots of
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: good times, were you running at the time.
• 5:24
  Speaker 4: No, So this was prior to me sort of running.
• 5:28
  Speaker 4: I was mentally physically just not really looking after myself.
• 5:32
  Speaker 4: I had a bit of a sort of concentrated negative
• 5:36
  Speaker 4: on my life where I really just didn't like how
• 5:39
  Speaker 4: I was, sort of issues of work, you know, I
• 5:42
  Speaker 4: had sort of imposter syndrome and.
• 5:45
  Speaker 5: Even looking in the mirror sometimes it's hard.
• 5:46
  Speaker 4: And it was a really difficult time because I just
• 5:49
  Speaker 4: felt really alone in that and I had such an
• 5:52
  Speaker 4: amazing support network. But I think there's something with mental
• 5:55
  Speaker 4: health and with maybe men in general, that you can't
• 5:58
  Speaker 4: let there's a bit of an ego. It's a bit
• 5:59
  Speaker 4: of a pride full feeling that you just don't want
• 6:01
  Speaker 4: to open up and see him weak. And it sort
• 6:04
  Speaker 4: of came to a head while I was like, there's
• 6:06
  Speaker 4: it's sort of this or nothing. I need to talk
• 6:08
  Speaker 4: to someone. Yeah, And it really just it was the
• 6:10
  Speaker 4: step just talk to.
• 6:11
  Speaker 5: My friends and especially male friends, female friends, anyone.
• 6:15
  Speaker 4: I think just taking those small steps and just revealing
• 6:17
  Speaker 4: a little bit of yourself and.
• 6:18
  Speaker 5: Going, oh, I'm all right, you know, it's not the
• 6:20
  Speaker 5: end of the world.
• 6:21
  Speaker 4: And my family all came around and supported and from
• 6:24
  Speaker 4: then I you know, I had you spoke to charities
• 6:29
  Speaker 4: and had therapy as well, which is I would definitely
• 6:32
  Speaker 4: recommend to anyone who's having a low point of their life.
• 6:35
  Speaker 5: Yeah, it's just I think building that.
• 6:39
  Speaker 4: Cadence of talking and just being open about how you're
• 6:42
  Speaker 4: feeling and not being.
• 6:44
  Speaker 5: Judged for it.
• 6:44
  Speaker 4: I think finding a safe space to do that is
• 6:46
  Speaker 4: really important. It's hard to do for a lot of people.
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: So did you find that when you started speaking to
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: people and if you like, in your own little way,
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: you've come into terms with it, that started the road
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: upwards to.
• 6:56
  Speaker 5: Do Yeah, totally.
• 6:57
  Speaker 4: I think bringing it out out of your mind and
• 7:00
  Speaker 4: then into reality, you can actually tackle those issues that
• 7:03
  Speaker 4: you'd be feeling.
• 7:03
  Speaker 5: So for me, it was like self confidence.
• 7:05
  Speaker 4: It was sort of a lack of sort of respect
• 7:09
  Speaker 4: I had for myself and actually speak to others.
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: So you had like a low esteem of yourself. You didn't.
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: You just thought it was kind of not worthless if you.
• 7:16
  Speaker 4: Like and you you lit your own worst enemy, really
• 7:20
  Speaker 4: and so I would listen to that as gospel and
• 7:23
  Speaker 4: actually speak to many of my friends were like, that's wrong,
• 7:26
  Speaker 4: or see you like that? And then sort of readjusting
• 7:29
  Speaker 4: my brain. It was it was kind of a reset.
• 7:31
  Speaker 4: So once I did think of myself differently, I was
• 7:33
  Speaker 4: able to then well, how would I want myself to
• 7:35
  Speaker 4: look like? And what sort of person do I want
• 7:38
  Speaker 4: to be? Because the one I think of obviously it
• 7:40
  Speaker 4: is not you.
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: Know, it's not there, not there anymore good? And I mean, yeah,
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: it's okay. So you joined the running club. Was that
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: a tough thing to do? Perhaps she was feeling a
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: bit insecure at the time.
• 7:51
  Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, it could be a lot, you know, a
• 7:54
  Speaker 4: group of you know, very fit people. But I think
• 7:57
  Speaker 4: when you realize you you joined a crop of every
• 7:59
  Speaker 4: day normal people like yourself. You know, it's running. It's
• 8:03
  Speaker 4: not like an elite sort of subscription that you have
• 8:06
  Speaker 4: to join. And folks running club especially, it's all different shape, sizes, ages.
• 8:13
  Speaker 5: It's really welcoming, I think.
• 8:15
  Speaker 4: And actually we have so much in common, as much
• 8:17
  Speaker 4: as we maybe different inability and skills. Sometimes actually we
• 8:20
  Speaker 4: all go through our own challenges and running is something
• 8:23
  Speaker 4: we all had in common that helped us. And for
• 8:25
  Speaker 4: me getting through Catch five K, you know, I started
• 8:29
  Speaker 4: looking after myself. I was like, oh wow, there's others
• 8:32
  Speaker 4: who have gone through similar.
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: Yeah, all right, And I mean sport no matter what
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: it is. It's not just running. Is any sport, isn't it?
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: Or just using up excess energy that you've really got
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: balled up inside you. It could be squashed rugby or anything,
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: isn't it.
• 8:46
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 8:46
  Speaker 4: I mean running is relatively simple for me, and I'm
• 8:49
  Speaker 4: very clumsy, so anything that involves.
• 8:51
  Speaker 5: Balls or bats I do struggle. So it's running.
• 8:54
  Speaker 4: I'm like straight, put the arms up, legs out. I'm sortid,
• 8:57
  Speaker 4: so I may explore rugby at some point.
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: Okay, so you don't need a handbook for running. Then
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: there's like left right, left, right.
• 9:04
  Speaker 4: And well that's you have good coaches, and we've got
• 9:07
  Speaker 4: an amazing head coach, Catherine who as she supported me
• 9:10
  Speaker 4: on many a couple.
• 9:11
  Speaker 5: Of both of my marathons.
• 9:13
  Speaker 4: So I think having a guiding light to help you
• 9:16
  Speaker 4: sort of hone in some of that.
• 9:17
  Speaker 5: Those rough pages definitely helped me. It's brilliant for that.
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: Okay, so right, we're just running out of time. We've
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: got fifty odd seconds. Tom, keep going, Uh who else
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: we've got?
• 9:27
  Speaker 5: Well, just shout out to my wombles. You know, I'll
• 9:28
  Speaker 5: see you all there. And if you're if you're a
• 9:31
  Speaker 5: friend or family, you are amble. So I love your lot,
• 9:34
  Speaker 5: So thank you.
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: Okay, well, Tom, we've just got a few seconds left.
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: We've got the Kaiser Chiefs playing in the background. The
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: news are going to cut cut in soon. I want
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: to say a massive thank you. Thank you for sitting
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: in the hot seat, and if you like bearing your
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: soul a little bit. It's interesting to know that you've
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: turned your life around and you've you've got so many
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: positives going on. You started the Wombles and what a
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: great idea after losing the town sprucer, and you a
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: prime example of what people should look up to. So
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: you've come, you've turned your life around and you're a
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: great example. Tom, So thank you so much for coming it.
• 10:10
  Speaker 5: Thank you.
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: So there you go.
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: That was Tom asp and that's a great story as well.
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: As we said, he's turned his life around and he's
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: really a confident person.
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: Now.
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: It's lovely to hear is the running helped. He's bareed
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: his soul and got help and then he started the
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: Wombles and so it was really great to get him
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: in and talk to him. And he's so active with
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: the running club these days. Now, a next story comes
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: from a very active lady involved with the Sports Trust.
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: Now I picked up that she won an award, she
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: won the Youth Project Award and was lucky enough to
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: drag her into the studio just a few days later.
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: So let's sit back and listen to Rachel Hayden as
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: she tells her story. Okay, never going onto the big
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: thing that I have managed to get you in the
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: studio for once again.
• 10:58
  Speaker 2: It was great to see it, Rachel.
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: On my Facebook page there was a picture of you
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: receiving an award at an awards evening and I know
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: it's kind of putting you on the spot because if
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: you're talking about you now, but just tell us about
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: the award, why you won it, at the competition that
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: was out there, and did you know you was going
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: to win it?
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: Who proposed you? Just give us the whole story.
• 11:20
  Speaker 6: It was quite funny. I'd received an email to say
• 11:23
  Speaker 6: that I'd been nominated and I had won an award,
• 11:26
  Speaker 6: and I actually sent it out to my team. I
• 11:28
  Speaker 6: thought it was a scam email, so I sent it around.
• 11:31
  Speaker 6: You know, does anybody know what this is?
• 11:33
  Speaker 5: Is it?
• 11:33
  Speaker 7: You know?
• 11:33
  Speaker 6: Is it a really would And I actually thought it
• 11:35
  Speaker 6: was for the team. You know, I'd never expect to win,
• 11:37
  Speaker 6: you know, something myself because we work as a team.
• 11:41
  Speaker 6: And one of my colleagues, Christians, said, oh, yes, that
• 11:43
  Speaker 6: was me. I nominated you for that, so you know,
• 11:46
  Speaker 6: I kind of it started from there, and it's been
• 11:48
  Speaker 6: really lovely, really really lovely. It's not why we do,
• 11:51
  Speaker 6: you know, the things we do, but to be recognized.
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: For you to be recognized, yeah.
• 11:55
  Speaker 6: It was really nice.
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: So tell us what's what was the name of the award?
• 11:59
  Speaker 6: Well, no, until I got there, so I knew I'd
• 12:02
  Speaker 6: won an award from Kent Well Being Mental well being,
• 12:06
  Speaker 6: mental health and well being. I think the actual title is.
• 12:08
  Speaker 6: So it wasn't until the evening when I got there
• 12:10
  Speaker 6: that I knew what it was and it was in
• 12:11
  Speaker 6: the brochure.
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: So the award was a Youth Project.
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: Award, okay, yeah, So I mean where did you go
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: to get it?
• 12:19
  Speaker 6: It was the Ashford International Hotel. So it's a nice,
• 12:22
  Speaker 6: sparky you dressing up event. Yeah, really really lovely okay.
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: And did you go up with members of the team?
• 12:28
  Speaker 6: It was only me. Yeah, So it was just myself
• 12:31
  Speaker 6: that won the award, you know, sort of for the
• 12:34
  Speaker 6: sports just but with me. So me and my husband
• 12:37
  Speaker 6: went over.
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: And was this like a big is it county wide
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: or nationwide?
• 12:42
  Speaker 6: It's I think it's south East yeah yeah yeah. So,
• 12:46
  Speaker 6: as I understand it, there were over three hundred nominations
• 12:49
  Speaker 6: across all of the awards and there were a fifty
• 12:52
  Speaker 6: two award winners, which I was one of.
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: Oh brilliant. That is fantastic and it's good for you.
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: I'm pleased for you, Rachel, really am, because although you
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: do and as a lot of people in this town do,
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: at the Sports Trust and at sports clubs, they do
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: put a lot of effort into what they do because
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: they're passionate about it and it's nice to be rewarded
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: and recognized good really please for it. So what's next?
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: Then that's the other thing. What's next? You've got any
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: new projects? Oh, you're not allowed to talk about them.
• 13:24
  Speaker 6: I think you know, it's just carrying on, continuing with
• 13:26
  Speaker 6: what we do, always striving to be better at what
• 13:29
  Speaker 6: we do. You know, we always looking out for the community,
• 13:33
  Speaker 6: aren't we. So what does the community need? How can
• 13:35
  Speaker 6: we help our community? We do lots of programs already,
• 13:38
  Speaker 6: you know, like I mentioned the shred Club at f
• 13:40
  Speaker 6: fifty one Skate Park. That's the you know, if anybody
• 13:43
  Speaker 6: that doesn't know about that, anybody, all of the schools
• 13:45
  Speaker 6: that we work with can join fifty one Skate Park
• 13:50
  Speaker 6: for a pound a month, so it's a twelve pounds
• 13:52
  Speaker 6: a year subscription. They can get it through their school,
• 13:54
  Speaker 6: so anybody it's not sure or they can come and
• 13:56
  Speaker 6: ask us. But that was a setup from the Rogers
• 13:59
  Speaker 6: DeHart Trust when fifty one open, so that you know,
• 14:02
  Speaker 6: we're kind of looking to build on that. We do
• 14:05
  Speaker 6: our littlest Athletes at three Hills, which is for under
• 14:08
  Speaker 6: fives that again, that's a funded program that's free for
• 14:12
  Speaker 6: the families to bring the little ones across on a
• 14:13
  Speaker 6: Wednesday morning at three years our school's programs. You're growing
• 14:17
  Speaker 6: the half camps that we do. Yeah, we're doing lots already.
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: You go, yeah, it's good. It's just so encouraging to hear.
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: And I think it's just we need to get the
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: word out there.
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: Really.
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: That's all I can say is that some people though
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: the Sports Trust is there, and some people don't know
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: what they do. So I'm hoping this interview will have
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: some impact and perhaps appearance ears will prick up and
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: say oh okay, yea yeah.
• 14:45
  Speaker 6: And you know, I always forget our active fifties over
• 14:48
  Speaker 6: at Three Hills. You know, it's not just all about
• 14:49
  Speaker 6: the young people. We want to look oufter everybody.
• 14:51
  Speaker 2: After the old ones.
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: Yeah right, Rachel has been lovely having you in.
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: Is it before you go? Is anything we've forgotten?
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: You just just make sure we don't want to. We
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: don't want you to get back to the office and say, oh, Rachel,
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: you didn't mention the.
• 15:06
  Speaker 6: You know, I will get told of Yeah, I think
• 15:08
  Speaker 6: you know, obviously I've mentioned the netball tournament this weekend.
• 15:10
  Speaker 6: We've got a jam at the skate park on the
• 15:14
  Speaker 6: eighth of November. Anybody that fancies a jam that skateboarding,
• 15:17
  Speaker 6: come along, have a look online, get yourself booked in
• 15:19
  Speaker 6: if you want to have a go. That's really exciting.
• 15:23
  Speaker 6: I think you know I covered everything.
• 15:27
  Speaker 2: That's why you won an award.
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so efficiently. Well, Rachel, thank you so much once
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: again for coming in. And I hope this interview has
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: really worked and people going to listen to it when
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: it's you know, goes out as a podcast and perhaps
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: it will like prick their ears out and think, oh,
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: do you know what I didn't realize that was there?
• 15:48
  Speaker 2: I didn't I didn't know about that. That's what I
• 15:50
  Speaker 2: want to hear.
• 15:50
  Speaker 6: And anybody that wants to come and join us, you know,
• 15:52
  Speaker 6: help us out, volunteers.
• 15:55
  Speaker 2: We'd love to have volunteers.
• 15:57
  Speaker 6: I know it's people's time, but you know, anybody wants
• 15:59
  Speaker 6: to get involved and come and help us out and
• 16:01
  Speaker 6: look us up, you know, send me an email, yeah, you'll.
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: Be Volunteering is great because it does open a lot
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: of pathways. As you said, I love that. I love
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: that word pathways. I start using every show now. But
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: it does open a lot of doors actually, and it
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: could lead to things that you didn't know about. You
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: go along, volunteer, get to know people, put yourself about
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: a bit and for the right reasons, and you know
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: you don't know what it could lead to.
• 16:25
  Speaker 2: So Rachel, what can I say?
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: Brilliant, thank you so much for comedy and enjoy the
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: rest of your busy down now, they're our final interviewed
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: today took up the whole hour of a Saturday show
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: and it was very difficult to edit it down to
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: just ten minutes as it was so interesting and know
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: we could have spoke about it all day, really could
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: have done. This is the story of football coach Paul Egan,
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: his son Charlie, three other football coaches and eight under
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: fourteen year older young footballers who rode one hundred and
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: forty seven miles around Kent raising money for charity. So
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: let's listen once again to Paul and Charlie chatting to
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: myself and Ady. Today we're in the studio of radio
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: faces on the SADI Sports Show and I'm joined today
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: by Paul Egan. Hello, Paul, good morning, right, you're good
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: and Charlie good morning.
• 17:14
  Speaker 2: How are you morning? I'm good, thank you good, excellent. Right.
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: So now then, Paul, I'm going to hand over to
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: you really for a little while. So just tell us
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: what you was up to a few weekends ago. It
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: was the hottest at the time, it was the hottest
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: weekend of the year, but you chose to.
• 17:31
  Speaker 2: Do something.
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: I don't know normally most people wouldn't have done. But
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: tell us all about it, what you've been up to then.
• 17:39
  Speaker 8: So, yeah, last Friday or friday before we set off
• 17:43
  Speaker 8: on a bit of a journey, really a bit of
• 17:45
  Speaker 8: a challenge. There was a challenge set for one hundred
• 17:49
  Speaker 8: and forty seven miles in three days. There was myself
• 17:55
  Speaker 8: and the three coaches, Tommy, Sam and Frankie and young
• 18:00
  Speaker 8: lads decided to set off on this challenge.
• 18:03
  Speaker 2: Eight of you. Yeah, so Charlie, Charlie, come in.
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: So, Charlie, when your dad said to you as your
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: fancy cycling one hundred and forty seven miles, what was
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: your first reaction.
• 18:13
  Speaker 3: I don't know if I'd be able to do it
• 18:14
  Speaker 3: at first, to be honest, quite challenge. Yeah, to even
• 18:18
  Speaker 3: think of it, it was like it's going to hurt
• 18:20
  Speaker 3: so bad. Yeah, but I think we'll push for it
• 18:23
  Speaker 3: very well towards the whole three days.
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: And you obviously wrote some of your teammates into it.
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: Were they were they excited about it or a bit
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: scared of it?
• 18:33
  Speaker 3: Well, the train session before we were all very scared
• 18:35
  Speaker 3: about it because it was morally just the four of
• 18:37
  Speaker 3: one hundred miles. It really does think it hurt, Yeah,
• 18:41
  Speaker 3: but yeah, we'll push for it. And it was a
• 18:45
  Speaker 3: very exciting thing. Yeah, and it was good to get
• 18:48
  Speaker 3: like teamwork got built up a bit more in helping
• 18:51
  Speaker 3: each other.
• 18:52
  Speaker 2: So yeah, right.
• 18:53
  Speaker 7: How do you actually train to do this? I mean,
• 18:56
  Speaker 7: obviously you will ride bikes normally during the week or whatever,
• 19:00
  Speaker 7: but I actually trained to do that sort of a distance,
• 19:04
  Speaker 7: don't know.
• 19:05
  Speaker 3: We just we sometimes when I was a team, just
• 19:08
  Speaker 3: around for like a few miles most like weekends and
• 19:11
  Speaker 3: stuff like that.
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: Okay, cool, Getting back to you, Paul, I mean, and
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: it's bad enough for children to do it, But how
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: did you feel about it?
• 19:20
  Speaker 2: So iconing one hundred and forty seven miles.
• 19:22
  Speaker 8: Coming from someone who's I wouldn't say spent a lot
• 19:25
  Speaker 8: of time on a bike, it was quite daunting. It
• 19:28
  Speaker 8: started off exciting at the beginning, and then as we
• 19:31
  Speaker 8: got closer and closer, the realizations started to hit that
• 19:34
  Speaker 8: it's one hundred and forty seven miles. Yeah, yeah, sat
• 19:37
  Speaker 8: on a seat.
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: Yeah, but we must must point out that it was
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: over what three days, wasn't it?
• 19:42
  Speaker 2: It was?
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: Yeah, So I'll tell you what runners through if you're
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: like a day at a time, So you know, take
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: us from where you started and how far you've got
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: on the first day.
• 19:51
  Speaker 8: So we set off from Euromney. So we set off
• 19:55
  Speaker 8: from the Marsh Academy. We cycled up through great Stone
• 20:00
  Speaker 8: and into Dungeness. We've done the route all the way
• 20:03
  Speaker 8: through to Rye. We hit Camber. We stopped off at Camber.
• 20:09
  Speaker 8: There was a caf there that supplied ice creams and
• 20:11
  Speaker 8: drinks for the boys. And then the journey took us
• 20:15
  Speaker 8: through into Ashfred, the other side of Ashford where we
• 20:19
  Speaker 8: stopped off, and that was our first camp site. So
• 20:22
  Speaker 8: we yeah, said off there and set up for the night.
• 20:26
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: So, so the first night of camping, I take it
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: you had a support team following you with all the
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: gear inside.
• 20:34
  Speaker 8: Yeah, we had a van that followed us from start
• 20:37
  Speaker 8: to finish. Really, so we had Serena, we had Faye
• 20:42
  Speaker 8: and we had the parents, Cassie and Bradley. Who the
• 20:46
  Speaker 8: charity that we were doing it for.
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: Right, Well, we'll talk about the charity in a minute,
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: but Charlie come in. And so Charlie, when that first
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: day was out of the way.
• 20:56
  Speaker 2: Did you think, do you know what I could do this?
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: Or you think, oh my what am I going to
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: do for the next two days?
• 21:02
  Speaker 3: Yeah? Looking forward, it was very hard to think of
• 21:05
  Speaker 3: the amount of males that we still had left from
• 21:07
  Speaker 3: the first day. But yeah, it was not as painful.
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: Right right, Okay, And I must, I must. This is
• 21:15
  Speaker 2: a question I think.
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: I think I ask Adrian as well because I'm curious.
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: We're gonna ever guess.
• 21:20
  Speaker 2: So how many bikes were actually on on the on
• 21:23
  Speaker 2: the course?
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: So there was there was eight youngsters and how many
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: seniors were there?
• 21:28
  Speaker 8: So there was four seniors so yeah, myself, Tommy, Frank
• 21:33
  Speaker 8: and Sam.
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: Right, so there's twelve bikes, so over three days, how
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: many punctures you reckon, Adrian?
• 21:40
  Speaker 7: I mean, these days these took the tires and everything
• 21:42
  Speaker 7: that normally a lot better than they were worring are
• 21:44
  Speaker 7: they It's got a bit a couple of days, surely
• 21:49
  Speaker 7: reckon six I'm gonna say four four, Okay, come on, Paul.
• 21:54
  Speaker 8: So there was one person that I think reached double figures,
• 21:59
  Speaker 8: and that was Sound, who was in front, who was
• 22:01
  Speaker 8: our guide.
• 22:01
  Speaker 2: Yeah, he was the man who had so.
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: He took it for the team that he drove over
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: all the nails in the road, and I think Harry
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: got I think Harry got two.
• 22:11
  Speaker 8: But yeah, the rest of us come away unscathed.
• 22:15
  Speaker 7: How do you sort that out if you get the
• 22:18
  Speaker 7: support team help you.
• 22:20
  Speaker 8: No, I think Sam he's quite an experienced cyclist. I
• 22:24
  Speaker 8: for one sat and amazed how he changed the tires
• 22:26
  Speaker 8: so quick. It was literally a couple of minutes. Oh yeah,
• 22:30
  Speaker 8: it was literally like that. I think at one point when.
• 22:34
  Speaker 2: He got but it must have been like a sticky
• 22:35
  Speaker 2: glass ro all over.
• 22:37
  Speaker 8: We got to the folks in Harbor arm on the
• 22:39
  Speaker 8: last bit, and he did decide to change his inner
• 22:41
  Speaker 8: tube and yeah he swapped over.
• 22:44
  Speaker 2: Okay, So so Charlie moving in.
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: So Charlie, you hit the first night and and do
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: you have to put your own tents up or did
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: the support team do that for you?
• 22:54
  Speaker 3: No, that's not ourselves. Some of us pop up tents
• 22:56
  Speaker 3: and something like proper tents. You have to hate down stuff.
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: Yeah, So what was the feeling like on it first night?
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: You must have been buzzing, you know, you must have been.
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: The team spirit must have been really high.
• 23:06
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean we were all tired, but we played
• 23:10
  Speaker 3: football cricket that night for quite a well quite shocking
• 23:13
  Speaker 3: you but yeah, still like helping each other on.
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, okay, And did you sleep well or was
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: it because it was a very hot weekend.
• 23:21
  Speaker 3: Wasn't it very hot, especially with the tent very crammed in?
• 23:27
  Speaker 3: But yes, let well and we're just ready for the
• 23:30
  Speaker 3: next day.
• 23:31
  Speaker 2: Really great, So Paul come back.
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: So the next day when you get up, when you're
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: all aching, did you give the warm up.
• 23:38
  Speaker 2: Before you got in your bikes? And where'd you go
• 23:40
  Speaker 2: for breakfast?
• 23:41
  Speaker 8: So breakfast was provided by the sports team, so they
• 23:45
  Speaker 8: brought us sort of cereals and crossants and things like that,
• 23:48
  Speaker 8: so coffees were made. The morning for me was probably
• 23:54
  Speaker 8: the worst bit as the tent that was advertised was
• 23:57
  Speaker 8: seven foot it wasn't seven relief to undo the tent
• 24:01
  Speaker 8: door and stretch. But the boys there were great spirits.
• 24:05
  Speaker 8: The young lads were up, we had a shower, were
• 24:08
  Speaker 8: started to pack the tents down to put back into
• 24:10
  Speaker 8: the van and yeah, there was ready to go.
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: Okay, we're at Ashford. Now what was the next port call?
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: You obviously had these days mapped out, so where were
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: you aiming for?
• 24:21
  Speaker 8: So our next port call really was warmer. So our
• 24:24
  Speaker 8: challenge was to leave Ashford, cut up through why then
• 24:29
  Speaker 8: going into Canterbury, through the Canterbury to Whitstable Herne Bay
• 24:35
  Speaker 8: and then the challenge we'll see from Whitstable to Margate
• 24:39
  Speaker 8: was the headwind was It was.
• 24:40
  Speaker 2: That the toughest bit. I think flat over there.
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: But if it's testing, if you've got the wind against
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: yourm that day, then.
• 24:48
  Speaker 8: Absolutely So we stopped at whitstaball we refueled, we got
• 24:53
  Speaker 8: the boys some pizza and some drinks and then we
• 24:57
  Speaker 8: hit the seafront, which was the probably i would say
• 25:01
  Speaker 8: the biggest challenge to a lot of the boys and
• 25:04
  Speaker 8: for us sort of adults. The headwind was so strong.
• 25:08
  Speaker 8: You've got visuals from Reculver looking through to Margate and
• 25:12
  Speaker 8: then yeah, it doesn't get any closer the longer you
• 25:15
  Speaker 8: go in.
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I've walked in and I remember years ago
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: running along that it's like a problem and i'd buy
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: the sea, isn't it and it just like it disappears
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: into the distance, isn't it?
• 25:24
  Speaker 2: Yeah? Never ending? Yeah, never ending.
• 25:26
  Speaker 8: So there was a few moments I think Tommy had
• 25:29
  Speaker 8: a few of the boys where we sort of they
• 25:33
  Speaker 8: were struggling.
• 25:34
  Speaker 2: They're really really struggling.
• 25:35
  Speaker 8: I think you could tell morale was probably getting a
• 25:38
  Speaker 8: bit low at that point. But I think there was
• 25:40
  Speaker 8: a few words that this is the reason why we're
• 25:43
  Speaker 8: doing this. Take yourself back, look what we're doing, the
• 25:47
  Speaker 8: awareness and stuff that we're doing at the moment the.
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: Other ways, isn't it Okay? So Paul, we've covered day two,
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: so day three, what was the morale like.
• 25:58
  Speaker 2: When they got up? Day three?
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: Three was really good, Charlie coming How did it feel
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: once you got going thinking this is the last day?
• 26:05
  Speaker 2: Or word? Was that kind of lift you a bit?
• 26:08
  Speaker 3: I mean, yeah, you had loads of a drone and
• 26:09
  Speaker 3: just knowing it was just you're.
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: Let's say, ten miles from New Romney. Did the older
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: change a few gears and let's get it over with
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: or what was that feeling the last bit?
• 26:19
  Speaker 2: Yeah?
• 26:20
  Speaker 8: We I think everyone was positive to get back. We
• 26:24
  Speaker 8: reached so as we come out of hive. There was
• 26:27
  Speaker 8: a few beats along the main road there, and then
• 26:30
  Speaker 8: Sam decided to have another puncture, so there was a
• 26:34
  Speaker 8: bit of a schedule break there. The boys, they were
• 26:37
  Speaker 8: so excited to get home see family. So yeah, the
• 26:41
  Speaker 8: gears certainly did sort of go up a bit.
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: Yeah, good good and Charlie when you came back, and
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: I've seen the footage of you, a lot of turning up.
• 26:50
  Speaker 2: It's just by the.
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: Station, there, wasn't it. Yeah, what was that feeling like?
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: Did you expect anybody to be there or do you think,
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: oh that's it just like away?
• 27:00
  Speaker 3: And yeah, there was a lot more people than I expected,
• 27:03
  Speaker 3: A very emotional returning.
• 27:04
  Speaker 2: Was it just to see family?
• 27:06
  Speaker 3: It was nice and just to know how much we
• 27:09
  Speaker 3: raised when we got back.
• 27:10
  Speaker 2: It was really nice. Yeah.
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: Yeah, Paul, so you got back, I mean did you
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: find that the adults are emotional as well?
• 27:18
  Speaker 2: Yeah? I think you all I think was quiet for
• 27:21
  Speaker 2: the first few minutes.
• 27:22
  Speaker 8: It suddenly hit obviously what we had achieved with the boys.
• 27:26
  Speaker 2: It wasn't easy.
• 27:27
  Speaker 5: It was a lot harder than we thought.
• 27:30
  Speaker 8: It was nice to get a nice cold beer, I
• 27:32
  Speaker 8: must say, Kevin, obviously you supported for any charities that
• 27:35
  Speaker 8: we've done. So I appreciate you both for inviting us
• 27:38
  Speaker 8: in today more than welcome.
• 27:40
  Speaker 2: So we say goodbye to him individually.
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: So goodbye to you, Paul, thank you, Goodbye to you,
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: elphye bye, Goodbye to the hero, Charlie Well, and Charlie.
• 27:48
  Speaker 7: Thank you, and goodbye to mom in the background.
• 27:50
  Speaker 2: Yeah, of course I'm very quiet. Yeah, yeah, she's waving.
• 27:54
  Speaker 2: So what a great morning that was.
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: That was a Saturday that they came in for the
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: whole hour. We could have spoken for two or three hours,
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: and I've had a real job to edit edit that
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: one down to ten minutes from an hour show.
• 28:07
  Speaker 2: But I think you get the gist.
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: There eight youngsters facing a massive cycling challenge of one
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: hundred and forty seven miles over three days, but they
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: raised thousands of pounds for Young Lies versus Cancer.
• 28:18
  Speaker 2: Well, a great achievement.
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: So we're going to play this song and this is
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: the only one I can find about cycling in the playlist.
• 28:24
  Speaker 2: There's only one, and it's Queen. So sit back and
• 28:26
  Speaker 2: listen to a bicycle race, bicyclecle.
• 28:31
  Speaker 4: I want
• 28:37
  Speaker 2: I want to ride my b I want to ride