GillHB & Friends

Honor Marks was Gill's very first podcast guest in January and they chatted all about her thriving gite business in the South of France. Covid and lockdown meant no guests. Gill finds out what Honor did, how she has survived and developed a whole new business. They also chat about how Honor has taken up the baton on being an 'authentic' mature woman on social media.

When she was going through her divorce Janet was looking for support from someone objective to help her understand what was happening and navigate her way through. Through coaching she realised that she had been in a co-dependent relationship with a narcissist and learnt how to understand and deal with the behaviours through her divorce. Janet explains the traits of a narcissist and the reason people become co-dependent in the relationship, having believed things were their fault.

Irina grew up in Romania with a mixture of logical and creative thinkers surrounding her. Writing poetry was the one constant through her life - from childhood to a career in the corporate world. A chance meeting lead her to publish her first poetry book and eventually take the decision to follow her passion as an author and poet.

Sophie Black grew up in a small town in Derbyshire but that didn't stop her from wanting to become a film maker and director. Gill finds out what inspired Sophie at a young age to want to make films and how she is now, not only building a film career, but helping to forge a film industry outside of London. Gill also asks Sophie about the challenges she has faced being female.

Helen's a former journalist who was searching for 'what next' after a career break. She discovered the answer was staring her in the face, creating social media content. It brings together all the things she loves, writing, taking photos, videos and ultimately starting a conversation. She now helps others to grow an 'engaged' online community that supports them and their business.

How many people go on holiday to a Greek island and are so moved by what they see they feel they have to do something? Gill chats to Joel who did go on holiday to a small Greek island back in 2015 and witnessed first hand the plight of not only the refugees arriving but also that of the people who lived on the island. The result of that holiday ended up with the charity asnteamuk.org being created.

In the final episode of her mini series Gill talks to Stephen Avery from Back Door Shoes. She finds out where the idea came from to make the shoes and how they have grown the business organically over the years. This year has presented it's own challenges of dealing with the changes Covid19 has brought with major events being cancelled. As a family business Stephen is passionate about building and maintaining that personal feel with their customers.

Gill chats to amateur fruit and veg grower Joe Harrison about what lead him to take on an allotment. Joe talks about his memories as a child and how he is hoping to make similar memories for his 3 young children that will give them a love of growing their own when they are older. He's not only into growing his own food but into recycling as much as he can from his home. Nothing gets thrown away without thinking how it could be used on his allotment - from an old wooden spoon to food containers.

Gill chats to Rich Pennock from Haws Watering Cans, a family business who care about the work they do as a company to minimise their impact on the environment. Gill finds out about how they make their watering cans and also all the things you need to consider before buying one. Rich talks about Haws involvement with the charity 'Treesisters' and being members of 1% for the planet.

Gardens are full of plants and flowers as well as fruit and veg. In this episode Gill talks to Amanda Haines a horticulturist, who also used to be an adult education teacher for students with a mental disability. Amanda shares her story about: how she became a horticulturist, the benefits and sense of achievement she witnessed in her students from growing their own, as well as how she went about redesigning her current 'beach' garden, which was only shingle when she moved in.