Fitz in the community - Ep.6 - Teignmouth

Happy new year! Welcome to 2024's first airing of Fitz in the community, in this episode Fitz talk about podcasts on a podcast, meets the Sherrif of Devon and finished all with a glass of Gin!

Listen to it here or on Spotify, Amazon Music, Google play or read the full transcript of the podcast below.

0:00:08 - Fitz
Fitz in the community, out and about by the seaside. Today we're in Teignmouth. I'm just looking at Teignmouth pier. With me today two legends from the world of football Dean Edwards and Colin Lee.

0:00:18 - Dean Edwards
We're outside Teighnmouth View Pavilions where me and Colin are going to start, along with yourself, Dave. The new podcast Back on the Ball.

0:00:29 - Fitz
Right, we're doing a podcast on a podcast from a recording for a podcast. Brilliant, whose idea was this? I blame you, lee.

0:00:37 - Colin Lee
Well, actually it was Dean's idea, but, yeah, we think we've got a really interesting podcast coming up involving all three of us, as you know. But you know it's to do with sport, but all sport. Obviously, it will side a little bit towards football because of our background. It'll be based around our careers really and our experiences, the people we've met, the stories we've got. You have to listen to the stories we've got because we've got a lot Torquey feature in those. Torquey will definitely feature. Yes, I think it's something that the supporters and people in the area will hopefully enjoy it. There will be truth within it. It's not all bad. There was a lot of good. You know there was a lot of good when the era that I came back, if you like, wembley twice getting promotion back into the Football League. It'll all be covered. Everything will be covered.

0:01:28 - Fitz
Can I remember meeting both of you at Torquey United. Good times for you, Dean, there.

0:01:33 - Dean Edwards
Yeah, always great Times at Torquey United, especially as a player. We had one of the most successful periods in the club's history, Obviously finished under a bit of a cloud, but you know, waiting for times to bring stories out. Maybe it's the right time now. So, obviously, me and Colin have spoke about. We've waited a long time to put our version of events over and maybe this might be the right time. But it's not only Torquey that we'll be talking about. Obviously, Colin played for Chelsea, Tottenham. We both had connections with Wolves me as a player, Colin as a manager and obviously I played for Exeter City as well. So, yeah, it's going to be very, very interesting.

0:02:14 - Fitz
Was that a great career? Did you enjoy it? Could you have done anything else?

0:02:18 - Dean Edwards
I don't think I could, to be honest with you, although sometimes I may have been forced into doing something else because you know what a precarious career is. Obviously, if I look back now, I probably wouldn't have changed much.

0:02:30 - Fitz
Colin.

0:02:32 - Colin Lee
I think you always look back and think you know, if I'd done that I could have been there. I mean, I was on the verge of an England cap at one stage and didn't quite make it. Peter With actually got chosen in front of me, which you know I can respect that highly. But I think the biggest disappointment for me within my career was actually injuries, because injuries prevented me making more appearances and I think it definitely prevented me from becoming a better player. You know I was a bit of a fitness fanatic when I was playing. You know, highly, highly committed to both training and playing, obviously, but I think that was hindered by injuries. So that's the sad part of my career.

I went into coaching. Coaching was my love. I've just literally finished a year ago running a football school down here for Chelsea for under 13 kids massively successful. You know seeing five, six year old kids coming into our school and going away with something massive, ie being signed up for Exocity Academy. We've got, I think, about 15 players up there at the moment that came through our schooling. So there's a lot to be proud of.

Anyone can be a manager that was said to me once, I must admit. But a lot of people haven't got the ability, they haven't got the I'm not sure what I can say on your program, but the BAWLS to become a manager. You know it's difficult. You know I've stood out in front of what 25, 30,000 people who know better than you, and then, all of a sudden, your substitution scores and you turn to the crowd and say, well, actually I do know what I'm doing. You know, and I've done that on a couple of occasions. I can remember one in particular I've worked for a lot of interesting people, a lot of people that I admire, a lot of people that were there for the wrong reasons, as Dean said just now. You know they're there to build their profile up, take as much money out of as they could, and then get away and then just disappear. You know, and you know that's not what football's about. You know, I don't think there's many rich people who own football clubs.

Having said that, obviously you're looking at the. The Saudi Arabia and those type of people are in a different league, you know, but I'm talking in the lower leagues. You know, it does take a certain person, a certain type of person, to to buy a football club and to run a football club and, believe me, it's not easy. You know, I was the Chief Executive at Torquey United. Every single penny we spent there obviously had to go through the board of directors and be passed and there's a lot of emotion. You know, if you're a supporter and you're on the board of directors, sometimes you get swayed by that. That sort of emotion, that sort of feeling within you that, yeah, I think it's the right thing to do. But if you were actually running a real business, you probably would say no.

0:05:33 - Fitz
Listen, the weather's turning against us. It's getting rough out there. So look, thank you so much. Back on the ball. It'll be coming to a podcasterie near you. What do you call it? Where do you shove your podcasts? Leave?

0:05:48 - Dean Edwards
it in the scene, leave it.

0:05:51 - Fitz
Thank you, gentlemen, it's been an absolute pleasure and, as I say, right behind us, the weather sweeping in across the channel. We started in sunshine, we end in mist, but thank you for joining us today. Pleasure Dean Edwards and Colin Lee in their brand new podcast, coming to a podcasterie near you and back on the ball. Yes, it is a word. Go and look it up podcasterie under purr. Thank you, you're listening to Fits in the Community, courtesy of Clear Sky Publishing. Let's go and meet a man who has an incredible title, an incredible job and a magnificent background. He was the Bishop of Plymouth. He was the Bishop of Creditan. His name Nick McKinnell. He is now the High Sheriff of Devon. But what is a High Sheriff? What does a High Sheriff do? What did a High Sheriff do? Let's find out.

0:06:50 - Nick McKinnell
Well, back along in Saxon and Normand times, you would be the King's person to keep law and order in your shire, in your county. So it was the Shire Reeve. So collecting taxes, raising the militia, keeping law and order, executing criminals, raising a posse, hue and cry, all of that sort of thing. So that would happen from now, suppose, about the 10th to the 13th century, and then from about the 1300, all those powers slowly had taken away.

Lord left tenants were introduced, a size has come, visiting judges. They still stayed responsible for raising taxes for a bit, and if a king and all his entourage would come down to your county, you were the one who offered hospitality to them. So it was a job that everybody wanted to get out of. You just hold it for a year, but people wanted to get out of it, which is where the tradition comes of the name on the vellum roe being Pritt, so that people couldn't rub it out. But the modic, the modic even these days, with a bodkin, a silver bodkin, which I've seen Pritt's the name of the appointed High Sheriff.

Now today, which is a bit different. Really. Luckily for Devon, I don't do any of those things, but it is charitable and civic and ceremonial. So if there's a visit from a royal member of the royal family, you're actually technically first in line to meet them. You raise money for charities.

I go to a lot of civic events that I get invited to, but particularly your task with the criminal justice system. So I have sat in court with judges, I've been out with probation, been out with the police. We've got three prisons in Devon so I've spent time in each of them in a voluntary capacity and talked and tried to understand some of the issues that there are around the criminal justice system and there are lots of voluntary groups as well. I've particularly got involved with rehabilitating offenders, because people come out of prison with 78 quid and a travel warrant home, often on a Friday night. They're moving that to a Thursday and for a lot of people who don't have a family to go back to, that's really tough. You're likely to go back into your old ways if you're not careful.

0:09:00 - Fitz
You are at the heart of our community. That's the simple truth of this. Because the community matters so much in Devon.

0:09:07 - Nick McKinnell
Well, I think you become aware of how important law is that you know, without the rule of law, without those to enforce it and to ensure that things are done properly, you are either at the mercy of the mob or of a dictator or whatever. So I've come to get an increasing respect for all of those involved in the criminal justice system, where there are enormously compassionate people, mostly wanting the best for the offender, but acknowledging also, you know, that victims have suffered, but a lot of people really, throughout the system. It is creaking. So a lack of resources you know the weight of the system do make it quite difficult, you know, to work fairly within it. But I'm truly impressed with people, particularly here in Devon, who I've met. What is it about Devon?

0:09:56 - Fitz
Are you Devon born and bred? I don't know.

0:09:58 - Nick McKinnell
I'm Devon bred. I was actually born in Liverpool but we came down here when I was aged three, so moved to Exeter, to Whipton, and then I grew up in Bradnidge and then, after being away from it, I came back to be Vicar of Haverly and then down into Plymouth for 18 years and then Bishop of Credit and then Bishop of Plymouth. So I retired about 18, 18 months ago. So there's been a really interesting job to do. I think one of the things about Devon, or one of the things about this role, is connecting people up across the different sectors of it. So we're not very joined up in lots of ways. Lots of little district councils and so on. This great lump of Dartmoor in the middle and I find people in the north don't know very similar people in the south and east and west is the same. So we're not helped geographically and we're not helped in the local government system. But we are a great county to be in.

0:10:48 - Fitz
How can the community help you? How can the people of Devon get in touch with you? Can they get in touch with you? What would you like to see in the way of change when it comes to Devon?

0:11:00 - Nick McKinnell
People can get in touch through the devon at highsheriffscom email address at the half. What would I like to see? I would like to see a cohesion within the county, and both are welcome to those who move in, which is an increasing number of people, of course, but a real respect for old Devonians as well and for some of our traditions. So the challenge in all of life is to be both sort of faithful to the past and contemporary in the expression. And having been a bishop in Plymouth for a number of years and a Vicar here too, I'm just aware of some of the disparities that there are and how tough life is, both in some impoverished rural areas but also well, in all urban areas, because, you know, torbay isn't without its troubles, nor is Exeter. So I think that sort of caring for one another is kind of at the heart of what makes a community work well, and that means being open to just looking after people who are different from ourselves.

0:12:03 - Fitz
Hi, Sheriff, thank you very much indeed. You couldn't do something about the potholes, could you?

0:12:08 - Nick McKinnell
I'm sure the government has it in mind.

0:12:10 - Fitz
The High Sheriff of Devon, the right Reverend Nicholas McKinnell. Now, dementia has been very close to my family and to my heart for many years. My mother passed away in 2009, and I had to say goodbye to her in 2005. She lost the last what five years of her life to this cruel disease. Having to say goodbye twice is heartbreaking. But so much work has been done over the last couple of years, which has been truly remarkable. But the figures are still incredibly high. Especially in Devon, I ran into a gentleman called Ian Sheriff who has put his heart and soul into the study of dementia, especially within this county.

0:13:01 - Ian Sheriff
It's a major issue, not only in Devon but around the globe. But in Devon, I suppose, one of the big issues is our rural nature of our communities. Not only the rural nature, but you've got rural isolated, so you've got Dartmoor and also we have the coastal communities as well. So how do you cover that? Well, what we're doing at the moment is the common denominator across all our rural community is parish councils, and so parish councils are stepping up to the plate. So just outside Plymouth we have Brixton, newton, noss and then three other parish councils. They got together and they now run services five days a week for people with dementia. They have a dementia support worker and two support workers.

0:13:52 - Ian Sheriff
In Ivy Bridge. They are working with 13 parish councils and I managed to get our prime minister, not Richie, the one before to sign up a letter and send it out to 10,000 parish councils around England with a document that was saying this is what you can do as a parish council. Would you do it? And the feedback was 80% have taken up the cudgel. So I'm hoping in a couple of years' time that will embed itself around the UK.

0:14:27 - Fitz
So North Devon, West Devon, they're all coming together slowly, Slowly, I think the word is yes there.

0:14:34 - Ian Sheriff
It's about changing the perception of dementia, and it's not something that's out there. We've got to make our today's service dementia-friendly. That's not hard, it's not rocket science. It's just accepting people. That does away with a stigma and makes people included in their communities.

0:14:54 - Fitz
We should mention we have come to a church service today and it was designed for those who have dementia, a much-reduced, and it was a very pleasant service. But you could see that things have been adapted and changed and that can be done in any sector of society.

0:15:10 - Ian Sheriff
I mean, we've done it with schools. One school in Plymouth a few years ago, one dementia-friendly school of the year at Nationaly, and that was Stoke Damrell, and it was about saying how do we engage young people to think about dementia? So we did it in maths, English sport, drama. And we've done it with airlines. Every airline in the UK, every airport, is now inspected every year by the CAA to meet certain standards for hidden disability, and so it's not rocket science, it's about how you do things.

0:15:47 - Fitz
Bluntly how many people in Devon have dementia or are living with dementia?

0:15:54 - Ian Sheriff
I think I'll have to go and check my figures. But in Plymouth we have over 3,500, and then you start magnifying that with our communities around Devon, across the United Kingdom 900,000, but we reckon that's not the right figure because we know a lot of people haven't got their diagnosis and we think it could up to be well over a million people in the UK. And the other sad thing there is getting a diagnosis. There are people waiting in some of our communities around the country up to 18 months to get a diagnosis and that's wrong. That needs to change.

0:16:41 - Fitz
Ian Sheriff, and I'd like to thank him and his team for the advancements that they have made in a greater understanding of dementia. It's quite remarkable. Now let's end on a slightly cheerier note. Anyone fancy a glass of gin and tonic. I tell you what the amount of gin, the amount of distilleries, the amount of labels that are appearing, especially in Devon, is quite staggering. And I walked past a gentleman who was smiling and offering me a glass of Salcombe gin, one of the biggest names from Devon now spreading across the world.

0:17:19 - Howard Davis
My name is Howard Davis. I'm one of the co-founders of Silcombe Distilling Company. We make Silcombe gin down at our beautiful water side distillery in South Devon, in Silcombe.

0:17:29 - Fitz
I was trying to work out the history of the sudden change in gin, because suddenly there were stills and distilleries popping up everywhere.

0:17:37 - Howard Davis
Yes, if you go back about 20 years or so, the law used to state that you needed a minimum size of still to get a licence to be able to distill gin, and I forget exactly what the minimum size was, but it was huge. You'd need a massive set up straight away to be allowed to make it. The government then relaxed the laws and allowed people to start with even the tiniest of even down to a one litre still to start a business. So that really opened the door and enabled lots of little artisan craft distilleries to crop up, and since then there's been an absolute sort of flourish of fantastic small batched gin being created.

0:18:08 - Fitz
There are everywhere. And then somebody told me all rum is the next one to go, but that doesn't seem to have taken off.

0:18:14 - Howard Davis
Well, I think it is growing. I mean, I love rum as well. I like most spirits. For that one that doesn't sound too bad, definitely grown a lot and continues to do so. I don't think you can get necessarily to quite the scale of gin, but they're still seeing some really nice small batch, great quality rum is coming out on the market.

0:18:30 - Fitz
Okay, take me back to the days of Tiny Howard sat in a classroom. What did you want to do?

0:18:37 - Howard Davis
I don't think I never really knew what I wanted to do. Actually, I mean, without boring you with my whole life story, I sort of did the standard thing and went to work in the city in London for a number of years doing management consultancy.

Initially, when I left uni Dull, and then to be honest, it was pretty dull, but then after a while really had a hand cream to have my own business and have a product that I'm really proud of here in the Southwest, in Devon and Angus and I got talking. We'd previously taught sailing in Silicon when we were teenagers and then when we were sort of 18 or so I'm saying that for legal purposes we'd just have a drink after work, normally a gin and tonic, up at the yacht club in Silicon, and that was really the seed of thought in our mind. So then, going back sort of seven or eight years, gus and I met up again and thought what a wonderful thing it would be to create a gin distillery in Silicon, and that's what we did. And now, if I sponsored you earlier a question, we now make rum as well as gin.

Oh right, I didn't realise yeah we're quite proud of the rum, actually, because a lot of the rum is in the UK. There's lots of great rum's here, but mainly they're imported and just blended here in the UK, whereas we actually make our rum completely from scratch. So we start with molasses, which is a byproduct of the sugar production process. We ferment the molasses with yeast and Demerara sugar, then we distill the wash from that on a 60 litre still. And then we've imported Bourbon casks X Bourbon whiskey casks from New York State and we mature the rum in those casks in our distillery in Silicon to make an outstanding gold rum.

That's incredible, all of this in Devon, within the community? Absolutely, yeah, and we're very proud to be doing that, and it's lovely to be doing it in a location as beautiful as where we are and our distilleries right by the water as well. In fact, we're one of the few distilleries in the world that you can reach by boat, I suppose.

0:20:18 - Fitz
So yeah, but I think I jumped on an aircraft and I was off at a gin and tonic and it was yours.

0:20:23 - Howard Davis
Yeah, that'd be right. We've been on Virgin Atlantic for some time now with our Rose San Meridian, so, yeah, very pleased with that. It's good. And we've actually recently just launched in the duty free shops across about seven or 10 different UK airports as well. Now for both that and our start point gin. So that's a really nice area for the business to be developing in, as well as our export business, which is growing as well.

0:20:44 - Fitz
Okay, that's what I was going to ask. 2024,. What does that herald for you, are you?

0:20:48 - Howard Davis
exporting. We have quite a nice presence in North America at the moment, particularly in the New England area. So New York, boston, massachusetts, new Jersey as well, that whole area there is great. We've also actually started to do more down in East Asia as well, so we're in Japan and China as well. Quite a few countries in Europe too, and actually our non-alcoholic spirits in New London light have started to really take off in the Middle East too. So that's quite an interesting area of development for the business too.

0:21:18 - Fitz
Non-alcoholic gin I've tried. About five years ago it was very, very chemically. Now, well, it's perfect.

0:21:26 - Howard Davis
Well, yeah, so let's take. I mean, it's funny that whole thing, because if you think about what even happened with beer, go back 20 or 30 beers, I'm not going to name it, but there was one beer brand. It was like the only non-alcoholic beer brand that was in existence then and frankly it wasn't very nice. And then it's all come on and now I think there's loads of fantastic non-alcoholic beer brands and the same with spirits as well. Go back five years or so, really, the non-alcoholic spirits. I didn't think they were very good, but now it's really got a lot better and I'm a little bit biased. But our New London light product, well, we've got three in the range. They are delicious and you think you're having an alcoholic drink. It's the same experience amongst your friends, the same occasion. You don't feel left out. I know that beer. It tasted of copper.

Yeah yeah, yeah, it wasn't nice, I'm not going to name it it wasn't nice.

0:22:10 - Fitz
No, no, no, we can't name it. Look, Howard. Thank you very much indeed, I'll leave you. You're doing a perfect tasting today. What are people going for, by the way? What's the favourite?

0:22:20 - Howard Davis
Okay. So it varies. It varies every time I do it Today. Actually, our original classic gin start point is I've been selling loads today. People love it, you can't go wrong. It's won gold at the World Gin Awards, but also lots of interest in some of our more recent ones. We've launched a gin called Four Seas, which is part of our partnership with the Royal National Lifeboat Institution in which we donate 10% of our sales to the R&L Eye, and this gin is smoked lemon, elderberry and sea buckthorn and that's getting some wonderful interest as well.

0:22:49 - Fitz
So yeah, brilliant Howard, thank you very much indeed and have a good new year. 2024 is going to be big.

0:22:56 - Howard Davis
Yeah, looking forward to it. Thank you, Fitz.

0:22:58 - Fitz
And cheers to Howard there at Salcombe Gin. Well, it's been a busy programme. We have nipped about a bit, to say the least. We've had the high sheriff of Devon, we've had gin, we've had dementia awareness and also football. Where will we end up in 2024? Who knows? I don't. This has been a clear sky publishing production. We'll speak soon.