Sussex & Surrey Soapbox
The 'Sussex & Surrey Soapbox' Podcast is a local roundtable plus special guests, exploring the issues that matter most. We tackle the topics that spark debate, challenge perspectives, and shape our communities — always with balance, openness, and respect.
Our panel brings together a diverse range of voices to unpack complex and sometimes emotive subjects, offering thoughtful discussion, differing viewpoints, and factual insight. While we don’t shy away from the tough conversations, we believe they’re best had with curiosity, good humour, and a focus on what truly matters.
Search 'Sussex & Surrey Soapbox' & join our Facebook group - a 'Village Hall' vibe with a community discussing topics from different perspectives and always with respect... keyboard warriors not welcome!
You can catch soundbites from the latest episode on local community radio (SUSY 103.4, Meridian FM) - a shorter, accessible version of the podcast.
The latest episode with the full conversation is available here and across all major platforms. We love to hear your thoughts and suggestions, come join us in our Facebook group, or leave a comment & subscribe via Spotify etc....
Thank you for your interest, Clive Hilton.
Sussex & Surrey Soapbox
Tess' Tea Party '26
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Best Bits of Tess' Tropical Tea Party '26
Alongside the Sussex & Surrey Soapbox podcast, where we bring people together to have balanced conversations about the issues shaping our communities, we wanted to take that same philosophy beyond the microphones.
Rather than simply talking about community, we wanted to create it.
The hall is buzzing. The BBQ queue never seems to end. Children are laughing, balloons are floating overhead, Rock Choir are warming up, the raffle table is overflowing, and our microphones are live from the heart of Tess' Tropical Tea Party at Broadfield Community Centre, Crawley.
What looks like a brilliant free family event quickly reveals something much bigger.
Behind every burger served by the incredible Tess' Kitchen team, every smiling volunteer in a pink cowboy hat, every sponsor banner, every performer taking to the stage, and every raffle ticket sold is one shared purpose: bringing our community together while raising vital funds for Crawley Open House, supporting local people experiencing homelessness and hardship.
Across this special Sussex & Surrey Soapbox episode we meet the people who made it all happen. Hear from Tess and Iqbal Khan on why feeding people is about far more than food, alongside members of the Events Team who spent months bringing hundreds of people together. We chat with sponsors and supporters including Asda Crawley, discover how local businesses rallied behind the event, and hear why community partnerships matter now more than ever.
You'll also hear the reality facing Crawley Open House. With its hostel full, resource centre under constant demand and food parcels supporting families every single day, the need has never been greater as many continue to feel the pressure of the cost-of-living crisis.
Thankfully, the afternoon is packed with joy too.
WAVE School of Dance kick off the live broadcast on SUSY 103.4, Sharon's Music gets everyone dancing, the Rock Choir fill the hall with huge harmonies. Craig and Ash with CRASH Music deliver an energetic live set and debut their powerful new song Racing Minds, bringing conversations around mental health into everyday language. The Y.E.S Project show off their dance talent and we talk Gossops Rocks 2026 (Sunday 19th July from midday).
Lord Geoffrey the Balloon Guy keeps children smiling with balloon creations, Tim the Magician amazes families, Creative Crawley with artist Areej Abdi inspires young imaginations along the theme of play, CCYS are outside with face-painting and games, community organisations showcase their work - Crawley Combat Academy, Crawley Spinal Health and somewhere along the way volunteers, unsuspecting guests and the soapbox's James Tidy & Iqbal Khan find themselves laughing in the charity stocks getting a soaking!!
More than anything, this captures what happens when local businesses, volunteers, charities, performers, community groups and residents all pull in the same direction. There are no screens, no arguments and no algorithms—just neighbours connecting with neighbours, raising money for a fantastic local cause and proving that community spirit is alive and well in Crawley.
If you care about stronger communities, tackling homelessness, supporting local charities, or simply want a reminder of what people can achieve together, press play, share this episode with friends and neighbours, and if you enjoy it, please subscribe and leave us a review.
Bringing the community together, proudly sponsored by Goaco, West Green Window Cleaning & SUSY 103.4 - THANK YOU!
And a HUGE thank you to everyone that came along to support the event in person or by listening to the broadcast.... Deanna and the team at ASDA, Crawley and the incredible committee: Clare Mills, Andy Brown, Paul Taylor-Burr, Mags Rahman, Amanda Foster, Ceara Mcerlean and of course Iqbal Khan supported by the amazing Tess Kitchen crew with Alys conducting the kitchen!
Also special thanks to Craig and Ash - CRASH Music for the hours of prep together leading up to the event. James Tidy for being a good sport and helping wherever needed, Luke for staging & lights, Prime Response for keeping us safe, CB Events for the outdoor games and Emma Hollamby Photography for the perfect event pictures & reels capturing the special moments. Finally (but not least) my family for their support (and patience) over recent months plus my SUSY colleagues - Tony Williams, Jacq Inwood, Neil Munday and Geoff Rogers for putting up with me.
THANK YOU, Clive Hilton.
Please click on 'Send a text' above & join our Facebook group to share your perspective and suggestions for future topics - Thank you for your interest! Clive.
Ladies
Live Broadcast Kick-Off In Broadfield
SPEAKER_03and gentlemen, may I have your attention, please? The wait is over, and the stage is set. The show starts in five. Come on, let's go. Four, three, two, two, one, one.
SPEAKER_07Live from the heart of Broadfield. This is Tessa's Tropical Tea Party. Raising funds for Crawley Open House. Only on Suzy 103.4.
Meet Tess And Tess’s Kitchen
SPEAKER_15So we're just going to explain to people at home what is happening, and Wave School of Dance are very hot here, ready to do their next dance, which we're going to do very shortly. Jack, enjoying it? Yeah, I am very much. Neil Monday. It's a great afternoon. Tony Williams over to you, talking to Ichbel Khan and his mum Tess, which is where we get the name from.
SPEAKER_16This was the thing, Clive. This was the thing, because to everybody who's come along today, this is Tess's tea party. This lady here is Tess, and she deserves a huge round of applause. The very own Tess. Give her a huge round. Come on. Tess well done, Tess.
SPEAKER_14Hi.
SPEAKER_16How do you you didn't you weren't in on the beginning of this because it was your son, wasn't it, that came up with this?
SPEAKER_05Yes. What did you think? He's a good boy. And you run Tess's Kitchen. Yeah, it's Tessie's Kitchen. What does it actually do? Is it make the food for poor people in every weeks twice twice a day?
SPEAKER_15I'll tell you what, yeah. Three times a week, yeah, across Crawley, Iqbel Khan, Tess's Kitchen. They feed anybody who needs food.
SPEAKER_14Isn't that right, Ike? Yeah, anybody who's hungry, uh, if we first started off as bagball Sundays, I was just feeding one day a week. Um and they just evolved from spag bowl sundays. We're now doing three days a week. I have been slacking the past couple weeks, but it's been the heat, everything else. We'll be back to work from tomorrow. But we also get a lot of help from the crawley uh Kudwara as well, the Sikh Temple. They provide food every Sunday, so I don't cook on Sundays anymore. They do that, they pack it, I just collect it, hand it out. Tuesdays and Thursdays, we're out in town and broadfield handing out three meals.
SPEAKER_15And this is cue on the barbecue at Tess's Kitchen because I know when we went out, we went out in Crawley, was it back in March? And we fed people and we said, wouldn't it be great not to be limited to 30 dishes, but to be able to feed a few hundred?
SPEAKER_16He's feeding people, but I'm hungry, are you? I'm sure we haven't even had water yet. We're giving away water. I haven't even heard a bottle of water. I was gonna say, should we go remark the kitchen?
SPEAKER_15Hungry, Igbel. It's hot out there. And for those here at Tess's Kitchen, what are we serving up? Q on the barbecue, what are we doing?
SPEAKER_14Today we have jerk chicken, lemon pepper chicken, and another garlicky herb chicken.
SPEAKER_15Garlic and herb, just heard it from the kitchen.
SPEAKER_14Hot dogs, nuggets, and burgers.
SPEAKER_15Big round of applause for Tess's Kitchen.
SPEAKER_14They are doing incredible this afternoon. I just want to say thank you to Premier. They provide all the roles, Zamzan Butchers, they've been supporting the works for a long time. Foods Express, and obviously the main man Clive. He's giving me all the credit, he's done everything. Everything. I just turned on.
SPEAKER_15Oh, I think honestly, there's so many people that have made it happen. And when we talk about thank you to people, Asta in Crawley, Deanna and the team at Asta in Crawley, big round of applause because a lot of the food is from Asta in Crawley. Also, Aldi have helped. We've had lots and lots of people coming together. Uh, we've got the rock choir turning up, they're going to be live in the moment. And um Sharon Music is up
How To Donate - susyradio.com
SPEAKER_15next.
SPEAKER_16Oh, by the way, before anybody goes any further and talking about all that stuff, if you want to give to this uh effort today, there are QR codes around the place. Uh go scan them and well, give some money.
SPEAKER_15And if you're listening at home and you're enjoying this, it's a little bit different because Susie, we love getting out into the community uh and raising money for Crawley Open House. So if you're listening at home, go to susie radio.com. You'll see a link there. You can click and give any amount that you feel comfortable giving uh as a way of appreciation. Iqbal and Tess, you've done a wonderful job today. Thank you so much. I just want to hear your mum say that you're a good boy one more time. Because I quite like that. Go on, Tess. How good is Ikbal? Very, very good, very, very good. I like that.
SPEAKER_05I've very good boy.
SPEAKER_15He's always good. And what's how old is he? This one is one year old. Hello. Hi. One year old, it's lots of fun here in Broadfield.
SPEAKER_07Tess's tea party bringing the community together, proudly sponsored by GoACO, West Green Window Cleaning, and Susie 103.4.
SPEAKER_15Now
Sharon's Music Brings The Room Alive
SPEAKER_15listen, we've got Sharon warming up on the stage, ready to do a couple of Abertunes, also a whole bunch of other stuff as well. If you're listening outside, if you want to come in, because I know the hall emptied because it was so hot, if you want to come back inside because we're just about to start with Sharon.
SPEAKER_07And now, live at Tess's tea party in Tropical Broadfield. It's Sharon's music.
SPEAKER_15It is tropical, and thank you, Sharon, for joining us. Over to you.
SPEAKER_17You're very welcome. Hello everybody. Let's get you on this floor and get some happiness in this room. Come on, we're gonna do some mamma mia. That's it, come on. I've been cheated by you since I don't know when So I've made up a mind. Cause we are all family. That's why raising money from my community. Come on.
unknownHere we go.
SPEAKER_18We are family.
SPEAKER_07Live from the heart of Broadfield, this is Tessa's Tropical Tea Party. Raising funds for Crawley Open House. Only on Suzy 103.4.
ASDA Crawley On Community Support
SPEAKER_15So Tessa's Tea Party here, and we got Diana from Azda in Crawley. But legendary. Without Deanna, this wouldn't have been possible. And without Azda's support. Thank you very much.
SPEAKER_14Thank you very, very much. Um with everyone who's got it together. The car's turned off.
SPEAKER_15I look forward to next year. Ah, the cues. Deanna, without your help with all of the salads and all of the food, thank you for everything you do in the community.
SPEAKER_24Absolutely my pleasure. Thank you.
SPEAKER_15And this is Azta in Crawley. You do a lot for the community, don't you? Tell us, tell us what else you do.
SPEAKER_24So we do goods donations to charities so you can reach out, we do hampers, we do food donations that could have done for this event, and much, much more. We also do I do outreach work, so I help to volunteer. All you need to do is reach out to me and I'm happy to help. And we do so much more, more in our foyer. We bring charities in so they can fundraise themselves and um do event awareness.
SPEAKER_15And you've done you've done amazingly. I mean, I've been on a number of trips, you've helped me out with a few trolley loads. Tessa's Kitchen have used it to feed everyone here. So a big thank you again. If anyone wants to get in touch about the community projects, how might they do that?
SPEAKER_24Um you can email me through community understore crawley at asda.uk um or you can call the store and they will direct you through to my number.
SPEAKER_15Thank you very much, Diana. Pass on our thanks to all of your team as well. That's Asda in Crawley, phenomenal, thank you.
SPEAKER_24You're welcome, thank you.
SPEAKER_15Now Iqbal, how wet does Ichbow look? It's just been in the stocks. How wet does he look? Very can we raise money, Crawley open how so you getting sponge? I I believe so. I mean if not then. Who's got more sponges? You or James Tidy?
SPEAKER_14I did. And they got a bucket. A whole bucket, I think.
SPEAKER_15As I was in the stocks, they bought a bucket and Lakeem, Lakeem had many votes. Where was he this afternoon? Good question. Uh we'll call him next time. Thank you very much. Thanks both.
SPEAKER_17Thank you. You are my dancing queen. Thank you so much. You've been fantastic.
SPEAKER_12Do keep donating. You're very good, of course. Take care, I'll see you later on the Shaman's Music.
SPEAKER_15Take care, that's the brilliant Sharon Music with an Abbott tribute, lots of other tunes as well. Live from Broadfield. This is Suzy 103.4 having fun in the community. And if you're outside, do go and check out Lord Jeffrey the balloon guy is in the other hall. Also, Creative Crawley are doing magic as well. So head around to the community hall next door.
SPEAKER_07Raising funds for Crawley Open House only on Susie103.4.
Creative Crawley And Lord Geoffrey Balloon Banter
SPEAKER_15We are live in Broadfield and uh we've got the rock choir just preparing. And over in the other hall, we've got Tony with any luck about to talk to Lord Jeffrey the balloon guy.
SPEAKER_16Tony, are you there? Yeah, I am actually before we get to the balloon guy. I've got to mention the other people who are rather busy uh today uh from Creative Crawley. This is the cool hall over here, by the way. That's the hot and sweaty one where you are, and some great entertainment going on, but there's some really cool stuff going on over here. And uh Kira from uh Creative Crawley is here right now and uh just wants to make a little appeal.
SPEAKER_00Thank you, Tony. I hope everyone's having a great day. If you fancy getting Arty, we are inside and we have got many workshops going on, from printing to creating to designing. Come inside after you've had something to eat, cool down and take part in our art workshop.
SPEAKER_16Definitely the cool hall, isn't it?
SPEAKER_00Oh, it is. I mean, you know, we're getting as cool as we can today.
SPEAKER_16She's looking very cool, right? I'm gonna step outside now, Clive. And uh it's not fair, you've got the cool hall. It's really hot in here. How hot is everyone here? How hot are you? You can sweat over there because I've got a man here who's blowing up balloons. Lord Jeffrey. I'm in the inflation business. What more could you want, really? What are you making there? We're making a pot of flower brake here. Yeah. Otherwise known as uh corsage. A corsage. Okay. Now I'm thinking that uh Clive's in the radio business and one of the things we need is headphones. Can you make a pair of headphones? Not very good ones. It doesn't matter. They don't have to be good. It's not very good on the radio anyway.
SPEAKER_15Did you hear that, Clive? Let's just pretend they're amazing headphones. Look at them coming to life as it loads them out.
SPEAKER_16Anyway, Lord Geoffrey is outside in the cool, in the sunshine. Uh probably the seriously craziest man on the premises today. Tony, can you ask him, is he really a lord? Lord Geoffrey the Black. Are you really Lord? Yes, I am. I got given the title by my daughter at Christmas. I have a meter square of land in Cumbria, and I have a title. I can put it on anything apart from my piles. Yeah, I've got one for Scotland exactly. I I've been a lord since 1994. There you go. Lord Jeffrey will blow you up a balloon. Come and see him, or go back inside and watch the rock choir. Let's have a quick cheer from the rock choir.
SPEAKER_15Can we hear you? You warm me up, yes. Get ready, hang on. Ash is coming up just after seven. Ash, crash music. What have we got to look forward to? Well, you've caught me mid ice cream here, Clive, but two flakes, I'll have one of those.
SPEAKER_09Uh, yeah. I mean, first of all, I've seen the rock choir before, and these guys are amazing. So if you're outside and you want to hear some really good singing, come inside and have a look at these guys. And then I believe we're up next. And I'm gonna be playing my brand new song for the first time ever live on radio today, race in mind. So, yeah, that's all to come up uh you know very soon.
SPEAKER_15Very good. Between seven and eight, we're live on the radio until eight, and we're all raising money for good charity, aren't we, Jack?
SPEAKER_19Yeah, Crawley Open House. There are some fantastic raffle prizes, so you really should head over to the the corner of this hall where you can see the prizes and you can buy some tickets.
SPEAKER_15Now, listen, if you're listening at home, I just promise we would say hello to the good people of First for Vans. This is Rachel, Nathan, and Roger. Thank you for this morning. Good to speak to you, and thank you for your £20. If you're listening at home and you want to enjoy Rock Choir, do
Rock Choir
SPEAKER_15head over to susyradio.com and send us a little donation towards Crawley Open House. But over to Tasha and the brilliant Rock Choir.
SPEAKER_07And now, live at Tessa's Tea Party, fundraising for Crawley Open House. It's the formidable rock choir.
SPEAKER_20And she turns out all the lights and says she's coming for me.
unknownNow put the hands up. This is a height.
SPEAKER_20And there's no one in here living gonna make it out of the eye.
SPEAKER_18Undercover, under cover.
SPEAKER_16She said,
Crawley Open House Needs Grow
SPEAKER_16Green blue red, blue sky, I'm now gonna talk to the lady who, well, in part he runs the charity that this is all in aid of. It's Annabelle's apologies for the echo. Annabelle, call the open house. Is it's a busy time for you?
SPEAKER_22Uh yes, it is. Yeah, um, our hostel is full and we also support people through the resource centre that we have. Uh, yeah, so I'm afraid to say that it is busy and um it's getting busier. So we also give out food parcels, we give out about 15 uh of those, 15 to 20 a day. So there are also people in food crisis that we're trying to help.
SPEAKER_16So it's in other words, what anybody would describe as a really, really good cause.
SPEAKER_22We want everybody to know that we're here, so if they or someone they know needs our help, that that we're here for them. And uh, I also uh run some events and raise money because we need to find about half of our the money that we need each year, we need to raise about half of it ourselves.
SPEAKER_16How's today going for you?
SPEAKER_22Oh, it's fantastic. It's lovely to see so many people out. It's fantastic that it's free for everybody to to eat, to play, to listen to music, to make things with creative crawley. I think it's wonderful.
SPEAKER_15Big round of applause for rock choir. Tasha, come here. You are fantastic. Big round of applause for Tasha as well, leading you. Woo! And when we spoke on the radio recently, I said, what makes you guys special? Tell me what you said.
SPEAKER_12Me. No. Um what makes us special is the members, the friendships, the community, the singing in lots of places, and the joy.
SPEAKER_15And I think it's brilliant coming together as a community, having lots of fun. We got the barbecue outside, we got the sunshine, it's tropical, got the brilliant rock choir. Let's hear it for you one more time. Thank you, Tasha. Thank you very much. Also, we have got Crash, Craig, and Ash coming up soon. And in a moment, we're crossing to the cool hall.
SPEAKER_07Tess's Tea Party, bringing the community together, proudly sponsored by GoACO, West Green Window Cleaning, and Susie 103.4.
Y.E.S Project Makes Dance Affordable
SPEAKER_15That's us. So we are live on Suzy 103.4. If you're listening at home, slightly crazy this afternoon. Jack, who have you got?
SPEAKER_19I've got Alfie. Alfie's gonna tell me a little bit about the Yes Project. The floor is yours.
SPEAKER_23The Yes Project is a community-based um funded dance and movement class. Um, we run four community sessions each week throughout Crawley, Brighton, and Hastings. Um, and our aim is to give dance to people who don't have the money to pay for really expensive dance classes.
SPEAKER_19And do you dance, Alfie?
SPEAKER_23Yeah, I dance myself.
SPEAKER_19So, what are we gonna see now? What are you gonna show? Dancing on the radio, who'd have thought it?
SPEAKER_23Oh no, it's crazy. Um, so we've got two group dances, choreographed by myself and Lauren. There's also a duo from Yaisha and Ais Yaisha? Yasmin and Aisha, they're gonna be performing.
SPEAKER_19That's a great name you just made up there. Well, Sophie wanted to say hello, didn't you? Hello how long have you been dancing with Yes Project? One and what do you like about dancing? I like that we can have fun and good amusement. Okay, well I'll stop talking and let you do some dancing.
SPEAKER_15I love you and your pink hat there, Jack. And uh let's give this is the Yes Project. Let's give them a big round of applause. If you're listening at home, bear with us. We've got Sharon Music coming up with ABBA. Also, the rock choir are limbering up here as well. It's mayhem here. Uh about this brilliant dance here. Quiet, please. Lauren, all yours. Attention, please.
SPEAKER_03Don't act like you forget. I can't shut, shut, shut, shut.
SPEAKER_15Let's hear it for Azda in Crawley. Big round of applause for Deanna and Asda. Yay! Thank
Sponsor Shout Out - Goaco, West Green Window Cleaning And SUSY
SPEAKER_15you. Thank you very much. Also, our sponsors, Goaco, uh, West Green Window Cleaning and Guttering. Where's Mags? Have we got Mags here somewhere? There you are, in you come. Mags started this business and kindly sponsored this event so we could put it on. Mags, tell me about your window cleaning business.
SPEAKER_20So, yeah, obviously, we are best in Sussex. So if you want to get in touch with us, you have our number on the leaflets. Thank you very much.
SPEAKER_15And also, if you're listening at home, it's West Green Window Cleaning and Guttering in Crawley. Correct. And uh thank you very much for a raffle prize as well. Three lots of 30-minute massage. So if you've not yet got a raffle ticket in the building or outside, definitely get your raffle tickets. They're two pounds a strip, 26 or so prizes. We've got crush music coming up. I
Sponsors, Raffle Prizes, And Gratitude
SPEAKER_15got you. So with me now at Tessa's Tea Party, we got Kevin. Hi Kevin.
SPEAKER_04Hello, hello, hello, how are you? Yeah, are you enjoying it? I'm enjoying it, I'm loving it, I'm loving every moment of it. Did you bring the kids? Of course I did. I got both of them right there. And uh are they having fun? What have they been doing here? They've had lots of food, they've had lots of um treats, they've had um face face uh face paintings, they've had quite a bit to do. Brilliant, and uh and it's special, crawly open house to you. What does it mean to you? It means a lot to me, it means a lot. They've helped me out in so much recently with um obviously homelessness and stuff like that. So it's been a great one, it's been really good with them.
SPEAKER_15And uh they do amazing work in the community. Lucky, I mean, a few weeks ago you're going for a bit of a tough spell. Nice that that's bounced back, and um yeah, thankful to Crawley Open House and others in the community.
SPEAKER_04Maybe thankful to yourself, really. Thankful Crawley Open House they've been amazing, but with the support from yourself, Mags, other people around, it's been absolutely amazing. Thank you very much, Kevin. Enjoy the rest of it with your family. Thank you very much,
WAVE School Of Dance
SPEAKER_04Love. Thank you.
SPEAKER_01Okay, my name is Aaron Eaton, and I opened my dance school a year ago, and now I'm moving into my own building. So it's really exciting. Yes.
SPEAKER_15And let's hear it for Aaron, an all-wave school of dance. Big round of applause, big cheer. Yay! Yay! This is what we love getting out into the community. Now, where are the dancers? Michaela and Michaela and Alicia. Obviously, for those here in the hall, they can see if you're listening at home, bear with us. We did mean to do this part before five o'clock, but here's the dance.
SPEAKER_07Come on, get on up live, live at Tess's Tea Party. It's Jack Inwood, Tony Williams, Clive Hilton, and the community.
Stocks And Sponges For Fundraising
SPEAKER_15So, Tess's Tea Party. Uh, James from the uh Soapbox and Reform UK, uh, have you enjoyed it?
SPEAKER_25Uh yes, I have. It's been a great time, really, really busy, but it's been great to do. I think um we're just about to go into the stocks, which is gonna be a lot of fun to throw uh spongy, soapy sponges at Iqbar Khan, and I think we'll certainly be putting the soap in the soapbox.
SPEAKER_15And it's good of you to turn up because when we did the poll on various Facebook groups, Dan Spotty Crawley was in at number two. Number one was Lakeem from Crawley Talks. Uh I think you were third place, but very brave of you to you're absolutely gonna get slammed of sponges.
SPEAKER_25Yeah, absolutely. I was a bit offended that I was um voted more than Peter Lamb, the MP for the area, um, which probably goes to show how well my counselloring is doing. Um but yeah, I mean I'm happy to get involved. It's it's a great day, really good community event, and it's it's people of all ages have been here.
SPEAKER_15And it's been very, very busy. The barbecue has had a queue, there's people loving it, and uh this is what we wanted to do on the soapbox as well, isn't it? For many months.
SPEAKER_25Yeah, absolutely. I mean you've been working really hard, it's been a lot of uh work for this. Um I felt like I was on the wrong side of the barbecue on this one, I would have got better rather than on the eating side than the preparing side. But it's great and we managed to feed so many people, we've run out of food, hundreds of uh meals served, hundreds of people here. I think it's been a really good day for Boardfield. James tidy, thanks a lot. Keep up the good work, keeping the place tidy. Thank you very much. Talking of which, there's gonna be some litter picking later. Are you up for that? Uh yes, it will be. Um we did we did some litter picking yesterday, we got some litter picking tomorrow, so we're always up for some litter picking. Thank you very much. Cheers, James. Thank you.
SPEAKER_15Tess's Kitchen, let's hear it for Tessa's Kitchen. We're out of ball broadfield key and the team have smashed it. And uh Crash Music is coming up in the moment as well. Jack.
SPEAKER_19I've been looking forward to hearing Crash, and I believe they are debuting their new single on a Suzy exclusive.
SPEAKER_07And
CRASH Music Live Plus Birthday Moment
SPEAKER_07now, live at Tess's tea party, it's Craig and Ash with Crash Music.
SPEAKER_15And I'll tell you what, they formed 18 months ago. They played last night at the Royal Oak. Before that, they did a wedding, and here we're lucky to have them on stage playing for Broadfield. Crash Craig and Ash. How are we, Crawley?
SPEAKER_09Is everyone alright? Come on, guys, you can do much, much better than that. Is everyone alright? That's what I like to hear. Right, before we do anything else, guys. I've just got a quick announcement to make. So, um Iqbal Khan, who's been doing the barbecue today and has been crucial in uh in the whole of today's event, it's his lovely wife's birthday, Holly, today. So I'd just like to say a big happy birthday to Holly. Can you all give me a happy birthday? Happy birthday to you.
SPEAKER_08Come on, Holly! Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday, dear Holly. Happy birthday to you.
SPEAKER_15I think we should get a little should we get a little speech from what let's make us super embarrassed. Come on. Everyone's listening on Susie, everyone outside, everyone here in the hall, happy birthday.
SPEAKER_26Oh, thank you. I've got a few more grades, but apart from that, I still like feel quite young.
SPEAKER_15And we were hearing earlier from Tess Ichabel's mum, what a good boy, and he's he's he's smashed it, isn't it?
SPEAKER_02I'm not sure about the good boy part, but yeah.
SPEAKER_15Nice of him to do a cake, let's keep it.
SPEAKER_02Oh, yeah, yeah. Amazing, thank you.
SPEAKER_15And he did one candle, so we can't guess the age, but happy birthday to you, well done. And let's hand it over to Crash!
SPEAKER_09Thank you very much, guys. Thanks everyone for coming out today. I know it's been very, very hot in this hall, but thanks everyone for uh persisting with it and staying with us. Um, we always say that we play the songs that you didn't know you wanted to hear, and here's one for you now. This is a New England by Billy Bragg.
SPEAKER_10I was twenty-one years when I wrote this song. I'm 22 now, but I won't be for long. People ask me when you'll grow up to be a man. All the girls I loved in school are already pushing round. And I loved you then as I love you still. Though I put you on a pedestal, they put you on a pill. I don't feel bad about letting you go.
SPEAKER_15I just feel sad about letting you know. Amanda,
Free Youth Activities And Local Events
SPEAKER_15tell us more about Gossips Rocks just quickly.
SPEAKER_21Uh Gossips Rocks is run by Crawley Community Youth Service. Uh, we provide free activities for kids five days a week. And we put on a car and bike show. It's free for all the family. Bring your kids little pocket money and stuff. Um, and we got loads of like live entertainment, and in the evening we've got a gig night with local young bands.
SPEAKER_15Super exciting. That's next Sunday, 19th, starting at midday, through to four, lots of stalls, lots of fun, and then the gig in the evening.
SPEAKER_21Yeah, the gigs five till seven is free entry for anybody that wants to come and support uh local young talent.
SPEAKER_15And thank you to you and your team camping out in the car park here. What you're doing here this afternoon for Tess's Tea Party.
SPEAKER_21So outside near the car park, we've got badge making, we've got free face painting. Come and grab some flyers. Um, again, we're running free activities for young children, eight to seventeen, five days a week, three local locations.
SPEAKER_07Tess's Tea Party, bringing the community together, proudly sponsored by GoACO, West Green Window Cleaning and Susie 103.4.
SPEAKER_09Before we start this one, can everyone say ho? Could everyone say hey? Hey, excellent, you know the words, guys, to sing along.
SPEAKER_10Hey ho Hey Ho I've been trying to do it right. Hey, I've been living a lonely life. Ho, I've been sleeping here instead. Hey, I've been sleeping in my bed. Ho, sleeping in my bed, hey, so me family. Hey, how the bloody I could be.
SPEAKER_09So nice to see everyone shouting back at me. I love it. Everyone's always shouting at you. They are actually, aren't they? We've got Neil coming up to join us now, so can we have a big round of applause for Neil who's gonna be playing saxophone for us? Susie Radio's very own. I think we've just welcomed a proper musician to the stage. The real musician. We're all gonna be out of the chat now. It's another sing-along song, guys. I really hope you sing along.
SPEAKER_10Almost ever West Virginia Blue Ridge Mountain, Sandova River Life is old here, older than the trees, younger than the mountain, flowing like a breeze. Country roads, take me home to the place where I belong. West Virginia Council on my or take me home. Country Road.
SPEAKER_07Raising funds for Crawley Open House only on Suzy103.4.
SPEAKER_09Well, this
Debut From CRASH On Mental Health
SPEAKER_09seems like as good a time as any to debut my brand new single. Uh, this is a song about mental health, which is I'm sure something that uh everybody here has has been involved in or knows someone who's been involved in. Um specifically um I'm a banger driver and have been since I was knee-high to a grasshopper. Uh, and this is my new song, Racing Minds. Just bear with us. We've only played this a couple of times.
SPEAKER_10I could drive at nine years old, 17 on the open road. I was racing in my mind. Times got hard and I got old. Well, I got tough, my dreams got sold, and it nearly cost my life. Take me back to 95, press for 2.9 What a hell of a knife And life is like that post and roll. When you get stuck, you lose all hold. And you're just holding on for life. I just can't stop my racing mic. It's killing me. I've crashed and I'm on fire, and it feels like someone's coming in after me. I just can't stop my racing mic. Oh no. Head down or pull up tight. Cause I just can't stop my racing mic When I'm not working nine till five. I'm at the yard too late at night. That's a lot of time spent on my own. Yes, I've got two kids and a wife. We have built a beautiful life, but right now I can make it home. And you can call me what you like. Whether I'm wrong or whether I'm right. I'm always trying to get by. What you see is what you get. I'd rather die than lay up in regret. But I can't wait for Wednesday night. I just can't stop my racing mind. It's killing me. I've crashed and I'm on fire. And it feels like someone's coming in after me. I just can't stop my racing mind. Oh no. Head down and pull up tight. Cause I just can't stop my racing mind. I just can't stop my racing mind. It's killing me. I've crashed and I'm on fire. And it feels like someone's coming in after me. I just can't stop my racing mind. Oh no. Head down and pull up tight, Cause I just can't stop my racing mind. I just can't stop my racing mind.
SPEAKER_09That's Racing Mine that's gonna be out very soon, available to download on all the usual places. Just want to say a massive thank you to uh those listening and at home. Thanks for uh joining today. Sandy and Ben, if you're there. I think Debbie's listening in as well. Thanks to you guys who couldn't be here today. But wow, how many people are there today? There's a there's probably 300 people here. About six or seven? Yeah. Okay, here's one you all know.
SPEAKER_15Jack,
Raffle Line-Up And Community Thanks
SPEAKER_15tell us what have we got on the raffle? Lots of prizes.
SPEAKER_19Well I'm here with Andy who's been busy collecting raffle prizes, and it's just absolutely brilliant. Do you want to talk us through what's on offer?
SPEAKER_11Starting with Goss Manor, voucher for £70, so you can spend that on a meal. Our friends at Godstone Farm, entry for two adults and two children, the kind people at Jukes Head at Coberthorne, bottle of champagne, Priory Farm at Ryegate, a ticket to admit six people, Huxley's Birds of Prey Centre, a family ticket there. Also, Delta Force Paint Balling, a three-hour session for ten people. Ten people?
SPEAKER_19That's a very generous prize.
SPEAKER_15And I'll tell you what, it's been fantastic. All of the help we have had from the community and from these businesses to raise these raffle prizes. Crawley Openhouse are going to benefit massively. And Andy, you've got a lot of these for us. Fantastic. Um, I'm gonna mention another couple as well.
SPEAKER_11These are like sort of local small businesses as well. So I'll kitsy, they've given us a meal bundle for uh £30, and I'll just mention her because she's absolutely brilliant. She makes meals, batch cooks them and everything, and then sells them as like a deal and everything, which I think is a really good little local business as well.
SPEAKER_15And that's frozen meals, healthy frozen meals, that's Sabre Kitchen.
SPEAKER_19And there's a lovely prize, a pamper party for five girls for an hour and a half, angels and divas. That's a very generous donation.
SPEAKER_11I shall also mention uh the lovely Claire, who's part of um Flutterbees, Flutterboys, a 30 minute Indian head massage, and I'm gonna also mention Fountain Therapies as well. Uh they have given us a voucher for a recce treatment, and also Wave School of Dance, who were here earlier. Um they've given us a dance class voucher as well. So that's just some of the prizes they're on offer. Plus, we've got teddy bears and toys that.
SPEAKER_19Yeah, and there's another massage here. I do like these massages, magnetic hands, and there's a plant from Sweet Pea Florist, handbag stitch by tea, Bentons of Excellency, 60 pound mill voucher. They're just incredible prizes. Well done, you.
SPEAKER_11Yeah, no, I uh I think they've everyone who's been really generous, people I've you know, sort of emailed and everything, have just been so generous. And I'd like to say on air, whoever's listening, a great big thank you to all the the uh companies and the local businesses as well.
SPEAKER_15It's been phenomenal the support, not just from yourself, Andy, and the committee helping, but all of the local businesses for the raffle prizes and also our big headline sponsors, GoACO, West Green Window Cleaning and Guttering, and also Susie 103.4 bringing the community together here in Broadfield.
SPEAKER_09Um so we've been involved in this thing for about three months in the planning and development and and everything else. And um, I think it's only right that we say a massive thank you to Clive, who's not actually in this room at the moment. I don't know where he's gonna be. Um, wherever you are, mate, um, I just want to say a massive thank you to to Clive and the rest of the Susie Radio team and everybody else who has volunteered today. Um it's been fantastic. We've really enjoyed ourselves. I'm sure you guys have as well. That's what I thought, that's what I thought. Um, so could we just have a quick round of applause for all of the team who work today, who have given up their Saturday afternoon for free in this weather? Thank you very much, guys. You've all been absolutely amazing. Absolutely amazing. Yeah, we got time for one more song, and then I believe we're passing back over to Clive. Um, but thanks very much for coming, guys. Thanks for everyone in this hall this afternoon. Thank you for listening. And here's one last song for you.
SPEAKER_10The list goes on and on.
SPEAKER_07Thank you, thank you, thank you, guys. Live from the heart of Broadfield, this is Tessa's Tropical Tea Party.
Final Thank Yous And Donate Reminder
SPEAKER_07Raising funds for Crawley Open House, only on Susie 103.4.
SPEAKER_15Absolutely phenomenal. Crash, Craig and Ash on stage. I think we should have another one from them, don't you think? We should have another, yay. But before we do that, if you don't mind, Craig Ash. Do you mind doing one more? We're just gonna do some thank you. Well, one more song, and then we'll play into the news. We've got the eight o'clock news coming up, and we're gonna play into that with hearing here, if you don't mind. It's very hot in here. Uh, I just want to say a thank you to everyone here for coming along this afternoon and supporting this. This is dear to our heart, both at Suzy and also on the Sussex and Surrey soapbox, bringing the community together, having fun, raising money for Crawley Open House. If you're listening at home on Suzy to this, head over to suseradio.com. There's a link there where you can go and contribute to Crawley Open House. If you're listening at home, susyradio.com, link there, make a small contribution to Crawley Open House. Um where are the where is the committee? We've got Andy there, we've got Paul, Luke. They're outside working mags over here, Emma on the photography, thank you so much. Everybody that's come together to make this possible has been absolutely phenomenal. We have to thank our sponsors, GoACO, also West Green Cleaning and Guttering, and also Susie 103.4 for supporting this as well, and the many, many, many companies that have given us all these raffle prizes. So, these raffle prizes, if you haven't yet got a raffle ticket, you've got a few minutes left to get them. A two pound a strip, going to the table, amazing list of tickets for parks and everything. We've had Neil Monday, Jack Inward, Tony Williams, and Neil.
SPEAKER_13Any final words from you? It's just been an amazing day, Clive. It's been a pleasure working with all the people, meeting all the people around here in Broadfield. Just loved it, and it's nice to be out in the community as what community radio is supposed to be doing. Oh, we love doing this, don't we? We love it. Are we doing it next year?
unknownProbably.
SPEAKER_13I mean the lightning. We'll have a little couple of weeks off.
SPEAKER_15And if anyone's around next Sunday, gossips rocks at the Dormans Youth Centre. Fantastic. Well worth a visit next Sunday at midday. The team there have got something special. So without further ado, it's going to be a goodbye from Broadfield. Thank you for tuning in. Do donate suseradio.com. The link's there. Big round of applause to all of the acts, the rock choir, share and music, and crash playing us out, and of course, Tessa's Kitchen for the amazing barbecue. Thank you, everyone. Back to you, Craig and Ash.
SPEAKER_09Thank you very much, guys. It's a goodbye from us and a goodbye from Susie Radio. You all know the words to sing along. Let's hope England get through tonight, eh?
SPEAKER_10Slip inside the eye of your mind. Don't you know where you might find a better place to play?
SPEAKER_06We are truly local. We care about our community. We are Susie online on your smart speaker and on one oh three point four. Thank you for your support.
