IELTS Listening · Cam 9

Test 3 Part 2

For the second in our series about locally run businesses, we meet Simon Winridge, co-founder of the hugely successful Winridge Forest Railway Park.

Level: B2 · 70 sentences

Transcript

  1. For the second in our series about locally run businesses, we meet
  2. Simon Winridge, co-founder of the hugely successful Winridge Forest Railway Park.
  3. Welcome Simon.
  4. Now, perhaps you can begin by telling us a little bit about how it all started.
  5. Well...
  6. During the 1970s, my wife Liz
  7. And I had just acquired 80 acres of sheep farming land
  8. And we decided to settle down and have children.
  9. Pretty soon we had a daughter, Sarah, and a son, Duncan.
  10. The place was wonderful for the kids.
  11. They particularly loved trains
  12. And gradually built up an enormous network of miniature railway track.
  13. I began to develop larger scale models of locomotives,
  14. But we didn't think anything more of it until
  15. I went on a trip to a theme park near Birmingham
  16. And decided we could do a much better job.
  17. So we set up a small one ourselves,
  18. Based on the miniature railway,
  19. And we opened to the public for just a month that year,
  20. 1984, In July, our driest month, because our children said
  21. They didn't want our guests to have a miserable wet visit.
  22. I dealt with park business and Liz
  23. Carried on with the farm work.
  24. It soon became clear that we were on to a winner.
  25. We began to extend the railway track
  26. And lay it among more interesting landscape by planting trees,
  27. Which in turn attracted more wildlife,
  28. And by making cuttings through the rock.
  29. Nowadays, we're open all year round
  30. And we're pleased to say that Wimbridge
  31. Is one of the most popular visitor attractions in the area,
  32. With 50,000 50,000 visitors a year.
  33. A million and a half people have been through our doors
  34. Since we opened.
  35. All these visitors mean we have had to expand our operation
  36. And it's now a truly family concern.
  37. I'm near to retirement age so I only concern myself with looking
  38. After the mechanical side of things, keeping the trains going.
  39. Liz now devotes all her energies to recruiting
  40. And supporting the large squadron of workers.
  41. Which keep the place running smoothly.
  42. We're really pleased that, after some years away teaching,
  43. Sarah has now returned to the park
  44. And makes sure the visitors are kept fed and watered,
  45. Which keeps her pretty busy, as you can imagine.
  46. Our son Duncan has been a stalwart of the park for the last ten years,
  47. Taking over from me and the area of construction,
  48. And I'll say a little bit more about that in a moment.
  49. And his new wife...
  50. Judith has also joined the team in charge of retail.
  51. That's becoming a tremendous growth area for us.
  52. A lot of people want to buy souvenirs.
  53. So have you finished your development of the site for the moment?
  54. Not at all.
  55. We're constantly looking for ways to offer more to our visitors.
  56. The railway remains the central feature,
  57. And there's now 1.2 1.2 kilometres of the line laid,
  58. But we'd like to lay more.
  59. Because of the geology of the area,
  60. Our greatest problem is digging tunnels.
  61. But we're gradually overcoming that.
  62. We're also very pleased with a new installation of the go-kart arena,
  63. Which is 120 square metres in area.
  64. Again, the problem is the geology.
  65. We had to level the mounds on the track for safety reasons.
  66. We wanted to enable 5 to 12-year-olds to use the go-karts.
  67. And the main attraction here is the Formula One kart.
  68. We've known fights to break out over who gets it.
  69. And then, finally, to our most recent development,
  70. Which is the landscape swimming...