GillHB & Friends

I’m what others would describe as a ‘people person’. I enjoy finding out how they think and what makes them do what they do – not surprising I’m a mindset / life coach! I also love to learn new skills, particularly if they help the planet in some small way. My podcast is a real mixture. From family and friends to a wide range of professionals I'll be asking all sorts of questions or simply sharing my thoughts and experiences.

When is the right time to research care homes? 02/18/2026

When is the right time to research care homes? How many of us think about care homes and how to choose one well in advance of when we might need it either for ourselves or a family member? Or we only look when we suddenly find that we're in the situation of needing to find one quickly (which is what happened to us!). Well, it's never too early to start doing your research. In this episode I chat to Will Hammond, Client liaison manager, at Silvermere Care home in Cobham Surrey. Will shares some great insights and tips about how to go about choosing a care home.where to start and what to look for. He explains what the difference is between: a care home and nursing home, respite care and long term care. A lot of care homes run community days, or 'meet the manager' event which I thought just applied to residents and their families but no, you can attend even if you're not a resident there. Allowing you to find out more about the home and get chance to chat to residents, taste the food and make friends. It's a great way of helping someone transition or realise what they are mssing out on especially if they live alone. You can book in for a couple of weeks respite care, not just if you are recovering from a stay in hospital but if need a loved one to be looked after whilst you go away, as my mother in law said she booked in for 'a mini holiday' to REALLY see what it's like day to day befoer making any decisions. Will also emphasised how important it is that the family are very much made to feel as much part of the home as the resident themselves and the staff are there to help the family as well. They do as much as they can to make it feel like home and each resident can personalise their room. Will says the one question he gets asked a lot is "Can they have wine or alcohol?" and yes you can have a glass of wine or your favourite tipple, even your own little fridge in your room! If you would like to speak to Will or have more information on Silvermere Care Home his email is: or the specific webstie is or for a list of all care homes (not just in the Avery group) go to /episode/index/show/gillhb/id/40139325

Talking to driving instructor Sophie Stuchfield. 01/21/2026

Talking to driving instructor Sophie Stuchfield. I find out from Sophie what made her choose to become a driving instructor. She used to be a personal trainer but was tired of commuting into London from Watford everyday having chunks of the day with no clients plus working weekends so retrained as a driving instructor. If you thought taking your driving test was scary it's nothing to the training and tests needed to become an instructor. It may well explain why we have a lack driving instructors and such long waiting lists for lessons. Sophie (has a waiting list several months long) gives some great advice - if you're wanting to buy lessons for a 17th birthday look to book them months in advance. We compare notes from when I learnt to drive (pre compulsory seat belts!) and now. Oh how I remember the pressures of hill starts, roundabouts and reversing around corners (that bit no longer in the test. Sophie points out that you're never actually alone in a car until you pass your test as someone else is always driving you somewhere - no wonder that first drive on your own can be so daunting! We chat about the lack or state of signage these days, use of sat navs, LED lights blinding you and reason why so many instructors won't teach in the dark now. We discuss possible new rules around eyetests etc. for 'older drivers and Sophie raises some interesting points about why it shouldn't be just for 'older' people. She chats about the fears so many drivers have and where some of those fears originate - so be careful if you're the driver and have children or other non-drivers in the car what you say about other drivers! Her Tuesday quiz each week with 'Tester Anne' on Instagram Stories is a great refresher on the highway code and makes me realise how much I had forgotten or has been added since I learnt to drive. (Look out for answers including Lloyd, her dog and not hard to guess which football team Sophie supports!) Sophie is on social media @online_driving_instructor and YouTube @TheOnlineDrivingInstructor /episode/index/show/gillhb/id/39799010

Sarah Fowler has a stark warning about drivers on mobiles. 12/17/2025

Sarah Fowler has a stark warning about drivers on mobiles. I met Sarah over 12 years ago when we were both working on the Virgin Flying without Fear courses helping people overcome their fear of flying. We always said the most dangerous part of flying was getting to or from the airport. Turns out crossing the road on a crossing is FAR more dangerous and scary than flying! Sarah is cabin crew for Virgin and whilst in LA was out getting her new 'lippy' before returning to the hotel to get her rest before her flight home. She was on a crossing when she got hit by a car, the driver had glanced at her mobile phone and lost concentration for a split second. That 'split second' had a devastating impact on Sarah's life... Sarah tells her story of the events as they unfolded. How she was more worried about her King's coronation tote bag, phone and flip flops as she lay on the road than her own injuries! Her relief at realising she had no head or spinal injuries and how everything else would be recoverable from. How she was reassured in the 'emergency room' at the hospital that she wouldn't have a 12 hour wait like in the NHS! Then her recovery was hit with other complications like a DVT plus a problem with her liver and heart that were discovered during her scans. Sarah shares how she focussed her mind on the positives and her recovery rather than what had actually happened. The care and attention she recieved from so many people not least Virgin and her 'crew' family was an important part of her recovery. She just wanted to get home to where she felt safe but wasn't expecting to feel how she did once in her own home. Over 2 years later Sarah has just done her first flight. She tells her story of her long recovery and the enormous knock-on effect it has had on all areas of her life and how she is still taking 'baby steps'. Videos on social media of people filming themselves whilst driving and seeing drivers on their phones make her really, REALLY angry. A warning to us all about phones and driving! As she says, "DON"T DO IT!" Apologies for some sound issues in this episode. /episode/index/show/gillhb/id/39438030

Part 2 with Janet Henson on social media! 05/21/2025

Catching up with Janet Henson on why she's closing her business. 02/05/2025

Catching up with Janet Henson on why she's closing her business. I last spoke to Janet in episode 25 about her business as a divorce coach specialising in narcisstic abuse and why she has now decided to close her business. She explains that having reached a milestone birthday that she feels she is in the 'departure lounge' of life, but absolutley not ready to board just yet, so wants to make sure she makes the most of it and has the time to do what she wants. We chat about the pressures of the type of coaching she has been doing and that she was doing it more to help people and get information out there rather than build a six figure 'Instagram' business. She felt the constant pressure of being told that as a business she 'had to be' on social media and show her face and how that really wasn't for her. She uses a good anaolgy for Instagram as it does have some good content on there but it's like looking for a needle in an ever growing haystack. It leads us into a discussion about the changes we see on social media: the increase in adverts and posts selling things, pyramid or MLM (multi-level marketing), the one model fits all type courses, the 'acting' in posts, why people mute rather than unfollow and how we prefer more authentic accounts. Janet also raises the point that it's impossible to stop the 'cold calling' type messages from people who bombard you with the: buy now, early bird price, only 10 places left, offer ends, last chance to sign up! Janet explains why there are a lot of covert female narcisist hiding out on Instagram / social media and how important it is to them to get a constant supply of attention in what ever way they can. We both agree we're not in favour of membership groups for various reasons and how important it is to constantly review the groups you belong to and what you get from them. We are both surprised how little due diligence people do these days before signing up to something or someone and simply believe what they see on the person's social media output. We acknowledge that we're all different and as Janet says it's about finding the needle [or our needle] in the haystack of social media that we like. Lastly we chat about YouTube, (as I've started a channel for many reasons), is it or isn't it social media? What makes it different and the reasons we are both using it far more these days. /episode/index/show/gillhb/id/35147005

Jess Harvey believes women need coaches and mentors. 12/18/2024

How did a Primary school teacher end up making willow and wool coffins? 09/18/2024

How did a Primary school teacher end up making willow and wool coffins? Before recording this episode I was looking at Eleanor's Hunt website , and thought she must have been honing her skill of weaving beautiful willow and British wool coffins for years. How wrong can you be?! I've just started learning how to weave with willow and like anything new when you try it you discover just what a skill it is to weave anything! So I was blown away when I learnt Eleanor's story of how she left teaching and is now making really beautiful coffins inside and out. She started her company back in 2021 but she had only recently started willow and rope weaving during covid and actually taught herself to do it! She had moved to mid Wales and having helped out on farms as a lambing assistant appreciated all the amazing benefits of wool and wanted to help British sheep farmers raise the price of their wool. She knew it would have to be commercial enough to achieve her goal. She had an idea... We chat about how no skill is wasted and how each skill she has learnt along the way from: upholstery, to felting, to weaving seats, to sewing, to processing wool, to spinning, to making her own rope...are all being used in making her beautiful coffins. I also find out the meaning of her company name - with Cwtch being a Welsh word. Her attitude to life is evident from her story. She just keeps moving forward, she never sees anything as a failure but an opportunity to learn how to do better and she's keen to seek out help and advice - which is how she met another inspiring woman Kate Drury and her sustainable rope (Kate's story is episode 80). Her story and passion for wool is infectious and will inspire anyone who listens to it, me included! Note: I'm so happy to add that since recording the podcast a couple of weeks ago Eleanor has achieved full accreditation for her coffins. Most crematoriums in the UK now require coffins to have passed through a specially designed testing protocol. This means that her coffins can now be used in cremations as well as in burials and will have a blue stamp on the base with it's own unique code. Congratulations Eleanor. /episode/index/show/gillhb/id/33087857

The links between people pleasing, trauma and narcissists. 09/04/2024

Finding out about a new British innovation - sustainable wool rope. 08/21/2024

Chatting to Karen Bek about willow weaving and basketry. 06/05/2024

Have you heard of wool pots? You will soon! 05/15/2024

Would you start a business as you approached your 60's? 03/20/2024

Sarah Franken explains how accidentally walking into a panel talk resulted in the online magazine 'Lumera'. 01/24/2024

Sarah Franken explains how accidentally walking into a panel talk resulted in the online magazine 'Lumera'. In this episode it's all about 'sustainable fashion' Gill chats to Sarah Franken a young entrepreneur about how she came to set up the online magazine 'Lumera'. The focus of the magazine is to highlight sustainable brands and Gill finds out what is sustainable fashion and how complicated it can get! Sarah explains that at university she wasn't particularly passionate about sustainability but how, a few years later, she accidentally walked into a panel talk all about sustainable fashion and it gave her a whole new perspective and passion to pursue. Lumera was born. They discuss what constitutes as 'sustainable fashion' and what are the bigger challenges involved? Sarah explains what the 3 main sustainability categories are. Gill mentions about how when she was younger it was normal for families to have a 'button and zip box'. Sarah uses a great quote as an example as to why we now simply discard clothes: "Clothes have gone from being a valuable item to becoming a disposable item". The discussion widens out to look at: how do you get people to change their mindset / perception around their fashionable clothing buying habits when large cheaper brands target them in their marketing? How does the industry overcome the dilemma of what would be seen as sustainable fashion for one group of people is viewed differently by another. What is 'greenwashing' and how does the consumer know if a brand is doing this? They both agree that with anything in life it has to be easy for the consumer to navigate. Links to the articles mentioned in the podcast: Resale on the Rise - Brands Selling their Pre-Loved Garments 5 Tips to Spot Greenwashing or follow them on social media @lumeramag. Or if you are a sustainable brand or know of one please contact Sarah by email so she can add it to her list or Gill to do a podcast! /episode/index/show/gillhb/id/29609253