Today’s guest is Tony Brown, an army veteran who runs the not for profit self catering facility in Kincraig Forces Manor - called as such because it’s primarily aimed at those who have been in the Forces, though anyone is welcome to stay there.
This majestic building in the centre of the village was formerly the celebrity and royalty attracting Hotel and Restaurant of its day, The Ossian.
His backstory, of how Kincraig Village changed/saved his life from the moment he came to visit as a 13 year old kid in care on holiday from Croyden, is heartwarming and heartbreaking in equal measure.
Though, despite being abandoned by his mother as a 7 month old baby in hospital, he went on to excel in the army and then set up Forces Manor. It’s here he welcomes other vets to Kincraig to reconnect, reminisce and find peace over food, a few beers and plenty of laughter.
What I loved about this conversation is how it really gave me a window into someone else’s adverse experiences but how he didn’t let them define, or drag him down.
We cover many topics:
- 4 mins: his first life changing trip to Kincraig & contrast to Croyden care home
- 6 mins 30: living with a sense of abandonment
- 11 mins: meeting the woman who first showed him affection, Marion Ramage
- 13.30 mins: the former glory of The Ossian Hotel & Restaurant
- 17 mins 40: Christmas in care
- 18 mins 30: ‘stealing’ the Kincraig postcode to get into the army
- 26 mins 30: where he gets his natural resilience to his adverse childhood experiences from
- 28 mins: using his care compensation money to fund The Ossian
- 35 mins: when death of loved ones makes him feel alone again
- 43 mins: the drive behind Forces Manor
- 50 mins 30: what he’s learnt about fostering community
- 1 hour 3 mins: the role of creativity in processing his experiences
- 1 hour 15 mins: why how long you’ve lived in a community doesn’t matter, it’s what you put into it that does
Hope you enjoy meeting Tony. Do say hello to him, or even better stay at Forces Manor, or encourage your friends to! For more information and to book see: https://forcesmanor.com/ or find them on Facebook.
Look out for Tony’s book and accompanying song, too - Brown Eyes - due to publish this year.
And if you have any other suggestions of characters in Kincraig to interview on this podcast, please email me on suzy@bigjuicycreative.co.uk
Kincraig Cares podcast is being made on a shoe string out of love, so is very grateful for free resources which make this possible, like the intro and out music which is called 'Holiday Ukulele' by MaxKoMusic, promoted by www.chosic.com/free-music/all/ and part of the Creative Commons Attributions-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0)