Press Releases
LIVING THE GOOD LIFE – AT JACKSON BUILDING CENTRES
25th May 2005
ESCAPING from the humdrum of everyday working life is something that appeals to many people yet very few ever get the chance to turn such dreams into reality.
But one family from Louth really has lived the good life after answering an appeal for people to take part in a television documentary echoing the experiences of Tom and Barbara Good in the famous 1970s sitcom.
Paul and Dawn Smith along with their five children spent a year living self-sufficiently in front of the television cameras for a seven-part documentary series filmed for ITV1.
The series traces their progress, along with that of two other families, from finishing work, transforming their gardens to grow vegetables and keep livestock and eventually heading back to their regular jobs.
And Lincoln-based Jackson Building Centres found itself in the spotlight when TV crews followed Paul as he returned to work earlier this year to carry out a landscaping project at the company’s Grimsby branch. Paul, who is self-employed, has been instrumental in helping to redesign the extensive patio display there to include four individual garden sets ranging from traditional to contemporary.
“The television project was a fantastic experience and going back to work was quite strange at first,” explained Paul who is a long-standing customer of Jackson’s at Grimsby. “I soon got into it though and Jackson’s was a good place to start,” he added.
Mark Thomas, assistant branch manger at Grimsby, said: “Paul has done a brilliant job on the new patio display which is designed to show customers just what can be achieved with the right products and some expert advice.
“We are delighted to have an old friend of the company working with us as a television celebrity and are all looking forward to seeing the documentary.”
Viewers can tune into the family’s adventures in an hour long special of The Real Good Life on May 31 at 8pm on ITV1 and every Tuesday night for seven weeks.
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Notes to editors:
Jackson Building Centres has 20 branches located in Boston, Chesterfield, Corby, Gainsborough, Grantham, Grimsby, Horncastle, Lincoln, Louth, Newark, Nottingham, Oakham, Scunthorpe, Skegness, Sleaford, Spalding, Spilsby, Stamford, Sutton and Swinton.
Established in 1946, the family controlled builders’ merchants business has a turnover of c £145m and employs over 1,050 people throughout the East Midlands, Lincolnshire and Yorkshire.
Press contacts: Joanne Ainley/Emma Roots
Telephone: 01302 368651
Fax: 01302 341735
Email: joanne@colbear.co.uk
emmaroots@colbear.co.uk