Suddenly, local Stephanie Booth is a TV celebrity. Could she do for Rhuthun/Ruthin what she seems to be doing for Llangollen?
Did you catch Monday’s BBC1 Wales fly-on-the-wall on local celebrity Stephanie Booth? I did. “Catch” implies serendipity or idle channel-hopping but I had ringed this particular programme in the listings magazine well ahead of time. I wondered whether there was to be anything positive on Rhuthun.
The BBC billed Booth as “larger than life”. I am never quite sure whether this is a compliment. It almost translates as “odd” or “strange”. The BBC didn’t help by underlying much of the programme with silly music. Or might “larger than life” refer to Booth admitting in last week’s Free Press that she felt a little “podgy”?
If you don’t know her relevance to Rhuthun, Booth’s the hotelier who owns the Castle Hotel, The Anchor and Llandegla’s Bodidris Hall (itself only an hotel from 1987). Plus three others in Llangollen. The first of four episodes disappointedly focused on Llangollen but there was a dropshot of Rhuthun plus plenty of action at Bodidris Hall, including a brief shot of some Rhuthun notables, including the secretary of the Flower Show and the notable RNLI fundraiser.
There, a truculent Stephanie waded in to her poor-performing manager. Booth admitted she sometimes had staff in tears. Such macho-management is surely so 1970s but on the other hand you know where you stand with her directness. She attributes her drive and pace to her own struggle and the resultant ostracism.
No doubt we’ll have to await the fourth programme to see if she’s managed to transform the Llangollen business association she’s joined. During recession, the stakes (as well as steaks) are high. She was rallying Llangollen traders and doing her “Robin Hood bit” and, while tenaciously defending two women whose boutique was threatened, Booth remarked that traders need to unite, one and for all. Any lost unique shopping is a loss to the whole town. So true.
Rhuthun struggles more than Llangollen. Rhuthun has no guaranteed summer visitors. If Stephanie’s energy can succeed in Llangollen, why not apply it to Rhuthun? She has a significant stake here, too. Her leadership & fresh ideas might catalyse disparate organisations that may otherwise pull apart. Culturally, conservative Rhuthun is a world removed from more cosmopolitan Llangollen and may not so easily accept a personality such as hers. And people *are* still shocked by Stephanie: if ever she speaks to guests about her transformation, “I know never to tell people when they’re eating their soup”.
Should we in Rhuthun put aside any possible prejudices? Could she help unlock the town’s full potential?
As for Stephanie, she admits her sex change selfishly hurt others. You sense regret regarding the resultant broken relationships. It seemed clear from both her desire to be filmed and her tender treatment of her lamas that she simply wants to be understood and loved. We’ll know whether this has worked in three weeks.
Did you catch Monday’s BBC1 Wales fly-on-the-wall on local celebrity Stephanie Booth? I did. “Catch” implies serendipity or idle channel-hopping but I had ringed this particular programme in the listings magazine well ahead of time. I wondered whether there was to be anything positive on Rhuthun.The BBC billed Booth as “larger than life”. I am never quite sure whether this is a compliment. It almost translates as “odd” or “strange”. The BBC didn’t help by underlying much of the programme with silly music. Or might “larger than life” refer to Booth admitting in last week’s Free Press that she felt a little “podgy”?
If you don’t know her relevance to Rhuthun, Booth’s the hotelier who owns the Castle Hotel, The Anchor and Llandegla’s Bodidris Hall (itself only an hotel from 1987). Plus three others in Llangollen. The first of four episodes disappointedly focused on Llangollen but there was a dropshot of Rhuthun plus plenty of action at Bodidris Hall, including a brief shot of some Rhuthun notables, including the secretary of the Flower Show and the notable RNLI fundraiser.
There, a truculent Stephanie waded in to her poor-performing manager. Booth admitted she sometimes had staff in tears. Such macho-management is surely so 1970s but on the other hand you know where you stand with her directness. She attributes her drive and pace to her own struggle and the resultant ostracism.
No doubt we’ll have to await the fourth programme to see if she’s managed to transform the Llangollen business association she’s joined. During recession, the stakes (as well as steaks) are high. She was rallying Llangollen traders and doing her “Robin Hood bit” and, while tenaciously defending two women whose boutique was threatened, Booth remarked that traders need to unite, one and for all. Any lost unique shopping is a loss to the whole town. So true.
Rhuthun struggles more than Llangollen. Rhuthun has no guaranteed summer visitors. If Stephanie’s energy can succeed in Llangollen, why not apply it to Rhuthun? She has a significant stake here, too. Her leadership & fresh ideas might catalyse disparate organisations that may otherwise pull apart. Culturally, conservative Rhuthun is a world removed from more cosmopolitan Llangollen and may not so easily accept a personality such as hers. And people *are* still shocked by Stephanie: if ever she speaks to guests about her transformation, “I know never to tell people when they’re eating their soup”.
Should we in Rhuthun put aside any possible prejudices? Could she help unlock the town’s full potential?
As for Stephanie, she admits her sex change selfishly hurt others. You sense regret regarding the resultant broken relationships. It seemed clear from both her desire to be filmed and her tender treatment of her lamas that she simply wants to be understood and loved. We’ll know whether this has worked in three weeks.