Spotlight on…. who can it be…

Bernadette Brownlie has been with Kirkpatrick & Hopes for 11 years, having started in 2000.  As well as being Office Manager, her duties extend to marketing and event organisation.

Have you recovered from the Champions League result?
Well you have to, don’t you? Barca are a class act. I think I’m more sad that Paul Scholes is retiring – he’s been one of my favourites for a long time. I know he can be a bit of a ‘bad boy’ on the pitch, and he’s not David, but I do have a soft spot for him!

I hear you also take an interest in Reading FC?
Yes, I think you should support your home team; unless you live in Manchester, of course, in which case there is only one team to support.

And you went to the Reading v Swansea play-offs at Wembley, didn’t you?
Yes – I must be a glutton for punishment. Another bad result unfortunately. I do go to a few of the Reading home games but my son treated me to a trip to Wembley for the Reading v Swansea play-offs. Apart from the result, it was a really good day – great atmosphere and great stadium.

You’ve recently had a trip to New York
Yes I have – it’s been a busy month. My husband and I had a long weekend there a few weeks ago. It was my fourth visit. It’s just full of characters and there’s always plenty to see and do.

Did you do much shopping?
Well you can’t go to NYC without hitting the shops, but we did manage to leave the shopping until the last day. It’s too easy to spend hours and hours in Macy’s.

You bought yourself a new gadget, didn’t you?
Yes I’m now the proud owner of an iPad2 which I bought in the Apple store. It was a bit of an impulse buy, but I was on holiday so it’s allowed! I’ve surprised myself with how much I actually use it. I think Stacey (Delve) hopes I’ll get bored with it and pass it on to her, as she says it’s wasted on me! She could be right, but I have great fun taking photos with it and sliding them over and back!

What was the last book you read?
I’ve got a couple of books on the go on my iPad – the not very taxing Paul O’Grady ‘At My Mother’s Knee’ and ‘The iPad2 Survival Guide’!

Do you have a favourite TV programme?
It has to be Corrie. It’s all happening at the moment – John Stape has completely lost it – Chesney got released just in time and Jim is still in the Big House! You never fail to get a laugh during every episode of Coronation Street regardless of the current storyline.

Britain’s Got Talent is really good because during the audition stages you never know what is going to happen next. The Apprentice is also a firm favourite.

Do you have any keep fit routines?
Yes, every morning shortly after getting up I stretch, then it’s up-down, up-down for a count of ten. Then I do the other eyebrow.!  I do like to get these things over with early in the day.  At weekends I do like to go for a walk and enjoy the fresh air.

Do you have any favourite place in Britain?
I do have a favourite place which is in Ireland. It is Tullagh Bay which is very near to where I was born in Clonmany, Co. Donegal. The scenery is beautiful, the air is clean and the surrounding beaches vary from quaint little coves, vast sandy stretches to little rockpools and all are blissfully unspoiled – but don’t tell everyone because we want to keep it that way.  Being so close to the most northerly point in Ireland means of course that it gets the cold north wind.

Have you got any money-making tips that you’d like to share?
Use vouchers that you get in newspapers/magazines but only if it is for a product that you usually buy. And use your Reward cards.

Any short-term – or long-term – plans ahead?
Desperately trying to de-clutter both at home and at work. Unfortunately, when everyone else is having a clear-out, both at home and at work, anything that isn’t wanted gets ‘recycled’ in my direction. But I’m working on it.

Bernadette lives in Beenham Village with husband Ian and, when the fancy takes them, daughter Helen and son Daniel