Meet The Face Behind the Franchise – Jayne from Footlights Huddersfield

What led you to taking on a Footlights franchise?

My two children Jess and Sam had attended Footlights Rochdale for seven years when I decided to look into getting a franchise of my own.

I had first-hand experience as a parent of what Footlights could do for children in terms of development and personal and social skills.

My youngest child Sam has Aspergers and before Footlights he couldn’t understand facial expressions and emotions. Through acting he learnt how people act and look in different situations which helped him in everyday social situations. If we hadn’t have found Footlights Sam would have been a very different child.

Jess became a student teacher almost 10 years ago with Footlights and is is now my Tinys teacher who also works in head office and also at other Footlights Schools. Sam is now our drama teacher at Footlights Huddersfield.

What does your typical Footlights Saturday morning look like?

On a Saturday morning, I welcome the children and parents in and make sure everyone is signed in before the teachers take them into our energising warm-up.

I make sure any free trials are welcomed in and buddy them up with someone in their appropriate age group and chat to the parents while giving them the relevant information.

Then I go around the classes checking in on everyone and watching their progression and making sure I get some snaps so the parents can see what they do on a Saturday morning.

What do you enjoy most about running a Footlights franchise?

Welcoming new people who may come in a little nervous and seeing them run to their parents at the end of the morning buzzing and asking to come back the following week.

What is your funniest/most memorable moment at Footlights?

From a parent’s perspective, Sam getting stuck on a tram and me and Jess having to chase it while Jess was in a full men’s suit as she was in costume as it was Blood Brothers dress and tech day. They both went on to give brilliant performances in their show.

From a franchise perspective, it was when we did our first show after lockdown which was &Juliet which was an emotional experience as it had taken a lot to get there as we had only opened seven weeks before the pandemic and had been doing lessons online.

It was amazing to be able to give the children a fantastic experience after such hard times. It was still rules of six at the time and only a maximum of two families could sit around tables as we couldn’t put chairs out as normal at this stage. Seeing everyone was a bit like designing a wedding seating plan but the show was brilliant and it felt like a real uplifting celebration that everyone needed.

If you could only choose one, would it be acting, dancing or singing?

Acting.

What are your favourite things to do when you’re not running Footlights?

I devote much of my time to Footlights so don’t have much free time. I have enjoyed a few ‘extreme day trips’ which are perfect because you fly to a different country, explore and fly home the same day. The most recent one I have done is to Palma.

What advice would you give to anyone thinking of becoming a Footlights franchisee?

If you want a job that never feels like you are working as you love every minute and where you get to meet and work with like-minded individuals and children and inspire them to be the best that they can be in all forms of life, then I would say go for it.

What are your ambitions for the future?

To open at another Huddersfield venue and offer more classes.

How can children join your Footlights family?

Your child is welcome for a free trial at anytime, for more information email [email protected]