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41 JOIN OUR MAILING LIST FOR ALL THE LATEST: TRENTBRIDGE.CO.UK/MAILING LIST the Parr stand, and I was friends with a lad called Andy Easom, who helped to operate the scoreboard at that end of the ground. WhenT20 started, we came along to that on a Friday night, but I was never really into the red-ball side of the game. Since I’ve started working here, though, I’ve come to completely understand the appeal of it – a day in the sun with your mates, chatting about anything and everything, and watching a bit of cricket as well. How have you seen things change over the years? When I started work, everyone paid in cash and had paper tickets, whereas now so much of what we do is online. But we do still make an effort to be a friendly voice on the phone or in person for those who want it – we don’t use call centres, and we still offer paper tickets, because we know that’s still important to a lot of people. Not everyone will want to be downloading apps and using e-tickets. It’s a massive positive for us to have the likes of Rach, Bev and Lou in the ticket office with me – we’ve got so much experience between us, and I know a lot of supporters appreciate the fact that we’ve got a knowledgeable team that really care. What has it been like living and working in a city where your Dad is such a sporting legend? We were talking about this in the office earlier actually – if I had a pound for every time someone said to me ‘how’s your dad?’, I’d be a multi-millionaire! I’ll be doing my shopping in Asda later on, and I guarantee that someone will shout it across to me. But it shows how well thought of he is – even now, with there being so many younger fans going to watch Notts County – and how big an achievement it is for him to be the record goalscorer. What are some of the most frequently asked questions you recieve? One that is asked a lot, and can be a bit awkward for us, is when people ask where the best place to sit is.That is always difficult for us, because everyone has a different opinion! Some like to sit at the front, some at the back.You have to tell them it’s sort of up to them and what they like. We also get a lot of people ringing up asking if the game is going to be on with the weather – and they try to get us to tell them what to do by asking if it’s worth them coming down.We can tell them what the weather is at that moment, and what the forecast is, but it isn’t us who makes the call if or when a game will be played. What are your favourite fixtures to work? You can’t beat internationals. I have worked in a lot of different places, but doing ticketing at aTest Match is different. Habits have changed now, because far fewer people decide to pitch up on the day – it is far more booked in advance – so a lot of the work is done before. But there is something really special about aTest, and about being here when one is on. TIM BRADD The ticket office team (from left to right): Bev Soar,Tim Bradd, Louise Burke & Rachel Powell