WITH John Verga, Funfields park manager, Whittlesea.
OURS is a family-run business, with three partners, and I’ve worked here for 20 years.
We have two children, aged 19 and 18, who pretty much grew up at the park. I guess it’s like when your parents own the milk bar – maybe not quite so exciting as it looks from the outside.
Put it this way, most of their friends have had birthday parties here over the years, but my kids wouldn’t!
I enjoy my job – you’re selling fun and it makes for a good environment to work in. I used to do everything from cleaning the toilets to running the local tourism group, but these days I focus mostly on the marketing. I just spent six weeks with our website people learning about Twitter and Facebook and how we can use it.
I don’t go on the rides. I’m prone to motion sickness. We bought the pirate ship ride three years ago and I can’t even stand on the platform with the operator without feeling sick. My favourite ride is the toboggan. I use it to get up the mountain and check out how things are going up there; see whether the grass needs cutting. Then I come down slowly.
