Mark: tell us about the which is coming up in a couple of weeks time. Tell us the location. Why have you chosen Portsmouth ⁓ as the location? What's the story behind that?

Simon Cobb: it is the tallest building that we can light up fully. It is the biggest thing we can light up in England. So that's important because we need to send a big, strong message. But also, Portsmouth is my hometown. It's where I'm from. It's where I was born. It's where I would be living if I didn't, you know, ⁓ if I had my way, I be living there with my son. But I haven't had it my way. So instead I'm living 200 miles away from where I want to be to be with my son.

Mark: And can you talk us through the day? What can people expect?

Simon Cobb: So this year we're doing more. I still didn't have as long as I wanted. They still wouldn't let me know until six months before I wanted it planned a year because we're going to do it every year. I want to build this up every year. So I want to make it bigger every year. So hopefully this year and after another successful year, they will allow me to just say, ⁓ We're doing it for the next 10, 20, 30 years. I don't care. We're going to just keep doing it. We're going to keep doing it until Papa no longer exists. Until the job is done, we will keep doing it. year, basically, it's going to be ⁓ in the area that I was in last year because we were, we had to, one, I was trying to keep my son away from, don't, the thing my son doesn't know much about what do. I've always kept it very private from him. He's aware of Papa obviously because he knows wear Papa stuff, but ⁓ I've never explained to him why Papa exists or anything like that. I've just explained to him my help parents. he's only a So he doesn't have any understanding of family dynamics really because he was ⁓ very, very young when I went through things with So he was with me while we met with the drone photographer, while we met with the BBC reporter, while we had ⁓ Stephen, who was there doing filming for his documentary, the Love V Law documentary. So we had a smaller group there, making sure we got the assets like the drone footage, the BBC footage, the Love V Law footage, just sure we got all of that I say, last year was the proof of concept, we got it done, we got it over the line. This year everybody is going to be in the same place, everybody is going to be where we were last year, which is the best place in my opinion to view the tower, which is in Old Portsmouth. And this I'm expecting more people, we've out the whole of the Spice Island which is ⁓ a large pub. in front of the water then I've also got you a spot ⁓ the Stillum West next door which is for you to do interviews which already know about. You already know about this. Yeah you'll on your own. No you'll be doing all the interviews. No I don't know. So the plan is the pub itself, I wanted the whole pub but we couldn't have the whole pub because there's a wedding function going on upstairs.

Mark: So I'm going to be on my own. You put me on my own, have I upset you?

Simon Cobb: And the downstairs can fit like 150 people in. And I'm expecting more than 150 people. We had more than 150 people last year, so we should have more than 150 As I've said to you, we've got over 200,000 followers based in the UK. In my opinion, all of them should be there, because the UK is small. We've just driven around Europe. Like, covered more distance going all the way to Germany and back than it takes to get to Portsmouth from anywhere in the UK. Anyone can do it. I want everybody there. Unless they have a very good reason they should be there. They should be there to take photos. They should be there to share those photos on social media, share those photos with their local papers, share those photos with their MPs, share those photos with mainstream media. The more people that are there, the more people that share it, the more people that make noise, the more pressure we build.

Mark: going back to what you said we probably covered what? 400, 500 miles there and 400, 500 miles back in a week? Like you reckon?

Simon Cobb: way more than that. More than that. Well I mean I was 200 on Mars just for me to get to Devon so yeah it's it's more than that all the way.

Mark: Yeah, I didn't even count their trip to Deva.

Simon Cobb: Plus also we were going back and forth. We went to Bruges, we went to Ghent, we went to Maastricht, we went to Cologne, we went to in all different directions. think, I mean, I had a full tank when I left, which was 780 miles and I had to fill up while we were in Germany, didn't I? So I reckon we did over a thousand miles. can do it. Portsmouth is a great city anyway. Like it's a great place to spend time. So people can make a weekend of it. But

Mark: Mm-hmm. So basically, no excuses, turn up.

Simon Cobb: No excuses. is no... Well, there are excuses, but they have to be very good excuses. Like, if there's like a medical reason or if you're seeing your children, that's fine. That's a good excuse. That's a very good reason. You know, enjoy your time with your children. But if you're not, if you're free that weekend or if you're in a position that a lot of our followers and members are, that you are still alienated, you need to be there. You need to be there. Because one, you get to be there around other people that fully understand the situation you're in and can be there from a supportive level. You're being there as part of something, as part of something that is building every year, every day. Even so yesterday was on 316,000 followers on Facebook. Today it's like 318, nearly 319,000. I don't know why it's just increased quickly again, but it's growing every day we're going to keep doing these things to make sure it grows, to make sure that the government have to listen to us. doing these reports. We want everybody to play their part in us building this pressure because we need everybody to play their part. I can't do it on my own. Me and you can't do it on our own. The people, the volunteers, all of us who are already part of PAPL, you know, there's only what, 30 or 40 of us? We can't do it. We need thousands, we need thousands and thousands and thousands of people pulling together and saying, no, it's enough. Now it's enough. We've had enough and... we're not going to stop until you do something about it. And Portsmouth is one. Exactly. And Portsmouth is one of those opportunities to do that. We went the long way around. was going to say, you're not going to be on your own because we should have way too many people there that they will have to go into the pub next door. They have to go there. And I'm going to be sending people in there anyway, because there are a lot of people that have said they want to, they want to be part of the podcast. So.

Mark: Yeah, we're trying, we're trying.

Simon Cobb: You should have a queue of people, I would hope. a queue out of the door into the rest of the crowd that's there. There's also queuing in to get into the other place. It should be busy. I want it to be busy. What was?

Mark: I'm looking forward to it. You know, as you know, I love doing the podcast. So any opportunity to talk to people live, got all these new gadgets that I want to try out. ⁓ invested quite a bit into my setup. I'm going to be bringing my mobile setup. ⁓ yeah, I'd love to talk to people, love to interview people, love to hear their stories. So anyone that's listening, want to come and have a chat with me, come and find me in the ⁓ Pub next door,

Simon Cobb: next door to the Spice Islands you'll be in the still and west in the conserv- upstairs of the still and west yeah conservatory that's it because you're gonna because the spinnaker tower will be lit up in the background so it'll make a very very good backdrop for interviews but also yeah so you're gonna be there I know you'll be you won't be in there the whole time probably an hour or so I think the rest of the time you'll be out and about when you mingle in with everybody

Mark: next door to the still in West in the upstairs. Mm-hmm. Well, we know if there's lots of people that want to interview then I'll interview all night if there's people that want to do it. And then we're going to have Scott. We're going to have Scott as well. Scott reviews things. He's going to be doing interviews as well. Yeah.

Simon Cobb: on a day. yeah yeah yeah he did it he did youtube on it last year and interviewed people he'll be out and about i'm sure yeah so he'll probably be the more nimble one he'll probably be doing it out and around

Mark: Yeah, so we've been chatting about it and we're just going to mix it up on the night. So we'll have a station a studio set up that we're going to set up in the corner, like a makeshift studio. And other one is going to be, you know, jumping around and, you know, trying to chat to people on the fly. And then we're to have people coming into the studio. We're going to do some together. We're going to do some separately. So we're going to mix it up and just have some fun doing it. ⁓ I we should do, you know. Yeah.

Simon Cobb: Well we should get some good footage. We should get some really good footage because also Stephen's gonna be there again getting more footage for his lovely law and he said he said he's gonna have a camera on him as well so there's three of you three of us or three of you recording it. We've got the drone photographer again. I'm gonna try get a photographer as well just to get photos but we should have like three four five of us getting good

Mark: Mm-hmm. Wow amazing, I'm going to try and get in it. Mm-hmm.

Simon Cobb: footage so we should get a lot of good assets to say to the media to Parliament say look hey this is who turned up this is why you need to start taking this seriously because we are not going away we're just getting more there's but they were just multiplying and multiplying and multiplying and that's the plan so we need yeah everyone there this this time and then even more and more and more each year good just going back slightly

Mark: So going back to what you were saying, I'm sorry to interrupt, but you were saying about 200 UK members of PAPA across social media. Now imagine if 1 % of those turned up this year. Those pubs will be heaving, ports them for be heaving, right? Imagine the year after if 2 % turned up or 5 % turned up, it's going to be something that the media Parliament, the MPs, the government, the family court, eventually they're not going to be able to ignore it. And the only way that that's going to happen is if people come and turn up and make this statement.

Simon Cobb: Mm-hmm. 100 % we've got over that's just on Facebook. We've got over 200,000 UK followers just on Facebook. As you say, if 1 % show up, that's over 2000 people. People are going to make notice of over 2000 people in one place. That's a lot of people. if they're all or not all I know they're not all because we haven't sold that much merch. But if a lot of them are in their Papa merch and we're give away some freebies on the night as well.

Mark: Mm-hmm. That's crazy.

Simon Cobb: And a lot of, you know, it sends a message. I'm going to get some, those, you know, those signs that hold up. I'm just going to, they're just plain things you get from Hobbycraft. I'm going to get loads of them. People can write on them, post for photos. Let's send some messages out there. We've got that massive, massive symbol, that beacon of hope and resilience, as we called it last year. We've got that huge, huge tower behind, which will be behind everybody. Use it. Use it to send the messages to your children, to the MPs, to government, to the media. Everybody can use that platform next Saturday to send a message. And as you say, if 1 % show up, if 2,000 people are contacting their MPs, are contacting their media, putting photos on social media and standing up and being part of our social media and our press releases, et cetera, no one can ignore that. No one can ignore

Mark: I mean, the thing is, if you think about it, and I see this on social media all the time, on Facebook groups and Instagram and TikTok and all sorts, everyone's to push these petitions. ⁓ we know, I've spoken to Michael about it, ⁓ his interview, and he said, petitions do nothing. No one cares. It doesn't get enough. And even if you do, even you are lucky enough to get enough signatures on that petition and send it to parliament, It's going to get ignored anyway. So it's constantly being pushed away. If you go and stand in front of the houses of parliament, which I've done and do a protest, no one cares. This is an for us all to come together and for it to make a difference. I can't stress how important this is. It really, really is important. You know to me to me personally to my kids personally to Who's going through this everyone is going through family court everyone is affected by parental alienation this is everyone's opportunity to really make a difference and make a statement it's that one big step to Create reform which is what we all want at the end of the day time people be there on Saturday?

Simon Cobb: So we have five PAPA who are amazing volunteers. They're absolutely amazing. They help with people's cases, people who book calls and need help and support through the website. These guys are helping managing people's family court cases ⁓ and they do completely voluntarily. They're absolutely awesome people. And five of them have volunteered to abseil down the Spinnaker Tower on the day from five o'clock. to 18:15, I think it will be. So there'll be five of them, two at a time. And then there'll be one.

Mark: So these are the volunteers that work on the PAPA Plus project.

Simon Cobb: Yes, yeah. So any PAPA Plus members that needs case reviews or case management work done, and they book a call through the website, these guys are helping them. Obviously we've got the courses and all the other stuff on there that's also available to the members, but these guys are helping people with their cases, helping them prepare, helping them be ready to self-represent. yeah, just doing a lot of amazing work to help our members. ⁓ five of them have very graciously volunteered to abseil down the spinnaker tower because I thought we should I thought of it as an idea and I thought I'm not up for it no chance There was several others that weren't it's not just me. I'm I'm ill that day I remembered I was gonna be ill that day and Yeah, five of them were more than up for doing it. ⁓ We've got Women doing it two guys. We've got Natalie Jane Jade Jay So those are Jay's. And Callum, yeah. Got Jane, Jade and Jay. And Callum and Natalie. They're all going down at between 5 and So you're the city at that time, I want everybody to go to Gunwharf Keys at the base the tower to ⁓ cheer these guys because they're taking on a great feat. know, I don't want to do it.

Mark: That's Lee JJ. CJ Drake and.

Simon Cobb: You know, it's a long way down anyway. So they're doing that to help raise awareness for parental alienation, to help raise awareness for the day. And then from 7 p.m. onwards, we want everybody in Old Portsmouth, like I mentioned before, Bath Square and Old Portsmouth outside the Spice Island Inn, because the tower will then be starting to get lit, or starting to get dark after 7 p.m. isn't it? So that's a good time for everybody to arrive there. We've got a band on at eight called Kiss by Vultures who are actually based near to where I live now. the lead singer has been sadly impacted by parental alienation and got a song about it actually, but I'll let them promote all that on the night. But they're to ⁓ perform between and nine o'clock. And then after that, yeah. or during that and after that, it's a good opportunity for everybody to post, share, meet each other, support each other, get to know each other, and just be part of something that's growing all the time.

Mark: I'll be there at five o'clock watching them come down.

Simon Cobb: I'm going to move over to the pub make sure that the band are able to set up as planned because the pub, as I said, there's only going to be 150 people, the space for 150 people inside downstairs, but they said they're also going to set up bars ⁓ and seating outside. So, and then there's also a lot of seating out. like public seating outside as well so there's probably space for two, three hundred people outside easily and then you've got the pub next door which the same size as the pub we've got but they've obviously got two floors as well so that's probably got two, three hundred people in there and there should be space for every... and if there's not space for everybody good that's a problem I want to have I want there to be more people in there than we can we can fit in because with the bars outside people can... I think people would want to be outside anyway because of the tower and as long as the weather is good I think people would want to be outside anyway.

Mark: Yeah, so in short, we've got a private area booked in one pub, but there's two pubs next to each other and it's free rain coming in and out of both of them. And hopefully the weather's nice and we can all sit outside and enjoy a beer.

Simon Cobb: Well was good last year so I'm hoping it'll be good this year.

Mark: Fantastic. The drink for me is a Guinness, by the way, if anyone's listening.

Simon Cobb: But if people are lining up, you I don't know how the latter episodes the latter interviews are gonna go. If you're gonna be getting Guinness's in, could be quite viewing. ⁓

Mark: Well, you could have half a Guinness, you can have a baby Guinness, can have a cappuccino.

Simon Cobb: Yeah, you drink a lot of coffee actually, don't you? did in Europe. You do drink a lot of coffee.

Mark: Yeah, I did. I did. a coffee person, so coffee is also good. So I'll be quite happy to enjoy a drink with somebody. Hopefully we can ⁓ enjoy drink as well at some point in the evening or ⁓ over weekend.

Simon Cobb: Yeah, there'll be time. There'll definitely be time. I'll be there. I'll be there for a good few hours. I'll be there before to make sure it's all set up and ready to go. And I'll be there for a good few hours during the night to meet all the members. Because I know I underestimated how that would be important to people last year. Obviously, last year, I was just hyper focused on getting everything over the line, making sure that we got it on the BBC, making sure that we had the assets, making sure that it went ahead. I was hyper-focused on that. I know there was a few people that were disappointed they didn't get a I did meet quite a few members that night ⁓ Portsmouth. I did meet people, but I know there were some people that were disappointed. They ⁓ to meet me. So I'm going to, making more, well, everybody's going be in the same place this time anyway, but I'm definitely going to try and make sure that I don't disappoint anyone because I don't want to do that.

Mark: Mr. Popularity, everyone wants meet you.

Simon Cobb: I don't know about that, ⁓