MEET THE TEAM: ELIZABETH GREDECKI

We’ve already interviewed a Queen fanatic for our Meet the Team series, and today we’re rolling out another one: Elizabeth Gredecki from Business Support. Elizabeth joins us for coffee (us) and warm Vimto (her), and a chat in the Georgie Fame Room at Tartleton Villa (a.k.a. DMR HQ).

DMR: Hello Elizabeth, and thanks for joining us today. Our first question is about your name. When you’re being informal, you go by the name Ezbi. What’s that about? How come you’re not just a bog-standard Liz or Lizzy?

ELIZABETH: My grandfather was Polish, so I’ve Polish heritage. And Elizabeth in Polish is Elzbieta which is where Ezbi comes from. Officially, Elzbieta should be shortened to Ella, but my grandad made up his own rules for names!

DMR: You’ve got your British side represented by Elizabeth and your Polish blood represented through Ezbi. It reminds us of The Queen. She’s an Elizabeth, too, unless she’s hanging out in Windsor with her pals, and then she’s known as Lilibet. Which nicely brings us to our next question. It’s well known in the office that you’re a big fan of Her Majesty The Queen. Are you looking forward to the Platinum Jubilee, and what’ve you got planned?

ELIZABETH: You know I love The Queen! We’ve got a long weekend off work for her jubilee, and we’ll be having a party at home with the children to celebrate. Much to my husband’s delight, I’ve ordered some bunting with The Queen’s face on it, and we’ll have some afternoon tea in her honour. Hopefully, it’ll be a lovely weekend, and we’ll watch whatever footage they show on the television. On the Sunday of Jubilee Weekend, I’m running a 10km in honour of The Queen, and i’m hoping to collect a medal with The Queen’s face on it.

The Queen’s face on Elizabeth’s shortbread tin.

DMR: You love The Queen’s face on things! Will you be wearing a Queen-related fancy dress during the 10km? A crown and jewels? Tight jeans, white vest and clip-on moustache?

ELIZABETH: I’ve considered it, but no, i’ll just stick to my running gear.

DMR: Tell us a bit more about the running. We hear you’ve been signed up to the 2023 Manchester Marathon against your will. Have you started training yet?

ELIZABETH: It wasn’t entirely against my will. I was challenged to do it, which is kind of how my running started in the first place: my kids couldn’t understand why dad ran but not mum. They thought it was because I couldn’t run, so I set out to prove them wrong. And yes, I’m training – I’ve got the Manchester Half Marathon coming up this Sunday, and I’m a little scared.

DMR: What’s the longest training run you’ve done?

ELIZABETH: 11 miles.

DMR: 11 miles! You’ll breeze a half marathon; no need to be worried. Let’s talk about your role at DMR now. Your official job title is Business Support, which is a bit vague. Please can you go into more detail about that? Or are you the DMR equivalent of an MI5 agent, sworn to secrecy about the true nature of your work?

ELIZABETH: No, I can divulge the full extent of my role at DMR. I provide a range of support services, starting with day-to-day administrative support for the office team that focuses on auditing government funding paperwork for the training courses we deliver. And then, on a management level, I’m also involved with procurement, bid-writing, business development and strategic planning.

DMR: What did you do before you came to DMR?

ELIZABETH: I was a teacher. I have a degree in English and a Post-graduate Teaching Certificate in Primary Education.

DMR: Before DMR, you taught young scamps how to read and write?

ELIZABETH: Yes, I did that for several years and I loved teaching children. But later, when I got married and had children of my own, I decided it was time to try something new, and I wanted to embrace a new challenge in my career, but one that kept me in the education sector. I was interested in working in further education on the business side of things rather than in the classroom. And that brought me to DMR.

DMR: And we’re glad you’re here. We’d like to discuss two completely different topics now: filmmaking and gluttony. Back in March, you featured in DMR’s award-winning documentary – Cake Day: The Documentary – and you were exposed as a helpless cake addict. Are you still eating a lot of cake? Or did the documentary force you into a period of introspection and corrective action?

ELIZABETH: I was stitched up. I barely even eat cake: I’m a keen runner – I’m running for The Queen!

DMR: You’re a keen Queen runner.

ELIZABETH: Yes, I am. And Cake Day: The Documentary was a set-up. It was just clever editing and coercion by the filmmakers.

“I was set up!” Elizabeth being interviewed about her cake addiction for Cake Day: The Documentary.

DMR: We’re not sure about that but…moving on. What does Elzbieta get up to outside of work when she’s not eating cake or running for the monarchy? 

ELIZABETH: I’ve got four young children who take up a lot of my time. We’re a sporty family – my kids like swimming and football; in fact, we love most sports in our house. We like visiting the Etihad to watch Man City play. Away from sport, I enjoy reading, and I’m currently on Sara Davies’ new book.

DMR: Who’s Sara Davies?

ELIZABETH: She’s on Dragon’s Den. The Geordie girl. She founded a craftwork supplies company, and she’s known as the “Crafting Queen”. I love anything to do with arts and crafts.

DMR: Are you a Crafting Queen yourself? Or ‘Crafting For The Queen’ as you’d probably call it.

ELIZABETH: I just like making sh*t! Anything from invitation cards for birthdays, weddings and christenings to fancy dress costumes for my kids.

DMR: For our final question, we’re going from arts and crafts to cooking. Little known fact: You once donated a portable oven to the DMR Marketing Department. Do you have any cooking tips for us? Any suggestions for sourcing quality ingredients?

ELIZABETH: Hello Fresh or Gousto.

DMR: We already use Gousto. Seriously, give us some cooking tips, please. Or do you shove everything in the microwave at home?

ELIZABETH: We cook everything from scratch at home! Every meal, every day. We might have Subway once a week, but everything else is home-cooked. That sounds a bit smug, doesn’t it! But you can’t undervalue the importance of eating properly.

DMR: You’re inspiring us to lead healthier lives.

ELIZABETH: If I can do it, anyone can!

DMR: You still haven’t given us any cooking tips. Nevertheless, thank you for participating in our latest Meet the Team, Elzbieta. And good luck with the half marathon on Sunday.

ELIZABETH: Thank you.