Each week Swindon Business News gives a prominent member of the city’s business community the last word on its weekly e-bulletin. This week Sue Marchant, a director of business growth consultancy Cool Ventures, answers our 10 questions.
What was the LAST: 
Film you watched? The Martian with Matt Damon. It was entertaining and an opportunity to spend some quality time with my teenage sons together.
Book you read? A Running Life – Aspiring to Mediocrity, an autobiography by David Hart. At 70, Dave is a coach at Bristol & West Athletic Club (where I’m an assistant coach) and is an inspiration to everyone he meets.
Music you bought? I usually listen to music over the internet but do enjoy running to music. I recently brought Happy, a great compilation to run to, although I can only run to two beats rather than one!
Concert or play you went to? My son Nathan went on band tour to Barcelona with the school. Having never visited Barcelona, my husband and I secretly flew over for the weekend and went to one of the concerts. To say he was surprised to see us was an understatement!
Sporting event you attended? As with most weekends in the winter, Sunday was spent attending a cross-country event to support my son Nathan and his team mates. Also, I’m a black belt in Tang Soo Do and recently represented Great Britain in the European Championships in Rotterdam.
Holiday you went on? My husband surprised me with a trip to Venice and Rome for my 50th birthday in the spring. Such diverse cities. I totally fell in love with Venice.
Restaurant you ate in? Henry’s Oriental in Chipping Sodbury. It was a family evening out to celebrate my youngest son’s 16th birthday and my eldest son’s ski instructor internship to Canada.
Thing that annoyed you? Being overcharged two weeks running in my local supermarket. Needless to say, I no longer shop there!
Thing that made you laugh out loud? Listening to a group of teenage boys talking about The Apprentice and how the teams performed on one of the tasks.
Piece of good advice you were given? Don’t blame them, train them! I started my career as a management trainee for Safeway and learned very early on about the importance of communicating to and training staff.
Born in Bristol, Sue Marchant founded Cool Ventures in 2011 with her colleague Roger Wilkins. They provide free expert advice to businesses enrolled on the Swindon and Wiltshire SME Growth Programme and the Bath Business Support Programme. Before this, Sue was a chartered management accountant at the RAC where she headed up the finance planning and strategy team.
