What it's like to be a clown: It’s not just a job, I love it!

She’s been described by parents as having a ‘pied piper’ effect on children, keeping them enthralled with her amusing antics

And she has a number of tricks up her sleeve to keep boys and girls of all ages entertained and ensure there is always plenty of fun and laughter whatever the occasion.

“I love what I do and I’m really lucky – who doesn’t like going to a party? Everybody is having a nice time, there is nice food and everybody feels really happy. I always have a great time wherever I go,” Sally tells us.

For almost 15 years she has been a star attraction at events around the Midlands from birthdays to weddings. Before starting her new life as a clown, she gained experience working as an entertainer for the likes of Pontins and Butlins.

After graduating from the University of Reading with a BA honours degree in English language and literature and going backpacking around the world, Sally worked as a Nickleodeon actor at Alton Towers.

Later she became a Blue Coat at Pontins where she was also known for playing Chuckles the Monkey before becoming a Red Coat at Butlins where she also entertained youngsters as children’s favourite Noddy.

“My claim to fame is that I crashed Noddy’s car. My mum was there so I was waving at her and I reversed into a bin,” Sally tells us laughing.

Entertainer

After leaving Butlins she worked as a family entertainer for an Airtours resort in Cyprus and it was there that inspiration for her new life as a clown first struck.

“Someone said to me ‘you should do kids’ parties’ and I said ‘is there a market for that?’. ‘Yes, we’d have you’ they said. So I got the names and addresses of all these parents whose kids I had entertained and when I got home I contacted them to see if they would be interested in booking me.

“And it really took off, I never thought it would be as successful as it has been,” says the 44-year-old who is originally from Kidsgrove, near Stoke-on-Trent but now lives in Wellington with her nine-year-old daughter who is also named Sally.

“My unique selling point is that I’m a girl – you don’t get very many female clowns, which is a shame – but girls and boys like me equally. I want girls to believe they can be anything they want to be so when I get girls asking if I’m really a clown because I’m a girl, I tell them they can be clowns too if they want to be.

“My name is also a unique selling point and it leads to many jokes because kids find it funny. I’ve been Pee-Wee to my sister for years so I could never be anything else,” Sally tells us.

Seeing her young audience laugh and smile as she performs her routine which includes magic tricks, music, games and balloon modelling.

“I’m on their wavelength which might not be viewed as a good thing but I think it is. I treat boys and girls exactly the same, I think that’s very important, and I talk to them like they’re adults because they are just little people. I don’t patronise them either. I like them and they like me,” says Sally.

And one of the best things about being a clown is helping children to come out of their shells, Sally tells us.

“I love it when children do something that their parents never expected them to do. A parent might come over to me at the start and tell me their son or daughter is really shy and won’t want to speak on the microphone but by the end of the party they are not only talking on the microphone but they are also showing us their favourite dance moves. Their parent will ask me ‘how did you do that?’. It’s the Pee-Wee magic,” she says.

“When I do ‘interviews’ with the children, I love it when I ask them a question and I get a funny answer. I asked one child ‘what is your favourite food?’. The answer normally is something like sausages or mashed potato but they said ‘olives’ and I loved that!”

Word of mouth recommendations among parents leads to many of her bookings and Sally says party sizes have ranged from three three-year-olds to a school group of 150 youngsters.

“I tend to go around a school a bit like chicken pox. Once one family has booked me then others in a school normally do.

“I’ve done two parties on the same day for two classmates. I did the one party and then I moved to the second house and children from the first party came with me. I’ve also done two parties at the same venue in the same day. I stayed at the venue after the first party had left and waited for the second party to arrive,” she tell us.

She struggles to think of a downside to being a clown although she admits people may not always take her seriously.

“I suppose the only thing I wish is that I could more parties. They tend to be at weekends so I’m limited on how many I get fit in,” says Sally.

After almost 15 years as a clown, she says she can’t imagine doing anything else. “This isn’t just a job for me; it’s a vocation. I love being a clown.”

Heather Large

l Visit www.pee-wee.co.uk for more information.