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Jean Utting from Sittingbourne launches TJ's Virtual Reality World in Gillingham

By: Clare Freeman

Published: 00:01, 21 February 2017

From the pyramids of Egypt to the streets of New York, you can now travel the world without having to leave Medway.

After testing out virtual reality headsets while on holiday, a mother-of-three took a chance on the new technology and set up her own business.

Jean Utting started selling the headsets in shopping centres and has now opened her own shop, TJ’s Virtual Reality World, in Gillingham.

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James and Jean Utting with Nick Johns at TJ's Virtual Reality World

The 60-year-old said: “I first saw it in Poland. It interested me, so I investigated it and found out all about it.”

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The headsets use video and audio to transport the wearer into a virtual world, and the technology means the world changes as they turn their head and move around.

Mrs Utting said: “I can’t keep off it, it’s excellent. You are actually in that place, you are there. You have to try it to actually appreciate it.

“We have one game where you walk the plank off the top of a skyscraper, and there are not many people who can do it because it’s so real. I can’t do it, I’ve tried so many times.”

Watch: Jean Utting opens virtual reality shop

Mrs Utting said the sets do not just have to be used to play games.

“The schools are getting into, it helps children learn as they are really in the experience,” she said.

“Surgeons use it and a lot of the big shops so you can see the item from your living room.” Mrs Utting has set up the shop in King Street with her son James, 39, but it is not the first time the entrepreneur has taken a chance on an up-and-coming technology.

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When e-cigarettes were launched she began selling them from her Sittingbourne home and now has 10 shops across Kent, which she runs with her son Terry, 37.

She hopes the virtual reality headsets will be just as successful.

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