Way too many gorgeous papers

I've succumbed and broken my summer long stash ban. Temptation was everywhere and it was only a matter of time. Yesterday I bought some My Minds Eye ( Lost and Found) . Wished I could say I had all of those pictured below but I was good and only bought a few sheets.

  ... and Crate Paper's Restoration ( thank you Sandra ) ... again not all of the below just a teensy few...

And is if that wasn't lovely enough I was given an early birthday present ( thank you Ali) ... have a look at this scrumptious little project....

I'm also lucky enough to have the lovely Karen at Total Papercrafts let me have free reign over what papers I choose for the classes I teach at her crop. She and I always love the same ranges anyway . On order for November's crop is a collection from Glitz Designs called Hoopla. Never bought any of Glitz Desings ranges before but judging by the loveliness of all of their recent releases, think we'll be ordering from them again.

It's nice to get my scrapping mojo back after a long summer absence. There's always just so much demand on my time that I can never squeeze everything in. Just finished planting some luscious ferns and a flame red acer in the garden. My new criteria for garden planting is ... maintenance free, slug resistant and year round colour. It is the most glorious Autumnal day out there . Perfect Indian Summer / last vestiges of summer type feeling. Long may it last.

Giddy with excitement

It's just gone 7am and the boys have gone back to school clutching sports bags slightly larger than themselves , containing enough kit to clothe an entire team all freshly labelled. New pencil-cases , pencils sharpened , novelty rubbers , bendy rulers, healthy break-time snacks ( wonder how long that will last ?) and shiny shoes ( ditto ) . I have my day time life back and I'm giddy with excitement as to what to do first. Hang the housework , time to scrap I think. And tomorrow I'll be going into school myself as a SEN teacher . Now I know how the boys feel . Nervous, anxious but hoping that , with time, the new job will settle into a familiar routine and normality will return .

Bye Bye Duvet

My beloved duvet of 12 years in now crammed into an extra large bin bag ready to be re-cycled.

After a week of sweaty nights ( no .. past the menopause and the weather has been decidedly un-summery) , I decided that enough was enough. A small fortune later ( although half price so only half a small fortune) I returned from Bentalls with a replacement . A superior version filled with sumptuous duck down. Oh my goodness is all I can say after my first night under the fluffy gorgeousness.

Cool and yet warm, light and yet weighty enough , moldable and malleable to the perfect body shape. I am in love with all those sweet and fluffy little Hungarian geese  for shedding enough to ensure a perfect night's sleep.  Bless their not so fluffy bodies.

But there is a downside to this story The impartial journalist in me has to report both sides of the tale. I'm a hopeless romantic and the departure of this  200cm square synthetic sagging sack has left me slightly sad. I've realised that over the last decade I've fed babies underneath it , drank tea and spilt it on it, scoffed midnight snacks and left crumbs in it , celebrated Birthday mornings and opened Christmas stockings on it, watched telly from underneath it, probably cried and even thrown up on it .

A thousand and one memories and now they're all about to be re-cycled into something like roof insulation material ( apparently that's where all our duvets go ). Well at least it will now keep someone else warm and maybe save the planet for a nano second.

One of the nice things about holidays...

... is finding sweet little trinkets that you'd never find at home. In an attempt to escape from the overwhelming testosterone of our all male party , I made my own way into Berne for a little retail therapy on my own. This involved a bus and a train ( both arriving to within a  second of their designated timetables) and a sumptuous nussgipfel en route which I now know means a nutty croissant.

Once there, I ferreted out a few favourite shops , most of which involved buttons, ribbons and paper. Have a look at these little gems.

The tin of buttons came to light at an alpine festival that involved beer , bratwurst, sugar cookies and delightful bric a brac stalls. It set me back all of 1 CHF ( about 75p !). I also found the biscuit cutters there and was spoilt for choice - a thousand and one designs but settled for a birdy, a teddy and the sweetest little scallopped heart cut out design.

Not sure what to do with the masking tape yet but who could resist all those colours ? They will undoubtedly make an appearance on one of my layouts in the not too distant future.

The paper birds are Japanese tissue cut-outs, very delicate.

What I haven't pictured is the ton of chocolate I ate on the way home but then doubtless that will be making an appearance shortly too , only not on a layout but on my hips.

Watch the Birdy

I'd forgotten all about this little gem . Bought it years ago at a flea market for £1 then re-discovered it all over again in my bead box. A little silver camera ...

... but the best bit is what you see when you open it up ...

... a little birdy ... but I'm not allowed to call it cute as I promised I wouldn't keep using that word but it is isn't it ?

Just come back from a funny old market at Kempton Racecourse. Youngest son picked up 20 bags of crisps when I wasn't looking ... for £1 and they're only 2 months past the sell by date ! Who would want 20 bags of some vile tasting, football world cup flavoured bag of hydrogenated fat ? An eleven year old I guess. Suppose I'm not even going to get close to his 5 a day today ... if only the governement health guidelines advised 2 Mars Bars plus a pound of lard per day , we'd be fine.

As for myself ? A pink girly back pack and some hair extensions and I still had change from a fiver. Don't you just love markets ? Let me know what you've bought lately.

Remind me not to use the word cute for at least a month

I'm in danger of retrograding into a teenager, or worse, a pseudo american with a penchant for twee tat ( try typing that when you're not sober ) . I've just realised that I've used the word 'cute' in the last 2 posts. Next thing you know I'll be calling everything cool ... or worse ... kewl . Mind you that's got to be better than 'sick' which is all I ever hear my children using to describe anything that's vaguely impressive. So what are they going to use when they really are sick or is there another word for that too ?

Week 3 or it could be 33 , I've lost all track of time, of the school holidays. And if we're talking semantics why is it called school holidays as  a) they're not at school, more's the pity and b) this is NOT my idea of a holiday.

Anyway, the piggy bank is empty, I'm fed up of thinking up nutritious lunchtime meals and the grass is as dead as a dodo. Every-thing's looking decidedly jaded and a little bit frayed around the edges which includes me. I've stopped wearing mascara and the washing pile is multiplying like that pile of mops and buckets in the Sorcerer's Apprentice. The boys have lost the use of their limbs - incapable of remembering to carry anything upstairs and unable to get up from the sofa and the fridge is running on empty. The list of 'interesting things to do during the school holidays' has remained untouched on the kitchen worktop and I'm counting the days until September. It's always been my favourite month and now I know why.

Today I took youngest son to a cycling proficiency course that's running for the week. I was exhilarated to think that these things still exist. They seemed to belong to a dim and distant world of school milk and Tufty the road safety squirrel , showing my age again. Actually, I'm quite impressed that I remembered the little rodent's name - must have left quite an impression.

I managed to find a helmet to wear as I accompanied son plus friend to the venue but failed to impress the road safety instructor as I was informed that I had it on back to front . This blew my cover and ruined my chances of winning the covetable prize of  Most Safety Conscious Mum as I'd clearly never worn one before or was too drunk to notice or both. Actually it was morning so I wasn't drunk unless the bottle of rose I'd seen off last night was still in my bloodstream.

I picked them up 2 hours later after a pint or two of coffee and was told that the first hour was really boring as they'd been sat down and made to listen to some safety rules which of course bored the pants off them as they obviously knew everything there was to know already. Oh the arrogance of youth. We then cycled home together whilst they pointed out my myriad cycling errors. Tomorrow I'm going to try and get my helmet on the right way round and brush up on my left hand turns which, according to my 10 year old, were 'pants' .

...and how cute is this ?

Found this little beauty at Accessorize . Looks like it was almost made for scrapbookers - the cutest necklace with scissors, buttons, a ruler , a heart , a pencil and a coin ... although in my case a credit card wold probably be more appropriate or just a bank statement covered in red figures ... but then it wouldn't look so cute now would it ?

How cute are these ?

Hampton Court Flower Show yesterday. Lovely . Didn't see many gardens or plants ... well there were handbags and shoes on offer so what's a girl to do ?



But I did manage to pick these sweet little things for the garden . Not sure if the watering can is going to cut the mustard ( only holds about a pint of water and it's sprung a leak already but hey ... what price loveliness ?) and the bird bath will probably rust if I add water but I'm not planning on letting anything with wings near it .. it's going on my scrapping desk to carry cute buttons or something.

Oh and I did actually have a peek at some green things and very lovely they were too. Here are the pictures to prove it.

Wayne Rooney has a lot to answer for

Is it over yet and if not why not ?

I think I'd rather have election coverage than World Cup on telly and that's saying something. And whilst we're on the subject how come England suddenly start wearing different coloured jerseys ? I thought I was cheering on our white shirted team but was puzzled as to why they all had Germanic sounding names .

Anyway , let me tell you about Wayne. My son has been collecting the World Cup GoGos . Hideous plastic figures of the overpaid and under-talented mob with enlarged heads. Can you picture the concept meeting at the marketing company ? ... " I know , why don't we make a million or several by marketing tacky over priced plastic figures that don't even bear a passing resemblance to the England team and let's make them look as if they've got brain encephalitis ... oh and let's makes sure that no-one can ever collect the whole set by leaving one of them out so that the poor saps ( parents ) have to keep buying them forever ? "

There we were with a handful of the little plastic freaks until one went missing. Turned out to be Wayne Rooney who'd been accidentally hoovered up ( best place for him ) and nearly broke the Dyson. Not content with wreaking havoc with my hoover, the little shiny dwarf then went on to kybosh the mower. He must have got turfed ionto the lawn after being extracted from the Dyson and when my elder son was cutting the grass he got thrown up with the cuttings and socked him on the face. I'm wondering where he's going to pop up next . The bin, if I've got anything to do with it.

It's Not Often ...

... that you get to say you've sung on the stage of the Hammersmith Apollo. This afternoon me and thousands of fellow Rock Choir members did just that.

Thanks to Caroline's hard work which enabled us all to get together to celebrate and sing our socks off, we were able to launch Rock Choir's first album ( Volume 1 of many more to come I'm sure) due to be released on the 5th July. And if you want to share the feelgood album of the year and get happy then pop along to

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=Rock+CHoir&x=0&y=0

where you can pre-order your copy.

A fabulous day - yet another to look back on with happy memories. Thanks Caroline and the Rock Choir team for making it all possible !

Captain Rock Choir and the newest recruit to the singing ranks - way to go Stuart , you've been hiding your singing skills all this time !

Thanks Karen...

... for a lovely day's cropping. Spent Sunday with Karen at her famous Power Scrapping crop in Meopham, Kent. It's good to be back in the old scrapbooking saddle. Too many other things have been getting in the way lately, like life.

I designed a couple of classes for her using 2 sumptuous ranges of papers - Paper Girl from The Girls' Paperie range and Life's Portrait from Webster's Pages. I swear you could just throw those papers down onto a table and they'd make a gorgeous layout whichever way they fell.

Spent way too long fiddling around with the Paper Girl papers trying to do them justice and finally came up with this. The photo part is a minibook with 3 pages lurking underneath.

And then this .....

...which shows me in my wedding dress now and 21 years ago . Can't believe I can still get into it ... as the titles suggests ... " Who would have thought ... ". The black rectangular frame with the heart contains some hidden journalling underneath.

My eldest son was babysitting my youngest for me that day as DH had to work also. Quite  a relief therefore to find no ambulances parked on the drive when I returned that evening . Better still , they'd both missed me madly, told me that they been totally bored all day .... even with the X Box and hadn't discovered my secret stash of chocolate. There were no deep fried Mars Bars to be seen ( my eldest son's signature dish ) , no broken widows or any evidence of bruising on either of therm ( most sorties onto the trampoline generally end in some sort of fist fight ). Must spend more time away from home in future ... so nice to be missed.

Visuallyod

No, that's not a spelling error but apparently the term used to describe cutting edge design that aims to spot new forthcoming trends . Lost me yet ? Yeah, me too. Why don't they just call it , 'new ways to sucker money out of debt laden design junkies who have more money than sense' ? Now that would be far more honest and cutting edge.

So what's included in this new Visuallyod concept ? According to Pulse, the retail marketing people, a cushion that looks like you've stood your coffee cup on it and left a ring stain or a canvas that has various circles printed on it ... re-inventing the wheel ? I think so.

I suppose design students have to keep coming up with something new all the time so I shouldn't appear like a grumpy old woman and moan but what I'd like to see them come up with is a nice sideboard ... now I really am showing my age.

Cookie Dough Pizza

My youngest son loves cooking. Well, when I say cooking, what I really mean is combining ingredients .... well when I say ingredients, what I really meaning is cramming as many things containing chocolate into one recipe. A young man after my own heart.

Tonight's concoction is called Cookie Dough Pizza and contains ... er cookie dough and looks like a pizza. Take one pack of chocolate chip cookie dough, smoosh it into a pie dish, bake, add chocolate spread, sprinkle with dark chocolate chips , smarties and maltesers and inject with lard. No, I made that last bit up .

The boys will be tucking into it any minute now and I expect it to last about ... 5 minutes. There are about 2 dried cranberries lurking in amongst the chocolateyness. These apparently are his 2 portions of fruit for today !

Rolling Back the Years

So there I was,  parking up the car ( a moderately respectable one at last, rather than my old student days banger ) in the university car park and heading off, rather nervously, for my re-union.  As I made my way towards the registration desk, I noticed that a lot of elderly people were arriving ... must be something else going on today I thought until I realised that they were about the same age as me and we were all heading for the same event . Now that REALLY made me LOL as they say.

My flat mate of 30 years ago, Sheila,  looked just the same as she greeted me with a shriek and in a moment I was transported back in time. I can't begin to describe the feeling. The girls had all scrubbed up quite well but the guys were ... well , a little pot bellied and hairless to be honest.

After a whistle stop tour of the campus  ( remembered the Student Union bar well but didn't remember a thing about the library ) we gathered for Pimms , lunch and a catch up. Could have talked all day reminiscing , in fact we did just that. But the best bit of the day was our memory trip around Crowe Hall. I won't go into detail here but suffice to say, Sheila and I lived a charmed life for the 3 years we were university students in Bath in one of the grandest houses in the city . And here's a picture to prove it. We were lucky enough to occupy what had once been the servants quarters and had the run of the grounds and house which included the most sumptuously kept gardens, tennis courts, wild flower meadows ... not to mention the wine cellars and a galleried hall where we played the grand piano and the walls dripped with Canaletto paintings. Did we have any idea how lucky we were ?

It's now on the market for £6m , only wish I had enough dosh to put in a bid but at least we lived the life albeit for a short time. Although it's been 30 years since we last strolled around the grounds , to coin that old cliche , it really did only feel like yesterday.

Graduation Re-union

Tomorrow , I'm off to Bath for the 30th anniversary re-union of my graduation back in 1980. Have to admit I'm a bit nervous but dying to meet up with my flat-mate whom I haven't seen in , must be at least a decade. I've dug out the photos of us looking youthful back in the 70's. Husband , meanwhile is downstairs sulking. Not sure why , but I'm thinking it must be something bordering on resentment. He has to look after the children for about 48 hours and so I reckon he must be seething with rage at this infringement on his freedom ... welcome to my world. So, in more than one way am I celebrating my graduation ... once as a throwback to the heady seventies and second time around as my graduation to the world of freedom and the reversal of roles. Should be one hell of a weekend. Can't wait . Feel like I've been set free, like a butterfly. About time too.

Job Description

I drove behind a van today whose business claimed to embrace the following :

• Mail
• Express
• Fulfillment
• Dangerous Goods
• Conferencing

I'm none the wiser as to what they actually do , maybe their company name - Impulse - would give me a clue ? I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall at their financiers when they presented their business plan - well what we want to do is very impulsive and besides fulfillment we want to deal with dangerous goods . I can only imagine that 'conferencing' was thrown in for good measure to give the package some credibility.

Anyway as they sped off into the distance, squeezing through the traffic lights on amber , it left me wondering how their application must have appeared to their insurers.

Q: Company Name ?

A: Impulse

Q: Nature of Business ?

A: Dangerous Goods ... oh ... and Fulfillment

So, if I were to emblazon my own virtual van with a smattering of things I'd like to describe as my chief activities, it would probably read ...

• Constant Meal Preparation
• Picking up Boys Clothes From Floor
• Ironing
• Cleaning Toilets
• Dangerous Children
• Distinct lack of Fulfillment

Doesn't quite have the same ring to it does it ?

An Education

I always learn a myriad of useful things from my fellow croppers and last night was no exception.

I now know that ...

 * An oche is the line you stand behind when throwing a dart ( thanks J and for suggesting the   perfect photo for my layout )

*  Avon do 'dial up' mascara ( now ordered - thanks S , always good to crop and shop  )

*  Key hole surgery leaves tiny tiny scars ( thanks W for show and tell)

*  Gordon Brown pales into insignificance for media gaffes compared to George Bush ( thanks for reminding me MA)

* You can go to Devon for a weekend and learn how to make a corset ( thanks G , does your talent have no end ? )

* You can't sit next to other S and get a layout done ( but thankfully no singing last night so we must be grateful for small mercies )

*  and finally that I really mustn't leave it so long until I meet up with you all again - you know who you are , no need for names !

Thanks ladies for yet another lovely evening xxx

Doing a 'Gordon'

Have just watched the infamous clips on You Tube - what a gift to the media - they must have thought all their birthdays and Christmasses had come at once. And now we have a new phrase in our vernacular vocabulary "Doing a Gordon " . How wonderful.

Has anyone been able to watch it without groaning and guffawing simultaneously ? You almost had to feel sorry for him ... but I'll reserve my pity for those who've suffered at the hand of his government.

What are you reading ?

 Much like my life, my bedside table is awash with good intentions. At any one time there is usually a selection of books I intend to read - too may good reads, too few hours - usual story.

At the moment, I have the usual self-help manuals, a cookery book or two juxtaposed ironically between something about not letting food rule your life, a piece of fictional nonsense, something to get the creative juices flowing, some sort of parental advice and one of the boy's bedtime storybooks.

So here's my current reading list :

From the top of the pile ....

1. This months' Creative Keepsakes , half read for when I need pictures in my life , not words.

2. David Nicholls' One Day - it's growing on me - found it quite puerile to begin with but then        realised it was my era - the Thatcherite 80's , so nostalgic if nothing else.

2. Quantitative Methods for Finance - a little light bedtime reading - tutoring a 1st year University student at the moment so just need to refresh my memory on simultaneous and quadratic equations - loving it , honestly.

3. The End of Overeating - a worrying diatribe on how we live in an obesogenic environment - so true .

4. Kate Atkinson's Behind the Scenes at the Mueum - sadly stalled but I was enjoying it.

5. Allan Ahlberg's The Incredible Cat - Max's curent bedtime read - anything about cats gets our vote.

6. Patrick Holford's 10 Secrets of 100% Healthy People - would like to think of myself as one of those happy people right now.

7. Sophie Hannah - love her style. Never been a crime fan before I read her. You should try her poetry.

8. Eat Me - luscious cupcakes - a real fantasy read

9. Maths for Mums and Dads - a clever little tome - wished I'd thought of writing this

10. Thinking and Speaking in Secondary Schools - co-written by Meriel Davenport - Head of Learning Development at the boys' school - an inspiration. 

Well there we have it , a heady mix of self improvement, fantasy and education. My life in a nutshell.

Futureproof your memories

Brabantia, the makers of those iconic bins,  tell me that I have to futureproof my life or something by buying their goods, or so their ads urge.

I bought one of their flip top bins about 10 years ago and it still graces the corner of our kitchen today although much the worse for wear. I nearly bought a new replacement the other day but was pulled up in my tracks at the prospect of parting with a three figure sum of money and thought fondly of my battered relic back at home, my bin that is , not my husband.

Over the last decade , our lovely old bin has been bashed and bruised by an assortment of boys paraphernalia ... footballs, basketballs, skateboards, unicycles, ripsticks, frisbees, tennis racquets, pinata battering rams, chunky tyred remote control vehicles, light sabres ... the usual boyhood array of projectiles. The bin was a good target ... large enough to be unmissable,  nice and shiny, made a satisfying ping when struck and dented beautifully. The scars are visible for all to see today , a tableau of family life in one piece of factory moulded stainless steel.

So I've futureproofed my memories by keeping the old one and looking on it's slightly tattered appearance rather fondly as a testament to the boys' youth. Sorry Brabantia , won't be splashing out on a new one for at least another decade.

Every Now and Then ...

... something happens that pulls me up in my tracks and makes my heart break.

I've been blogging lately about happy kinds of things - shopping, chocolate, the usual lightweight sort of things that occupy my time these days. Sorry to bring down the mood but every now and then something needs writing about something that needs to be done.

I was shopping today with the boys and we found ourselves in this rather seedy shop where the uniform of the sales staff can only be described as derelict grunge and there's more chewing gum than flooring beneath your feet. So there we are queueing to pay for a Skateboarding game ( in favour of killer zombies I'm happy to report) .

In front of us was someone also waiting to pay but he was swaying from side to side and was clearly very drunk . Not abusive, or loud or hideous as some drunks can be but just quietly off his head with alcohol. The kind of drunk I'd imagine you'd be if your daily liquid diet was meths. He was dressed in some rather stained decrepit clothing, a black hat pulled down over world weary eyes. I couldn't help but wonder what had happened to him in his life that had made him take this turn for the worse. Broken home, divorce, inability to cope with stress - the usual cliches ? Or had life just dealt him a cruel blow and given him the inherited addiction gene . And here he was in his forties , maybe younger, swaying gently from side to side, reeking of the demon drink, incapable of speech, oblivious to the stares of those around him.

What surprised me most was the reaction of our fellow shoppers. A thinly disguised mixture of irritation and disgust. I felt overwhelmed by a physical wave of pity for the tragedy that was his life. Now maybe I've got this all wrong , I hope so. Maybe he'd had a few too many beers and had just popped out for a quick fix in the video shop to while away the afternoon but I think not.

This was a tragic life, a helpless soul who'd found themselves taking the wrong turn somewhere along the line and had fallen by the wayside. It's normally the pictures of starving children, maltreated infants or forgotten pensioners that reduce me to tears but this sight made me want to weep. I couldn't help but wonder how it had all gone so terribly wrong. A life wasted. And how can we help ? Not by turning the other way surely ?

So, next time a canvasser comes knocking at my door asking how I'm going to vote , I'm going to ask them what they plan to do to help the countless other wasted lives that we see on every street in every town, some homeless, some drunk , some stoned but all lost.

God save us from another moronic government intent on the politics of the 'market', wealth creation and GNP whilst the human cost of lives spirals out of control.

What a Night !

Seems rather like a dream now - the morning after the night before !

The whole evening was phenomenal , I still can't quite believe it's true.
David kindly chauffeured me to the stage door - what a laugh ! We arrived at 3pm , took some photos of me posing outside The Royal Albert Hall then waved goodbye and went to meet up with my fellow Rock Choir friends. As we assembled at the Albert Memorial opposite the hall,  the sun appeared uncharacteristically from behind the storm clouds and beamed down on us as we lined up in height order and were put into our on stage positions, giggling like excited schoolgirls.

Filing through the stage door was an experience in itself , as was posing in the dressing room by the light studded make-up mirrors. Time for a quick run through and sound check on stage.

We sat and watched the Soldiers from our seated positions in the choristers seating at the back of the stage surrounded by plush red velvet and ornate gilded scrollwork. Then it was our turn and a quick run through our repertoire before heading back to the artist's bar for a quick energy snack before changing into our Rock Choir uniform and a quick glitter spray in the hair. All glammed up and raring to go we filed up the staircase and into our positions on stage for a night to remember.

Seeing David and the boys arrive was the high point for me and watching them spot me through their binoculars was so sweet although it was so difficult to resist the urge to wave - strict Rock Choir orders - no waving from the stage - we're professionals now !

And then finally , the announcement we were waiting for ... "Please welcome on stage .... ROCK CHOIR !!! "

It's so difficult to explain how it felt to be singing and dancing on the stage of The Royal Albert Hall - suffice to say, it went in a flash and was possibly the best fun I've had in a long time. I couldn't help beaming form ear to ear.

Time for The Soldiers on stage  - they were lovely lads ... made me want to rush out to Afghanistan and knit them all socks or something useful ! Must admit , it was very emotional singing the backing vocals en masse to their Coming Home single, not a dry eye in the house.

So , there we have it , the most extraordinarily wonderful evening amongst friends, singing happy songs for a good cause, watched by my lovely boys ... does it get any better than that ?
Well yes , as it happens , home to a waiting bottle of chilled champagne and a chance to recount and re-live every delicious moment , then up to bed and the best night's sleep I've had in a long time with the words of " Coming Home" resounding in my dreams.

And guess what ... I get to do it all over again on Wednesday at the Birmingham Symphony Hall ... oh this show biz life is SO exhausting !

Tonight's the Night

At about 7.30 this evening, I will be stepping out onto the stage here ...

... at The Royal Albert Hall in London with my fellow Rock Choir members to sing our very first BIG concert in public. Rock Choir have been asked to accompany The Soldiers on tour. I almost can't believe it , so much so , that I couldn't get to sleep last night.

We'll be singing a 5 song repertoire comprising - Valerie, Walking on Broken Glass, Dancing in the Street, Can't Hurry Love and Something Inside So Strong. And as if that isn't enough , we'll then be joining The Soldiers at the end of their set to sing backing vocals for their single Coming Home.

The boys will be there in the audience to watch and listen and hopefully applaud a bit at the end. We'll then be back on stage to sing with The Soldiers on Do I Make You Proud - hope I do make my boys sort of proud. A nice thing to put on my CV and to look back one day and say - yes I sang at The Royal Albert Hall . Can't believe it really . Off to straighten my hair , put on a bit of slap and tune up my vocal chords . More pictures tomorrow .