Dressed for New Year at Warwick Castle!

Ave Maria Rehearsal at St Mary’s Church!

Hello every-one and may I start 2020 by wishing you all a very Happy New Year. I hope you all enjoyed Christmas as much as I did and I confess I have so much to tell you all about my festive travels. It’s been a busy season having completed 35 shows last month. Once again I’m sorry this post has been delayed. Since returning home I’ve been swamped with paper-work and now it’s full steam ahead with 2020.

I confess it was something of a relief to take all my Christmas dresses down to the dry cleaners on Friday and to swapped my reds and green for dusky pink. I’m currently performing “Rocking New Year” shows and I’ve been enjoying the change of repertoire. However that’s not to say the Fairy Tale theme this Christmas hasn’t gone down well. In fact its gone down extremely well and I shall be developing the  Fairy Tale theme further later this year as I launch my  new “Enchantment” show in October . I’ve lots of ideas about which songs I want  to put into production as I plan ahead with future shows and think about musical arrangements.

For now I’d like to tell you more about my Christmas. Everything went pretty much to plan

Inside St Mary’s Church Porchester Castle!

although I had one heart stopping moment on the 23rd when my van wouldn’t start and I had to get the AA out to change my battery. I had an 11 am show in Slough which I had to miss as I couldn’t get the battery changed in time. However all was well and I made it to my 2nd show in St Albans before heading off down to Harrow.

Christmas eve involved a lot of travelling as I started the day in Harrow then I was back up to Amersham before heading down to Portchester Castle and St Mary’s Church. I had been engaged to sing for midnight Mass. While I’m out and about on my travels it’s interesting to see the

Dressed for Mass with Christmas Sweaters!

seasonal trends. In past years it’s been who’s garden has the most fairy lights but this Christmas it’s been Christmas sweaters with slogans.

I’ve seen the usual elf puns, “Express your Elf” and “Elf and Safety”  not to mention “Rudolf Rules OK” although my favorite was “Santa Paws” which was warn by one of the ushers at St Mary’s Church. Christmas eve is a magical time of year and just before mass I had a quick run through of Schubert’s Ave Maria with church organist David Cain. A highly proficient and accomplished organist.

On Stage at Bournville Gardens Village!

I had been engaged to sing during the taking of the sacrament and as David and I are both well practiced in this piece of music it was an easy assignment to deliver. I love singing in church and Ave Maria is the perfect fit with organ accompaniment using the churches natural reverberation. The service was taken by the Rev Ian Meredith and the church was full of visitors all enjoying the festive service.

After such an exhausting day I was pleased to get to bed and enjoy two days holidays with Paul and Poppy. On Christmas morning we all sat together and watched White Christmas with Bing Crosby,

Shopping in Stratford Upon Avon!

Rosemary Clooney, Danny Kaye and Vera Ellen. It’s a lovely film to watch on Christmas morning and we spent much of our holiday time enjoying old musicals. Carmen Jones and There’s No Business Like Show Business with Marilyn Monroe to name a few.

I was straight back to work by the 27th As I performed a few more “Fairy Tale Christmas Spectacular” shows on the south coast before heading up to Bushy United Synagogue for Chanukah. My brief was to perform songs from the Great American Song Book

Lunch at the Fourteas Tea Room!

and Songs from the 1920s and 30s in period costume after the Rabbi sang and lit the candles.

Next day I was in Birmingham performing the last of my Fairy Tale shows at Bournville Garden Village before meeting up with Paul in Warwick for New Years Eve. Even now I can’t quite believe I’ve performed 35 shows last month and had my van not broken down and needed a new battery it would have been 36.

On new years eve Paul and I popped into Stratford Upon Avon to do a little shopping and we met up with Martin and Liz in the Fourteas

Dinning in the Great Hall Warwick Castle!

tea room for lunch. Liz and Martin very kindly allowed us to share their table as the tea room gets very busy.

Later that evening Paul and I got ready to see the new year in at Warwick Castle. I’m constantly performing so to have a night off is a real treat especially when we can sit back and be entertained by others. On this occasion we had the pleasure of dinning in the Great Hall and as we walked through for dinner I enjoyed looking at all the beautiful portraits of which there are many. Warwick castle isn’t short of a painting or

New Years Eve at Warwick Castle!

two and I love to see the ladies in there beautiful dresses wearing the fashions of  the time. New years eve is always a special occasion so I decided to wear one of my 1950s evening gowns. At midnight we all went outside to toast in the new year and to watch the fire works which was very beautiful.

Now I’m home I’m busy planning 2020 and a lot of my prime dates have already sold for this year with the 75th VE and VJ Day anniversaries. Keep Following my adventures and I shall keep you posted

Toodle Pip and bye for Now! 😉

Happy New Year!