It’s Show Time at Havenstreet!

Hello every-one I’m back after a busy 9 days away singing at the Isle the Isle of Wight steam railway’s Victorian event. What a great week it’s been too as this time Paul and I were able to take a little break from singing and enjoy a few days holiday visiting some of the sights of which the Isle of Wight has plenty.

If you follow my blogs you will know I spend most of my life on the road travelling from show to show, but this time it was a little different as we made a point of having a few days holiday staying on site at Havenstreet railway station. Where in the past I’ve always stayed at a B&B just down the road this year Paul and I took Gladys our tour bus complete with the extra addition of a brand new awning which gave us a little more storage. There’s a great community of Victorian re-anactors who we know very well and who kindly helped us with the awning which is easy to

How Many Victorians Does It Take To Put Up An Awning?

get in a pickle with when it’s a first time attempt. All the Victorian re-anacters are seasoned professionals when it comes to putting up awnings, motor homes and camping, so with a little help from our friends we had it up in no time at all!

This year Paul and I travelled over to the Island on the Wednesday. I had a 1940s “Don’t Sit Under the Apple Tree” show first in Emsworth on Tuesday afternoon which I did on my way down to Portsmouth. This year I wanted very much to see Osborne House again as the last time I did so was in the early

Enjoying Osborne House!

80s when I went over to the Island with my family. In my job I travel greatly but I don’t always have the time to see the sights so I was really pleased that on this occasion we had the opportunity to visit. The gardens are beautiful and there is so much to see inside the house.

Queen Victorian was a good artist in her own right so as you might expect there are plenty of beautiful paintings to enjoy. I partially enjoyed the Durbar Wing and seeing a selection of framed Indian portraits by Rudolf Swoboda. There is a wonderful portrait of

Portrait of Abdul Karim!

Abdul Karim who was Queen Victoria’s Indian secretary which was also painted by Rudolf Swoboda and for me was the star of the collection. I also enjoyed looking at the Drawing room which to quote Queen Victoria is “extremely handsome, with its yellow damask satin curtains and furniture to match”. It also has a beautiful piano which I’m sure was often played when Queen Victoria and Prince Albert were in residence.

Of course no day out would be complete with-out a cream tea and I have to confess Paul and I did enjoy quite a few of these while we were on the Island. Sometimes it quite nice just to potter about with no great plan and find – out  where the day leads us. On our way over to Shaklin we stopped off at The Shipwreck center for lunch and ended up

Paul Enjoy Tea and Cake at Osborne!

bumping into all sorts of Pirates. When we did make it over to Shaklin we found a great antiques shop called Tigue’s Emporium which had all sorts of treasures. If you’ve never been to Shanklin it well worth a visit as it’s very olde worlde with lots of thatched cottages and yes no shortage of tea rooms. I recommend Vernon Cottage which is quite charming and quite the place for afternoon tea, and yes I think it did evolve another scone too.

Another great place Paul and I discovered in Newport was “Visual Impact”. The owner owns 3 shops and he is just branching out into selling

Out and About in Shanklin!

all  sorts of wonderful retro goods, 1950s 60s style radios and record players along with pink flamingo fairy lights and glasses ect – All the things I love! I bought a few presents while I was there so do check out the shops web-site as they do mail order although the retro side of the business is quite new and not really up on the web-site yet. So if you are in town it’s worth popping along to see the shop in Watchbell Lane, Newport.

Of course the real reason why Paul and I were on the Isle of Wight was to perform at

Shopping at Visual Impact!

On Stage with the Victorians!

On Stage at Havenstreet!

Paul with Mr Alexander and Mimi!

Paul Meeting up with Pirates!

Havenstreet’s Victorian Weekend. Every year the event seems to attract more visitors and this year we saw many more families. The car park was full both days with coaches and families. I had been engaged to perform 3 x 45 minute shows daily and this year I did something a little different by mixing my sets up so I didn’t do the same thing each day. The event attracts a lot of reanacters and my favourite entertainer, Mr Alexander who comes complete with his own theatre. His act involves magic, juggling, unicycling, balance and illusion which I just adour. We also had Charles Dickens and Her Majesty Queen Victoria complete with solders and ladies in waiting which makes for quite a line up. On the Monday night Paul and I give a special performance for the re-anacters songs from 1920s to the 1960s which went down very well.

Now I’m back in the office I have a lot of catching up to do with paper work including over 100 e-mails to go through. With that in mind I’m afraid I wont be writing quite so many blogs over the next few weeks. It’s only because I have contracts to do and I need to make a start on my next magazine issue of Vintage Fair. I also need to up date to my web-site and I shall be seeing Rachel my web-desginer on Monday. The Good news is I just received the videos through from David today so it wont be long now before you will be able to see a complete version of me singing Mr Sandman, Diamonds are a Girls Best Friend and my 1920s and 30s Showreel. All being well I shall ask Rachel to up load them to my site sometime next week so watch this space and I shall keep you posted.

In the meantime I will be back on the air waves this Friday on L&D Radio and off to the Odyessey Show for August bank holiday – but more on that later. I must dash now.

Keep Watching and Toodle Pip! 😉