Inspired children

 

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Inspired by the Inspired

It was the first day of the half term break and my daughter crept into my bed for a snuggle while the boys were happily tipping soft toys out of the bucket in their room. I love mornings like that: my husband had already left for work, the children were all feeling the chilled out vibe of no commands to "Get dressed", "Eat your breakfast" or "Clean your teeth." There was some animated nonsense on the TV and I was catching up with the very important things that might have happened in Facebookland since I last checked about eight hours earlier!

As she glanced at my phone, my daughter gasped, "Wow, what was that, Mummy?" as she scrolled back up the newsfeed. She'd seen an image from Caroline Rose Art - one of the many pages that sprinkle beauty onto my screen - and she wanted more. There it was, instantly recognisable as a 'this is my thing and I want more of it' moment, and at just six years of age. We spent a few minutes looking through the photos on Caroline's page and chatting about her work. I explained all about collages and that we were looking at beautiful scenes made from lots of small pieces of paper. She was most smitten by this amazing street scene:

Street scene collage by Caroline Rose Art

Our leisurely breakfast was peppered with questions about types and colours of paper, how to cut fancy edges, whether to use a glue stick or gloopy glue and if you can eat spiders and slugs. Happy half term! Then, almost immediately the last Cheerio was swallowed, a miracle happened: my daughter cleared the table of all pots, all ... by ... herself! And of she scurried to the paper drawer and my pencil case for scissors.

It began ...

... and it continued ...

 ... and then it was finished ...

                  

... and boy, was she delighted!

She was so very, very proud of her work in this beautiful new medium that she wanted to write to Caroline Rose to tell her all about her exciting paper adventure! The wonderful Caroline was very obliging and gave me her address, and off we trotted to the postbox. Roughly one gazillion times a day for the next five days, my girl asked me if the postman had been/was going to come/would come again today!

Caroline and I exchanged a few messages, and I have to tell you that she is a lovely, kind-hearted lady. She knows what it is to capture the creativity of a small person and to run with it, to encourage it and to reward it in a way that will make it grow.  She wrote back to Beatrix, using an actual pen and actual paper, and sent a very special parcel in the post. 

That evening Beatrix read the letter from Caroline Rose over and over again, and I watched as my little girl had found something new outside of everything she had known before: she was inspired. She hadn't been instructed or directed, nobody had suggested that she 'might like to' create something. She had seen something, it had moved her, she had an idea and she went to make it happen for herself. Then she shared her work with someone else, a stranger, and got really lovely feedback, something it took me over thirty years to manage. She is on Cloud 9! Her beautiful gift, however, is not even on the wall yet; we're looking for a pink frame! 

 You can find Caroline Rose Art on Facebook and buy her utterly beautiful work on Etsy and on Folksy.

Christmas Shopping Event in aid of SJPA.

 

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Christmas Shopping Evening
Friday 22nd November 2013, 6pm - 9pm
St. John The Baptist Catholic Primary School, Normanton

 It's here: the very first Christmas Shopping Event  for SJPA! This is not your typical school Christmas fair! You won't find a bottle stall or a white elephant table; it's definitely a time for the grown-ups! Prepare yourself for Normanton's shopping event of the year and be part of the first of many successful shopping nights in aid of the school's PA. With something for everyone and every budget, save yourself the hassle of the shopping centre and tick off your whole gift list under one roof.

The evening will be opened at 6pm by the beautiful sound of the school choir singing your favourite carols. Alongside a fantastic array of high quality items, many of them handmade by local businesses, you will be able treat yourself to some Christmas baking and a glass or two of festive tipple to kick start your season in style with a child-free night to remember.

Here's a taste of the businesses and items that you can expect to find on the night. And if you see anything that takes your fancy, why not make it easy for yourself and write a list of things you want to watch out for? With the added bonus of helping to raise funds towards the school's outdoor classroom, it's sure to be a wonderful evening.

ChaseTheCloudsAway
We are delighted that Zoe will be joining us with her handmade homewares from Vintage and Retro fabrics, such as sausage dog draught excluders, wheat bags, oven gloves, hot water bottle covers, peg bags, pin cushions, door stops, baby snugglers, crochet baby booties and dribble bibs. She also has a fabulous range of oven gloves, all British Safety standards approved. Pop over to say 'hi!' on Facebook.

Booby and The Beads
Sharon offers a host of wonderful breastfeeding jewellery, dummy and toy clips, personalised key rings,small crochet items and ornate jewellery display stands. If you're looking for emergency contact/"If I Get Lost"/Medical ID bracelets and key rings, then here's your chance to buy peace of mind! In addition, Sharon will also be offering mini manicures and nail painting on the night, perfect for the weekend! PayPal payments are accepted for bespoke orders. Say hello on Facebook and on Twitter @BoobyandtheBead.

Little Shop of Lathers
Claire makes fabulous natural, handmade bath, body and shower products, including bath bombs, shower tablets, soaps, hand and feet treatments, body scrubs, facial treatments, lip balms and bespoke gifts, all with no chemicals or preservatives. Little Shop of Lathers is able to accept debit/credit cards on the night. Find out more at www.littleshopoflathers.co.uk, on Facebook or on Twitter at @shopoflathers.

The Stationer
We are really pleased to be able to welcome Susan and Robert from The Stationer on Normanton High Street into school for this event. They will be bringing along a selection of beautifully handcrafted wooden toys, along with a range of the ever-popular Melissa & Doug wooden fun! You'll also find some fantastic educational games and puzzles from Orchard Toys on their stall. The Stationer will also accept personal cheques at this event. 

 
Delgled Crafts
With a range of lovely crafts, Dela will have something for everyone and every budget on display at her stall! Items include fused glass pieces to add light to your home, decoupage items and small sewing projects. Dela is happy to accept personal cheques for purchases made at the event.

Sandy Fryer
Sandy is a fabulous local artist and poet, and unsurprisingly her product range is based around her wonderful work. On the night you will find small paintings (some of local scenes), paperweights, bookmarks, Christmas cards and poetry booklets. Sandy's range for children includes colour and rhyme books, and art to colour. Some of her colouring books include images based on Bible texts, making them the perfect quiet activity to take along to Mass! You can see some examples at www.sandyfryer.co.uk.

Pampered Chef
We are very grateful to Gaynor for standing at the event as a fundraiser stall, with a percentage of sales on the night going to SJPA funds. Pampered Chef specialises in high-quality kitchen tools that make cooking quick, easy and fun, and that make getting together as a family even more enjoyable! As well as ordering from the extensive catalogue (including cheque and card payments), you will also be able to watch a demonstration at Gaynor's stall. For a sneak preview, visit Gaynor on Facebook.

Hop Stitch Jump 
Make memories last a lifetime with Doodlebroidery, an embroidered version of your littles one's amazing artwork! Catherine will be bringing along some examples of commissions to give you a feel for the work she does, and you'll be able to place orders on the night. There will also be a range of ready-to-buy wall art and fabulous dinosaur hoodies! Personal cheques will be accepted on the night and PayPal for commissions. Pop over to Facebook to see more and say 'hi'!

Sisters MC Photography
Award-winning photographer Sarah will be joining us to showcase some of the amazing portrait work she undertakes at the Wakefield studio. Sisters offers an amazing package range that includes special photo shoot parties for your little princess, pregnancy and baby portraits and makeover shoots, and has some great value Christmas offers to share. You can see more at www.sistersmc.co.uk or on Facebook.
Felt Like Art
Lesley makes her own felt by hand and uses her creations in the most beautiful wall art and cushions. Her range depicts nature and landscapes and is very striking. From poppies and peacocks to fairies and flowers, you'll be amazed to see what can be made from felt. If you'd like a better idea of the items you can expect to see in school on the 22nd, please visit Lesley at Facebook.

Calli-Fleur
We are delighted to welcome Maxine along to school for our shopping evening, and look forward to being able to give you more details very soon about the beautiful floral items on offer and the exciting demonstration you can see on the night!

Gail Draper Knitting
All her own designs, Gail will have a wide range of hand knitted items for children and ladies. With beautiful baby cardigans, fantastically fashionable handwarmers and the most amazing children's character hats, you are sure to find every you need to beat the cold this winter!

Created In Yorkshire
Lynne will be joining us with a fabulous selection of handmade goods stocked in the award-winning shop in Wakefield. Items include tile coasters, Christmas decorations, stunning wooden signs, pocket mirrors, badges and fridge magnets. Add to that a delicious range of sweet trees that make a wonderful gift and then the ultimate Christmas table centerpiece, and you'll agree there's something for everyone! If you'd like to see more before the 22nd, please pop over to Facebook.

Avon
Following the tradition of Avon making your shopping easy, Tracy will be joining us with Avon! If you are looking for  gifts or just something to treat yourself, you're sure to find something worth ordering!

Jewelbox
You'll find Karen among her varied range of fabulous wooden, crystal and glass jewellery,perfect for the ladies in your life. She'll also be bringing along some special Christmas items, including children's door hangers, wooden and beaded decorations and wooden plaques. Visit Jewelbox on Facebook to get ideas for your Christmas list! Personal cheques will be accepted on the night.

Cupcake Central
You'll be amazed by the range of sweet treats Lisa has to offer! She'll be bringing along beautiful cupcakes, boxed shortbread, gift wrapped traybakes, chocolate toolboxes and makeup kits, wow! Added to that are gingerbread houses complete with gingerbread men, and Christmas baubles filled with chocolates, yum! Lisa will accept personal cheques on the night.

EDITED 08/11/2013 to add two further businesses. Wow, what a night it's going to be!

Baht 'at Designs by Ruby Shoesday
Vicky will be joining us with a lovely selection, including beautiful ladies' bags. Whether you need a large messenger bag for every day use, or a beautiful clutch to finish your Christmas outfit in style, the range of unusual fabrics is bound to have something to suit you! Take a look at her website or visit her on Facebook.

Liah Made It!
We will also be joined by Liah and her hand-painted glasses, wish stones and cute cat doorstops! These all make wonderful gifts for someone who is usually difficulty to buy for!

Two reasons you MUST have lining paper in your house

 

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Just 2 of the 101 reasons you need lining paper in your life...

Disclaimer: this blog post has no work-related content from me. It's the school holidays and my days are tiring! Still, creativity takes many forms, right?

See this roll of lining paper? It's from Poundland, and represents one of the best value singe pounds that a parent could spend in the school holidays. It's 7.5m long and is strong enough to get it wet with gloopy glues, paint, etc. Seriously, do not waste your money on rolls of craft paper that are twice the price but offer half the options because they're pretty flimsy in comparison.

I'm all for encouraging creativity in my children, and try my hardest not to stifle it if it takes a form I wasn't expecting, but sometimes, when it all gets a bit messy, I'm as twitchy as the next mum. I think I'm pretty cool with mess for the most part - as anyone who's visited my house in the middle of the day will know - but I definitely have types of mess that are more acceptable than others. Motionless mess is fine, like the pile of paper and coloured pens you'll find surrounding Beatrix for approximately 12 of her 13 waking hours! Mess that moves a little way is cool too, if annoying. That's the kind of mess that Jasper makes; he fires cars off ramps, they fly through the air and land, usually in the kitchen, before travelling a few metres further. No problem, though, because it's fairly predictable. The kind of mess I'm not so good at is Abel mess: his mess is mobile. He carries pots of glitter, sprinkling their contents with every step. He stores sand from the sand pit in his trouser turn-ups and empties it when he lays on the sofa. His paint-covered hands go everywhere with him and he touches every single surface on his travels. So I like to contain mess, or more accurately, take it outside.

We have a dark-ish and relatively unused corner of our back garden that lends itself perfectly to mess: the grooves in the decking make it easy to wash dirty debris and the rest is flagged. There's no lawn to kill, and if it gets really messy, only our immediate neighbours are witness to the destruction because that part of the garden is completely enclosed. Lengths of lining paper cut to the height of the children's reach, plus a bit more to catch the bulk of the mess that drips down, simply attached to the fence with drawing pins, and ta-da! Messy fun outside. Fill your boots, kids, and when you're done, hose yourselves down under the outside tap!

Use old takeaway pots for the paint: you don't need a pot for each colour - mixing it up is half the fun! 

 It's interesting just to sit back and watch them get stuck in: when they went outside, they naturally placed themselves in age order!

And they left in age order, too! First the little man had had enough of bold moves, then the middle man had finished and filled his circles so it was time to leave, then the boss lady, who had used all of 'her' space for a masterpiece scene.

And when you need to contain an indoor activity? Stick the lining paper to the kitchen floor using masking tape, lay the children down and draw around them, then let them turn their own outline into a dress-up doll! This is really fun to do as a sticky activity, using scraps of fabric and paper to make clothing collages.

This is not Beatrix glowing: it's her hair! Check out her choice of dress, though - the girl is so Mama, it's scary!

We've also used the paper to write large picture menus for our cafe (which only sells wooden food) and to draw place settings for the diners. Do you use lining paper for craft activities? Please share your ideas!

School's out for Summer!

 

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School's out for Summer
(and the teacher gifts were a hit!)...

Could you have drawn a more diverse and beautiful collection of flowers yourself? Me neither!

 

I love these little guys. Their faces are adorable, aren't they?!

Picture the scene: it's a hot, sticky afternoon and The Boys and I are watching Girl at her first proper school sports day. Between races, the parents, grandparents and childminders are enjoying the chance to have a little natter and a catch up in the sunshine on their bonus afternoon off work...

"Have you thought about a present for their teacher at the end of term?" asks a Grandma. "Yes," I say, "I'm going to make something." "Do you think you could make something from all of us?" Erm, I wasn't sure! Could I? I thought I probably could, but I had no idea what could be special enough that it would be able to come from a big group. I did have a plan for our own gift, and it will be no surprise that it involved Doodlebroidery: Beatrix had asked me if she could do a wall picture for her teacher and an apron for her TA. Actually, she swapped and changed between a wall picture and a rosette for her teacher, but I managed to pin her down! A couple of years ago, when she left pre-school, we decorated a big plant pot, wrote "Thank you for helping me grow" on it and filled it with a lovely hibiscus that would flower in the staff room for a few months of the year. We planned to do a variation of this as a Doodlebroidery for her class teacher this year, and she was going to draw flowers for me to embroider.

It dawned on me that I might be able to adapt this idea slightly to incorporate more flowers, and make a pretty, embroidered flower garden with the same sentiment on the picture. I talked through the idea and there it was, a plan! Facebook and text messages started flying back and forth between tip top organised mums, and very soon I had a pile of 27 flowers drawn by 27 little artists on my desk.  These were soon followed by a pile of beautiful self-portraits after some parents discussed what the TA might like to have to remember our children by, and decided upon a cushion. Their TA has been completely amazing: she is a Nursery Nurse and has been with many of the children since January 2011, moving with them from the nursery class into full-time school. It's not enough to say that she's been a rock.


So, there you have it, and here it is! The picture took about eleven hours of scaling, planning, embroidering, appliqueing, ironing and framing to complete, and the cushion was around 6 hours. I have to tell you, though, I enjoyed every minute of both project. I think they are so very beautiful, and reflect the personality of each child who contributed to them. I could not have drawn 27 more different flowers or 17 more different faces if I had tried, and together their beauty blows me away.
 
To see the original drawings on which these Doodlebroideries are based, please join me on Facebook, where you'll see the whole bunch!

They love their Daddy because...

 

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Fantastic Father's Day freebie!

If you follow my page over on Facebook, you might have seen that I've shared a fab midweek make over there for you to do with the children in the run-up to Father's Day this coming Sunday.

This time last year, our children were 4, 2 and 4 months, I was bang in the middle of my maternity leave, and The Husband had thankfully started picking up some really regular freelance jobs after a pretty dark period of being out of work for a few months. Still, money was very tight as we tried to pick up the pieces, and I was limited to how much extra work I could do while receiving Maternity Allowance.

What do you do when you need to magic a present out of thin air? I have a friend who draws like a fine artist, despite her self-deprecating protests, and she sketches portraits or caricatures to give as presents. My sister bakes like a dream and she's known to gift me the most beautiful carrot cake *ever* for my birthday. If I could, I might write a poem or paint someone's nails! I guess for a lady, I might have made something like a bag or even had a stab at an apron, but The Husband does very little shopping and even less cooking! ;)

I asked the biggies why they loved their Daddy, and when they told me, their answers were so beautiful that I had to do something with them. This is what came of it: 

I popped everything into MS Publisher, added a pop of colour and a cheeky bit of justification to appeal to his designer's eye, printed it on photo paper and popped it in a frame from the bargain section at Wilkinson's. Okay, so it made me a bit of a cheapskate, but it took time and a truckload of love - two things we had much more of than cold hard cash.

When he opened his present on Father's Day, I don't think The Husband could have been more pleased. Plus there were tears, and we all know that happy tears ring the winners' bell every time! The framed piece has stood on the drawers in our dining area ever since. We all love it.

If you fancy doing this for the Daddy in your own life, you can download the template here: http://www.hopstitchjump.co.uk/They-love-their-Daddy-because-template.pub

The Day I Cried In Debenhams

 

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The day I cried in Debenhams...

Tomorrow night is the first Wakefield Retail Awards, and Created in Yorkshire has reached the finals! How fab is that? We've only been a team for nine months and here we are preparing a 'just in case' speech for, well, just in case we win! Yay! A great, and very justifiable excuse for a cheeky little night out. And to swap my daily uniform of jeans, a t-shirt and either pumps or Birkis depending on the weather, for something lovely, pretty and grown up! It turns out that our Boss Lady's on holiday and won't be able to make the event, so yours truly has been tasked with saying a few words if they're needed. And our local newspaper, the Wakefield Express, is organising the awards so you can be fairly sure there'll be some snaps in next week's paper. Dress pressure!

I have tried everywhere I can think of to find a dress. Actually, that's not strictly true, but I have tried absolutely everywhere that sells dresses a) in my size, b) suitable for an evening event, and c) in my budget, which in all honesty is not that much more than a fiver! I have ordered online but wasn't happy with the sizing, trawled every rail in the outlet village for a special dress at an extra special price, and today it was time for me to hit the high street.

In the past, I've had some unexpected and fantastic finds in the clothing department at the supermarket, so I dropped Beatrix and Jasper at school and started there. Asda was always a long shot, and turned out to be fruitless. Have you ever tried the Gok Wan range in Sainsbury's? I've seen some really nice pieces, particularly around Christmas, but I had no luck there either. So on to Next. Neither of the dresses I'd seen out of stock in their directory were in stock in store. And on and on and on and on I went, visiting every clothes shop in Trinity Walk that met my three criteria.   

At 10.15, I wandered into Debenhams, pushchair and all. (Did I forget to mention that I had Abel with me? And that he was a bit fussy, clearly having inherited the anti-shopping gene from both of his parents?) It was bonkers - there must have been close to 300 dresses to look at. How many dresses can you actually consider before you go dress blind, I wonder? Definitely not that many, so I took my chance and accosted a store assistant as she walked passed. Our little exchange went like this... 
Me: "Excuse me, do you work in ladies wear?" She did. "I could do with a bit of help; do you have five minutes?"
 Her: "Yes, of course! What are you looking for?"
Me: "Well, I'm going to an awards evening tomorrow (her eyes widened slightly, clearly recognising the panic of the last-minute dress purchase), the shop I'm part of has made it to the finals of the Wakefield Retail Awards, and I haven't anything to wear that fits and, and, and..."

That's when it happened: my eyes started leaking. Boiling hot blobs of salt water sploshed from my eyes and down my reddening cheeks. And they were the extra large tears that do indeed splosh, not the dainty type that well up in the corners of your eyes first, giving you chance to catch them with a well-timed Kleenex.

Me: "Oh, no! Now I'm crying! I don't know how this happened, I don't even cry when things die."
Her: "Stop, please don't make me laugh, because it will turn into tears and I'll be joining you! Right, don't panic. We will get you sorted. I'm going to get the keys for the Personal Shopper booth and take you in there. You can be calm, the little fella can run around and we'll get you a dress."
Me: "Thank you. I feel so stupid. It's just a dress. I don't know why I'm doing this..."
Her: "Listen, it's all going to be fine. The panic's setting in, but we're going to get you sorted. Go for a wander around and I'll come and find you when I've got the keys."
And off she went, all sympathetic eyes and really calm demeanour.

I trotted around with the pushchair for a couple of minutes and picked up two dresses from the teary blur around me before the calm, kind lady returned to collect me and whisked me off to a room about the size of my bedroom, complete with a sofa, scatter cushions and plush velvet curtains. We talked a little about what I like - I explained that I feel good about my small waist but everything else needs hiding or disguising - and I accidentally gave her a potted life history. Whoops! Have you ever done that? Found yourself inexplicably pouring your heart out to a stranger? It's not something I make a habit of, to be honest, but the calm, kind lady just let it happen, as if it's par for the course during her Friday morning at work!

I gave her a bit (okay, a lot!) of background to me coming out of teaching and how I ended up sewing and running a little business and then becoming part of Created In Yorkshire, and she explained that she'd also made some big changes to stay home to raise her son when she became a mum, and it helped that she knew where I was coming from. Then she told me her name was Sue and she left the room to collect a few dresses as a baseline and I felt like I'd been touched by the hand of serenity, seriously! You know that scene in Grease when Frenchie's guardian angel is singing 'Beauty School Drop Out' and everything looks all dreamy and soft-focus and she forgets her crazy pink hair mistake and the horrors of being a drop out? That private changing room was like that! Abel and I had a snack, played a few game of hide-and-seek behind the curtains and I was calm again, the tears of minutes earlier forgotten.

Sue's first run returned a bounty of four dresses to get an idea of shape, length and neckline and I tried them while she popped off to round up some more. It was fun! I don't remember the last time I had fun shopping for clothes, but it was definitely before I had three babies in four years, and probably when I wore matching underwear every day!

As Sue popped in and out with more dresses, some shoes to help with the overall look, and some jackets and cardigans for cover-up options, we had a few more little chats and I learned that she's already a big fan of Created In Yorkshire. She reminded me that if we win tomorrow, the people I will have to stand in front of are no different to the thousands of children and parents I stood before in my time as a teacher, and that all of the people there - even the big wigs from the more established finalists - were once children themselves. I just need to harness my inner speaker and bring her out again.

Without boring you with any more of the little details, something special happened today. Sue The Dress Lady really moved me, she gave me a different take on things and I came away with a bit of an identity, something which has been lost for a long time. She made me realise that I'm not my twenty-something, carefree self, that I'm not the suited teacher, nor am I the old island girl on the beach. But that's okay. It's okay to be a mum and businesswoman and a maker. It's okay to wear practical jeans and t-shirts every day. And it's definitely okay to wear something a bit more classy and grown up to an occasion, something that won't blow the budget like it would have eight or ten years ago, because there are other priorites now and my riches are somewhere else.

I did buy a dress in the end. It's a grown up number that I hope I'll get lots of wear out of. I wasn't swayed by the price, or the brand, or my own idea of what suits me, and I feel quite nice in it! There was a massive bonus of a 50% discount today, too, which I didn't know until I got to the till. Huzzah!

Today I cried in Debenhams. Today I was removed from the shop floor to a semi-padded room by Sue the retail angel and I almost enjoyed clothes shopping. Today Sue gave me back a piece of myself and I became a bit more comfortable with who I am now instead of missing the someone I used to be. Today I took a great step in accepting myself, and I liked it.

I suggested to Sue, in all seriousness, that she considers a career change to some kind of life coach, but in between time, I'll be sure to commend her customer service to the store manager and be ever glad of the help she gave me today.

(All the dresses pictured are from a selection available online and in store at Debenhams. I tried all of these and more on!)

And now I'd like to know. Did you ever get big help from somewhere or someone unexpected?

Songs of Praise at Wakefield Cathedral

 

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Hymn booklet

The Songs Of Praise experience

I'm home, safe, sound and all sung out! I spent the morning at Wakefield Cathedral with some lovely colleagues from Created In Yorkshire, Lynne, Dela and Sandy, and my friend Gemma.

I loved the Songs Of Praise experience today. I mean, I really loved it! 

Today was my first visit to Wakefield Cathedral, which means I can't compare the newly refurbished interior with how it was before, but I can tell you it's a truly magnificent building. Inside, it's as beautiful as you might expect, but it doesn't feel at all imposing our daunting. The main body of the  cathedral was packed to capacity, and I'd guess there were around 500 people, many of whom had chosen to wear red and white in keeping with the St. George's Day theme of the episode of Songs Of Praise, which will air on Sunday 28th April. A number of choirs from around the Wakefield area formed the largest part of the congregation, and bizarrely our allocated seats were among the bassists!

Me and Lynne Thompson of Created In Yorkshire

The warm-up hymn was 'Jerusalem' and true to form, my eyes leaked at the end of the first run through. I've always been the same; anything that saturates all my senses has me in tears! I cry at the theatre, watching fireworks, at the school Nativity, pretty much at any kind of show or performance!

Cathedral Interior

We sang, sang and sang some more, sometimes the same hymn seven or eight times on the trot. The title of the episode is 'Enterprising Wakefield' and among the song list for the day was a new hymn called 'In Our City', which talks of what it feels like to be part of a community that's on an active road to regeneration. It's also the point that you'll get to see a little close-up of Lynne and me!

I can't begin to tell you how amazing the cathedral sounded. I had no idea that three hours of hymn practice would leave me feeling so uplifted. The surroundings were so beautiful, the Musical Director was so very enthusiastic and the choirs were nothing short of brilliant. The last point is very important - our voices were thankfully carried along by our entourage of big bass men!

I won't talk any more about this now; I'll let you fill in any missing pieces when the show airs in two weeks! BUT, I have one very important piece of advice for those of you who fancy taking to the action side of the camera: if you're trying to keep your 'focused' face on, don't remind yourself about the emergency Creme Egg in your handbag! ;-)

Catherine x

Wakefield Cathedral