Class In A Coat

Catch up..........

Those of you who are regular readers may remember a few weeks ago I did a late night photo shoot for the High Cross in Leicester.  Well here is a copy of the picture that will soon be plastered all over Leicester:

 
That's me in the middle!

And here is a picture of the effect touring can have upon you:

 
Now I think Eric Sykes is a funny man, a very funny man and over the years he has made some very, very funny comedy.  However I think the funniest thing he does is contemporary and inadvertant.  Whenever he appears on television these days he wears a  plastic set of glasses frames with no glass in them.

 
This is the sign of a comic genius

Back to Cherwell next week, until Wednesday anyway.  I got into trouble a bit last week because instead of using the line "We've only been going ten minutes and I've got wet knickers!" (real high quality scripting going on here, let me tell you), I came out with "You've soaked my budgie-smugglers!" Apparently the audience of 7-10 year olds were a little young for this.  Ah me.

The Stapleford Wedding Show was very good.  I have one job pencilled in from it already - and it's not a wedding.  They are having an Ascot Ladies' day event there and I have been provisionally booked as the Master of Ceremonies for this.  Although I love weddings it's good for Stapleford to see me doing something else.

Hopefully off to see my mate Martin's circus, "Zippo's Circus" in Oxford this week. 

 
Martin is a genius and an old friend.  Both he and I trained together at King Alfred's College in Winchester, and here we are.  He a circus owner and me a Toastmaster.  Life's full of surprises!

A bit of village news, well two bits actually. 

Firstly our inestimable landlord and landlay of "The Bell Inn"  are about to spend their last weekend in Frisby, a farewell do tomorrow evening.

Secondly some of you may remember me mentioning Ronan Brown and his exchange visit success  (see entry for 22/10/10), well Ronan has had another PR success.  In this week's Mongolian Times (thanks big Andy) there is a picture of Ronan surrounded by women from the .....wait for it.......... "Breast Friends" Group.  A mutual support group for breastfeeders.  I can add no more.

 Live long and be Toastmastered. 

 

As promised.................

Well last night I was at the Sheraton Park Lane Hotel 

Image via Wikipedia

 

  

  

  

  

 

 

 

 as I mentioned last week, but to do the occasion justice I will have to go back a little.

Because it was to be a late do I decided to stay at the excellent Victory Services Club .  This place is great.  I stay ther eoccasionally and it is brilliantly situated and I get access to the club, B&B accomodation right behind Marble Arch for £45. 

 

Image via Wikipedia

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This meant I would leave the car at Annie and Derek's in Greenford to catch the tube.  Annie and Derek like Pork Pies, and coming from the home of said pre-cooked article, Melton Mowbray I venture into said conurbation to achieve the purchase of that very item.

I come home, change and get ready to go to London.  All this takes about an hour. Off I go and present Annie and Derek with the pork pie and trot off to Marble Arch.  Whilst I am at work it comes to light that my son Jack,

 

 

who has always has a soft spot for his stomach, had already started eating it. Less than an hour in the fridge!  Unbelievable.

And talking of unbelievable,  back to last night.

 Firstly the hotel.  Gorgeous.  An absolute froth and festival of Art Deco which, some of you dear readers may recall, I absolutely love. The event was to launch "Kwality Events" (not my spelling).  This is a collaboration between Sanjay Foods and Gaylords Restaurants and potentially is very, very big.  There was a stellar guest list including the UK's richest man, Lords, Ladies and a variety of celebs.  The ball room looked absolutely stunning.

 
There was absolutely no expense spared.  About 250 guests were expected, but there was some concern about just how many people would show because very few people had RSVPd. The invitation was 7-7.30 for 8.  By 8 only about 70 people had arrived.  A few worry lines were beginning to appear.  Even though the event organisers were Indian, they had not taken into account most of the guests would be working to Indian time.  Most of the guests who had arrived on time were white. The Indians, naturally, would be late. 

They were.

Now this was where the other end of the poor response to the RSVP kicked in.  People now arrived in droves, and not only that, those with invitations brought their friends along too.

We ended up wit about 350 people, nearly 100 more than expected.  This was a bit of a Toastmaster's nightmare

 
The Hotel were brilliant.  They managed to get out another 7 or 8 tables in double-quick time and everyone was seated.

Next came the feeding.  There were a couple of short speeches.  I announced the buffet would soon be opening and I asked the tables to stay seated until I came to them and asked them to go up for their meal.

Well that was a bit of breath that I needn't have wasted. 

SCRUM!!!!

 
What the heck!

It just didn't matter.  In the end everyone was fed and the food was sensational.  The evening became very relaxed and finally wound up in a very mellow fashion just after midnight.

Great work. On top of it all I received a very positive enquiry for a wedding at the Grosvenor

 
so all in all a very exciting and hopefully rewarding evening!

Well gentle reader, time for me to go for another week.  I have the fabulous Stapleford Park Wedding Fair on Sunday.  Loads came from last year's show.  Not just a couple of weddings at Stapleford itself, but all the work with Sanjay Foods too.  Great stuff.

Live Long and be Toastmastered

Back on the road again.........

  

 

       

 

Download 01 On the Road Again

Yep, back on the road again.... (hopefully there will be the worthy and funky sounds of Canned Heat  accompanying this bit, but then you know me and computers).

 

 

For the first part of this week back to Cherwell (that's around Banbury for the non-local government cogniscenti) with  bZents and "What A Waste!" the recycling show.  I always love touring at this time of year.  It's spring and the daffs and everything are coming out all over.  (There's a song in there somewhere.)  This central belt of England is also particularly attractive.  It doesn't have the grandeur of the lakes, or Cornwall or wherever.  It is much softer and more gentle.  So very, very ......... English.

 

 

  

 

 

 Then it's back on Wednesday evening ready for the off again, but this time with Class In A Coat, being a Toastmaster.  But this is no ordinary job (at least I hope not).  The excellent Sanjay Foods have asked me to work at the launch party to celebrate the new collaboration agreement between them and the Sheraton Park Lane . 

 

 This is a huge do for your favourite Toastmaster.  Apparently Lakshmi Mittal is one of the guests of honour. 

     

Image via Wikipedia

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Mr Mittal is, I am reliably informed the richest man in the UK and something like the fourth richest man in the world. 

 

It is likely to be a late do, so I will try to let you, dear reader, know how it get on in next Friday's missive.

So what else is new then?  Not a lot really.  The usual cycle of hatches, matches and dispatches take place in that microcosm of the known world that is Frisby.  This week we lost Maisie and Marjorie.  Death and taxes......

My goodness!  What a morbid note!  A change is called for.  On our way to Cherwell tomorrow we were planning on calling in at the Re-enactors market near Coventry.  We need a few bit and pieces of costume for some of the summer shows.  Re-enactors markets are great because they are full of absolute lunatics.  I kid ye not.

  

 

QED

 

Anyways, that's where we were going to call into.....but it's next week! so I'll tell you all about it in a fortnight.

But until then.....



 

Live Long and Be Toastmastered.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Facebook Mark 87

I've tried it again!  I've only tried it twice before,   The first time I was sick and the second time it blew my hat off!

After chatting to my mate Ron when he stayed here on Monday night, he convinced me to give it another try.  Ron, stout fellow from the glorious town of Richmond in Yorkshire

 

was staying with us as he was to go into "The Grove" on Tuesday to do his show in the puppet project I'm working on there.  Ron's company is "Jolly Good Productions" and over the years we have become very good friends.

Anyway, to other matters.  I'm awaiting to see my mate Big Andy to see if he's upset anyone else with his parking.  There might be developmentrs here and, dear reader, should they be worthy I shall acquaint you with them. Once again the excitement of living in Frisby becomes palpable.

The new Class In A Coat website is coming along slowly and shakily, but I hope it will be up and running before the end of March, then I start on the bZents one!

There have been more Toastmastering jobs for weddings in this week as well as more enquiries for other jobs.  This is great.  Confirmation for a booking at the Priory Barn, Little Wymondley for October and a more local enquiry for the Quorn Country Club Hotel for September.

The modelling job at Highcross Centre

 

on Sunday night was pretty spectacular, although somewhat lengthy.  I was due to finish work at 10.00, I didn't start work until 10.30!  It was a pretty big assignment.  Around 30 models, mostly from London.  wind machines, stylists, special lighting effects - the works.

As for my excitement last week.......  England Rugby looks GREAT!!!!!

 

Anyways, enough for now.  More next week.

Live Long and be Toastmastered.