Today on the Edspire Festive Forecast we have two great products from Orchard Toys, a British brand very popular in primary schools and homes across the UK. I have used their games in maths lessons with my old year 2 … Continue reading
Kerry at Multiple Mummy is encouraging us all to take some time out from being a Mummy and share things we are passionate about. I have only been a Mummy for 9 months but I have to say that my own passions and interests are already a hazy memory. What did I do before Esther and William were born?
Drama – acting and directing
I love the theatre. I love going to London to watch a show but I also love small theatre, amateur theatre and schol plays. I have always enjoyed acting from a very early age and have been lucky enough to play some fantastic roles in amateur theatre. I have also worked with some exceptional children when directing school plays. Theatre is my main passion. I have been involved in all aspects of theatre at one time or another and know that I will be again when the babies are older. This is a passion that I share with David and I hope that we will both tread the boards again one day.
Writing – blogging and poetry
I have written poetry, stories and plays since I was a young child. I love writing! I find it easy and can write a poem very quickly. My poetry is quite childlike in format and style but it works. My writing has taken a new direction in the last year since starting this blog. When I was a teenager I went mad with my Mother for reading my diary now I am publishing it online for all to see. I find blogging therapeutic, a release, an escape and a way of making friends.
Photography – taking photos and sorting photos
My camera goes with me everywhere. I have always loved taking photos and being in other people’s. I took GCSE Design and specialised in photography but spent more time modelling for other people’s photos than taking and developing my own. Photographs are another form of diary for me, I record very milestone I can, especially since the babies have been born. I am currently taking the 365 photo challenge to try and improve my skills and if I a feel at the end of the year that I have been successful then I am going to treat myself to a proper SLR camera and deveop this passion even more.
Reading – to myself and out loud
Any regular reader of this blog will know that I love reading with Esther and William. I want to encourage them to have the same love affair with literature that their father and I share. Our house is full of books of every genre and we all love to read. I love to read aloud. When David and I first met we used to read plays aloud together. Now I read out loud to Esther and William whenever I can. We generally share at leats three picture books a day and you can read about some of our favourites here.
The West Wing
David introduced me to this series when we first met in 2007. Since then we ave watched all 7 series about 5 times. I am sure we are on our fifth go through. This is an Amrican drama set in The White House with a Democtratic president. It is fantasticaly written, superbly cast and very well acted. It is easy to watch yet challenges your thinking. It makes you laugh and cry. It feels real. It sparked an interest for me in American political systems and I have learned so much through watching it. It is great! David and I can quote many lines from it and often share them as personal jokes. It is a shared passion and a strong bond between us. We have watched it every day for years. I love it.
Planning
I am a planner. I love to make lists and tick things off. At the moment I am busy planning our wedding, before that we have Esther and William’s first birthday party to arrange and after it their christening to plan. I love researching ideas and making plans.
So there we go, seems I can remember after all! But none of these things compare to the passion I have for my children and sharing in their learning and development. None of these things compare with my love for David and my desire to make him happy, to make us happy as a family. There is nothing in the world that beats that!
But it has been nice, really nice, to take a few minutes out to write this post and remember who I am for a while, who I am when I am not being Mummy x
Tomorrow will be a very sad day for David and I as we say goodbye to our dear friend, Peter Day.
I had known Peter for just four years but David has known Peter since he was ten years old and they had a very close relationship. This of course meant than once I got together with David I too developed a very special friendship with the gorgeous old man.
He made it his business to get to know me and I am certain that he was checking that I was good enough for David! Thankfully I understood his humour, I answered all the questions he repeated each time we met and as we got to know each other it was clear that we were going to get along, I was going to be just right for his David!
We knew Peter through Staplehurst Dramatic Society where we were all members. Peter was the president and had been with the society for over 50 years.
Peter was a gentleman. He was old school. He was quirky and funny and had a heart of gold. He was a flirt too, the old devil, never missing an opportunity for a cuddle. He was a pleasure to spend time with and knew how to make people smile. He was a teacher, like me, and loved children. We talked a lot about school and teaching. He was very supportive of me, my career and came to see the school plays that I directed. He helped me get supply work in the village school by singing my praises to the Head there. The children at the school loved working with him and reading to him. They had great repsect for the man he was and the teacher he had been.
Peter Day had faith in me, he had faith in all people and he wanted to help in whatever way he could.
At drama he liked my acting style and thought I was very old fashioned because I had good diction and a loud, clear voice. He always had good things to say.
Peter and David enjoyed a friendship full of jokes and banter. There was a mutual respect between them and an affection that was clear to see.
David and I enjoyed taking Peter out for lunch or a drink and he seemed to enjoy our company too. Our dear old friend.
He will be missed.
I am very sad that he is gone and so sad that we never got the chance to introduce him to the twins. He would have loved to meet them. I know that he will also leave a larger than life hole in our wedding celebrations later this year too. I know for certain he would have been queuing for a dance with the bride!!
RIP old friend.
Enjoy your reunion with Teddy and be happy.
We miss you x
When I was just a little girl,
I asked my mother,
What will I be?
Will I be pretty?
Will I be rich?
Here’s what she said to me …
From an early age I dreamed of being; never being any one set thing but each thing related to words. And now when I think about those childhood ambitions many of them remain the same to this day. I would still like to be an actress, a journalist, an English and Drama teacher. Added now to my list are the White House Press Secretary and my one childhood pipe dream, a professional ice skater, like my childhood heroine Katarina Witt.
So here in more detail are the things I would most like to be when I grow up.
Ice Skater
When I was younger I lived in Germany and I used to love watching ice skating on television. My favourite skater was Katarina Witt. She was a hugely successful skater and was jut gorgeous to watch. I loved her grace, her elegance, her costumes!! I loved watching her colour and creativity and sparkle on the screen. I used to dream of being just like her. In reality when I went ice skating as a child I had to hang on to the sides of the rink so as not to fall over. An ice dancer I was never going to be!
Actress
I tried so hard to make this dream come true. I was in every possible school production, I studied GCSE Drama and A Level Theatre Studies, I joined local drama groups and when we moved to areas that did not have a drama group then from as young as 9 I woud start one. Drama was and is my thing! I would have given anything to be a professional actress. When I was a child I was desperate to join Anna Scher Theatre School. I worshipped her and wrote her letters. I am fairly sure that she replied too. I also went through a phase of wanting to go to The Italia Conti Academy, none of this was possible as by this time we were living in Germany. I wrote to the BBC too and asked if I could be an extra. I also told the BBC about a book I liked that should be made into a TV series and I even offered to play the leading role myself. I was desperate! As I got older I realised that I needed to make the best of my amateur experiences as a professional role was probably not ever going to be mine.
Writer / Journalist
I tried hard to achieve this goal too. I was editor of our class magazine at school as a pupil and also ran the school newspaper as a teacher. At university I wrote short pieces for the TES and had an interview for ATL. In my late teens I had an interview for a job as a local news reader on BFBS Radio in Germany. They were very impressed with me at the interview but I was too young for the role. I loved the interview though, choosing what news needed to be given the highest priority and makng headlones and reading them out over the air. Such a great experience, I would have loved that job! Now as a blogger I am developing my writing skills and I also write articles about Zu3D for my fiance. I would like to write a book one day. I have been writing stories and poems for as long as I can remember. It is something that I find very easy, something that I love to do. Perhaps an educational children’s book will be in the offing one day.
English and Drama Teacher
I am half way to this one already as a primary teacher and literacy subject leader but when my own children go to school I would like to work as a secondary school English teacher. I want to be like Robin Williams in Dead Poets Society. That is my dream job. That is the dream I am going to strive to achieve next and I cannot wait!!
White House Press Secretary
This is my fantasy dream job after becoming a little obsessed with The West Wing. I think I could be a good Press Secretary, I would love to give it a try!! I love the patriotism and passion in The West Wing. I am not American but The West Wing makes me want to serve at the pleasure of the President. Of President Bartlett anyway!
So there you have it, what I would be, if I could be, should I ever ever grow up.
Please hop on over to Manana Mama who is hosting this week’s listography to explore other people’s hopes, dreams and fantasies.
This Friday I have chosen to reflect on my acting career – amateur dramatics that is.
I started performing when I was 6 years old in school nativities and local pantomimes and I continued into my thirties playing lots of fantastic roles, mostly in musicals and one act plays.
I studied drama at school to GCSE level and also completed A-Level Theatre Studies.
I share my love of theatre and acting with many of my friends and my fiance David.
I really do love acting and singing and directing and hope that at least one of my children will inherit the theatre bug from me.
Today I have been remembering good times and good friends made in theatres across Europe.
I have been recalling Little Shop of Horrors and playing Audrey, Dulcie in The Boyfriend, Mrs Frank in The Diary of Anne Frank, many principle boy and girl parts in panto and much more.
I have been reliving my roles and singing all the songs for I still know all the words.
There is no business like show business even when the show is an amateur one!
