25th Anniversary of Littlewoods Cup Final

25 years ago today I had a dream day at Wembley. Luton were then an established top flight club and we were facing Arsenal in the League Cup Final (this was when clubs took the League Cup seriously). 2-1 down 20 minutes to go and a penalty to Arsenal! Dibble saves! The rest is history as we eventually win 3-2!!!!!!

What was special is a group of us met up in a pub in Acton including my dad, brother and John one of my oldest friends. We were all in different parts of the ground but met up afterwards to celebrate.

It does seem a long way from where we are now!

Cuckoo

Heard my first one yesterday in Dorset. We had a lovely couple of days near Wareham cycling to the Arne Reserve and today visiting the coast. Dartford warblers, spoonbills, black redstart some of the highlights. Weather was great-it felt like Spring!

That capped a busy week. Luton on Tuesday, Pete’s gig on Wednesday and Martyn Joseph concert on Thursday. We were tired! The Martyn Joseph gig was delightful. He is an outstanding performer and his songs are full of passion as well as tender. I was deeply moved by some of the songs.

 

Irwin!!!

A mad cap dash to London last night to watch our Peter’s band do a gig in Camden! We got back at 1.15 ish (Thursday a.m.) The band are called Irwin (you might recognise the name!) after one Peter’s heroes when he was growing up. Pete plays base there a 5 piece “indie” type band and we enjoyed the 45 minute gig. Interesting venue Camden Rock which seemed to cater for young bands-small stage and standing area.

Tangled up in ………..!

A busy couple of days. I cycled into Gloucester on Monday for Martyn Joseph tickets, did a session at Wick Court we saw a willow warbler and a buzzard – the children were delighted with the buzzard!

Yesterday had an important work session for Hill, Valley and Vale – I did cycle hard work into the wind. The evening I went to watch my last Luton game of the season. We hope next season will see us at last climb out of the wilderness when we were “evicted” from the league. Game was ok there is now a recognizable pattern to our play-still feel we need a bit more of a physical presence in midfield but what do I know!

Three Little Birds

A touch of Spring at last-well it is warmer and the shorts are now being worn! At last we are starting to see migrants appear. At Wick Court yesterday the children were pleased to see a Chiff-Chaff; I told them it could only have arrived in the last day or so because there were no signs on my last visit. I have now seen swallows, sand martins and willow warblers in the last few days.

The web site has taken up quite a bit of time. Now almost completely rewritten. Also doing two leaflets both for schools and to put up in public places aiming more at adult performances.

I would walk 500 miles……

Well a few miles perhaps. Today we hosted a SP3 walk around Frampton. It didn’t rain thank goodness and even my shorts got an airing! Good to talk to a mixed group of people. Ended up having lunch in the 3 Horseshoes sampling their wonderful pies!

Working hard on the web site and Clare is full of bright ideas on how we should change the format. Also keen to change the words at the top of the home page so it makes it clear I am a Story Teller and makes it easier to find me if you google a Story Teller in Gloucestershire!

Had a busy week with a Trustee Meeting followed by a pint with Paul my successor on Monday so I conveniently was spared listening to the news!  I still can’t forgive her for the damage she did to this country! Enough of that, just avoiding the news!

Football has been disappointing -going tomorrow but thinking more of cricket now.

Alright Now!!!!!!

A busy day. Our informal cycling group always ride first Sunday of the month. Today we did 47 miles over the river cycling around the Newent area. I then went to cricket nets, the body is a little tender as I sit writing this. I am cycling to do Dursley tomorrow for a Trustees Meeting as well!

There will be no mention of football in this blog as my team is now plumbing new depths, I am just hoping that next season will be different. Not sure our amazingly loyal fan base can take much more!

Almost finished rewriting the pages on the web site, should have a few different pictures on it but I forget to get them taken when I am performing so could do with a few more!

Blowing in the Wind

Well watching the trees bend and twist in this bitter wind it couldn’t be any other title could it?

I’ve been rewriting the website this morning and hopefully next week you will see a difference. I feel I’ve been marking time with me being away for so long on my New Zealand jaunt. Not sure if I should add an adult section (sounds interesting!) I do get adult gigs but I feel I need to do more so I am not just perceived as a children’s story-teller. Some of my challenging work has been for adults e.g pub performance and the workshops I’ve run. Should I put an adult section on the web site? I need some feedback on the site please. Any comments welcome.

I also need to learn how to put pictures on the blog! I did try once!

I am now back into writing regularly it has taken a while because of the holiday and getting back into routine.

Last night I went to a cricket net with Gloucestershire Seniors. I don’t think I have bowled so much in a very long time; body is surprisingly ok! It was cold wind I was wearing a warm hat while bowling and I could have had a scarf on as well! At least when I had a bat I had gloves on!