Newsletter September 05

September is here – summer is over – aaarrrggghh! Still I had a great time with my girlfriends. I am feeling refreshed and ready to start collecting my nuts…you saw the "before" pics of Beryl, Lynne and I in the August Newsletter. Here is an "after" picture so you can see the difference that a month of visiting antique markets, sampling wines, eating Ilario’s amazing tomatoes with fresh basil from the herb garden and doing a bit of painting can do…. Incidentally Beryl (Marsden) has invited me to perform a quick guest song with her at a Liverpool charity concert in December. Not sure what she wants me to sing – she might just want me to accompany her on the kazoo.

I’ve been doing a lot of reading in the summer. My two favourite books have been "Moving Mountains" by Claire Bertschinger published by Transworld. Claire was the nurse interviewed for the TV news programme in the Eighties and asked how she felt about choosing which starving babies would live or die in the Ethiopian famine. Her answer of course sparked off the whole Band-Aid enterprise. Claire also happens to be a very dear friend. I even get a mention. I am SO proud of her. My daughter Grace accompanied her during her promotional campaign as a support and media coach. Apparently they had a great time. If you read any book this year please read this one. It is very inspirational.

The other book is by another friend, Edward Canfor-Dumas, called "The Buddha, Geoff and I." This is a gripping novel about this bloke, who discovers Buddhism and begins a life journey. Once you start it you just can’t put it down. All my friends are reading it at the moment. Join the crowd. It is published by Routledge. You can get both on Amazon.

I have two new albums coming out soon. They are both digitally remastered from the original masters. One CD consists of "Sandie" and "Me" albums with bonus tracks, and the other is "Love Me Please Love Me" with "Sandie Shaw Supplement" also plus bonus tracks. The second one has sleeve notes written by Stephen Bouvier-Wright. I was so touched when I read them. He really worked hard. Stephen also did an overview of the Sandie Shaw Supplement TV series. This was the first time ANYone has EVER got me. I can’t believe it. We have never met but he knows more about me than I do!

On a different note I was sad to see that Lulu has been "Riddled" by the journalist Mary ("I’ve interviewed Tony Blair you know") Riddle in the Sunday Mail. Her complaint seems to be that Lulu is not an intellectual genius. What a surprise! But Lulu does not claim to be anything other than an entertainer. Why should she? I know Lulu. She is a canny lass. She was probably very astute not to give Mary too much information to misuse. We girls talk amongst ourselves you know. Poor Mary still seems to have a problem with well-preserved successful women of an age close to her own. The irony is that if she could manage to sincerely respect her interviewees, they would feel safe to open up to her and she would be able to get the caliber of interview she really really wants.

And just to prove my legs are still longer and better than Lulu’s - Here I am on my tractor this summer. The one without the beard..