April 06 Newsletter

I returned to Robert Clack School with my lovely friend Claire Bertschinger. She did a very inspiring presentation based on her book, Moving Mountains, her work for the Red Cross, humanism and disaster relief. There was a really lovely young man attending, a student originally from Sudan whose progress Claire and I will be taking great interest in….

We were both interviewed for the local paper by an ex-pupil, Wayne Tuckfield. How cool is that? I will try and put the coverage in the Barking and Dagenham post up in Features page. It was a great piece.

I had a call from my ebullient ex no.1, Jeff Banks. He is designing his own website now. I hope he was inspired by mine. Apparently he wants some Sandie Shaw fashion photos from my archive photo collection. Top of his list is the bikini shot from the Sandie Shaw Supplement album. What do you say? Shall I be sweet and kind and helpful?

Well yes of course. It was his creation. I have some more pics I might offer him. I’ll do a link when his website goes up so you can see for yourselves.

I recorded my second presenter effort for BBC radio 2 – 50 years of Eurovision. The best thing I discovered from the research was that the idea for the show was born after the Second World War by the countries involved. They wanted to start a Pan European event that would bring everyone together based on culture rather than war. This information has totally changed my view. I am now a staunch Eurovision fan….

The last part of the month was spent in La France in wellies, manuring my roses and tending my vines. What a lucky girl I am. Oh, speaking of good fortune, did I mention that I am now a grandmother? Yes. I am called Granma San – Mrs Grandma in Japanese. Here are some photos of this lovely little person called Ella.

Hold The Page!

I have been invited to be a newsreader and presenter for Central ITV News. I will be doing the 1 o’clock and 6 o’clock news on Friday May 26th. This has been a long-term secret ambition of mine. Wish me luck!