Another Week - 1,000's more miles...

This is almost the very first chance I have had to sit down and update this blog for a while. So what has been happening in the world of Good King Hal, I might possibly hear you cry if I was suffering from some sort of dementia? Well, we go back to the 20th April first and a trip back to Essex with myself, Amanda and James, plus the cat in tow. I was there for an after-dinner talk to my Father's Rotary club, based in Ingatestone. We had dinner at Ivy Hill Hotel in Margaretting, with all the Rotarian's present with their wives. During the break at the end of the meal, I nipped off and changed into my Tudor glad rags and was back shortly for my presentation. It went quite well, short and sharp and with lots of laughs and I seemed to get a pretty good response from the members. On Saturday the 22nd, I travelled up to Chelmsford in Essex to meet Duncan James, a dressmaker and tailor, to discuss the possibilities for new costumes. Duncan makes lots of the outfits for the Venice Carnival and he showed me some pictures from his portfolio - stunning. We discussed designs and colours and he reckoned he could do me two complete new, interchangeable costumes for under £2,000, which seemed a fine deal to me.

On Monday the 24th it was back to being Henry again. This time it was a return visit to Northwick Park Junior School in Canvey Island in Essex. Once again I was warmly welcomed and we had a great day with some great children. Some of the costumes were wonderful. I always get a warm welcome there! That night we had to drive back to Somerset as I had an early start the following morning.

Tuesday the 25th, another return visit, this time to Coalway Junior school in Coleford in Gloucestershire. It was nice to see a load of familiar faces again and we had a great laugh as usual at this school. Again, the kids had come up trumps with some stunning costumes. The long drive home wasn't too bad as I was JUST ahead of the rush.

Wednesday the 26th was a long day. I had to drive to Blackford near Wedmore in Somerset to visit the Hugh Sexey Middle School. This was my first visit to this school, but it was wonderful. A great school with some bright sparky pupils who had appeared with some of the finest costumes it has been my pleasure and privilege to see during my "reign" as the King. After finishing at this school I had to drive to Taunton and the Castle Museum for the opening of the Cauldrons and Skillets exhibition. I was doing the presentation with Tris Pinkney from Bilby's Cafe. He and his wife Jane and their daughter, came up trumps with a fine Tudor spread including Umble Pie, real mince pies, buckwheat trenchers, spit roasted pork and quince, a boars head, eel dumplings, pickled French beans and much much more. There was a speech from various big wigs within the Museum community, then Tris and I did a brief presentation on some of the food you would expect to see Henry eating. We chucked in lots of laughs and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves.

Thursday the 27th I was back on familiar ground again as I was at Monkton Combe school in Bath for my third visit in two years. Once again it was a small group, no costumes but a great enthusiasm for all things Tudor. We began in a classroom, which was a little limiting, even with such a small group, but the afternoon was held in their gymnasium which was a huge arena! Another nice visit and good to see all the old friends again.

After a nice Friday off with my parents visiting, with their close friends Ros and Mike with them, today (Saturday) I am starting the first of three days at Barrington Court for the National Trust, in my capacity as Henry, walking about and probably scaring children. Still, someone's got to do it. I shall report more on this soon.

The Calm Before the Storm

Henry has been relaxing a little of late. With the Easter Holidays upon us, I have been about as busy as a pacifist's pistol, but ever gearing up for the next explosion of work.

The cauldrons and skillets display at the County Museum in Taunton has been confirmed for the 26th April, and Tris Pinkney and I have a nice little routine sorted out for the assembled big wigs of the Taunton glitterati. Before that, I have a visit back to Essex for a speaking engagement with Ingatestone Rotary Club and an appearance back at Northwick Park Junior School on Canvey Island. The very next day it is up to Gloucestershire and the day after that Wedmore in Somerset during the day and the exhibition at Taunton in the evening.

Today I am printing out a load of info packs to send to schools I am visiting in the next few months - I have still to hear from Steve French about putting the info stuff on line. I have also been phoning some old friends and catching up - well, those who are about anyway! So I spoke to Ali Bessell, late of the Hoop in Stock and also caught up with the lovely Sue Freeman, who I used to work with and more often eat with whilst at Skandia in Southampton. See Sue!? You get a mention!

And now back to the phone calls and printing. Bye for now.

Website Changes

Steve French, aka The Web Master, has been updating my website for me. We now have some great photos from my week at Leeds Castle back in February, a new scrolling front page picture so you can see even more images of me (you lucky people) and the biography has been updated again. Another new innovation (soon to be put on the website) will give schools the ability to download the presentation brochure I used to post out when they booked me. This means they will have instant access to the information on dressing the children as Tudors! Another quantam leap in the remorseless march of this Mock Tudor Monarch. Hope you like the new improved website. Comments are always welcome.

St Mary's Primary, Axminster

I was really looking forward to this visit. A half day is sometimes nice as I get to do all my favourite bits in a day, but finish at lunch time! Added to which, this was at Axminster which is only a stones throw from where I live. Thankfully that led to something of a minor lie-in, rudely interrupted by a three year old at about 6am. I set off with my sat nav squawking away at me. I know the way to Axminster, I just wanted to see where the machine took me. Blimey. It obviously likes it's back roads. I had never seen Thorncombe that early in the morning...

Finally arrived at the destination and was met by a delightful head teacher. She welcomed me in, helped me park the car by the front door and then made me the most disgusting cup of tea I have ever had at any school so far! I had asked for my usual milk and one sugar. Well if it was one sugar she put in she must have used a shovel. Funnily enough, one of the other teachers later commented on her appalling tea making skills, they were quite right! A lovely charming lady, but she should be banned from going near a kettle. The rest of the ladies were lovely. All the kids were great, really enjoyed themselves. The morning passed in a flash and after a rip roaring jousting (which the boys won) I was soon to be on my way. I paused to pose for photos with all the children doing their Tudor projects, the teacher of the main class I was with helped out as my roadie and loaded the van and that was that. A quick message for the lovely lady teacher with the leather trousers - yes, I would have been delighted to have had you as my next wife, just not sure if my present one would have been too happy! A lovely school. Thanks for a good morning. And now - A WEEK OFF!

St Michael's, Wimborne

After a long-ish break after the NEC shows, I was back on parade as Henry at St Michael's School in Colehill, Wimborne. This is a lovely school and one which I visited last year, almost to the very day. I arrived pretty much on time and was greeted by various teachers who obviously remembered me from last year, though I have to admit I struggled with recollecting some of them - sorry! I got all my stuff set up in the main hall, got changed in a tiny toilet and was ready for the off. It was 130 children and every single one of them had dressed up in some magnificent costumes. One young girl had even dressed up as Elizabeth I complete with white powdered face and dyed red hair! They all looked magnificent. I had plenty of executioners, a great Jester and even a drummer girl - but I forgot to use her during the jousting, so abject apologies from the King for that aberration. The day went really well though. A lovely group, smashing teachers and it was a Friday - what more could you want. The final jousting tournament was a cracker, loads of noise and this time the boys just squeaked home to win. My journey home was fairly tortuous - dreadful weather and a satellite navigation system that kept wanting me to drive home through a locked and gated cemetery. I think it was trying to tell me something...

Next week? I am at St Mary's in Axminster on Tuesday for a half day and was due to do the skillets and cauldrons exhibition at the County Museum in Taunton with Tris Pinkney from Bilby's on the 31st. However, this has been postponed to about the 26th April, so watch this space for more news on that. And now for a beer with Pete Flanagan!

Website problems

Hello folks - just a quick explanation to all the people who might have tried to access the website since my appearance at the Education Exhibition at the NEC last week. SORRY! The website had been down for a few days due to a confusion about payment to the hosting service. All has now been resolved, so apologies to anyone who has been slightly more confused than I have been! Normal service has now been restored. Watch out for some new photos on the website coming soon... www.goodkinghal.co.uk

Education Exhibition at the NEC

I had been contacted by English Heritage some weeks ago, as they wanted someone to be Henry on their stand at the Education Exhibition at the NEC in Birmingham for three days. The pay wasn't bad so it seemed like a good idea to get some more exposure. I drove up early on the morning of the 9th March. I had last visited the NEC in 1985 when I saw Howard Jones in concert there when I was 18 - how's about that for a claim to fame? Finding the NEC is no problem, you really can't miss the place, however one was forgetting that Crufts was on at the same time at the venue, albeit in a different show hall. Therefore, as soon as I got within about 10 miles of the NEC everything ground to a halt and I was immediately surrounded by cars with "doggy people" in them. All kennel club stickers and huge hairy, slavvering beasts in the back window - and that was just the wives. I eventually arrived at the NEC and parked about a mile from where I wanted to be - I could get no closer. I trundled over with my hefty suitcase full of the Henry costume. Luckily finding the English Heritage stall was remarkably easy and jolly nice chaps they all were. Next I had to find somewhere to get changed. The organisers office pointed me in the direction of some classy looking toilets. The cubicle I had to use to get changed in was the exact width of my suitcase, so it was going to be a tight fit for me. I emerged from my toilet chrysalis like some Tudor butterfly (hey, I know this is flowery but stick with me) and wandered off round the exhibition. I was asked to wander round distributing English Heritage flyers, encouraging people to come and visit our stall. This went fine for about an hour until I was grabbed by Security and told to stop handing out leaflets - I could quite legally dispense them from our stall but not elsewhere. So for the following two and a half days I was mostly stall bound, which is a little like being egg bound, but slightly less embarrassing when things do get moving (eh?). The three days at the NEC passed nice and quickly, the English Heritage group were lovely, particularly Pippa and Mike and it was nice to meet some other people in the education game. I met an Elizabeth the 1st from another historical stall - possessed as she was of the most cavernous cleavage since Howard Hughes got to grips with Jayne Russell's superstructure. There was a very nice man, half dressed as Socrates (don't ask) and I was delighted to discover another stall which would occasionally give away free samples of red wine - great idea. I spent my evenings at the Tamworth services on the M43 staying in a Travel Lodge which was - exactly like a Travel Lodge really. My evening meal choices ran the entire gamut of Burger King through to Burger King. Another annoyance - loads of people from Crufts were staying at the hotel as well - so every few seconds a dog would go mental in a distant room somewhere and kick every other dog in the building off. My how we laughed. Dear little doggies. The journey into the NEC each morning was not fun. The friday morning, my ten mile journey to the NEC from the Hotel took over an hour. More doggy people.

The whole NEC, English Heritage and exhibition experience was well worth it and I really hope that English Heritage might consider me for next year. However, I am SO glad to be back home! But please, try and organise the education exhibition away from Crufts next time. I didn't even get "Best of Breed" in the "Mock Tudor Monarchs" section. My nose wasn't wet enough.

Sat Nav and New Horizons

Buoyed by my rich pickings from the long week at Leeds Castle, I went out and purchased a satellite navigation system for my car, something to make my life a lot easier with the sort of work I do. I tested it by driving to Frome on Saturday to an address I had never visited before - it took me to the door and I was delighted. My first visit of this week was to Blandford Camp in Dorset and so I struck out using the sat nav feeling full of optimism. The thing worked fine until about 5 miles from my destination when it first took me off down a side road and finally into a builder's yard. I was confronted by a large brick wall blocking all forward movement and a sat nav system screaming at me to continue driving straight ahead for the next three miles. I turned round and re-traced my steps and eventually stumbled across Blandford Camp almost by mistake. Of course this place is an army base and so I was first confronted by machine gun wielding troops and then the bureaucratic niceties of the British Army. I was eventually signed in and I had a feeling I was going to be late. I was now even later - the road I needed was now only one way, but it had only changed the week before and no one had bothered to tell me. I eventually found the school. We had a great day. Lovely kids - all dressed up to the nines in their finest Tudor clothing and some lovely teachers, nearly all of whom had wicked senses of humour. I am pleased to say that the journey home was a lot easier.

The next day my sat nav was put to the test again with a jaunt down to central Exeter and the Maynard School for Girls. This, believe it or not, was my first school in Devon - so a whole new horizon! Kia, the teacher who greeted me, was lovely. A charming lady and full of smiles. It was a tiny group - only 17, but they were all dressed beautifully in some stunning clothes. It was hard to believe some of the outfits were home made - but they were. People had worked incredibly hard. I managed to fall asleep in the staff room during my lunch break - it was so warm and cosy there! The afternoon shot by and then I was on my way.

Today has been a nice slice of normality. Looking after James while Amanda was at work. I took him to Rug Rats this morning in Yeovil for a belt around, then we went to Ilminster and lunch at Bilby's as usual. He has been a little charmer as usual.

Tomorrow I am off to the NEC in Birmingham for the Education Show for three days. Should be fun! See you all soon I hope.

Maiden Newton

Friday March the 3rd found me in the relative locality of visiting Greenford Primary school in Maiden Newton, just north of Dorchester. It was a bitterly cold morning, but bright as I drove over the ridgeway south of Crewkerne. As I pulled up in the car park of the school I was greeted by Mr Atkinson, the head teacher - an absolutely charming man. He immediately offered me a hot cup of tea which, as the wind was howling straight from the arctic, seemed like a very sensible idea. I could park right next to the main doors to the hall we would be using, so that was good news for me and my back. The kids had all dressed up marvellously - some really stunning costumes, some of which had been made, some hired and some, believe it or not, even bought! They were a great group - just an ideal school. Bright and sparky and getting all of the gags. Lunch time I was recommended to visit the bakery near the school and again, I was not disappointed. A really tasty bacon and cheese wrap and a lasagne like pastry - delicious! The afternoon was great and seemed to zip past. The jousting was of a particularly high standard - any of the teams might have won at any other school, but as it was, it was the ladies who triumphed and walked off with the certificates from the King. Mr Atkinson has invited me back for the School's summer fete and evening meal which looks likely to turn into a Tudor feast - suits me!

This coming week I am at Blandford in Dorset on Monday, Exeter in Devon on Tuesday, I have Wednesday off, then Thursday, Friday and Saturday I am at the NEC in Birmingham for the Education Exhibition on the English Heritage stand - see you there!

What a few weeks

The fact that I am still alive and able to write this blog is testimony to the strength of the human body. In the past 18 days, I have had two days off. We start back in Essex on the 7th February. My visit this day was to Downham School in Ramsden Heath near Billericay. Now I know the area around here pretty well as I used to live in Stock and played cricket for some years at Ramsden Heath. The school was lovely, the kids terrific and I got paid on the day. You really can't ask for much more from a school than that. But this was no time to rest on my laurels. The very next day I am up at dawn and hacking up to Caister-on-Sea in Norfolk to visit Caister School. The journey up was bad enough with people seemingly trying to kill me on the A12 AND the A14, but the school were wonderful and excelled themselves by offering me not only tea on my arrival - but biscuits as well! This really was the big time! I finished and headed home, tired but paid and happy knowing that tomorrow (Thursday) was to be my last day off for a while. I had a lie in and had a relatively easy day. Friday it was back to business and a visit to Millhouse School in Laindon in Basildon. This was another good school full of nice teachers and lovely sparky children. That evening I headed down to Kent to stay with my sister...

The next 9 days I am at Leeds Castle in Kent, four Tudor Shows a day. One at 11.30am, one at 12.30pm, one at 2.30pm and one at 3.30pm. If this wasn't going to be hard enough on my voice then I managed to compound matters by catching a cold as well. Somehow, against all the odds my voice just about managed to survive for the whole 9 days, even though I did sound more like Barry White than England's most famous Tudor Monarch. The shows are good though. The Leeds Castle people had projected for something like 700 visitors a day on average over the half term week, instead we are getting more like 1,400 which is wonderful. Apart from the start of the run and the end nearly all the shows are completely packed out. We are turning people away at the doors! All of the staff couldn't have been more helpful, especially Darlene, Helen, Helen, Ann, Ann, Carole, Coralie, Jean and all the others. I even have a load of publicity photos taken around the castle with me posing like mad with a hawk on my arm and in front of the great Tudor fireplace in the main hall. The 9 days seem to pass very quickly and before I know it, we have finished. I would also like to thank another helper at Leeds Castle, who shall remain anonymous, but she will know who she is. She happily pointed out all the mistakes I made in my presentation. Thank you. Just what I needed to hear - that was a real boost to my morale! If I ever get my hands on one of your books I shall go to town with a red pen and not spare the ink.

Before I could go home I had to go to Dartford and a return visit to the Oakfield School on Monday the 20th. Another great day. A lovely school and nice to be back with them. And on the Tuesday a visit to The Sweyne Junior School in sunny downtown Swanscombe. Again, so nice to be back with old friends and we had another good day. Sadly, my energy levels were so low by this point I was more or less on auto pilot, but they seemed to enjoy themselves. I now had to drive to Essex, have dinner with my parents, drive to Dunton, pick up my Mother-in-law and then drive home to Somerset. We got back about 10.30pm. So good to be back home. So nice to hug my wife and cuddle my son again. A fabulous few days - great fun, very lucrative, but exhausting! Next stop? My birthday on the 26th.

The Paragon School, Bath

It was a relatively early start for me, but I knew it was going to be a long long day. I had to drive up to the Paragon School in Bath, this being a school I have long been promised a visit to and strongly recommended by my friends Sue and Ian. It didn't disappoint. Wonderful old buildings, hugely welcoming teachers, great kids who ALL dressed as Tudors in some fabulous costumes and a lovely dinner as well. All days should be as good as this! The rip roaring jousting finale was once again won by the ladies with admirable style. Some great photos were taken for the local Bath Thunderer newspaper (or whatever it's called) and I got paid. Next I had to head for home. By the time I got there, Amanda and James had already departed for Essex. I had dinner, packed a suitcase and made sure all was locked up and secure. I then left home at about 7.30pm to head to Essex myself. I made fairly good progress and arrived at my parents place at about 10.30pm.

We had a great 40th birthday bash for my wife on Saturday. My father has completely renovated my jousting equipment and we have been bouncing around ideas for more money making for Henry. Watch this space for more.

I have also started making enquiries about a costume for John Brown, Queen Victoria's Scottish "friend", another character I hope to bring to Schools around the country soon. I visited a great shop in Ingatestone called Nicholsons which is a Highland specialist for some reason! But they were really helpful and I should be getting some info and pricing from them for a costume shortly.

Beauherne School, Canterbury

Sunday morning I had to drive over to Kent for another meeting with Darlene, the events co-ordinator at Leeds Castle where I am going to be "in residence" over half term. We discussed several things, including where I would be doing my Henry presentations. She also asked me if I would like to be the narrator at the Children's Prom concert at the Castle in June. This will be with full orchestra and with about 6,000 people watching. Let me think about this... YES! I would love to do it. After all that excitement I then drove to my sister's near Sittingbourne to stay the night before my gig in Canterbury. We had a nice evening, drank some wine, ate a delicious lasagne and watched some of the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy. By 9.30pm I was finished and headed for bed.

I got up at 6am and got ready and then headed down to Canterbury and my appointment at Beauherne School. I knew that this place had just come off "special measures" and wasn't really quite sure what to expect. What I got was a fabulously warm welcome from the teachers, especially Emma and Mrs Morrish, and a brilliant day with some fabulously intelligent, sparky and groovy kids! They really enjoyed themselves, almost as much as I enjoyed myself. The jousting at the end was of a particularly high standard and for a nice change it was the boys who just pipped the girls in the final. I then began my long weary way home, and finally arrived back in sunny Somerset at about 6.30pm.

Tomorrow I have a meeting with Mary from the County Museum in Taunton, and I shall be bringing Tris from Bilby's along with me to discuss our possible involvement in a Tudor cookery exhibition of skillets and cauldrons. Watch this space...

Trull Primary School

Trull village, on finding it on the outskirts of Taunton, was a delight. Beautiful old houses, higgledy-piggledy lanes, and a lovely old church which began ringing 8 o'clock as I pulled up in the car outside the school. The school has recently undergone a facelift of Joan Collins-type proportions and is a wonderful building. It has only been fully re-opened for the last month or so and is spectacular, as far as any small school building can be considered spectacular.

The teachers, as ever, were wonderfully inviting, friendly and full of good humour. The kids all arrived in wonderful costumes, some were so good I found it hard to believe parents had put in such effort, but they had and it looked great. For the morning session in the hall we had some of the Mums of the pupils in to watch and join in, and they seemed to really enjoy themselves. The kids did too!

The afternoon session whipped through and in one of the closest finishes we have had in a long long time, the girls came through to snatch victory from the boys. One of the young lads showed great sportsmanship by congratulating the girls straight away. An incredibly grown up thing to do. After some help from three of the lads from the class I was on my way home. A really nice day and a really nice school. Oh, and the village is nice as well!

The next few weeks are going to be manic to say the least. I have a meeting at Leeds Castle this weekend, then a show in Canterbury. A quick visit to the Paragon school in Bath on the Thursday and then off to Essex for a week, then Kent for TWO weeks. I shall be exhausted but rich come the end of February. All this and my wife is 40 next week. Bless.

The Park School - Yeovil

Another day another Henry visit. Luckily it was nice and local and I had a feeling it would be quite easy. The early part of the morning was far from it. I knew where the Park School was as my wife had guided me there so I would have no trouble finding it. Yes, I found it, but it was the wrong part. The Park School has a senior section as well! The Junior section was tucked away in a back road near Tesco's new massive store in town. I finally found it after a nearly nasty altercation with an over officious caretaker. The day was great. The kids were brilliant, they seemed to enjoy the morning thoroughly (it was only a half day) and had some great knowledge of the Tudors. For a change the boys won the jousting and made off with their booty of the certificates, and a couple of the year 6 kids were kind enough to help me load all my junk back in my car. What a lovely school and a nice day all round. I am looking after my little chap James today as Amanda is at work herself. He has just been chasing our cat upstairs but is pleading his innocence. The little pleader. I know you did it James, as I watched you.

Tomorrow? Trull. Not a 1980's sci fi fantasy film but a small village just about outside Taunton. A full day and should be fun all round. I will tell you tomorrow.

Brookside - and not a hostage situation in sight...

Back in the swing of things today. It was back to being England's most infamous monarch. Today, although just a half day, was up at Brookside School in Street, near Glastonbury. I had last visited this school back in September 2004, but they had re-booked me. It was great to be back. The drive over is one of those really annoying cross-country efforts where you never get above 40 mph and it seems to last forever, even though it was just over 20 miles. All the old familiar faces were there, including one chap I recognised but who had moved to Brookside from Huish Episcopi School in Langport, a school I had visited back in November 2004 - he remembered me!

The class were great, really attentive, very interested and very lively. Just what you want a school class to be. The early part of the morning session in particular I felt went really well. I was hitting all the important information right and the gags were flowing fast and furious. The children and teachers were really enjoying it! Then we had the mid-morning break - and afterwards I felt like I was rubbish! I kept fluffing lines and wasn't at my best, but bless 'em the kids seemed to enjoy it. Inevitably the girls won the jousting AGAIN and I left with a nice cheque in my pocket and a warm glow from doing a pretty good day.

Amanda, James and I went into Yeovil in the afternoon. We needed a few bits and pieces, and James as ever did particularly well coming away with a new Brum DVD (one of his favourite TV programmes) and a happy meal from MacDonalds, just don't tell his Auntie Susan (swampie!) or his Grandpa (just general MacDonalds HATER). In the evening had another chat with Ruth Le Mesurier about my tax return and I have vowed to finish the perishing thing tomorrow. Gnash!

Not a bad day. Tomorrow? The Park School in Yeovil...

A Silent King? Worse than a Butler's revenge!

Hello. Yes, I know, I know. Months pass by and not a new blog in sight. Sorry. Well here is the latest missive to let you know what has been happening in the world of your King.

My first Henry back after the new year break was at Enmore Primary School up near Bridgwater. This was on the 12th January. My trusty old Toyota Lucida was in dire need of a new battery, but with us being at the hands of Lloyds TSB's less than tender mercies there was no way I could afford one. So all the Henry gear had to be stowed into my wife's Toyota Corolla - and it fitted pretty well. Enmore is difficult to find and is quite disturbingly small and spaced out. But the school was lovely, the people very warm and welcoming and the kids were terrific. Yet another good day.

Amanda and I have been doing all the mail shots of late and have been attempting to branch the business out into new areas, so it was very rewarding when we picked up our first bookings in Devon and Cornwall. A booking for Tiverton in May and Exeter in March covering Devon, and a booking for Truro in June for Cornwall - but with more to come. Matthew Applegate of Barrington Court was back in touch with the possibility of having me make a three day visit over the last weekend in April and the May Day Bank Holiday. Sounds good to me.

It is now less than three weeks until I start at Leeds Castle in Kent. I can't wait! I have also been foisting myself upon various local media, such as Radio, TV and Newspapers. I did a brief radio interview with Orchard FM and BBC TV might be interested in doing a local slot about me sometime soon, but we shall see.

All in all, Lloyds TSB aside, this has been a very positive start to the new year. Now I just have my tax return to complete (ARRRRRGH!) and a visit tomorrow back to Brookside School in Street, near Glastonbury. I last visited them back in September 2004, but it will be good to get back. Night night!

Merry Blogmas and a Bloggy New Year

Of course, I should have blogged this about a week or so ago, but what was I supposed to do? Christmas! Busy or what?

My final Henry of the year was at Parkfield School in Taunton and they were just wonderful. Great kids, lovely teachers and a really good day was had by everyone. They even bought me some lunch, bless their hearts. The Head Teacher, Mr Sides, said at the end of the day that my presentation was the finest educational experience he had seen in 30 years of teaching. I was very moved and asked him if I could use that as a quote. He said he was happy for me to use that. They want me back next Christmas!

The 17th December we had our pre-Christmas drinks party at home. My Mum and Dad came down, as did Amanda's Mum and Dad, my sister Susan and her husband Trevor drove down from Carmarthen, close friends Pete & Jo, Ali & Ian, Anna, Anne & Jack, Suzi & Julian, and David & Jilly all turned up and, I think, a good time was genuinely had by all. I know I was three, or maybe even four sheets to the wind by the time I fell asleep that evening.

The 18th December we went to Pizza Hut in Yeovil for my son's 3rd birthday party. He had a whale of a time and really enjoyed being with his parents, grandparents and friends.

We had a lovely quiet Christmas at home, just the three of us, but had lots of calls froms friends and relatives and plenty of good food and wine.

And now, as the New Year looms large on the horizon, I find myself once again embroiled with an ongoing battle with Lloyds TSB. The Bank that likes to say "MORE! I WANT MORE!" It is amazing. The entire time you have money they can't do enough for you - and keep offering you more. As soon as you are skint they treat you like lepers and wouldn't urinate upon you even if you were on fire. I won't go into all the sordid details but suffice to say that their latest letter prompted me to try and phone my half wit who I normally deal with there, only to be told that he is off having yet another well deserved holiday. The young lady on the phone asked if I had a message to pass on to him. I told her to tell him that I wanted to thank him for ruining Christmas and my life. I would tell you the rest of what I said, but there might be some children present. Thanks to their intransigence, we now cannot get back to Essex to see my parents and Amanda's parents and will be having to spend New Years Eve alone. Thanks Lloyds! Love you long time!

Anyway, knickers to Lloyds TSB. They can't hurt me anymore. They have bled me white and I have nothing left to give. So I will simply batten down the old hatches, have our friends Pete and Jo over and have ourselves a very peaceful New Year. You have fun too. Unless you work for Lloyds TSB in which case you can **** ***. I'll leave the bankers to work that one out for themselves. Night!

In need of a good blog

I suddenly realised that it was nearly a month since my last blog. I obviously need lots of roughage in my diet. So what has been occurring since my last missive? Well...

25th November I was back at St Cecillia's School in Sutton, Surrey, which is not the sort of address you want to be attempting if you have a lisp. It was nice to see everyone there again, and once more the children and teachers had come up trumps with fabulous costumes and a good day was had by all. The drive home afterwards was tiring to say the least, so I shall leave it at that.

27th November I drove to Essex to stay at my folks again and do a load more Tudorish things at a variety of schools.

28th November I had to get up early and head for Stradbroke School in Gorlestone near Great Yarmouth. Now as some of you may know already, Great Yarmouth is not my favourite place on Earth, being somewhere on a par with Krakatoa and Ulan Bator as places I really must visit again soon. However, the kids and the school at Gorlestone came up trumps and we had a really good day of it.

30th November I was at Bawdsey Primary school near Woodbridge in Suffolk. I had stayed the night before at my friends Sue and Ian's in Hitcham so I didn't have too far to go. This was just a half day but tremendous fun. All the teachers, and about 99% of the children had dressed up and they had even laid on a Tudor feast at lunch time. Great stuff! When I got back to my parents, Amanda and James had arrived from Somerset, so life got even better!

3rd December. Still in Essex but now struck down with a mild bout of food poisoning. Nothing to do with the Tudor feast at Bawdsey I hasten to add! Probably a rogue sausage.

4th December. Took Amanda, James, myself and my fragile constitution to my Father's Rotary Club Christmas bash in Margaretting. I survived remarkably well, however my poor sister Susan had now come down with the same thing and missed it. While we were sitting and waiting for the event to begin, James was sitting on my lap. I asked him if he was going to see Father Christmas that day. He replied: "I hope so". Not bad for a two year old!

5th December. I drive back to Somerset, only to be greeted by the phone ringing as I enter the house. It is a school in Gravesend in Kent asking if I had remembered that I was visiting them the next day. I had nothing booked on that day and was due to visit my friends in Southampton. The lady was very insistent and so consequently I had to postpone my Southampton visit until Thursday. And then...

6th December. I had to get up at 3.30am and drive to Gravesend to do a Henry day at Riverview School. Easy enough to find but exhausting. The day was GREAT though. A real belter! 120 kids, all very bouncy and exciteable, but it just went so well! However I was virtually in a coma by the time I had managed to drive home again.

7th December. A planned meeting at Taunton Castle was postponed until after Christmas.

8th December. I drove to Southampton this morning and met up with Julian Chalmers, Julie Beard, Mike Clarke and Sue Winfield - all old colleagues from Skandia. Had a nice few drinks with them and also met up with Rod Davies of Skandia a bit earlier. I then had to drive up to Essex and stay at my folks again. They were both out this evening so I went up the pub myself and bumped into dear Sara Turner again. Still as lovely as ever!

9th December. Little Heath School in Potter's Bar in Hertfordshire. A pretty good day all round and much fun had by all. But then the drive home. It took me just short of two hours to drive the 30+ miles to the M3 turn off on the M25. The traffic was dreadful. How on Earth did I ever manage to live in the South East without going completely Tonto is beyond me now. I finally got home at about 7pm, the entire journey taking over four hours.

Today? 13th December? We are getting ready for a house full of guests and visitors this weekend. A pre-Christmas get together which should be fun. Also a good excuse for a birthday party for James who will be 3 on the 20th. I have one more Henry before Christmas - the 16th at Parkfield School in Taunton.

Finally, I am awaiting a follow up phone call from someone at Dillington House near Ilminster. This is a great Adult Education centre near us based in a magnificent grand old country house. We have visited it occasionally and seen people like Mick Aston and Robin Bush from Time Team giving talks there. If they want me to make an appearance, this would be a great honour. Watch this space for more info!

Cider With Henry

This has been a hectic couple of days. I drove up to Gloucestershire yesterday as I had a meeting with the people who run events at Sudeley Castle near Winchcombe. It is nearly a 100 mile drive to get there, but when I did it was instantly worth it. This is a delightful old Tudor House/Castle in a magnificent setting. I was due to meet Danielle from the Castle there. From what her voice sounded like on the phone I imagined some quite stern, tall and slightly officious lady somewhere in her 30's. How wrong can you be? She was this charming tiny little lady in her mid-20's who had a great sense of humour. We had a quick chat in their main office which is set up high in one of the Castle turrets! They wanted to hear some of the Tudor instruments I played, so I gave the office staff a quick tootle. I also brought along a load of the photos from the Barrington Court day and some of the unsolicited testimonials from my days at the County Museum in Taunton. Danielle then took me for a quick tour of some of the castle exhibits, which was very nice of her considering the castle had been closed to the public since October. It is a wonderful place. Hopefully they want me in May next year for a Tudor day. Fingers crossed, it would be lovely to work with them.

I drove back into Winchcombe and had a wander round it's lovely old streets and stopped for lunch in a pub called the White Lion which had all the atmosphere of an autopsy. But the fish and chips I had were very nice. I then headed back on the road to Cheltenham, and then on down through Birdlip to Slad, the village I was staying in over night. Slad is where Laurie Lee lived, and where he based and wrote "Cider With Rosie", one of my all time favourite reads. I stayed at the Old Chapel B&B, a place I stayed at about 10 years ago with my late lamented Grandfather. It is still with the same owners after all these years and I was very warmly welcomed. I settled into my room, put my feet up and opened my newspaper. Next thing I knew it was about 2 hours later and I had been asleep in the chair. Poor old git!

I got up this morning at about 6.45am and wandered down to my cooked breakfast from Mike the owner of the Chapel at about 7.30. Fabulous - omelette - cooked to perfection, crispy bacon, some herby sausage and plenty of toast and tea. I could get used to this. Next I was off on the road up from Stroud to Gloucester and my appointment at Grange Junior School. We had a really good day. About 90 kids, all very interested, great sparky questions and lots of laughs. The teachers were lovely and really couldn't do enough for me, even going as far as to nipping out at lunchtime to buy me a sandwich - bless 'em. The afternoon zipped by and we ended with a deafening Jousting tournament in which a simply superb boys team blitzed everyone! After payment and packing I was on my way. I had guessed when telling Amanda what time I would be home that it would be about 5pm. I pulled up on our home drive as the 5 o'clock news began on 5 Live. How's about that for a prediction?

A day off tomorrow, then a long long day driving up to Sutton in Surrey and back again. Then heading to Essex and more East Anglian frolics for a week. This has been a good couple of days.

Knock Football and Gertie Millar

This all begins on Remembrance Sunday. I had to drive back to Essex for three Henry VIIIth visits in the week. I would be staying at my parents again (they are SO lucky!) and as ever they were wonderful, kind and not too vicious with the rent book.
Monday I was at South Green Junior School in Billericay. Lovely and close to my parent's house, therefore slightly more of a lie in than usual. Lovely school, good teachers and great kids. We had a good time and the children seemed to really enjoy themselves. Good costumes again. That evening I went for a swift drink down at The Hoop, my old local pub in Stock. Little did I know that I was witnessing the end of an era. It was the last night the old bar would ever be as I remember it... I had a couple of drinks with Dan again, but went home relatively early on the vague promise of seeing Dan again the following night and maybe going on somewhere else.
Tuesday I was in Silver End between Braintree and Witham. I had tried to contact our friend Simon Runagall on my first arrival in Essex as he had recently contacted me to let me know he had managed to pick up some Gertie Millar post cards for me. Gertie Millar is a musical theatre artist from the Edwardian era and I, somewhat anorakishly, collect old post cards of her. Look, I know you are still out there reading this as I can hear you breathing. I knew Simon's parents lived in Silver End and so I attempted to contact him to see if we could meet up. It was arranged that I would meet him at his parent's for lunch during my break from being a Tudor monarch. But right at the start of the day I was in for another surprise as I was walking into the school with my props. I was followed in by a bloke I seemed to recognise, I wasn't sure where from. Crimewatch possibly. It turned out he was business partner with an old friend of mine from Maldon, Kevin Rowley, and he was at the school to tune their piano. The school was really good. Fabulous kids, great teachers and a good day was had by all. I got to meet Simon and his parents at lunchtime, collect my Gertie's and also some lovely photos Simon had taken of my son, James, on his last visit down to us. You will note the excruciatingly cute picture at the top of this posting... That evening I went back to the Hoop which resembled a war zone - the old bar had been completely hacked in half and was being systematically replaced with a new bar top. Too much for me. I ended up at the Bell at Rettendon with lots of friends and best of all a chance to see my dear old friend Sara Turner for the first time in about 7 years. Too long! I got back late. Thank God my mother (bless her!) had sat up to let me in. (Bless her!).

Finally, Wednesday at Southminster. This day was hard work. I was already tired from the previous two days shows, added to which the children in the group were very challenging and hard work to keep going with. By the end of the day though, I felt I was winning, but by 'eck! I earnt my corn this day. But that wasn't the end of the fun. I still had dinner with my parents and then the 2oo mile drive back to Somerset. I slept well that night. Most of it on the A303.