20210217_124917

There’s nothing I hate more than not being able to see clearly – I’m the one who complains if I have to eat in the dark, or I’ll be the one muttering if I can’t see the performers on stage at a concert – I’m definitely a visual kinda gal!

But, this didn’t stop me from heading to the launch of the RNIB’s (Royal National Institute of Blind People’s) See Through Sound gigs, where music lovers are given ‘sim specs’ (glasses that simulate reduced vision) to wear to provide an insight into what it’s like living with sight loss.

With the fabulous Newton Faulkner and former Made In Chelsea alumni Andy Jordan taking to the stage at The Venue in Great Portland Street, while wearing the ‘sim specs’ I had the opportunity to simply focus on the music.

Grabbing a quick chat with Andy following his performance he explained he was supporting the cause as many of his family suffer from eye defects.

Happy to use his musical talents for the RNIB launch, he told me: “I’m just enjoying life. I think I’ve moved away from Made In Chelsea now – I’m just me! Enjoying doing my music – and surfing.”

He even admitted: “I don’t watch MIC – I never did even when I was on it.”

And his thoughts on the recent fallout between former MIC besties Stephanie Pratt and Lucy Watson?

“I didn’t know Stephanie and Lucy had fallen out but to be honest I don’t give a f***. They’ll do whatever they can to get more Twitter followers and Instagram likes.”

Ouch!

Well, concentrating on putting the days of MIC well and truly behind him, Andy will be among performers at the See Through Sound gig at Cadogan Hall on October 14.

Get your ticket at www.ticketmaster.co.uk or www.cadoganhall.com.

I’m a huge fan of Alesha Dixon – she’s definitely on my list of favourite celebs to chat to – so I was pleased to hear she’s been announced as judge for the Explore Learning Writers’ Awards 2019.

This is a chance for budding young authors across the UK to have their work recognised.

Open to children aged from four to 14, youngsters are encouraged to write a 500 word story with the winner bagging a trip to Disneyland Paris for their family and £500 worth of books for their school library.

To top it off, Britain’s Got Talent judge Alesha will surprise them at their school with the news.

Mum Alesha is herself a published author and will this year release the third instalment in her children’s book series, Lightning Girl.

The comp opens March 11 when this year’s theme will also be announced.

Explore Learning will be running a number of free creative writing workshops with schools and libraries across the UK to inspire kids to take part.

The closing date for entries is Sunday May 5.

For more info visit www.explorelearning.co.uk/youngwriters

I’m still recovering from celebrating my boy’s 2nd birthday over the weekend, but so glad we were able to treat him to a gala screening of the new Paw Patrol film, Mighty Pups on Sunday.

Like many other two year olds, he’s a huge fan and thoroughly enjoyed it – to be fair, even my nine year old admitted to enjoying it!

The screening in Leicester Square was full of excited children, as well as a few celebrities with their little Paw Patrol fans – most of whom couldn’t wait to pose with the life-sized pups!

 

Unfortunately, I have no pictures of my boy with any of the characters from the film, as he refused to let me put him down when we arrived – isn’t it weird how kids get freaked out when they see cartoon characters in real life?

The film follows the usual format of the regular episodes, ie, ending with the pups saving the day, but facing bigger and more problems when some certain residents of Adventure Bay end up with super powers. And at just under an hour in length, it’s not too long for our fidgety kids.

Paw Patrol, Mighty Pups is out today (May 17), for all you dedicated parents!

I guess as a mother I should find it easy to judge if my daughter is enjoying a film or not, but during the screening of Sammy’s Great Escape, she certainly had me guessing…

She alternated between loudly naming all the creatures she could see; to jumping out of her skin once or twice; pointing at the screen to say ‘I don’t like it, I want to go home’ and at any pause in dialogue or musical interlude shouting ‘yeah! It’s finished now – can we go home?’

So on this basis, I’ll have to give the film, a sequel to A Turtle’s Tale: Sammy’s Adventures, a mixed review. This time around we follow two turtles who end up stuck in a giant aquarium in Dubai and their young grandchildren who are faced with the task of setting them free.

The bright colours made the movie very appealing, but for my daughter’s age group (she’s just about to turn 3!) I thought at times it was a little too intense with its loud noises and things going wrong, which was made clear by the atmospheric music, so a child of any age would know something scary was about to happen.

I’m glad we stayed to see the film through – as that night I had to contend with her quoting from the film, repeating the words of a crazy fish stuck in an aquarium, ‘They’re all looking at me! I can see them all looking at me!’ (Let’s just ignore the fact that my little one found some sort of affinity with the film’s crazy character…) – but to be honest, if we’d been in a local cinema and not just trekked into Leicester Square, we’d probably have left about 20 minutes in.

So, overall verdict? Sammy’s Great Escape is probably better suited to slightly older kids – maybe 4 upwards – but that’s obviously for individual parents to judge.