I was invited recently to the Smiggle in Bluewater to open the next window on their Christmas advent calendar and see what treat could be waiting for me.
Anyone that has been to a Smiggle store will know it’s an explosion of colour and a total must for all stationary lovers. The store there is not huge but is very well stocked with both lots on the shelves and underneath the display tables. So I cannot see you having any trouble getting a particular item you may be after.
At the moment they have lots of their fabulous Christmas Advent Stockings, that retail at £28. That may sound a little extravagant but is in line with Lego or even Yankee candle (if you buy yourself one).
However, the goodies that are in the advent would cost around £40 if they were bought individually. So a bargain when you consider that and also a great alternative to just more chocolate.
Regular readers will know that a week or two ago I went to one of Sally’s On Tour shows in Dartford. The night was fab and to find out if I got a message from beyond you can read about the night here
Anyway, after talking to her lovely hubby John (this man I kid you not has a fan club all of his own- the women LOVE him!) he donated 2 DVD’s of Sally’s ‘Psychic on Tour’ shows Series 1 and 2, and a Signed copy of her book ‘My Psychic Life’.
I was lucky enough to have a chat with her at the end and she was totally lovely, really friendly, bubbly and interested in all her fans who had waited to have their tickets or books signed by her.
Anyway, I decided to run a giveaway with the goodies for all you fans out there and here’s what I have for you:
Series 1 and 2 of her Psychic Sally On the Road and a signed copy of her book ‘My Psychic life’.
So all you have to do to win this prize is to enter via the Rafflecopter widget below. Open to UK only and all entries should be aged 18yrs or over.
As a girl we ALL generally love jewellery right, and lets face it there is a LOT to choose from and a choice for all occasions. But for men is it the same? Having looked online I’m thinking yes, and for a man in his suit a beautiful set of cufflinks can make all the difference to how he looks for that special occasion.
I have been lucky enough to get the chance to run a giveaway for a pair of cufflinks of your choice! How cool is that? They can be personalised with your favourite picture if you so wish and can be a choice of gold/silver and round or square cut.
The website has everything from Titaniam Rings, fitted wedding bands, cufflinks and much more. They even sport a large celebrity clientele from George Lamb to Graham Norton to Kate Garraway!
Lets face it most of us would like to think that we are, right? Well truth be told I struggle with my son’s yr 9 maths homework ( I’m better at spelling and literacy I think!), but thankfully my OH is good at maths so we get by with helping out with home works. So do you have a bright spark at home? How do you think they would fair against school children from across the world with maths, spelling and science?
This is what the World Education Games is trying to do.
To celebrate the World Education Games we put Britain’s best young Maths brains to the test against the general public and then the world famous ‘Human Calculator’ This March, hundreds of thousands of school children from around Britain will pit themselves against students from around the world to find the best young Mathematicians, spellers and Science brains in the universe during the World Education Games ( 6th– 8th of March).
The three-day global competition will test students during a variety of online games set against the clock and our best young brains will be battling for honours during World Spelling Day, World Science Day and the opener – World Maths Day.
The games are being backed by world famous Maths entertainer Scott Flansburg AKA ‘The Human Calculator’ who holds the world record for the for adding the same number to itself more times in 15 seconds than a person could do with a calculator.
So to see how our British competitors are likely to fare during the World Education Games we challenged some of the big hopefuls to a ‘calculation off’ with ‘The Human Calculator’ as well as members of the public.
This originally started in 2007 with a World Maths day but has progressed since then with popularity to include spellings and science.The World Education Games are aiming to unite children from across the world in education and learning.
So take a look at the video below to see if you can answer some of the questions posed to people in the street!
Are You Smarter Than a 10 year old?
For more information visit the website at: http://www.worldeducationgames.com/
In more ways than one. Actually it was the 6th Annual ‘Wicked’ day in London. If any of you have seen the hit musical then you will know what I’m talking about. It has become a bit of a phenomenon and I was taken by surprise at really how serious the fans take this!
The queue outside just before opening was huge and not your regular queue, no it was full of people dressed up in full costume (and not just for Halloween!).
On entering everyone was given a style of goodie bag, with details of the day and advertising for the musical itself. There were real costumes from the show on display along with other props.
Paul Phear from Magic FM was there on the day as our main host, with performances from some of the cast throughout the afternoon. They then mingled around the crowd posing for pictures along the way.
There was an endless queue for eager beaver fans (young and old) to sing their hearts out defying their own gravity for top spot in the karaoke competition at the end. The 3 finalists were truly unbelievable singing on the main stage in front of the crowd.
It was advertised as a family day and there were lots of children around! they provided activities for younger children in the way of face paintings, workshops and games.
There was a quiz to find the fan who knew the most about the show overall who had to go ‘head to head’ with some of the cast in order to win!
My youngest was filmed with an up and coming 17 year old magician who managed to wow him with a fantastic trick!
Anyway, all in all it was a great afternoon. However, I think next year I will round up a few girlies and head down there for a nice lunch, a civilised glass of wine and then into the 7th Wicked Day- who knows enough wine and I might attempt Defying Gravity on the karaoke!! Ok maybe not!
So for those of you who haven’t actually seen this musical so far, well shame on you! You must try and see it, go with the girls for a great night out.
For more information check out the Wicked website.
It all happened over half term when we were invited to and event at the Guinness World Records HQ, and maybe in true Guinness World record style I will round up the day in the fastest time possible!!
Set your watches…………………and here goes:
Arrive GWR HQ
Meet and greet with other lovely bloggers
Eat some yummy food
Meet Worlds Biggest rabbit, Darius
Listen to Craig Glenday our very funny host for the day
Watch a few pics of weird record breakers
Demonstration by the World’s Fastest talker
Demonstration by John Farnborough
Tour around office
Sam Sam The Bubble man
More Tea and food
Attempt at breaking world record
Watch a real life Record breaker at work
Ride on the world’s fastest sofa
PHEW………..done it but it doesn’t do it justice!
We really did have a fantastic day and it was just as enjoyable for the adults too. It was lovely to meet some lovely bloggers to Rosie Scribble, Violet Posey, How I like my Coffee, Jo Beaufoix , Are we nearly there yet Mummy, Sticky Fingers and I am Wit Wit Woo .
The World’s largest rabbit , Darius, was a real hit with the kids who swarmed it initially
and then we all got to get up close.
Yes nearly as big as a normal dog!
Craig Glenday the Editor-in-chief who was our main host for the afternoon was just brilliant. A real funny guy who was simply a mind of information with everything World Record related. He talked us through how they approve (or not) any new attempts- even the weird ones.
Sean, from Canada who is the world’s fastest talker was amazing and managed to recite ‘Bohemian Rhapsody in just 47 seconds!!
John Farnborough was a real hit with his football skills, although I think the adults appreciated this more as they knew how difficult it was. He holds a total of 5 world records for ‘keepy uppy’ ( not the technical title obviously) style football tricks!!
Not forgetting Sam Sam the Bubble man!! He did a great show and the kids absolutley loved him although some just couldn’t contain their excitement with the huge bubble…….just hilarious.
Oh and did I mention I now know a real Record Breaker? Yes I witnessed it with my own eyes that day as Kate from I am Wit Wit Woo became the world record holder for Domino Stacking!! No easy feat I can tell you. Other attempts from the rest of us were at Dice Stacking and Mr Potato Head ( putting him together the quickest!)
Me and OH with matching competitive streaks!
Youngest doing Mr Potato challenge!
Eldest trying the Dice Stacking
So, just as though we thought it couldn’t get any better we managed a ride on the World’s fastest Sofa! A real highlight of the day, we loved it.
I know it’s dark……..but it’s the FASTEST SOFA!!!
So a big thank you to the Guiness World Records HQ for a fantastic event!
Disclosure: I was sent a 2012 GWR book and my children left with fab gift bags!! So they were very happy.
What do Ghoul School, Woolworths and Jeff Brazier have in common?
Jeff Brazier has been recruited by Woolworths.co.uk to become the Head Teacher of a Halloween venture called Ghoul School to find the scariest kids in the UK!!
Kids from all over the UK are being asked to don their best Halloween outfits including their ‘scariest faces’ and ‘monster attitudes’ for the new online event to find a ‘Head boy and girl’ through a series of tasks at the Ghoul School. Head Teacher Jeff with be helped by his monster team ‘The Woolies’ to help him on the day!
So how do I know all this?
Well I had the opportunity to interview Jeff about this venture in conjunction with Woolworths.
I have never interviewed anyone before, so to say I was a bit nervous was a huge understatement! But I thought that I would take note of all the ‘self help’ style jargon and ‘feel the fear and do it anyway’!
However, I needn’t have worried in the slightest as he was an absolute pleasure to chat to. In fact he made the job easy for me as I had finally met someone who could talk as much as me. He was really down to earth talking about the new venture with Woolworths. How he enjoys celebrating Halloween with his boys and how he tries to ‘recycle’ some of their sweets they get Trick or Treating and save them from rotting teeth!
Anyway I thought I would share a few of the questions with you and then I have been brave enough to include the audio of the interview with you
However, there are rules………………………
1. Don’t be too critical as it was my first ever interview!
2. No laughing at the comedy Irish accent……….that’s mine not his!
3. No leaving comments telling me I sound like one of the kids off ‘Why Don’t You’ (those readers of a certain age will remember the programme)
Here are a few of the questions I managed to ask……….
Do you dress up and try and scare away the kids Trick or Treating at your door?
No, I dress up and go out with the kids and everyone knows that it’s me where I live, if you get what I mean, and my door is probably busier than most. So I think they assume that because I work on television that I’ve got a shed load of sweets and a shed load of money, and neither of those statements are actually true. But no I really do need to stock up and I know where I will be going to get the sweets as well.
For the kids who want to get involved with the event what exactly do they have to do?
Ok, so what it is, is a one off event actually run by Woolworths.co.uk the Ghoul School is their creation and we’ve basically found a wonderful manor house, a Tudor mansion up in Liverpool called Speke hall, and we would like 10 finalists to join us where on the day we’ll play lots of challenges, play games and basically try our very best to find our Head Boy and Head Girl.
Kids have until Sunday to get their entries in. What they need to do to prove that they are the scariest kid in the UK, they need to dress up and get their face paint on, and they need to be as scary looking as possible and parents need to send their picture by email to Woolworths@thebrooklandsbrotherspr.com with 140 words explaining why the kids think they are the scariest in the UK.
Are you going to be a ‘wicked’ Head Teacher or are you going to try and be nice to the children?
No, I’m going to get rid of Jeff Brazier for the day. I’m going to be the Head Teacher of the Ghoul School, I’ve yet to think of a name, my alias. I’m going to make it my personal mission in life to scare them all the time and really put them to the test!
But to hear the interview in full just click on the link below to download and listen. He talks about all things Halloween, his kids and sweets!!!!
Jeff is currently working with Woolworths.co.uk to find the nation’s scariest children to attend the world’s first ever Ghoul School which Jeff is head teacher of. Ghoul School will be held at Speke Hall, Liverpool on 8th October 2011 where Jeff will help Woolworths.co.uk name a Head Boy and Head Girl of Ghoul School.
Visit Woolworths.co.uk for further details and to meet The Woolies.
**REMEMBER CHILDREN ONLY HAVE UNTIL SUNDAY TO ENTER**
One of the great attractions in London, to do with children, is to visit the fantastic HMS Belfast. If you haven’t been before it really is worth a visit. I have a great opportunity to go there this Thursday for the opening of the new ‘Gun turret’ on board. So that post will be coming at the weekend.
However, in the mean time they are running a great competition to win family tickets and a special tour on board HMS Belfast. The crew want everyone to have a blast, so they have decided to fire their guns for the winner! They don’t do this very often so it will definitely be a rare treat for the winning family.
To enter all you have to do is email hmsbelfast@fidopr.co.uk to say you are interested, and then leave me a comment to say you have entered and include your favourite London attraction!!
Just to show you what you are missing take a look at this tour which will give an idea of what you will see
