Happy days, I survived May – and looking back with the benefit of a few good nights sleep it was fantastic. I think Badminton was the best ever – we have a really great team in the media centre so it’s hard to really think of it as work, despite 12+ hour days, made all the better by the charming Mitsubishi Motors folk.
Witnessing the master class that was Michael Jung’s performance was a pure privilege, it really is Michael 1st, rest of the world nowhere at the moment. It was great to catch up with the lovely folk I stay with for the duration, but my lasting memory has to be meeting Hannah Francis and Wilberry Wonder Pony. For those that don’t know Hannah’s story, click here.
That someone so young (she had just turned 18 at Badminton) has achieved so much in the face of terrible adversity is truly humbling. It was an honour to be able to introduce her to the likes of Piggy French, Tina Cook, Izzy Taylor et al – not forgetting the top three…. Gemma Tattersall, Andreas Ostholt (who admitted that whilst he thought he had the ‘wonder pony’ he would concede to Hannah that Wilberry topped So Is Et) – and, of course, Mr Jung at the post-competition press conference. Hannah has made a bigger impact on hundreds of lives than the majority of people could do in five lifetimes.
There was a semi lull after Badminton as I scrabbled to catch up with everything I hadn’t had time for, and then the Best Western, Corby beckoned. I absolutely love Rockingham Horse Trials, another fantastic team, stunning setting, and the annual high jinx that comes from producing a steady stream of interviewees for John Griff’s BBC Radio Northants live Friday afternoon radio show.
BBC Radio Northants and Leicester (the lovely Ben Jackson) are stalwart supporters of the event, which makes my job so much easier. Both BBC and ITV cameras shipped up too – oh the joys of a central location!
It was a pretty seamless move from Rockingham to Houghton – another stunning setting and super fab group of people. The weather held, the competition was great, I had a dedicated media cabin for the first time (it’s the little things that keep me happy!) and, despite being in the communication abyss that is North Norfolk, the internet worked.
Admittedly, by Sunday afternoon I was beginning to dribble with exhaustion, but some of that was self inflicted – I blame Trevor Holt, Lorna Mason and Nina Lloyd Jones for leading me astray. On the Monday, once website updates were done, I did not budge from the horizontal position in front of the TV!
So that was it – over in a flash. Time for a better work/life balance for a few weeks, with Blaston Show my only real ‘outing’ for June. 🙂