Category: Blog

If you need a job doing…

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BiscuitCatching… ask a busy person. I have no idea where the last few weeks have gone, or why my blog is so late, given my work list is supposedly short in June and July.

June started with a nice gentle day at Little Downham for Horse & Hound, where I was kept entertained by Garry & Cala Russell, however Blaston Show was my main focus of the month and it totally lived up to its billing.

It is the most charming country show, with everything from cattle, sheep and pygmy goats to horses, classic cars and vintage tractors – I adored watching the ‘Best Biscuit Catcher’ class in the dog show. It really is a great day out, always on the last Sunday in June so if you live in the Midlands, put the date in your diary (for anyone that was there, Leigh Goodsell took some cracking photos, including the biscuit catching dog on the left).

I also had one of my greatest friends, and her inexhaustible flat coat retriever, to stay. I discovered walks that I never knew existed and it was the perfect excuse to switch my computer off for much of the day. My new ‘swing seat’ (in place of a sofa) had just been installed so we spent very silly evenings testing its capacity while planning a trip to Finland to see the Northern Lights this winter.

Apart from that my calendar gives no clues as to how it is suddenly the middle of July. My mother’s house is now sold – end of an era, and I’ve been airborne a couple of times. I slotted in another horse trials, Great Witchingham, for Horse & Hound and my own horse is a little fitter – however, the garden remains unweeded and I’ve given up on the belief that I might finally paint the windows.

I have been accused of not blogging because I have lost the last 2 rounds of the White Rabbit contest – when I say lost, I mean that I let said ex-boyfriend win (of course!) – so will allow him his moment of glory, it will be short-lived. Now I must go in search of a present for another old friend who’s holding a 25th wedding anniversary party this weekend. Yikes, I only lasted 5!

And breathe…

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HannahFrancis-HilsHappy 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. 🙂

All aboard the runaway train

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PigAs April turns in to May I always feel as though I am on a runaway train, there are nowhere near enough hours in the day and June seems a long way off.

Back to the start of the month and Barefoot Estates Burnham Market was a great success. The sun shone, there were no untoward dramas (although Andrew Nicholson hitting the deck was a heart in mouth moment), and the crowds came – we even had a future king who was spotted rolling down the side of ‘The Mound’ out on the cross country course. For the avoidance of doubt, I refer to the youngest generation here, not the helicopter pilot!

Oliver Townend yet again won the big class. He has a truly remarkable record at Burnham Market, having now won the CIC3* class an astonishing nine times: in 2007 and 2009 on Flint Curtis; 2008 Coup de Coeur; 2010 Ashdale Cruise Master; 2012 Pepper Anne; 2 x 2014 when two sections were held, Black Tie and Armada; 2015 Mr Hiho – with Armada 0.2 of a penalty behind in second place; and this year he posted another 1-2 riding Cooley Master Class and Note Worthy. Mighty impressive in anyone’s book.

Work for Blaston, Houghton and Rockingham is increasing and I head off to Mitsubishi Motors Badminton on Wednesday – with Michael Jung having won two legs of the Rolex Grand Slam, this week is going to be exciting. Both Ros Canter and Kathryn Robinson are taking on the ‘big one’ for the first time, and Manners Media is very chuffed to have a total of seven clients competing (Oliver Townend, Jeanette Brakewell, Giovanni Ugolotti, Harry Dzenis & Bill Levett). Trevor Holt is going to have his work cut out photographing that lot, on top of his other work!

My domestic arrangements have changed a little so I’m also trying to ‘sort’ stuff, get the garden under control and fit in some riding. I seem to have a new skill to add to my CV – mole catcher. The cats have become very adept at catching the critters and bringing them in for a party, but they then lose interest; a large funnel and table mat seems to be the optimum ‘release kit’.

I’ve finally got airborne again, after a six month break – it’s always a relief to discover you can still land successfully (not least for the poor person sitting beside me)! I’ve even been seen at ‘Action Dave’ work out classes – I’m astonished that I pay for the privilege of enduring such torture. Let’s hope it becomes less painful in time.

April Fool

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ImageWith tomorrow being the first of April I am hoping that I’m not the fool to believe that the horrors of the last few months might now be behind me. My wonderful brother lost his long battle with cancer three weeks ago leaving us all, his wife and son especially, heartbroken – I think it’s the first time I have practically had to shove my way out of a funeral at the end of the service, there were so many people packed in wanting to say their goodbyes. A testament to the man he was.

I’m still very much prone to unexpected outbreaks of tears, but work is now so busy that at least I’m distracted. This weekend it’s the Barefoot Estates Burnham Market International Horse Trials, for which I am press officer. Media interest is keener than ever this year thanks to William Fox-Pitt making it his comeback venue – it will be great to see him back out on a horse.

I will also have the opportunity to catch up with lots of web clients. Oliver Townend, Bill Levett, Jeanette Brakewell, Giovanni Ugolotti & Kathryn Robinson, Ros Canter, Emily Baldwin and Georgie Spence are all riding, making it hard to know who to be cheering on most – I can see a sore throat on the horizon. Trevor Holt will have his work cut out taking photos (when I first set up Eventing Worldwide web magazine – yikes, 10 years ago – my regular photographers brief was ‘just get every horse at every fence’… beats me why any of them stuck with me). Trevor & Lorna will be staying the weekend at Manners Media HQ so I must remember to get in some nurofen and vitamin pills!

Writing commissions tick along and work for Equi-Trek Blair International, Houghton International and Rockingham International is also gathering pace. I’ve been to meetings at both Rockingham and Badminton in the last month – Houghton is easy, I only live 5 miles from the Musketeer office so can pop in there most days 🙂

George (the horse) has had his steroid injection and, judging by his exuberance when I got on him yesterday, he is feeling very well. Fingers, legs and eyes crossed that he stays sound. He’s convinced the tents, flags and cross country fences that he can see (he is stabled at Burnham Market Eventing Centre) are all for him and wants to know when he can go and strut his stuff. Heaven knows what he’ll be like when the tannoy starts up…

More B’s: Blair, Blaston & Barefoot

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GeorgeWhy do so many of my work-related events and connections start with a B? Badminton, Burghley, Burnham Market… and now there are more…

It’s been pretty full on for the last few weeks, with some great news on the work front. I did get the job as press officer for Blaston, a lovely country show near Market Harborough which runs on the last Sunday of June. It’s something a bit different for me and I am really looking forward to it.

On a rather bigger scale (I am the master of understatement) I have also been appointed press officer for Blair International Horse Trials. I have huge shoes to fill, taking over from the super-efficient and lovely Bridget at JB Promotions, but fortunately the ‘dream team’, aka Ellie and Nina who I work with at both Badminton and Burghley, have agreed to join me in the Highlands. I appreciate Alec Lochore‘s faith in me, good to know that despite holding the same role at both Burnham Market and Houghton Internationals he isn’t sick of the sight of me!

On the subject of Burnham Market, Sam has signed a fabulous title sponsor, Barefoot Estates, a new boutique estate agency on the north Norfolk coast. Meetings and plans for Burnham Market have been ramping up, and we are really pleased to be hosting the first leg of the Shearwater Insurance Tri-Star Grand Slam. Regular 3* Burnham winner, and Manners Media client, Oliver Townend, has four horses entered as he bids for an early advantage towards that £50,000 top prize.

Web-wise I dropped in to see Brook & Kathy Staples when I was last in Sussex, to discuss a new site for them – they have moved yard so it’s time to get everything back on track. Neil has moved the Blair site to our servers, and we should have a new interior design site on line before too long. And best not forget, huge congratulations to Piggy French and Tom March on their impending addition to Team French (I’m talking 2-legged not 4 here – due in August I think).

I’m loving the longer days and getting out on George, albeit still in walk. I think we may be looking at another steroid injection to try and resolve the problem – he is not impressed when I hack around the main Burnham Market cross country field (off the course obviously!) and don’t let him ‘play’.

My event season starts this weekend when I head off to Isleham for Horse & Hound – I don’t think I have missed an Isleham since around 2002 which is rather scary. And how is it March and I have yet to finish painting my kitchen – which I started last April? It’s not that big!

The White Rabbit Queen

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MalagaWhere did January go? I don’t seem to have drawn breath and tomorrow it will be February. Christmas was to be got through rather than celebrated – I can be massively anti-social at times and this was one of them, though it was good to spend the time in Norfolk for the first time.

The highlight of the festive season was winning a totally random ‘white rabbits’ competition with a very old boyfriend… it happens once a month and has been going on, with the odd gap, for over 25 years. New Year’s Eve was the ‘big’ one and to his intense annoyance I pipped him at the post – girl power 🙂

Things then perked up even more with a trip to Malaga, chaperoning my flying godson. It was so good to see blue sky and feast on some delicious tapas after the filthy weather we’d had here. Tom got some flying in and I eventually cracked the basics of navigating the town – with no help from an intermittent sat nav in the hire car (on day one I had to resort to paying a taxi driver Eu5 so that I could follow him back to the hotel!)

On my return it was finally D-Day – or more accurately G-Day. Whilst I was due to start riding George in December he had one last attempt at self-harm, shattering that dream. We are now back in action, albeit only walking for a few weeks. I have barely stopped smiling since – even when he does his unexploded time bomb impersonation.

Work has really kicked off; meetings with Musketeer about Burnham Market International, trips to web clients Piggy French and Oliver Townend, and a potential new press officer job meeting in the Midlands. Neil came up trumps when we had a short-notice e-commerce website to do – Luminosity, headed up by my GPC ‘boss’ Andrea, launched its Hi Viz business at BETA to great acclaim.

More new websites and web re-designs are in the pipeline for February and before I know it the eventing season will have started. It’s a good thing that kick boxing classes have started again – fitness levels need upping!

OK 2015, time to go now…

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MumI’m not a fan of short days and long nights – despite having been born on the longest night of the year – so always look forward to a new year, but never more so than now. I’ve been to 3 funerals in 4 weeks and will be reuniting my mum (in ashes form) with my dad (who died back in 1991) tomorrow. Inevitably this will be a short blog because I’m not altogether sure how much sense I am making… But I have been blown away by my friends, old and new – it’s rare that words fail me, but they seem to everyday right now. Thanks guys.

As I prepare to return to Norfolk this weekend the most exciting news is that, fingers crossed, I can start riding George (the horse) next week. I’m counting the hours until the vet comes to, hopefully, give me the all clear. I have popped in a sneaky ride on a friend’s horse (over 6 months off so yes, it really hurt 48 hours later, but it put a massive smile on my face) and can’t even countenance George not being back in action. I’m indebted to Emily Lochore and her team for looking after him so well in my absence.

My lovely clients have been very forgiving of my not being ahead of the game recently, so I am now on a major catch up and have some fun projects in the pipeline, both on the web and PR front. However, I must give a mention to Bill and Jenny Levett for their fantastic owners/supporters party (food to die for let alone the chance to have a massive catch up with photographer and web-client Fiona Scott-Maxwell), and huge congratulations to Oliver Townend who topped the BE leaderboard this year by over 800 points. Watch social media in the next few weeks for news on what he’s been up to recently 🙂 You should also check out Matt Dunkinson’s video round up of 2015 – he’s a really fantastic videographer

So, enough for this month – a late blog, a short and not very good blog – but I will be back in the New Year firing on all cylinders 🙂

Wappety wap

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DCIM182GOPROHaving kept as quiet as possible (for me) I can finally blog about the most amazing day’s work I have ever enjoyed. As a confirmed aviation nut and ex-flying instructor, the opportunity to be perhaps the last non-injured civilian to ride in a RAF Search & Rescue Sea King helicopter was beyond my wildest dreams (the RAF have since handed over Search & Rescue to a private company). I think it has put me firmly in Horse & Hound photographer Peter Nixon’s good books too.

It was, of course, all in a good cause. The letters page of H&H regularly contains stories of accidents while out hacking, some of which directed at insensitive or ‘gung ho’ pilots who fly too low over horses, causing them to spook. I am more aware than most, given my previous career, of how hard it is to spot a horse and rider, so felt it worthwhile to attempt to get the message across that wearing hi-vis really could make a difference in preventing accidents.

Working on the basis that it’s not what you know as much as who you know, I enlisted the help of friend and RAF Paramedic Winchman Haz (blog 3), who set the wheels in motion to obtain all the relevant permissions – there were dozens of hoops through which to climb. That done, Peter and I arrived at RMB Chivenor in North Devon early one morning, on a perfect, blue-sky day at the end of September. The final story is in H&H today with a shorter, more personal, blog (and some cool video) due on their website.

What a day… I am school-girl star struck with these guys (and girls – co pilot was the lovely Tamsyn); pilots, medics, crew, engineers, they are so utterly good at what they do. Not only did Peter and I both get winched up into the helicopter, I also got to sit in the Sea King’s cavernous doorway, legs out, as we cruised low along the North Devon beaches. I will still be grinning like a cheshire cat this time next year.

In other news…. George (the horse – blog 1) has yet to come sound so is now on box rest with Emily Lochore at Burnham Market after a steroid injection in his hock – I’m slightly concerned he is going to be stolen by one of the team there, he’s wrapped them around his hoof that’s for sure, but he is being beautifully looked after – thanks to Rhiannon, Jordan and Sam. I’m keeping everything crossed that our hacking days aren’t over…

Family stuff stays the same – but a huge plus is some of the people I have met over the last 5 months. Enough said on this really – they know who they are.

It’s hard to remember what else has happened since the European Eventing Championships. Features have been written, Little Downham and Oasby Horse Trials event reports filed and hundreds more motorway miles clocked up – by now Angus Smales might even have stopped laughing, having worked out who the ‘little old lady’ driving the ‘granny’ car at Oasby was. Last time I write nice things about him in a report 🙂

My event season is over so life can slow down a bit, although I still seem to have a mountain of web work to do. Time to plan some fun adventures for the relatively quiet winter months…

Do as I say, not as I do…

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FelearI have just broken the cardinal rule that I tell all of my clients who blog… if you are going to do it, keep it up… I know, I know, this one is very late….

I’ll try to keep it short: first up, since my last blog, I spent a restorative few days staying with some of my oldest (perhaps I should say longest standing) friends in what is apparently the highest, most remote lodge in the British Isles; basically hang a right a few miles before Blair Castle, turn off the main road, drive for 4 miles up a slightly pot-holed tarmac drive and then a further 8 up a monstrously pot-holed adventure playground (yep, I have a land rover…. so why oh why did I take my mum’s Honda Jazz? Patently failed to read the instruction email) The last 8 miles might have taken 2 hours (this picture is right at the start), but credit to Honda, the car got in and out in one piece, to the surprise of all…

I laughed like a drain for the duration. For anyone who likes a good read, google Antony Woodward – I can wholeheartedly recommend both Propellerhead and Garden In The Clouds, depending on your interests… I have known Ant for way more than half my life and even bought my dream BMW 325i soft top from him back in the 1990’s – a brilliantly funny writer, whose wit is matched only by Vez, his wife. I went for long, highly entertaining walks with my ‘flying’ godson, Tom (am now an expert on Japanese warfare), coming within less than 80′ of a golden eagle… saw beautiful things, with some of my favourite people, and left a much more chilled person (bar the 2 hour crawl to civilisation!).

Next stop the heady heights of Keysoe for H&H…. and moving swiftly on, the beautiful Eliza Manners’s 18th birthday party (I’m not biased), and her mother Emma’s birthday celebrations. I might not be good at parties, but this family know how to throw one – or two!

BlairTeamOf course reality always has to kick in and it was time for the Burghley/European Championships double. Having been semi-dreading it, it was ace… couldn’t do it without my partner in crime Ellie Crosbie. She does the creative stuff and I do the easy bit – but it seems to work. For Burghley I stayed with the wonderful ‘Growler’ (that’s another blog in itself) – more laughing like a drain… then for Blair I found myself ensconced in a lodge at the Atholl Palace – oh yessssss…. me, Ellie, Rupert Bell (radio) and Peter Morris (very important organising person) (all pictured, and I realise, quite blurry and slightly pink!). Quite how I managed the 9 hour drive home afterwards I will never know – probably pondering how Michael Jung can be THAT good.

Then it was down to Sussex and back to Rockingham to make plans for 2016, sadly more x-rays for my horse, and then to undoubtedly the most (for me) exciting job I will probably ever get… next time..

I seem to have fallen off the planet…

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SeakingI have embarrassingly little to report on the work front. The rest of the team have all been beavering away, but I have almost nothing to show for the last month bar an increasingly intimate knowledge of back route detours either side of the Dartford Tunnel, a declining feeling of warmth towards all those folk over the Channel who are making drivers on south east motorways lose the will to climb behind the wheel, and an impressively comprehensive mental database of where to buy cheap fuel in Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Kent and Sussex… By choice, none of these would be my specialist subject if called up for Mastermind.

On the plus side there are also a few less weeds in my Norfolk garden, the kitchen wallpaper has finally been consigned to the bin (a job I started in May – and no, it’s not that big a kitchen), and George the horse’s hock (blog 1) is steadily improving.

The medical fraternity has played way too big a part in my life, poking and prodding me to check that I am still a picture of health, given the whole family situation right now (seems I am – phew). Just the CAA flying medical to go in a couple of weeks and I can resume my aversion to anyone who knows how to use a stethoscope or (one of my three most hated words in the English vocabulary) probe 😉

Talking of medics, I did get the promised tour of the RAF Search & Rescue Sea King helicopter (blog 2). Big thanks to the lovely folk at RAF Wattisham and my host, Haz Hunter. She (the Sea King – definitely female; beautiful, practical, multi-talented, complex and hard to handle) totally lived up to expectation. It was love at first sight – she’s just the coolest bit of kit. My heart breaks with the knowledge that these incredible machines are all being sold off and SAR is being transferred in to private hands. Don’t start me on politics…

I admit I was slightly nervous when Haz talked me through his back pack (weighs a ton and he carries it down on the tiniest wire imaginable, invariably dealing with some sort of sea rescue)… I’m pretty au fait with mind-bending drugs right now, but when he produced a small drill, used for drilling directly in to bones to get fluid in quickly (squeamish – ugh…) I weirdly found myself listing which bones I would find acceptable and which not, should he ever find himself rescuing me… Note to self: take up knitting.

I might not have much to show on the business front but I so love the people I work with. Panda at The GPC has given me hours of entertainment – non-disclosable of course, but I struggle to categorise it as work when it’s so much fun.

Oliver giving the press the low down © Fiona Scott-Maxwell (also a web client!)
Oliver giving the press the low down © Fiona Scott-Maxwell (also a web client!)

I’m missing The Festival of British Eventing this weekend, but Trevor has just texted to say that Oliver (Townend – web client) has already bagged a 1-2 in the Novice Championships, won the Intermediate Championships, and is lying 2nd & 3rd after dressage in the Open… I seriously hope that Bridget and her team are missing me – but bring on the European Championships at Blair in September, where she will be keeping us all in order…

Lastly I have to give a shout out to Harry Dzenis (another web client) who won an obscenely huge trophy recently with Xam the Man… can’t wait to see them at Burghley next month…

Next week the Highlands beckon before I ramp up my work. Horse & Hound are easing me in gently with a trip to Keysoe and then, via a small diversion to what will be probably the best 18th birthday celebration of 2015 with my lovely ‘sort of’ cousins, the eventing party really kicks off…