Tag: Ros Canter

Not quite dry…

Posted on | by admin

The first half of January was great – and it’s rare I say that… I’ve never been a big fan of the month. The White Rabbits contest was an absolute dead heat, another first. I survived a fantastic New Year’s Day lunch without a drop of what looked to be amazing wine passing my lips, the same can be said about an outing to the Gin Trap with the Jacksons and a very jolly dinner party.

I have returned to boot camp and to yoga, and even managed a trip to the dentist without going in to melt down – I was on a roll. Work was steady, we ‘inherited’ the most perfect custom built Honey HQ – converted cattle sheds, transformed for another local bee keeper who now sadly has alzheimer’s and can no longer work – everything was pretty perfect. OK so Growler and I had to give up an entire weekend to join Leigh scrubbing the place from top to bottom – but it will revolutionise production this season.

My annual gremlins did get to me in the second half of the month so dry January became a little damp, but it wasn’t all bad. A trip to BETA with Ros paid off – I think we have a couple more sponsors in the bag which, given her baby news is a result. All her sponsors have been so supportive of her taking time out this year.

She hasn’t quite stopped riding yet, and I spent an extremely chilly evening at Easton College with the girls from the yard watching Ros and Caroline‘s latest demo. Very interesting, but we all took the entire drive home to warm up.

So there it is, over for another year. And I am now working on Don’t Fk Up February on the alcohol free mission!

Pastures new

Posted on | by admin

The word is out about the first of my two new business ventures… I am now a shareholder in Leigh’s Bees honey company.

To get me in the mood I joined Leigh at the monthly Creake Abbey Farmers Market – I’ve not worked a trade stand since I was married (a million years ago) but it was surprisingly good fun. Later in the month I also did Holkham Christmas Market and Creake Abbey Christmas Market where I made friends with Father Christmas (on my birthday – there’s dedication!).

‘Normal’ work continued apace but was far from irksome, including Caroline Moore‘s 50th birthday party and celebration of Ros Canter & Allstar B’s double gold at WEG, followed the same weekend by Piggy French‘s annual owners party. There was also the BEWA (British Equestrian Writers Association) AGM and lunch in London, where Ros was presented with the Rider of the Year award.

Away from work, there were plenty of fun lunches and dinners, the month only spoilt by the dreaded lurgy in the run up to Christmas. Fortunately I was well enough by Christmas day to spend it with some of my favourite people in Norfolk.

That’s about it. My second new business venture isn’t far off launch date so my nose had to stay pretty close to the grindstone, and I am embarking on Dry January – with an early start… not a drop has passed my lips since 30th December. Watch this space!

On top of the world

Posted on | by admin

The Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials was great. Growler gave an entertaining and delicious dinner party on the first night – after which she and I were described as ‘more entertaining than the Morcambe & Wise Christmas Show’… I think that’s a compliment… Then there was the annual picnic with Brushy & Toons… food has been a bit of a theme this month.

I was working with Sue again, and all the usual suspects were there. Oliver Townend was indeed on a mission, and finished the dressage phase with his three horses in the top 7 – all of which went on to jump clear across country. Piggy French had a great competition too, as did Harry Meade riding my great friend Charlotte Opperman’s Away Cruising which caused much excitement in the Opperman camp. I was very entertained watching ‘the boys’ rushing around with buckets of water to cool the horse, as Harry instructed: ‘faster, faster’.

So all three of my favourite riders competing this year finished in the top 6; Oliver 2nd and 12th, Piggy 5th, and Harry 6th. There was even more cause for celebration on the basis that Burghley was my last horse trials of the year!

I was, however, glued to the television for the World Equestrian Games, in Tryon, North Carolina. For Ros Canter to not just lead Team GB to the gold medal, but take the individual title as well was incredible. She was cool as a cucumber and totally deserved the win.

The rest of September was mostly about sleeping, getting back to Boot Camp and taking up yoga. Lulu and I went to see the Merry Wives of Windsor, which was excellent, and Growler came to stay – we ate far too much, went to a rather random ‘festival’, indulged in some Norfolk Gin and put the world to rights.

That’s about it. I now need to do all those jobs which get put off during the season, start putting the garden to bed, and make the most of the autumn sunshine.

Honey trap to heather moor

Posted on | by admin

August disappeared in a blur of long walks, motorway miles and computer screens. The first half included a trip to London where Ed, a godson, was playing drums at the launch of his girlfriend’s first album, The Honey Trap by Pixie & The Gypsies. I haven’t been to a London jazz club for years and it was fabulous.

I then took the tourist trail in Norfolk, due to a friend coming to stay. In the 7 years I’ve lived here I had never been to Sandringham (100% recommend) or on the Wells & Walsingham Light Railway (significantly less recommended!). Add in trips to the beach, fish and chips, and chat = happy days.

Scotland beckoned once more and I headed up to Blair Castle Horse Trials, again via a night with my friends in the borders. I was a man down, so to speak, with Ellie’s year old daughter having broken a leg (falling off a pub table!) and keeping Ellie away, so thank goodness Sue is made of stern stuff. She delivered on every level, despite us being glued to our computers long into the night. Our daily entertainment came from Bogdan, a Romanian volunteer who, it’s safe to say, made a lasting impression on both of us.

Trevor & Lorna came to take pictures, and both Oliver Townend and Piggy French posted good wins – and with great STV coverage I hope I have kept my gold star from last year. The rumbles concerning team selection for the World Games continued – World number 1 Oliver has been left out, but it was good news for Piggy, Ros Canter and Bill Levett (AUS).

I managed to snatch 36 hours at home before re-packing and heading to Growler’s for Burghley – I think Oliver, with three horses to ride, will have a point to prove.

The waggon has a wobbly wheel

Posted on | by admin

November was wonderfully relaxed – despite the fact I have added an hour long 1 to 1 torture session with Action Dave in to my Fridays. For some inexplicable reason I have decided that I need to crack the art of doing press-ups, something I have never been able to do before now, even when young and lithe! He asssures me it will be a piece of cake – I’ll let you know next month, I have set a christmas day deadline.

I’ve been out to far too many suppers for someone trying to be predominantly on the waggon, and am now an expert on which non-alcoholic wines are drinkable and which deserve only to be poured down the sink (for the record, I recommend Rawsons Retreat – not exactly Latour or Margaux but drinkable). I have also discovered non-alcoholic, calorie free ‘gin’. OK, so it doesn’t taste like Hendrick’s, but it does taste like a ‘proper’ drink and I think it’s delicious – made by Seedlip it comes in two versions; spicy and christmassy, and my favourite, ‘garden’ which is lovely and ‘green’ tasting…

Mid-month I made my annual autumn pilgrimage to Kent where the usual suspects were on top form – no chance of not drinking there. As ever it was non-stop delicious food, fresh air, great conversation, fine wines and lots of laughing.

I got some flying in, and up until almost the end of the month George was in fine fettle – he even made it very clear to me that he wanted to do some cross country jumping… basically, whilst on a hack, by planting his hooves next to the field with the jumps in, doing a very smart ‘turn on the forehand’ (horse speak for swivelling round a front leg to be facing in a different direction – in this case in to the field) and refusing to move until I concurred. It was seriously good fun. I’m not sure which of us was smiling more by the end.

Unfortunately a couple of weeks later he managed to colic (tummy ache, which if left unattended can have serious – if not fatal – consequences). By total chance I was on the yard at the time and noticed something very slightly amiss early on (the first sign was him turning his nose up at a polo… George refusing food rings immediate alarm bells). Fortunately, the wonderful Diana from Anchorage Barn Equine Vets, was soon on hand (he was getting worse with alarming speed) and after she had administered pain relief and syphoned half a bucket full of parafin into his stomach via his nose all turned out fine… although he was not impressed by his 48 hours with no hay and only small, very sloppy feeds.

My main work outing was to Ros Canter‘s, where we were meeting with a potential new sponsor. All looks good and we should have things signed and sealed by Christmas. More on that in due course. So now it’s time to pack and head to the sub-zero climes of Norway…. seeing the aurora borealis has been on my bucket list for decades. Fingers crossed.

Food glorious food

Posted on | by admin

With work commitments significantly lighter now my event season is over I appear to be turning in to a domestic goddess. I’ve rustled up a full monty Sunday lunch and even baked a cake – both firsts since I moved to Norfolk 6 years ago; hard to believe I was once a ‘proper’ cook (yes, I do have a certificate to prove it!). While on the subject of food, Shucks in Thornham, a very cosy yurt with a roaring fire, is my new favourite place for breakfast. Their Huevos Rancheros is to die for, the copious amount of chilli a perfect cure for autumn snuffles.

The house is being cleaned to within an inch of its life and some chair covers I started making more than 2 years ago are nearing completion. I just wish the light didn’t fade so quickly now – putting the garden to bed gets curtailed ever-earlier with each passing day… One of the benefits of going ‘on the waggon’ (shall I pause as you pick yourselves off the floor? Don’t worry, it won’t last for ever) is the unleashing of new-found energy – well, it’s either that or my endless boot camp sessions are finally paying off.

On the work front there was good news for three of our web clients with the publication of the October FEI World Rider Rankings, most notably for Ros Canter who has climbed up to 6th place. Oliver Townend finishes the month in 11th, and Piggy French 12th.

The best fun last month was undoubtedly a trip to London with Growler. She, perhaps ill-advisedly, enlisted my help on a shopping mission, and I actually rather enjoyed sitting in splendour in a large armchair, while two young assistants (who looked like they should still be at school) trotted back and forth from shop floor to changing room as I gesticulated towards various clothes rails. G tried on dress after dress only for me to say ‘No, looks like you are on the Starship Enterprise’ or ‘No, much too much like a bridesmaid’, let alone ‘too long’, ‘too short’, ‘too green’ etc… the poor thing, I must have battered her in to trying on about 25 dresses, the dodgy ones invariably part of my selection! I just wish I’d taken photos 😉

From the West End we went on to Shakespeare’s Globe, via a delicious dinner at The Swan (I thoroughly recommend this place, even if you aren’t going to the theatre). I’d been super-efficient buying really good seats, and they were worth every penny. King Lear is one of my favourite plays (it was my A Level Shakespeare text) and the performance was brilliant.

Another Growler date was a trip to Northants for her confirmation. I have to admit that the only church doors I’ve darkened in recent months have been funeral related, so it was a pleasant change not to have to fill my pockets with hankies… although, on the basis that the very charming Bishop took great delight in flicking water over large chunks of the congregation, some folk probably did need something absorbent.

The service was followed by the biggest Sunday lunch I think I have ever consumed, at The George in Stamford. Gosh, October really does seem to have revolved around food – best climb on those scales, it could be ugly.

Gold medals and golden eagles

Posted on | by admin

August passed in a whirlwind, but fortunately not all work-related – most noteworthy was my annual trip to Fealar, this time falling immediately ahead of Blair.

It remains breathtakingly beautiful, although we had rather less sunshine than last year. Not only did I discover that the coat I had taken wasn’t waterproof, I also very nearly disappeared into a peat bog – fortunately there was a strapping young man close at hand who caught me and pulled me out. The highlight of my, as ever abbreviated, stay (due to Blair commitments), was again seeing the golden eagles, as well as half a dozen stag less than 50 meters away. My last night there was after everyone else had left – to be alone in the most remote lodge in the British Isles was fabulous.

The only drawback was that I was in the Highlands (with no phone/internet/tv) during the European Championships. I hared in to Pitlochry on the final day to catch up with the live stream, courtesy of the Atholl Palace Hotel, for the last few showjumping rounds…. and was delighted to see Oliver and Ros collect their team gold medals.

On to Blair, which was great fun. I had two new team members keeping me on the straight and narrow, Sue Polley and Molly Shepherd-Boden, who both worked their socks off. We had a few excitements, starting with an unexpected overnight (and unknown) visitor in our static caravan on the first night – I’m not sure who was more surprised at 6am the following morning. That rather set the tone for the week…

After 48 hours in Norfolk it was time for Burghley. I was definitely dribbling by this stage, but the joy of Burghley is staying with ‘Growler’. It’s almost impossible to believe that exactly a year ago, the day I turned up, she had been diagnosed with the Big C. Twelve months on, and currently the picture of health, she was in celebratory mood and we planned a picnic with Manners Media’s Trevor & Lorna.

The sky had been blue, the temperature balmy… until we set out to the cars to extract said picnic. Thunder crashed, lightning crackled and the rain came down. Net result – a very funny, rather cramped supper in the car… the mirth continuing back at base, aided by a bottle of Toffee Vodka 🙂

Burghley was fabulous – more so than ever because Manners Media clients posted a 1-2. Oliver took his second title (the last one 8 years ago), finishing a couple of points ahead of Piggy, for whom the runner up spot was a best Burghley result so far. Totally deserved results and I have yet to stop smiling.

Blow, winds, and crack your cheeks…*

Posted on | by admin

(* with apologies to Shakespeare for stealing)

Life has been a little dull of late. It’s all very well having a ‘quiet time’ from work, but when the strong winds blow and the sun takes itself off to…. well…. sunnier climes, the net result is a rather grumpy me.

I only got airborne three times in July, and one of those occasions was suitably buttock clenching, practicing cross wind landings – all other attempts, including to start aerobatics lessons, have been thwarted. The early morning checks of the aviation forecasts to assess if a trip to Kent to fly with my godson have so far all resulted in a text from me to him saying ‘not today, fingers crossed for tomorrow’.

Instead it’s been a case of windswept gardening, soggy hacks, and tortuous (often also both windswept and soggy) boot camp sessions. The highlight of the month turns out to be work related, which I’m sure shouldn’t be the case… I was asked to write a piece for the Burghley Horse Trials programme, which necessitated me going to Burghley HQ and rifling through all the old programmes back to 1961. Absolutely fascinating – to think that whilst today the gentlest of tumbles onto the ground means elimination…. in 1961 a horse could fall 4 times before a rider was given his marching orders!

But I almost forgot – another serious highlight… three Manners Media clients have been selected for the European Championships in a couple of weeks time. I am so chuffed for Oliver Townend, Piggy French and Ros Canter – Trevor Holt is going to have his work cut out keeping up with those three.

With so little to report, the month concluded with a really fun evening in a new Burnham Market restaurant, 20 North Street, courtesy of Shanty the Highland cow’s owner. The food was melt-in-the-mouth delicious and the gang of people round the table wonderful company.

So now I have 3 weeks to go before Blair, and the next eventing-dominated onslaught… Blair, Burghley, Blenheim and Osberton. Yikes.

February blues

Posted on | by admin

I’ve never been a fan of February. Back in the day, before clients and commitments, I would pack a small bag and head off travelling. The nights might be getting shorter but I find the glimpses of Spring almost tortuous – snow drops and aconites peek out from under my favourite curly hazel tree, but then Storm Doris comes along, rips tiles from the roof, and slays one of a row of lovely big old oaks in the field behind my house.

The highlight of the month is that I now have a lawn and terrace in front of the house – the quagmire is no more. Andy and his boys at Garden Works survived the elements and are just the best.

Aside from that there has been quite a lot of writing, some chauffeuring (Manners Media photographer Leigh parted company with a bronking horse and managed to snap his medial collateral ligament and damage the anterior cruciate – not ideal when his bees needed feeding due to the cold weather), and we got the contracts signed with Ecqlusive, which now sponsors both Ros Canter and Cholmondeley Castle Horse Trials.

Earlier this week I made the trip down to Badminton for the annual pre-event Media meeting. It’s a mighty long way to go for a meeting, but always worthwhile. With my partner in crime Ellie Crosbie a very new mother, Ellary (so much easier to function under one name when we do the same job… Nina and Claire are known as Clina… I forget why Sally has morphed into Jeff!) is awol this year – but I’m happy to reveal that for 2017 I will be half of Selary, having met up with this year’s media partner Stephanie.

Hugh Thomas treats us all to a great lunch in the Old Royal Ship in Luckington after the meeting, although my delicious lasagne had to be abandoned unfinished when the ‘very very nice man’ from the RAC arrived to tell me that the grinding noise coming from my car was totally knackered brakes. I gingerly followed his van to a local garage, MGS… good choice. Super-efficient, absolutely charming, and if you ever need mechanical help near Chippenham, that’s where you should head.

It was quite a month for catching up with my past which, whether alarming, surprising or entertaining, is almost always thought provoking. John Swire’s hugely moving memorial service in Canterbury Cathedral hosted people I rarely see, from my Far East travelling companion (who on one memorable occasion failed to successfully mime to our delightful Burmese hosts how long he’d like an egg boiled for – credit where it’s due… he ate it!) to my ex-husband. Along with the hyacinths which are just bursting forth, some real blasts from the past have popped up out of the woodwork and been helping to banish my February blues.

Fierce winds, fabulous food and farewells

Posted on | by admin

ashes2I’ve hit a pre-Christmas ‘OMG I haven’t done any serious work for weeks’ panic. It’s the downside of knowing that I have very few deadlines at this time of year, and I have been kidding myself that I don’t actually have any work. WRONG.

It’s been, mostly, fun… although the scattering of my brother’s ashes in the sea at Hayling Island on what would have been his 59th birthday was a tear jerker. I also found myself staying in the top floor, corner room of a seafront hotel in Eastbourne the night Storm Angus hit the South Coast. Suffice to say I got no sleep thanks to rattling sash windows and shaking walls, but the sight of the churning sea was unforgettable.

I’d gone to Eastbourne for a concert in memory of my mother, performed by the Aanna Colls Singers. The music was fabulous, and when Aanna sung a piece, the words to which were written for her by mum, that was both me and my great friend Katie gone. A very bracing and very, very breezy walk along the seafront, topped off by a night cap with my sister-in-law and her family, and our equanimity was restored…

I haven’t been on a total skive. There were the usual writing commissions, the launch of a new website for Coromandel Crewel, and a trip to London to visit a PR company which I might at some stage do some work for. Guy, who instigated this meeting, treated me to a delicious and entertaining lunch – the image of an owl wearing a tweed cap, with a claw literally through his hand, will never leave me :-0

I had a visit from Neil, the absolute bedrock of Manners Media website success. He and his son, Tom, came over for a catch up, a bit of sea air and, of course, chips! I then spent last Saturday with the charming Jacksons – why am I’m pretending this was work-related? Ben is a total star raising awareness about Rockingham International and Blaston Show as a presenter for BBC Radio Leicester, but a trip to Burnham Deepdale Christmas Market followed by scrumptious slow cooked beef in his and Hellen’s lovely holiday cottage – nothing to do with work there.

Work did take me on an overnight stay to web client Ros Canter‘s. I was there to introduce a hopeful new sponsor to Ros (all still under wraps), and under any circumstances it would have been spoiling, but given I’d been without a bathroom or oven for over 2 weeks, a ‘proper meal’ and long soak in a bath was heaven (I have been washing, I hasten to add – nipping round to my very accommodating neighbours).

Talking of which, the end is in sight re the builders. By Friday all should be pretty much finished. Most importantly I will have both a bath and a shower. The cats barely speak to me now there is underfloor heating in ‘their’ room – so Pig no longer serenades me in the early hours which makes whatever it cost cheap at half the price. Anyone in Norfolk, I can 100% recommend Jason Palmer and his team – really great guys to have making a mess in your house, I’ll almost (not quite) miss them! Happy Days.

Whilst not wanting to end on a sad note, one of the kindest, most perceptive and interesting men I have met died last week. John Swire, father of a close friend, has been a joy to know over the last 30 years. His ‘how a man should flirt’ dinner conversation with me when I was barely out of my teens set the standard – which, to be honest, has never been met!