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Wednesday, 14 May 2014

Kate Winslet?

....  I asked her what the nature of the talk would be and she explained that it was to inspire the children as they were all close to leaving school.  Of course I was delighted to have the opportunity and agreed and asked when it was.  She told me it was on that same evening, giving me little time to prepare.  But, having conducted a couple of talks to the local college I was reasonably confident that I could deliver an inspiring talk.  So just a few hours later I arrived at the Mill Arts Centre with a handful of notes that I had scribbled down whilst at the gym ready to perform.  On arriving I was told that a former pupil of the school was to conduct a talk about his life after leaving school and how he was now living in Australia and had become a successful actor.  I was asked to sit just out of view of the students so was able to listen to the former students talk and take my queue for when I was to start my talk.  The more I listened to the young man the more I was inspired by his story as he delivered a very good speech.  Having never met anyone in the auditorium before, not even the teachers, I was a little nervous on how I would be received.  Every talk I had conducted before that day was at local schools and colleges where I had always known the people who invited me along.  I had also always known many of the students and knew that most, if not all of them knew me.   I did feel I knew my subject matter well enough to be able to perform the talk well enough to inspire the students but still standing on a stage at a theatre was a new experience and the nerves were creeping up on me.  Fortunately for me the principle at the school had done his homework, I guess through the internet, on me and gave me the perfect introduction highlighting everything I had achieved and how my journey had brought me to the stage on that particular day.  By the time I got to the stage I was almost totally relaxed.  My talks are mainly story based and fortunately many of the students were familiar with some of the local characters in my stories.  At the end of the talk I assisted the award ceremony and presented certificates to each and every student in the theatre.  The time seemed to fly by and after the talk I had some positive feedback from the students and teachers.  The following day I was approached by a man I knew who had heard about my talk to the pupils of the Sibford School.  He approached me and asked me how it felt standing in for the actress Kate Winslet.  I was unsure what he was referring to so I gave him a look that said “what are you talking about and assumed he must have had a few too many drinks?”  He then asked me if I had just conducted a talk for the Quaker School at The Mill Art’s Centre and explained that Kate Winslet was due to carry out the talk as two of her children attended the school but she couldn’t attend, which explained why I was called in with only a few hours’ notice.  Although I never did get to meet Kate Winslet, knowing I was standing in for her did give me a great deal of pleasure.
Other people I never felt I would be able to associate with myself when writing a book were the Queen and Prince Phillip

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