Stoke Mandeville Stadium, Filming for Channel 4

Eggsy and me went to Stoke Mandeville Stadium to film part of a show channel 4 are making about the 2012 Paralympics.
We were very lucky indeed and we were looking forward to a great day of sport.

We met up with some top athletes and were split into two teams.
On Eggsy's team was Olympic sprinter Jeanette Kwakye and bronze medal Paralympic sprinter Ian Jones.

I had Gold medal Paralympic swimmer Liz Johnson and the man himself Tony Jarrett who has won a bunch of medals including gold 110m hurdles at the Commonwealth games in 98.
I thought my team were strong and we had a good chance to whip Eggsy's team's ass.

First up it was sitting volleyball. This is our instructor sitting volleyball ace Emma Wiggs, she had a black eye from playing last week so we were slightly scared.

We got into it as Emma explained the basics.

Eggsy was getting right into it.

Then we split into our teams, I was quietly confident that we would kick ass and win.

You will have to wait and see who the winners were when the show is on TV in August.

Next up was Boccia which is a bit like Bowls crossed with the French game Petanque but you play with a mini football that's soft so it doesn't bounce.

This is our Boccia instructor Dave Smith. He was world number one at Boccia so we had the best teacher. He is a dude.

We entered the arena of conflict.

Eggsy and his team tried to master the game. Boccia is serious and involves skill and a strong mental and tactical ability. I thought my team again had a strong chance of going for the win.

You will have to watch the show to see who got the victory. After we had battled it out at Boccia we moved on to something more deadly.

But first we had to put on special protection.

This is Eggsy with Adrian Derbyshire. He is the a gold medalist and one of the nicest guys you will ever meet. He took us through the basics and tried to convince me it was safe.

Then the games began. Eggsy has always wanted to fence since he was about 4 so this was his big chance to shine, he took on Liz.

Then it was me, I was up against Jeanette and she scared me a bit. She is very competitive and said she would cut my head off.
In the end she didn't hurt me too bad, she is a big softy really.

Then we were done, all to soon. I would love to go back and just hang out at Stoke Mandeville it is a great place and the canteen had some reasonably priced snacks too.

I can't wait to watch the 2012 Paralympics........on TV of course.

Wickerman festival 23rd July 2010

We all met up late on Thursday night to get on the bus.
Big G had brought his famous biscuits as a treat, they have a secret ingredient.

So after much fun and high jinx on the 10 hour bus journey, we woke up at the festival site.

Mike was less than happy to have woken up seeing as how he had only had about 20 minutes sleep.

Everyone was hungry so I went to the catering tent and met this lovely ladie called sally. She agreed to cook us all some breakfast.

And breakfast was what we had. It was the breakfast of kings.

After we sat out in the beautiful Scottish sunshine.

Then we found some time to have a game of cricket.

This is the 70's dressing room we had, it was like being in a shit sit com, but we loved it.

We did some interviews, one with this nutter.

By now maggot was at the crease.

Some more people came to talk to us.

We were playing at 5 o'clock so I went back to the bus at 4 to wake Mysti up. He had hit it hard the night before and it showed.

We all got ready to do the gig, Big G was ready first.

Grayham had some wicked style on the go.

Then we were ready.

The crowd were well up for it.

But after all it was Scotland, and the Scottish like to party.

The gig went over very well and by the end of it Mike balls had turned into a small child. Maggot od Mike could be the new Krankies.

Adam had brought a box of toys with him.

And blasted Grayham full in the face at point blank range with his super soaker.

Later me Adam and Mysti decided we needed a bit more excitement in our lives, so we had a go on the sledges of death.

Basically you sit on some plastic and then do 30 miles an hour down a hill with you legs stretched out in front of you.

Adam was loving it.

We went back to see Sally about some dinner and she did us proud.

The excitement had been all too much for Mysti and he turned purple and went to bed at 8 o'clock.

I went to watch Teenage Fanclub and the boys partied on into the night.

We got on the bus at some point and it arrived back home about 9 in the morning.
Grayham was in bits.

Good times.

TJs in the square, 10th july 2010

John Sicolo was a dude. He ran a club in Newport called TJs. It use to be called Sico's and many still called it by that name. We use to go there as young kids growing up in the Port, we even put on a night back in the early 90s, playing the records we liked.
All the bands that you can ever imagine played at TJs from Oasis to P.W.E.I. to my sister and her weird student mates.
Anyway, the leader, John sicolo, pasted on not so long ago and to celebrate his life and to kind of thank him (a bit late really) for all the music and that, it was decided that there should be a massive party in Newport's John Frost Square.

We were very lucky to be invited to head line, the only problem was getting to John Frost Square as it is in the middle of Port and there are no roads. Stan the sound engineer just decide to drive his car through the centre of town.

We got in finally and Stan didn't run anyone over which was a good thing. There was a posh dressing room in the old Co-Op bank, there was even a spread.

This was the stage, fair play it was massive.

So we dropped all the gear off and got some quick munch to soak up the booze.

Then we went to get the booze, Maggot was already in the pub.

It was a great day for a party.

Soon we had had enough beer and it was time to head down and put some rave clothes on and do a gig.

Eggsy had his own dressing room which was a bit like the place where Luke, Han solo and Princess Leia nearly got crushed in that Star Wars film.

There was a great crowd in the square. That's The Darling Buds on stage, they played right before us.

Adam got himself into trouble as usual and then managed to smooth it all over.

Then we were all ready to rock the party.

We went into the square and Paul Flynn MP said some words to the crowd. Paul is the coolest, if I could be anyone else in the world I would be him.

The crowd were great. We did a load of songs in quick succession cause we only had 25 minutes, it was hardcore but really good to do.

Then it was all over as soon as it had begun.

After we met some of the interesting people who were at the event.

Billy had a great time, he had only turned up 30 minutes before the gig and he had brought most of his family with him. I think he had been to a wedding or something.

I met some more of the party people.

Newport really knows how to bring the party.

And the party went on late into the night, we didn't quite dink the pubs dry but we sure did give it a go.

Jonny Sico we applaud you. Thanks for all the music.