Feeling very honoured :)

I received a message from my sister last night saying Malik wants me to make another soldier teddy to send to the Weeton Barracks. Apparently they saw the ted I'd made for Malik to take with him to Afghanistan (which he sadly left behind and asked us to post on to him) It had to be sent from Weeton and obviously they saw it and liked it so much they want another making for the Barracks. He could become their Mascot. I'm so excited to be asked anyway :) I'll be off out to buy the wool I need and I've already bought the lapel pin to use as the cap badge. Can't wait to get started now. 

Also we've had another call to be sewing Angels this afternoon. It's always sad that we need to be called on but we're always ready and willing to help in any small way we can. The sewing Angels are group of women who come together to help make memory blankets for the families of children who have sadly passed away. I'm proud to be a Sewing Angel ♥

A photo of our brave soldier with his bear

Charlie Cairoli's Statue

Two proper Charlie's....Junior and Senior

It was the unveiling today of a statue dedicated to the best clown ever....Charlie Cairoli. It was about time he was honoured in some way and the statue is a great likeness. It stands in the Rose Garden of Stanley Park. Charlie was a clown at the Tower Circus for almost 40 years. I went to see him many times as a youngster. I just feel so sad that he died before my own children got to see him perform.
Charlie (Carletto) was born in Milan Italy in 1910. His parents were circus performers and Charlie began working with his father when he was just 7 years old. He met his wife whilst working in Paris and then came to Blackpool in 1939 where he performed in his first season at the Tower Circus. There is a story that he had once played to Hitler and had been given a watch by him. When war broke out he walked to the end of the North pier and threw the watch into the Irish sea.
Charlie retired from the Circus in 1979 through ill health and died in his sleep the following year.

 Charlie's house

I once went in Charlie's house back in 1970 when I worked at Boots. A workmate of mine's sister was engaged to Charlie Junior and we went to the house for some reason. I briefly spied Charlie Senior sitting in the lounge. 

I'll be paying a visit soon to have my photo taken with the statue as I missed out today. Here are the photo's I took. 

 The Rose Garden

 About to be unveiled

 Father and son

 The artist Brian Nicholson 

 Brian was presented with a picture of Charlie

 Charlie's Great Grandchildren

I asked him if he'd pull a funny face like his Dad and he obliged ;)

What a nice man Charlie Junior is. A lovely day and I'm so glad Charlie has at last been honoured in this way.
Here's a nice little news clip about the statue
http://www.itv.com/news/granada/story/2013-04-21/blackpool-unveils-charlie-cairoli-statue/
and a write up in the Gazette
http://www.blackpoolgazette.co.uk/lifestyle/entertainment/theatre-comedy/statue-honour-for-famous-clown-1-5464770

Wizard of Oz

We took Ermelinda to see the Wizard of Oz on the North Pier on Saturday. It was a fabulously funny show and I only paid £5 each instead of £10 because I got the tickets on Deal Monster. What a saving and you'd have thought getting them so cheap we would have been in the cheap seats at the back somewhere, but we were only on row L and had a fabulous view.
Grace Adams from Big Brother was excellent as the wicked witch because she behaved like a witch in the house. She had a pretty good singing voice too.
I love that old theatre. I saw many shows there during the 60's and 70's when Mum used to take me and my sister to all the shows around town each year.
Ermelinda enjoyed herself and was giggling all the way through the show. She was as good as gold and a bonus was that she got to have her photo taken with the cast on our way out of the theatre. It was raining when we came out and a poor woman slipped on the wet decking of the pier. She seemed to have really hurt her hip and managed to walk but with a limp. I hope she was ok.
I took a quick photo of Ermelinda with the tower in the background. It's always nice if you were born in Blackpool to have a photo of yourself as a child with the mighty tower as a backdrop :)

My little beauty ♥

 

An old cine projector 

 The stage

 Me and my sweetheart

 Ermelinda and her Zio Aniello (my hubby)

 With the cast of the show

 Tower in the background ♥

Windy out there!

What a night! The wind has been howling all night and kept us awake. Luckily the only damage is a broken fence panel that next door have fixed already. It's calmed down a fraction now but not much. I'll have to take my Mum to the Dr's later or she'll be blown away! She has horrible warts all over her fingers and they're spreading like crazy. She's been having Cryotherapy (liquid nitrogen) on them but it's not working at all. She just seems to be getting more of the horrible things. I feel so sorry for her because it's limiting what she can do :(
I've crocheted a gorgeous bag made with 17 Granny Squares. Very proud of it if I say so myself and I love the self colouring wool. It's very Summery so all I need now is some nice warm weather. It's been a very long Winter and we've hardly had a Spring so I think we deserve a change please :) The idea for the bag came from this great video tutorial by a great lady called Claire.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1l_vvRxT34g
I'm trying to crochet some monkeys but my hand is so swollen from too much crocheting and my RA so I think I need to rest it for a while. It's so depressing when I have so many things going on in my head that I want to do and my stupid body lets me down! Hate this disease :(
Anyway here's the Granny bag and I ♥ it! 

Cheeky monkeys

Just finished making these 5 little monkeys

Cute aren't they?