Culture Vultures

22 Apr 2018 Leave a comment

by Carole Gardiner in 50 Fabulous things Tags: , , , ,

I have always been interested in ancient history and my oldest son, Scott, shares my love for all things Greek, Roman and Egypt. I couldn’t believe that I’d got to my 50th year without seeing the Rosetta Stone and all the other ancient goodies housed in the Museum. So obviously a jolly to the British Museum would be a fabulous thing to do.

Scott, however, knew the museum like the back of his hand so was an excellent guide and we whizzed around seeing everything on my list.

The great thing about the day was the weather allowing us to ditch the underground, walk everywhere and take in all the sights that I usually miss while sat on a train. The only downside was dodging the demon geese in St. James Park who looked like they were plotting our deaths!

 

Along with most of the population I was obsessed with Downton Abbey and watched every episode….several times. As soon as I started planning my fabulous at 50 year I knew I would have to visit Highclere Castle

The seat of the Carnarvon family for many years, the castle and grounds are beautiful and well worth a visit even for non Downton Abbey fans. The 5th Earl of Carnarvon, along with Howard Carter discovered Tutankhamun’s tomb in 1922 so within the bowels of the castle there is an impressive Egyptian exhibition.

My mum and I had a fabulous day exploring where one of our favourite period dramas was filmed and of course we spent a small fortune in the gift shop on stuff we really didn’t need.

downton abbey

Paying tribute to local talent

08 Apr 2018 Leave a comment

by Carole Gardiner in 50 Fabulous things Tags: , , , ,

On the last Saturday of every month Bedminster Down ex servicemen’s club is the place to be….if you want to see a tribute act.

Every night was a fabulous thing and once the torture of the bingo was over we were entertained by the likes of Totally Take That, Motown, Madonna and many more.

But my favourite tribute act by far is Retro Electro, these local Bristol lads are fantastic and have played at the club a few times. Their repertoire includes hits from all the 80’s electric super groups such as Ultravox, New Order, Depeche Mode, Duran Duran and much more. They are incredibly talented and entertaining, always putting on a great show so I can dance all night with my buddies.

Another local talent that featured heavily in my fabulous 50th year is John Prescott, (no not the politician!). I went to see John when he supported “The Other Guys” at the Redgrave theatre, the Summer Song book with the Clevedon Light Opera Club and the annual “Swing into Christmas”.

But the most fabulous night was at my surprise birthday party. I had won the golden ticket at John’s 2016 Christmas special, which entitled me to a 45 minutes performance at a time and venue of my choosing. But while I was trying to plan when I was going to redeem my prize my bestest bestie, Jane, was already plotting my surprise party and had booked John to sing. It really was the icing on the cake and we had much longer than 45 minutes, spilling out into the pub garden and dancing the night away.

carole and john