I can't believe finally a day has arrived that could go down in history as being my best day EVER.. if only they were REAL ducks... but still man.... ADOPT A DUCK, GET DOWN ON THE DAY and START CHEERING!!!!!




May the best Duck win!.....

There is a NEW page.... it's called Music Videos have a LOOK.

So a few weeks ago I went to watch my friend Gwen run the london marathon, it was completely amazing, she was amazing. She is HARDCORE she complited the run in 3hrs 37 mins and has qualified for next year and to start with the women elite, she was very excited. WHY WOULD YOU WANT TO DO IT AGAIN???

Anyway it inspired me and although I have said before yeah i'd like to do it but I can't run that far, I announced to my boyfriend and anyone who happened to be listening "i'm gonna do it next year" He laughed in my face "yeah right, you'll never do it" he said. Then he whisphered to anyone who was listening "I'm only saying that coz it'll make her do it of course she can do it."

OH DEAR

So yesterday i entered the ballot for a place. And registerd with 3 charities just to make sure.

Mike said "you'd better get some running shoes, we'll go to the marathon shop" and that is where I found myself this afternoon, having some shoes fitted by a man who is about to run 52 MILES in August. Is he CRAZY? Anyway the shoes were really comfy, they made me feel like I could DEFINITELY run a marathon. Then the man put me on the running machine. "Try them out" he said

Mild panic on my part, "Oh god, What if I fall off?" I thought

Anyway I ran and Mike and the man even commented on how much of a natural runner I looked.

I bought the shoes.

When I got home I thought I'd better go for a run, darling Mike came with me on the bike, I ran non stop round the park (just over a mile) IT was SO HARD. My face was very red Mike commented I looked like a beetroot (just as we passed 2 girls) "That's what happens when you've run 10 miles" I said loudly so the girls could hear! hee hee BUT IT'S NOT A JOKE IS IT? I'm gonna have to do that soon AND MORE..

Anyway anyone would think no one had ever run a marathon before the way I KNOW I am going to go on about it but if I write it down then maybe I won't moan on to anyone.

So watch this (DULL) space as training for the London marathon begins here!!!

Check out robotbadger.com to contact a BRILLIANT TV editor and of course for badger fun!!

So it happened Jelly and Jackson were lucky enough to be invited to the Weakest Link to take part in the Puppet Special. It was completely amazing but the hardest puppeteering i have EVER done! It was SO PAINFUL....but SO worth it

We answered every question right, apart from one! I was so happy!

Anyway to see the result and the most hilarious show ever (Roland Rat was on it... my hero and was so so good) watch on

FRIDAY 28TH DECEMBER 2007 6PM on BBC1

Great news! Finally James has signed a deal with EMI Publishing which basically means they publish his work when he sells some of it! Or something like that.......

Anyway ALSO he has chosen to release No Surprise(yipppeeee) as a Promo single on the small 7inch lable Chess Club. It is a clever move because he is already creating a little buzz and has been played on some BBC radio stations near and far!

The idea is he gets a fan base and some loyal followers before he signs to a major label! Clever lad.

AM SO PROUD

I'm not saying ANYTHING but Friday 9th of November 2007 may be a nerve wracking day.

All I will say is that I'm READING THE ENCYCLOPEDIA!!!!!!!

Certainly when you are a gorgeous Green Story Maker and you have a lot of green friends!

A new programe has been dreamt up encouraging CBeebies viewers to Be Green and who better to lead the way than Jelly the Green Queen herself and with help from Kermit THE Frog not a lot can go wrong.... Yes you heard it right Kermit THE Frog and little Jelly Bean are set to change the world!!!!!

Finally it is done and a little late being put up.. It is already on YouTube and doing well... please pay a visit and leave a comment!

A few weeks ago we began filming for James' No Suprise Video. This was shot at a green screen studio which was kindly loaned to us for the afternoon! Mr Mikey Holliday directed, a lovely cameraman called Hopi filmed and I hung around making annoying comments and generally being a groupie.

But I have to say James was absolutely AMAZING, having never looked into a tv camera before I was a little worried about him singing the whole song down the lense and not once, not twice but over 20 times. Well I couldn't have been more wrong, I couldn't believe he did it first time which out a flinch or a mistake or forgetting one tiny word. I was so proud.. clearly it runs in the family! Ha ha...

Anyway here are some pics of the filming.. please note the one of me on the floor.. it's not me trying to get in the video.. no no I had to spin the chair James' was sitting on for 4 and a half minutes throughout the whole song... and at 6ft3 odd James is VERY HEAVEY... good job I have a strong puppeteering arm ay!

My brother who has already released 2 albums and is an amazingly talented folktronica artist is bringing some of his fat folk sounds to the Wye Fayre Festival on Saturday 7th July, you should head on down and check it out.


Or visit his myspace page and BUY HIS NEW ALBUM.



It puts a new spin on these singer song writer types who are churning out the same old same old...

In particular his track No Surprise I can guarantee you won't be able to sit still and we're actually in pre-production for the music video to accompany this song right now so watch this space!

This weekend Detective Dan, myself and Jelly were lucky enough to go to Birmingham to take part in one of the many Springwatch Festivals which were being held all over the country.



I don't think it would be unfair to say that we slightly underestimated the amount of children who would turn up just to see Jelly and meet Detective Dan.

Our first show began on the Saturday in a little tent with Dan and Jelly behind a table and the children who had come to watch sitting on the floor. The MINUTE Jelly appeared from behind the table the children were on their feet, running up to the table, peering behind it, waving in Jelly's face, trying to touch her and everyone shouting "HELLO JELLY, HELLO JELLY, HELLO JELLY!!!!!!!" at the tops of their voices. This went on for about 10 mins where upon the event organizers called security.

So two big men turned up and tried to control the mass of children, slightly unsuccessfully. When we came to the end of the show they decided it was too mad to continue without some sort of barriers and so big metal bars were put up to keep the children back from the table. It was hilarious. With the barriers now in place and children under control everyone thought we were ALL safe. children safe, Jelly & Dan safe. All good.

However all was not so, again the minute Jelly appeared the children were up on the feet and surging forward to the barriers, now getting slightly crushed! Again they called security, two more burley men turned up. Things calmed down. We got through the show, no one was hurt and the event organizers decided that the next day they would move the whole performance to a big marquee in the park. We did one more show on the Saturday and exhausted we returned to the hotel and made it to bed nice and early!



The next day things were very different, now we had a big tent, barriers and a lot more security guards things were under control. So the organizers decided we should do some live radio encouraging people to come down... It was AMAZING, this cool lady called Jenny turned up in this car where upon she put up a HUGE mast and off we went...... live on radio Birmingham! I WAS SO EXCITED. I have ALWAYS wanted to be on the radio and Jelly could hardly contain herself!



So a few more thousand people turned up, all with children wanting a photo of them and Jelly... After our first show I brought Jelly outside only to be surrounded by hundreds of children and parents pushing to get close and a photo of their child with Jels. I could NOT stop laughing.. IT WAS MAD...It was like being Victoria Beckham. (By the way i didn't mention that it was like this the whole of Saturday too but we just went with it)





Anyway now things were serious as there was many more people and AGAIN they called security. They were SO wonderful and organized a pen for me and Jelly to sit in and the people then had to que to wait their turn for a chance to meet Jelly and have a photo. (I felt like Father Christmas!)

Here is Jelly with her bouncers!!!!


Anyway I have to say that the whole event was completely AMAZING, from the wonderful wonderful people who helped out & looked after us SO well to every single child Jelly and I met who at times bought me to tears they were so sweet. THANK YOU SO MUCH for such a fantastic time, I will never forget it!

X

Check out Jellys Blog to see some of the pictures children bought for Jelly!

Here is a link to the BBC Birmingham website with details of the show & pictures of Jelly and some of the lovely children we met.

On Tuesday night Lotte (one of the CBeebies Springwatch Directors) and Detective Dan (one of the presenters), myself and little Jelly went to visit the Grown Up Springwatch Farm!! We had such fun and watched the show go out live from the gallery! There were SO MANY monitors.. it was like mission control but for animals.. VERY EXCITING!!

Here is a pic of the gallery where it all comes from..




and here is outside......



it looks prettier on tv doesn't it!

And here is Bill and me in his caravan! Lucky me!


But the BIG NEWS is Jelly is going to be on the Grown Up Springwatch show tonight at 7.30pm on BBC1

WOW

This year for CBeebies Springwatch the team decided to "grow" some chicks and ducks and set up some incubators at the Springwatch Headquarters. The first little chicklet was born whilst we were away on Skomer filming.

I got to meet her recently and I was LUCKY enough to name her... so here am I with Charlie the Chick!



That day Jelly and I also did some filming with the lovely Chris from Doodle Do.. he has a nice accent because he is Welsh. He was also very very kind to Jelly and laughed at her jokes, which is nice because he is ACTUALLY a comedian!

May The Fourth be with You....Welcome to baby Jack a new addition to the family. I REALLY hope he grows up to be a Jedi

Isn't he LOVELY!

So some of you may know that finally one of my little dreams (and a massive dream for Jelly) to see Puffins in the wild finally came true recently, when we went filming on Skomer Island for CBeebies Springwatch 2007. I'm not sure I have enough pictures to explain how utterly amazing the island is/was but.....

it's sheer remoteness........



coupled with the most amazing sunset I have ever seen in my life...... (and this photo has NOT been enhanced)


not to mention the puffins......


made this one of the most incredible trips of my working life.


Skomer Island is a tiny island off the coast of Wales which is only accessible by a small boat. The island has no cars or houses or shops or proper heating, electricity or people for that matter!!! The only people on the island are the island warden and his girlfriend, their 2 year old daughter Martha and a handful of volunteers who are there for the wildlife. Tourists visit the island day by day to witness the amazing variety of birds which inhabit the island and then there was us… the CBeebies Springwatch team who descended upon the island for 2 nights and 3 days.

Yes here is a little map of Mexico... to see it bigger click below...then you can see where we're going... yes that's right....

http://www.spanishabroad.com/images/mexico/mexicomap.gif

Mike and I will be there TOMORROW!! Very excited! I'll be emailing as we go but in case not here is what we have planned.

16th Feb Leave London (lunchtime) arrive Mexico City (18:40) - Stay 2 nights in W Hotel - Mexcio (very very posh place innit... )

http://www.starwoodhotels.com/whotels/property/rooms/index.html?propertyID=1444

18th Feb fly to Los Mochis where we stay for 1 night and then board the train at 6am which takes us through the Copper Canyon

Arrive in a tiny village called Creel (inside the Canyon) and stay for a few days and nights, trekking, hiking etc through the canyon. NICE.. "I have new boots that don't make your feet sweat" But THEY DO

Re-board the train and travel to Chihuahua (pro-nounced Choowawa, like the DOG!!) I hope we see some!

23rd Feb fly from Chihuahua to Mexico City and onto Cancun.

On arrival in Cancun (the Yucatan province) we have been advised to get the hell 'outta there and so will be making a quick exit to the many beaches and towns near by, traveling around the area for about 2 weeks. We might even slip in a cheeky trip across the boarder to Belize!!

8th March We leave from Merida airport and fly back to Mexico City where we spend one night.

9th March leave Mexico and fly back to London Heathrow

10th March LUNCHTIME Arrive London / Back Home

12TH MARCH 2007 AVAILABLE FOR WORK (Due to holiday relaxation I'll be happy, therefore VERY employable but will have TAN, although if employed will not show it off too much!)

A few weeks ago I went to see CBeebies Live in Belfast



and met lots of lovely friends!!!


PC Plum, Me and Spencer from Balamory!


Justin Fletcher dressed as a clown


and Me! After the clown kissed me!!


The Tweenies even had a space ship!


It was fantastic!

I'm very sad to say that "Snap" the goldfish has passed away. He had a short but happy life and he will be missed. He has NOT been flushed down the loo but has been given a good burial in a blue plastic bag.
I watched "Finding Nemo" in his honor.

Last night CBeebies Springwatch won a BAFTA for best Pre-school Live Action Show! We couldn't believe it!!! Sitting at the table together when they were about to announce the winners we said to each other "Well there's no way we've won.. there are no cameras near us" So we all looked around at the other people in out catagory to see who it would be, I didn't feel nervous or excited, I honestly just felt interested to see who it would be... And then when they announced "And the winner is CBeebies Springwatch!" We looked round at each other in shock.. none of us moved. In my head I could hear myself saying "They just said Springwatch! They just said Springwatch! That's US!! GET UP!!! GET UP!!!"

And then we all stood up and couldn't decide which way to go up to the stage and the cameras were on us and then I thought I might cry because I couldn't believe it! I was SO PROUD of us... ALL of US!

Because the reason we won is down to everyones hard work, determination and dedication and we have all done so well.......I am very lucky to have worked with such amazing people! 

We all deserve to win a smiley BAFTA face!

ps.. My mum reminded me this morning that back in January 2005 when it was just Clare and I on the team thinking up ideas and planning we said to each other.. "Yeah the old team is back together....lets make another BAFTA nominated show!" And not only did we do that, we won it!!!

I met Ron Weasley!

And Sportacus (real name - Magnus) from Lazy Town (when he won his award he walked up on his hands to get it!!!)


Watching Jelly on the big screen! She was so sweet!

CBeebies Springwatch has been re-commissioned and Jelly has a new role as a roving reporter! Very exciting! First stop Lundy Island with Bill Oddie to see Puffins.. one of her life long dreams! Lundy Island is a very small special place just off the coast of North Devon...take a look...

www.lundyisland.co.uk

Recently my dear friend the Burd has spent most of his free time planning his move to a new house but has still somehow found time to help me design this website. He is truly amazing! So this is just to say "Big Up the Burd" I thank you for all your help! Visit his site www.stiffrook.com for a fun filled web adventure! But come back to mine soon!

Nominations announced - The British Academy Children's Film and Television Awards in association with Electronic Arts.

PRE-SCHOOL LIVE ACTION
CBEEBIES SPRINGWATCH - Tony Reed, Clare Bradley, Aliex Yuill (BBC/CBeebies)
DOODLE DO - Tony Reed, Geoff Coward, Lizi Botham (BBC/CBeebies)
MILKSHAKE SUMMER - The Production Team (Five/Five)
THOMAS & FRIENDS - Simon Spencer, Steve Asquith (HIT Entertainment Limited/Nick Jr UK)