Tag Archives: pub in the park

The Queen

September 17, 2022 Neil

I am and always have been a supporter of the Royal Family, I can remember being aware of who the Queen was from a very early age. I felt she worked tirelessly for the country and was often the voice of reason. She was the perfect figurehead, clearly compassionate, so aware of her duty and role plus fully appreciative that she was born into it so had a real desire and work ethic to give herself totally to the position. Even on days when I am sure she did not feel like it there were always smiles when meeting her public and she was such a good public speaker.

I think if I am honest I am still coming to terms with the fact she is no longer with us. We saw those pictures of her meeting the outgoing and incoming Prime Ministers. She did I will concede look a bit frail but she was smiling and carrying out her duties. Therefore I did not think that forty-eight hours later we would receive the devastating news that we did. I always really wanted to meet her to say hello and thank her personally for what I feel she had done for the United Kingdom. I would have liked to have a chat with her and maybe even be the subject of her great sense of humour I will now sadly never get that chance.

I remember when I was at Primary School at the age of six or seven the whole class wrote a letter to the Queen. I will be honest I cannot recall what I said in mine now I possibly just asked some ridiculous questions about her day to day life. I will however never forget the joy and excitement when the class got a letter on Royal headed note paper from her Lady in Waiting who thanked us for our letters. We each got given a copy and I still have my one at home somewhere.

Fast forward nearly forty years to during the first lockdown in 2020. I like most people had more time than I am used to on my hands, so I decided it was about time Her Majesty had an update from me. As I suspected she may have wondered what I was up to and what had happened to me since we last spoke. Believe it or not I did write to the Queen again but this time it was a thank you letter for all I felt she did.

Having watched lots of the behind the scenes documentaries I knew as I said earlier that she had a brilliant sense of humour so I put things in there that I thought might make her at least smile. Once again I got a reply back from her current Lady in Waiting. Now I do not know if the Queen actually saw my letter or not but the fact I got to at least document what I felt about her and got to thank her was enough for me.

I have been going to Royal Ascot for many years and one of the highlights for me was always The Queen’s arrival. I used to get a good spot in the Parade Ring to make sure I could see her arrive in her carriage. She always dressed so well in such bright and vibrant colours and looked quite happy and relaxed. I think I may have got a wave one year. She did of course love her horse racing and was a winning owner and breeder several times. In fact she was still riding ponies well into her nineties. It is going to be so weird at Ascot next year knowing that she will not be there.

I took my mum for a tour of Buckingham Palace a few years ago. They had an exhibition next door of some of the presents that the Royal Family had received from overseas visits needless to say all of the items in there were stunning. We then were taken through the state rooms of the great house. I really enjoyed it I like the splendour and history of the place. I liked the way it was decorated and could certainly see myself being able to live there. It was special walking where the Queen would have walked and being in rooms where she would have met many amazing people. They showed us the room in which they perform the investitures so I had a good look around to get a feel for the place so I will be at ease when I collect my MBE or Knighthood in the future.

I will be joining the nation on Monday in saying goodbye to this country’s longest serving monarch. It is going to be strange her not leading all the usual annual events. I do like the fact she is already being referred to as Elizabeth the Great that seems totally fitting to me. I thought that she could go on for ever but of course no one can. She did an amazing job as our figurehead, although I think that the memories of her I will treasure most were in recent years when she was on the Buckingham Palace balcony with her family, children, grand-children and great children. Her smile in those situations and the joy she clearly got from looking after the youngest members of the family. Rest in Peace Queen Elizabeth II.

A couple of weeks ago I went to Pub in the Park in Chiswick. It was started a few years ago by the chef Tom Kerridge. It is run in sessions there is an afternoon and evening one and we had tickets for both of them on the Saturday. There is a hotel just around the corner from the venue so we booked in there for a couple of nights. On the Friday I went to a leaving do for one of the producers at work. She held it in a pub just around the corner from the studios that I had no idea existed but it is a great little place hidden away down a side street. I thought I had been in every pub in London but I am still discovering new ones.

I had a great time having a few drinks and talking about radio with everyone there, always one of my favourite subjects. I did manage to get Laura whose party it was a drink, mind you she asked for a half and I somehow ended up with a pint despite ordering a half at the bar. As the other drink was a wine for me I am guessing the girl thought it was the other way round and that I would like a pint. I left Laura still drinking her larger than requested beverage and raced across London to meet Lynda and our friends in a Cote in Chiswick for dinner. I got there just in time to order with everyone else and we had a nice relaxing meal to ease ourselves into the weekend.

The next morning we got up and had breakfast my gluten free option was basically fruit and yoghurt but that was fine as we were after all off to a food festival. We arrived there just after half eleven trying some free samples of food and drink on arrival. Lynda bought a few bits and pieces and I had some food from one of my new favourites chefs whose place in Marlow we ate at fairly recently. I then had to race off to go and see Tottenham play Fulham. This involved me running to Turnham Green Station getting the tube, then running from Seven Sisters to the ground. I made it to my seat five minutes before kick-off.

Happily we won which made it all worth it. On the final whistle I then had to run back up the Tottenham High Road to Seven Sisters get back on the tube. Then get back to Turnham Green and run to our hotel to have a quick shower, get changed and meet everyone back at Chiswick House for the evening Pub in the Park session. It is fair to say that my love of Spurs did make my day a lot busier and sweatier than it needed to be but with three points in the bag I was ready to party. In fact the first thing I did after meeting up with Lynda was grab a drink.

One of our favourite chefs Atul Kochhar was doing a cookery demonstration. It was from his stand that I had got my meal earlier. On the way to see him in action we stopped there again to get more of his food. The big appeal for me was unlike most other places there three out of the four dishes he was offering were gluten free. We had one of everything two dishes each and went to watch the main man show us how to make one of the creations that I was eating.

The food tasted amazing, he is a really top man and chef. He made cooking a fish curry up on the stage look so easy and was also very funny with his commentary on what he was doing. Lynda who has hundreds of cookery books then decided to buy his latest book and get it signed by the man himself as he was doing a signing straight after. He was lovely, we had a quick chat to him as he was writing and I tried to take a picture of him and Lynda but did a terrible job due to a rogue light shining at her. Most of the pictures you see on this website are taken by her thankfully.

We then went to join the others watching Sophie Ellis-Bextor on the main stage. She was doing a combination of her own hits and some great disco cover versions. I met her and her mum outside a cinema in Richmond when Janet Ellis was on Blue Peter and Sophie would have been about six. I got Janet’s autograph and I still have it. I have interviewed her since and sadly she does not remember me. Anyway Sophie’s set was brilliant she had her husband and brother playing in the band. Her final song was Murder on the Dancefloor, she got her two youngest children up on stage to dance with her during it and it was the most beautiful and hilarious thing I have ever seen. The kids were really going for it and she could not stop laughing.

We then wandered around and sampled some more food and drink including some Champagne and a Pina Colada before grabbing a pint of cider to enjoy the headline act with. It was a DJ set from Sister Bliss from Faithless. It was as you would expect very high energy and dance music orientated. There was a lot of bouncing around and it did feel like being at a nineties rave at times. She is great and as you would expect played a lot of big songs. At the time I thought it was the first time I had seen her, until I spoke to a mate this week and he reminded me that I previously saw her perform after the Cartier Polo at Windsor about fifteen years ago. Pub in the Park was as ever fantastic. It is more than likely we will be there again next year.

I had planned on seeing The Mousetrap with Lynda last Friday. I had seen it before about twenty four years ago but she had not so we booked tickets. Sadly due to recent events I was extremely busy at work and was late leaving so I actually missed the entire first half of the play. I arrived at the theatre just before the interval. I met up with Lynda who was still holding the pre-show red wine she had got me while making her way to collect the interval drinks. Nobody can say I am not extremely well looked after. She filled me in on what I had missed and we then took our seats for the second half.

I got up to speed quite quickly and if I am honest about half way through it all came back to me and I remembered what happened. It is a brilliant play as you would expect from anything written by Agatha Christie. You can easily see why it is the longest running play in the West End. I enjoyed the bit that I did actually manage to see. This experiment did prove to me that if you have already seen a show before you can still have a good time at the theatre by only seeing half of it, but if you can see the whole thing from the start that is still the best way of doing things.

It was nice to see Champions League football back at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. I was lucky enough to see us beat Marseille two nil in our opening group match the other week. It was a tough game but two great headers from Richarlison saw us through. It did help when they went down to ten men but a win is a win. I am just happy to be back in the competition. I do feel we have a decent chance of getting to the next stage. And I say that despite us losing two nil in the week away at Sporting Lisbon.

A reminder that you can listen to me every Saturday afternoon between 2pm – 4pm on Radio Ninesprings https://www.radioninesprings.co.uk/

I am in Northampton this weekend to go to a friend’s 60th Birthday party. I will tell you all about it next time we speak. Have fun and we will catch up again soon. Stay safe! Cheers Neil.

Taking Care Of Business

September 11, 2021 Neil

Is it just me or is the time flying by at the moment? May be that is because I am back to being nice and busy again alongside the fact that things are opening up and more events are now taking place. The month of August just seemed to be a blur. The more things I do the more energy I seem to have and of course the more comfortable I am being around people again. As I am back working in London and going to the football I have had to just get on with it. And although I still wear a mask when I am inside anywhere it all feels pretty normal and natural.

I had a brilliant time last weekend. My girlfriend and I got invited ages ago by a group of friends to go to the Pub in the Park event in Chiswick. We decided to spend two nights in the hotel just around the corner from the park where it was taking place. I was working in London on the Friday so I got the tube and met Lynda at the hotel. She had already checked in and scoped the room informing me that we were a towel short. I managed to collect one on the way up from reception. I did somehow resist the urge to do a room service joke as I arrived with it.

Now I am Coeliac I really have to plan what I am doing for food and where I am eating in advance. Coeliac UK supply a very handy phone app that informs you of any accredited or recommended restaurants nearby to where you are. I checked this a few weeks ago and found a Cote’s Brasserie about a ten minute walk away from where we were staying. They happened to be fully accredited by Coeliac UK, which means they have a good selection of gluten free meals and take all the necessary steps to avoid cross contamination.

We arrived and they had a great table for us by the window with plenty of space around us. I identified myself as a Coeliac on arrival so when we had sat down they gave me my own special gluten free menu. I had my own waiter to take my food order. It was fantastic, we had three courses and my food came out at the same time as the others, plus it did come with a gluten free flag stuck in it, which I really liked. It meant that I could just relax and enjoy my food as I could tell they were taking the right precautions and doing all the right things.

We had a lovely meal washed down with a few glasses of a nice red wine. The Staff were brilliant. After dessert we strolled back to the hotel just before midnight expecting to get one more drink at the bar. To our surprise when we got there it was already shut, so we had to go straight to bed. Mind you as the Saturday was meant to be the main day that might actually have been a bit of a blessing in disguise. It did mean we got a decent night’s sleep. Lynda and I did not get up particularly early choosing to conserve our energy for the long day ahead.

Pub in the Park had two sessions an afternoon and an evening one. We had tickets for both. The first one opened at eleven thirty so we got there at about midday. It was really well organised and set up. The event is the brainchild of the chef Tom Kerridge. He has been doing these events across the summer for a quite a few years now, when regulations allow of course. There are lots of food and drink producers with their own stalls. This was right up Lynda’s street so within ten minutes of being there she had already purchased some tea liqueur and decided she was going to buy some spices.

We had a good walk round the entire site to get our bearings and work out where everything was. Throughout the day there were chef demonstrations. The one that Lynda wanted to see was due to be on at half past twelve, so we rushed to the area to see him in his advertised slot but there were two different chefs on stage instead much to her disappointment. The man she wanted to see was Atul Kochhar so to console ourselves we went to his pop up restaurant and each had one of his dishes. Luckily for me he had a few gluten free meals. Both of which I tried in the end and both of which were amazing. I definitely need to go to one of his restaurants.

We then found our way to the cider bar and had a pint each. Then we discovered a cheese stall that was giving out free samples. It would have been rude not to try some. In fact it was so good Lynda got a selection of them for us to enjoy at a future cheese and wine night. Next to the cheese there was a rum company who were also offering a sample of their product. It just so happened that they were based down the road from where I live. Their drink was really nice, so we purchased some of that to. As well as food and drink the other thing pubs are sometimes known for is live music, so there was a stage that had a few bands playing during each of the sessions.

We saw Nerina Pallot do her set. She was excellent. After that we managed to grab ourselves some prosecco to enjoy. Next it was time to try some more dishes from another couple of the selected chef’s restaurants. I had an amazing beef creation followed by Rick Stein’s black cuttlefish risotto. It tasted alright but I was a bit put off by the colour, as in general if something is black on your plate it is because it is burnt. There were a couple of cocktail bars there so we tried a Pepino Russo. It was a surprisingly refreshing drink that did have a bit of a kick to it.

The headline act for the afternoon session was The Feeling. I have been a fan of the band for years but this was the first time that I had seen them live. Now I appreciate that I have not seen any live music for quite a while but I thought they were brilliant, they sounded ace. They played all their big hits, their latest single and the title track from the musical “Everybody’s Talking About Jamie” that was written by the group’s lead singer Dan Gillespie Sells. As we were watching them I managed to have some ice-cream plus Lynda found us some cans of this alcoholic water, which was a great way to stay hydrated while still getting a bit tipsy.

Just when I thought I could not love The Feeling anymore they came back on for the encore and did The Buggles song Video Killed the Radio Star. I had that as my mobile phone ringtone for about five years. I really like that song and it had the park bouncing, possibly helped by all the great food and drink options. That bought that session to an end so we walked back to the hotel to drop off all the items we had bought and then had a drink in the hotel bar while we waited for the evening session to begin.

We strolled back to the park for about six o’clock. On arrival it was obvious that this session was busier than the earlier one. We took the executive decision to have some more food at this point, which was again exquisite. To wash dinner down we found a new cocktail bar and had a couple of their specials.

I then noticed that the chefs that were on when we expected Atul Kochhar earlier were listed as being on that evening. So I wondered if they had swapped slots. We went to the demo area and happily I was right he was on stage doing a cooking demonstration showing us how to make the dish that I had actually tried earlier in the day.

I was pleased that Lynda got to see him in action as she had been a bit disappointed when he was not on earlier. It was then time for another drink and I discovered a Cocktail Bar that were doing Pina Coladas. That used to be my holiday treat drink so I channelled my inner Derek Trotter and ordered one of them.

On the stage at this point were The Cuban Brothers. I had not heard of them before and if I am honest I was not sure what I was watching. There was a lot of just singing along to songs, dancing and a little bit of nudity. It was one of the strangest acts I have seen for a while. They were certainly unique I will give them that!

The headline act for the evening session was The Kaiser Chiefs. I had seen them once before at Glastonbury in 2007. They are a great live band and I think Ricky Wilson is one of the best front men in the business. You cannot fault his energy. He certainly puts a shift in when he is up there. Obviously they did all the big hits and we had a nice sing-song.

It was so great to experience live music again and see lots of people enjoying themselves and dancing in unison. It was a beautiful day, good food, nice drinks, brilliant live music and great company. We rounded things off with one more drink back at the hotel before bed, a fantastic event and a wonderful weekend.

Over the Bank Holiday Weekend as the weather was nice Lynda did a barbeque for us. Well she had one in the afternoon and saved some of the food for me so I could have it when I got home from the Spurs game. She had done a corn on the cob and served it using these pin things that I had never seen before.

It turns out they were small corn holders. You stick them in each end of the cob and they have plastic handles that you hold to eat the corn. I had no idea they existed but they are a real game changer when it comes to eating corn. It makes it much easier and saves you dropping it all over the place.

Around a year ago Pretty Green brought out an Elvis Presley TCB range of clothing. As a big Elvis fan this peaked my interest but all of the items were quite expensive. About three weeks ago a friend of mine sent me a message to say one of these jackets was on a well known auction site. I was watching it all week and then the night before it was meant to close I put in a bid. The auction was due to finish in the early hours of the morning. I woke up randomly ten minutes before it was due to end. I noticed I had been outbid so I then put one more bid in and fell back to sleep. When my alarm went off I woke up to an email telling me the jacket was mine.

It is a denim jacket with a TCB lightning flash on the front. A special patch on the arm and then in the lining of it there is a copy of the TCB Oath in Elvis’s handwriting. This is it “More self respect, more respect for fellow man. Respect for fellow students & techniques. Body conditioning, mental conditioning, meditation for calming & willing of the mind & body. Sharpen your skills increases mental awareness for all those who might choose a new outlook and personal philosophy freedom from constipation.” I mean in general I do not think it is bad advice. I love the jacket and I will be wearing it a lot during the next year.

It was my mum’s birthday last Monday. I managed to actually get to see her on the day, which was great. She is also an Elvis fan so for her present this year I am taking her along to see The Elvis Tribute Artist World Tour at The Waterside Theatre in Aylesbury next month. It will be a night out that we will both enjoy.

The biggest gift you can give is spending time and doing fun things with loved ones as far as I am concerned. She had a lovely time on the day itself and I did also get her some perfume. As I always feel it is unfair if a person does not have an actual present to unwrap from me on their special day.

Tottenham Hotspur’s start to the season has exceeded my initial expectation that is for sure. After the first three games we have maximum points and are top of the league without conceding any goals. Add to that the fact that we are playing more positive and attacking football this year, there is a lot to be pleased and optimistic about. As we now come out of the first international break of the season we have a tricky away game at Crystal Palace today. Never an easy place to go but hopefully we can grab all three points and keep the momentum going.

Another pleasing factor is that Arsenal are currently at the bottom of the Premier League table having scored no goals, which of course does amuse me greatly. I do not think that The Gunners will go down and I do not believe we will win the league but at the moment I do intend to fully enjoy both teams’ current positions. Still a long tough season ahead but I am really enjoying being back in the stadium and seeing live football again. I will be delighted if we are still top of the league going in to the next international break in about a month’s time. But as the old cliche’ goes let us just take one game at a time starting with todays. Come on you Spurs!

I am quite excited as it looks like next weekend I will be going to the Isle of Wight Festival. That is an event I have never been to before at a place I have not visited since I was about ten years old on a primary school trip, so it will be fun to rediscover it. If it happens I will tell you all about it next time we speak.

A quick reminder that you can listen to me every Saturday afternoon between 2pm – 4pm on Radio Ninesprings https://www.radioninesprings.co.uk/

Have fun and we will catch up again soon. Stay safe! Cheers Neil.

Neil Quigley

Tag Archives: pub in the park

The Queen

Taking Care Of Business

Neil Quigley Presenter