Jack and Katie put the world to rights

It’s perhaps a little early to coin the classic Hannibal line from the A-Team, ‘I love it when a plan comes together’, but what has happened in Warwick over the last couple of weeks on #warwickportaspilots is simply breathtaking.

Just a few weeks ago David and Jerry from Hatton and Harding were in the company of Mary Portas at the Telegraph business awards, the Portas Pilot was mentioned and so the first seed was sown.

Todd, Underwood Wines prolific tweeter and co-creator of WarwickTweetup, immediately spotted the opportunity and blogged the subject, asking for people’s views on Warwick going for one of 12 town Portas Pilot places.

The response was overwhelming, within days the Chamber of Trade, WarwickTweetup members, local authorities and politicians were all pledging their support. A Town Team was created to spearhead the preparation of the Portas Pilot proposal.

And what a team, ranging from creative minds and top business brains, plans got underway to get the proposal submitted by the end of March.

Winning a spot as a Portas Pilot town means £100,000 for Warwick and the energy and experience of Mary Portas in ensuring Warwick is a town ready to do business into the 21st century.

And so work continues at a whirlwind pace, with video filming this week, reports flying around on email and meetings late into the evening.

On Saturday Chris White MP joined supporters of #warwickportaspilots on a stall in Warwick’s Market Place, where local people were given the opportunity to share their views on Warwick and the bid.

Following some excellent media coverage in the Warwick Courier, the Midweek Herald, on BBC Coventry and Warwickshire radio, on Touch FM radio and on BBC Midlands Today television, to name but a few of the media outlets, interest was high on the day, with many people coming along just to show their support.

One couple had seen the report on Midlands Today the night before and travelled from Telford to see what was happening!

So the work is underway, the proposal being drafted, but all the Portas Pilot work aside what has clearly been shown here is that Warwick has a heart.

That Warwick isn’t a faceless town with a shopping centre that simply meets one’s shopping needs, no, it is about the people, it’s about the personalities and it’s about the community.

Todd’s blog on the progress of the bid hasn’t had a few hundred views, it’s had thousands of views!

So whether the Portas Pilot application is successful or not, the people and businesses of Warwick are already speaking loudly and clearly that we are proud of our town, and we will work together to make it thrive into the 21st century.

Of course, becoming one of the 12 Portas Pilot town’s wouldn’t hurt…

These sunny, albeit chilly, days are an indication that once again the cycle season is fast approaching.

I know there are tougher folk than me out there battling through the wind, rain and sludge, but much as I like to think I cycle 12 months of the year, I really do like my home comforts, and head down into a force 10 gale does get a little tiresome after a while!

So as we look to the year in the saddle I was impressed to see The Times taking such an active step to promote cycling with their new campaign.

It’s a touching story, and one that I hope will make real changes. With the economic crisis and cuts galore the world of sustainable travel has moved to the backburner, almost as if it is a luxury which can be forgotten about when ‘more important things happen.

The reality is that cycling is a great way not only to get fit and get about with ease, but also often makes huge financial sense!

This is the story from Times reporter Kaya Burgess about his colleague and the inspiration behind the campaign…

Kaya Burgess on his friend and colleague, whose journey to work ended in critical injury:

Join the campaign here

The reality with any major issue is that it only truly touches you when it comes close to home. However regularly you may cycle on Britain’s city streets and however aware you are of the risks of doing so, it is not until you have seen one of your closest friends and colleagues stretchered off the tarmac from beneath the wheels of a lorry only yards from the office that the vulnerability of cyclists hits home.

Mary Bowers is a news reporter at The Times. She joined the paper as a graduate trainee in September 2009, though her beaming smile and effusive personality were common sights around the office from previous roles as a researcher on the comment and foreign desks.

With a passion for social affairs investigations and witty features, she has a writing style that is as distinctive as her sharp, quirky dress sense. She also has a remarkable singing voice, and it is an honour to have been one of those lucky enough to perform with her on several occasions in the folk clubs of London.

Yet it is only by a hair’s breadth that we are still able to talk about Mary in the present tense. Her survival to this point, now almost three months since her accident in London at 9.30am on Friday, November 4, is down to the passers-by who stopped and called the emergency services.

It is down to the paramedics who arrived on the scene within three minutes, to the fire crews who cut Mary and her mangled bike from beneath the wheels of the lorry, and to the doctors and nurses in the intensive care unit of one of the city’s busiest hospitals. But Mary cannot thank them herself. Not yet. Not for a long time. Possibly never. Because, though she is stable, Mary is still not conscious and remains in a trauma unit. Her broken legs, arm and pelvis are slowly healing, but other damage sustained during complications in her treatment, almost inevitable after so traumatic an injury, will be far harder to overcome, though she is making slow progress.

There are also people Mary would not want to thank. There are the authorities who have neglected to ensure that junctions like those on The Highway in Wapping — or countless others where cyclists have been maimed and killed in Britain — are made safe for cars, lorries and cyclists to co-exist safely.

Mary, a news reporter, would be first to ask why it is not mandatory for lorries driving on city streets to be fitted with sensors and mirrors to pick up cyclists in their blind spots. Or why training for cyclists and drivers on how to share the road responsibly is so poor. Or why some junctions are so dangerous that jumping a red light can actually be a safer option than lining up alongside HGVs at the lights like a racetrack starting grid. Or why London trails so far behind cities such as Amsterdam and Copenhagen in terms of the infrastructure and legislation to protect vulnerable cyclists and to help the drivers who are trying to avoid them.

But such questions are not a priority at the moment for Mary’s sister, Laura Fawcett, whose constant support by Mary’s bedside has been a source of strength not only to Mary, but also to the huge circle of friends, colleagues and loved ones who are guarding her in their thoughts.

Laura said: “I’m angry that the accident happened and that it was even possible for it to happen. Mary’s nurses said to me that, if I’d seen what they see all the time in intensive care, I would never cycle again. It is just so random and cruel, but it feels like so many of these things can be prevented by increasing awareness and changing road structures.

“Mary is such a loving person and a real people-person, which attracts so many people to her and is why so many people she had come to know around the world are concerned about the tragedy and horror of what happened.”

There are many families who are not able to visit their loved ones in hospital, because they did not survive. “My husband had a human right to cycle to work and come back home again alive,” said Debbie Dorling, whose husband Brian was killed in October last year on his way to work.

As a point of comparison: since 2001, 576 British soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan and Iraq; 1,275 cyclists died on British streets. The latest data shows there were 1,850 deaths or serious injuries in the first half of 2011, a 12 per cent rise on the year before. Britain leads the world in competitive cycling; it is time that we did the same for the cyclists on our streets.

Drivers and cyclists need to realise that co-existing safely benefits everyone, in terms of public health, traffic, pollution, and congestion on our roads, trains and buses.

The Times is launching a cycle safety campaign not simply to call for safer roads, but to outline exactly how that can be achieved, in a way that will hold transport authorities and politicians to account. Too many cyclists have died on the streets of Britain. Too many families have lost their sons, daughters, fathers, mothers, husbands and wives.

It is time for that to change.

Join the campaign here

We are fast approaching the end of January and it is fair to say my new year fitness plan is not quite yet on course!

I’ve managed a couple of rugby sessions, a couple of jogs, but nothing like the new year blitz I was aiming for, but aren’t we all the same?

On January 1 should we really go complete cold turkey on all booze, food and toxins when still surrounded by so much, well, cold turkey!

The evenings and mornings are still cold and dark, and the twinkle of Christmas lights are a distant memory. Shouldn’t we therefore still embrace some treats? Gradually wean ourselves off the huge calorific intake and lack of exercise inflicted on our bodies since the end of November?

Most people say their new year resolution fails by the second week of January, well I say that’s the problem, break the new year resolution in gently, and aim to have it in full swing by about the end of the month.

Yes, we might be half a stone heavier… but we’re not living in a gloomy state at having already failed in our mission to shed it, no, we have a plan to start slowly, to ease ourselves in to 2012, and by the middle of February to be firing on all cylinders and back on track.

As the weather picks up, the bicycle can come out of hibernation, runs seem less of a mission, the whole world is a brighter place.

So, if like me you’ve entered 2012 still indulging, don’t despair, that is what you are supposed to do, and in true tortoise and hare style we can give a cheery wave to all those who have crashed and burned on their new year cold turkey as we creep our way to our 2012 fitter form

I really enjoyed our reception, it all came together so well and the food was gorgeous, after the speeches we had another interlude to ourselves, whilst guests relaxed, bellies full.

Again, this time was lovely to take it all in and enjoy each other. Karen was merrily snapping away and even got this gem of us on the doorstep to our house!

We returned to be announced in for our first dance and as the first few bars of V V Brown’s travelling like the light played, we nervously took to the floor.

Top tip, get a radio edit of your first dance as often the album one is FOUR AND A HALF minutes long, that is a long time to dance with everyone watching you!

Having said that, it went very well, we both relaxed into it and even threw in a few turns and spins.

As we started to dance, through the open door you could see a monsoon had erupted from the heavens outside and it was a really magical moment.

We purposefully chose ‘you got the love’ Florence and the Machine’s version to follow, to get everyone up on the dance floor, it was great to have a bit of a boogie!

We then cut the beautiful cake by Daisy Cupcakes and I threw the bouquet to a very happy Davinia, who is now engaged, no really – it’s magic!

This is me catching Jennifer’s bouquet in May 2010, and I was the next person to get engaged then too! MAGIC!

Karen recorded these last few ‘key’ moments before slipping off home for a well-earned vino, hope you had one on us Karen Xx

It was then that the evening guests started to arrive and ties began to loosen, shoes kicked off and I literally let my hair down (well Zena did it for me but you know what I mean)

Guests were treated to hot roast pork rolls, with stuffing and apple sauce and the beer and wine continued to flow. The music was expertly chosen by my clever brother Peter and everyone had a really great time.

I had made a dress up hamper and people posed for some great pics.

Things like that helped to mark the transistion from day to night and kick started the partying! I love this picture of our inventive use of the sweet table.

I think any bride will tell you that, along with being one of the best days of your life, it is also pretty tiring, so after saying our goodbyes, we walked hand in hand back to Warwick Arms hotel for our first night as husband and wife, he even carried me over the threshold!

Tomorrow – Katie talks the finer details…

Welcome back!

The wedding reception is arguably what you have put the most planning into, so this blog is less of a chronological account of the day and more of a description of what I did, what we chose and why.

DIY – We both agreed from the outset that this would be our day, personal to us and reflecting our tastes. This is by no means to say that other, more traditional weddings are not gorgeous, because they are, it’s just not true to us. I must say though, it was by no means the most creative, unusual or DIY wedding I’ve come across in my many hours of reading wedding blogs such as Love my Dress, Rock My Wedding or A Natural Wedding.

However, I do feel we managed to stay true to ourselves and create a wonderful day, for everyone to enjoy.

I cannot tell you how much I enjoyed reading wedding blogs and continue to do so now, but as well as these, I was also fortunate enough to have many friends who have recently married, or work in the industry or are just really bloomin clever and creative. You each know who you are and you’re all wonderful, thank you!

The first thing anyone will see from your wedding is their invite so I think it is really important to get these right, choose well and GET THEM OUT ON TIME!!!

We chose Julia Ward  and she created  this. We received so many compliments and were really happy with them.

Whilst I haboured a deep-seated aversion to the idea of a theme, colour scheme or anything remotely ‘matchy-matchy’ I did have an idea of the aesthetic we hoped to achieve. It came in two parts, the location and what everyone wore.

The location, the best and first decision we made was to choose the Lord Leycester Hospital, Warwick. It had several big ticks, an all-in-one venue, hundreds of years of history, (I’m a history fanatic) it has been a set location for Doctor Who (Jack is a Dr Who fanatic) oh and we live next door! For those that don’t know it, I thoroughly recommend a visit, it’s quite breath taking and perfectly preserved.

So, we had our medieval location but whilst we wanted to use the natural wood beams and rickety balcony, we definitely did not want it to become medieval themed, a la christmas party @ Warwick Castle!

When first discussing dream weddings, we had thought about picnics, a sort of ‘hampers and champers’ affair. We quickly sussed that that would only really work outside and with weather in this country being variable at the best of times, a weather dependant September wedding seemed overly optimistic to me (who knew it was going to be 28C on my birthday?!)

Anyway, that idea sort of blended into afternoon tea, minus the the tea (pots would be used for flowers instead!) and washed down with yet more bubbles and vino!

We decided very early on that you could not have a wedding in a timber, great hall, complete with Minstrel’s gallery and not have long tables, it just felt counter intuitive.

If you have an idea like this, keep pushing it as sometimes it might take people a while to see what you mean, and yes you may have to panic hire chairs the day before the wedding but it’ll be so worth it, trust me! (the chair thing actually happened, Jack’s reaction made me know he was the man for me!)

We hired vintage cake stands, tea pots, side plates and milk jugs along with bunting to create the village fete, Bilbo’s birthday party, inspired feast. I couldn’t recommend Amanda of Bonne Fete enough, she was so helpful and efficient from the first email to the lovely note we returned from honeymoon too, Thank you Amanda Xx

Aubrey Allen completely ‘got’ our idea right away and provided a savoury then sweet course, served on cake stands, to satisfy everyone’s tastes, and believe me no body went hungry, there was oodles! The staff were amazing and utterly faultless, went way above and beyond and the food was perfection.

I think my feelings on Underwood Wines are well known, but for those who missed my enthusing, they were great, before during and after the event – Liz was a true star, a wonderwoman of the service industry.

And the icing on the cake quite literally came from the talented Daisy Cupcakes, whose creations went down an absolute storm, so much so that Jack and I never got one! Alison, we will be visiting you soon!

So there we were in the Great Hall, and I can’t tell you how wonderful it was to sit at the head of a horse shoe shaped table with all of your guests around you, I really must extol the virtues of an intimate wedding!

I made the place settings myself, a sliced cork (again thanks to the ever helpful Todd of Underwood Wines) with a cream card, handwritten and studded with either a paper rose or leaf for decoration.

To be honest it really didn’t take that long and I enjoyed doing it. I used the same caligraphy pen through-out from the invites to the place settings, so there was some continuity.

We had a ‘normal’ guestbook, in the ladies, and a typewriter, to reference Jack’s journalistic career, before he became a PR dude!

I dried roses from all of the flowers Jack gave me during our engagement, to make the confetti, not only does this smell incredible but also I loved the idea of every single petal telling a story! I put the confetti in a basket which I decorated with more paper roses and ribbon. Using the same ribbon, accesories and pens throughout ties everything together really nicely I think.

For the youngsters I made gift bags with bubbles, disposable cameras and other treats in to keep them occupied, this also doubled as a thank you to the flower girls, who had a scarf and garland in theirs. I’m looking forward to seeing what pictures they took!

The table plan was admitedly a bit rustic, I also made that, but I think it was quite sweet in a way – and everyone sat in the right seat!

We decided not to do favours as we already had sooo many different suppliers and I was doing all of the planning and coordinating myself (madness) so frankly something had to give! I really would like a sweet table, I kept saying but just couldn’t spare any  more time or money! Imagine my delight when I first walked into the reception room (I snuck in after the service!) and saw one there!! My close friend Natalie, herself a professional wedding coordinator, had arranged a surprise sweet table and been there all morning setting it up, what a friend! I think you’ll agree it was AMAZING!

In the next blog you’ll hear just how inventive we were with sweeties, when the lights went down and the bubbles flowed freely! …..

See Part 4 at the weekend!

Standing on the balcony of the Lord Leycester hospital was nerve wracking to say the least, it’s a good job I had my dad to hold onto! The two flower girls were at the front, followed by Danielle and Chloe.

We were waiting for the Master of Ceremonies to give the nod, it felt like hours! Nero, the string quartet started and the door swung open…. here goes!

As I entered the oak beamed room, I couldn’t help but smile as I was greeted by all of the lovely faces of our nearest and dearest. The music, concerning hobbits, by Howard Shore, was perect, I felt like a Liv Tyler/Cate Blanchett hybrid

- In case no-one noticed, there was a bit of a Lord of the Rings influence running through the wedding!

Jack looked round and definitely looked happy, phew, my bride angst washed away in an instant. Seriously, I lost sleep over the dress, I loved it sure, but would Jack, would everyone else?? (is this just me or do all brides have this?)

The wonderful thing about having fewer than 50 people at your wedding is that you can see each and every one of them, as you enter the room. Their support and warmth made the journey to the front as easy as possible, along with dad’s steady arm of course.

A quick peck for me and a handshake for Jack and I was ‘given away’ … just like that!! We decided against the formal giving of me to Jack by my dad, it just didn’t feel right to me and the symbolic gesture felt a lot more special and meaningful than contractual words!

The ceremony itself went quite quickly, but every second was packed full of emotion and feeling. We were priviliged and thrilled to have the service conducted by Alison Goddard who has become a friend through #warwicktweetup and also provided the delicious and stunning wedding cakes, of which more later!

A reading by good friend Lucy and my brother Peter (I nearly cried at this point) really added to the personal feeling of the ceremony, thank you both for that gift.

We exchanged rings, thank you Dominic for your steady hand then, and then onto the formalities of signing the register, with Natalie and Dominic, I really enjoyed this bit as we got to take a second to digest what we had just done and whisper to each other!!

We were then gleefully declared as man and wife by a jubilant Alison, to the cheers and claps of our friends and family, we walked out to a strings arrangement of Viva la Vida, a choice I think which capture the mood perfectly.

Well dear reader, I married him!

Karen suggested we, with Pimms in hand, retired for a few reflective moments to ourselves, so we asscended the medieval turreted walls to look over the views of Warwick and beyond. Standing with my husband on that ancient wall I can hand on heart say I felt on top of the world, I thoroughly recommend taking five, post service.

When the fresh breeze got too much we returned to find the congregation in an archway to greet us with showers of our home-made rose petal confetti.

We gave ourselves lots of time to relax and enjoy the next couple of hours, there were delicious canapes by Aubrey Allen, washed down with Pimms, Champagne and elderflower cordial, provided by Underwood Wines. I think this would be a good point to mention the sterling work done by both of these suppliers, they seamlessly worked together to provide a relaxing and joyful environment, everyone loved the food and drink, including US!

The courtyard filled with the beautiful strings of Nero, playing a mixture of classic music and some cleverly arranged pop/rock classics. Stood in the stunning medieval courtyard, with the ageing timbers and colourful hanging baskets, I reflected on what a great venue it was and how perfect it was that it has been used for celebrations and occasions for hundreds of years, you could FEEL the love!

We also tripped off to the beautiful gardens, where Karen captured some fabulous images.

Just after 4pm and we were announced into the Great Hall for the celebrations to continue, in style….

In exciting news, the blog topped over 5,000 reads after yesterday’s post and we have also been featured on the wonderful blog of @MRSPandP which was an honour and a thrill. see the blog, and the website. For future brides, there are some great tips on this website.

See Part 3 tomorrow