What I've Done Since Monday

Well...
On Tuesday it was the opening night of 'Allo Allo' at the Customs House theatre in South Shields starring my lil' sister Bethan!
I am incredibly jealous of her, she is playing Helga and gets to wear a fantastic costume AND she has a finger waved wig! The green eyed monster may just come and get me (in joke for some of my friends there).
On Wednesday I officially became a student! Well, it's only a night course but hey, I still get the discount so who cares!

 

Me looking disgruntled at my ID card.

But lets rewind to the beginning of the day! *imagines time going backwards* Some lovely little postcards have arrived!

The first one I shall show you is this. On the front is a picture of, and I quote 'The waterfall, Ashton Gardens, St Annes-on-Sea'

 

 The back reads (and I was very pleased with myself for figuring this out)...

'Dear Mother, we are enjoying it here, everyday has been lovely. Will be back Fri Aft about 4-35 so I can go to P.G. Love Madge xxxx'. Isn't it cute?

It was sent to a Mrs Lawson, Bramley, Station Road, Banks, Southampton.

See

I can even tell you the time and date it was sent and where from!

It's because I'm magic you see.... and it's stamped on the postcard :/

Lytham Stannes Lancs.

6.30pm

6th September

1945.

Now the second postcard isn't so easy to decipher, the writing is very odd and I think it may be sent by someone who's first language is not English.

 

'The River and Cathedral, Inverness'

 Okay, I will try my hardest tell you all the content of this postcard but don't hold your breath.

'Dear .... thanks so much for Pavuk(?) M.... safety  J is a little built v .... .... the saw. Hope this finds Z all well. Ra dist love to all I w... Z... l... a...

J.R'

Good lord that doesn't make much sense does it? If any of you can decipher that better than me please do give it a go. I'd love to know what it actually says.

I also sadly cannot tell you where it was sent but I can tell you where from!

Inverness

2.45pm 

11th September

1945.

 Anyhoo, the morning of Wednesday was a particularly cold one which called for a nice warm outfit (I know what you're thinking, a small dress! But I am wearing leggings and socks too).

And a coat.

And that brings us nicely to Thursday!

When me and mother took ourselves along to the theatre to see 'Allo Allo'.

I wore my vintage greens which you've all seen before, I teamed it with a cute little Peter Pan collar top I got from George at Asda and a red bowler hat.

I shall post separately about 'Allo Allo' and give it a little review (which of course will be five star because my sister is in it haha).

A (vain) close up of the hat (of me)

Till next time, 

Laura Lou x

PP Arnold

By now you will all know how much I love 'oldies' music (I prefer to call it 'good' music) what with my Ronettes post and all.
Well Now I want to share with you another of my most loved artists from the 1960s.
PP Arnold.

Patricia Cole was born into a family of gospel singers, and so began her musical training at a very young age. An unfortunate marriage to David Arnold when she was only 15 brought a period of considerable hardship throughout her late teen years, but she persevered with her musical ambitions in the hopes that it would open the door to a better life.
(For full bio visit http://www.nndb.com/people/840/000043711/)


I first discovered her when I was around 9 years old and had bought my first 60s compilation CD which I believe I have already told you about.
Well, PP Arnold's song 'The First Cut is The Deepest' was the very last track on the disc and boy was it a treat. I used to listen to it over and over and imagine myself singing it in a typical black and white sixties mini dress and of course matching white boots.
When I got older I heard more and more of her music and understanding more of the world the words seamed to mean a lot more. I couldn't relate to any of them but you get the point (yeah?)

I was awed and amazed by this one song so much that it made me want to become a pop star just so I could sing it, but what child doesn't think that at one time or another?
So anyway, the point I am trying to make is that You don't really hear too much about singers like PP Arnold nower days. People only remember 'the greats' like Aretha Franklin and Dusty Springfield and beautiful singers with soulful voices like PP Arnold get forgotten about.

And lets not forget how utterly beautiful she was (is). her style wasn't typical, it had a relaxed feel to it.
Except for in picture like this of course!




It's hard to have a favourite song when it comes to PP Arnold because there are so many amazing songs like 'Though it Hurts Me',  'Angel of The Morning', 'A Different Drum' and her version of The Beatles 'Eleanor Rigby' but as it was the first I ever heard of hers I shall have to say that 'The First Cut is The Deepest' hold something a little more for me than the others and here it is for your enjoyment.

Till next time,
Laura Lou x

A Blast From The Past!

Oh my goodness, I have just found a little file of old photos from our my singing days hiding on my sisters laptop and I thought 'I can't not share them!'.
The back story is... About five years ago me and my sisters started up a little singing group called The Girls (original I know), we were quite successful in our local area and we did rather a lot of gigs.
We followed the example of the great girl groups of the past like The Supremes and The Crystal and dressed the same and sang classics as well as the modern clap trap of those days.
This particular set of photos was taken during a Ladies Christmas Lunch at the Vermont Hotel where my aunt was the manager at the time.
I think this was my favourite gig of all time purely because we sang old Christmas songs like ' Have yourself a merry little christmas' and ' Santa Baby'... it was so much fun!
We also did a dew charity gigs with a live band called Moonlight in Vermont singing things like 'Soul Man', 'Hold on I'm Coming' and 'Knock on Wood'.
*sighs wistfully* Those were the days.

 

Us 'getting ready' for a gig. This was clearly just for apearance sake. as you can see we were already fully dressed.

 With our aunt Teresa before the show. Funny story about her actually, she now looks nothing like this and works for David Guest :s

Pretending we hate each other when really we do haha only kidding (or am I?)

 

A quick costume change for the second half!

 I look like I'm singing sweet nothings to the tech guy but I don't even know him.

And that was just one of The Girls many (unpaid) gigs. I'll try and find some more old photos of us singing and if they are flattering enough I'll post them for you all.

A Bit Arty Farty

One thing I love to do is draw. I don't claim to be very good at it but I still love to do it and always have and once I even won £5 for one of my pictures (but I was only a little girl and looking back it really wasn't very good).
I haven't drawn in a long time but recently, after finding some spare time somewhere) I started again and here are a few of my best pictures for you to all look at (and no doubt think 'don't give up the day job!').
Enjoy.

 

 

 

 

A very short post I know but I haven't got round to the hats yet, so sorry.

Till next time,

Laura Lou x

Pin Curls and Small Hats

It arrived! My lovely little 1940s summer hat.

It's another eBay special. A bargain at only £2. But the sad thing is that it is quite a small hat and doesn't fit on my large head so sadly I can't actually wear it :( as you can see by this photo here.

I was placing this hat on top of my wardrobe with the rest of my hats and I suddenly thought... why not show you all of them? So I will soon be uploading a post all about my glorious hat collection (once I get round to actually snapping them all).

And on a slightly different note... I pin curled my hair yesterday and I must say it looked rather cute and funky in a Shirley Temple kind of way before it relaxed.

    

Till next time

Laura Lou x

Down at the Farm

Yesterday was one of those days where I think, 'I can't believe I get paid to do this!'
We went to the farm and as luck would have it, even though it was cold, it was gloriously sunny but as luck would also have it many of the animals were playing hide and seek so not many were seen. But as I have been to this farm probably around a hundred times as a wee girl I wasn't overtly put out.

 

I wore my blue bowler hat to keep my head warm, but sadly I had forgotten that it is merely a fashion accessories and  I was left feeling a little bit chilli.

 

The one and only horse we saw.

 

A goat that clearly thought rather a lot of himself.

 

There isn't much to say about this photo except... it's a chicken.

 

I think this pig is some sort of long lost relative of mine. Oi Ginger!

 

Jemima and her gals just having a lil' chin wag. Yes I am aware that Jemima was a duck and they are geese but I'm sure you can all over look that fact just as I did.

 Berries! I have this thing about taking photos of berries, just ignore me.

 

 

Me and Mama Brown chillin'.

And that was our visit to the farm! Hope you enjoyed it.

I have a cute little something arriving from eBay this week which I can't wait to show you all, look forward to it all.

Till next time,

Laura Lou x

Happy Birthday Dear

Two birthdays in as many days, this time it is the birthday of a much loved and much missed dear friend.
Lizzie Jobes.

 

Lizzie, who died last October, would have been 22 today.

Everyone who knew Lizzie would agree with me when I say that she was very much the life and soul of every situation and today (as everyday) she is greatly missed.

I ask you to spare a thought for her family today.

Lizzie, happy birthday!

Laura Lou x

Vintage Fashion on TV

Over the last year there have been quite a few brilliant period dramas set around the 1950s on British TV and the fashion is just stunning.
My current favourite programme on TV is Mrs Biggs, its based on the true story of the Mr and Mrs Biggs and the great train robbery.
It stars Sheridan Smith who is just such a wonderful actress and visually beautiful to look at.

The Styling in Mrs Biggs is great, it's perfect 50s and 60s fashion, I'm pretty envious of Sheridan Smith that she got to wear those outfits, I'm not going to lie.










Also on TV at the moment is The Bletchley Circle, a drama which is also set in the 1950s about a group of women who were involved in code breaking during the war.

Rachael Stirling, in my opinion, has the best styling in this. She is on the far right (cute green cloves)


  
I adore the trouser and cardie get up Rachel Stirling is sporting here and I so want one of those berets.
 
Then last year there was a little show called The Hour about a news programme in the 1950s. It starred two of my most loved British actors, Ben Whishaw and Romola Garai.

              
    
Till next time lovelies
Laura Lou x