Pride for my mini Lion’s Pride

And so the alarm rings for another week and with the kettle boiling I reflect on the last one. A week with 130 children in the beautiful village of Taplow, creating a school production of the Lion King for St Nicolas primary school. The journey that each child took during the 6 days was just amazing, I was so proud of everyone and hoping that they have many memory to take forward with them to secondary school as I certainly have wonderful smiles and memories for myself.   I finished officially in the school last Thursday but was asked if I would stay for the final weeks assembly. The whole ethos of the school seems to be building confidence in each child and so most of the Friday assembly was acknowledging the successes  – from the Lion King to sports day, music and academia awards plus acts of kindness. The assembly was almost over when my name was called and so I sheepishly stepped forward from the back of the hall where I was sitting amongst the year 6 kids on benches (in fact my Lion King Principals) to the front. The headmaster shook my hand and announced that I had won the Headmaster’s award. How cool was that! I was really touched when the whole school started cheering. I may never have had the Headmaster’s award while I was a pupil but here at 46 I was presented with a sticker – WOW I had really made it!!! Silly I know but just lovely – thank you St Nicolas. Last week also saw me do two radio interviews one for Gulf Radio which will be aired on 20th & 23rd July talking about my career to date and presented by the lovely duo Pam & Philip.  The other was for MarlowFM. They were very relaxed – it was scheduled for 20 mins but lasted over an hour talking about so many topics – why I sing, The Lyric, Mum, Dad, my brothers, the highs and lows and so on. Thank you MarlowFM I really enjoyed my morning with you. Tuesday & Wednesday this week sadly are the final auditions for my mum’s trust which has run for the last 10 years. It is certainly with a heavy heart that we are shutting shop due to work commitments from all the trustees. The amazing talent that the trust has seen walk through it’s doors has been remarkable from violinists to conductors, cellists and singers, wind, brass, harp or musical theatre, the talent can been seen all over the world on and off the stage. From opera houses to West End, International orchestras to Jazz festivals. I am so proud of the little but significant help that The Elizabeth Evans trust has done to help propel a handful of stars. I really can’t thank the trustees enough for all your help over the years and without our secretary Hazel the trust would never have run as smoothly as it has. So this week 22 more will audition for this year’s panel and I’m sure once again we will be blown away with the talent that is around every corner. This article was originally published in the Carmarthen Journal in Mark’s weekly column for the paper.