Clare Teal: A jingle belle and a Hollywood icon add to a great week

Imagine then my thrill to discover the voice behind the immortal lines “hands that do dishes can be soft as your face”. was in the audience last Wednesday night. The fabulous Rosemary Squires sang with Ted Heath, Geraldo and John Dankworth. In America she worked with Sammy Davis Jnr and Danny Kaye. What a great lady, a delight to talk to who shared some stories about the big band days which I so wish I’d seen.

To be honest until that point I hadn’t thought the week could get any better. On Tuesday I was running errands in Bristol, rootling around on the floor looking for change for the parking meter when I got the call. “Are you working on Friday? Can you open for Liza Minnelli at Kenwood House?” I didn’t have to be asked twice!

Kenwood is a stunning venue, surrounded by beautiful parkland in the midst of Hampstead Heath. Every year the estate holds a series of picnic concerts, this year including Tom Jones and Liza Minnelli. I didn’t expect to meet her, but we did and she was just lovely. The show was wonderful and the audience agreed. Even the weather was impressed.

Still on cloud nine and following a long late journey back to Bath we were up early heading for that far-off land known as Anglesey. With no time to spare we drove to Liverpool and turned left. The venue was at the home of the Marquess of Anglesey, Plas Newydd, now looked after by the National Trust. Again for an outdoor gig we were blessed with beautiful weather as the sun set over the backdrop of the mountains, 1,500 people enjoyed their picnics before dancing till the early hours.

We decided to take the scenic route back via Caernarfon, through the Llanberis Pass and onto Betws-y-Coed. A lot of our family holidays were spent in North Wales and memories came flooding back. Croeso iGymru.