Rare Rachel Volume 3

Yes we're at it again! Here are a few more Rachel photos you may not have seen before.



First are a couple of shots from Rachel's visit to the 'Rewards Theatre School' earlier this year, where she took part in an 'Oliver' workshop.



This next picture is rather special. It was sent to us by Team Tucker member Fiona, who wrote to Rachel during IDA. She received a handwritten letter plus this signed photo and is understandably a huge Rachel fan as a result. Thank you Fiona.



Now that Rachel's new Facebook Group is up and running, we decided to close the old one, but salvaged some priceless photos from it first.

These pictures of Rachel as a bridesmaid are beautiful, though next year's wedding photos will be even better. I'm sure Rachel is struggling to choose between Hello, OK Magazine and the blog for exclusive photo rights, but it's really not that much of a dilemma. I'm off to buy a new suit.




This one is from the production 'Group' which was performed at the Edinburgh Festival. I'm sure either Karen or Rachel can give us a year for this one. Needless to say Rachel is third from the left.

"Hi David, yes I can fill in a few gaps for you. The production was called "Group" a hilariously funny musical about a small group of people in group therapy, written and directed by our mutual friend Conor Mitchel. They had a rehearsed reading at the Group Theatre Belfast and then it was taken on to Edinburgh Festival. I believe the year was 2002. Rachel played a characher called Amy whose husband didn't have the right sperm count to have kids but blamed her for their infertility. A sweet, shy and naive kind of charachter, which proves Rachels versitility as an actress as I'm sure many of you would see her in stronger roles. Due to its success at Edinburgh the show was then re written (as most great musicals are) and renamed "Have a Nice life" and had a short run at the Pleasance Theatre London, I joined the original cast as Jean but unfortunately I missed out the chance to work with Rachel again as I believe she was training at The Royal Academy of Music at the time. Fortunately a few years later Rachel and I perfomed in a review for Mr Conor Mitchel which included music from his best work; where Rachel and I had the opportunity of singing the love song as a trio. I believe I have a rehearsal tape of this somewhere. If anyone is interested in hearing it?"



This rare stage shot features Rachel in 'Merry Christmas Betty Ford', performed in Belfast's Lyric Theatre in 2005. Team Tucker member Susie was lucky enough to see Rachel in this production and described her as being 'absolutely brilliant.' Rachel was nominated for best supporting performance for her portrayal of the rebellious character Kelly.



And finally a slightly trickier one. Can you spot Rachel in the 2005 cast of 'Tommy'?

Jessie / Sarah / Fran Blog News

Things may be quiet on our blog at the moment with Rachel deep in rehearsals, but at our sister blogs, it's all happening!

Over at Katie's blog for Jessie, there are some beautiful pictures and a fantastic review of Jessie's recent appearance at 'The Rose Of Tralee' festival. Committed Jessie fan Derrers made a phenomenal 900 mile round trip to see his idol perform on stage and his review is well worth reading. As of today (1st September) you can also view Jessie's entire performance on the blog!

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At Julie's blog for Sarah, there are some fantastic photos of the lucky Larkabouts getting to meet the lady herself, complete with teapot! Julie also has a personal review of Sarah performing in 'Mathilde'.

And just in case that isn't all exciting enough, Sara who runs Fran's blog is still buzzing after seeing Fran perform in 'Can't Smile Without You' in Bromley last night.
She has a full review on the blog right now, as well as some exclusive photos of Fran and Siobhan during rehearsals.

As always, links to all three blogs are on the right hand side of the page, and I'd personally recommend you check them all out if you can.

The Missions

As the poll/competition reaches the half way stage I thought it might be an idea to take a closer look at the missions on which we're voting.

Click on any of the mission titles to view the video.

EAST END MARKET

This was the first mission and all the girls got sent off to the East End to work in one of London's busiest Markets. Rachel didn't have much coverage in this particular mission but still came up with the most memorable moment when she was caught shouting "A pound of Plums to tickle your gums" when she was actually selling mangos LOL.

TERROR

Next up for the Nancy's was the terror mission where the first task was to hold a live rat. Rachel was scared to death and said she finds it hard to even look at these little creatures. Despite this she overcame her fears for which she deserves great credit because as you can see from the above picture she really was terrified.

They then had to put their acting skills to the test when they played out a small part from Oliver to try and impress DVO. Here is what she had to say about Rachel:

"Rachel Tucker blew me away. I thought she gave a brilliant performance. I just wonder whether she could produce that 8 times a week."

KISSING

Now I know one person who would vote for this mission as their favourite and that’s Ben James-Ellis because he had the enviable task of kissing Rachel. The Nancy's had to play out a love scene from the hit West End musical Hairspray and Ben was impressed with Rachel and commented on how well she got into character.

I was just impressed he could say anything coherent after being kissed by someone so beautiful.

STAGE PERFORMANCE

For this mission the Nancy's visited the Apollo Victoria Theatre and were asked to perform 'I'm Not That Girl' from the hit West End musical Wicked in front of a paying audience. Ironically the person judging this performance was Kerry Ellis who is currently cast in the role of Elphaba in the Broadway show but used to play Meat in 'We Will Rock You'. Here's what she had to say about Rachel:

"They all did really well, but I think that Rachel has a great face and really told the story of the song"

FITNESS

This mission involved a 6:00am wake up call and a trip to the river - Rachel said she was wide awake after seeing the men in lycra lol - where the Nancy's would eventually split into 2 teams and have a boat race but first they had to do some work in the gym. The instructors were full of praise for Rachel saying:

"On the rowing machine Rachel and Ashley really stood out" and "Rachel and Jessie did really well on the fitness and the others need to step up to where they are"

Then it was back to the river where they chose Rachel and Ashley as team captains. There was a great bit of banter between the 2 teams before they hit the water. It wasn't long before Team Tucker had built up a good lead and the instructors commented that it was Rachel and Jessie's power that was enabling them to pull away. Rachel showed the competitive edge you need in any walk of life and was continually encouraging her team-mates; so much in fact that the Cox had to point out that it was actually her job to shout the instructions lol. It didn't really matter as Team Tucker cruised to an easy win and the instructors finished by saying:

"Rachel and Ashley were the 2 best performers we saw today"

COCKNEY CHALLENGE

Mission 6 involved another trip to the East End but this time it was the Queen Victoria Pub and not the market. They were asked to convince the locals and Barbara Windsor that they could play a cockney with a scene from 'Things Ain't What They Used to Be' and then their acting was tested with a scene from 'Blood Brothers'. Rachel didn't feature too much but DVO did say:

"Rachel's a very strong actress, she never falters"

STUNTS

Next up was the stunt mission where the Nancy's put their stage fighting skills to the test. They had to throw a pretend punch and perform a roll. The stunt man said that he felt Rachel and Ashley were the most convincing and at the end John Barrowman picked his favourite:

"If I had to choose one girl I would say Rachel because she was strong and it was great"

COMEDY

In the penultimate challenge the girls were asked to locate Nancy's funny bone. They were being judged by the writer of a new West End comedy 'Life Coach' and its star Phil Jupitus. All the Nancy's had to get up on stage and tell a joke. I think this was one of the best missions as it included two of my favourite moments from the show; Niamh's "If all else fails pull up your skirt" comment and Rachel's Jaws joke.

After the jokes they had to perform a scene from 'Life Coach' with Phil Jupitus and it was no surprise that Rachel’s talent stood out again. Here's what Phil had to say:

"What Rachel did that the other girls didn't do was the confusion. She was certainly the most realistic"

HARDSHIP

For the final mission the girls were sent back in time to spend a night in an authentic Victorian home and stripped of the luxuries we take for granted today.

The following morning they had to speak Nancy's tragic love song 'As Long As He Needs Me' in front of Barry Humphries. He had been Rachel’s biggest critic on the show but he finally opened his eyes and saw her for the star she is:

"I saw something in Rachel that I'd never recognised until then; a commanding leading lady quality"

It might have taken you 9 weeks to spot the obvious but well done Barry you got there in the end.

WWRY Cast performing at London 2012 Olympic ceremony

Well as I'm sure you've noticed, we've had no news this week as Rachel is incredibly busy with rehearsals, but just as a little taster for opening night, here is the cast of WWRY performing 'We Will Rock You' and 'We Are The Champions' at last week's London 2012 Olympic Ceremony. Lead vocals are handled by Ricardo Afonso. Rachel isn't present of course, but we won't have long to wait! Thanks to Rosie for the link. Enjoy!

Knowing Me Knowing You

Our blog has been running for almost three months, yet bizarrely none of the three bloggers had actually met each other.

Until last Saturday that is, when I had the immense priviledge of seeing Karen live in concert and meeting her both before and after the performance!.

I went with my family for a long weekend to watch Karen in the Abba Legends Tribute Show in Killarney and we had a brilliant night.

You can read a full account and see some footage of the show by reading my personal blog here:

KAREN

On Your Marks, Get Set, VOTE!

Well the deadline for competition entries has now passed and am I pleased to say that 13 members of Team Tucker have given themselves a chance of winning that fantastic 'We Will Rock You' print that was signed and kissed by Rachel at the Gay Pride event in Belfast.

Just below the welcome message on the right of the blog you will see our new poll. As we said in our competition instructions we want you to vote for your favourite Nancy mission.

EVERYONE can vote; you don't have to have entered the competition or be a member of Team Tucker.

The poll ends at 8:00pm on Wednesday 3rd September and the competition result will be posted either later that night or sometime on Thursday 4th.

Good luck to all those taking part and may the best guesser win lol.

NOW GET VOTING!

Competition Reminder

Just a quick reminder that all competition entries must be in before 8:00pm Sunday 24th August. With such a fantastic prize on offer it has to be worth a guess because everyone has got an equal chance of getting it right. It's dead easy as all you need to do is tell us which missions will come 1st, 2nd & 3rd in our forthcoming poll and how many votes you think they'll get. Take a look at our original post for full details and get your guesses in before it's too late.

COMPETITION POST

As you can see from the picture above, time is running out. Although you'll have to ignore the 23rd June over the finish line; I couldn't find a pic for the 24th August lol.

Note: David's away for a few days so it might be best to send all entries to me (Andy) from now on.

So far we’ve received entries from the following people:

Jo Smeaton
Chris Johnson
Lauren Pitman
Rachel M
Naomi Potter
Catherine Harris
Hollie
Emily
Shaunie Dennis
Rachel Smith
Emma B
Helen M
Jessica (Jmor27)

If your name isn’t listed but you have sent us your guesses your email may have been swallowed up by our spam tray or David may not have informed me that he’d received your entry. If that’s the case please send them to me again at the email below and as soon as they’re received I will add your name to the above list.

ANDY
andrew@gasattack.wanadoo.co.uk

30 000 Hits!!!!

Thirty thousand hits ladies and gentlemen!

That averages out at 370 per day since we started on 1st June.

I'd love to think everyone just visits for my journalistic skills and Andy's technical prowess, but I have a sneaking suspicion that it's something to do with that Rachel girl.

Thank you to everyone who has visited the site, from our mysterious reader in Basildon who spends more time here than me or Andy, to our friends as far afield as Hong Kong, Indonesia and New Zealand!

We've come a long long way in such a short time -- and you know what -- we haven't even started yet!

September is set to be the big big Rachel month -- The Proms, Hyde Park and oh yes opening night!!!

The blog is going to go stratospheric!

Andy has been working his magic again -- I'm sure you'll have noticed that you're now welcomed to the blog by Rachel singing 'Cabaret' -- what could be better? You can also listen to 'Oh What A Night' on Team Tucker and 'About You Now' whilst browsing the gallery.

Not only that, but Team Tucker now has a chat feature too!

Rosie and I are currently addicted to 'Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around'. This beautiful song showcases Rachel's vocal in a very different way to the IDA performances and if you haven't heard it yet, check out the audio section at the bottom of the page.

Rare Rachel Volume 2

Here we go with some more lesser seen (and in a few cases never seen) shots of Rachel. I'm kicking off with a couple of shots from Rachel's superb Belfast Gay Pride performance. I took quite a few shots on the night which weren't useable due to speakers etc being in the way, but after a little doctoring in Photo Shop I managed to make these two rather more presentable.




This is a slightly bizarre one in that this photo literally dropped through my letterbox a few weeks ago. It was featured in my local free paper; the 'Lisburn Echo' and is a slightly different shot from the 'Macmillan Coffee Morning' series. Rachel was of course helping to promote the Macmillan Cancer Relief charity.



It's difficult to know what to say for the best about this next photo. First of all thanks to Jess who found this gem online entirely by accident and decided to share it with us. Pictured are Jim Rodgers, Belfast's Lord Mayor, with a life-size cardboard Rachel, and local theatre and TV personality Dan Gordon with his subtle use of signage. Dan kindly gave his permission for us to use the photo with the immortal line; 'knock yourself out.' When I first saw this photo I laughed till I cried. I'll let you add your own caption.



Almost as amusing is this next, totally mad photo courtesy of Conleth who played the scarecrow in 'The Wizard of Oz' alongside Rachel. Well two Rachels.



Next another vintage gem from Karen's collection. Not perhaps immediately obvious, but this shot is from a production of 'Cinderella' at The Millenium Forum, Derry in 2002 where Rachel played the comic role of Billy, twin brother of Jimmy and love interest for the Ugly sisters. What is pretty obvious though is that Rachel was born to be on stage.



This is a nice shot from the 'When the Josephs met the Nancys' feature. Daniel Boys must have had a tough time deciding who to hug for the photo. Well not that tough at all really. Good man Daniel!



And finally one of Andy's screencaps which needs no comment whatsoever.



PS I've just found out there are another two photos available from the 'Belfast Mayor' event. One of them includes Rachel's mum and dad and sister Margaret and is really nice. That one will definitely be featured at a later date.

Oh go on then -- here it is:



Remember if you have any pics of Rachel you'd like to see featured on the blog, just let us know.

Competition Time

Its competition time; with the winner receiving that fantastic 'We Will Rock You' print which has been signed and kissed by Rachel herself. I still can't believe David is giving it up.

Here is how it's going to work:

1) First of all it's only open to Team Tucker Members. However if you're not yet a member but want to take part it's not too late. Simply sign up to Team Tucker now by sending us your profile and you will be eligible for the competition.

2) On the 24th August we are going to post a new poll on the blog 'Which was your favourite Nancy mission?'. This poll will run for 10 days.

We want you to guess which mission will come first, second and third and the amount of votes each will get. For example:

1) Week 7 - Stunts (37 Votes)
2) Week 3 - Kissing (35 Votes)
3) Week 4 - Comedy (29 Votes)

To refresh your memory we now have all 9 Nancy missions available to watch on the Video Blog.

3) To win you have to have the top 3 in order. If more than one person gets that right the winner will be decided by who came closest to correctly guessing the votes.

If nobody gets all 3 correct then we keep the prize!

Only joking. In the unlikely event that nobody gets all 3 right the winner will be the person who correctly guesses the top 2 and is closest to predicting the votes for those missions.

4) All entries must be received before 8:00pm on Sunday 24th August 2008 as that is when the poll we be added to the blog.

Here is a list of the nine missions:

Week 1 - East End Market
Week 2 - Terror
Week 3 - Kissing
Week 4 - Stage Performance
Week 5 - Fitness
Week 6 - Cockney Challenge
Week 7 - Stunts
Week 8 - Comedy
Week 9 - Hardship

Please email your guesses to either Andy or David:

ANDY
andrew@gasattack.wanadoo.co.uk

DAVID
dlar193076@aol.com

GOOD LUCK!

New Facebook Group

We've started a new Facebook group for Rachel today.

Her previous groups are all IDA related and we felt that her current and future career deserves recognition on Facebook as well as the blog.

The administrators will be Karen, Andy and myself and the group will be run in parallel with the blog.

Karen of course originally set up Rachel's largest IDA Facebook group, which incredibly still has over 600 members.

Please join and show your support for Rachel as she embarks on the next exciting phase of her career.

Join here:

Rachel's Facebook Appreciation Group

Rachel's First Day at Work

As we confirmed back in early July Rachel will begin rehearsals with the new cast of 'We Will Rock You' on Monday 18th August.

Rachel said in her own blog update soon after how excited she was to get started so she will no doubt be delighted that the big day is now only a matter of hours away.

We would like to take this opportunity to wish Rachel the very best of luck from Andy, David, Karen and everyone here at Team Tucker.

WE KNOW YOU'RE GONNA KNOCK 'EM DEAD!

Bonjour Mes Amis!

Bonjour everyone -- yes I'm back from sunny France after a highly enjoyable seven days. As you might have noticed I wasn't entirely able to keep away from the blog, mainly thanks to a cosy little internet cafe where the proprietor was kind enough to supply me with an English keyboard and free coffee!

And of course I wasn't entirely able to leave IDA behind either. My daughter became friends with a little girl from the Isle of Man, and we went out with her family for a meal yesterday. Obviously I couldn't resist asking, and yes they do know Samantha -- the Isle of Man is a very small place.

The little girl said she'd met Sam at her friend's house, whereupon my daughter triumphantly informed her that she'd 'worked' with Rachel for months. That's my girl.

For anyone who's interested, I'll be writing a piece on my French experiences in the next few days on my own personal blog.
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I'm sure you'll agree that I speak for all Rachel's friends, family and fans when I say how incredibly proud we all are of her. She has come such a long way and worked so hard to be where she is now and she deserves every bit of success that comes her way. When Andy and I started this blog back on 1st June, we had complete unwavering faith in Rachel, but even we didn't dare hope that she would become a West End star in such a short time..

The WWRY rehearsals are nearly underway and it will be just five short weeks before we see our shining star on the West End stage.

We simply can't wait.
_____________________________________________________________________________________

Speaking of Andy, I just want to say what a fantastic job he has done this week.

Not one but two poll results, fantastic work on the gallery and video blogs, Rachel's Good Luck message and even time to kick up a little controversy on the 'No Smoke Without Fire' post!

I know my geographical position has given me a real edge in terms of Rachel exclusives, but it's Andy who is the true heartbeat of this blog. His tireless work has transformed our little site into something truly special.

Andy is directly responsible for setting up Team Tucker, the gallery and video Blogs, the polls, the audio section, the slideshow, even the little timer at the top of the page. In fact I'm not entirely sure what I do around here lol.

Suffice to say that the guy is an absolute gem.

The pictures accompanying this post are two of Andy's screencaps, one from the 'Cabaret' performance, the other from the 'I Will Always Love You' pre-performance footage. If you haven't done so already, check out the gallery -- there is some superb material over there.



Also for those of you lucky enough to be going to the big birthday bash in Hyde Park on September 14th, Rachel definitely WILL be there. Also definitely confirmed are Jessie and Jodie. We don't yet know what Rachel will be performing, but we'll keep you posted.

The event will be broadcast on BBC Radio 2, but not until October 10th for some unknown reason.

Any Rachel-related photos or audio / video footage that anyone can manage on the night will definitely be featured on the blog if offered. Andy will be there but we need your help as well! I know this event is set to be huge and getting anywhere near the stage will be a tough ask, so good luck everyone.

A Stroll For Jessie

We already knew that 99% of you agree with us that Rachel was head and shoulders above the other girls in IDA but in our latest poll we asked you who you may have voted for had Rachel not been taking part.

Here are the results:

WINNER - JESSIE


In a comfortable second was Sarah with early leader Niamh having to settle for third.



If you'd like to let us know who you voted please feel free to leave a comment. After much deliberation I finally voted for Niamh. I think I was swayed by my favourite sing off 'Another Suitcase in Another Hall'. Either that or I can't resist Northern Irish girls lol.

Gallery & Video Blog Update

I just wanted to let everyone know that I have finally completed uploading ALL the I'd Do Anything videos featuring Rachel to our video blog.

They include all her solo performances, the sing off's, group songs, Nancy missions, a montage and Jessie's tribute and pre live show footage; an amazing 48 videos in total.

There are links to each video on the right of the blog to make it easier to find the one you are looking for.

We are still deciding on the format for our forthcoming competition but one of the options on our short list involves the Nancy missions so it might be worth popping over to the video blog and refreshing your memory just in case.

VIDEO BLOG


I would love to be able to tell you that the gallery is also complete but there is still a bit of work to be done.

However all posts have now been updated with higher quality images thanks to the improved videos provided by Jess.

You will also see that each week has now been split into 3 categories, Pre Performance, Performance & Judging. You should check out the pre performance galleries in particular because there are some great shots that you might not have seen before.

This process is now complete for the following performances:

About You Now
Beautiful
Oh What A Night
The Way We Were
I'm With You
For Once In My Life
You've Got a Friend
I Will Always Love You

Cabaret will be added shortly and then I'll look to get some shots from the group songs and eventually the Nancy missions.

As with the videos there are links to each gallery post on the right of the blog to make it easier to find the one you are looking for.

Keep checking back for further updates.

GALLERY BLOG

Another Great Video From Jess

Jess has worked her magic again and created this excellent video showing I'd Do Anything footage of Rachel prior to when the live shows began.

To me this is priceless because I didn't watch the early stages and the first I really saw of Rachel was when she blew me away with her stunning performance of 'About You Now'.

This has actually been available on the video blog for a couple of weeks but both me and David thought it warranted a post on the main site.

As always we want to say a huge thank you to Jess because she has made such a mssive contribution to our blog that we consider her the 4th - 5th including Rachel - member of our team.

There's No Smoke Without Fire

I was just browsing the usual websites for any news on Rachel and came across this interesting article at 'UnrealityTV.co.uk'.


It seems that Cameron Mackintosh was so worried about Jodie Prengers acting skills that he has enrolled her for a crash acting course at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA).

Jodie won BBC talent search, I’d Do Anything in May, but rumours persisted that Mackintosh would rather have had Rachel Tucker for the role.

Jodie admitted to The Sun: “Singing live on Saturday night TV in front of millions of people was not nearly as scary as tackling Shakespeare at RADA.”

Last night, a source said: “Jodie is not a fully-trained actress and Cameron just wanted to make sure she’s up to scratch by the time rehearsals start in October.”


Personally I think it was pretty clear that Cameron would have liked Rachel to play Nancy. You can't blame him for wanting the best person for the role and I think everyone here would agree that person was Rachel.

Don't get me wrong, I think Jodie will do absolutely fine and I wish her every success. However I believe that Rachel would have been the best Nancy ever and I expect that Cameron will be praying that she might still want to take on the role sometime in the future.

Here is a link to the article:

Unreality TV Article Link

Time To Vote Again!

I hope you've got your breath back after that incredibe finish to our last poll and are ready to vote again because we have a new question we'd like you to answer.

Now most of us would no doubt have watched I'd Do Anything even if Rachel hadn't been taking part - heaven forbid - and may have even voted for another contestant; so we'd like to know who was your second favourite girl on the show?

As this is not really Rachel related this poll will run for just 5 days; so don't waste any time - Get Voting!

The Results Are In!

Well after over 100 votes - 109 to be precise - and a titanic battle, I can confirm that by the narrowest of margins, the winner of the gold medal for Rachel's best look during I'd Do Anything goes to 'Oh What a Night'.



It was an incredibly close race because 'Cabaret' - winner of the silver medal - finished just a single vote behind and was actually leading with less than a day to go; two very different looks but both fantastic in their own way.



In truth it was a two horse race but there was more excitement further down the field. The battle for third was just as hard fought and incredibly even a photo finish - get it lol - couldn't separate 'I'm With You' and 'The Way We Were' who both go home with a bronze medal.





Obviously Rachel always looks absolutely stunning and choosing a favourite from those 9 incredibly beautiful looks was always going to be difficult. I actually changed my vote 5 times over the last 10 days!

Here are the final standings in full:

(25) Oh What A Night
(24) Cabaret
(18) I'm With You
(18) The Way We Were
(10) I Will Always Love You
(04) About You Now
(04) You've Got A Friend
(03) For Once In My Life
(03) Beautiful

I'm sure you've noticed the Olympic references in my write up; I couldn't resist it after watching the opening ceremony yesterday. I think if Rachel were an athlete she would compete in the heptathlon because she is just fantastic at everything!

If you'd like to let us know which was your favourite look for Rachel please feel free to leave a comment. I think my vote finally went to 'I'm With You' but it was probably one of the toughest decisions I've ever made lol.

Laura is the Best!

OK everyone -- thanks for your lovely holiday messages -- I'm not quite away yet though.

I thought I'd done my last post before leaving for France, but our Laura has come up with some more great Pride photos and I just had to put them on.

The three really high quality ones were taken by Stuart (pictured) from the Stagetruck company -- a big thanks to him for letting us feature them.

Laura - you're the best!




I think that's about it for the Pride photos -- I hope you liked them and that we covered the performance as best we could.

Again a big thank you to Susie, Stuart and Laura for your invaluable contributions.

All in all it was an incredibly special event for all us Rachel fans and the lady herself had a real blast on stage.

Once again thank you Rachel -- you make a lot of people very happy.






Our next scheduled assignments are the Belfast Proms on 13th September -- hopefully covered by me and the Hyde Park event the very next day, which will be Andy's first big Rachel mission.

And it WILL be big -- rumour has it there may be 40000 attending -- good luck Andy!

Finally congratulations to TT member Emilia, who has now managed to read every single one of our blog posts right back to 1st June! Emilia is now studying for her Rachel University Degree.