Verve at The Fitz

Calum next to his poster at The Fitzwilliam Museum

Last night we all went to the Verve event at The Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge.

It was a special arts event organised for young people by young people - and it was a great success.

Calum was on the organising committee and also designed the poster. He put in a lot of hard work and I was really proud of the way he dealt with everything so professionally. Seeing his finished poster on display outside the museum gave me - and him - a real buzz.

Verve featured live music by some exciting new bands, a screen printing workshop, a presentation on 21st century illustration, a tour of the Picasso exhibition, a performance by a dynamic young female poet and, best of all, a talk by fashion designer Gareth Roberts who designs the Red label for Vivienne Westwood.

With a new event it's always difficult to know how it will go but it turned out brilliantly.

Yes, it would have been nice if there had been more people there but the ones who came had a great time and there was lots of positive feedback.

Joe and I acted as helpers for the evening, sporting our cool Verve t-shirts. We welcomed people as they arrived and pointed them in the right direction.

Lola took part in the event with her friends Rosie and Nusa and they all seemed to enjoy it - especially the fashion design talk.

I went to the talk on 21st century illustration which was given by two lecturers from The Cambridge Art School at Anglia Ruskin University and found it fascinating - so did Calum who set up their powerpoint presentations for them.

By the end of the evening we were all exhausted but felt that we'd been part of something really special.

And that doesn't happen every day.

I really hope they repeat it next year.

Dad's Roses

My Dad always loved roses.

They were his favourite flowers.

When I was growing up, we always had roses in our garden.

My childhood was premeated by their heady scent.

Red was his favourite colour.

It is also mine, next to purple.

At his funeral we put red roses on his coffin.

It seemed fitting.

And they looked beautiful.

A flash of bright colour against the grey dreariness of the day - and our sorrow.

He died 21 years ago today.

It seems like yesterday.

We had a red rose bush planted at the crematorium after he died.

But they only keep them for ten years so they're not there now.

I don't mind that the roses have gone.

I only ever saw them in bloom in the summer.

I only went a few times, on his birthday.

In January, they were simply stalks with harsh spikes.

Quite appropriate for how I felt, still feel, on those annual pilgrimages to look at the Book of Remembrance.

The chapel was empty today so I was able to be alone with my thoughts.

And my tears.

Loved and remembered always, it says in the book.

Loved and remembered always, it says in my heart.

And in the red roses I left behind.