Sunday 3rd August - Last night of the Proms –finale of Lytham Proms festival weekend Everyone who knows me well will know that I am a massive fan of singer, actor and West End mega star, Michael Ball. As soon as the tickets went on sale for Lytham proms I booked as I knew that Michael was one of the stars performing on the Sunday night. So tiCkets booked, I just had to wait until August 3rd. Fast forward to April and Jason Manford visited Stephen in hospital. We were all sitting around Stephen’s bed chatting and then somehow the conversation got on to favourite celebrities, and of course mine was Michael Ball. I’d forgotten that Jason had starred alongside him in Sweeney Todd which I’d been to see twice, although not when Jason was playing the part of Pirelli (sorry Jason!!) What I didn’t know was that while we were chatting Jason had messaged Michael without me seeing, and the next thing I knew I was chatting to Michael Ball. How excited was I, Stephen was laughing and referred to me “as a 13 year old meeting Harry Styles” which was probably a pretty accurate description. Anyway after chatting for a while Michael said that I could go backstage at Lytham for a hug, wow! Fast forward again to last Sunday and true to his word my mom and I went backstage for a big hug (and I got a kiss); we chatted again before the show, and I gave him one of Stephen’s wristbands. I was thrilled and couldn’t quite believe I had actually met Michael Ball. We were then shown to the VIP area to watch the show which was a lovely surprise. What a fabulous show it was and what an amazing setting. There was one brief break when the show was affected by gusts of wind and rain and that was only because The Halle Orchestra needed to protect the millions of pounds of instruments on the stage. The crowd carried on though, singing and dancing and not taking any notice of the weather; it was an incredibly joyous atmosphere. For me it automatically brought to mind the quote used in many motivational speeches “life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass, it’s about learning to dance in the rain” and that was literally what was happening.The photo below with the couple dancing in the background perfectly captures the moment. After this short break Michael Ball was back on stage and he dedicated ‘Love Changes Everything’ to Stephen and me. He spoke of how inspirational Stephen had been and what’s more he was wearing the yellow wristband that I had given to him earlier. There was an enormous cheer from the 6000 strong audience; it was such an emotional but uplifting moment for my mom and me and for everyone in the crowds. It was such a personal tribute that meant the world to us . (you can see it on Youtube https://youtube/watch?v=A_XqdrJvMLQ ) So a huge thank you to two genuine and thoughtful gentlemen, Michael Ball and Jason Manford,for such a memorable evening xx
Posted on: Sun, 10 Aug 2014 21:39:01 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015