Sitting
round my pool today is a lady that not only makes me smile, but writes thought
proving amusing Blog posts. Her Blog is
titled, Just Me, Nobody Special.
This could not be further from reality, so please grab yourself a glass of
chilled bubbly, take a lounger next to my pool and settle down to welcome my
lovely guest, AnneMarie Groves.
Whilst
I know you suffer from a muscle wasting condition, Muscular Dystrophy, which
confines you to your home these days you have lived a very interesting life.
Sailing and working on Tall ships, when not sailing through the seven seas,
you’ve been gallivanting around the globe to rock concerts, in particular
following and promoting, Stephen Gibb.
Please tell us about
your time on the Tall ships and what made you work on these rolling beauties?
Actually
they're holidays, Lord Nelson and Tenacious are designed and built to take able
and disabled people. You sign on to the "Ship's Articles" as crew,
but you've paid to go. You are a member of one of the four watches that 'crew'
the ship. That might be setting sails, bracing yards, on watch, at helm or
cleaning, taking down the shipping forecast or meterological observations,
light maintenance, instructional talks, preparing the crew food etc. I was only
going to do this once, so signed on to a biggee Southampton to Gran Canaria
4-weeks. It was the most terrifying,
exhilarating, baffling, encompassing, exhausting yet enlivening experience
ever. So I did it another three times, lol. The second voyage, Southampton to
Kings Lynn got a little hairy when I nearly went overboard strapped into an
adapted dentist chair in the English Channel. My final voyage from Bermuda via
Grand Bahama to Miami Florida put us firmly in the Bermuda Triangle, but other
than reminding the US Navy in the wee hours that power gives way to sail, it
was an uneventful trip.
I've
been thrown together with strangers from all over the globe into this unique
world, a mixed range of conditions, ages, backgrounds and abilities. We've
exchanged life anecdotes and shared much laughter. There are no differences, no
one is left out, it is the purest form of all inclusive team work. I kept very
detailed diaries of my voyages as a special person once told me, make a note of
good memories because you'll be a long time revisiting them.
What is special about
Stephen Gibb that you have become quite involved in
promoting him?
It
began with a bit of a jest. A friend outside his Dad's studio asked how much to
get his (Stephen's) autograph and he replied "A fiver", so my closest
friend and I (already fans of his music) sent a five pound note with a photo
and he sent back the signed photos and the five pound note. I should explain
that Stephen's Dad is Barry Gibb of the Bee Gees. This was in the early 00's
and the Bee Gee fans were all squeaky gushy about 'little Stevie', which makes
me cringe. Here was this almost twenty year old beefy, tattooed, charismatic
heavy metal guitarist with skills and reputation of his own being referred to
like some cutesy toddler. We set up a home page and began to properly research
the music he had worked on and it was substantial. That quickly grew into the dedicated site
there is today, and it still (I hope) accurately records his work and
recordings. He's had the opportunity to be with some amazing people, not
because he is a son of, but because he is a very talented, focused, intelligent
gentleman.
In
2003 I met him at the studio just a few weeks after his Uncle Maurice had died.
Shortly after that he joined a band called Crowbar and they gigged in Berlin,
so my BFF and I hopped a flight and surprised him. He took us back stage and
told everyone we ran this website about him and joked we were his cyber
stalkers. We've kept in touch. In 2016 I
took my Sister to be in the audience of The One Show to see him support his Dad
on the promo tour of the album they had written together "In The
Now", we had a fantastic chat after while his Dad met the other select
audience members.
You once worked for a
Baron, what was this about?
My
parents owned a business at the edge of the Baronial estate, so the family and
estate workers were customers. I went to primary school with two of his
daughters. Our paths frequently crossed at various village events, piano
recitals, parties, etc. Part of the estate was a tourist attraction, a country
park with golf, boating, fishing, heavy horses, falconry, open grounds, gardens
and woodland, as well as holiday cottages and event theme days. I was employed
as the managers secretary, which really was a very loose title, over the years
I did all the admin and accounts, as well as wrangled ducklings out the shop,
babysit a poorly hedgehog, dress as a belly dancer for camel racing day, answer
endless questions on a whole gamut of subjects. Also report to Lord Somerleyton
(the third Baron) and deal with his queries, during this time he was also
Master Of The Horse to Her Majesty The Queen, as well as an equerry, so was
often away. Working in a family business is very different, and my family and I
were so well known by the family they'd often bypass the manager to speak to
me. I have many happy memories of days there, as well as conversations with His
Lordship that ended 'but you don't need to know that'. It is not straightforward care taking an
historic place, it's supposed to be self sustaining, yet modernising in a
fashion that keeps it as it's always been, it's presumed there is cash to spare
but repairing Victorian chimneys or rehogging a three mile track are not things
B&Q can do. There is an obligation
to keep everything, from Georgian wall hangings to Victorian furniture, you don't
have the freedoms to throw away. It has an aura of a privileged life but it is
far more regimented with added expectation than you'd imagine, constantly being
scrutinised and remarked upon, plus watched by the press.
You live in a rural
part of the UK, tell us a little about the area and what makes it special?
Rural
is the word. Our family business was on a t-junction, each direction was 7+
miles to the nearest town, no regular bus service, it was a little bit frozen
in time. I was the only child, I think the next youngster was at least 8 years
older than me, there were a couple in the next village my age but that was a
mile away. It was isolating in a sense
that school friends were miles away, there was no hanging out in town, no
cinema trips or bowling, no eating out or sleepovers. It was a simplistic,
innocent environment, I played outdoors in woodland, or read books, did my
piano practice (reluctantly) for the exams, I was in the church choir, we
rehearsed at my house because I had a piano and the choir mistress was my piano
teacher. Everyone knew everyone, so within the villages it could be
suffocating. One time one of the new managers at the country park stormed into
the office remarking "Can't I go anywhere in this village without someone
knowing you!", lol, nope, that's villages for you. The village is on the river, and has an
ancient priory, I remember going there to see the sows and piglets and
scratching their backs, it's a prestigious restaurant venue now. There is a sense of space and calm there,
it's not bustling and noisy like urban areas, where I live now.
You have also created
some beautiful and eye catching cross stitch pictures, was this your way of
relaxing?
These days you keep
your Blog up to date with your wonderfully witty and engaging posts, how do you
come up with ideas to write about?
Just Me, Nobody Special
The mental meandering that cross my keyboard
I've
always got ideas, usually themes, sometimes I wish I could just download my
thoughts, be a lot easier, lol. It all
depends on whether I can come up with more than two sentences in my head, often
it pops in at stupid o' clock as I'm trying to get to sleep. If my mind keeps wandering back to it, then I
tend to draft a blog post, think of a catchy title and find a picture. I so do not want it to become a whinging moan
fest, which it could with my present mindset.
Social
media is a mine field! It can quickly become negative, angry, attacking and
intimidating. I've had such interactions
with music fans especially with my work for Stephen, I've been called all
sorts, been threatened with all sorts, had people try and befriend me for
ulterior purposes and I've met some genuinely respectful, intelligent people (I
even got on a flight to Houston to meet a lovely lady). So I try and make my
posts non-personal, avoiding controversial issues, keeping to the subject. Sometimes blogging feels rather like that
tree in the woods, if there's no one to hear it falling does it make a sound,
if there's no one to read it does it make any impact. My blog is more like a
fly poster, maybe some day some one might notice it, so I'll stick it up here.
I'd
like to think my few, so few, readers go "Ohh yeah, never thought
that" or just have a chuckle or a smile at a turn of phrase. Something that counterbalances the stress and
pressure of modern technological fast paced lives. Mind you, I am a stubborn Aeries, so with the
blog, like the website, I'm too invested in it to be able to walk away.
Thank you AnneMarie
for coming on down, lolling on my loungers and drinking me out of bubbly whilst
talking about yourself, I admit to having loved every minute and I am still
laughing… honestly! Though I still
argue, you’ve got the title wrong on your Blog!
Haha,
no it's not. I'm just me, getting by, almost managing. Thank you for letting me
ramble on and slurp these delicious bubbles. Now where is the cabana boy, I
think I'll take a cooling dip, if I may?
You
can visit AnneMaire’s wonderful Blog by clicking Here.
(P.S.
You don't have to register to read or comment *hint-hint* nor do you get
bombarded with emails, ta muchly AM).
A HUGE thank you for stopping by and please come back again very soon to see what is happening here next!
Have a fabulous day and I hope the sun is shining on your face and in your heart.
Hugs
Pauline
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