​I am very excited to have been asked back for The York Proms 2023 after my performance there four years ago. This year’s prom will be at York Museum Gardens on Sunday 18th June at 7:30pm.

I will be duetting with Tom Smith, an incredible tenor from Opera North who has performed solo roles at Glyndebourne and at all major U.K. opera houses.
Alongside some new pieces, will be reviving the ‘Tonight’ duet that I performed at the proms in 2019 and was an audience favourite. You can watch a clip from that performance here.

The theme for this year is Musical Theatre, and I am delighted to be able to channel my inner Julie Andrews to some of my favourite songs at the event ranging from Bernstein to Rogers & Hammerstein. Of course, the finalé will be the traditional Last Night of the Proms patriotic classics that the crowd can sing and wave flags along with. Plus there will be an incredible fireworks display to close the even with a bang (pun intended).

It promises to be a wonderful evening. There are only limited tickets still remaining, so book now to avoid disappointment.

https://www.yorkproms.com/

In May this year, the Opera in Montpellier, South France invited the chorus of Opera Vlaanderen to join them in performing Verdi’s Requiem. I honestly had the best time. We travelled there for a whole week and the sun decided to come out for us.
It was very good for me to get the opportunity to practice my French. I studied French for only 2 years at school, and it wasn’t taught particularly well, so I don’t feel confident forming my own sentences. But as the week went on, my confidence was growing, and I began to say more, and I was also able to understand more too. I also decided to take the opportunity to take in some French cuisine. I visited a Fromagerie and bought some incredible cheeses that I ate for lunch daily with fresh baguettes. When in France, right?


The concert itself was a great success. To my eye, the 2000 seater auditorium “Le Corum” looked completely sold out, and the rapturous applause after was very heart warming. They certainly like to cheer in the Mediterranean. Best of all, my new French colleagues expressed how much they had enjoyed working and singing with us, and the chorus master said that she would very much like to collaborate with us again. I really love touring, it really is one of my favourite parts of my job. I hope that we will get more opportunities to travel and sing again soon.

I did it! This has been the most intense marathon training plan so far. 


What an adventure it has been. I did it. After what felt like a never ending training block of 17 weeks. This time I upped training to 5 runs per week, and I even did 300km in the month of January alone. I am in the best shape of my life physically. A month ago I totally smashed my half marathon pb, and was looking good for setting a new marathon pb in London. BUT - I did an extra training run that wasn't on my plan that involved going down some irregular steps on a big hill and injured my hip with only 10 days to go. I saw a physio, rested, did walking recovery, took all the supplements I have in my cupboard. But I knew when I got to the start line (after driving through the night after a concert in Belgium on the Saturday night - which was exhausting in itself) that I wasn't fully recovered.
The race started really well. I was excited. Probably too excited, and wasted a bit of energy soaking up the atmosphere and high-fiving children on my way round. I stuck with the sub 3:40:00 pacer well for the first half - though it was hard to do that when trying to get around the crowds and slower runners. I had to do quite a bit of weaving just to stick with him.
My hip started talking to me after about 10km. By half way at 21km I was in pain. At 30km I hit the wall and it was sheer stubbornness and determination that kept me going to the end. By the finish I was in agony in my hip. When I stopped running it completely seized up and I could barely even walk.
Still, I am pleased to have done it in 03:52:14. Bitter sweet, because I can just imagine what might have been possible had I been in top shape. Going to have to go for my good for age qualifying time at another event.
Photos show the total contrast of me near the start compared to right at the end.
A massive shout out to everyone at Burnham Joggers , Antwerp Athletics, and Antwerp Running Crew for training with me. To my family for travelling with the babies to come and cheer me on on race day, and of course to Tom Kingsbury for being my running mentor and emotional support throughout.
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