On Monday evening the Mr and I donned our finest and made our way to BAFTA in the heart of London for a charity ‘do’ to raise funds for The Variety Club.

An evening spent in the company of Sir Roger Moore KBE and Monty Norman who was celebrating his 88th birthday. Monty Norman singer, composer and writer,  who amongst many other things wrote the James Bond theme tune.

Your probably thinking (like me) how the bloody hell did she get an invite! I’d be thinking the same …. Common little strumpet from Sheffield mixing with the higher-archy.

Ha ha I jest , Mikes lovely friends Penny and Alan Invited us . They both do a hell of a lot of work for Variety raising money to buy Sunshine Buses… And Penny thought I’d love to meet a real life James Bond.

Of bloody course I would!!

It was only confirmed late Thursday evening that we were going … which sent me into a mild panic attack, mixed with a boat load of excitement.

The dress code was glamourous. I did not possess anything in my wardrobe that remotely fitted the bill.

Bring on a mad few days of trying to find a suitable dress.

If you follow me on Twitter you may have been highly entertained ( or bored rigid) with my dress sagar over the weekend.

To everybody that advised as I posted photo, upon photo (upon bloody photo …yawn) … I thank you.

(In true BAFTA speech style ) I’d also like to quickly thank my 2 IG friends @the_spilt_milk and @chloelovestoshop who were full of helpful advice . And my flesh and bones friend Sue for being a bloody trooper on Sunday and sticking with me as I spent almost 4 hours on the hunt!

I think she probably wanted to throttle me.

I wanted to throttle me!

I was adamant I wasn’t wearing a long dress.

I was also adamant it had sleeves. I have a love / hate relationship with my ( rather large) cat tattoo. She has ugly feet. My friend Rach jokes that it needs a pair of nice high heels drawing on !

So  here’s what I ended up purchasing.

A long , sleeveless dress !

Here I am in the hotel just before we left . Wearing my beautiful new dress from Lipsy. The detail on it is lovely don’t you think?

What initially drew me too it was the big split up the front. It took my fear of wearing a long dress [yes I have a fear of long dresses] and threw it out of the window . It didn’t feel like a long dress; when you walked it showed your legs off a treat.

It also more or less showed your knickers [ or lack of ] off when you sat down … But that’s another story! Thank god for wraps.

It was of course the last dress I tried on.

I already had the perfect pair of shoes to wear with it  in the form of my spangly gold ones that I bought before Christmas. Next specials.

My bag and wrap were from Accessorise, bought with half an hour to go in St Pancras train station!

I wore my new choker from Cosmic Chic and my favourite ever earrings from Black and Sigi.

They are delicious aren’t they?

I’m so glad I had my fringe cut back in and choppy layers added .

My hair and makeup went ok for a change!

I loosely curled my hair, played my eyes up and the false tan [Fake Bake The Face] I had been applying gave me a hint of a glow.

I did however have ‘Mount Vesuvius’ threatening to erupt at any time on my chin but I resisted the urge to pick [it killed me] and kept applying the Sudacreme!

Above : On route in the taxi  … Yes we were running late!

I hate being late. The BF hasn’t been on time since I met him!

The Mr looked super sexy in his Tux . My very own James Bond [please resist the urge to be sick as I gush]

He likes to keep me on my toes however and a few hours before I could have killed him.

We were catching the 3.30 train. At 3.00pm he was in Debenhams buying his chuffing Tux!!!

Me … I was sat in the car counting the minutes down, cursing him while having a major anxiety attack.

We made the train with 3 minutes to spare!

Nothing phases him!

So for the night itself – it was fabulous.

The BAFTA building itself from the outside is unassuming.

Inside it’s quite beautiful.

After a brief (and very funny) welcome by Barry Cryer OBE we tucked into our starters.

Loch Duart Salmon Ballotine – with scorched cucumber, black olive soul, sift quail eggs and beetroot gazpacho dressing.

Followed by the main course Roast 30 day fillet of beef from Brechin with a potatoe and celeriac compression, baby vegetables and summer truffle jus.

The beef was perfect. It practically melted in my mouth. Without doubt the best I’ve ever tasted.

Apparently I was still talking / boring Mike about it on the way back to the Hotel !

Good beef does that to me.

Entertainment came in the form of Jay Raynor – award winning writer who now writes for and is food critic for the Observer – and his Jazz Quartet. His mum was the agony aunt Claire Raynor

He played piano and his wife sang. Amazing voice. Amazing performance. I just love jazz.

Sir Roger Moore KBE took to the stage . He’s 87 and looking good on it. He said a few words , and was actually very funny and charming.

Just what you’d expect… he is after all a former James Bond!

He was joined on stage by Monty Norman, who said a few words and then performed for us.

He can still sing at 88 and was extremely entertaining.

We had pudding …

I’m sorry but come on that looks like a chocolate willy don’t you think !

It made me giggle . Tiny minds and all that.

It was infact Valrhona chocolate and hazelnut mousse, white chocolate cheese, chocolate sand and a chocolate and coconut bounty bar.

Delicious.

The Variety Club supports and raises funds for the Children’s Charity , which helps children and young people throughout the UK who are sick, disabled or disadvantaged to live better lives.

The night ended with an auction hosted by Hilary Kay ( Antiques Roadshow) There were some fabulous lots ,and over £20,000 was raised.

Read more about the Variety Club HERE

The evening came to an end  quite fittingly with the James Bond theme performed by Joe Thompson -pianist and musical director of The Ivy, London.

We said our goodbyes and made our way back to our hotel in Kensington.

But not before I had my photo taken on the stairs with the famous BAFTA mask.

We honestly had a blast and it definitely made a change to our usual nights out.

It was so nice to get ‘dolled up’ and meet new people with totally different backgrounds to ours, plus a few celebs.

I could get used to it…

I just need to perfect my air kisses and get a nice pair of stilettos for my cat.

Until next time, Tracey x

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