With royal wedding fever about to hit an all time high, the tat is coming out in force. Have a look at some of the newest additions. Lakeland Swirly Cupcake stand £10.99
Peacocks Kate Middleton inspired jewellery £4.50 each
B&Q Wedding gnomes £12.98 each or £20 for the pair
B&Q Union Jack Doormat £5.98
Andrea Fulerton Nail Boutique Rose and Crown tattoos £1.99
Waitrose wedding shoe shaped gingerbread biscuits £18 for 12
National Express brings in extra staff to cope as half price Royal Wedding coach tickets go on sale.
Coach operator National Express is preparing for a huge surge in bookings of coach tickets to London following the announcement that Prince William and Kate Middleton are to marry on 29 April 2011, and are already booking out extra vehicles to meet demand.
The company is slashing 50% off the price of its advance tickets travelling to London from anywhere in the UK for travel between 27 April and 1 May 2011 and bookings are now being taken. National Express has already had hundreds of enquiries since the wedding date was announced, from travellers wanting to book tickets to get to London to enjoy the atmosphere and excitement of the royal wedding. They have had enquiries from as far a field as Mexico and has brought in extra staff to man phones and process ticket sales.
The move will be the biggest peak time fare reduction ever offered by National Express and MD Andrew Cleaves predicts it will be the company’s busiest ever period. Andrew comments: “For Charles and Diana’s wedding in 1981 we transported over 8,000 people to the capital for the occasion but we expect to far exceed those numbers this time. The Easter Holiday is one of our busiest times of the year anyway and with the extra Bank Holiday more people than ever will making the most of the break.
“We have never cut our prices by this much before for a major event but it is such a significant national celebration, we want to help as many people get there as we can. We recently transported over 50,000 from around the country to Birmingham for the Pope’s recent visit and we expect this will be the next busiest event in the country.”
National Express experience an average 100% increase in coach ticket sales to London for major Royal events and sales can be up to 300% higher than average from key royal fan base locations such as Cheltenham and Cornwall.
While Kate will be arriving at the Abbey in her own royal coach, National Express coaches also cover a number of ‘regal’ locations around the UK including Royal Leamington Spa, Caernarfon, Queens Parade in Bloxwich, Princes Rd bus station in Wells, Kings Head in Chacewater and Royal Well Bus Station in Cheltenham.
The coaches carrying visitors to London for the festivities will arrive at Victoria coach station, which is on the royal wedding route and just a short walk to Buckingham Palace and Westminster Abbey.
National Express (and its former companies) has been carrying people right into the heart of London by coach to enable them to celebrate every single Royal event that has taken place over the past 80 years including the Coronation, the Abdication, the Silver Jubilee, all the Royal Weddings, Trooping the Colour, Royal birthdays and Royal funerals.
National Express provide Britain’s only scheduled national coach network, serving more than 1,000 destinations with 19 million passenger journeys each year across the UK. National Express provide Britain’s only scheduled national coach network, serving more than 1,000 destinations with 18 million passenger journeys each year across the UK.
The discount is available in all National Express ticket outlets – at the National Express call centre (+44 (0) 8717 81 81 78) nationalexpress.com, over the counter at all National Express coach stations and nearly 1000 other ticket agents across the UK.
News of a certain engagement today will get many thinking of their own special day and Amazing Retreats can offer a venue to make you feel like royalty! From a Scottish Castle, which has played host to many a celebrity bash, to country manor houses and even a fort in the Solent, Amazing Retreats has secluded wedding venues aplenty!
Ackergill Tower, Amazing Retreats’ flagship property, is a perfect location for a romantic wedding, overlooking clear blue sea, atop a secluded white sandy beach, combining the very best service with a stunning backdrop. The castle has played host to celebrity weddings and can offer seclusion and privacy, away from prying eyes!
With 27 individually styled bedrooms, Ackergill Tower can welcome up to 52 guests who can stay in discreet luxury, enjoying all that this unique venue offers in complete privacy. It is also easy to reach, being just five minutes from Wick Airport, which benefits from the services of two airlines, or a two hour drive through stunning countryside from Inverness, the highland capital.
Ackergill Tower from the airwedding outside Ackergillbride and bridesmaid on lawn
Helen McKenzie Smith General Manager for Ackergill Tower says: “Ackergill would be a stunning venue for the latest royal wedding, and they would be in good company! Newlyweds who have been fortunate enough to be married here leave with lingering memories of a dream wedding come true. We also work with some of the best in the business, including Stephen Seedhouse, who provided the stunning floral creations for Madonna’s wedding and when in London was florist to Princess Diana. With our experience and connections, we can help organise a stunning wedding in just over six weeks!”
If a castle isn’t to your taste then Amazing Retreats’ extensive portfolio offers smaller, intimate and unique venues to enjoy wedding receptions.
Spitbank Fort, The Solent
One mile out to sea from Portsmouth harbour, Spitbank Fort can host a party of up to 60, with 10 bedrooms for overnight stays. The Fort offers Sun decks, hot tub, gym, museum, lighthouse suite, pump house with fresh water pumped from 400 feet below the sea bed. Currently undergoing refurbishment, Spitbank will be available from August 2011, why not be one of the first to experience nautical nuptials in the Solent?
Plas Cilybebyll in South Wales
Sleeps 18 in the main house and 4 in the separate Bakehouse. Plas Cilybebyll comes complete with a luxurious indoor swimming pool, three acres of grounds and a hard tennis court.
The Mill, Bedfordshire
Sleeps 18 in 9 bedrooms in contemporary luxury. With a fully-stocked recreation room, underfloor heating, surround sound and set in six acres of riverside.
Morley Hall, Norfolk
Sleeps 10 in 5 bedrooms. A three storey Elizabethan moated house on its own garden island.
Beaucastle, Worcestershire
Sleeps 14 in 7 bedrooms. A fairy tale Arts & Crafts castle with views from the Tower across Worcestershire. Set in 12 acres of gardens with views of the Worcestershire countryside.
By Catherine Balavage
The search is on to find a leading man to play Sinbad in a contemporary re-imagining of the 8th Century legend for Sky 1 and BBC Worldwide.
The new Sinbad will be treading the line between Hero and Villain. On the run from his home town of Basra and under a curse for a killing that led to the death of his much-loved brother, the streetwise Sinbad finds himself cast out to sea. Surviving a violent and magical storm, both Sinbad and his intriguing fellow ship-mates are forced to band together to face their inner demons, hopes, loves and fears. Our flawed hero embarks on an epic and emotional quest to rid himself of the curse and embrace his destiny. “When mystical meets muscle anything can happen…”
Produced by Impossible Pictures (who also produced ITV’s Primeval), Sinbad is part of Sky1’s multi-million pound HD drama investment fund.
Elaine Pyke (Head of Drama, Sky 1) commented: “Our SINBAD is 21, reckless, utterly charming and cursed. Mysticism, magic, monsters and high octane action adventure, this SINBAD is always exciting and sometimes challenging. This unique series will have the ambition of LOST, the pace of 24 and take the viewer to visually stunning locations on both sea and land. Sky’s SINBAD will be a multi-layered series for today’s prime time audience.”
Sophie Gardiner (Exec Producer, Impossible Pictures) added: “This is a hugely ambitious project and we’re thrilled to partner with Sky to reinvigorate this much loved action hero. We’re confident that SINBAD will confound audience’s expectations and create a big, noisy series for Sky 1.”
Shooting is expected to start in February 2011 in Malta and Sinbad is scheduled for premiere on Sky 1 HD in Winter 2011.
Stuart Murphy also unveiled a whole host of new commissions and acquisitions including:
Dogumentary, A brand new observational documentary from the makers of Pinapple Dance Studios (Pulse Films) centres on the world of dog grooming salons, doggy day care centres and vets’ clinics where cameras will follow the people who work at them, as well as their clients. But in Dogumentary the stars of the show are the pampered pooches themselves, and these are no ordinary canines – they can actually talk. In surreal moments, the mutts talk to each other in funny and off-the-wall exchanges about their lives, loves and observations on the world.
Ross Kemp Extreme World. The BAFTA®-winning documentary team (Tiger Aspect) return as Ross Kemp reports from some of the most dangerous places on Earth. Over five hard-hitting episodes, Ross travels to Mexico, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Pakistan and Chicago to learn how international organised crime, terrorists and local criminal networks have created alliances that are destroying millions of lives. Plus, in a UK-based episode, he reveals the grim truth about people trafficking in Britain.
Prince William and The Tusk Trust Project (Working Title). In an exclusive 1hr long documentary by Spun Gold, presented by conservationist and adventurer Ben Fogle, Sky 1 HD gains unprecedented access to Prince William’s first official visit to Africa as he travels to Botswana, the home of wildlife conservation charity Tusk Trust. Marking the charity’s 20th anniversary, royal patron Prince William talks about his love of Africa, his passion for conservation and staying grounded, before challenging Ben to run a fund-raising marathon in Kenya.
Also announced are aquisitions from the US including: Raising Hope from the makers of My Name Is Earl. The Middle, from Warner Bros International about an ordinary family struggling to survive life – and each other – in Middle America. Ride-Along, A gritty new police drama from The Shield creator Shawn Ryan and Lone Star, a 20th Century Fox Production in which newcomer James Wolk is Robert/Bob Allen, a charismatic schemer who has meticulously constructed two lives for years without arousing any suspicions… until now.
This follows the news that Sky has agreed to become the UK home for HBO.