Well today was something a bit different! I had the huge honour of attending a garden party at Buckingham Palace as part of the 70th Anniversary Celebrations of the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, of which I’ve been involved with in one way or another now for over 30 years!

Things didn’t quite start out as planned, but after finally finding somewhere to park the van, then subsequently finding out that my train had been cancelled, I made it to the city, (after remaining perfectly calm between various rushed train changes!). First things first, emerging from the tube, the first port of call was for a quiet coffee in Saville Row to compose myself, followed by a nice walk across Green Park to the Palace.

With my special invitation in hand, the police allowed me to cross the road, while holding back a good amount of eager tourists.

A quick security check, and I walked in through the famous gates, and past a team of armed guards, feeing very privileged indeed.

I was decked out in Uncle Ken’s cufflinks and Dad’s watch, and had finally made it!

The band played on as I strolled the gardens and met up with my Gold Award students, and their guests.

It really is quite a backyard! The terrace at the back, is where the Duke later gave a speech from before walking around the gardens to meet us.

‘We serve tea, not coffee at the Palace’ was what the bloke in front of me was told as we queued for our refreshments! And very nice tea it was too…

The gardens are extensive, so a sit down was needed at one point.

I even got to meet a couple of ‘celebrities’. To be honest, I’d never heard of him, but this guy had recently won I’m a Celebrity. Seemed like a nice bloke!

Just as the Duke stepped out to speak, the heavens opened and we got a light soaking. Luckily it didn’t amount to much, and he still ventured out to chat with the students.

With so many people at the Palace, it looked unlikely that we’d get to chat with the Duke, but soon he came near and we waved him over to say hi and he quizzed the students on where they were from and what they done.

All in all an incredible afternoon.

Which all too soon, began to draw to an end and we were politely asked to start vacating the grounds.

We lingered slowly as we said our farewells and look a few final memento photos to remember the day.

Then it was out through the gates and back into the real world. But the excitement didn’t end there – a short tube ride got me straight to the pub near Euston, where my old pal Joe from school had agreed to meet. He’d been working in the city so we both took the opportunity to catch up after having not seen each other in many years. Like great old friends, we just picked up where we left off!

In fact, we were having such a good natter that I ended up having to sprint down the platform catch the last train to Wales!

This time the train was on time, and although I’d not had time to get any food, the journey was smooth and got be back home, exhausted , hungry and into bed just after midnight. What a fully packed day!