King Richard III - "So Where's the Dead King Then?"

In recent months Leicester, the city that we live near, has been in the news headlines because of the discovery of King Richard III's remains underneath a council car park. The remains of the king have been laid to rest in Leicester Cathedral, so I decided it would be a good opportunity to take my girls to see where history was made.

Since it was announced that the remains of king Richard were being laid to rest in Leicester Cathedral, a lot of work has been undertaken in the city, the Cathedral and its grounds. The cathedral itself is not s very big cathedral compared to the majority of cathedrals around the country. Leicester cathedral was never designed to be a cathedral and was once a normal parish church.

On arrival at the Cathedral we warmly greeted and admired the new gardens. Ruby and Lottie both enjoyed running around in the open space; Lottie particularly liked seeing the flags. 

As we entered the Cathedral building, Ruby said very loudly... "so where’s the dead king then?"; it was quite embarrassing but had everyone in stitches - You’ve got to love the innocent mind of a child!

King Richards remains are situated just in front of the high altar and I was pleasantly surprised at how simple and nice the design of the tomb was, however I do wonder how so much money could be spent on one tomb and funeral. 

Ruby and Lottie wanted to touch the stone of the tomb and Ruby commented on how smooth it was and how deep the cross was set into the stone. It felt very surreal to think that a king was buried right in front of us. 

Whilst in the cathedral we looked at the beautiful embroidery that covered the coffin when it lied in repose before the service of committal. It surprised me at how beautiful and colourful the embroidered was and just how much detail went into it.

As we were leaving the cathedral we were asked if we would like to say a prayer and add a prayer ribbon to some iron railings. Ruby was very excited and told the lady she would like to thank God for the world and all the wonderful things that are in it. I thought the idea of tying a ribbon to the railings was a very symbolic way of praying and it was nice to see the different array of coloured ribbons on display. 

I would highly recommend attending Leicester Cathedral for a day, out as my girls and I both have a really lovely time.

Cbeebies Roadshow

Ruby has enjoyed watching CBeebies from a very early age, and one of her favourite programmes is Mr Bloom; she loves Mr Bloom because she can relate to growing her own veggies. Ruby's playschool had a notice advising that CBeebies was coming to Abbey Park in Leicester and that if we wanted tickets for the Mr Bloom show, all we needed to do is apply. To be honest I was not holding out much hope of getting tickets as I knew that they would be incredibly popular. However I was amazed when a couple of weeks before the event I received an email telling me I had been successful and had some tickets.

I had purposely chosen to not tell Ruby, as I did not want to disappoint her;  I told her the day before we went and her face really lit up, she was so excited!

So last Sunday we headed off to Abbey Park; we had reserved seats to see Mr Bloom and so we went straight to the marquee where Mr Bloom would be appearing. We were very fortunate that we were one of the first people in the queue and were able to get front row seats, well front row cushions in fact as at the front near the stage were lots of scattered cushions were the children could sit to get a closer view and of course being a responsible parent, I had to sit next to Ruby in all the cushions, its nothing to do with the fact I was very excited too, honestly!

The show was amazing, even I found it brilliant! Ruby was absolutely blown away and there was lots of interaction between the audition and the people performing it was fab.

After the show we headed off around Abbey Park and enjoyed seeing some petting animals and helping to build a wooden den.

There were a few marquees offering different things, from arts and crafts, to mini shows and demonstrations. Ruby particularly loved a music class, in which she played a ukulele and then when asked for volunteers to sing a Rastamouse song, Ruby was first to put her hands up and went on the stage with a pretend microphone and did a little bit of singing and dancing, it was very cute to watch. I have no idea where she gets all her confidence from.

Their were lots of different things happening throughout the day on the main stage and we managed to get some good shots of Alex from CBeebies, when Ruby first saw him she shouted "he is off CBeebies!!!", I think she was a little star struck.

The writer of Rastamouse then came onto the main stage and read a Rastamouse story; several people were asked to partake and act out parts and Ruby, full of confidence, went onto the stage and helped out with a bit of acting! After the story, Rastamouse and Da Easy Crew appeared on stage and did some singing and dancing, Ruby's face lit up and she loved dancing and singing along.

We all had a lovely family day out at Abbey Park and I can't believe that we were fortunate to get tickets for Mr Blooms show it really was a magical day out for Ruby. If there is a CBeebies road show coming to a park near to you then I would highly recommend you apply for tickets and go, its FREE after all!