Mark Foster's blog by Mark_Foster

Hello everyone. I hope you’ve all had a good week. For some reason my recollection of the week seems to have been great weather and walks by the beach – at least that’s what is dominating my thoughts at present! But let’s go back through my diary and see what I have been up to! I had a great time at a talk in Hereford and Worcester. One company, two talks over two days. Really nice crowd. Night number one was in Hereford in the Courtyard Theatre with about 250 people. It's weird if someone had told me when I was younger that one day I would be speaking in public for a living, I would have said they were mad. Yet over the years it has become second nature and you know I'm not sure how it happened. No matter, it’s what I do now and I had a great time talking to apprentice engineers. I love being invited along to share in other people's success and achievements. What a charmed life I lead!

On this occasion I handed out awards and gave a 30 minute talk. Night number two was at Worcester Rugby Club with a different group of people who again were a fantastic bunch and really lively. I got to hand out even more awards and had another good dinner and a really good chat and laugh. Thanks to Philip the CEO who chaperoned me on both nights. There was a long drive back from Worcester in the Jaguar XJ - a luxurious drive with all mod cons inside and outside the car, so thanks to all the guys at Jaguar Academy of Sport for supporting me with this wonderful machine. It makes travelling the country so much easier. After arriving back in London I went off to a sports bar at Marylebone Station to attend the launch of the Barmy Army book launch which is the story and the history of how the Barmy Army formed. It’s a great read for any cricket fan or anyone who is interested in sports loyalty. It is a fantastic story and the Army are still growing strong.

Then to one of my favourite gigs; A Question of Sport Roadshow. The show’s format is the same as the TV show, it even has the same host, Sue Barker and captains Phil Tufnell and Matt Dawson. The tour was 22 dates and the score at this moment was 8-6 in favour of Matt. This one was held in Oxford and I was on Matt's team with James DeGale and Tuffers had Tim Henman and Phil Vickery on his side. I just love the banter and the subject matter and of course I love sport and testing my knowledge with the others. It was a really great night even though we lost by one point!

This was a late night and I ended up driving from Oxford to Southend where I was meeting up with Camilla Sacre-Dallerup and hubby Kevin who were both staying at my mum's house. We were due to do a dance exhibition for my mum's Tangent Club in front of 250 women all Strictly fans, so no pressure there then!! Bearing in mind that Camilla and I hadn't danced for over a year, I was a bit nervous (so was my mum!) Camilla is busy in the Calendar Girls national tour and took a break from the Ipswich performance to attend this gig for me. Well I turned up at midnight and we talked until about 2am!

Then up the next morning at 8.30am to have an hour's rehearsal at the local leisure centre to see if we could remember the steps and moves. It was also taking place on a very small dance floor (my legs are long!!) in front of my mum's mates, so there was nowhere to hide. But Camilla as ever, was the consummate professional. She put me through my paces and it all came back to me (the humiliation and the acerbic remarks from the judges. Oh yes I started to remember alright!!!) But it went great and I just love dancing with Camilla. And I still remember Strictly as a really exciting time. So we had a great day and it was a lot of fun. And I was also surprised at how much I could remember.

So after a long day, I drove down to the South Coast to spend the weekend in a fantastic house right on the beach next to the sea. Waking up with coffee looking out to sea, hearing the waves and have the sun shining is just magical. A great day. Then mates for Sunday lunch and a walk with the dogs on the beach. All just bliss and it set me up for the next week. Bring it on!!!