I say, Royal Ascot is upon us, jolly good show!

The British social summer calendar is jam-packed with sporting events that both wealthy and working class people lick their lips at the thought of. The Wimbledon Tennis Championships, Henley-on-Thames Regatta, the sailing week at Cowes on the Isle Of Wight and next year London makes the Summer Olympic Games it’s own; all these occasions seem to roll off the tongue when mentioned while one tries to plan one’s summer programme.

Royal Ascot is another name that fits seamlessly into that list of classic British summer events. Everything about it just oozes British-ness: the fashion, the fine dining and just the fact that the Royal family turn up year upon year. This is to such an extent that racing sometimes doesn’t bear the main focus anymore, with the attention on the attendees, the Queen and of course, what everyone is wearing.

Even though the dress code is strict at Ascot, people have a huge appetite for wearing head-turning outfits, with a sea of elaborate fascinators and top hats on show every day of the week. It’s almost as if it’s a contest in it’s own right, and with the Royal wedding still fresh in the memory Kate Middleton has ensured that dresses and traditional fashion at Ascot has become all the rage, making sure that the competition is a healthy one. However posh frocks and smart suits can sometimes only be a disguise for a spot of good old British hooliganism after a few drinks, with one fight making the headlines of many national newspapers.

Royal Ascot has such a rich heritage, with much of it connected to royalty, and with the event having celebrated it’s 300th anniversary this year, it has ranked highly amongst British culture for a long time. After Queen Anne thought the heathland near Windsor Palace would be a perfect place for racing three centuries ago, the event has gone from strength to strength, with 300,000 people making the trip to Berkshire this year. Some racegoers only attend so they can rub shoulders with the likes of Prince Harry and Prince Charles, with the royal family epitomising British charm and aristocracy.

Royal Ascot has always been a quintessentially British event, one of the premiere events of the social calendar each summer. While the fashion, the food, the racing and even the odd bet make perfect ingredients for a traditionally British occasion, it is the Royal family that runs through the veins of Ascot week.

Astonbury, Arab weddings and artist passes.

Any music fanatic will tell you that one of their biggest dreams would be to spend a whole day backstage at a major festival with all the biggest and most promising bands around. Last Saturday, I did just that. Well, not quite.

My sister’s boyfriend’s band got a place on the main stage of Astonbury last weekend, a music festival that is organised by Aston Student’s Guild, the Student’s Union of Aston University. It is primarily held on a Saturday in early June, and has in the past attracted acts such as Taio Cruz, The Futureheads, Zane Lowe, Chipmunk and Mr Hudson. This year promised to be the biggest yet since it’s inception in 2007, with it playing host to talent such as Devlin, Zane Lowe, Yasmin, The View and of course Bracknell’s very own Hey! I’m A Moviestar (H!IAMS).

However, before any festival feelings could be experienced, the arduous two hour trip down the M40 awaited. I must say, when I imagined a tour bus, a joint effort by a Nissan Micra and a Volkswagen Polo never sprang to mind. Saying this, if we all piled onto a giant tour bus or van, I don’t think we would have had endless fun greeting each other with various gestures and hand signals (not all of them were friendly) as we sped along the motorway in the glorious sunshine.

We discovered our trusty AA route planner, still warm from being printed off at the last minute, only took us as far as Birmingham City Centre, and so another hour ensued of us traipsing through the busy metropolis. Along this wild goose chase, we ended up several times perilously close to ditching the festival for Cadbury World, even if it was only for the promise of a few chocolate bars.

In one particular high street of Birmingham, you could forgive yourself for believing you were in New Delhi, with Indian supermarkets, chemists, clothes stores and even a tattoo shop dominating the urban landscape. We even witnessed an Arab wedding taking place on the side of the road, with screaming fireworks being set off only metres from pedestrians and cars. God knows why the police were there if they were just allowing sparks to fly dangerously close to children. Maybe they were just admiring the convoy of five white sports cars that were also in attendance, which we had earlier seen been filmed as part of the wedding film, or so I presume. It would have been fine if the sports cars had been filmed speeding off in the distance like standard procedure, but instead were recorded at what can only be described as a snail’s pace. This sent traffic into gridlock, with the group completely oblivious, even occasionally asking us to slow done to ensure they got the shot in without us in it!

So all this mayhem in the town they nickname “Brum” led us to turning up a couple of hours later than expected, but still having a healthy amount of time before H!IAMS were on stage. Have no fear, we were greeted with our very own VIP suite, complete with refreshments. Okay, that may be a small lie. It looked more like a classroom, coupled with a few multipacks of fizzy pop, but I think we were all glad for the shelter from the rain.

Of course, to gain access to such privileges we had to flash our VIP/artist passes to the rather mean looking security guards, but it couldn’t go smoothly as that could it? Definitely not, as within minutes of being given my VIP pass I seem to misplace it. As they always say though, every cloud has a silver lining, as I was immediately bumped up to “artist”. Complete with carrying one of the band’s guitars, I even took half a glance over my shoulder to check if any paparazzi were creeping up behind me. I was even preparing myself for floods of people coming up to me asking for autographs or asking me which band I was with. On second thoughts, I don’t think my original plan to tell them I was with the Black Eyed Peas would have quite come off, not too sure I have the right characteristics to be Will.I.Am.

So, after all these trials and tribulations, it was time for what we came for, H!IAMS’ set on the main stage at Astonbury stage. Even if it wasn’t to the 3,000 people that had been expected to turn up, still the band showcased their music to people they’d never played to before, potentially widening their fanbase. Even with the sparse crowd I feel they got the warm reception they deserved, and as I scanned the area around me, it made me aware that people were getting into the music, especially appreciating their new single, The Midnight Rendezvous.

Alas, we didn’t stay on for the rest of the festival, otherwise with our new found VIP status many wonderful things could have been achieved, such as grabbing a cup of tea with Devlin, or playing Monopoly with Zane Lowe. Just for a bit though, for that half a day, H!IAMS could have pretended they were in the big time, I could have pretended to be someone very important and Astonbury could have met their new favourite band. It is these kinds of moments that make life rather interesting, and at the very least it will have spurred on Hey! I’m A Moviestar with their career. Although the incident involving the fireworks at the wedding made me fear for my life instead of cherish it.

Just to end on an extremely light-hearted note, the BBQ at Astonbury provided me with the best chicken burgers I’ve ever tasted, so if you’re not going there for the music, at least go there for the meat!



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