Showstopper Smiles

It was smiley selfies and photo posing with lots of lovelies at the 38th Leeds Castle Classical Concert attended by over 10,000 people today.

These photos are my momentos of a fabulous event running about after press photographers and artistes and running the Castle twitter. I was helped by my amazing colleagues, security team, parking marshals, medics and stage management all of whom made my job so much easier.

So here is who's who starting clockwise from top left:

John Rigby Musical Director and Royal Philharmonic Orchestra Conductor for the evening who was as charismatic and wonderful as always;

James Heming PR photographer, the infamous Heart FM Kent Breakfast Show presenter who got almost as much attention as the artistes with selfie requests backstage;

Some of my amazing castle colleagues who kept smiling for over 12 hours - I fed them chocolate and gave them hugs;

My lovely friends who made today so special by sharing the experience with me and most importantly feeding me;

Aled Jones who was Host for the evening and a real giggle;

Anthony Flaum the Tenor who not only kindly took a photo of my friend on the stage during the interval but brought tears to the audience's eyes with a truly wonderful Nessun Dorma performance;

Final photo is the 7 Aviation Support Battalion Royal Electrical and Mechanical Support Engineers who have attended the concert for the past four years turning up with a full table service - candelabra included!

It was really interesting tweeting behind the scenes shots at the event sharing the view the events organisers, PR and media see but the general public do not.

What I would've loved to have done is take photos of all my Castle colleagues working the event to share but there simply wasn't the time.

There were around 100 staff running the event, around half of them castle staff. This included Castle guides, events team and even one of the gardeners and wildlife warden on ticket check, meanwhile the falconry team were manning the disabled and artists' car parks.

Maintenance and event colleagues were positioned on the Castle roof on firewatch during the fireworks, our education manager my good friend LaLa was selling programmes (and welcomed the BBC for me while I was chauffeuring the conductor onto the site) then our security manager kept his beady eye on everything.

The hospitality team served over 200 meals and the retail team were walking the crowd selling flags, hats and glowsticks! Meanwhile the Accommodation team my pals Owlman1975 and Glamping1234 had a busy morning getting everyone checked in pre-show. Phones rang off the hook in Box Office and Reception with the lovely ladies keeping calm and fielding calls - their patience is truly admirable.

My good friend from the grounds team will no doubt finish around 2am tonight and be back in work at 630 tomorrow morning litter picking with colleagues from golf and grounds to ensure the grounds are looking beautiful for opening again!

Phew! We all need a holiday....