Thought I'd start a new thread in anticipation.

 

First snippet posted by Curlywurly on Devoted.

 

Jayne texted me late last night to let me know that Will LOVED the photo's of his plaque and was very interested in the letter and list of contributors I sent with them. He also asked her to pass on his thanks.

 

Many thanks to willudabest on the OS.

 

WOW! WOW ! WOW!

Last night was truly amazing! Where do I start?!! I dont want to tell you other peoples news as I know they will want to post themselves but I will tell you all I can remember about the evening, my personal memories and chats with Will ( Ahhhh!)...

Ok here goes! We had all been given a venue to meet at -The Metropolitan pub and Dining Room. This is in the Notting Hill area- a few stops down on the tube from Paddington. We had to be there by half six.

I travelled down to London by car with my hubby. We parked up at our friends place in North London and then got the tube it. I arrived at 5-30 pm . (Didn't want to be late!!!!)There were 2 others waitng when I got there- one of them was Sharon-who I met on here.We had PM'd each other and had cahtted throughout the day by text. I felt a bit better now having arrived and having met someone I knew. Over the course of the next hour everyone arrived. Anyone looking nervous and sighing heavily was deemed a possible dinner companion!!( Over the course of the evening found out we had come from all over-me from Chester, Oswaldtwistle in Lancashire, Sheffield, Newcastle, Nottingham,Cardiff, Aberdeen, Oxford, London itself and even a winner from Sweden !) After we were all there we were given more details. We had to first show photo id to prove we were who we said we were..we were then told we would be walking to a restaurant around the corner where we would choose our food and wait for Will to arrive!!! We walked for about 2mins-which was no mean feat in my high heels!!!

We arrived at the restaurant-Bumpkin it was called-just a random restaurant...We were directed upstairs!! A good few flights. On the way up Jayne and I joked that we were going to the attic!! We had our own room -had a bar, kitchen, little seating area and a table for about 20...obviously a few from Sony BMG , Faye and another lovely lady from Will's management-forgotten her name but someone will be able to tell you...

Oh yes! We were being filmed!!! It will be posted at some point.... :dance: :yahoo: :D We all were interviewed-name , where from etc!!! I coundont really concentrate and every time the door opened I was wondering if this was gonna be Will! We all chose our food- I chose -'Roast sirloin of scotch beef, roast heritage potatoes and lavender with mashed pots, peas and mint and carrots'! For dessert I chose 'Chocolate truffle with berries and mascarpone.' Sorry! I am darting around as I remember things!!

At about 7-30 Will arrived!!! 'Hello everyone'. ( Oh yes! We had all been told that to make it fair we had had names picked from a hat as to where we were sitting around the table.Half way through the meal we were going to swop seats to make it fair. I was told that since there were 15 I would not be swopping seats as my seat was deemed to be great so i would stay put. I was opposite and along 2! Very close! Will was wearing grey jeans, smart tan shoes, and a lovely bright green v neck jumper with a bit of pattern detail aroound the neck. He had a suit jacket on too! Looked lovely!! He sat down and started chatting away! he was just so so lovely. really interested in everyone and where we had come from-where staying-talked about our jobs...He chatted to me about my job as a teacher and asked questions about that. I asked him about Africa-how he had enjoyed that. i told him I had lived there for 6 years and he wanted to know where-what I had been doing there...We had a group piccy which we will all get a copy of( Yeah!!). The evening was just amazing-very relaxed..At about half nine Will got up and said he was leaving!! He came around my side of the table to leave. I put my hand out to shake-very british!! and then asked him if I could have a kiss!! he gave me a kiss on the cheek and me him! He then went around saying goodbye to everyone and giving out more kisses!

It was the most amazing evening. Loved every minute of it.Cant quite believe it happened.most of the others steyed in London last night. I had to get back for work this afternoon so we drove home! We got back at 3:30 am!! Feel so tired this morning. Had to get up with the kids for school!! Just gonna stay up now! Early night tonight!

Well, probably forgotten loads but that'll do for starters!! Oh! All got a personalised signed pic( Album cover pic-Keep On')too! Bye for now. Better go and try and wake up with some coffee....

 

Thanks TT, I hope everyone had a great night and managed a lengthy chat with him, http://www.familycorner.com/forums/images/smilies/21.gif I think I'd have just gazed adoringly at him like an idiot. http://www.familycorner.com/forums/images/smilies/daydreaming.gif

Thanks again TT, that report from willudabest is very funny, you can tell she's still very hyper :w00t: and up on cloud nine. :lol:

Thanks TT, I hope everyone had a great night and managed a lengthy chat with him, http://www.familycorner.com/forums/images/smilies/21.gif I think I'd have just gazed adoringly at him like an idiot. http://www.familycorner.com/forums/images/smilies/daydreaming.gif

 

& stroked his arm. ;)

 

Thanks for bring them over T. Just been reading over the road. People came from such distances too - Aberdeen and SWEDEN!!!! How great is that. Hope the others post too - and we get to see themon video too :yahoo:

Thanks for bring them over T. Just been reading over the road. People came from such distances too - Aberdeen and SWEDEN!!!! How great is that. Hope the others post too - and we get to see themon video too :yahoo:

 

I thought that was lovely too, even a representative from my north east.

 

Hope they aren't too long in posting the vid. :cheer:

I thought that was lovely too, even a representative from my north east.

 

Hope they aren't too long in posting the vid. :cheer:

 

 

I'm not sure whether they came all the way from Sweden or they are Swedish living in the UK. Wonder if that was one of the ways they chose the winners too - by location.

 

Looking forward to the others, hopefully, posting too. Everyone has a different take on things.

Edited September 19, 200717 yr by munchkin

I'm off into town now, I hope there's a few more reports to read when I get back. :dance:

More posts: :D Thanks to Mary from bringing them over from O/S.

 

 

A new post from Newcomer, and another one from Willudabest.

Hi everyone - VERY quick posting to say it was fab, fab, fab, fab fab!! but JUDST got back from London and I've got to go for my first night at college now (reflexology!) - I will give you a full update when I get home later tonight. I'll tell you where I sat - what we spoke about - some of the other guests and what I wore (someone said they were interested in that...! ) Take care all of you and catch you later.

ps - can't believe how many postings have been put on this thread just today in response to willudabest's posting (was great to meet her)

Byeeeee!

Sharon x

 

 

 

Back again!! Survived the classroom although am now feeling really tired after my 3 and half hours sleep. Trying to answer a few questions.Besides the steak there was choice of ' sauteed scottish girolles (?) with rainbow chard, thyme and garlic..' ' Pan fried halibut, sampire and lemon' 'Loin of English pork with carrots...all served with mash, carrots and peas.

Will had the pork I think. The other desserts besides my choc truffle were Eton mess, treacle tart with cinnamon ice cream or selection of cheeses. Will had the treacle tart.

 

Everyone looked lovely with a mix of dressy and smart/casual clothes. I wore VERY high shoes, brownish trousers and a top with browns, cream,olive green,plum-sounds lovely!! Hopefully you will see a pic eventually. I have just received an email copy of the group shot!! Still cant believe I was there??!! We will be sent a proper copy too! Looking forward to seeing the video-kind of! I will most likely look and sound a real wally!! Ah well...gonna make the tea.On again later...

And a new one from dsc38

 

I'd like to say hi to everyone, especially Steve and Angus they were really great guys. I was one of the lucky winner, I came from Wiltshire, it was a fab eve, he is such a great easy going person, and made us all feel relaxed and spoke to everyone with great interest in where they came from and what they done as a job. I was lucky enough to be sat opposite him when we had to change seats for eating out desserts, I got him interested in my job as I work in a leather glove factory and he wanted to know about what I did and how long it takes to make a pair of gloves.

And we had a group photo and I was luck enough to sit right next to him. Everyone had a chance to get to know each other before he arrived and it was great listening to them and meeting some interesting people, they were a great bunch of people and I think Will really enjoyed the evening.

Will said that he is working on a new album and it will probable be out next year, but basically he wanted to find out about us so he asked most of the question to his fans

 

 

They all seem to have had a great time and Will was keeping mum :lol:

 

Little update from Willudabest:

 

The question about stubble..I would say it was a little more than stubble-quite a lot of facial hair but he suited it. He also had a lovely centre parting in his hair.He looked great!

Ah! This time last night..He had just arrived.

Wish I could press rewind!!

 

Yeh! He really did seem to enjoy our company (How could he not?!)He was so relaxed and chatted away with us..It really felt like dinner out with friends. It was a greatbunch of people. I made a new friend in Sharon-off this site.We had chatted a bit before hand and arranged to meet up. She's from my neck of the woods too which was great! I also got to meet Janet who was lovely.Hi Janet! (Hope you found ur way back to your hotel-whenever anyone asked you where you were staying you'd forget! Lol- great to meet you..Everyone was lovely. A truly magical evening!!

 

He didn't shave - good :dance:

 

 

I love the way Will brings people together. :yahoo:

Edited September 19, 200717 yr by munchkin

Thanks for bringing the new reports over munchkin.

 

Knew he wouldn't give much away. :lol:

Edited September 19, 200717 yr by truly talented

By the way - he didn't have a centre parting it was a side parting. Said she must have been tired when she typed it. :lol:

 

Had a feeling he wouldn't answer any questions either. :P

Edited September 19, 200717 yr by munchkin

It all sounds like it was a great night, I love treacle tart yum yum, has anyone else arrived back and posted yet? I remember someone saying they wouldn't get back till wednesday and would probably post thursday? I'll go and have a look round on the sites. :D

By the way - he didn't have a centre parting it was a side parting. Said she must have been tired when she typed it. :lol:

 

Had a feeling he wouldn't answer any questions either. :P

 

Maybe she wasn't focusing much on his hair. :naughty:

Isn't it great that they've filmed it? :cheer: the Official Site will probably only put a couple of minutes up to watch but at least we'll be able to see all the lucky winners and Will.

well i have just about come back down to earth from being 1 of the lucky winners of the comp. He is truely wonderful and he is so handsome, I was completely star struck and i couldnt eat a thing, i just wanted to sit and drowl over Will, the highlight of my evening was when Will very tenderly picked a piece of rosemary off my nose (i very nearly wet myself). He asked me on 2 occasions if i was going to eat anything (bless him) i told him i couldnt eat while i was with him, Will found this amusing. Girls and boys i can tell you he was wearing white boxers and im sure i saw a small tattoo on the top of his bum lovely. Everybody was lovely including the people from Sony and Wills manager and PA. Will was very relaxed and his manager said that he had been looking forward to the evening .I told him he was beautiful and he said that he looked awful cause he was hung over from the previous night, well if that is what he looks like when he feels rough it was a blessing in disguise that i didnt get to sit next to him i think i would have passed out, he has a way of looking very deep into your eyes and making you feel your the only one in the room. I was blessed with winning this comp and i will cherish the memory for all my life. Cheers to all the others who had the same pleasure you were a great set of people and i hope you all got home safe and sound.

 

I found this report quite touching....awww...he touched her nose.....bless....

 

Think Melanie posted this one...

Think Melanie is rather smitten. :wub:

 

Thanks for bringing it across Barb.

Edited September 19, 200717 yr by truly talented

I found this report quite touching....awww...he touched her nose.....bless....

QUOTE

well i have just about come back down to earth from being 1 of the lucky winners of the comp. He is truely wonderful and he is so handsome, I was completely star struck and i couldnt eat a thing, i just wanted to sit and drowl over Will, the highlight of my evening was when Will very tenderly picked a piece of rosemary off my nose (i very nearly wet myself). He asked me on 2 occasions if i was going to eat anything (bless him) i told him i couldnt eat while i was with him, Will found this amusing. Girls and boys i can tell you he was wearing white boxers and im sure i saw a small tattoo on the top of his bum lovely. Everybody was lovely including the people from Sony and Wills manager and PA. Will was very relaxed and his manager said that he had been looking forward to the evening .I told him he was beautiful and he said that he looked awful cause he was hung over from the previous night, well if that is what he looks like when he feels rough it was a blessing in disguise that i didnt get to sit next to him i think i would have passed out, he has a way of looking very deep into your eyes and making you feel your the only one in the room. I was blessed with winning this comp and i will cherish the memory for all my life. Cheers to all the others who had the same pleasure you were a great set of people and i hope you all got home safe and sound.

 

Think Melanie posted this one...

 

Thanks Tillywhim, aww, that post from Melanie is so lovely and I agree TT, she's well smitten but so are the rest of us aren't we? when he looks straight at you with those gorgeous eyes of his, you're a gonner. http://www.boomspeed.com/carolrobert/thud.gif

What I like about these reports is that the winners seem to be true Will fans. They might not post often but that doesn't make them less committed fans.

 

Great reports.

Another smitten fan. :wub:

 

Hi everyone - promised I would be back but now its very late. I'll try not to repeat much of what mel and Fi have said.

Just to confirm yes Will DID have the pork loin.. when he arrived he just kept saying he was starving. He kept looking round the room wondering when it was coming but eventually he selected a piece of 'brown' (posh brown) bread and dipped it in the oil and balsamic vinegar and casually ate that whilst chatting . As I was sat opposite him (lucky, lucky me ) I seized the opportunity to get myself some bread and dip it in the same oil that he was using... I was dying to do it at the same time so that our hands might have accidentally touched - but I didn't dare !!

When we were all seated before Will arrived I could not believe that the empty chair opposite me was for Will, I could not believe that I had struck that lucky . But I was just so worried that I was not going to have anything interesting to say. I was so, so happy to be placed there.

When he arrived he was offered white or red wine like the rest of us but he asked if he could have a beer instead - couldn't say for certain but I think he had a Bud (maybe someone else can confirm)

He went round the table asking where people had travelled from as Willudabest has already told you. He told the girl from Sweden that she was 'the winner' of coming the furthest, and he said I was 'the winner ' for coming from the town with the funniest name...(Oswaldtwistle) His eyes were twinkling as he tried to pronounce it and said it sounded like it belonged in Harry Potter!

Although I say his eyes were twinkling - I must have only caught them for a moment because I avoided his gaze ever so slightly as I didn't feel worthy to maintain such strong eye contact for any length of time . Beautiful eyes though and he did make you feel as though he was genuinely interested.

He was keen for the camera crew to be able to stop filming as he was aware that they had not had chance to eat (SO thoughtful)

I also had a conversation with him about my daytime job (the safe one - civil servant) and my 'fun' job - well, more like a very stressful hobby really - wedding organising.

After we had had our picture taken in between the courses we had to sit in our 'new' seats and I was moved 3 away so I'm not sure what else I can comment on later.

Oh, he did offer to serve my vegetables to me - but I declined (the embarrassment ) but Steven didn't! (good for him - I wish I'd been brave enough to accept)

By the way - his stubble/beard was REALLY soft. I've not had much contact with facial hair so I was expecting it to be bristly - but it wasn't I assure you!!! The best we could get about the music/album was that he was in the recording studio today and it would probably be around March next year before release (and I THINK a tour was mentioned to go with that album)

Well, not sure what else to report - it feels really strange like maybe it didn't happen - but at least we have the photo to prove it now so I'm really pleased about that.

Please ignore anything I say in the video as I hate my voice and I can never think of anything to say in those situations. I hope they edit it well.....!!!

Nite everyone!!!

Sharon x

 

No custard with the treacle tart - I think a nice fancy whipped cream swirl on the side - it was a long thin wedge of what must have been a very large tart!

I had the Eton Mess which was absolutely fantastic!!! AND, just as I've typed this I've just realised I think I put that on my menu choice in the comp - but I can't check cause mine is the only one that wasn't fully posted on the web site (only my starter and main was published) I wonder if all the other items were on the winners' menus - I'll have to look into that....!!!

Sharon x

 

Could jump for joy at the album news. Bring it on Will. :yahoo: :w00t: :dance: