"Hold my Heart"

Every now and again I like to put pen to paper and try my hand at a bit of poetry, and although I have previously shared one or two with you, I was put to the test recently when my best friend, Becky, asked me to write something and read it at her wedding which took place on Friday 11th September.

Being one of her four bridesmaids, I already had an element of responsibility, but when she asked me to do this, I knew I couldn't let her down. Initially I started to write very much as I usually do, but what I wanted to say wasn't flowing and I was suddenly struck with what I feared was writers block!

Realising I was just over thinking it, I took a step back for a while and low and behold, in true Tanya style, the words came to me at the most unexpected and inconvenient time whilst sitting at work one Wednesday afternoon! Quickly scribbling them down (the perks of always carrying around a notepad) I found I had the beginning of what I wanted to say and surprisingly enough, it was in the form of a poem.

After tweaking it here and there, I finally had my reading and with the approval of my sister and an emotional thumbs up from Becky's mum, I knew it must be ok. What I hadn't bargained for when I got up to read it was being overcome with emotion as I was reading it in front of the bride and groom and their guests! I did it though and the response I have had since has been so overwhelming, and most importantly, Becky and her now husband Dan, absolutely loved it. Win-win all round!

So now they have heard it, I thought I would share it with you all here too:

"Hold my Heart" by Tanya Shirley

 

Hold my heart I am here to stay

As we stand together on our special day.

Face to face as we say "I Do"

Hold my heart it's me and you.

 

Hold my heart the pledge we now make

Through the good and bad, we will not break.

Today we are here side by side

Hold my heart forever confide

 

Hold my heart and then take my hand

As you look my way we will understand.

The love we have will always be

Hold my heart for the world to see.

 

Hold my heart a new journey now

The promise we made is our love to avow

Together as one, we align

Hold my heart you heart is mine.



Jamie's got The X Factor

So after a short break from blogging, I find it only fitting to come back to what I love by writing about someone local. Sitting down this afternoon to catch up on last night's X Factor I watched in anticipation waiting for singer Jamie Benkert to audition in front of Simon, Cheryl, Rita and Grimmy for a place at Bootcamp.

 

Any regular readers of mine will know who I am talking about. It was nearly two years ago that I wrote a piece on him after a friend got in touch asking me to do a write up on a charity single he was involved with.

 

Since then I have been watching in the background on Facebook and Twitter and keeping up to date with the singing he has been doing so it was very exciting to see on Friday when he posted to social media that he had auditioned.

 

Seeing the clip of him being compared to Olly Murs did make me chuckle given I had the same thought back then too, and knowing he was an Olly tribute act over the summer, I was intriegued as too how Jamie would be portrayed on the show.Naturally, Simon's mention of the movie Single White Female after his audition set the stage for the producers and editors to portray Jamie as Olly himself!

 

Despite the goulish music and the extensive focus on Jamie's admiration for Olly leading up to him singing, I have to say the boy did good! Starting off with an original song, 'Dance All Night', which again was referenced by Cheryl and Grimmy to Olly's 'Dance with me tonight', Simon asked him to sing his second choice and straight away he entertained the audience with a mash up of Hold On We're Going Home by Drake and Uptown Funk' by Mark Ronson ft Bruno Mars.

 

Thankfully, the judges were impressed and Jamie made it through to Bootcamp with a yes from three of the judges. Although he didn't win over Simon Cowell this time, mainly I think because he appeared somewhat bemused by the whole Olly comparison, I think next time he will. However, it's Nick Grimshaw that will have the final say as he will be mentoring the boys.

 

So get rehursing Jamie because im sure I'm not alone when I say it will be amazing to see you go through to the live shows. Good luck and I will keep my fingers crossed for you!

 

Check out Jamie's audition here: