Karen Wright: ​Inspiration from Prue Leith as my birthday celebrations await

This dovetailed neatly with leaving the NEC and we had a steady drive to the venue via a stop off at Stratford on Avon. It must be over fifty years since I was last there with my parents, they took me to the Royal Shakespeare Theatre to see a production of Richard the Third. It seemed nothing much has changed; it was exactly as I remember it.

After the talk we drove to Abingdon to stay for a couple of nights with our youngest daughter Vanessa before moving on to Brighton to visit our eldest Kit and her young family. We didn’t stay at their place we booked into a glamping pod at the Caravan and Motorhome campsite we like to use. All the comforts of home in a neat little cube, gorgeous, we really love those pods!

Brighton was bustling as always, especially so in the Sunday morning as it was the half marathon. By the time we had hopped onto a bus to go into town the marathon was over and the bus was quite full of exhausted but exhilarated competitors wrapped in their silver capes to keep warm.

On the Sunday evening I had booked for my daughter and I to go to the Old Market Theatre in town. Prue Leith, one of the judges on the Bake Off, was appearing in her one woman show called “Nothing in Moderation” and I was keen to see it. We had a delicious Persian meal before the show in a tiny but very cosy restaurant near the theatre and then we met up with last year’s Bake Off semi-finalist Janusz and his partner to have a pre-show drink in the bar.

Prue was remarkable, recounting the story of her life so far. She is eighty-three, which is quite hard to believe really. She was very inspirational and certainly has given me food for thought. After the show we were invited to her dressing room for a drink and a chat, which was such a thrill, I had to pinch myself to check it was all for real.

It is my birthday next month and the inspirational stories Prue told has fired my imagination even more: what to do? where to go? I am only just getting started!