Star struck

IT'S ALWAYS a struggle getting into work and today was no exception. I spent last night rubbing shoulders with the 'stars' at a pre-charity football tournament bash in Wrexham and burnt the midnight oil all the way into the bank holiday.

We turned up at the Ramada fashionably late and met colleagues in the bar, one in particular I noticed, had developed some sort of nervous twitch every time a 'celeb' brushed past her. With a nod and a wink, she'd look them up and down, like me, trying to work out who they were. Was it a celeb or just someone with a familiar face who had served me in the pastry shop a few hours earlier ......??

If it hadn't been for the table plan on display in the foyer, I'd still be struggling to get the bottom of who was who. Always said I'd be no good as Paparazzi.
I knew the glamorous girl in the gold number was someone I vaguely recognised. She had an obvious cleavage that she was struggling to control and over-made up eyes, but glamorous nonetheless. It definitely wasn't her who had served me in the pastry shop. It was Michelle Heaton of Liberty X.

Former Leeds and Manchester United player and Celebrity Love Islander, Lee Sharpe, was propping up the bar with his well groomed and finely turned out 'friends' (these, too, could have been stars, but hey, like I said, I'm no Pap) and I also clocked X Factor's Andy Abraham as he arrived.

We were all seated and ready to rock 'n' roll by the time Jade Goody and boyfriend, Jack Tweedy, turned up. It was this pair who I watched most of the night ... didn't think I'd ever see the day I'd get star struck. But last night I did.

I couldn't rest easy until I'd gone over to Jack like a giggling teenager (while Jade was out of the frame dancing to Andy Abraham's crooning) and asked him to pose for a picture with me (pictured above). I was stone cold sober and simply didn't care. He obliged by putting his arm around me and smiling politely.

Unlike me - I grinned from ear to ear and had to stop myself from grabbing him round the waist in a really un-ladylike sort of way, something I always do when picture posing.
I couldn't fully concentrate on my pose as Maxwell (yet another former Big Bro contestant) kept getting in the way trying to put me off. Ever the professional, I pulled it off and I now have a lovely print of Jack and I that I'm about to airbrush and email to Bella magazine. With a flutter in my heart, I scuttled back to my table and started showing off my 'prize'.

Another celeb on my 'people-watching-hitlist' was Nikki Grahame (yes ... ANOTHER former Big Bro-er). She was wearing the teeniest, weeniest little black dress that barely would have covered my kneecap. Her arms were the same width as my index fingers and all our eyes were on her to see exactly what she picked up from the buffet. Surprisingly, she mounded food high on her plate and gurned her way all the way through it.

I didn't feel the need to be pictured with Nikki ... probably for fear of the result making me look like something out of Gulliver's Travels. She is the tiniest woman I have ever seen - apart from the Barbie and Bratz dolls I've seen on the shelves in Woolworths, that is.

A charity auction of signed football shirts proved popular, with Jade digging deep into her designer purse for a Liverpool one. Poor Andy Abraham was outbid on each of the five framed items ..... but they kept the best til last. A signed Pele shirt was up for grabs.
Again, Andy (pictured with me below) started the bidding war with Jade. He played a blinder though and handed over the bidding to his 10 year old son. You could hear the heartstrings being pulled from the other side of the bar but Jade was going all out for it ..... midway through the war, she held out the olive branch to the 10 year old saying she would give him the Liverpool one she had just bought so that she could take home the one she REALLY wanted. Deal or no deal. Deal indeed.

Auction over and music cranked up, it was now or never to pluck up the courage to ask Jade to pose with us. We could have come home with one of two things - a fat lip or a photo. Thankfully, she was in good spirits and agreed to a photo!

I hope today's event at The Racecourse is a successful one. Cash raised will be used to raise awareness for the Wrexham FC Football in the Community initiative. There was a whole load of beer flowing last night and the thought of kicking a football around Wrexham all day with a mouth like a buffalo's armpit is probably the last thing on the minds of these D-list celebrities this morning!!

Good luck you lot!