Duncan Bannatyne & The Pilgrim Bandits

(From Left-Right) Former Miss UK and Miss Galaxy, Hayley Mac, Duncan Bannatyne, Lance Bombadier Ben Parkinson, 27 from Doncaster, Trooper Jamie Hull, 35 from Leighton Buzzard and Rifleman Chris Parks, 23 from County Durham.

DRAGONS’ Den star Duncan Bannatyne will be taking to the skies with Doncaster’s Ben Parkinson on Sunday to try to raise £30,000 for the charity Pilgrim Bandits, to provide adventure training or confidence building trips for amputees.

Duncan invited Ben, aged 27, and some of the other wounded servicemen to his flat in Covent Garden, giving them a day out, and the chance to speak about the skydive event.

Former Miss UK Hayley Mac, a patron for the charity, was also there to show her continued support.

“Pilgrim Bandits is a fantastic charity that works with guys that have lost limbs or been burned,” said Duncan. “They work together and bond together. Everything they do is fantastic.”

Around 30 people will jump, and The Bannatyne Group is doubling money raised, to around £30,000.

Queens Birthday Parade

Soldiers of the Household Division were on parade to mark the Queen’s Official Birthday today at Horse Guards Parade, at the ceremony known as Trooping the Colour.

This year, the Colour being trooped in the presence of Her Majesty The Queen, was that of the 1^st Battalion Scots Guards. The Duke of Edinburgh and the Royal Colonels (the Prince of Wales, The Duke of Cambridge, The Princess Royal and the Duke of Kent) were also on parade.

Over 1,300 Officers and Soldiers were on parade in the traditional uniforms of the Household Cavalry, Royal Horse Artillery, and Foot Guards.  Many more were working behind the scenes to ensure all goes smoothly.

There were a total of 241 horses on parade, 327 musicians from 10 Bands, and the Corps of Drums will march and play as one.  The famous Drum Horses of the Mounted Bands were also be on parade.

Kelsey's Birthday Shoot

I got booked for a photoshoot today, as a birthday present for a colleagues daughter.

Kelsey, who has just turned 11, had her mum organise it with me as a surprise. She got whisked off this morning to have her hair done before she came, and ensured her make-up and nails were done too.

I had quite a few ideas I wanted to try, and thought they would work nicely with a girl of her age. The location was decided by her mum, so it was just down to me then to produce the goods. 

Having never met Kelsey before, it was apparent very soon after we met, that she was very confident for her age, so I knew this would work in my favour when I put her in front of the camera. 

After explaining how the session would run, we were off. Kelsey was loving being made a fuss of, and she lapped up the attention. She was strutting her stuff in front of the camera, in between giggling, for an hour, throwing in some good pose ideas that she wanted too.

This set of images were edited, very briefly, in photoshop. I have chosen to increase the contrast, by quite a lot, to give the images a more modern feel to them.

If you would like to book a portrait session, no matter what the occasion, please send me an email via my website.

www.beautyanddecay.com

Thanks, Steve