Thursday, February 28, 2013 -

I have always been a fan of Malta, it is one of my favourite places in the world; it’s a beautiful island and a great place to visit for sun, sea and culture. I have spent a great deal of time there over the years working with riders and in a way helping to promote the country. Another passion of mine is music –I appreciate all music, and over the years I have had the good fortune to work with and alongside such luminaries as Robin Gibb, Dame Shirley Bassey and even that all-time favourite Sir Cliff Richard. On this occasion, just a few weeks ago in Malta, I had the opportunity to combine my love of the country I consider to be my second home – and one which last year honoured me with a knighthood for services to equestrianism – with my love of music.

It was at the 17th Malta Music Awards which I played a part in co-promoting with a man called Rocco Buonvino who is well known in the entertainment industry for staging events with both musical artists and A-list actors. Rocco invited me to co-promote the music awards which formed part of a weekend of musical entertainment at the Malta Fairs Convention Centre in Ta’ Qali honouring excellence in song writing and composing.

Imagine my surprise when Rocco told me that Peter Andre had agreed to be our guest of honour and intended to accept in person the Best International Artist award conferred in recognition of his services to music. I am a fan of Peter’s, not only is he a great artist but I also admire the dignified way in which he managed his marriage and divorce from Katie Price.

As it turned out, not only did Peter accept our invitation to attend the awards but also decided to bring the film crew from his reality series on ITV 2 with him to Malta. The crew planned to film his trip to the island for his show called Peter Andre: My Life. Even better though was the news that Peter had also generously offered to perform at the awards ceremony – an incredible coup for all involved, and although Malta was in the throes of a general election, we were able to set up at the eleventh hour, meetings for him with leading dignitaries, a tour of the island and a visit to a local hospital.

So what had seemed like a simple awards acceptance turned out to be something much more wonderful but complicated to organise, and apart from hosting Peter and his new girlfriend Emily MacDonagh (who he confessed had been a huge support to him after the sad death of his brother, Andrew just before Christmas) I was elected the tasks of managing some of the logistics of his trip, the needs of his film crew of 10 and presenting him with his award on stage at the end of it!

What I haven’t yet explained is that I have recently set up an events company to provide concierge and lifestyle management services to people from the world of sport and entertainment. Having been a professional sportswoman myself and met many celebrities over the years I know and understand their particular needs but this event with all the excitement that surrounded it proved to test to the absolute limit my skills as an organiser and promoter.

I am not going to share any secrets (except to say that he was delightful), but by the skin of my teeth I managed to deal with the exhaustive demands of the various ‘retainers’ that formed part of that entourage, tackle the media furore that accompanied Peter and Emily’s arrival in Malta, cope with the nail-biting back stage dramas that left me reeling and still look cool when I went out on stage with the nation’s (and Peter’s) television cameras on me!

Luckily what went wrong over that 2 day period did not make a material difference to the show or the weekend’s events because so much went right, but it did serve to test my nerve (as jumping at Hickstead or the Horse of the Year Show and climbing Kilimanjaro has done in previous years) and so when I finally invited the 2,000 strong audience to put their hands together to welcome Peter on stage and he opened with Mysterious Girl to rapturous applause I knew it had all been worthwhile!

Do look at for me soon on ITV2 Peter Andre: My Life unless they decide to edit me out!