Out of the Blue

What a surprise to receive a phonecall from Paul Mooney, the weatherman from BBCs Look North.

And what an honour to be asked to be the guest judge in the weather photography competition to choose the May picture to go into the Children in Need Calendar. 

My immediate thought was that we'd just had one of the biggest weather events in 20 years and there would be lots of northern lights photos, and I had missed it, being sound asleep in my bed. 

Excited, we set a date for Paul to come to Whitehaven and do some filming. 

On the day, the weather was dry and sunny. I'd asked Paul to meet me at the history boards on the junction of Roper Street, Irish Street and Scotch Street. 

The boards put up by The Heritage Action Group has six of my paintings on and I was keen to show them on the TV. 

Paul arrived right on time and set up quickly. It was then we realised just how busy Irish Street is at lunch time on a Monday. Traffic thundered past and I was beginning to regret my choice of filming location.

James stood watch and waved when the road was clear and we recorded in snippets. 

I'd deliberated over the choices for about a week and right up until the day of filming I was still wavering on my favourite two. 

We wandered around Whitehaven filming the Georgian houses and down at the Harbour getting a bit of attention. I don't think I've seen Whitehaven that busy for ages.  

Paul was calm and supportive, really nice guy and I asked him for a favour. An Octogenarian friend of mine who thinks Paul is lovely asked me if I would ask him to put Beckermet on his weather map. 

Kath is a strong champion of Beckermet and its history and said she'd never seen Beckermet on his map. Of course I asked.

The film was edited and shown on Wednesday evening news and was brilliant, traffic noise was removed and the soundtrack was Iris by the Goo Goo Dolls which I love.  

Watch the video below:

I immediately messaged Paul and thanked him for his time and the congratulated him on the film.

He said he'd put Beckermet on his map and the next evening he delivered. 

A great experience and a great pleasure.