Penny and Rod are fans of Happy Valley
Penny told The Daily Mail that she and Rod were fans of the BBC hit police drama Happy Valley and she hopes the drama inspires women to join the police.
Writing in The Daily Mail on Saturday Penny said: ‘So many of the skills you require as a police officer actually come from your own experience, I think it’s why women make great officers. The first skills you need are compassion, empathy and communication — all of which you use on a daily basis as a mother. The more I do this job, the more I see the parallels, I do hope that women watching Happy Valley might be inspired to join the police. We need female officers more than ever. Catherine shows that it’s a tough job but that women can be as tough as men and actually, a lot of the time, do the job more efficiently because of their inner strength. It’s not about bravado or flexing muscles. And while we need young women, we also need to retain the older women in the force’.
Gary raises funds for Myeloma UK charity.
On Saturday personal trainer to Rod Gary O’ Connor and his mate Lee Arrowsmith completed a 24km route march in the Brecon Beacons in 6hours 20mins! Gary took on the immense walking challenge to raise money and awareness for Myeloma UK charity.
It was a 24km route march in the Brecon Beacons which is infamous within the ranks of all UKSF soldiers. It is now over 50 years old and even today, still forms a major indicator of whether a potential UKSF soldier has the physical and mental determination to complete it within the cut off time set by the D.S (Directing Staff). The route starts and finishes at Storey Arms and ascends Pen y Fan which is 2,907 ft (886m). The turnaround point is at Torpantau – where they will have to quickly return using the same route back up and over Pen y Fan via a very steep path known as Jacobs Ladder.
He did it to raise money and awareness for the Myeloma U.K charity as Gary’s Sister Jan has been bravely battling the illness for a number of years. She has had to cope with bouts of Chemo, transplants , stays in hospital and all the associated sickness and side effects from dealing with treatments to help her from the renowned hospital Addenbrooks in cambridgeshire.
Myeloma U.K. provides vital support , research and hope for the future for all individuals coping with the condition.
If anyone would like to give a small donation you can do so via the just giving page
#justgiving#Myelomauk#mobilegymfitness#rodstewart#SpecialForcesExperienceFanDanceHike
This weeks Rod Art
This week in the Rod art section we feature the work of Obed Kline who did this great portrait of Rod in pastels
Obed who is based in Mississippi told SMILER this week ‘ Rod is one of my favorite singers’.
To see more work by Obed go to ttps://www.instagram.com/klineobed/?hl=en
Another Faces bootleg
February 10th sees the release of yet another Faces bootleg release on Vinyl, The Early Years Live, Get Yer Vinyl Out takes you back to 1970/71 to hear the headline-grabbing rock group live on stage and having themselves a real good time! with professionally remastered original broadcasts with background notes and timeline photos. Pressed on 180g Eco Mixed Vinyl and presented in a deluxe gatefold sleeve.
Tracks: Side 1: 1. Maybe I’m Amazed ** (4:57) / 2. Gasoline Alley ** (7:18) / 3. Had Me A Real Good Time *** (7:11) / 4. Three-Button Hand-Me-Down ** (9:02). Side 2: 1. Cut Across Shorty ** (5:31) / 2. It’s All Over Now ** (6:28) / 3. Flying * (4:23) / 4. Around The Plynth ** (6:34) / 5. Wicked Messenger ** (4:16). Recordings are from *: Strawberry Mountain Fair, Vancouver, Canada, May 17th 1970 (CBC-FM) / **: Fillmore West, San Francisco, CA, October 28th 1970 (KFOG-FM) / ***: Live In Concert, May 13th 1971, BBC.
As usual SMILER has no idea of the recordings quality but the cover is poor as the photo [Although a great shot] does not fit the years and the text is awful and even worse credited to Rod Stewart & The Faces. whether you purchase or not is between you and your Amazon account.
Happy Burns Night
With the help of his son Liam, Rod wished his fans a happy Burns Night in a hilarious video on social media, In the clip, shared with his 1.2m followers, Rod says: “Hello everybody, Happy Burns Night. This is Rod Stewart and his son Liam. And we used to celebrate Burns Night with my dad, your grandfather. And I want you to have a great night. This is your favourite Cockney, Scotsman wishing you a happy Burns Night. Cheers mate.” Then the lights above Rod and Liam start to flicker, before Rod joked about having not paid the electricity bill. Plunged into darkness, he shouts: “What’s happened. We didn’t pay the electricity bill. All the lights have gone off.”
Rod phones Sky News
Rod made a surprised phone call to Sky News on Thursday, he phoned in to chat with presenter Sarah-Jane Mee during the ‘Your Say’ segment of the programme, which was focusing on the NHS crisis and nursing strikes.
Rod revealed that after visiting a private clinic, he was left astounded at how “empty” it was compared to current NHS waiting rooms. He had been watching the Sky News segement and listening to the stories of members of the public who had phoned up to share their experience of current waiting times. So suggested on the show that he would donate money to pay for “10 or 20 scans” for people on NHS waiting lists, adding: “There are people dying because they cannot get scans.”
Rod described the current situation in the NHS as “ridiculous”. He went on to elaborate on his donation to fund scans for some people currently on NHS waiting lists, saying: “Now listen to me, I don’t need the publicity, I just want to do some good things and this, I think is a good thing. If other people follow me, I’d love it.”
He told the show that he had been touched by the many stories of the callers who had contacted the show to explain how the deepening NHS crisis had affected their lives. addeding: “I’m so proud to be British and I can’t stand it being this way.” When questioned by Sarah-Jane if he supported striking nurses, he said: “They’re not asking for a great deal… in all my years in this country I’ve never seen it so bad. Go on the nurses. I’m on your side.”
Rod also told how he has voted Conservative in the past, He said: “This is a bad time. Change the bloody government.” adding that he believed the NHS needed rebuilding with “billion and billions” of pounds invested into the healthcare service. “I personally have been a Tory for a long time, but I think this Government should stand down now and give the Labour Party a go at it. This is heart-breaking for the nurses, it really is heart-breaking.”
Singalong at Rod’s
Speaking to LBC Radio this morning, Sir Keir Starmer joked that he and Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner were going to meet up with Sir Rod after their visit to Princess Alexandra Hospital in Harlow, Essex.
‘Rod Stewart lives near here so we are going to have a singalong later, Ang and I,’ Sir Keir said. ‘Well Ang is keener on the singalong than I am.’ The Labour leader said he welcomed the ‘headlines’ generated by Sir Rod’s surprise attack on the Tories.
He added: ‘But I actually think what prompted Rod Stewart to say that was two things; this real sense that after 13 years now, pretty well everything is broken across the country, you just can’t get anything to work, and that is frustrating for everybody.
‘But also when he said to this government “step aside, give Labour a chance to fix this” essentially, I think there is strong sense that this Government is just clapped out now, they just don’t have the energy.’
Donate Feel Great
Keech Hospice Care are selling these amazing tote bags at their 33 UK stores
The bags feature Rod, Freddie Mercury, Lionel Richie and Lulu and are eco-friendly and eye-catching, what more could you possibly want? Find your closest store here. https://bit.ly/keechshops
For more information on Keech go to https://www.facebook.com/keechhospicecare
And if you dont live near one of the 33 stores don’t worry Keech Senior Area Manager Jez Cox told SMILER this week “For our new “Donate Feel Great” stock generation campaign we wanted to bring a smile to people by using key music icons and playing with some of their famous lyrics to get our message across. Being a British icon, well known for his charity work and support, Sir Rod Stewart and his lyrics were just the prefect fit! As a local adults and children hospice charity we were not expecting our tote bags to receive so much interest across the UK, we’re very thankful to Sir Rod and his fans.
We had only planned to sell the bags in our 33 shops across Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Milton Keynes but have now added them to our eBay shop due to popular interest”
And finally…
Ronnie Wood’s official site were forced to put out [Yet again!] a statement warning fans of scams, at SMILER we reply to emails everyweek asking if Rod is contacting them, the answer is always no, here is Ronnie’s statement..
📣There’s only one Ronnie Wood – accept no imitations!
Dear fans and friends of Ronnie,
This is Ronnie’s friendly admin here, sadly once again warning you about fraudulent accounts attempting to scam innocent fans by impersonating Ronnie. We report and block multiple accounts everyday, but it is like playing whack-a-mole! Ronnie ONLY uses his verified blue tick accounts to communicate with fans, and would never set up or use an unverified account. Ronnie does not use direct or personal messages on any social media site, or WhatsApp or Telegram. If someone contacts you claiming to be Ronnie and the account is not verified with a blue tick, please report the account and block them. We hope social media companies do something effective to stop innocent fans being scammed and conned by these fraudulent people. Please be on your guard if anyone claiming to be a public figure messages you, however authentic they may seem.
Thank you to everyone who has contacted us with information about accounts impersonating Ronnie.
Much love,
Team Ronnie
See you next week.