...It was October 11th 2005 and around 10pm Max Clifford announced to the crowd at Mill Ride Golf Club that he was donating 2 VIP tickets to the X Factor!! Brilliant I thought, my 9 year old daughter Laura is huge fan and she would love it (ok, those who know me will realise the truth? I love it too!!). Well in a fierce bidding battle I managed to beat off Angela (a Georgie's Fund Trustee) to the prize (sorry Angela!). After a few weeks of waiting I got the call to say that it had been arranged and we were to report to Fountain Studios in Wembley for 5pm on Saturday 18th November. At this point I had a daughter beside herself with excitement and a new outfit for the evening. She had told just about everyone in her school, dance club, family members, strangers in street, basically anyone who came into contact with her that she was going to The X Factor and was going to meet, Simon Cowell and all the singers. She would ask people 'do you know what time it is??' and while they inspected their watch she informed them it was 'CHICO TIME!!' Meanwhile, her Dad (me) was becoming increasingly nervous at the prospect of it not being what she thought it would be! We arrived on time and after some searching for the correct entrance and running the gauntlet of pushing past The X Factor groupies, we were found on the VIP guest list and ushered into the hospitality area. Straight away, Laura spotted Nicholas and became a little star struck, gladly this soon passed. After a while of star spotting we were shown to our seats in the studio, and as luck would have it we were seated with the family and friends of Brenda, Journey South and Shane, all of whom had their feet firmly on the ground and were a joy to be with. Laura was quickly issued with a 'We Love Brenda' board to wave about and so the show began. The lovely Kate Thornton (probably Daddies favourite if I am honest!) introducing the show and then the 3 judges appear to thunderous applause on the stage. Simon, Sharon and Louis do the bit for TV, and then mingle through the audience. As we were with one of Sharon's turn's family (Brenda) she headed towards us and Laura managed to get a wave and a kiss blown to her from the wife of 'The Prince of Darkness' namely Ozzy!! By the time the controversial Conway Sisters were introduced as the first act, the atmosphere in the studio was electric. I have been fortunate enough to attend some great concerts and sporting events in my time, but for atmosphere, excitement and anticipation it matched them all. And as these amateur singers (that's what they are) did their bit, I must say I was full of admiration at the way they all performed and to think it was in an environment of such an atmosphere and 10 million people watching on TV! Finally the time for the last act. It was 'CHICO TIME!' And whatever you might think of the boy CHICO, did he perform! In the words of Simon Cowell he was indeed 'Dreadfully Fantastic'. And so it was time for the TV audience to do their phone voting, at which point Brenda's family all produced a mobile phone each and proceeded to vote for her. Meanwhile we went off to the bar again do some more star spotting. First up was Chris Eubank, ex-world champion boxer, he signed an autograph for Laura and then shook my hand, when he finally let go I was sure he had broken every bone in my hand! Chris if you read this, tone down the hand shake buddy (ouch!). Laura then spots 4 girls from the cast of Emmerdale, not being a fan myself I couldn't tell you who, but I did recognise the one who used to be in Neighbours, Emily Simmons. Another one of Daddies favourites! Onto the results part of show and you could really feel the tension, though on the performances, the 2 who would have to sing again seemed obvious, and indeed that's exactly how it turned out. Nicholas and the Conway Sisters had to have another turn! Sharon had the deciding vote and Nicholas was voted out, which was the right decision, unlike the week before when Louis voted out Maria (Laura's favourite) over his Irish family friends of the Conways! I am glad to say though that Laura's disappointment on Maria being voted out the week before was soon forgotten as Maria was there and was happy to spend a few minutes chatting to Laura and having pictures taken. She was absolutely lovely and soon become another of 'Daddies favourites!!' So, with the show over we were ushered back into the bar area to await the arrival of all the contestants, and one by one they arrived. First to grace us was the star of the night CHICO! Autographs and pictures followed and then Brenda, Andy, Journey South arrived and posed patiently for pictures. All of them were great for the kids, a real credit to themselves. At this point I should mention a lovely young lady by the name of Jessica, who was there with her daughter Monet (she is in most of the pictures with Laura). Jess works for Max Clifford (who we were guests of) and she looked after us brilliantly. Fortunately she knew a few people and before we knew it we were being led down the corridor to meet the man himself Simon Cowell. He answered the door to his dressing room and we entered. The fearsome, brutal truth telling, high waisted, Mr Cowell looked at the girls, looked at me and said???. 'Very nice to meet you all, did you enjoy the show?' What a thoroughly nice man, who made us feel very welcome. Then it happened, as we were leaving the dressing room of the god fearing Mr Cowell, out into to the corridor to meet us came the legend that is ...OZZY OSBOURNE... Ok, it's true 2 girls of 8 and 9 years old were a bit perplexed by him, but (and this is my only shameful moment of a packed evening) I insisted I had my picture with Ozzy before they did, and thus preceded to push them aside! I asked Laura if she knew who he was, her reply was 'of course I do Dad, that's Sharon's husband!' My guess is he is getting used to that nowadays? ... The Georgie's Fund golf day was a great event, and raised around £10,500, and I am honoured I could play a small part in it. Though Laura and I had the most wonderful night out, we both didn't forget why we were there. We spoke about George and how, no doubt, he would have loved that night too, and how he must have loved his visit to the Eastenders set (again sorted out by Max). Cheers Max, in adversity you have made more than a few people smile! To Tania, Lynne and the team of Georgies Fund, congratulations on the work you do, keep it going. All the best. Lee X       Written by Lee Perry for Georgie's Fund 23rd November 2005