Welcome to the table! In this episode, I am joined by the brilliant Alison Cork MBE – entrepreneur, interiors expert and all-round inspiration. 

She’s built businesses, shaped beautiful homes and is a fierce champion of women in business. Now in her 60's, she is more motivated, stronger and healthier than ever and her recent book, Fit & Fabulous over 50 reflects a huge shift in her approach to life now and her shift towards wellbeing in her personal and business life.

We talk food, fitness, fave restaurants and personal values - it's a conversation that really highlights her integrity and vitality.

She's exactly the kind of woman I would enjoy sitting next to at a dinner party, hence why I asked her to host a Cutlery Club Salon and why the guests found her to be such an inspiring speaker. She loves life, she thrives on challenge and she is insatiably curious. Oh, and she loves food and music - two of the most important things in life, in my opinion!

I hope you enjoy this conversation (please forgive the slight sound issues) and enjoy getting to know the woman behind the huge success story.

In this November 2023 episode of The Cutlery Club Conversations I am chatting with the delightful food and drink writer, Andy Clarke.

Andy is also well known as a Television Producer, having worked on some brilliant programmes like Saturday Kitchen and one of my absolute faves, ⁠Gordon, Gino and Fred.⁠ He also presents the summer day festivals, Pub in the Park so rubbing shoulders with top celebs is second nature to him. Thankfully, he remains as down to earth as ever and was still happy to hang out with little ole me in his favourite Bristol restaurant, Little French owned by one of his close friends, Freddy Bird.

A first for Andy in April 2024 is a place on the judging panel - alongside the eminent Ken Hom - of the Golden Chopsticks Awards, co-founded by Gok Wan and now considered one of the food industry’s hottest tickets. The 2024 awards will take place at Royal Lancaster London on Monday 29th April 2024. It's the most fabulous night out so book your tickets and rub shoulders with some of the most exciting people in the food and drink industry, including this gorgeous man, who is always happy to say 'hi' and have a selfie with everyone.

You can often catch him on the Alan Titchmarsh show, Love your Weekend, effortlessly knocking up delicious cocktails and advising us on all the top tipples. His recent Cocktail book, Home Bar was a triumph, so naturally the follow up House of Gin is much anticipated, so keep your eyes peeled for that in May.

We eat, drink, chat and giggle, whilst talking food, wine, music, tv, fave celebrity friends from Angela Hartnett to Ken Hom; before moving on to the secrets to a good marriage. It’s all in there, so dive in folks!

[A quick heads up, there’s background noise aplenty – it’s a busy restaurant after all – you may feel it adds to the ambience, or it might drive you nuts – let’s hope it’s the former!]

Here, we go off on a detour and chat domestics. To clean, or not to clean, that is the question. And that's it in a nutshell really.

The 3rd and final Course. The Rose is finished and we are on to the G&T's - it's a tad noisy, I'll say no more!

Part 2 - The Main Course, where we ditch the small talk, fill the glass with Rose and things get a little deeper.

We talk about the woman behind the character and how being a soap star ingratiates you with the public in ways that other roles can't. Diane shares some invaluable advice for young aspiring actors and talks about the diversity of the roles she undertook before joining Eastenders. We touch on the importance of family, bucket lists and the challenges of being a black woman in the world of entertainment.

So, here I am, once again, enjoying another conversation with one of the special guests from a Cutlery Club Salon, my dear friend, Diane Parish, best known for her character as Denise in the award-winning British soap opera, Eastenders.

Diane hosted a Cutlery Club dinner earlier this year to celebrate International Women’s Day, alongside the brilliantly funny author and stand-up comedian, Rosie Wilby. They were such a superb combination, entertaining the 30 female guests with their funny stories and sharing some really personal nuanced views on love, life and femininity. It

What you’ll hear in this episode is just two good friends enjoying some girlie banter with a big helping of cackling laughter along the way (I warn you, there was wine and gin involved!) One for the girls, maybe!

This episode, Part 1, aka 'The First Course' is all about food, cooking, kitchens, general small talk really …but we settle down in Part 2 for some more meaningful stuff about values, and career choices. There’s some solid advice thrown in there too for any aspiring young thespians; so take note as it’s invaluable stuff coming from someone with such a wealth of experience and knowledge of the entertainment industry.

And finally we end on more light-hearted stuff; the gin kicks in, the volume notches up and Idris Elba is being recruited for some potential match-making support!

The Outtakes were a conversational detour on Domesticity - or cleaning and cleaners, to be more precise. Whether it will inspire you to pick up a duster or employ a cleaner remains to be seen, but...you've been warned.

So, hold on to your seats folks, it’s an ear burner at times as we are a rather obstreperous pair! But ultimately, it’s the real Diane Parish, a truly beautiful, sensitive and kind soul, in her most natural habitat – the garden, drinking wine!

I really hope you enjoy listening.

In this episode of The Cutlery Club Conversations I talk to my lovely friend and very talented artist, David Gwinnutt. It's a very chilled conversation between two friends - me sipping tea on my sofa, David nursing a tequila hangover with a big glass of water! You'll get a sense of who he is from our banter and hopefully enjoy the light-heartedness of it all. Apologies for any sound discrepancies at the beginning - I'm a novice at this and am trying to embrace the imperfectness of all I do!

He was an incredible guest speaker at one of the salons and I felt really fortunate to have him hosting with me, sharing the most amazing stories of all the iconic queer people he has photographed over the past few decades and how those opportunities came about. Those stories and anecdotes can also be found in his fabulous book, The White Camera Diaries, which has a permanent place on my coffee table at home.

He has achieved many great things, from having his work featured in the National Portrait Gallery - and more recently, The Photographers Gallery in Romilly Street, London W1 - to creating the iconic Pink Jack flag which represents the LGBT community and symbolises inclusivity.

If you'd like to know more about this brilliant man and his amazing work, check out his website - www.davidgwinnutt.com

I really hope you enjoy. Do let me know your thoughts and feedback. Constructive ones only please!

In this final part of my conversation with Bob we talk more on love, family, friendship, Pina Coladas, cricket, toast......we really cover some ground!

This conversation may have ended here, but I am thrilled to say we have forged the most wonderful friendship as a result of this time together. We are kindred spirits when it comes to our love of music and nature and I am now blessed to call him a friend and enjoy many more chats with him, week on week.

If you have enjoyed listening to us chatting, please leave a comment and share with other Bob fans. 

Thanks for listening.

Love,

Isobel 

This podcast episode was recorded in July 2022 following the Cutlery Club salon in the St Pancras clock tower, King's Cross, London when Claire Fox was my chosen guest of honour. Claire is now a non-affiliated member of the House of Lords, a controversial undertaking and one that has brought her heavy criticism, due to her previous calls for its abolishment. She founded the Academy of Ideas and Battle of Ideas annual festival and has more recently written a book, I Find That Offensive about the demise of free speech.

I first met Claire nearly 20 years ago when she founded The Academy of Ideas, a platform for open debate and free speech. Once I had got past the initial feeling of intimidation, I warmed to her honesty and genuine interest in people.

So for me she was a natural choice to host a Cutlery Club salon and her straight talking, honesty and openness made her a superb choice; the guests got to see the real person behind the formidable, no-nonsense public persona.

We talk about the controversy surrounding her decision to accept a position in the Lords, the pressures of public life and social media, cancel culture, her fantasy dinner party guests and dead heading flowers! There's loads more actually, from food favourites to guilty pleasures; she's as down-to-earth as they come, always speaking from the heart and completely transparent.

Now, remember, I’m a complete novice at this podcasting malarkey so it's not surprising that it didn’t go strictly to plan! So, I’m asking up front for your understanding and tolerance of the varying recording tones and patchy editing (I'm still learning!) Some of it was recorded in Claire’s office at the House of Lords, and some of it was re-recorded on the phone the following Sunday morning, and subsequently, the recording you are hearing is a mash up of both!  I won’t bore you with why, but needless to say, there were lessons learned about checking your equipment and knowing your platform limitations!! 

So, here we are; me, a bit nervous (nothing to do with Claire, just this whole podcasting thing!) trying to scratch beneath the surface a little bit more, and Claire, just being totally Claire. A brilliant woman who I feel very lucky to know. I hope you enjoy.

#clairefox #battleofideas #academyofideas #baronessofbuckley #brexitparty #houseoflords #ifindthatoffensive #freespeech #cancelculture #buckley #snowflakegeneration 

In this second episode of The Cutlery Club Conversations,  I'm in conversation with talented Interior Designer, my naughty neighbour and great friend, Maggie Greening. We sip Buck’s Fizz in Maggie's charming and quintessentially English ‘country’ garden - except it’s suburban London….the sirens and helicopter are a bit of a give-away.

We talk about the inspiration behind her styling of the first Cutlery Club Supper Salon of 2020 and where her passion for Interiors comes from, her passion for creating spaces that people feel good in, and how to avoid style over substance

We move on to the hospitality industry and who gets it right (The Pig is unsurpassed!) when it comes to combining style and substance; and why it's so important to create space that doesn't intimidate your guests, but elevates mood and enhances the whole dining experience, whether it’s an intimate Supper Club or dinner party, or swanky London hotel restaurant.

Then we wrap things up with a food fight!

For more details on Maggie’s work, visit her website www.mginteriordesign.co.uk or follow her on Instagram: @maggiegengland and @mginteriordesignuk