Stella and I were both excited/nervous as we travelled up to Manchester to film dads and their daughters for Cbeebies Black History Month celebrations. It was the longest we’d travelled alone together without my wife or son. They had planned to come but a vomiting bug struck my son and so they had to wave us goodbye.
We had a good journey on the train up North (she conned me into buying her a magazine – wow, they’re expensive), and ate sweets, speaking about loads of things like what we were going to do when we got there and what to expect. It was all going well until my taxi didn’t arrive with my phone battery down to 3% but we found our way to the hotel in the end (Stella all the while being much calmer than me). It was late by then so we got room service and went over the sorts of things we’d be talking about the next day – like role models, hair, family, culture and food (most important)!
We got there first thing and while we waited in Reception had lots of photos with Tree Fu Tom and the Furchester Hotel characters. Stella had a chaperone who stayed with her the whole time – and I was keeping a close watch.
It struck me that my little girl is growing up fast. She was so brave through the recording, and it felt amazing to just be there together sharing our lives and our story.
Parents at the school and her friends were so excited to see the recording and quite a few said sorry if they’d ever touched her hair (Stella explains in the film that she hates it when people do this). One Mum said she had been sent the film by a friend in Hastings and said ‘I know that Dad and Daughter!’. It felt good to be a part of something really special.
Written by Jermaine Smith