Jane's meet and greet account

The soundcheck finally finishes. Darren waves and says "enjoy the show" then leaves the stage.

I look around unsure of what to do next. One of the stage crew is telling us to leave. Sue points out to him that we are here to meet Darren (that's Sue, Jo and me....Tiara Jane). We are told to wait where we are. I see a conversation going on to my right with Sharon, one of Darren's staff.

Sharon walks towards us and asks us to follow her. I notice we are walking through doors, up flights of stairs until we finally arrive in a very narrow corridoor. For the second time Sharon tells us to stay where we are and leaves us waiting for something to happen.

Suddenly Sharon appears again and I think she's asking us to follow her. I start to walk forward, then Darren appears in the doorway. It must be the expression on my face because he immediately begins to explain why he is wearing an Argentinian football shirt and baggy kaki shorts. He says he's playing a football match in the Guildhall for relaxation and is on the winning side. "Okay" I say in response.

I've seen pictures of Darren....and I geared myself up to be a bit disappointed because nobody could possibly look better in person. But he's absolutely gorgeous. Sue tells me because the main thing I remembered was that he had shorts on proves I can't have been looking at his face..<g> Anyway...Darren kneels down besides Jo and engages in conversation with her. Me....I'm just melting into a pool of mush on the floor. I've heard he is great with kids..and seen pics too but never witnessed it first hand until now. After having a couple of photos taken with her Darren walks up to me. Unsure of what to do Leonie breaks the silence and suggests a photo session.

At this stage I am aware of Grant filming the whole thing, plus Sharon in the background. I hunt in my bag for a camera and go to hand it to Sue. Leonie says that she will take the photo.

So I stand next to Darren and he puts his arm round my shoulders. I duly place my arm round his waist. This is what I've wanted for so long. It feels good being this close to him. He's very cuddly, and his grip is firm...yet gentle. I feel his hand squeezing my arm pulling me in tighter to him. I respond by squeezing his waist. I wonder if the reason he did this was to reassure me, because not only was I nervous but I was shivering slightly from the cold October evening. Leonie says she will take another photo so Darren and I stay in the same postition.

Then because of the location being narrow Grant the camera man steps backwards and nearly falls over. Darren laughs ( at the end of the track "Dirty" on "Spin". He sounds exactly like that) . Because he's laughing he makes me smile...and I hear Leonie say "that will be a nice photo".

I fumble in my bag for my M&M toy for Darren to sign. I hand it to him and he writes "Yummy love Darren X" on the back. Curious Darren turns the toy over and I feel I should explain the significance of it. As I start to talk I'm aware of his blue eyes penetrating mine. I wasn't sure what he was doing but a couple of days later I realised that Darren was looking into me. I've heard people who have had similar experiences and all I can say is that it feels strange...but nice. I try to explain that my winning M&G entry was M&Ms because like Darren they have a nutty centre and a conventional outer coating. I manage to get the majority of the speech out..with a bit of help from Sue.

Darren says "that's good because I love chocolate" And then it's time to bid our farewells. My next mission is to get a hug from him!!!!!