My Downing Street visit

What a fantastic evening Thursday 11 February was. This was the date that I, along with approximately 100 other entrepreneurs and business people, where invited by Gordon Brown to attend a celebration for SME's at No.10 Downing Street. I had been invited in my capacity of a successful business person/entrepreneur and an example of a business that has been helped by Business Link.

Via the wonderful world of Twitter, I already knew a couple of people who were attending, Claire Young (from The Apprentice) and Nadine Hill, The Dream PA, as well as Julie Meyer, BBC's online Dragon, from Dragon's Den and John Cowell (Simon Cowell's brother) and fellow Business Link advocate, Penina Shepherd from Acumen Business Law, so felt pre-prepared for what lay ahead.

Spookily, on the train heading down to London, I spotted a lady wearing the same outfit Nadine had described as her Downing Street outfit on her blog - and yes, it turned out to be her - we were both sitting on the same train carriage!

Later that evening, once having had my bags screened and body scanned, I was finally walking down the world-famous street - it was amazing. I hate the over-use of the word 'surreal' but to be so close to such an iconic house was 'surreal' - you could be mistaken to thinking you were just seeing a great studio backdrop.

Parked immediately outside of the house was Sir Alan Sugar's car and it was there, on the steps of No.10 that I had my photograph taken - see above.

Once inside we left our personal belongings with security and then headed up the stairs punctuated along the way with paintings and latterly photographs of every Prime Minister our country has ever had - again, another awe-inspiring spectacle.

Just as I arrived at the top of the stairs and into the Reception Room the first person I laid eyes on, and looking back at me was Sir Alan Sugar. We then went into another room where I met Claire Young, Mike Kershaw, from the prestigious event solution company, The Concerto Group amongst others.

Unfortunately The Prime Minster was called away at the last minute, so we had the pleasure of Lord Mandelson who gave a short address thanking us all for our great efforts during an incredibly difficult time and identifying how the Government and businesses can work together moving forwards.

After this address, I then mingled with the other guests including John Cowell, from Cowell Consulting before the party drew to a close.

Suffice to say it was an amazing evening, one which I will always remember, not only for the honour of being invited, but for the great people I met whilst I was there. Next stop, the Queen's Garden party....