It’s the start of the Easter and holiday weekend for most people and for those of us who have managed six weeks of Lent, the finishing line of sacrifice is almost in sight.

I gave up crisps which has been a nightmare I’m not going to lie so as you can imagine that Easter Sunday breakfast of nachos I’ve been dreaming about is most definitely on the cards.

My little nephew is already counting down the hours until the Easter Bunny delivers his eggs and yesterday I saw two little girls out shopping with their parents wearing the most adorable homemade Easter bonnets. It’s a lovely time of year and fingers crossed we get some decent weather over the weekend to celebrate.

Before all of that though I’m quite excited to be going along to Oran Mor in Glasgow tonight for Charlotte Church’s a Late Night Pop Dungeon. The Welsh songstress and her band are performing their constantly evolving, genre-hopping covers set in seven cities across the UK and Ireland in April and May and tonight it’s Glasgow’s turn.

When asked to describe the concept of the show, Ms Church said: “Down the dark, dark stairs, upon the bloody gallows of soft rock, through the oubliette of cheese, into the torture chamber of disco, you are welcomed to the Late Night Pop Dungeon” so picture that if you will. Everyone and their granny knows Charlotte can sing but the rave reviews for this show not only compliment her live vocal but the whole experience for top class entertainment.

A friend of mine accidentally stumbled into her show at Glastonbury last year and said it was the best thing she’d seen that entire weekend so I think everyone going along to the Oran Mor tonight is in for a real treat.

Every Easter Sunday hundreds of pilgrims across Scotland travel to Lourdes in France with the charity HCPT to take sick and disadvantaged children on holiday for a week. I’ve been travelling on and off with the trust as a helper and more recently as an ambassador for the past twenty years and I’m just devastated I can’t travel this year.

HCPT is a wonderful organisation and it was back in 1996 that I first travelled as part of the Scottish Youth Group.

My job was to assist helpers looking after children throughout the day by doing things like pushing wheelchairs and organising drinks for the group during our cafe stops.

I remember that first trip out to Lourdes with the charity as being one of the most life changing and significant experiences I’d had as a 16-year-old girl.

I knew there and then that volunteering for a charity was something I wanted to do for as long as I could because the joy and happiness I felt when seeing the faces of those incredible little children was the best feeling in the world. To everyone travelling with the Scottish Region this year and all the HCPT family around the world, I hope you have the most fantastic week in Lourdes and sing an extra chorus of Rise and Shine for me please.

St Enoch’s Shopping Centre is celebrating the launch of the new Atrium Food Court following a £1.5 million investment and has arranged a packed calendar of events from Easter Egg Hunts to visits from Ben and Holly and Bing and Flop.

Get your paws on a Thornton’s Easter lolly by joining in the Beatson Cancer Charity Easter Hunt. Join in with this fantastic cause for just £1 and if you find all the clues you could be in with a chance of winning an ‘eggcellent’ Easter hamper. There’s so much happening in the centre over the weekend and for more information just visit www.st-enoch.com or call 0141 204 3900.