Volume 17
Janet & Graham Scott
 December 2013
u
A very merry Christmas & prosperous 2014 to all our Friends
 Graham & Judy
Not off to such a good start with this compared to last year. It is mid December already and the year seems to have slipped by. As is the custom Rosedale News will be on the web at
www.gwsjms.me.uk/xmas13.htm.

Holidays

A bit of a dearth of holidays this year. We seem to have been overtaken by a marathon kitchen refurbishment which has been ongoing since August - more of this later perhaps.

In April we spent a week cruising the Norfolk Broads with our friends the Watkinsons, the Blacks & the Wakelings. The last time we were in East Anglia was over 40 years ago (Tony & Angela's wedding possibly).

Anyway we had a large cruiser from Wroxham in which we did about 140 miles in the week taking in Norwich, Yarmouth and lots of small villages and watering holes.

We had a great time with excellent weather.

Norwich Cathedral 1 Norwich Cathedral 2

Graham was caught speeding by the River Authority cop and he had an exiting time coming back in to Great Yarmouth on the R Yare on an ebb tide, running at ca 6mph, and trying to turn left into the R Bure. It made us appreciate our cruise ship captain last year with his 40,000 ton ship.

While the gentlemen(?) were piloting the cruiser we ladies were knitting baby hats for the maternity department at the Princess Royal Hospital in Glasgow. All new babies receive a hat on their arrival. I don't think they did that in our day. Denise, who had booked the boat for her 60th birthday celebrations, decided that we should make at least 60 hats. In the end I think I posted off over 100, but not all made on the holiday.

Denise, the one in the green jumper on the above picture, is a very quick knitter and she must be thanked for making most of them. We got quite inventive by the end of the week. Not only did we make plain bonnets but we progressed to patterns and even embroidered flowers on some hats.

Debbie & Chris

Mikie is now in the third year at school and doing well. He has started riding his bike unaided and plays Rugby on Saturday. He has just lost his two front teeth but we think this is more to do with age than the rugby field.

He is also now a Beaver cub

Mikie Ffestiniog Railway

Debora is still at Homebase in the marketing department. TalkTalk finally closed its Milton Keynes site in February but Chris and a few others had been kept on since last October to supervise the shutdown.. Chris did not take the offer of a job at its HQ in Irlam but took the redundancy instead.

He had no problem getting another job and is now on the daily commute to London. We don't envy him having to get up at 5.30am to get to London by 8.00 although he does manage to get home by 5.45pm so doesn't miss out on boy time. There are advantages in being retired, we don't have to get up at the crack of dawn!

Ben 250712
Ben didn't quite make his first walk last Christmas but it came soon aftter. Now he runs around like an athlete, chuckling all the time. He is also talking 13 to the dozen. While they were on holiday in Italy in June he was taken into hospital with an infection and dehydration but after 24 hours on a drip he was right as rain
Chris & Debs

Work & Hobbies

Graham continues with his full program of interests. He is still Vice Chairman of the County High School, Leftwich which has recently become a self governing Academy hence more work for the Governors but it is all very rewarding.

He has been Chairman of the Province of Cheshire Freemasons IT working party now for over a year trying to get everything onto the online world including social Media. The new web and is linked above while we can be seen on FaceBook at .www.facebook.com/ProvinceofCheshireFreemasons

After serving as President two years ago he is back to being secretary of Weaver Probus Club. Janet says it is a sort of male WI but really is an acronym for Poor Retired Old Buggers Unfit for Sex!!

Janet continues with her work as Secretary to her choir and local WI. She also still works at the two local schools as an invigilator but does not expect as much work after the summer as Mr Gove is cutting the number of exam entries from September 2014. The Winsford Academy has a fabulous new building although some say it looks like an airport reception area. One long, central corridor, called The Street, with pods of classrooms leading off. Finding one's way around has been fun!

Janet was reminded by college friends that it was 50 years ago that we started our studies at Elizabeth Gaskell College in Manchester. It is now part of the Manchester Metropolitan University and the centre for its nursing studies.

Twice a year the four Talbot Road Gang members (we all had digs at No 12) meet up, sometimes in each others homes or in Manchester for a show and a meal. This year our schedule has been a bit skewed as two members have been poorly and meetings have had to be changed on several occasions. It's a shame that Anne, who now lives in Canada, can't make our "do's"

Megan Dog

Megan contiues to be Megan! Still very energetic and needing her two walks a day. She hasn't entirely liked the dispruption in the kitchen but she was compensated by being allowed to sleep in the dining room while work was progressing. By the look on her face when going to bed I think she would prefer to stay there still!.

Megan

Katherine & Santi

Katherine is still bringing babies into the world at the Princess Royal Hospital in Glasgow.

Santi has been working for Tesco filling customers' online orders. He can fit this work around Katherine's shifts and the boys' school times.
Both Ivan and Oscar are doing well at school as well as enjoying football training and the Boys Brigade. Life will be a little disrupted for the next few terms as they are having a new school built. This means that the children will be bssed to another school each day. I gather there is one old school that the education department are keeping open so that a lot of the Junior schools can be rebuilt. School Boys
Oscar Ivan We went up to Glasgow at the end of November for Ivan's 8th birthday. We all went out for a lovely meal with them before returning to let Ivan build his new Lego.
Santi was very lucky not to have been in that awful helicopter crash on the pub in Glasgow. He and a friend had been going to hear the band in the pub but decided not to go as we were arriving that day. Both boys go to football training on Saturday mornings and are doing well. They also go swimming and are members of the Boys' Brigade so keep Santi and Katherine busy shuttling them around.

They are going to Barcelona for Christmas this year so we won't be seing them until the New Year. Santi has not spent Christmas with his parents for a number of years so it will be good for them to get together.

After visiting Glasgow we went across to Edinburgh for a couple of days. Janet had never been there before but I think we might make a return trip some day. We did the usual touristy things--the Castle Princes Street and an undergroung tour and a trip round the Fire Brigade Museum. Luckily we got back before the bad storms which came later that week. Graham had an unpleasant half hour when he lost his wallet, credit cards etc. Luckily it was still under the chair in the tea rooms half an hour later.
Edinburgh Castle Edinburgh German Market

Christmas for us will not be as quiet as it was in 2012. Chris, Debs and the boys will be arriving, plus Debs's dad and Holly, the dog. I don't think we will be ab;e to make the local pantomime this year as there willl be no children around when they are performing.

As ever please send us your email address, we can be reached at gws@astondb9.plus.com
Nativity

 

All the best to you all for the Christmas season and the New Year.
All our love,
Janet & Graham