A very
merry Christmas & prosperous 2019 to all our Friends |
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The best intent to make a very early start seems to have slipped somewhat As is the custom Rosedale News will be on the web at www.gwsjms.me.uk/xmas18.htm. |
Holidays & Awaydays Another week in Scotland in January to be with Kat, Santi and the boys in Inverness for the Festival of the 3 Kings - 12th Night to us lot. We had a great time there and were able to make friends with their new family member, Lola a 2 month old, (then) Labradoodle
We got over the eight hour drive that time by going by train, still 6.5 hours but more relaxing through wonderful scenery, especially the snow covered Cairngorms. We returned by car in June to have another week of lovely weather.
As normal we have spent time in Milton Keynes visiting Chris, Debs, Mikie & Ben. We were booked to dog sit in July and hoped to see some more countryside in Buckinghamshire and Oxford. However we were beaten by the very hot summer with temperatures in the mid 30s. After a week or so, we retreated back to Cheshire where it was somewhat cooler. In August we departed for Budapest to cruise the Danube up to Linz in Austria. The night before departure we were informed by Riviera Travel that our ship, the MS Oscar Wilde, was somewhat marooned in Budapest because the River Danube had insufficient water to operate some of the locks.
We need not have feared though because its sister ship, MS Thomas Hardy, was upriver in Bratislava and after two nights in Budapest we were to be transfered by coach. Everything went very well and we saw more of Budspest than expected.
September saw another trip to Ireland staying in Portrush in County Antrim. The trip was organiesed by the Master of John Brunner Lodge and was hosted by local Masons. The hospitality was second to none with great food, a trip to Bushmills distillery and a tour of the Antrim coastline.
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Debbie, Chris, Mikie & Ben |
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Both grandchildren now a year older and in new schools. Ben transferred to the Junior School from the Infant School - actually only about 100m away from each other. He seems to be settling down well. Mikie is his first year at secondary school and is enjoying the challenge. I think he was outgrowing junior school which is quite common. Both continue in the Scouting movement with Mikie in Scouts and Ben transferring to Cubs. Swimming is still on the cards so most evenings are busy. Debora and Chris continue in their jobs, both based in Milton Keynes. In the summer they went camping (in a mobile home) in France and Germany with a break in Holland for the “non wedding party” to celebrate the marriage of Deb’s brother Stuart to Dianne, who were formally married in England and but were having a celebration with all the Dutch family. Chris & Debs' visit coincided with that very hot spell in July and I think they were glad to get back to a slightly cooler Britain, because things were very hot in a tin box! |
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Graham and Janet Golden Wedding Anniversary
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| Katherine, Santi, Ivan & Oscar | |
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Katherine and Santi continue in their jobs at the Raigmore Hospital and Tesco respectively. Kat may be in an episode of C5's Highland Midwife in 2019. Oscar is now in his last year at primary school and looks forward to next August when he joins Ivan at Culloden Academy. Ivan has done well in his first year, especially in the maths and science classes but is glad that the compulsory year of Gaelic has finished.
Both have now started Scouts and Oscar is enjoying his drama classes. We spent a lovely week with the family in Inverness, going for lots of walks in the surrounding countryside and coastal areas. Lola, the dog, is now fully grown and settled down very well. In September Lola arrived in Moulton for us to look after her while the family went out to Barcelona to see the Spanish relatives. We were a bit concerned as to whether we would be able to manage her and Megan on their walks but all went very well. She is a very well behaved dog. |
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| Janet | |
I have finally managed to pass on my post of WI Secretary to someone else and will now be able to enjoy meetings without the correspondence and minutes. I am still our choir’s secretary but the job is much less arduous. The Christmas season approaches and the choir is in for a busy time. Our biggest event is carol singing at our local National Trust establishment, Tatton Park |
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Graham and Megan Graham is still busy serving on the Governing Board of the County High School, Leftwich Academy The school has outstanding status and has the best exam results in Cheshire. We are working towards amalgamating with one or more other schools to form a Multi Academy Trust or MAT. Always something new! Probus continues to provide pleasure with a wealth of interesting speakers and topics at our bi-weekly meetings. Apart from formal meetings members range far and wide in Cheshire and neighbouring areas for our walks. These always culminate in one or other hostelries where the cuisine and ale are sampled whilst putting the world to rights. Put us in power and we would soon sort Brexit! Not satisfied with with the Probus hikes Graham does his daily walk with Megan, generally about 3 miles Not always fun on cold, dark winter mornings but the exercise is beneficial. Graham's Lodge continues to be very active with many new men coming in. Over the past year we raised about £4000 for our charitable causes.
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