A Year of Celebration!
A Happy Christmas and wonderful New Year to all our family, friends and even casual readers. 2018 was a very special year for us (see below), we had a great deal of fun, went to a lot of places and had rather a hectic time. How there was ever time for work, we’ll never know!
Still No Cards
This is the same appeal that we make each year and the reason why we don’t buy and post Christmas cards
Every day we realise how lucky we are compared with the plight of refugees and asylum seekers around the world. And with the catastrophe continuing in the Middle East it’s as if we’ve become immune to the tragedy that is still going on, with millions fleeing their homes and being shunned by most of the world.
That’s why we’re donating our Christmas card money to a charity that helps them in their new home town. BRASS (Befriending Refugees and Asylum Seekers), here in Bolton, helps refugees to learn English, to be able to have a life without barriers and integrate in the community; visit the doctor, find a job, support their children and socialise with other people.
Please also help people such as them this Christmas.
Going Back
On a (ever so slightly nostalgic) trip to the Chilterns in September we stopped by the church in White Waltham, nr. Maidenhead where John and his brother Rob were choir boys a very long time ago and where Steve Cowell had a “voice like an angel”!
We had a tour of the church, sat in the choir stalls and were very warmly welcomed by the ladies making sure everything was ready for the following Sunday.
What’s more, the urge to climb the yew tree that John last scaled almost 60 years back was, as you might expect, just irresistible!
Made It
The 1st of May, our wedding day, 12:20 is the time; So come along and hear us say, “I’m yours and yours is mine”
So went our wedding invitation 25 years ago. And in May this year we celebrated our silver wedded bliss by taking family and friends to the beautiful Northumberland coast for three days of celebrating, eating, drinking, walking, visiting the Farne Isles and looking forward to the next 25 years. Book for the trip now to avoid disappointment!
So Big!
Young Mr. Jack, at eight, is almost as tall as Noelene now and, of course, is a real “wisenheimer”! But he’s still a very loving and sweet young fellow, doing well at school and with everything connected with science and engineering as his favourite subjects (that’s my boy)!
We had a wonderful holiday in Wales again this summer and, even if there was no holiday romance this time, he loved the beautiful sandy beaches of Porthcawl.
The Wedding of the Year……..
……..was a great excuse for us to spend an unplanned six weeks in wonderful South Africa during October and November — just when it was getting chilly here in good old Blighty.
Our gorgeous niece, Christma, married Maverick at a lovely farm venue near Bronkhorstspruit on the Gauteng/Mpumalanga border (sort of near Pretoria for you who know your South African geography!). And a great time was had by the whole fandamily!
Our love to them both for the years ahead.
Places and Faces
It seems that 2018 has been the year when we just didn’t stop and, as much as we love seeing people and places, it’s great to be home for Christmas and New Year.
With Bro Rob
The Needles, Isle of Wight
Clara Campoamor Memorial, Seville
Early on in the year we visited bro Rob and his gang in Cornwall and then we made a nostalgic visit to the Isle of Wight — John’s holiday destination during his “tender years”. It’s hardly changed since the 1960s. We had a short break in the Cotswolds in February and then travelled to Seville in March — what a lovely city; go there if you can.
On the Great Orme, Llandudno
With Bro Peter in Whitstable
En La Belle France
Some of the other places we’ve been lucky enough to visit: Cordoba — another wonderful Spanish city, the Limosin Region of France (we can understand why “les gilets jaune” are protesting, though!), Hyde Hall RHS garden at Colchester, Whitstable to see brother Peter and sister-in-law Janet, Harlow Carr RHS garden near Harrogate (twice, for Noelene to do gardening courses and John to go walking!), Llandudno for the jazz festival, Stirling – for Runrig’s last ever concert + a visit to nearby Falkirk, Porthcawl for a week by the sea with young Jack, the Chilterns to visit a vineyard and brewery (yes, two in one—WONDERFUL!), oh, and six weeks in South Africa — well, there didn’t seem to be much point in just going for the wedding!
At Northcliffe Ridge, Johannesburg
Gin Fest in Pretoria
Nelson Mandela Capture Site Sculpture
In The Red
Despite being determined to “spend more time with the family” John was prevailed on to stand “just one more time” in the Bolton local elections — the 14th occasion!
Even with the help of his youngest supporter he still came a “good second”. Well, there’s always next year!
Disastrously, Brexit looms in 2019 and we really fear for the future of youngsters like Jack.
Madame Chair
In April Noelene was elected Chair of the African Community Association of Bolton (ACAB) — a position not without its challenges! But, together with a small hard working team, she organised and delivered an innovative and very successful Black History Month programme, mostly at Bolton Library and the University.
It’ll be even more exciting in 2019.
Music Maestro! 2018
With all the travelling we’ve done there’s not been time to see all the music we’d like. But we did manage to catch Jethro Tull’s 50th anniversary tour (yes, Ian Anderson still plays the flute standing on one leg!).
(top row: Jethro Tull at the Manchester Apollo, Runrig at Stirling Castle bottom row: Llandudno Jazz Festival, Star Wars with the Halle Orchestra at the Bridgewater Hall, Manchester)
We travelled to Stirling for Runrig’s last ever performance on a damp and chilly but wonderful night beneath the castle. There wasn’t a dry eye in the hoose! In the summer we had a great weekend at the Llandudno Jazz Festival — definitely one to re-visit. And later in the year we saw the Hallé Orchestra playing the music of Star Wars—excellent music and good fun too!
October saw the incredible and hard hitting Roger Waters’ “Us and Them” concert with the message to be good to everyone regardless of gender, colour, nationality or religion and stop killing the children! Possibly one of the best performances we’ve ever seen by anyone. And Nick Mason carried on the Pink Floyd theme with his Saucerful of Secrets, reprising some of the band’s classic early music.
(top row: Roger Waters – Animals and Dark Side of the Moon at the Manchester Arena bottom row: Nick Mason’s Saucerful of Secrets at the Manchester Apollo, on stage with Max Vidima and his band in Bramfontein)
Finally, we caught the talented African jazz of Zimbabwean Max Vidima at a virtuoso performance in Bramfontein, Johannesburg during our South African visit.
On to 2019
With all the places we’ve been this year we think that 2019 will be a lot less hectic (oh yeah? :)). But we both have birthdays ending in ZERO so in January we’re off to celebrate with a Northern Lights cruise up the coast of Norway and into the Arctic Circle – probably a tad cooler than it was in South Africa! Hopefully there will be some warmer weather in Spain when we go there again with our lovely friends Gary and Charo!
John’ll have lots of Wednesday walks and with recently being selected as the Labour candidate in the safest Tory ward in Bolton………. Noelene, no doubt, will be kept busy with her work for the African Community Association of Bolton and other organisations. And possibly we’ll finish off the water feature in the garden and grow even better veggies!
Our love and best wishes for a wonderful Christmas and a happy and peaceful New Year.
Images of 2018
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