To sum up the year - three birthdays, one tree-planting and a funeral. Sarah is not one to do things by halves and her 40th birthday was no exception, with a big university hall, a band and caterer. All our family, including Susan and Heather from USA, were there and freaked out on the dancing, especially Joe (11), who managed every dance.
Sarah has always complained that she has had to share her birthday with my mother, but this year, Alice could not leave the nursing home. Instead, we arranged for Mr. Magic to come and entertain the residents, which he did, and they and Alice thoroughly enjoyed her 95th birthday.
Hardly had we got over Easter, than Alice needed hospital treatment for her PEG to be replaced. But at the same time she had a chest infection that developed into pneumonia and she died in the Gwynedd hospital on May 10th. Her funeral service to celebrate her life was held in St. John's Methodist Church, Bangor. She was cremated in Bangor, and we arranged for her ashes to be interred in the family grave in Fleetwood. So at the end of June we met up with some friends and relatives who live there and had an outdoor service of commital at the graveside.
We had a super hot and sunny week's Welsh Summer School in July, camping at Pwllheli, swimming in the sea to cool off after classes. Then we managed to book a couple of weeks in Madeira in September. Madeira is good walking country. There are miles of levadas - irrigation channels - running round the hills with narrow footpaths alongside. Some of the views are spectacular, but Anne discovered they were too spectacular when she started to suffer with vertigo as we approached a section carved out of a cliff face with a 1500' drop and we had to turn back. After that we were more careful to choose walks without such exciting perils.
Anne's father Frank Eul was Director of Parks in Bexley for 30 years and 30 years after he retired, the Council agreed to plant a tree in his memory. So at the end of October, we went to London, stayed in Mary Sumner House for a couple of nights and saw Richard II and Guys and Dolls. We stayed the weekend with Roger and Julie Knight in Bexleyheath and had a great time reminiscing. Bexley Council had organised the day for us; the tree, a clipped yew, had already been planted. So all it took was a tribute to Frank and a little token shovelling of earth round the base. One of the best things about the arrangements was the presence of some of Frank's former staff and a mayoress with whom he had had a few run-ins. All Frank Eul's family were there, 25 in all, and most of them stayed on for an early evening meal at the Old Mill.
The final birthday was Susan's 50th, which we celebrated (she prefers "commiserated") with her and her family in Dayton, Ohio. Her youngest, Eric has just started a degree course at Columbus University. Heather has just started a Master's in Psychology at Dayton and is self-supporting with part-time school psychology work. Her boyfriend, Stephen, works in Columbus for TNT, but is a regular visitor to Dayton. During our stay in Dayton, we went on an outing to the Christmas lights in the Miami gorge with Susan's friend Amy and family. We had an hour's daily dog walk round the houses with Lucy, Heather's dog, who is temporarily staying with Susan because dogs are not welcome in student accommodation. Susan is in the middle of divorce proceedings; her husband started a new job in Florida in June and moved out.
After four years of the "Exploring Faith" theology course, we were awarded a Certificate by the University. We are currently having "a year out", deciding what to do next.
Just before Christmas, Mark heard he was to be promoted at work into line management in the New Year. Jill enjoys her work with the Stroke Association in Southport. Joe (12) is an ace drummer and also finds model-making an absorbing hobby, especially war machines of all kinds from Middle Earth to WWII. Grace (9) has joined a band with her trumpet, but is not sure she likes being the youngest by quite a few years.
