Christmas Dinner cum 60th Birthday Celebration

The longer serving members of the CS Dept have been used to booking a Christmas Meal at the College Training Restaurant. But last year in its latest incarnation in a much smaller room with very slow service the restaurant failed to please and so this year we decide to try the Kings Arms at Hathern.

Unbeknown to many in the party (including the birthday girl!) a cake had been prepared and a champagne toast ordered to celebrate her 60th birthday - and impending retirement.

Nana birthday lunch

When Robin was best man he was introduced to the Rancliffe Arms in Bunny and he suggested that Nana (& Roger) have a birthday lunch there.With four different meats and a dozen different vegetables to choose from, no-one in our party of six was hungry after the main course but we decided to try the pudding menu anyway. This was a 'roularde'.

Bonfire night

Bonfire night this year coincided with "cell" night so the normal "4 W's" were dispensed with in favour of sparklers...

and fireworks...

and chilli and parkin and bonflake cake...

(the cake was so popular we almost missed getting a photo of it!)

Half-term/Wedding Anniversary day out

Having been delayed by a standstill on the motorway we abandoned our first National Trust target and headed straight for Harry's Plaice(!). From there we found a Kanban craft factory outlet before returning to Leeds for a quick tour of Kirkstall Abbey (in the rain).

In the evening we had a meal with my brother in Revolution before watching my sister-in-law take the female lead in the 'adult comedy' entitled "A kick up the baubles" at the Carriageworks theatre. The cast remained fully clothed at all times, but there was much more bad language compared with our previous visit. The play explored the problems confronting the average family preparing to have a 'Happy Christmas'.

S k y | y k S

In a rare week when we went to see two plays, these photos were taken outside the Nottingham Playhouse where we had tickets for "Our man in Havana" by Graham Greene

The name of the installation is the "Sky Mirror" - and yes, it is us in the center of the mirror

And guess who got to be best man...?

Hazel was upset to have missed this wedding but rumour has it that she was consultant for the speech. Apparently the happy couple have gone off to a certain hotel in Torquay.

The other birthday ...

Hazel had to leave before her birthday, but a Harriet hedgehog birthday cake was made and shared before she left

By the magic of the internet and a bit of serendipity I 'chat'-ted to Hazel via Facebook while she was in Bankok on the way home. By even greater wizardry we managed a live video conversation on her birthday (Thanks to Mark for the loan of his flying computer and Skype account)

An iron grip ...

I think we have Countryfile to thank for this - putting ideas into someone's head - that it would be a good birthday adventure to follow the via ferrata at Honister in the Lake District

We dared to show our faces in Red Chilli again...

[Did you spot the bird's nest?] [See also our previous history with Red Chilli]

Guess who got to be bridesmaid again...

"Next door's" wedding took us to Highbury Hall Birmingham

ITA-09

I attended the ITA-09 conference at Glyndwr University, Wrexham. The conference was unremarkable and the conference jollies were the same as ITA-07 so I made my own 'social programme'. I met Dave G for a meal in Christleton on the first night.
Instead of a walk round Chester on the second day I chose to visit the RSPB reserve at Inner Marsh Farm, Dee Estuary, The Wirral.

It was a lovely walk down to the pools and hide in bright sunshine.

There were a wide variety of birds to see: waders, raptors and seemingly anxious to pose for their photos right in front of the hide - these stonechat

The hide was quite busy with real bird watchers and thanks to them I saw:

Curlew Sandpiper, Lapwing, Ruff, Stonechat, Linnet, Canada Geese, Cormorant, RingTail Hen Harrier, Coot, Moorhen, Snipe, Heron, Pied Wagtail, Buzzard, Egret, Wood Sandpiper,Black Tailed Godwit, Starling, Mallard, Black Headed Gull.

Peter and his 4 ladies

Peter visited to show off the newest member of the family and to see Hazel

Warwick Castle - firing the Trebuchet

We had a planned day out with Hazel and used our Walkers Crisps Half-price tickets to visit Warwick Castle. The weather was not very promising but it stayed fine. We watched the Trebuchet (Roman catapult) being fired and then raced back to see the Eagle display. At the end of the display it was announced that volunteers were wanted for the late firing of the Trebuchet and this time the ammunition was to be a fireball! Hazel volunteered and we were allowed to accompany her.

Hazel was kitted out and became a 'hamster' to wind down the throwing arm

She was told not to look at the slats because they were stroboscopic and that it would make her sick. She was told not to be sick because in a hamster cage the floor becomes the ceiling every few seconds!

Watching the release of the arm and seeing the fireball fly through the air was truly impressive.

Canterbury HEA-ICS conference

From 25-27 August Roger was at the Higher Education Academy conference at the University of Kent At Canterbury.
In my spare time I visited Herne Bay,

Reculver Park

and Stodmarsh Reserve

[That's a Red Admiral]

Christopher & Rachel

You can see more pictures of their wedding

We also had a quick peek around the grounds of their house/farm

Rutland Water & Whissendine

Auntie Joyce came to visit Nana. On Saturday Robin drove Nana, Joyce and Mum to Rutland Water. This is Normanton church on the edge of the reservoir, photographed from the Rutland Belle.

This is a map of Rutland Resevoir - the Ospreys were at the Egleton end. The boat could not go near there without an RSPB Warden on board.
It was a lovely 45 minute trip on the water and we left the Rutland Belle in search of Whissendine.
We found it, the family seat of the Harris clan, and we were pleased to find this sign on the edge of the village.
Whissendine is famous for its Windmill. When the Harris family lived there it even had a brewery but now it is just a peaceful village. The Windmill is the 2nd largest in England and still does commercial work.

If you have got this far you might like to see the rest of the pictures (from 2 cameras and a 'phone).

Two more butterflies...

To add to my 7 April butterflies I now have ...

... the Painted Lady (above) and the Gatekeeper butterfly (below)

Arum maculatum

I found this growing in the garden and I had to look it up to find its name. Apparently it is called Lords-and-ladies, Cuckoo-pint, Wild arum, Jack in the Pulpit, Devils and Angels, Cows and Bulls, Adam and Eve, Bobbins, Naked Boys, Starch-Root, Wake Robin, Starchwort, Adder's Root, Friar's Cowl, Kings and Queens, Parson and Clerk, Ramp, Quaker and Arum maculatum.

An unexpected result ...

Right after we came back from holiday we had been invited to a 5oth birthday party of an ex work colleague. We were told to be on time because there was a murder mystery as part of the evening.

So we duly sat down and the events of the "Murder at Redfriars Reunion" gradually unfolded.

It is all good fun - but we never take these things too seriously (unlike some other teams we can think of) so when it comes to filling in our 'solution' to the mystery it is usually a matter of making up something on the spur of the moment. There were characters like J Bravo and P.C. Whirled in the story which caused us to choose a name from police tv history.

Anyway it came as a great surprize to everyone, especially us, to have it announced that we had won - but here is the evidence ...

Holiday - part 3

We stayed at Old Mill Farm, Trawsfynydd where there is an interesting garden containing a mill wheel, a pair of llamas and this Canadian style outside railway.

But we may remember Trawsfynydd as the place where we got stopped by the Heddlu for an ARAF violation **.
Our first day out was to Portmeirion

Of course we came away with some souvenir crockery.
The next day we set out for Anglesey and the first stop was at Llanfair PG

But the main target was the RSPB centre at South Stack...

...where there were thousands of penguins (sorry, guillemots) but sadly no puffins

On our last full day we thought we ought to try one of the steam railways, so we travelled on the newly opened section of the Welsh Highland railway through Beddgelert

You might like to read the legend of Beddgelert (=Gelert's grave)

Later that day we travelled on an underground boat through the magic waterfall to hear the legend of King Arthur.

We returned home via Stoke and visited the Portmeirion shop there - as my credit card will testify.

[**Translation from the Welsh: Heddlu=Police, ARAF=SLOW - yes, we were stopped for driving too slowly]

Holiday - part 2

Our second stop was at Chester where we were met by Dave who had promised us a tour of the city. So we made use of the park and ride and arrived in the city centre.

One of the best ways to see the city is to 'walk the wall' and this is one of the many joining points with its ornate clock tower

By coincidence there was a singing festival on the day we visited and there were spots in the city being visited in rotation by various music groups. This group of youngsters sang well arranged 'spirituals'.

Also coincidentally it was race day and the city wall takes you past the race course giving as good a view as some paid-for places.

The next day we set out to explore Llandudno (passing the Belmont where Nana has stayed with the MinToEs), taking a 'tram' ride up the Great Orm and visiting Conwy with its impressive castle