Mellow Yellow & Co

Waking up?

2012-01-31T12:16:00.012Z

Encouraged by Gerry, seen here enjoying a G&T with me, I've reopened this blog and will see if it's ready for a few breaths of life at the start of 2012.

In the two years that it's been sleeping and off-line except to invited friends, much has happened. Gerry's mum Sylvia, now aged 98 and soon to be 99, has moved out of her own home and now lives with Gerry & husband Paul. Gerry's son Alex has married and they enjoyed a small, intimate and very beautiful wedding ceremony on Tuscany.

Another Saffron Walden group of 10 reunion took place in Portsmouth, arranged by Lin. Unfortunately Gerry and I both had to drop out because of last minute unforeseen family events, and one nameless person forgot the date of the get together, leaving a small but intrepid group who enjoyed a weekend by the sea in autumn sunshine.

The granddaughter who was born while I was up on the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square is now 2 years old. She returned to the UK for just over a year with her parents and although they tried, they found living back in Edinburgh quite a challenge after the warmth of Houston. They got back just as one of the worst winters in Scotland set in - and decided that they would return to the USA to live. Not easy for any of us to come to terms with at first, but the right thing for them to do. We spent a year seeing a lot of them, supporting them and enjoying being with them, and at the beginning of January they went back to Houston where they're settling in once again.

In the 2 years since I last wrote here, Lynda has also become a grandma and by all accounts is enjoying this role enormously.

We'll be over to visit the family in Houston soon, and in the meantime we're looking after their cats, who have been here with us for 2 months, while their owners made all the arrangements about moving themselves and their worldly goods back to the States. They should be flying over to join them at the end of February. We'll miss them as they've wormed their way into our affections and are part of the household now.

Where this first waking up post will lead I don't know, but some life has been breathed back into this blog (see what you started Gerry) and if nothing else, it may encourage me to write. If I do, it will be my take on what I choose to write about - with a touch of saffron yellow woven into its fabric from time to time when there is news of those who formed the original inspiration to begin this blog.

The Last Post

2009-09-29T11:57:00.005+01:00

This will be the last post on this blog.

I started it over two years ago with the idea in mind that it would be a place of contact and sharing for me and the group of friends I had way back in the mid-60's at Saffron Walden Teacher Training College, plus any other ex-Safferites who happened upon it, and of course, family and friends who wanted a quick fix on what was going on! It was started in advance of the reunion we had planned for October 2007 - nearly 2 years ago now and here's one last picture of some of us who were there.
Jackie and Sandra joined me in adding things to the blog but life events kind of take over and there are other pressing demands on their time. It's been mainly down to me to keep it going and I've enjoyed doing this, sharing some of the places I've visited and most recently, my hour on the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square and the arrival of my first grand child.

But now, for me, other things are more pressing, not least my other, main blog, Joyce Hopewell Astrological Chart Interpretations. You can keep up with me here but in a slightly different way, as I write about people and events in the news, looking at them through the lens of astrological psychology and with 23 years experience as a teacher, workshop facilitator, course tutor, conference speaker and author on this subject behind me.

This blog will self destruct in due course, and will disappear from the blogosphere. Thank you if you've read it and have come back for more. All things have their time and relevance, and this blog has served its purpose and has offered me many opportunities to hone my writing and presentation of photos, which I've enjoyed.

Two weeks in Texas

2009-09-02T17:32:00.007+01:00

Now we're home after our two weeks in Houston, helping out with the new baby, getting to know her and giving the new parents a hand, here are a few pictures of our time there. It was HOT in Houston, often reminding me of words from Chris Rea's song "Texas":

Warm winds blowin'. . . Heat'n'blue sky. . .

We had heat, storms, walks in the neghbourhood under the shade of the trees before it got too hot to go out, trips to the supermarket to stock up, trips to the Galleria - the mall with an ice rink and very classy shops (window shopping only!), cooked meals and enough food to freeze and keep them going for a while after we left, did the washing & ironing (well, I did!!), had a dip in the pool, a visit to a quiet cool art gallery (specially chosen as a good quiet place to take a young baby with enough there to interest the adults), and of course we enjoyed lots of quality time with our new granddaughter Madeleine.

Letter from America

2009-08-17T22:31:00.014+01:00

Just 2 weeks ago I was on the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square, London, using my hour up there to share the words which people had sent to me ( see previous posting). While I was up there, I learned news of the birth of my first grandchild, Madeleine, in Texas. Well here I am, 2 weeks later, in Houston Texas visiting my new granddaughter and helping out the new parents. Did all this really happen in 2 weeks?!

I'm taking this grandparenting seriously, and just a short while ago I sang her lullabies and rocked her to sleep in my arms, then passed her over to her equally-doting granddad so I could check in here.

There are lots of photos of the new-born Madeleine at her mum's blog, and you can see what my local newspaper said about me learning I'd become a grandma whilst up on the Plinth.

Oh yes - it's around 34 degrees outside, and we're watching the progress of tropical storm Bill as it crosses the Atlantic. It's pretty important to keep an eye on the development of any possible hurricanes after Ike passed through here last September!

Don't forget - you can add YOUR word to the growing list of what you would like to see more of in the world by clicking here, or emailing in1word@ymail.com

The Fourth Plinth - been there, done that, got the t-shirt!

2009-08-05T14:45:00.014+01:00

The plaque on the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square explaining artist Antony Gormley's project for the uninterrupted occupation of the Plinth for 100 days in 2009.

Monday 3rd August 2009 will remain a memorable day for me forever. I took my place on the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square at 3 p.m. and spent a wonderful hour up there in the sunshine reading out most of the 94 words people had sent to me saying what they would like to see more of in the world. You can add your word by clicking here.

Here I am going up in the cradle which is driven to the Plinth by a JCB. That was fun!

It felt comfortable up there - no vertigo, a fantastic view, a sunny day and the company of a friendly pigeon who joined me from time to time during my hour!

Here I am with Nelson's Column to keep me company! The crowd in Trafalgar Square were very supportive and responsive. There was applause, cheering and thumbs up signs for most of the words as I read them out.

The most exciting moment was when my family, watching down below, gave me the news that my first grandchild - a little girl - had been born. As I went on the Plinth I knew my daughter-in-law was in labour (unexpectedly early as the baby was not due for another 4 weeks). My son phoned the news through from Houston, Texas where they are currently living, and my family shouted this up to me. I was utterly delighted and broke into a dance and leap of joy at the news. You can see it here on my archive hour. The news comes through 48 minutes in.

Several friends and family came along to support me (thank you guys!), including Mellow Yellow

co-author Jackie H, along with husband Derek.

And Sue, another of our group of friends from Saffron Walden College days, also came along. Here she is with Jackie.
As well as the experience, the excitement, satisfaction and very special memories, I also got a t-shirt. All the 2,400 participants gets one of these after they've been on the Plinth, and here I am wearing mine!

Addendum: The One&Other blog has also featured my "grandma moment":

The stories behind the plinthers

by Holly | 22:11 GMT, Saturday, 8 August 2009

There's been a lot of debate and discussion about what our plinthers do with their hour, but not much about what goes on in their lives outside that hour. Happily, one plinther's hour coincided with her private life, when she discovered that her grandchild had been born while she was 22 feet high! You can read the full story here.

Gearing up for the Fourth Plinth stint

2009-07-28T11:23:00.008+01:00

Plinth day is getting closer and I'm definitely going to have to start doing something about it this week, like some preparation.

To date, 94 people have contacted me with the word they would like to me read out on their behalf during my hour on the Plinth on Monday 3rd August. I'll be there from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. and you can watch me live by clicking here.

You can also add one word which expresses what YOU would like to see more of in the world by going to In 1 Word.

This all began when I asked my family and friends to give me one word which expresses what they would like to see more of in the world. I got a few daft suggestions - "money" said a local shop keeper I've known for over 20 years. The money was to pay his bills - kind of understandable in these credit-crunchy times. But being an OK guy, he quickly changed it (when he realised this wasn't quite what he meant) to "respect". Good one, Terry.

What I now need to do is start writing out their words on sheets of cards large enough to be seen by people in Trafalgar Square, including my group of about 10 supporters on the ground (thanks to all who have said they will be coming to watch. No heckling, please!). I also want the words to be seen/heard by the cameras which are recording everything that happens on the Plinth. Some of the highlights are screened weekly on the Sky Arts channels but apparently Mike Figgis ( I associate him with The Wombles children's TV programme) is making the whole thing into a film. I'd definitely like some of the words/qualities/things people would like to see more of in the world get into that!

I have to arrive in Trafalgar Square an hour and half before I'm due on the Plinth, in order to check in, show my photo ID to prove I am who I am, and get ready if I need to. There are secure lockers to leave valuables, and a changing room. Maybe I'll take a change of clothes in case I get wet up there - especially as daughter has arranged a visit to the theatre in the evening to see "Oliver!". It's going to a full-on day to remember. After the Plinth stint there's a debriefing session with the organisers in the One&Only cabin in Trafalgar Square - more on that after the event when I'll know what that's all about!

One person I will be taking up there with me "virtually" is not yet born. My first grandchild - a little girl, currently known as "The Little Miss" - is due on 2nd September, so there's more excitement to come! Here's the mum-to-be, my Belle-fille ( daughter-in-law) getting into role:

As for "what do I wear on the Plinth?" - I've really no idea beyond a) trousers in case it's windy (!) and b) practicality, which includes everything from wet weather gear to a sun hat!

The Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square

2009-07-06T16:36:00.007+01:00

I've been allocated a place in the Antony Gormley's "One and Other" Fourth Plinth project which started today. I'll be taking my place on the empty Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square on

Monday 3rd August from 3 - 4 p.m.

It's going to be a fairly challenging thing to do, I admit to being apprehensive but my initial "oh not me!" has morphed into what's turning out to be an interesting experience already. My ideas of what I shall do up there are evolving and taking shape day by day.

The theme of my hour on the plinth is likely to be an exploration of inner and outer reflection. I'll be spending some time reflecting inwardly about the experience and what has brought me to this point in time as well as focussing on outer reflection, using the environment to inspire me.

I'll be writing more about this in posts to come, and you can read my Plinther's Profile and watch what's happening on the Plinth right now by clicking here - which means you'll be able to watch me when I'm up there too! Scary. . . . and here's my Plinth poster - I need to get in some practice at being up there! Oh yes - and here's the article my local newspaper wrote about me being on the Plinth.

Pasties and Piskies

2009-07-02T11:26:00.002+01:00

Hello - a quick post to say I'm back after a wonderful holiday in Cornwall, where the weather was brilliant - warm, sunny, cooling sea breezes - and I've come back with a Mediterranean-like tan!

We stayed in the motor caravan (RV if you're in the US!) and revelled in seeing clifftops and country lanes alike smothered in wild flowers. We walked the coastal footpaths, enjoying the stunning Cornish coastline, paddled in the sea (so did the dog), ate a HUGE cream tea, a HUGE Cornish pasty, saw Cinnabar moths, one Scarlet Tiger moth, a basking seal, a glow worm. . .but we didn't see any Cornish Piskies (pixies).

More to follow when the photos are sorted out. As for now, the catching up ( and doing the washing) goes on!

Sorry

2009-06-14T00:36:00.002+01:00

Sorry I have not contributed but events have over taken all my good intentions.
Derek's brother died very suddenly last week and the world is on hold for us at the moment.
It doesn't seem credible that life just goes on around us.

Across the Borders

2009-06-07T15:43:00.011+01:00

Low tide at Berwick-on-Tweed

Here are some views of our Spring holiday in the Scottish Borders and Northumberland. We were blessed with lots of sunny days as we travelled around in our motor home to Melrose, Edinburgh and North Berwick. There, we stayed near the beach opposite the island which Robert Louis Stevenson is supposed to have based "Treasure Island" upon. Beach & dunes were good, dog was very happy.

Then we travelled along the coast back into England, stopping to visit castles, beaches and fishing villages along the way, ending our holiday at Kielder Water in the Kielder Forest, which is pretty much in the middle of nowhere. We learned that L.S.Lowry used to take his holidays in Berwick-on-Tweed, and that Bass Rock, offshore from the Scottish Seabird Centre, appears white because it's crammed full of nesting gannets. And the smoked kippers we brought home from Craster were delicious!

Ancient beeches, Kielder Water

Here's the slide show:

As I was

2009-05-14T14:56:00.006+01:00

Sandra showed some photos of herself around 1949/50 and asked for pictures of us when we were young. Jackie has promised some photos of her belly dancing days (come on Jackie, it's definitely your turn now!) and I've come up with a few pictures of me at different times in my life.

The first one is my christening photo when I could have been somewhere between 3 and 6 months old - so that's 1945/46.
This next one was taken in 1972, when I was teaching. It was near the end of term, before the summer holidays started in July, and it was sport's day. One of the parents thought it highly amusing to have taken a photo with his telephoto lens of Mrs. H yawning on duty and it took a bit of living down in the staff room. There were jokes and comments about how enthused I seemed to be about our annual sports day. The truth was, I was very tired because I was in the early stages of pregnancy, but didn't know it at the time. I do remember that I could hardly keep my eyes open at this event, when I was supposed to be supervising my class into the correct order for the events they were in.

Finally, one taken in 1973 with the 6 month old baby that was making me yawn in the previous picture when he was but a tiny embryo! Just look at those hexagonal specs frames which were quite a fashion statement at the time!

Country File The Lancashire strand

2009-05-03T10:07:00.002+01:00

Just a couple of nice rural scenes..more to follow! Just outside Blackburn

When we were young

2009-04-18T21:36:00.004+01:00

Two posts at once wow!!!lol have you got any old pics of you when you were small? Scanned these for flickr

PROGRESS??

2009-04-18T21:27:00.001+01:00

http://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/news/3222608.The_derelict_building_that_could_scupper___4m_Blackburn_road/

Would be interested in your views

The New Kitchen

2009-04-14T15:11:00.007+01:00

Silence.

Not a word from this blogger (or the other two!) for weeks.

What's been going on?

I've been to London, where I posed with 2 iconic figures from the past which I happened to see sitting on a bench in Old Bond Street.

Then things got rather busy and messy whilst we had a new kitchen fitted. Life kinda took over and there was plenty to do, but now it's all (nearly) finished so here are a couple of photos of the new heart of the household chez nous.

Since these were taken the pictures have gone back up on the walls and new blinds have been ordered. And I've started getting used to the new oven ( and liking it!).

large

2009-03-22T21:46:00.001Z

Try viewing a walk in the park large.. just click on the image. just read about mayliss's new toy..wow!

swanupping!!

2009-03-22T21:32:00.002Z

They were actually geese!! lol Me a biology student too! Two images of spring in the park on Friday morning. The scene is an HDR image.

Mallards!

A Load of Balls

2009-03-16T17:27:00.011Z

We had some fun at Saffron Walden College in the 60's, in between working hard for 3 years to train as teachers (how CAN the government possibly justify shortening the post graduate training of teachers to a mere 6 months - I digress, don't get me started. . . !).

In between education lectures, essays, teaching practice, main course lectures and study, lesson preparation and learning about the developmental psychological stages of the child, - courtesy of Piaget - we had parties and balls to go to (not to mention teams of us playing Cambridge undergrads at tiddlywinks)!

The famous Cambridge May Ball season (actually the college balls take place in June, not May - but that's Cambridge for you!) was something that could create a buzz of green envy for those who managed to get invited. Barry got tickets for the Selwyn Collge event from someone who was selling them off cheaply (otherwise we couldn't have afforded them as were were saving to get married). The poor guy had probably been ditched by his partner.

Here's a real trawl through the archives:

How about the "op-art" design on the programme - black and white patterning on outfits was the in thing at the time. Take a look at the menu. I do remember the food being rather good! Now look at the wine prices shown in shillings and pence (old money/pre-decimalisation). Was it really possible to get a bottle of wine for 17 shillings and 3 pence?! Those were the days!

Here's the entertainment section of the programme. Who can remember the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band? Or Zoot Money?! What's even more amazing is that Nicholas Parsons ( the cabaret act with stand up jokes and stories) looked old then and he's still broadcasting on the BBC now!!

Finally - aaahhh - a photo of us taken at around 7 a.m. as we staggered away from the ball, having enjoyed hot onion soup at 4 a.m. and had danced the night away. The car wasn't ours (far too grand!) and considering we'd been up all night I don't think we look too bad at all.

This last one is a bit later - July 1968 - and it was taken at the Saffron Walden College Leaver's Ball. The social committee had pulled out the stops for this one as the gents were given white carnations to wear, while the ladies had pink. Oops - Judith chose a white one to go with her dress.

L-R: Joyce (in pink) and Barry; Lin (in blue) and Ian; Gerry (in green) and Paul; Judith (in white) with James.

The main bands were the Swingin' Blue Jeans and the Alan Price Set. Alan Price was very popular, and I for one was amongst those who (gently!) elbowed their way to the front of the crowd to get the best view of his performance. It seemed strange seeing him years later doing a gig at our local theatre when he was on tour.

swan song

2009-03-05T20:42:00.003Z

well joyce, I am impressed with your 50's outfits and you always amaze me by the way you get out there and do things!! I tend to be rather introverted and spend much time on my own! i'd already thought of an alternative for my ducks!! lol Called down by the canal after work as can get on it not far from where i work. nearly fell in!! Was so engrossed in taking pics that i tripped over one of the mooring rings!! wouldn't be the first time as I fell of my bike once!! anywah.. 2 for today.

Rock around the Clock

2009-02-24T11:27:00.007Z

We've recently been on a dance weekend at St. Anne's on Sea with our dancing school. The theme for the weekend was Rock'n'Roll. Everyone was encouraged (expected!) to dress up in 50's dance hall style on the Friday night and rock'n'roll their way around the dance floor after a 3 course meal.

Barry & I opted for the "Grease" look, it being the easiest to put together (for him - he didn't fancy the Teddy Boy coat!) and he entered into the spirit of the thing by growing his hair and sideburns, and allowing me to attack him with curling tongs, gel, backcombing and hairspray! The finishing touch was to swish his hair into a "DA" (duck's arse) at the back. The payoff was that the hairdo caused quite a stir and attracted lots of compliments. It also meant he didn't need to wear a black quiff-and-sideburns wig like lots of the men did - and eventually took them off as they were too hot!

Most of us there being recycled teenagers, we flung ourselves into the rock'n'roll dances, which we'd been learning for weeks in preparation for this event. But were also grateful for a few more sedate dances, like waltzes and rumbas. We knew we had to save some energy for the class the next morning, followed by the Saturday night dinner and dance ( sedate and black tie) followed by the Sunday morning class. . . talk about a work out!

Here are a few pictures of the Friday rock'n'roll night and the sedate dressed-up Saturday night. Do you like my pink socks. . . .?!

a bit of fun!!

2009-02-22T19:42:00.001Z

Mallard

2009-02-14T16:48:00.002Z

here it is

canal

2009-02-14T16:36:00.003Z

blogger wont let mw add pics at the moment!! There is one more

Dreamed a dream by the old canal

2009-02-14T16:25:00.008Z

Went down to the canal behind the boatyard pub at Riley green yesterday lunch time. there were lots of malards.. talk about dancing on ice!! It was so funny watching them slide about and coming in to land was even funnier!!LOL Poor things!! here are 2 pics

How about some birds??

2009-02-08T19:54:00.001Z

Global warming ?

2009-02-02T11:18:00.006Z

We woke up to these views out of our windows this morning, they are totally unedited. I don't remember snow like this in this part of the country for probably about 20 years and it is still snowing and apparently threatens more ! I haven't ventured out yet but it might be just the oportunity to practise some more photography, any tips Sandra?

Keeeep Dancing!

2009-02-01T18:38:00.001Z

I've danced since the age of 4. I went to a dancing school, learned tap, ballet and stage dance and performed on stage in various shows up to the age of 14 when I took a break as school work and exams got in the way.

I went to Saffron Walden College to train as a teacher and started dancing again, becoming part of a small dance group who performed at local gigs for a modest fee. Then when I became a teacher I ran an after-school dance club. When I stopped teaching and was a full-time mum I took my daughter to dancing classes. As there was a mum's class too, I joined that and happily tapped my way through two stage shows in which we both performed (but not together!).

Over the past 2 years I've reconnected with my love of dancing. Watching "Strictly Come Dancing" has helped and inspired this, and Barry & I now go dancing twice a week to a local school of dance where we do Ballroom and Latin. Not only is it great fun, it's the best possible workout and I confess to feeling much fitter as well as shedding some excess pounds. The downside is that when we're learning something new, this can lead to a mild "domestic" on the dance floor as we argue about who's right and who's wrong! As we met on a dance floor, it's very good to get back to sharing and enjoying this social and sometimes strenuous activity together.

I recall that co-author Jackie used to do belly dancing, so it would be great to hear something about this too. In the meantime, here are a few photographic dancing memories, beginning when I was 5 and including some recent shots of the New Year's Eve dance at our dancing school. I'm very happy to "keeeep dancing"!

There once was an ugly duckling

2009-01-30T13:52:00.004Z

sorry about the c..up was trying to put in a youtube link!! Any wah, how about these 2??

Out Of Bounds..otherwise known as OOBS

2009-01-30T13:31:00.003Z

How about some fast growing sweet peas?

Edit by Mellow Yellow: have added the link here for you Sandra.

Click here!

A Visit to "Another Place"

2009-01-23T08:30:00.000Z

The sculptor Antony Gormley created art in the environment with "Another Place". Located at Crosby beach, just north of Liverpool, it was our Boxing Day destination with visiting family. The day was sunny, clear and very cold but the experience was well worth the tingling fingers and rosy red cheeks.

Gormley used his own body to create the 100 statues which look out to sea, and are washed twice daily by the tide. When we arrived the tide was up and only a few statues were visible. It soon started to retreat and more and more statues were revealed.

Here is my selection of photos from the day, which ended with a fabulous sunset. We waited for this and then headed home as the sun disappeared and the temperature dropped fast.

A memorable day - hope you enjoy sharing some of our experiences of "Another Place".

My First Try !

2009-01-23T01:36:00.003Z

I know I am not as good as Sandra yet, but this first try at a wild life shot had me stalking 'our' squirrel like a regular David Attenborough ! She is rather cute, you have to admit, as she tried to stuff as many of our left over Christmas nuts into her mouth at once as she could ! I fear we will now have almond trees to add to the 5 hazel bushes we already have, as she buried them all over the garden.

Back to Winter!

2009-01-20T17:15:00.003Z

I knew that snowdrop was silly to come out so soon! We had snow yesterday and the scene was more like this! Taken down the back alley near my house. I can see these trees from my kitchen window. I must be keen, I was out in my P j's this morning taking moon shots!!

Spring is in the air!

2009-01-13T19:57:00.001Z

My first spring flower in my back yard

Friends

2009-01-11T16:59:00.004Z

I started the year rather grumpily thinking that I might stop writing this blog, and had nudged my co-authors about this (no offence and nothing personal Jackie & Sandra). Then I find to my surprise that Barbara has given us a "Friends" award to start off the new year so how, in the face of such encouragement, can I stop?! Go and read what Barbara says about why she's awarded us and seven other bloggers this accolade, and you'll see that it's not about the "numbers game" of getting the blog read by lots of people. It's more about quality and friendship, values and attitudes.

Barbara also explains that this badge of recognition can be passed on by recipients to 8 other bloggers, but to be honest, several of those she names are blogs that I already read and drop in on, so I'd find it difficult to fulfil that. Instead, let me say something about Barbara.

She's American, grew up in Hawaii, is a teacher, speaks fluent French, is married to Didier and they live with his father Andre. Barbara calls him FIL (father-in-law) when she writes about him. She's a whizz at caring for people and has recently been clearing the pavements outside her house in her suburb of Paris, brushing up snow, chunking the ice away and salting them so they are safe to walk on. Paris has been, and by the sound of things still is, in the grip of a cold snap not unlike the one we've had in the UK. Temperatures higher than sub-zero are rare, and having been in Paris when it's not been above -5 in the daytime, I have an idea of what it's like. . . bbrrrrrrr!!

I met Barbara and Didier last year and we've kept in touch and up to date ever since, through blogs and by email. So here's celebrating friendship of all kinds. Regardless of whether it's hands-on, electronic, sustained only via a note in the annual Christmas card or something so long-lasting, tried and tested that no matter how many years lapse between meetings, the threads to true friendship can always be taken up from where they were last.

Thank you, Barbara, for that reminder of the value of true friendship and may we all carry that through 2009 in our lives and relationships with others.

My Review of 2008

2008-12-19T14:38:00.007Z

Looking back over 2008, I've chosen some of my personal highlights/memorable events. Impossible to include everything in the slide show (turn the sound off if you don't like the music - afraid creating the show comes complete with it and I don't know how to turn it off)! so this is just a quick tour. What it can't do justice to are the smaller details, but I've tried to inlcude some of these, such as watching the humming-bird hawk moths feeding in the September sunshine in the Dordogne, the visit to the Museum of Fishing in Etaples, northern France, where I put my hand into the pool of rays and plaice and stroked them, and seeing how my first great-nephew, Sam, has grown in his first year.

The Belle-meres together at the Jodrell Bank Radio Telescope Observatory, not many miles from where I live, was an enjoyable event. We are mothers-in-law (belle-meres) to each other's children, and have become good friends. This was Claire's first visit to us and we enjoyed showing her around our part of the UK. Jodrell Bank was just one of the places we took her to see as we packed in plenty of tourist trips during her stay. She took us to the fishy pla(i)ce at Etaples when we visited her later in the year.

Dressing up as Gangsters and Molls at the dance weekend we went on with our dancing school was great fun, and I was honoured to be selected to take part in the 25th anniversary display at Crufts by Pets As Therapy, the charity that I our characterful Scottie dog work for. It was quite scary going into that huge arena - it seats 6,000.

I've already written quite a lot about our US trip earlier this year, and about the award of Abby's post-grad certificate of education from the University of London. I've included Barack Obama's election as 44th US President - that was a high point shared with so many around the world. and I end on a personal high point with the publication of my second book The Living Birth Chart.

Oh yes, and I've retired! So here's the slide show, plus a couple that I can't resist adding. I had my photo taken with a New York cop in Grand Central Station, and spotted this large statue of Miffy being hosed down and getting a wash somewhere near the UN headquarters. If you're a teacher or a mum, you'll remember Miffy!

....and Pam and Jackie's weddings

2008-11-23T14:24:00.013Z

Found some photos of Pam's and my weddings as only Pam came to mine and none of us went to Pam's.

The one's of mine unfortunately don't show Pam but you can see her husband Rob just behind my head. He has the dark beard - facial hair for men featured strongly at my wedding!!

In the one of us signing the register I seem to have a look saying 'didn't I get a good one' and I think Derek is checking my spelling of 'Hutchison' !

Pam had lost so much weight, hadn't she? This was before she had cancer.

Saffers weddings of the 60's and 70's

2008-11-19T17:13:00.013Z

I've been meaning to do this for a while, having looked through my old photos of special and significant events during and after our 3 years of teacher training at Saffron Walden College.

Weddings. All 10 of us in our group got married, some earlier than others, and some of us attended some or all of those weddings, so here are a few priceless photographic memories of some of the nuptials. I don't have photo's of everyone's wedding as I didn't go to them all, but for those I did attend, someone somewhere will get a smile out of the way we looked then! Bear in mind that wedding dress styles do change and if we look dated now, all I can say is that we've also worn well!

My wedding was first, in London in December 1967, and whilst I was a student in our 3rd and final year.

Next came Lin and Ian's in Portsmouth in April 1969.

Next (I think!) came Judith and John's - but it may have been Gerry and Paul's - so if I've got that wrong I'm sure someone will correct me! Judith was married at Easter in Bedford (1970?), and it's clear from the caption on this cutting that she was keeping teaching in the family!

Here are Gerry and Paul at their wedding in May in Leeds (1971?) Following along behind them are Ian, Lin, Sandra and Jackie.

I was one of Gerry's bridesmaids, along with her schoolfriend Jay. Most of us were at this wedding. L-R: Judith, Lynda, Jackie, Bridesmaid Jay, Gerry, Yours Truly, Sue, Sandra, Lin. There was a very good turn out of hats at this event. . . . . .!

Finally, here are Sandra and Keith at their wedding in Melton Mowbray on 31st December 1972. I remember this well as it was a very foggy and very cold day. I was heavily pregnant beneath that cape I'm wearing. The lady on the left was sensibly tucked up in a full-length coat whilst Gerry was sporting a short skirt and sexy over-the-knee boots. I'll refrain from making any comments about the mens' hairstyles, but Sandra looked great!

USA's First Black President

2008-11-05T11:09:00.008Z

That really is such an unexpected headline that, for someone who was young in the sixties, I just can't let it pass without comment.

When we were at dear old Saffers, even in our cossetted world, the mood of the times percolated through. There seemed to be so much possibility for change and with all the CND and anti-Vietnam protest and burning of our bras, it seemed that the people could instigate change.

However intermingled with the feminism and pacificism was the fight against racism with such luminaries as Martin Luther King. Well Martin your 'dream' seems to be realised today with the election of Barack Obama to the White House. I do hope the dream lives up to the promise.

A dog in a butcher's shop

2008-10-24T10:19:00.011+01:00

On holiday in France last month, we visited a city we've been to many times before, and walked past a very old butcher's shop. We must have walked past this shop several times in the past, but for some reason had never noticed before. Have you ever done that? Suddenly the moment is "right" and you notice something you'd ignored up until then.

My eyes lit up when I saw this particular butcher's shop because it reminded me so much of the kind of shop my grandpa had, and the trade my dad grew up in and trained in. The French butcher's shop is a protected building, and has an old-fashioned cash desk (on the left just behind the window) where customers pay for their purchases. The butcher doesn't touch the cash.

An elderly gentleman, about to go into the shop, saw we were interested and started telling us about the shop. That's him talking to me while Barry nipped across the road to take the photo. He told me that this butcher was the best and the queue of people inside supported that! The kindly gentleman told me that he was 78, and he thought that the butcher was probably 80. As he wasn't sure about this, he popped into the shop to ask the butcher how old he was (also 78!), came out to tell me, chatted a bit longer and then went in to buy his meat for the weekend. We peered through the window a bit longer, in time to see a dog belonging to one of the customers eyeing a tasty cut!

This has prompted me to look out some of the old photos and family belongings I have, so here is a photo of my grandpa's shop. He is standing on the right, my grandma took the money and she's in the cash desk at the back of the shop, and the small boy in the cap and striped apron is my dad. He helped out at weekends as "butcher's boy" and took deliveries around on a bicycle with a large basket on the front for carrying the orders.

My dad looks about 7 or 8 years old here, which would put the date this was taken at around 1913 or 1914. Note how smart my grandpa and the two members of staff in the shop look wearing jackets, shirts and ties.

My grandpa had account books, made up to look like a British passport, for his customers, and here's the one I have in the family memorabilia I've inherited. I was quite impressed when I found this!

Finally, here's a picture of my dad with his staff, taken in his shop on the Old Kent Road in London, sometime in the early 1960's. He followed in the family tradition, not only of being a butcher, but of looking smart wearing a shirt and tie to work!

In Memory of Pam

2008-10-08T21:40:00.002+01:00

As you know October is breast cancer awareness month.

Hurricane Ike

2008-09-30T17:05:00.008+01:00

Just back from holiday, where we were enjoying the sun, scenery and food in the Dordogne while son Hugh and belle-fille Maylis were battening down the hatches and preparing for Hurricane Ike's arrival in Houston. We managed to catch a bit of news of the approaching hurricane on the internet in one area, but when Ike struck were out of luck with any wifi connections so it was down to texting to keep in touch with them. Here's the story as it unfolded by text message between Hugh & me:

11th Sept

Hugh - Ike here Friday night south of Galveston; 700 miles wide so impacts here! Evacuating low SE Houston areas. Office closed Friday.
Joyce - Ike sounds scary, exciting? Will keep an eye on any news we can get but let us know how you are getting on.

12th Sept

H - All prepared for tonight. Shouldn't be any problems. Could lose power, so don't owrry if no reply. If you find a payphone text the number and we can call you.
J - Call box only for outgoing calls so stick to texts. Are windows boarded? Take care and let us know you are OK.
H - Nodbody's boarding windows here. Have food, water, batteries, radio, fuel. Could flood so BMW (his swanky car!) to go to multi-storey car park. Hope Mazda (Maylis's car) will be OK!

13th Sept

H - 22.30: winds getting very gusty. Keep having brief power cuts, so would say very likely we'll lose electricity. Mobile phones may be OK. We'll see.
H again - Made it through the night. So windy! House shaking. Still windy but not bad. 10 inches of rain. Street flooded. Power went 11 pm. Radio says nearly 2 million without electricity. Could take weeks to restore! Keeping phone mostly off to conserve battery.
J - Thanks for update. Sounds scary and guess you didn't sleep much. Hope Mazda OK! Update when you can. Thinking of you lots.

14th Sept

H - Thunder storms and 9 inches of rain in night. Flooded again! Cars OK. Many trees down, some on houses. Have curfew now. What's international news saying - only have local.
J - Sounds bad. No electricity then and curfew says it all. Will try to get world service news (had a radio with us but couldn't get BBC World Service). Are you managing OK? Amount of rain mindboggling. Take care.

15th Sept

J - Caught up Ike news from International Herald Tribune (we managed to find this newspaper in rural France!). Loss of power sounds biggest challenge. How are you coping? Are you at work in office? Scary picture of Chase Tower (highest skyscraper in Houston) and debris. Stay in touch.
H - Weather settled and cooler - very welcome. Just cleaning up. Visited friends with power. We don't have it yet. Apparently office will re-open Weds. Otherwise just trying to pass time.

16th Sept

J - Good it's cooler. Difficult with no power. Candles, torches? Reading, playing the piano? Paper says possibly no power for 2 weeks. Hope sooner!
H - Phone back, still no power. Multi-mile queues for water, ice, food, fuel. We're OK and not bothering, but no fridge and lights, so difficult.

17th Sept

J - You sound pretty fed up and have our full sympathy, having seen UK papers today with lots of pictures of Houston/Galveston devastation. Accounts less detailed that Tribune report. Tried to call you just now but no go as phone wouldn't accept our credit card. Guess worst thing is not knowing when the power will be back. Is water on? Power on at work or generators?
H - At work, no problems. No power at home. 1.5 milliion still without. But power at new flat (they were scheduled to move out of their house and into an apartment at the end of the month). Could move this weekend if no change. More shops opening, maybe will go to cinema this evening.

18th Sept

J - If you can move at weekend, go for it! Especially as you've no idea when power will be back.
H - Not much change. No power. Predictions for say not likely before Monday. Weather still relatively fresh at least.

19th Sept

J - Will you stick it out or is the move possible? Suppose if power back on Monday the end is in sight. Let us know.
H - Here no change and will be after Monday we get power back. But can get keys to new flat tomorrow and will start moving.

Well, they've moved and are settling in well. They have electricity but many people are still without. The latest from Hugh, by email, says:

Still about 100,000 people without power! One of the best articles about the hurricane I read was actually in the Guardian on line. You can read them here and here (it's n two parts) - the aftermath is definitely worse than the event itself.

For Maylis's first hand account of Ike and plenty of photos to go with it, click here to see her blog.

A final comment - when I saw the photos, especially of their garden and the surrounding area, it was worse than I'd imagined, having been there earlier this year.

Beyond the Fringe

2008-09-03T11:57:00.001+01:00

When I was in the 6th form in the early 196o's our excellent English teacher, bent on exposing us to as many interesting experiences as possible, brought the vinyl LP (long playing record to the uninitiated) of "Beyond the Fringe" for us to listen to and learn from. At that point in my sheltered life, I'd never heard of the Edinburgh Fringe, part of the Edinburgh Festival, let alone heard a recording of a comedy revue with slightly risque jokes in it. It starred Peter Cook and Dudley Moore who had performed at the Fringe and had taken their show on to the West End stage. We 6th formers loved it, shutting ourselves in the 6th form room, which was in a separate building to the rest of the school, and listening to it at break times. It could be that this early exposure to these mildly suggestive but hugely entertaining jokes whetted my appetite for stand up comedy, now very sharp and a lot more edgy than anything that was heard in the early 60's (especially at school!).

I've recently been to the Edinburgh Fringe as Abby requested a trip there for her birthday weekend. It turned out to be a "girls only" trip and yes, we did we have a lot of fun! Edinburgh at Festival time is packed and heaving. Free street theatre events take place in Princes Street Gardens, along the Royal Mile and on just about every street corner in the city centre. Promotional leaflets are thrust into your hand as you amble along enjoying the ambience and absolutely anything goes, from men 12 feet high on stilts, to fire jugglers, wild African drumming, bagpipes playing traditional Scottish melodies, Vietnamese musical groups, barber shop quartets singing and near-naked men performing stunts and balancing acts.

We enjoyed everything from the sacred to the profane! Harking back to the influence of my English teacher, I noticed that "Murder in the Cathedral" by T.S.Eliot was being performed in one of the churches, so we went to see this. Abby, who has done a 2 year drama foundation course, loved it and having always liked it when I was studying it for A level, I enjoyed and appreciated the poetry of the language and the sheer drama of the story all over again.

Something not to be missed was a visit to the Royal Yacht Britannia, now decomissioned and a great tourist attraction. Amazing to see how modestly it was furnished, with lots of chintz and a very 1950's feel to it. The sailors, many of them the band of the Royal Marines who provided the music on State visits abroad, had less living space than wardrobe space; their bandsman's uniforms had to be immaculate at all times.

We went to the FREE all-day event on the Sunday where at the Meadows (large green open space in the city) you can sample many of the acts on offer. There are marquees for music, theatre and comedy, plus many spontaneous events taking place wherever you look.

Staring off in the theatre marquee, we saw an extract from a very amusing one-woman show which we'd have gone to had we not already booked for something else (timing and choice of events to go to can prove difficult). We moved on the comedy marquee, hung around in the standing part for a while then when seats became free we nabbed them. They were on the front row so we did get a bit of gentle ribbing thrown our way from time to time, but we also had nearly 3 hours of laughter too! We also learned a bit of method-style acting from one of the acts - how to look/be intense and irresistible. See the slide show below for pics of us that evening trying this out when we were in the Pleasance courtyard queueing to get into the show we'd booked for!

By some fluke also ended up on the front row for this show with comedian Michael McIntyre. This time we were spared - he picked on the woman sitting next to Abby as she'd brought her young sons aged 9 and 12 to see his show (an adult show, starting at 9pm - had she really thought this one through??) He had to to trim his act a bit and resorted to euphemisms in a couple of jokes, but I've since heard him on BBC Radio 4 at 6.30 pm presenting acts from the Fringe, and he's told several of the gags we heard, which on TV would not pass the 9pm watershed.

To balance things out and lace our trip with some culture, we did go to the Impressionists exhibition at the National Gallery of Scotland, and back to the church where we saw "Murder in the Cathedral" for Evensong on Sunday for the music that was being performed. Abby enjoyed a birthday lunch and we took pot luck that day and went to the Half Price Hut, where you can buy reduced tickets for a show that's being performed that day. We chose "Elvis Hates Me", a drama. Weird was the word! But it's all part of the Festival experience to go to something totally unknown and see what you get. In its favour, there was some good acting involved. Then it was time for a quick dash back to Waverley Station to get the train back home, happy, exhausted and still aching slightly from all the laughing.

Here's a selection of some of the things we did, saw and enjoyed. There are more on display on Abby's blog post "Birthdays, Birthdays".

To the Manor Born

2008-08-15T12:34:00.026+01:00

Something I don't speak of much, but about which I'm rather proud is that I was born in a castle - a real castle with loads of history steeped into its walls and surroundings, and a mention in the Domesday Book. On a recent visit to York, we called in to visit my birthplace, which is now a hotel, conference and wedding venue. Before it became a hotel it was a Carmelite retreat centre.

Hazlewood Castle in Yorkshire (between Tadcaster, the home of John Smith's Ales, and the city of York) was owned by barons and dukes, and retains some of its Norman architectural features. A battle in the Wars of the Roses took place in 1461 on the moor directly in front of the castle, and it was owned by the Catholic Vavasour family until 1908. It has priest holes and underground passages, and the chapel is dedicated to St. Margaret Clithe row, whose statue adorns the doorway.

I was born there because during the Second World War, between 1939 and 1953 it was requisitioned as a maternity hospital. My mum was booked in to Hazlewood Castle for my birth in 1945, just after the war had ended. She had to leave London and travel to Yorkshire, and after I was born, my dad came to visit us at the castle, staying in nearby Tadcaster at the Bay Horse Inn, which is still there!

My mum told me quite a bit about the castle as a maternity home. The large Norman Hall was the lying-in ward, where the expectant mums were housed until they gave birth. Babies were born in a separate, adjacent room, called the Victoria Room (did that Queen go everywhere?!). This room has a huge stone fireplace with ornate chimney breast, and the wallpaper (above) is heavily embossed and decorated with real gold leaf - phew, was I really born in such a grand place?!

The grounds are large and very attractive. There are lots of wooded areas as well as tended gardens and lawns, and near the chapel there is an ancient yew tree , which is being protected and preserved. The drive is long and lined with trees and rhododendron bushes, and my dad used to talk about how, on his first visit, the bus had dropped him off at the end of the drive and he had to walk for what seemed like at least a mile through huge rhododendrons. My mum said that when he arrived, the matron told all the ladies in the ward to smarten themselves up as the King had come to visit. Then in walked my dad! It was a family story that used to come out at family gatherings, as did the fact that there were not enough cots for all the babies, so a bed was was made for me in a large drawer.

Here are a few more photos of Hazlewood Castle, and if I look a bit happy or smug in some of these, it's because I was enjoying seeing my historical place of birth.

"My" castle - the rear lawn with the view to the War of the Roses battlefield.

The main entrance. . . .

. . . and the grand wood-panelled entrance hall ( now the hotel's reception area)

The Main Hall, built on the site of the original Normal Great Hall, and now used for wedding receptions and corporate events. This was the lying-in ward where the mums in waiting were, and where my dad's entry caused a rustle of expectation, until it became evident he was not the King!

I was born in this room. It's now used for civil marriage ceremonies.

Finally, the chapel where newlyweds can go for a marriage blessing after the civil ceremony. The Vavasour family tombs are on the right.

The Really happy snapper

2008-08-03T18:55:00.002+01:00

Glad you like my pics.I am learning all the time with my new cannon SLR. I'm learning a lot from others on flikr. i'm putting stuff on most days at the moment, so you might like to drop by again.

The happy snapper!

2008-08-01T20:31:00.002+01:00

Hi, everyone, you have been busy!!! So have I. Have made several waistcoats and cusomised a denim jacket. I like to combine my computer/photo skills with craftwork.I have discovered fabric that is backed so you can print on it from computer...great combined with embroidery and beads. Have plans to make a silk tartan shirt soon. Have made my cousin a cushion cover using a photo of her favourite flower printed onto silk. Am making her another using one of her dolphin photos. However at the moment have been having major jobs done on the house. have had the stairwell and stairs done...ceiling lowered with integrated spotlights and the stairs with metal edging strips. Also have had stainless steel wall rail. now we have to tackle doms room...such a lot to do there. Then the vestibule needs doing, oh not to forget finishing the floor in back room and hall!! Am into my photography and getting better! spend lots of time on flikr http://flickr.com/photos/sandyboots61/ if you would like to have a look. I like taking macros best but did get some good shots down by the canal on saturday. i agree it's difficult to get material but we have a good stall on market...there's also the net. not like good old thodays though!! back to flikr now.

Bag Lady

2008-07-30T11:44:00.004+01:00

There's something in the air. . . .a reconnection with making things, being creative and enjoying the satisfaction of producing an item or garment made in your own home, not in China. Jackie speaks about this in the previous post and is making a tapestry, and Sandra says that she has bought a sewing machine to do creative embroidery.

For some time now, I've been wanting to get a new sewing machine and start making my own clothes once again. Fed up with reading labels "Made in China" (take a look at the labels of most of the clothing on sale in the UK, including M&S, and this is what you'll find), I decided I wanted to have a go at making things which could carry a label saying "Made in Cheshire" (notably by me, in my own home and totally to my own taste!).

I had to unearth my very old sewing machine from the depths of the cupboard under the stairs. It's over 40 years old (my parents gave it to me as a wedding present). It's very heavy and by today's standards, very basic and primitive, although it is an electric machine, not a really old-fashioned treadle! It now awaits recycling, but in the meantime I've bought myself a new modern machine which does 18 fancy stitches and buttonholes. I guess that's more than enough for me to play with and covers the purposes I'll use it for. I've also bought a very neat sewing cabinet which houses the machine and all the bits & bobs that go with sewing. It opens out to form a proper sewing table and closes down to look like a bedside cabinet. Brilliant design!

I remember how we used to use the old treadle sewing machines in the basement at Saffron Walden College - they were lined up under the windows and there must have been 6 or 8 of them. They were nearly always in demand - everyone used to make their own clothes in the 1960's - and often there would be a queue for the machines, so popular were they. I carried on sewing into the 70's and possibly into the early 80's, making curtains, children's clothes, a couple of casual shirts for the husband and of course, dresses for myself. I well remember making ties with Jackie and having pipe dreams of selling them and making our fortune! I did sell a few to the owner of a gent's outfitters in Middlewich. We were members of the same amateur dramatic society and he wanted some for his shop. I felt very pleased about this!

Having installed my new machine and played for hours trying out the new stitches after re-learning how to wind bobbins and thread the machine (it all comes back - like riding a bike!) I found the husband thrusting his new lightweight cotton dressing gown at me saying the sleeves were too long and it needed to be shortened - could I do it? Yes I did, and impressively fast too - well, he was impressed!

Then I moved on to a project that inspired me when I first read about it in "Resurgence" magazine - social guerilla bag making! You can read about it here. I've become a bag lady, so far making 2 bags from old duvet covers. I've never made a bag before, these are dead easy to make, and the idea is that they should replace the excessive plastic bags which all too often go on to pollute the ocean and end up inside turtles, which then die.

Right now, I have one and a half old duvets left to make bags from, and I've also discovered in that cupboard under the stairs some offcut curtain fabric, which will do nicely as well. I may not end up handing these bags out in my local supermarket as at the moment, there's only me making them (I'm a "pod" of one - see the website for more info on pods) but it's very likely that family members and friends will be getting one as a gift!

On the knitting front, the weekend Guardian had a supplement called "The Rebel Knitter's Guide", which I've kept. There are lots of knitting needles in that cupboard under the stairs, along with interesting off bits of wool. I already feel my fingers getting itchy at the thought of it.

Catching up

2008-07-22T00:28:00.002+01:00

I seem to have been so busy with my 'friend spotting' that I have missed out on what has been going on on the blog. This is rather late but I too like your pansy photo Sandra and am sure it would be published in a garden mag.

Sewing again is another thing on my list of things to do now I am retired. Sandra, you and I used to make our own clothes at college, I remember and like Joyce I have been determined to start again. Only trouble is a sad lack of fabric shops round here, unless I go up to London.

I am getting 'crafty' with a tapestry seat cover I am designing but it's coming on slowly as I keep taking bits undone that I don't like! Joyce do you remember when we had great plans for a craft shop or stall and made a few ties? I think it was when I had come to stay with you when you were in Sandbach. It didn't amount to anything, but just think we might have become millionaires!!

Mind you at that time I was always thinking of an escape route from teaching! You found yours in astrology and I found the branch of education I loved - Special Needs.

I was doing some 'friend spotting' today with an old school friend Hazel, whom I hadn't seen for about 10 years. She had some old photos and we were playing the 'what was her name?' game. It set me thinking and remembering that for me school days were far from being the best days of my life and that Hazel was the only one I had kept in touch with. For me college was so much better, so I have made far more effort to stay in touch with you lot!

The people in the photos were frozen for me in their school girl personas. Then I had the horrible thought that, for all those people, I was still the uninspiring school girl I had been - oh no!

Ten Days in the Desert - Part 2

2008-07-03T10:30:00.002+01:00

It's good to have both Jackie & Sandra active again and posting their posts. Welcome back to active participation both of you. I don't know what happened to Sandra (busy I guess?) but do know that Jackie had trouble getting back into the blog following getting a new email address. Technology - meant to help us, often drives us mad. Sigh. . . .

Yes, this has been a year of travel for me so far, more than I've ever done before and way beyond my wildest dreams & expectations. To see such magnificent places which I'd only ever read about, or heard about at school was a real treat on the US trip. I remember first hearing about the Grand Canyon - that it was massive beyond imagination, that it was a mile deep, that it stretched over a huge area etc. and when younger had often thought I'd like to go there. So to have the opportunity to do so and visit so many other spectacular places was like multiple icing and cherries on the cake!

Canyonlands is aptly named. It's no small national park - it's vast. It would take a good 3 days to see all of it; as we had but one day, we opted to take the "Island in the Sky" circuit, driving to view the canyon from cliffs 1,000 ft high and getting the most amazing overviews at every stop along the way, including views of the huge and meandering Green River. We hired a CD at the visitor centre which directed us to a succession of viewpoints and gave an explanatory commentary on what we were to look for. A bit like having a speaking tour guide in the dashboard! High up we stopped for our picnic lunch and saw chipmunks. There was an enormous natural arch on this circuit, which I've included here and in the slide show below. I innocently yomped up the path to see it, reached the top and felt my tummy taking part in Olympic tummy flips. . . it was high!! but oh so photogenic too, from a safe distance! From Canyonlands we made a detour to the nearby Dead Horse Point state park (it deserves to be classed a national park - it's spectacular). The colours are muted reds, and it's so-named because a group of horses being rounded up would not cross to a safer plateau, and you can probably guess the rest of the story from the name of the place. By this stage of the trip I'd got to the point where I didn't expect anything else could be even better - but it was!

We stayed in Moab that night, a bustling pleasant town without the more "sensible" feel of other places in Utah. No drink restrictions here (too many tourists!) and some lively bars and restaurants. We ate at the quite trendy Eddie McStiff's ( that was the name - I kid you not). Next day was the Day of the Valleys - Valley of the Gods and Monument Valley. Maylis bagged the off-road drive around the Valley of the Gods, which had large weirdly-shaped buttes (pronounced "beauts") : a group of sailors, a lady taking a bath in a bathtub, a large chair. You do, of course, have to use your imagination. Bizarrely, a group of caravan trailer and RV's (American motorhomes called "recreational vehicles") had set up camp in this valley in a hot, sunny, dusty area with not a tree in sight.

Then it was on to Monument Valley, famous, well-known, the scene of many westerns directed by John Ford. He even has a view point named after him because he did a lot of filming from here. I was really looking forward to this, having seen it so many times in films, but there's truly nothing like seeing it for real. I was knocked out and just loved it. We did a 17 mile off-road drive around the valley. Many of the Navajo live there. Their homes look dilapidated and quite makeshift, but there are TV aerials in evidence, and some of them earn a living making and selling Indian crafts. Maylis and I were bought hand made necklaces by our other halves, and the Indian who made them explained that he also taught and performed tribal dances and music. He gave me his card (his name was Ron!) with a photo of him in full ceremonial garb and headdress complete with eagle feathers. He'd inherited it from his grandmother, and it was clearly a highly prized possession. There were notices requesting respect for the Navajo and their land. We had to stay on the road and photography of any of the Navajo was not allowed without their permission. We saw the famous left and right Mittens, Elephant Butte, so called because it looks like an elephant, and the biggest tumbleweed we saw all holiday came bowling along the road in front of us. I connected strongly with Monument Valley - it touched me deeply. I made a few notes each day on the places we saw. The entry for Monument Valley says "Mighty, magnificent, vast, superb".

Could it get any better, or were we getting a bit blase? The Grand Canyon defies any chance of being blase; it left me speechless and moved to tears. At first, my eyes simply couldn't take in what I was seeing. At the south rim, I raised my binoculars and looked towards what I'd thought was a bird flying over the north rim, saying "That's a big bird". It was a helicopter. OK, so I then estimated the distance to the north rim as being a couple of miles. Wrong again, it's 10 miles. My brain couldn't cope with this at first so I had to add some context. I thought about home and the next town which is 10 miles away. Then I got it in spades! That's why I was speechless, even more so when looking down into the canyon to see the Colorado River and it's rapids, and a distant mountain down the valley, 60 miles away. It was a humbling experience. How can humankind be so arrogant, so destructive, and ultimately, so temporary in the working out of our own petty powers and ego needs in the face of such awesome majesty.

The Rough Guide said go to Sheshone Point, ignore the sign saying "No entry past this barrier" and take the short walk through woods to this triangular outcrop of rock and viewpoint. The Rough Guide does not speak with forked tongue - it was a superb vantage point which we had to ourselves, and we sat there for a long time taking in the extent of the canyon and watching red tailed hawks flying overhead. Later, we saw a coyote and an elk in the woods. The coyote, for me, was special as was seeing huge condors flying over the canyon the next day.

Then it was on to stay for a couple of days with my student Diane, who lives near Prescott, a Victorian Wild West town and on to Pheonix to catch flights back to Houston for Hugh & Maylis, and to New York for us, stopping en route to take a few photos of the giant saguaro cacti which grow abundantly in Arizona.

Here's the slide show:

Hi all

2008-06-29T20:26:00.002+01:00

Well here we are back again!! Feel envious of joyce for her adventurous nature!! would love to have seen all that but my phobias prevent travel!! i feel really boring in comparison. However , i have been keeping busy and getting creative again. have got new sewing machine. also have got a new SLR digital camera and am trying out photography. you certainly need patience!! For me it is a nice mix of science and creativity. Don't think i will ever make a great photographer but am willing to learn. Have joined flikr, it is really interesting looking at people's photos from all over the world. here's today's pic...it has got loads of comments.

At last!

2008-06-29T00:49:00.002+01:00

At last I can post a blog from my own computer! We have lift off!

For Joyce this is obviously the year of travel and who can blame her after 40 years of marriage!
For me it is the year of the friend. I have organised a college reunion, a belly dance reunion and am on the way to meeting up with several friends I have not seen for years and doesn't the computer help? Emailing people is so much more straight forward than letter writing and quicker than phoning, when you are trying to contact a number of people and can do a joint email.

Yet I baulk at joining Facebook or any of the other sites. Some how I want to keep friendship more personal and not advertise it to the world. My daughter thinks I am from the dark ages and she is probably right. I am much more wary of the surveillance that is going on about us, yet I am incredibly law abiding.

Ah well I suppose I make an exception for this blog!

Dash it!

2008-06-26T15:42:00.000+01:00

Dash it that last did not work as planned hope this will! Jackie

2008-06-26T15:20:00.001+01:00

Whoopee! I think she's got it! Just an even shorter one to see if I am eventually back on blog!

Jackie

Hurrah at last!

2008-06-26T14:56:00.002+01:00

Joyce and I have been tearing our hair out trying to enable me to post once again on this blog, since I changed my email address! Obviously the blog has a touch of autism and doesn't like change - or perhaps it has become old and curmudgeonly (me in my SEN hat) !!

Anyway this is by way of a trial run to see if the new ideas work, I must say it seems promising so far because it is at last enabling me to type something. I have a feeling it will come up under Joyce's name but it is in fact from Jackie!

Here goes with' publish', if it works you will be hearing from me more fully in the future!

Jackie

Ten Days in the Desert - Part 1

2008-06-15T07:26:00.001+01:00

I've never been in the desert before, and probably my nearest experience of it (barring a nice empty beach on a sunny day) had been through watching the recent BBC David Attenborough series "Life in Cold Blood" where desert reptiles had featured large. So to spend 10 days travelling through the desert areas in Utah and Arizona to visit the many canyons and national parks there was an adventure packed full of new experiences.

I didn't know, for instance, that my skin would react painfully to the dry desert atmosphere, and was puzzled on Day 2 to discover I had chapped sore skin on my arms, legs, shoulders. I've only ever had chapped skin in cold weather before, but the combination of dry air, wind, heat and sun does an equally good job. The body lotion supplied at all the motels we stayed in was put to good use! My eyes didn't like the dry air and wind either; they were sore and went a nice shade of red. Eye lotion soon got that under control, and what I saw was well worth that little bit of discomfort. The trip was a most amazing experience.

Hugh & Maylis had already been to a couple of the canyons we visited, but most of it was new for them too. For the 4 of us in our hired 4x4 every day brought spectacular vistas, and for every day where we saw something that we thought couldn't be surpassed, the next day the scenery somehow got even jaw-droppingly better! We saw weird deep red/gold "hoodoos" (stone pinnacles) of Bryce Canyon. In Capitol Reef State Park the incredible colours of the rocks ranged through greys, pinks, clarets and greens, all in amazing formations. There, we did a 60 mile off-road scenic trip - dusty, bumpy, spectacular, and at the very end, exciting. We had to drive through a river to get back on the main road, and it wasn't just straight across, it was in, over to the far bank, then along for a bit before getting out up the slope.

Goblin Valley State Park is odd - full of strangely shaped rock formations which, with a bit of imagination could look like ET, or a sleeping Mexican, or Donald Duck. The elegant natural stone arches in Arches National Park form a spectacular frame for photo opportunities - but you have to remember not to step back! My tummy was doing daily flips and somersaults when I looked at views from the top of 1,000 ft high cliffs, or got out of the car to take a new large vista.

A few observations on the state of Utah. Bleak, barren, remote, forbidding, stunning scenery, impossible to tame or to make inroads into earning a small living off the land by farming. The native American Indians, who live there in the huge area called the Navajo Nation, were probably the best adapted to this land as their attitude to the rocky barren landscape is different and reverential in ways which the early settlers didn't understand. Utah was mined for uranium and much of it (outside of the Navajo Nation) is peopled by Mormons, as this is the state of the Church of the Latter Days Saints. The towns and settlements are small and modest. The Utans are polite and friendly, but quite reserved. Their faith is an integral part of life, yet there is humour in evidence too. The local brew is called "Polygamy Porter" with the strap line of the label saying "Take some home for the wives"! Barry & Hugh seemed to like it; the wives didn't try it. In Hanksville, a tiny townlet in the middle of nowhere (nearest place was 40 miles away) a guy working in the cafe where we had breakfast was wearing a t-shirt saying "Where the hell is Hanksville?" (Answer - middle of nowhere!). And in Kayenta, surrounded by desert, we wanted a coffee and the only place we could find was a Chinese Restaurant run by American Indians. . and our waiter was gay. It was a bizarre coffee break.

Here's a taster of some of the desert, canyon and national park views:

Dona Nobis Pacem

2008-06-04T06:34:00.001+01:00

Today, June 4th 2008, I'm supporting the Blog Blast for Peace 2008, started by blogger Mimi. The idea is to get as many blog postings headed "Dona Nobis Pacem" out there, and spread this urge for peace throughout the world as far and wide as possible.

You can read more on Mimi's blog, and if you're a fellow blogger you can join and make your own peace globe, sign it, decorate it and display it with pride. Here's the one I made for Mellow Yellow & Co:

Spread the word, and do something positive too - be the peace you want to see in the world.

Here's my thought for the day, a quote from Carlos Santana:

"Peace has never come from dropping bombs.
Real peace comes from enlightenment

and educating people to behave in a more divine manner"

Hi to new bloggers

2008-06-03T16:45:00.002+01:00

It is great to hear from ex Safferites from other years, I do hope, like Joyce, that you will tell how things were when you were at college, get your friends to contribute too.

I wonder what had changed. Did you still have college 'mothers' i.e. third years who took you under their wing when you first started and did you still have to get exeats when you went out after 12.00? The first was comforting the second was irritating!

I'm not sure how long SWTC went on for after we left, as it is now a language school, so I wonder if it ever went co-ed, I can't imagine it!

Was Bernard Burgess still teaching there when you were at college? He taught Sociology as a main course subject, which I took and I am still in touch with him. I know he eventually moved on, to Homerton, I think.

Are you all still teaching? Most of us have retired now, but quite recently. Some of us moved on to other jobs after teaching for a few years but we remained in touch. I went into SEN mainstream, after a break to bring up my children and loved this branch of teaching, although I know it is not everyone's cup of tea!

I thoroughly recommend retirement, if you haven't done it already! Holidays offpeak and no planning, marking or admin paperwork!

Do let us know your memories and current experience of education.

We just got a bit yellower!

2008-05-28T13:00:00.007+01:00

A pause in my seemingly endless wallow of memories, sharing a few stories & photos about our trip to the US, to check out any comments left on our blog. Lo and behold, a comment from an ex-Safferite - Denise - who found us and who was at Saffron Walden in the early 70's. Welcome Denise - hope you'll drop by often and chip in with a few memories of college life and events.

Here's a line up of college staff taken in June 1996 - who do you recognise?!

(Edit 29.5.2008 - some kind anonymous person has pointed out that this photo was surely taken in 1966, not 1996! Of course that's right, it was 1966, in front of the college main entrance, on a hot sunny day with the sun shining right into our eyes. Thanks for pointing out the typo!)

Thinking about our time at college alongside my recent trip to the States, I do remember during my 1st year going to Debden Air Base and spending the day, with a few other students, observing in the American school there.

We were shown to our seats at the back of the classroom and then the day began quite startlingly (for me at any rate!) as the whole class rose to their feet and joined their teacher in swearing allegiance to the Stars and Stripes, which was displayed at the front of the room. They all neatly and correctly recited the oath of allegiance with hands on hearts. Meanwhile we students sat in a bemused and rather uncomfortable state while this was going on, not knowing what to do. Oh yes, another memory - the children were incredibly polite and addressed us as "Ma'am". I'd forgotten about that but in the States I really liked being spoken to politely and being answered "Yes Ma'am!" Now I know how the Queen feels!

Back to the oath of allegiance. Hugh, soon after going to the US for his 2 year secondment, was invited to a business dinner as part of his job. He described feeling utterly startled and unsure what to do when all present rose to their feet and did the oath before dinner commenced. As cultures, we're not that far apart in lots of ways, but in some, it feels like light years. I wouldn't want to swear an oath of allegiance, but I would like to experience the level of courtesy, politeness and the refreshing attitude to customer service that was on offer in the States.

Meanwhile, let's hope we gradually continue to get yellower and that other ex-Safferites find us too!

Viva Las Vegas!

2008-05-18T15:38:00.010+01:00

After 10 days in Texas, we all travelled together to Las Vegas, where Abby flew on to Los Angeles and then to New Zealand for the rest of her holiday, and we picked up a 4x4 hire vehicle for our trip to the canyons and national parks of Utah and Arizona. But not before seeing Las Vegas itself!

Bright, garish, trashy, classy, busy, noisy, fascinating, amazing, excessive, a "must see". . . . like Blackpool in some respects, and in others, not like it at all! (it's hot in Vegas, for instance!). The place has to be experienced, and the experience entered into, and the picture of the fruit machine gives a good idea of one way we entered into it! But first of all, we went to Paris where we had a buffet "pay one price and eat all you can" lunch, which was delicious. The food was good, champagne was served at the start, and the restaurant setting was a mocked-up Parisian square complete with outside tables on cobbles (but it was all inside the hotel itself which is H-U-G-E like everything Vegas!). The sky appears to be overhead, always summer-blue, with a few fluffy clouds, and the sun always shines. It's a bit disconcerting when you notice the sprinkler valves in the ceiling painted into the overall sky appearance, especially if you've seen the Jim Carrey film, "The Truman Show"! What is reality and what is not. . .?

We ate, we played the fruit machines (you have to get out when you're winning - Maylis and I made a tiny profit!), we walked along the Strip and saw The Bellagio (setting for the film "Ocean's Eleven") and Caesar's Palace, went into The Venetian which has its own Grand Canal complete with gondola rides propelled by singing gondoliers - and that is upstairs on the first floor!!

The Wynn is the newest hotel there - very classy indeed, with patterned mosaic floors, giant lampshades which move gently up and down like slow yo-yo's, and a shopping mall to rival Bond Street, dripping with designer shops, including Tiffany's and Manolo Blahnik shoes (Sandra, eat your heart out). And I'm trying out a new photo display gizmo which both Maylis and Abby have used on their blogs to display photos of our time together in the States. It's my first go at this - another learning curve. As they say in the States, "Enjoy!"

Ten days in Texas Part 2

2008-05-15T15:44:00.027+01:00

Who'd have thought you could spend a WHOLE DAY in a mall?! I'm a bit sensitive about this, it's not me at all, but I did and so did Barry & Abby. Needs must and all that - we'd travelled to the US with hand baggage only as we all had to pass though Terminal 5 at Heathrow where the mountains of back-logged baggage were still knocking around. We didn't fancy risking lost bags so decided to buy things (and suitcases to put them in) when we got to the States.

The shopping experience was one not to be repeated in a hurry. The mall was huge - like a village - and we all started to lose the will to live after a while as we had to case the joint, then try on, buy, eat lunch etc. etc. Abby & I did find time for a bit of girly fun though, trying on cowboy boots! We played "try but not buy". Both pairs of boots were not made in the US. One pair was made in Brazil, the other in China. The genuine US Texan boots were superb, but oh-so expensive.

The following day, to redress the balance of a day spent at the cathedral of consumerism, we visited the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, and the Pompeii exhibition, calling at the Central Market on the way back for some fresh food

Still keeping the tone raised, we visited the Museum of Natural Science in Houston's Museum and theatre District, and went to the butterfly dome. . . . .

. . . . .and to the display of crystals and gemstones, which was quite amazing.

Dinner at The Cheesecake Factory was a full-on American large portion experience with - of course - cheesecake after the main course. Some of us had doggy bags to take home the rest of our defeating but delicious portions of cheesecake.

We rounded off our stay in Houston with a trip to the Space Centre and NASA. There were displays, talks and films in the visitor centre, but the highlight was the bus trip around the NASA site. Everyone had to go through airport-style security screening before they were allowed on the bus, and there was a lot of driving around the site with an explanatory commentary on which building was what. All the buildings are windowless and nondescript (for security/spy deterrent purposes I suppose) but we were allowed in some of them. The most exciting one was to see mission control which was the hub of operations in the Moon flights and landings. It was almost familiar to see this for real, as it's been televised a lot and was the focus of attention and activity for the 1969 first Moon landing (I remember that well!)

The guide who explained the details of the mission control room was clearly a retired teacher - his was the best talk and the parties of school children there were quiet and rapt! We also got to see the Saturn 5 rocket - huge and impressive:

And I got to visit the Moon!

Ten days in Texas Part 1

2008-05-07T17:55:00.021+01:00

Hi y'all! We started off our trip to the United States with a 10 day stay in Houston with Hugh & Maylis, who met us at the airport wearing their own jeans (or "janes" if you're speaking with a Texas drawl), cowboy boots, and borrowed genuine Stetsons. Strangely enough, their attire didn't turn any heads or attract attention. . . . in Texas that's what people wear!

Houston is suprisingly green, with lots of trees, parks and grassy spaces - much nicer than we'd expected. Downtown is modern and has big skyscrapers. The suburbs are leafy and green.

Downtown we went up the Chase Tower - the highest with 70 floors - which has a viewing area on the 60th floor, and later took an evening trip on the Buffalo Bayou (river) which runs through Houston to a visit a bridge which is a bat roost. On the way we were given a talk about bats, then we waited for them to fly, catching sight of a few water snakes swimming about as we did so. They flew at 2 minutes to 8, and were still flying out from under the bridge at 8.10. A spectacular sight and there were easily tens of thousands of them.

The George Ranch, a short drive away from Houston, is a working ranch with a history. There you can visit ranch houses dating from the 1800's to the 1930's. Each one is a museum and the guide is dressed in a costume from the era. The most fun thing was the demonstration of ranching skills by the resident cowboys . Cattle were lassoed and we saw how they were pulled down to the ground for health checks and for branding. We were also shown how they were dosed with medication (for that, read a big pill pushed down the throat!). The cowboy stuck his fingers in the steer's nostrils, pulled its head back and opened its mouth before putting his arm down its throat up to elbow.

Brazos Bend State Park is another attraction not far from Houston, and has swampy areas which attract all kinds of wildlife:

But you go there to see the alligators! Mindful of the fact that we'd eaten alligator the previous evening in a recipe Maylis thought we'd like to try (it's chickeny), we tiptoed past them carefully and respectfully in case they decided we looked a good meal too. . . .Two of them face to face on the bank started hissing as we skirted by them & we burst into a sprint, but I think they were either having a slow stand off, or were undertaking some kind of reptilian mating ritual as they didn't show any interest in us at all.

Hissing 'gator and smiling 'gator!

Uptown Girl went West and Downtown

2008-05-05T18:36:00.007+01:00

Just back from a memorable and very enjoyable trip to the US, first staying with Hugh & Maylis at their home in Houston, then taking a road trip with them to Nevada, Utah and Arizona to see the canyons, finishing with 4 days in New York City.

Still gently recovering from jet lag and physically rediscovering the time zone I'm in, and will write and share photos when I've had time to sort them out. Here are a few as a taster!

Maylis (keen photographer) has already put a fun selection of the road trip on her blog - click here for those - and I'll be back soon with more and a few views on experiencing life in America (hint - it was good!)

Things we did in '66 at Saffron Walden College

2008-04-03T16:56:00.014+01:00

Taking a trawl through the archives, I've found a few interesting photos which kind of follow on from Jackie's comments in the previous post about new things opening up for us at college, through the activities we took part in and the people we met. They tell the story mostly in pictures, and this first one shows some of our group of 10 lounging in the sunshine on the banking of the tennis courts behind the college main building. L-R are Lyn, Judith, Yours Truly, Sandra and Marilynne. Behind us the famous fire escape is visible - many a late-arriving student crept up it and climbed in after an illicit late night out!

Same group, same lunch break, on the path joining the main building to Butler Hall (always known as "the new building") . . . . .

. . . . . and again on a seat in the college grounds - must have been a long lunch break!

Yours Truly with Sandra, dancing the minuet??

All this (I think) took place during the summer of 1966, when we were coming to the end of our first year of training, and were probably winding down and relaxing having got through that first year and our first teaching practice. I can't apologise for how we looked & dressed as that's what students looked like in the 1960's!

This was taken at the college summer fete - L-R: Lyn, my Mum, Barry (yes, I married him), Yours Truly, Gerry. It was a scorching hot day for the fete, and the college was open to everyone that day, so people from Saffron Walden town came along to join in.

The entertainment events included Morris Dancers battling it out with sticks as part of their routine,

and one of the Morris Men was dressed up as the Hobby Horse (or 'obby 'oss as I think it's probably known as in Morris dancing and Mummers play circles).

Finally, a photo of another part of the entertainment on offer that day - a small dancing group formed by Pam Gamon, mature student (she's centre back, left, looking far more confident and assured than the rest of us, with her feet firmly planted on the ground and hands on hips). I'm loitering hesitantly front right, and know that being involved in that dancing group was a significant and very enjoyable opportunity for me, and it kept me dancing throughout my college years and beyond.

More thoughts from Saffers

2008-03-27T00:18:00.003Z

We have talked a lot in our blog of the fun and social life and bits about our emotional life but Saffers was a whole life enhancing experience for me.

The first time I had lived away from home. Even though the all female college was thought stifling by some, I welcomed the more protected transition from home to the big, wide world. I suppose it sheltered us from the excesses of the sixties, as lived in the bigger metropolises, but some of the excitment of those times percolated through.

Do you remember the time we organised an informal debate between staff and students over coffee in the common room? This might seem tame, by today's standards, but it was quite a departure for Saffers and a blow for student lib. I realise that others were being more radical in their protests elsewhere in the country, but for young women only one step from being schoolgirls, this was quite a leap forward into adulthood.

For me though, it was the broadening of my mind that was the biggest thrill and my final year at college was a most amazing experience. It seemed to me that the previous two years of floundering and indecision crystalised into a realisation that anything was possible, if you were prepared to embrace it.

So then I left college and went out even further into the wide world and it bit me! But now at the other end of my careeer, having retired, I feel those possibilities opening up again if I am prepared to embrace them and I might not have that understanding if I hadn't been for good old Saffers.

Parties and Balls

2008-03-26T11:31:00.011Z

Here's a wander through the archives, revisiting events our group of 10 shared at Saffron Walden Training College in the late 1960's. Parties, dances and balls were a pretty important feature of our lives, living out in the sticks (as it felt then) in the small market town of Saffron Walden, which seemed pretty dead for those of us in our late teens/early twenties!

The College had a twice weekly special bus, known as the Passion Wagon, which took us to the bright lights of Cambridge, 15 miles away and teeming with male students. There we took part in tiddlywinks competitions - Saffron Walden College women v. the Cambridge colleges men - and were invited to parties and May Balls. We also had our own parties, dances and an annual college ball which the Cambridge students and boyfriends of members of our group of 10 attended.

One such party was in Brighton for Sue's 21st in late August 1966. Sue is one of the group of 10 (forgive me Sue if I give your age away!). I travelled there with Barry (that's me in the green dress, sitting on his knee) and Gerry and Paul (that's her on the right, in the white dress, on Paul's knee). And yes, dear readers, we married them. . . . !

On the way there, the exhaust fell off our car as we were driving around a roundabout near Gatwick Airport. We stopped and tied it back on with a pair of Gerry's tights, and resumed our journey. We were a bit late for the party, and our arrival was announced by the noise the botched up exhaust made. The car was named Creeping Moses by Sue as we had to drive it so slowly. The name stuck and we kept "Creeping" for several years after that memorable event. England were playing in the 1966 World Cup tournament that weekend too. The next day, all Barry and Paul seemed to want to do was listen in to the match on the many transistor radios broadcasting it as we walked along the prom in the sunshine.

Here is the group of 10 at Judith's 21st in November 1967. Judith is centre, back row. I'm to the left, wearing the chandelier earrings. Jackie is kneeling in front of me. Sandra is on the front row too, 2nd right. Have we changed? See our mug shots in the sidebar!

Another shot from the same party. There I am on the right, sitting on his lap again! Jackie is standing on the extreme right; Sandra is on the extreme left, sitting on another lap. Those were the days when the men wore suits and ties to parties!

Here's a spot of memorabilia from 1967 - a Cambridge May Ball programme complete with black and white op-art design on the cover. I went to this ball with Barry, who'd managed to get some last minute tickets from a friend who couldn't go and was selling them off cheaply. That's the only was we could afford being there! It was a truly memorable event and we were amongst the "survivors" who stayed up all night and enjoyed piping hot onion soup at 4 a.m. in one of the college courtyards.

This is the menu on offer at the ball - and just look at the wine prices! 17 shillings and 3 pence for a bottle of Nuits St. Georges! That takes us back to the days of "old" money, when there were 240 pennies in a pound. And I think they meant Anjou not "Anjon" Rose!

Here's our "survivors" photo, taken at around 7 a.m. after the ball was over. The car is not ours - we were still struggling along with good old "Creeping"!

Finally, here are some of us at the Saffron Walden Summer Ball in 1968. L-R: Joyce & Barry, Lin & Ian, Gerry & Paul, Judith & James. Look at the hairdo's! Bouffant was in.

Another teacher in the family!

2008-03-11T11:37:00.009Z

I'm proud to announce that dearest daughter has gained a post graduate teaching certificate. She trained for this "on the job" as part of her work as Education and Training manager at a large central London hospital, and attended the Institute of Education ( part of the University of London). She had assignments and an exam to do as well as having observed sessions of her teaching and training the adults she works with.

Yes, we're proud and I hope she is too! We went down to London last week for the day to attend the awards ceremony and she met us at Euston station. We had time for a quick visit to the British Museum and admired the roof of the glassed-in courtyard.

We did a fairly short tour of the Egyptian and Greek antiquities ( I'd prefer seeing them in situ rather than in London) - some of them are very striking and dramatic. Here is Rameses.

And here is Horus and his shadow. Both are striking sculptures of great significance, and although I appreciated seeing them, I would much rather they had been in their natural surroundings where - to me at any rate - it seems they should be. One could argue that they would have fallen into decay or disrepair of they'd stayed in Egypt, and that bringing them to London and other world cities where many are displayed, their cultural significance can be preserved, studied and appreciated. To me they just seemed a long way from home, out of place, and a bit sad.

We moved on then to the Institute of Education for the awards ceremony, which was very enjoyable. Along with our star receiving her PGCE, the children's book illustrator, Quentin Blake, was given an honorary degree with due pomp and ceremony, and we were treated to a stunning piano recital as part of the proceedings.

Here she is waiting to be called forward. . . . .

. . . . and then receiving her award. . . .

. . . . and giving us a twirl after it was all over!

Our first award!

2008-02-29T18:31:00.010Z

My blogger friend Barbara, who I had the pleasure of meeting in Paris recently, has very kindly awarded us the "Nice Matters Award". It's a recognition of friendship and support amongst the blogging community and a special honour from Barbara. It's encouragement for Mellow Yellow & Co. as we have just recently gone public with our blog which started life as a contact point for teachers trained at Saffron Walden College of Education. Thank you Barbara!

Barbara, who is an American living in France, writes an interesting and informative blog called Home in France, so do drop by - she inspires me with her warmth, friendship and breadth of interesting posts.

Bloggers united in Paris. From left to right: Maylis of Two Years in Texas, Yours Truly, Barbara, and Abby of Greenabby.

Addendum - 5.4.2008
Barbara has left a comment saying she also nominated us for the "Bloggers with Integrity Award" ( see it now proudly displayed in the sidebar!). I'd not grabbed that one as it seemed a bit greedy, having only just gone public and all that - so once again, thank you Barbara for the award and for your encouragement! We'll wear both of these badges with pride.

The earth moved!!!

2008-02-27T20:22:00.002Z

The earth certainly moved for me last night...for a change!! I half woke up with the bed shaking and heard a noise like a lorry going by, momentarily thought I was dreaming but did register it was an earthquake. Thought I would check on net in morning,then I promptly went to sleep again. Forgot about it when I got up till I went on net and there it was!! Funny thing is, i woke up a couple of weeks ago and thought I felt movement and that it was a quake but there was no news on web then...weird or what? I remember the 1984 Wales one and it was similar except a few things came off shelves. dominic happily slept through both, a pity for one so interested in extreme weathers!!

Did you feel it?

2008-02-27T17:29:00.005Z

Did the earth move for you last night? Here in the north west it did! I was awoken by the bed shaking, turned over and muttered to husband "What are you doing?", thinking he was scratching violently! In my half-asleep state I wondered if there had been an earth tremor, then turned over and went back to sleep. He didn't wake up at all.

My ears pricked up when listening to the "Today" programme, though, where the full news story was told. Meeting people out today the first question was "Did you feel it?" Don't we all love a bit of drama? Some have more than they wanted though, with structural damage to homes.

We have family in Lincolnshire, about 20 miles from the epicentre, so catching up with their experiences will be interesting.

Other earth tremors of recent times that I remember are in the 80's, when there was one centred in North Wales. A crack appeared in our drive and along a window frame. The children were excited and a bit scared too. At the time I was doing social work with the elderly. A story was doing the rounds that one of the local GP's had been called out for a home visit to an old lady who complained of the room and furniture shaking and wobbling.....

In the 90's there was another tremor. Our dog at that time (a Westie) started barking seconds before the desk I was working at started to shake. I was on the phone at the time, booking us a holiday, and remember saying to the person I was speaking to "I think we're having a small earthquake here...!"

Most frightening of all was on holiday in Yugoslavia in the early 1970's. We were on the 5th floor of the hotel and awoke in the early hours to find the beds shaking violently and the pictures on the wall rocking from side to side. We weren't sure whether to head for the door or the balcony. A few years later there was a large earthquake at the same resort. Two out of the three hotels in the complex collapsed and lives were lost. The one left standing was the one we'd stayed in.

5 hours of culture a week

2008-02-18T12:43:00.004Z

Culture Secretary Andy Burnham, MP, recently announced that all children should receive 5 hours of culture a week at school, and if memory serves me correctly the amount allocated per child to pay for this is........wait for it........£15 a year!

Don't make me laugh. Real teachers (and parents) who know their stuff can provide exposure to culture for free, but granted, the £15 could come in handy for a special occasion so maybe I shouldn't knock it.

Reflecting on my experiences as a primary school teacher, I was able to "seize the teachable moment", as I was trained to do at Saffron Walden College of Education. The "teachable moment" might have been filled with a story, a poem, a picture, a piece of music, and it would have related to and illustrated what I was teaching. I was teaching like this in the late 60's/early 70's.

"Culture" is defined in my dictionary as "the arts and other manifestations of human intellectual achievement regarded collectively", but surely "culture" also refers to a way of life with which we are familiar ( as in our own culture) and to other cultures which are more foreign to us ( as in learning about the way other people live). Isn't this part of what teachers teach? Or should be able to teach........? Whatever happened to the integrated day?

Another life story

2008-02-14T23:49:00.002Z

Like Sandra I cannot really write a story in 6 words but I might sum up my life like this:

Happy child?
Liberated student!
Searching retiree..........

and the punctuation is as important as the words.

Jackie

life story

2008-02-13T18:30:00.002Z

Can't compete with Hemmingway; his is more like a haiku in that there is a lot between the lines.

How about: born, married, divorced, happily semi-retired.

OR
I shoe shop therefore I am.....

Your life story in six words

2008-02-06T17:15:00.000Z

I heard on the "Today" programme that a new book is being published full of life stories. Each one is only six words long. The BBC "Today" website explains how this came about:

"In the 1920s, Ernest Hemingway bet ten dollars that he could write a complete story in just six words. He wrote: "For Sale: baby shoes, never worn." He won the bet.

Now an online magazine is asking its readers to sum up their own lives in just six words."

I've visited the magazine website to find out more, and also had a go at writing my life story in six words. It's not as easy as it sounds!

Obviously a teacher, so people say

This is only a part of my life story. What, on the surface, appears to be something that could be dashed off quickly (I'm sure some people can do that!) has provided a lot of thought about what exactly I could write.

Give it a try!

Is there life in the old blog yet?

2008-01-27T16:24:00.000Z

As it seems that Jackie, Sandra and I are the only 3 people who use the blog, its future is currently under review.

Its creation was to enable more than just 3 of us to add memories from our college days and news of things that we are currently doing, and it could yet transform into an active forum for ideas, news and interesting discussions. But that hasn't happened and right now it doesn't seem to be going to happen.

At our reunion in Buxton, there was a small outcry when I suggested deleting the blog - many of you seemed to want to keep it going - but since we met up in Buxton there has been little evidence of this, so I can only assume that apart from the 3 of us, no-one else reads the blog or wishes to participate in this project.

I understand and respect this.

I am also of the opinion that it's a matter of "use it or lose it", so if you happen to be reading this and have any views on the matter then let's hear them! Otherwise this blog may simply disappear into the ether, never to be seen again. . . . . .

Love to all, Joyce

40 years on. . . . .Part 2!

2008-01-02T17:15:00.000Z

Many thanks for your good wishes on our 40th Anniversary. We had a superb week in Paris from 12th-19th December, with our family joining us for the long weekend which included our anniversary on 16th. Hugh & Maylis (son & daughter-in-law) flew in from Houston where they are currently living, and Abigail (daughter) got the Eurostar from the newly-opened terminal at St. Pancras. She (carefully!) brought with her cut glass wine goblets which were one of the gifts and suprises we were treated to. All 3 of them had planned a wonderful day for us, each taking on part of the organisation. They did us proud!

We stayed in a large apartment close to the Hotel de Ville and the Pompidou Centre. Our anniversary day began with freshly baked bread & croissants from the local boulangerie. Abigail fetched these along with a small bouquet of red tulips. We opened cards (there were lots more waiting for us at home), had breakfast, were presented with the wine goblets, and gave each other the pendants we'd had made for us by a friend's daughter who is a jeweller.

We were told to be ready, dressed warmly (it was very cold the whole time we were there) and out in the street by 11 a.m. We'd no idea why we needed to be there, and all we could find out was that our limousine would be coming for us! Eventually, two 2CV's rounded the corner and drew up alongside us. The one at the front was bright green, and the second one was pale blue. They were part of a fleet of Citroen 2CV's which give individual tours of Paris, and they were driven by 2 extremely nice young men (down, girls...!) who spoke English and were law students at the Sorbonne. We got into the green car, the other 3 got into the blue one and we were driven round to Notre Dame where we stopped and they proceeded to roll back the roof on each of the cars so we'd get an all-round view of the sights. Bear in mind that it was brilliantly sunny and bitterly cold. The wind chill was easily minus something, so the blanket they gave us to cover up with was very welcome!

We were driven around the sights of Paris for over an hour, attracting plenty of appreciative waves and toots from pedestrians and motorists along the way! There was a suprise in the trip - a stop off at a Roman amphitheatre in the heart of the Left Bank. We had no idea it was there, and it was news to our French daughter-in-law too! We were dropped off at the Eiffel Tower which provided another photo opportunity, and then another suprise....Maylis's mum, Claire, was waiting for us underneath the Tower, having come from Amiens to Paris by train to spend the afternoon with us. Hugh and Maylis then presented us with tickets and told us to join a very short queue to go up the Eiffel Tower. Like VIP's we were whisked past a very long queue, and went up in the lift to the restaurant on the first floor, where we had lunch overlooking the Seine. Claire had brought us a gift - a metal sculpture of intertwined rings and doves specially made by a outreach working monk who lives in a village just outside Amiens. He uses the metal and shrapnel which is still to be found in the battlefields of the Somme to create a wide variety of metal objects which he sells to support overseas good will projects in 3rd world countries. Included was a personalised poem for us - all especially touching as we were introduced to him a few years ago.

Entente cordiale Mums.. . . . .

. . . . and our lunch-time view.

After lunch we visited the Marmottan Museum (our favourite) which houses Monet's personal collection of Impressionist paintings, as well as many of his own, including a lot of the famous waterlily paintings he did. There was time for a quick cuppa at the flat before Claire left to catch her train and we were told to be dressed for dinner by 7 p.m. We had no idea (again) where we were going, and after a short journey on the Metro we got out at the Gare de Lyon and walked across the station forecourt. I looked at the TGV's at the platform and began to wonder if we were going to get on one and go somewhere south! But no, we walked on towards the station "caff" with tables and chairs set outside. By that time, both of us were quite bewildered and wondered where on earth we were going to eat. Was it really going to be the station caff? But no, we were whisked up a curved flight of marble steps and in through a revolving door which was the entrance to Le Train Bleu, a gloriously Belle Epoque listed building and the original grand station buffet which is a restaurant with decor and food to be relished!

It was a memorable end to a memorable day, easily as memorable as our wedding day 40 years ago which you shared with us. Thanks go to our wonderful family who planned it all and made it possible.

2007-12-28T17:34:00.000Z

Happy New Year to you all.

Love the new picture behind the title, did you do it Joyce? how did you get that effect?

And a Happy New Year

2007-12-23T23:38:00.000Z

I can't compete with the beautiful picture but I can add my New Year wishes to you all. I hope everyone has good health, happiness and a contented retirement or a stress free working environment. Here's to the next reunion! Love Jackie

Greetings to all

2007-12-21T15:03:00.001Z

Christmas Greetings to you all

Wishing you a peaceful and joyful festive season, full of light and love, and a good new year ahead in 2008

With love,

Joyce

Photo courtesy of my talented belle-fille, Maylis

40 years on. . . . .

2007-12-07T13:52:00.000Z

Do you remember what you were doing 40 years ago? I do, but then I have good reason to! For a start, around this time in December 1967 I was appearing in the college pantomime production of "Cinderella".

I'm there on front row on the left at the bottom of the steps. I was one of the court dancers, partnered by Marilyn Lewis, who was the "bloke" - you can just see her head. I can't remember the names of anyone else....but the real man on the right hand side of the stage, playing the part of Baron Hardup, is undoubtedly Mr. "change your balls for beanbags"! This, as I recall, was what I was doing a week before my wedding on 16th December 1967, which is why I can remember what I was doing 40 years ago!

And of course, I remember my wedding day very well. Gerry was one of my bridesmaids. The day was bright, clear and cold. The sun shone. You all came to the wedding. Here are some photos.

Gerry with my cousin Christine, the other bridesmaid. Your hair was darker then, Gerry - and so was mine!

You all gave me a "bride's gift" to hang on my arm after the service, and I'm showing them off here. There were quite a lot of them, and I remember they were pretty heavy to have hanging on my arm. You can see the pastry cutters that Marilynne gave me. I still have them and use them every Christmas when I make mince pies.

Our favourite photo, known as "The Scarves". It was such a wonderful surprise to suddenly see an archway of college scarves unfurled for us to walk under to the waiting car. I don't know who thought up that surprise, but it's one of our highlight memories.

When we reached the car the confetti started to rain down. Nice capture of Jackie rolling up a scarf, Marilynne up to something, Lin and Pam looking on. Gerry looks a bit concerned...should be getting into one of the waiting cars...?

Much later on at the reception with my mum and dad, who'd organised everything whilst I was away at college. They're no longer around, but thanks to them all the same. They loved me something shocking.

Finally, a "back to the future" shot of us on the spot in Winnie Parsons Hall where we met at the college dance on 29th October 1965! This was taken at the 2001 reunion, when Gerry arranged for us to have a tour of the college. Barry is tapping me on the shoulder to ask me to dance - that's where it started!

We're off to Paris next week, and will be there for our 40th, on Sunday 16th. We went to Paris for our honeymoon, so it's a real nostalgic trip but with a difference. Our son & daughter-in-law who are currently living in Houston for 2 years will be flying in to join us, and our daughter will be leaving directly from work and boarding Eurostar to be with us. We'll all be staying in a large and rather grand apartment in the centre of Paris, arranged by our (French) daughter-in-law. Apparently there is a surprise planned for us, but we have no idea what, apart from the fact that we don't need any special clothing (!).

Thanks for the memories, for being there at our wedding, and for the friendship that has lasted the test of time. Raise a glass to us on 16th if you will!

And watch out, as I shall be featuring some of your wedding photos on the blog too!

Pam again

2007-12-06T00:35:00.000Z

Joyce's post has made me think again about my memories of Pam. It seemed our singing voices blended so well together and making music with Pam was one of the highlights of my time at Saffers. In fact making music with anyone is a real joy for me.

I also think about Pam after we left college because I was in touch with her quite often when I moved to London and she was back in Bromley. Pam was such a modest person and really couldn't believe how lucky she was to meet Rob and find someone whom she could love so much and who loved her. Then when she had her boys her happiness was overwhelming. Even after she was diagnosed with cancer she would talk about watching them grow up and wonder what they would do with their lives.She was so brave and full of hope and the long letters we exchanged were never full of self pity, in fact we often had a good laugh.

Like many of you the last time I actually saw Pam was at that official college reunion in 1984. She looks so gaunt in those photos, doesn't she? In fact she had lost quite a lot of weight even before she got cancer. However we carried on writing to each other and we had the boys for a week for several summers, as she had got too weak to look after them during the holidays and Rob had to carry on working to support them all. They were shipped around to friends and relatives. My two got quite fond of them and Mousey Brown, Nicola's toy, (who I think Joyce will remember!) became best pals with Duncan's teddy!

I last saw Rob after he had married again and moved to Grantham. Sue his new wife was very nice and down to earth, she seemed to care a lot for the boys. Sue let me know when Rob died of complications from his diabetes. I did ask her to tell Chris and Duncan I had kept all the letters Pam had written to me if they wanted them, but I didn't hear from them. I may get in touch again if Sue is still living at the same address.

Joyce's Memories of Pam - Part 2

2007-11-26T15:23:00.000Z

Seems a long while ago that I promised to add something to my initial memories about Pam, so high time that was addressed.

You may recall that Pam & I shared digs in the 1st year. Our landlady was Miss Harper, the Deputy Head at South Road Primary School. She was good as a landlady, she looked after us well and made us very welcome in her home. She lived on the corner of Ashdon Road and the Common, in a dormer bungalow named "Foxearth", and our room was upstairs in the dormer. The view from one of our two windows was over the Common. This is an old photo, not of particularly good quality, but it gives you a general idea of our location.

Miss Harper had an elderly aunt (we called her "Auntie" which she seemed to like!) who came to stay from time to time. During one of Auntie's stays, Miss Harper went away for the weekend, leaving Auntie and us in the bungalow. Auntie was deaf (this is significant) and went to bed early, so on the Saturday evening when we came in after an evening out somewhere, she was already in bed.

That evening, I went downstairs to the bathroom and was mid tooth-clean when I heard strange and undefined noises around the outside of the house. I stopped tooth brushing and listened - they were footsteps - but as the bungalow was on a corner I thought it was probably someone walking up the road by the side garden. The bathroom was at the back. It wasn't overlooked and the window was frosted glass so the curtains were never drawn.

Suddenly two hands slammed, palms open, on the outside of the window, and slid slowly down the frosted glass pane as a voice groaned "Help me..... help me......"

With hair standing upright I flew out of the bathroom shouting "PAM!!!!" in a strangely deep and wobbly voice, bringing her flying down the stairs to join me, just as the owner of the disembodied hands began lurching and kicking at the back door in the kitchen and groaning to be let inside.

The next few minutes are a little blurred. I remember we tried to keep calm. As the banging on the back door continued we decided to ring the police but this was scary as we had to stand in the hall, where the phone was. The phone was by the front door, which was made mainly of frosted glass. I think it was Pam who rang as I was still gibbering and hiding round the bend in the hall so I wouldn't be near the front door.

Phone call over and police on the way, Pam joined me in hiding, both of us peeping around the corner of the hall when we dared. We could hear disembodied footsteps on the move around the path and thought our uninvited visitor was en route to the front door. We decided we needed to protect ourselves in case he came crashing through the front door before the police arrived, so we opened the hall cupboard and looked for suitable weapons. Pam grabbed the iron and I grabbed one of Miss Harper's shoes which had a substantial wooden heel. Then we waited.

The footsteps stopped. The doorbell rang. We looked at each other. Did we venture out into the main part of the hall and see who was there? Was it "him", or was it the police? We took a cautious peep. A voice said "It's OK, it's the police". We opened the door and the local bobby reassured us that all was under control. The guy was a drunk. He lived on a corner plot a bit further on (I think on a council estate) and had mistaken Miss Harper's bungalow for his home. He was being taken home by the police. I remember little else about this part of the event, except that the bobby removed his helmet when he came in, and that he had ginger hair, which ended in a gentle point on the top of his head. It only occurred to us later that this was because of his helmet!

We eventually went to bed, totally exhausted and very, very pleased to have had each other for company and mutual support in this incident. And the next morning, when we told Auntie all about it, she seemed surprised - but then she was deaf and of course she'd slept through it all!

Reunion at Buxton - Gerry's photos

2007-11-14T17:21:00.000Z

Hi there – I’ve decided to make an effort and contribute to the Blog!! (Don’t faint with shock Joyce!). Well, I was a bit surprised, I have to admit, but pleasantly so!

Nice to have you on board, Gerry (especially when you told me I could blog off when I first mentioned setting up this blog...!)

Having congratulated Joyce and Jackie on setting up such an interesting account of our past, I thought I’d better do something before Joyce wipes it off, as she threatened to do if we didn’t show more enthusiasm!

Buxton I felt was a great success despite the drizzly weather – apologies to the southerners – we do have blue skies ‘up North’ but unfortunately not that weekend! The meal was excellent (many thanks Judith for recommending the venue) and Jackie for all the hard work setting it up.

I have enclosed our photos, some of which are repeats but thought you might like to have the choice of which one you look best on!

Looking forward to the next one in Portsmouth??!!

Love Gerry.

Chatting in the lounge. . . . .and in the bar. . . .

Relaxed Judith & Lynda. . . . .

Enjoying dinner. . . .

Friendship goes back a long way. . . .

There's that group again. . . .!

I'm still here!!

2007-11-02T17:08:00.000Z

I did reply to your original,"To see you nice!! C comments. Photos are gr8, haven't got any decent ones..should have taken my proper camera! I'm amazed how little we have all changed, physically that is. I'm sure we have all changed in other ways, I know I have ( apart from the dormouse habit!) How r we going 2 get everyone else's pics? I still have dreams of Saffers. I once dreamt I went back again 4 another course.

Reunion at Buxton - Joyce's photos

2007-11-02T15:03:00.000Z

Everyone seems to have gone quiet. Not a flicker from you. Apart from Jackie, that is. Where have you got to Sandra? Maybe some of you are lurking about reading this but not joining in??! Whatever, here are a few photos that either Barry or I took in Buxton.

Chatting in the lounge when we arrived......Lin, you have a very expressive face!!

Enjoying dinner in the Old Hall Hotel Restaurant

"Is that a bottle of wine I see before me....?"

What were you two up to....?!

Why so serious...? A bit of a grumpy group...

..aaah, that's better! Smiling now.

That classic line up of the class of '65-'68

and behind every successful woman there lurks a pair of socks that need washing..........!

On Sunday, a walk in the gardens opposite the hotel before we went our separate ways. And rumour has it that Lin and Sue are going to arrange the next reunion in Pompey.

Reunion at Buxton - Jackie's photos

2007-10-22T15:59:00.000+01:00

Jackie has asked me if I'll add her photos of our recent get together at Buxton, so here goes. I've trimmed and tweaked them a bit, but just to establish the fact that a lot of photos were taken, here's Sandra in photographer mode!

Meeting up in the hotel lounge. Gerry looks OK but why am I pulling that funny face?

The camera doing the rounds of our table during dinner. . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . and it's all looking very civilised on the other table! The meal was very good and the restaurant provided a very nice setting.

After dinner chatting. . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . and some pensive profiles.

Thank you so much

2007-10-19T16:34:00.000+01:00

Can I say thank you to everyone for my beautiful flowers, they arrived today (Friday 19th Oct) and completely took me by surprise! The colour is perfect in my room - I will try to photograph them and post them on the blog.

I also want to say thank you for making all the emails, letters and phone calls worthwhile by making it a really good reunion. I would especially like to say thank you to Judith for finding the hotel and to Joyce for support and a lot of behind the scenes work, including of course setting up this blog.

I really do hope to keep in touch with everyone now and will support Lin if she decides to have another reunion in Pompey in 2-3 years time.

I think in retrospect it would have been good to have had a separate function room as we could have all chatted a bit more easily, but I respected that quite a few people did not want to pay extra.

See you all at the next reunion! Love Jackie

Nice to see you - to see you, nice!

2007-10-15T16:02:00.001+01:00

OK, I may be watching too much Bruce Forsyth now that this year's "Strictly Come Dancing" is underway, but it was nice to see everyone in Buxton (more than "nice" - it was pretty good all round!).

Photos to follow, and maybe a bit of tweaking on the overall appearance of the blog as there are now more up to date images to add. Hope everyone had a good journey home. Sandra looked liked she'd already found someone to chat to after we saw her on her train which was masquerading as a double-decker bus.

Some of us were even starting to talk about the venue and timing of the next get together - Historic Portsmouth in 2 year's time? (well, I billed it as a naughty nautical weekend and Marilynne was asking if she could have a sailor......!).

There's life out there yet!

2007-10-02T10:44:00.000+01:00

Good on you, Jackie, rattling the bars of our cages & waking us up! Actually, we've been away travelling around France in our motorcaravan for the past 4 weeks, so I'm only just catching up on the blogs, the news, my emails, student assignments etc. But good to hear from Sandra - so pleased you're coming to join us this time as it's long time no see - I have every confidence that Jackie will be in touch as she says and will fill us in on the details. All I have in my diary is "Old Hall Hotel, arr. 2 pm onwards".

Hmmmm......think Gerry & I will probably be in touch beforehand, but that's as far as I've got.

Looking forward to seeing everyone soon, & to catching up.

Remember this..................?!

reunion

2007-09-30T20:09:00.000+01:00

Hi, have been very busy lately and have also been without computer for last week also I keep forgetting my password!!! so have 2 reset each time. haven't looked up trains yet, hope all will b ok. what timd do you expect 2 meet up/ Trains r every hour I think from Bolton but apparantly take ages as they stop at every station.Am having hair done on the friday.

Reminder from Jackie

2007-09-21T01:42:00.000+01:00

I'm not sure how many people are still reading this as there only seem to be blogs from Joyce and me, of late.

I thought I would post a reminder about the reunion coming up anyway and say that when I last heard everyone was going to be able to make it for the meal on October 13th and Lynda and Derek and I are going up/down on the Friday to extend our holiday, Lin and Ian might be joining us too but this hasn't been confirmed.

We haven't said what we may be doing on the Saturday or Sunday (for those people who can stay) but Judith has some ideas, being the nearest to Buxton and I don't think we have to make up our minds until we get there as we can't be sure of the weather, or if everyone feels like doing the same thing.

I will email or phone everyone before the time but we are going on holiday for a week, starting this Monday, so realistically it will be after we come back.

Now with sadness

2007-08-27T17:46:00.000+01:00

I'm afraid my latest news is much more sad as I have just heard that one of my ex pupils has been killed in Afganistan. He was only 19 and only enlisted about 18 months ago, his parents had misgivings but he really wanted to be a soldier. You may have heard about him on the news, it was a 'friendly fire' incident by an American bomber on the compound where he was based, two other soldiers were killed. His father was on our local news channel expressing his great sorrow and anger. It seems so much worse that it was a 'friendly fire' incident ( who on earth gave it that misnomer ?) as you feel it could have been avoided. I am so anti the wars in Iraq and Afganistan and this just confirms my antipathy. Jackie

News of Now

2007-08-24T16:29:00.000+01:00

A lot has been going on of late, and Friday 17th August was a memorable day. Our son Hugh & his wife Maylis left the UK for Hugh to take up a 2 year post in Houston, Texas. They have been living in Edinburgh for several years, and soon after their wedding 2 years ago, they adopted 2 kittens. They decided to take the cats with them to Houston, and to fly from Manchester airport which is near us, rather than from Edinburgh. Air France flies from Manchester, and they discovered that Air France is the only carrier which allows pets (in their carrying boxes) in the cabin.

The plan was that they should arrive the afternoon before, with cats and all the odds & ends that they weren't putting in storage or shipping to America to go into their new home. You can guess where most of those are now - yes, our garage.....! We took some farewell photos while they were here to mark the occasion:

Our dog was perfectly behaved with the cats once he recognised them as "his" cats that he'd stayed with in Edinburgh, and they all treated each other with the utmost courtesy.

Next morning we were all up early to go to the airport, where the cats were duly checked in as cabin baggage, and their tickets were bought:

They've been in Houston for a week now, and sound as if they're beginning to settle down into their new life style. They're living temporarily in an apartment while they look for a house and await their furniture. The cats were no trouble and only miaowed quietly a few times during the 10 hour flight, and apparently they love the new apartment!

The other news of events on 17th August was that in the early hours, we became great aunt and uncle as our eldest niece gave birth to a baby boy in what sounds like top speed time for a first baby - two and a half hours!

Who are you?

2007-07-31T11:50:00.001+01:00

Jackie's recent post is thought-provoking and makes me think in greater depth about how I describe myself. Although I've done a considerable amount of personal growth work and training, and now work in that area, it's not always easy or appropriate to respond, when someone asks "Who are you?" by coming out with something which could sound like New Age gobbledegook! By far the easiest option is to say I'm a mother, a wife, a teacher etc. and swiftly move on to what I'm interested in and what I do.

I guess that in many ways I'm the product of all that has gone before in my life, and which has brought me to this point in time. All my life experience, learning, my mistakes and what I'm currently dealing with are an integral part of me. Perhaps I'd focus on my sense of humour, which has seen me through in good times and in bad, and I've learned that it's good to laugh at myself and not take things too seriously, as they are constantly changing.

So here you are - here are two pictures of me. The first one is quite flattering and I don't mind it being posted on the web. It was taken a few years ago when we were on holiday in Cornwall and went to visit Pam Gamon, who was then 80. It was taken in her garden and I was surveying the scene - a few cats and dogs were around, as was the now very old seagull she had when we visited her there 15 years previously! I'd been in the sun and was a bit tanned. Best shot of me that had been taken for years.

The other was taken on holiday in Scotland when it was windy, my hair needed more than a touch-up of colour and it's generally not that flattering a shot. But I'm laughing and it's still me!! But that doesn't really tell you who I am! It's still a mystery because we're all complex and different people at different times.

So how would you answer the question "Who are you?" How would you reply? Do you have any good/bad photos of yourself, and would you be prepared to share them? (we are amongst friends after all, and we shared a lot during those 3 years at Saffers!).

Let's hear from you!

Who am I?

2007-07-17T00:49:00.000+01:00

Joyce asked me to publish a bit about who I am now, like she and Sandra have done, but I really find this most difficult. Sue emailed me and said she is retiring at the end of this term and said she felt she was in a strange place, not really knowing who she was at the moment and I know just how she feels. You know who you have been and have hopes for what you may achieve in the future, but at the moment you are in a sort of limbo. I expect those of you, who have been retired for a bit longer, will have found the new you already and will be relishing this new life.

Also what you have been has been made up of so many experiences that you can't possibly fill them in for people you don't see every day, which means a biopioc of yourself is full of the 'big events', which are part of you, but don't give a rounded picture. I find myself having to repeat a litany, to everyone who asks, of what I am doing at the moment and padding it out to sound as if I am busy and useful and aren't wasting my retirement.

I can tell you about my children, my husband and family, but that's what I do in my Christmas letters and again that is only part of me. Sandra's Keith said to me at the first Saffron Walden reunion in 1984, that he had expected 'great things' of me and I suppose he meant in a global sense, such as making my mark on society. Well I think we all make our mark on society, even if we don't become famous, and who is to say that encouraging one person, as you go about your every day life, isn't just as important as writing a famous novel, becoming an MP or a media star?

Don't get me wrong, I am mostly enjoying life at the moment, but ask me in another year who I am now and I may be able to tell you!

Jackie

Joyce's Memories of Pam

2007-07-03T18:16:00.000+01:00

I shared digs with Pam in the 1st year, and before going to Saffers at the start of the first term, I'd been informed that I would be sharing accommodation with one Pamela Hitchcock. In my mind I began to conjure up the worst possible scenario of what she might be like. I imagined her willow - thin with long blonde hair, chain smoking and constantly playing Rolling Stones records.

How wrong can you be?!

Larking around in Saffers town in the First Year with Pam and Sandra

Pam had already arrived at our digs when I got there and we took tea with our landlady, Miss Harper, who was Deputy Head at the primary school on South Road. She was OK, a bit of a stick sometimes, but more a bit of a lad at others. We liked her & we all got on well together for that first year.

She lived in a corner plot dormer bungalow, overlooking one corner of the the Common. We walked past the Maze most days on our way to College and in summer when the windows were open we could hear the local madrigal society rehearsing on Thursday evenings in one of the nearby houses.

Our room was the large upstairs dormer. We had plenty of space to spread our work out on the floor, we sometimes used to fight to use the one desk under the window and we often laid in bed chatting and giggling until we fell asleep.

Pam patiently taught me to play the guitar. She was a very encouraging teacher and as I was learning and improving, we would strum and sing together up in our room. I remember some of the songs - "Oh sinner man", "Kumbaya", "Rock my soul in the bosom of Abraham", "The House of the Rising Sun", "Little Boxes" and "Jamaica Farewell", just to mention a few! Thanks to Pam's tutoring and encouragement I went on to run guitar groups at the schools I taught in, and was able to pass on this pleasure of music and singing to many children.

With Pam, Gerry & Lynda when we went to see the Boat Race, March 1966

Pam and I both did Pottery main course, so we spent 3 years working alongside. She was a far better potter than I was as she could throw quite well and I was hopeless at it. For one project, we sculpted a bust of each other (just the head). We worked on these, modelling each other in earthenware clay simultaneously, needing to stand still in turn so the other could get a good look and translate it into clay. It all took ages. Then we made a cast from the modelling and eventually ended up with each other's heads as a "trophy". After we'd left College, the first thing each of us would say when we were in touch was "Have you still got my head?"

I always kept in touch with Pam and somewhere (I've not come across it yet) I have a photo of her & Rob on their wedding day. She looked lovely in a long pink flowered dress. I'll put it on our blog if I find it. Barry & I went to see her when she was ill. It was so sad to see her suffering and in pain, but her spirit and sense of humour were still very much in evidence. We talked a lot on the phone when she was having her treatment and my memories of Pam are all happy, positive and joyful ones. She's still around for me because when I look at the pots I made, dotted around the house, I remember making them alongside Pam and all the fun we had together in the pottery room.

Next time I'll write about the frightening experience we shared at our digs one weekend. It was one of the most scary experiences I've had.

What Marilynne Saw!

2007-06-27T22:10:00.000+01:00

Any more ideas? Thought I wouldn't be too rude!

Saffers now

2007-06-25T10:35:00.000+01:00

Although organising reunions can have its 'moments' (!) one very good thing it has done is put me in touch with everyone again, it is great to hear how everyone is getting on. Somehow when talking to you all on the phone, or via emails, I slip back to those good old Saffers days much more easily. It would be good to use this blog for keeping up as well as for reliving the past.

I am so pleased that everyone now will be making it to the reunion meal on the Saturday, except poor Pam, but she will be with us in spirit. Look forward to seeing everyone on October 13th.

Jackie

Doormouse

2007-06-21T18:55:00.000+01:00

I was in our morning briefing and was yawning, Sue called me "The doormouse". I told her how you all used to call me that at college!!

First Term at Saffers

2007-06-18T10:31:00.000+01:00

Here are a couple of photo's of our early days at college, when the group was forming and we were all getting to know each other.

This was taken in October 1965 round by the side entrance, near the door into the dining room. I don't know who took it, but suspect that some of you will have similar photos somewhere! Marilynne looks a bit chilly in this one. . . .

. . . . but here she's having a whale of a time in her nightie & gloves in Cambridge at the Rag Day Judith mentioned! This was taken in November 1965, and with Marilynne is Stuart Penney from Peterhouse, who was Sandra's boyfriend at the time. I only know his surname was Penney because I'd written it on the back of the photo!

I remember our corner of the Common Room which we took over and always congregated in. In the 1st year it felt very cosy and friendly getting together there as most of us were in digs. I had a real sense of "belonging" when we used to meet up in this way. By the time we were 2nd years, another group had taken over "our" space and we used to meet up more in each other's rooms then as we were residential.

Jackie's memories of Pam

2007-06-16T02:06:00.000+01:00

The abiding memory of Pam for me is the music and her pots. It is because of her that I learnt to play the guitar and had such enjoyment singing at the Folk Club. That guitar playing saved my sanity in my first two years of teaching and has been passed down to my two children. I am sure you have memories of the pottery Joyce.

It was with Pam that I first listened to Sgt Pepper and of course that is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year.

I also remember going to a party in Cambridge with Pam. She was chatted up by this chap but unfortunately another Safferite muscled in and Pam was too shy and reserved to fight back. When we left I was a bit merry and wove my way down the white line in the middle of the road, to prove I was not drunk, threatening to punch the girls knee-caps as she was somewhat taller than me!

I kept in touch with Pam when we left college and we visited each other quite often, I remember her meeting Rob and how much he meant to her and how much love and pride she had for her boys. We would often talk about watching our children grow up, wondering what their futures would hold. Rob is dead now too but I did once get in touch with his second wife, who I met once, to ask if the boys would like some letters of Pam's that I had kept. I did not hear from them, but might try again.

She was so brave in her fight against cancer and never gave up hope. I had the boys to stay for a couple of summers at the end, when she was too weak to cope with them and Rob had to work.

I still have one of Pam's pots and fill it with greenery every Christmas as a way of remembering her, but I don't really need that as she will always be with me in the music.

Highlights of Judith's Memories

2007-06-14T11:42:00.000+01:00

Do you remember -

Getting up at the crack of dawn to catch the coach to our TP schools, laden with charts etc., and that long journey around country lanes !

Dining at 'high table' and the small talk afterwards over coffee

Walking round Cambridge in our nighties and dressing gowns on Rag Day

Staying at the hall in Wisbech and having the choice of beans or spaghetti for breakfast - Lynda's hamster chewed the curtains in our room in the old stable block !!

The Summer Ball with the Swinging Blue Jeans

Meeting for coffee in The Chocolate Box on Saturday mornings