Christmas 2017

Well, a Happy Christmas and Wonderful New Year to all our Family and Friends,

Whoever said that being ‘retired’ meant we have more time have definitely got it wrong.  As usual we seem to have had a very busy year, with a bit of a rollercoaster ride involved at times.  I spent New Year recovering from my day surgery on the 29th December, where I had an Ablation to help my Pacemaker become more efficient (so far it is doing fine).

At the beginning of April I celebrated my 65th birthday and did not expect anything special as I was away at a book conference, however one of my friends had other plans.  At breakfast I received a sash and badge, together with a tiara to wear in the evening; it was wonderful as everyone kept wishing me ‘Happy Birthday’, even our guest speaker in the evening.  

April also saw us off to the house in Cyprus for the last time!  After two years on the market we have finally sold the house and we are sure that the couple who bought it will love it as much as we have done over our 12 years of happy ownership.  

Farewell to "Our Cyprus Home"

A sunset at Aphrodite's Rock perhaps marks the end of our Cyprus association
but we have every intention of returning for holidays.

It seemed really strange clearing the last of our personal possessions and looking out from our balcony for the last time.  We definitely want to keep visiting Cyprus but without the pressure of looking after the house.  At the moment we have not got a date set for return but we hope it will be in 2018.

HMS Warrior in the foreground with the Spinnaker Tower behind

The sun came out so a brisk walk along Southsea's promenade

The Still & West where we had once courted !

Portsmouth was where I started my professional library career so it was great to go back for a few days in the spring.  Chris drove over from Bournemouth on the Monday and we had a great lunch out, despite the rather miserable weather.  We also had dinner at the “Still and West” pub having spent the afternoon visiting the dockyard and the ‘Mary Rose’; something that I have wanted to do ever since they raised it from the seabed.  We also went off to a museum at the former RAF Tangmere.  It is a small museum, but one of the best we have been to and we would love to repeat our visit in the future.  Stephen was even invited to fly their Lightning simulator !

We paid our first visit to Gibraltar in the early summer; it was only a three night trip but this was plenty of time to explore the Rock, including the various tunnels and the lovely beaches on the east side of the territory.  What really surprised us was the change in visitors during the day and the evening.  During daylight the town is full of people from cruise ships and across the border, however at about 6.00 pm the place almost becomes a ghost town.  The visitors leave, the workers go home and there are just the tourists staying in the few local hotels.  Still at least we were able to get meals in some quite good restaurants.

A refreshing beer having arrived in Gibraltar.  (The nearest beer is Margaret's)

Margaret strides down Main Street - busy during daytime

Just one of the extraordinary views from the Rock of Gibraltar
across the famous airport and beyond over the border into Spain

At the end of June I had a conference in Harrogate which coincided with Stephen’s cousin Liz (and her husband Rod) over on holiday from Australia.  We arranged for Stephen to join me at the end of the weekend and then we spent a couple of nights in Yorkshire.  It was great to spend the day at Harlow Carr Gardens with them and then to share the evening with them and even more family members.

We enjoyed meeting with family so much we forgot to take pictures.
I did take this one though of the canal towpath in Skipton.
Almost John Constable ?

September saw both Stephen and myself have weekends away.  He went to the Light Aircraft Association rally at Sywell;  we have been before but it is something he really enjoys, so he treated himself.  The following weekend I went off to Oxford.  The main reason was a book launch for a friend of mine, but it also gave me the opportunity to catch up with the sights of the city.  It was “Open Doors” weekend, so I managed to see into a couple of the colleges and the Sheldonian Theatre.

The view from our hotel room out to the Old Port
Not visible, the fact that we were on the climb-out from the airport !

Margaret at Knossos; once a Minoan Palace
The site was mostly excavated by Sir Arthur Evans who "re-created" some elements.

Our main holiday for the year was in September and we went to Crete, somewhere we have not been before.  The hotel was in the centre of Heraklion, directly opposite the old harbour and next to the bus station.  Obviously we had made a list of the places we wanted to visit and Knossos was at the top of the list.  Unfortunately we found it did not quite live up to our expectations.  I think we prefer the conservation rather than the total restoration approach to history. We also visited other towns and sites on the island but because we don’t like just sitting on a beach it was not the perfect place for us.  However the museum in Heraklion is somewhere that I would recommend that people go to.

Each year celebrity authors visit Margaret,

In 2011 it was Henry Winkler (The Fonz), in 2012 Simon Mayo, in 2013 Sir Tony Robinson

2014 Michael Rosen, in 2015 it was Julian Clary and illustrator David Roberts
Then in 2016  Clare Balding, Sir Christopher Hoy & Chris Packham
This year TV presenter and novelist David Baddiel, and Maggie Aderin-Pocock MBE
who consulted on and wrote the forward for "Starfinder for Beginners"

Stephen and I do not go to the cinema very often, usually once every three to four years, but we had an afternoon out recently to see the new Paddington Bear film.  We loved the first one and couldn’t wait to see this; it was great with lots of laughs as well as a few tears of joy at the end.  The only problem with the cinema is the volume that they play the sound at !

As you can guess from some of my comments, I am still heavily involved with things related to children’s books.  I have been all over the country to various conferences and have been to London on more than a few occasions for book launches and events.  Last week I went to the Harry Potter exhibition at the British Library with about 10 friends and had a great time.  I also helped at Bath Kids Lit Festival and visited both Hay and Cheltenham festivals.  At the latter I ended up dancing on stage with Harry Hill (a very surreal experience).

As many of you know, for some years Stephen has researched and published a web site about his uncle who died during the Second World War.  The web site, whilst attracting even more information, is not the permanent record that Stephen wanted.  In consequence he has now published a book entitled “Stephen’s War”.  

Now a permanent record of the sacrifice made by Stephen's uncle.

In addition to being distributed to members of the family, it has also been sent to the six Legal Deposit libraries, to the RAF Museum and to his uncle’s former school.  The book is available both as a hardback but also, and more affordably, as an Amazon Kindle ebook. 

It has been five years since Stephen needed major treatment for his myeloma.  This summer it started to show signs of activity indicating the end of a long period of full remission. Accordingly he was withdrawn from the clinical trial.  Happily he has not yet relapsed and seems to be in a period of plateau and as yet without symptoms.  We are not letting this get in the way of our travels and we are off to Bruges in the spring and later in the year we would like to cruise along the Douro in Portugal.  Hopefully next year our letter will be full of these escapades.

The boys are both doing well and Nick and Louise moved down toward Bournemouth during the summer.  This is great for us as we can visit everyone at the same time.  Finley is now four years old and quite a young man.  Because he was born in September he does not start school until next September but he is doing well at nursery and enjoying everything.

No Christmas would be complete for us without attending Handel's Messiah.
This year there wasn't a performance in Bristol.  Margaret solved the problem by
getting tickets for the Albert Hall.  There were reported to be 500 choristers !

Do have a wonderful Christmas and we hope that the New Year will be full of happiness for everyone,

Christmas 2016

Well, a Happy Christmas and Wonderful New Year to all our friends and family

This has been yet another totally packed year, so I decided that the best way to describe it was to just take you through, month by month.

The year started quietly enough, although Stephen had a rotten cold and my car started having problems.  Otherwise it was a mix of keeping warm and getting on with our respective voluntary positions.  February saw much the same, although we had both families stay with us before going on a joint skiing holiday; when they came back the following week Nick had got flu and Becks had broken her wrist.

March saw us up to Bristol for our first concert of the year – “The St Matthew Passion” which was excellent but quite tiring sitting in the concert hall.  This was also the month that saw me start looking for a replacement car, as my old faithful was declining to start at some awkward moments.  We also had Nick, Louise and Finley over for the Easter break, which was lovely.  By the beginning of April I had decided on what I wanted to buy and it came down to a Hyundai iX20, which has the seats in a slightly higher position than most cars; I got it at the beginning of April and drove up  to Birmingham on the first day!.  I must say that so far it has been a real pleasure and I am very happy with my purchase.  Later that month I went up to Telford for a weekend conference on Children’s books and had a great time.

May was one of the high spots of the year.  The month began with us driving up to Scotland for Chris and Becks’ wedding.  It was held at Auchan Castle, which is in Dumfries and Galloway.  The scenery was wonderful and the castle itself was very ‘baronial’.  The families had the entire venue for two nights, which meant that both sets of relatives had time to chat and get to know each other.  The ceremony was brilliant and there were quite a few hankies being used; both the Bride and Groom were positively glowing.  

A very happy day

While we were in Scotland we visited two of Stephen’s cousins, one near Dumfries and one in Edinburgh, which was lovely as we had not seen them for quite a while.  We then stayed in Leith and visited the Royal Yacht Britannia as well as taking a boat trip on the Firth of Forth and going over the bridge to re-visit Pitreavie where we used to live – it has changed so much, we really didn’t recognize it

On the deck where once the HRHs trod

The Maid of the Forth on which we cruised the estuary

.After this we drove down through to Yorkshire and caught up with two more cousins before driving to the National Memorial Arboretum.  

The Royal Air Force Association memorial at the National Arboretum

We then stayed outside Cambridge and visited the Imperial War Museum at Duxford which is full of historic aircraft.  We finally got home on the Saturday evening, after a great week away.

The SR71 Backbird at Duxford.  First seen by us at Farnborough in 1974

However we did not have much of a rest because on the following Wednesday we flew out to Cyprus for our first visit of the year.  We had ten days and managed to catch up with all of our friends.  

When we got back life seemed to get quite hectic.  We had a couple of spectacular concerts in Bristol; one of which had indoor fireworks !  The music was all popular classics, with the addition of the ‘Star Wars’ theme to add a bit of dramatics.  June is also the month that I attend the School Library Association conference and this year it was in South Gloucs, only 45 minutes up the motorway, so lots of local friends attended.  June was also the month that I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, but luckily it can be controlled by diet and by tablets.

Each year celebrity authors visit Margaret,

In 2011 the Fonz, in 2012 Simon Mayo, in 2013 Sir Tony Robinson

2014 Michael Rosen, last year it was Julian Clary and illustrator David Roberts
This year 3 authors: Clare Balding, Sir Christopher Hoy & Chris Packham

So far I have lost over 10 kilos and am feeling a lot healthier. At the end of June we had a short break in Northern Ireland.  After 40 years we went back to Strangford, the village where we really started our married life and we found that it is even lovelier than it was then.  The people were great, the scenery stunning and Mount Stewart house was well worth the visit.  We also went around Castle Ward house and the Titanic Museum in Belfast.

Key Lane in Strangford. Our former home, with the Loch just below,
is the one with the post box

The summer was fairly quiet although we did attend a family celebration in the Cotswolds which was a really lovely event and great to catch up with everyone there.  We also attended a choral event at Bristol Cathedral and met up with an old friend that we have not seen for a few years, it was a great day out and the choir was beautiful . We discovered a beautiful piece of music call "Seal Lullaby".  At the end of August we were delighted to see Gary and Amanda, (our nephew and his wife) who popped in with the children on their way back home from holiday. 

At the beginning of September we went over to the Light Aircraft Association (LAA) Rally at Sywell and Stephen fell in love with a small single seater aircraft that has just come on the market, so if we sell the Cyprus house you can guess what he wants to do – yes, buy an aircraft and fit it out at home!!  We also made a return visit to Bletchley Park, but they have removed many of the exhibits, so we found it a bit disappointing.

September and October were very busy with conferences and book events, and I was elected to the board of the School Library Association, but the major thing was a week in Italy; we spent three days in Florence in a wonderfully central hotel and met up with our friend Elisabetta and her family.  

The Duomo in Florence, (as well as huge crowds)

Wonderful view from our hotel in Lerici with La Spezia in the distance

Just one of the villages clinging to the cliffs of the Cinque Terra

We then stayed on the coast at Lerici and visited the War graves in Genoa, where Stephen put crosses on the graves of his uncle and his crew members.  We also returned to Polverara, where he put a cross on the memorial in the village.  The high spot was a day spent sailing up the coast on the ferry that serves the villages of the Cinque Terra region.  

70th Anniversary Dinner of the Light Aircraft Association held in the RAF Club

On getting home we then went up to London for the 70th Anniversary Dinner of the LIght Aircraft Association which was held in the RAF Club on Piccadilly.  An amazing venue and a very enjoyable evening.

We the had a second visit out to Cyprus and managed to do a bit of relaxing.  The house is still on the market and we showed two families around but as yet we have not had any offers.

We still have our annual trip to listen to ‘Messiah’ the week before Christmas to look forward to as well as the day itself.  The family are all over for Boxing day etc. and then the week after (29th Dec) I am going in to hospital for day surgery to finally get my heart sorted (we hope).  The procedure is called an Ablation and they ‘burn’ the faulty connection between two of the chambers, so that my pacemaker can better control my heart rhythm.  Apart from this we are both feeling well and I am delighted to say that Stephen is still in remission with his myeloma, still going for check-ups every twenty eight days.   Still, as you can gather he is very energetic and does quite a lot with his magistrate’s work.  He is also on the local committees for the Magistrates’ Association and the LAA.

We hope that you all have a wonderful Christmas and that 2017 will prove to be a good year for all our family and friends.

Christmas 2015

Hello to all our friends and a Happy Christmas to you all, 

Where has this year gone?  I cannot believe that we are on the run down to yet another Christmas.  Thankfully this has turned out to be quite a good year in the end, especially as far as our health is concerned. 

We started the year with the ongoing saga of my heart problems.  I eventually saw a specialist over the New Year period and it was basically confirmed that I had Angina, the bit that was quite shocking was that it was confirmed that I have had a heart attack at some time in the past!  Anyway I finally had an Angiogram done at the Bristol Heart Institute at the beginning of March and this gave them more information about the problem.  I went in for day surgery on 9th June and have had a pacemaker and defibrillator fitted; it is amazing what keyhole surgery can do.  I am feeling a lot better and my ability to walk and breathe have greatly improved but I still need to go every few months to have some monitoring and ‘tweaking’ of the implant. 

Stephen is now said to be in ‘full’ remission, which is fantastic and he is very active.  His work as a Magistrate keeps him busy and he has sat on quite a few occasions this year.  He is also still treasurer for his flying group and enjoys the meetings and talking to others about different types of flying. 

We decorated our bedroom at the beginning of the year, which actually meant that Stephen did the painting etc. and I helped with moving things around, although this time we got someone else to fit the carpet.  Earlier in the year Stephen went up to RAF Cosford with some friends and saw the Vulcan on one of its last flights, he also saw it when it flew over Weston as part of the Air Day. It was sad to also see during its final national tour. 

Vulcan Bomber XH558 soon to be grounded for ever.

The boys are both well, although their jobs can be stressful at times.  We had fantastic news in February when Chris and Becks announced their engagement, they are getting married in late spring next year and the venue is a castle in Scotland. It will be wonderful to have a small family gathering and then they will have a large party later on in the year.  

Nick seems to have spent a lot of the year travelling around the world.  He goes to Germany on a regular basis and has been to China, USA (twice) and at least one of the Gulf States, I think it was Dubai.  However he really enjoys being at home and playing with Finley, who is now 2 years old and a very adventurous little boy (just like his father!)  We went to a fantastic pirate themed birthday party that Finley shared with his best friend in August and had a great time.

Grandson Finley takes a rest in front of Shaun The Sheep

In the summer I was able to fulfil my wish from last year and took Finley and Louise around some of the Shaun the Sheep models in Bristol.  We chose the ones around the harbour side and had a look in the ‘M’ Shed museum as well.  I was then lucky enough to get a ticket for the full exhibition of sheep up at Cribbs Causeway.  I also tried to get a ticket for the Banksy "Dismaland" exhibition in Weston, but failed miserably.  I think I should have started trying to log on to the site hours before it formally opened, but anyway I did manage to see some of the exhibits from the outside. 

We have had two trips out to Cyprus this year, but unfortunately the first was cut short because I was not very well (a combination of my condition and a bad cold meant that I had problems breathing).  The second trip was in November and it was much better.  The weather was fine, we felt well and we were able to visit all of our friends and catch up with things.  The house is up for sale but it is a very difficult market at the moment, so we wait and see. 

Villa Berengaria after external repairs and redecoration, now for sale

We will miss one of our favourite beach restaurants on Avdimou Beach and....

....regular trip for lunch at Latchi harbour

Otherwise life has just been carrying on as usual, I am now Vice-Chair of Governors at our local Primary School and really enjoy the challenges that brings.  I am also still involved with schools, publishers, author visits etc. and have a great time.  I also spend a lot of time reading books and then reviewing them for journals.  I must admit that we both seem to like this ‘retirement’ idea, although I still keep my hand in with some consultancy.  It means that we can go off and do things when we want to.  We are definitely hoping that next year we will be able to go off and do a few things, especially as we will be in Scotland for the wedding in May. 

Each year celebrity authors visit Margaret,

In 2011 the Fonz, in 2012 Simon Mayo, in 2013 Sir Tony Robinson

Last year it was the turn of Michael Rosen
This year it was Julian Clary and illustrator David Roberts

We have been lucky enough to get to several concerts this year including the Dream of Gerontius and then just before Christmas we will be at “Messiah” in Bristol, something that we have enjoyed for years and which really means the start of Christmas.  We also did get to see “War Horse” in the New Year and it was just as good as I had remembered.  However the seats at the theatre were very uncomfortable, which is something to consider in the future. 

Well I hope that everyone has a wonderful Christmas and a very Happy and healthy New Year in 2016. We hope to be able to get out and see a few people as we are so much better at the moment, so let us hope that will continue and we can meet up with some of you during the coming year,

Christmas 2014

Hello to all our friends and a Happy Christmas to you all,

Once again I am going to regale you with our adventures and activities over the last year.  Every year I think it has been fairly quiet and then I start to list what has gone on and realize that we are both very busy.

For Stephen this has been a very busy year and you can catch up with much of the action on his blog.  He has had another very good year. His myeloma has continued to recede and in one test it is now undetectable. Most importantly he feels very good, in fact better than when he retired 3 years ago. Recognising this, he decided to return to private flying and started to hunt for a suitable aircraft. Having viewed and declined two, he finally decided on a third. It was two months for the deal to be completed but sadly, when Stephen prepared to take off from Goodwood, to relocate the aircraft to an airfield nearer to home, he had an accident. Fortunately nobody was injured but the aircraft was badly damaged. Separately, he has joined a local aviation group and has already been appointed as their treasurer.

Some of you will know of Stephen’s ambition to become a Magistrate. It transpired that he would have to wait at least two years after his retirement from working with the police. He was interviewed last year but it looked as though an appointment would not occur.  Much to our surprise he was invited to sit in the Bristol court. He has now completed training and has formally sworn his oaths. Whilst waiting for his first, mentored, sitting he discovered that the role also has a civic aspect and he was only too happy to be invited to take part in the annual Remembrance Day parade in Bristol.

Where once I might have paraded in the RAF, I now attend as a JP

Bristol Magistrates Courthouse

For me, the major event of the year was taking redundancy from my role in Bristol Libraries.  The council decided to close the School Library Service and as they were making cuts across the council it seemed to be the sensible option at the time.  How right I was, as during the spring I had some increased problems with my health and it looks as if I have now got Angina as well as the other heart issue.  The downside to all this was having to cancel our holiday tour to northern Italy and not seeing our friends in Rome.  

Our Cyprus veranda - ideal for sundowners

However we have managed to get out to Cyprus a couple of times and have had a great time with all of our friends there.  I have decided to do some consultancy work, but at the moment I am not doing too much until the problems are resolved.  Still, I have got my blog and I am still reviewing children’s books for several journals/websites.  On top of this I am also mentoring several people towards professional qualifications in librarianship.

I have decided not to let all of this stand in my way and have continued to do as much as possible.  I have been accepted as a community governor at the local primary school and have been undergoing loads of training as well as attending my first meeting in September, with another one next week.  I have also still attended conferences linked to libraries and children’s books as well as going to book launches and helping at the Bath Kids Lit Festival.  My latest thing is to do some free online courses (MOOCs) and they have varied from digital literacy to World War I and Richard III.

Each year celebrity authors visit Margaret,

In 2011 the Fonz, in 2012 Simon Mayo, in 2013 Sir Tony Robinson

This year it was the turn of Michael Rosen

Stephen and myself had a grand tour of the country in August, it involved going to Yorkshire for a 70th birthday celebration, then down to Sywell in Northants for a flying rally followed by going to the “Harry Potter experience” (my second trip and Stephen’s first) and then finishing at Brooklands airfield to see the Wellington bomber they have been renovating.  

Margaret's 2nd visit to the Harry Potter Studio

The Wellington Bomber recovered from Loch Ness in 1985 and now at Brooklands

At the beginning of November Stephen discovered that the RAF Museum at Cosford (Staffs) was having an open week in the conservation area and it was the perfect opportunity to go and see the Wellington, normally displayed at the RAF Museum at Hendon, that they are restoring.

In September we went over to Basingstoke for Finley’s first birthday, he is absolutely gorgeous and looks just like Nick and also Stephen at the same age. He also came over to see us at half term and we took him up to see the birds at Slimbridge.  I am looking forward to next summer as we should have a “Shaun the Sheep” trail in Bristol and we can take him to see all the different sheep.

Both Nick and Chris are doing really well and are very happy with their other halves.  We will see them all over the Christmas period, but not at the same time.  Of course that means that we get an extended Christmas, but I think we can cope with that.

In the last few weeks we have been to a couple of concerts at the Colston Hall, the first was a celebration of the Red Arrows 50 years by the Central Band of the RAF, we then went to see a performance of Elgar’s “Dream of Gerontius” and just before Christmas we are going to “Messiah”; this really gets us in the Christmas mood (along with Muppet Christmas Carol !)  Earlier in the year we went to some reading and songs from “War Horse” in Bristol and Michael Morpurgo did the readings it was really great but just a lead up to the main event.  Towards the end of January they are bringing the production to Bristol, so I have already got the tickets for us.  I am lucky enough to have seen it before, but it will be a first for Stephen, and it really is amazing.

Well that is all from us for now.  We look forward to hearing from, and hopefully seeing, many of you in the coming year.  Have a wonderful Christmas and a happy and healthy new year.

Christmas 2013

Happy Christmas to all our family and friends.

Well firstly I am delighted to say that Stephen is doing very well at the moment.  He is in good partial remission, which means he is able to carry on nearly normally and he is full of his usual energy, even going for longish walks in the local hills. Last year he built a garden shed and this year he has provided a small greenhouse. 

Components as collected and costing £13 !

Once painted and re-assembled

The boys laid the foundations but Stephen got it from eBay, painted it, fitted the glass and did the general construction. So next year he will be growing the tomatoes and peppers!

The year started with the brilliant news that Nick and Louise were expecting a baby in September, as you can guess we were thrilled and it has given us something to look forward to.  Finley Oliver was born on 16th September, weighing about 9 ½ lbs and he has continued to enchant us all since then. H is now holding his head well and is very inquisitive about the world around him. Whilst he won't understand Christmas we should have a great time next year, and we can still enjoy spoiling him this festive season.

A small selection of Madeira Wine in Blandys

It seems to have been a very busy year for the two of us, especially when I listed things we have done.  Holidays have been a welcome break, starting with a week in Madeira in February and followed by visits to Cyprus in April (when Chris joined us for a week), Cyprus again in June (Stephen only as I had to work) and then a week in Cyprus in October.  The latter was so that we could go and pay a new property tax so we had a lovely morning queuing at the tax office; hopefully it will be ok next year as we are now on their computer system.

The beautiful Church of All Saints at the Stavrovouni Monastery

We have managed to see a few members of our families this year beginning with a bit of a round Britain trip in July; we started in Cheshire seeing our nephew and family and then it was over to Yorkshire to see cousins.  We then came down to East Anglia and stayed with another cousin near Norwich. They kindly took us for a lovely exploration of the old city and the cathedral.  We then visited friends in Huntington before the journey home.  Unfortunately we had to return to Yorkshire  in September to attend a family funeral but thankfully this was the only sad occasion this year.  I managed to visit family in London during one of my work visits and it was great to catch up with all the news.

During the summer I had the opportunity to use my Christmas present from Christopher, it was a tour of the Harry Potter studio near London.  I went with Nick and Louise and we had a fantastic time.  The sets are quite incredible and there is so much information about the background work.  It is a real tribute to the whole crew, not just the actors.  We all came away with loads of photos, but no souvenirs; the prices were truly horrendous.  However it was so good that I really do want to go and see it all again – maybe next year??

The magnificence of Stourhead

The Slimbridge Wildfowl and Wetland Trust Centre

Considering the fantastic places around this area we really don’t go to as many as we should.  However during the summer we had a day out at Stourhead gardens and they were looking really good, the walk around the lake is beautiful, even if it was rather hot.  Then last month we visited the Slimbridge Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust Centre (which was created by Sir Peter Scott) to look at the many migratory birds.  It is the first time we have done this and it was truly amazing, with loads of birds posing for their photos.  They seem really chilled with humans around.  We both decided this was somewhere we will have to bring Finley in the future.

October and November turned out to be very busy months, with me being away/out for five weeks out of six!!  I had a conference in Birmingham, then we went to Northampton for a family naming ceremony and then we were in Cardiff for a Myeloma conference.

Dedication Ceremony graced by His Eminence the Bishop

Fausto Martinelli (now sadly deceased), Elisabetta Manfroni, Stephen, & Major Sig.Carlo Mazza

True hospitality provided by Fausto and his wife Fiorella

Finally, last weekend we went for the biggie?  As many of you know Stephen has developed a website (HF694.org.uk) to commemorate his uncle who was killed in the war.  At the beginning of this year he sent a letter to Italy asking his contact for some information, this email was passed to a gentleman named Fausto Martinelli, who owns the land on which the aircraft crashed.  After many messages it was arranged that we would go out for the 70th anniversary on 24th November and place a plaque on the wall of the church where the crew were buried. We travelled from Gatwick on the Friday and got back on Monday evening.  What a trip.  Our hosts and their family and friends were so hospitable; we had great people, great food and truly emotional events.  Stephen is putting a full account on the website as well as photos, newspaper cuttings and maybe a video from the local TV station (yes, they really made a fuss).  This was a very special occasion.

I am still at work and looking through the diary it seems that I had quite a busy year, although you could always ask for more business.  I had various visits up to London for events such as the Carnegie book awards, the Puffin Summer Party (full of famous children’s writers etc.), and a party at the Orangery at Kensington Palace (we even got a look around the part of the palace open to the public).  Back in Bristol I managed to arrange some author visits, the most well-known being Darren Shan  and Charlie Higson.  On top of that we have been doing a fair bit of advice work and also quite a bit of training.  Still it keeps me out of trouble.

Each year celebrity authors visit Margaret, In 2011 the Fonz, in 2012 Simon Mayo.
This year it was the turn of Sir Tony Robinson

I have also kept my book blog going, although it has not really become very well known; it is called "Margaret’s Reading Shelf", so you are very welcome to visit if you are interested, the link is on this blog. I am also still doing my reviews for several journals which helps keep me up to date with everything.

We are now on the countdown to Christmas but I don’t think we will get the decorations up for another week or so, unlike Nick who got his tree down from his loft yesterday.  Our cake has been retrieved and has had its first dose of brandy this year.  I have got the ingredients to make mince pies and sausage rolls, so I think next weekend could be for baking.

Anyway I hope that everyone has a wonderful Christmas and that next year turns out to be a really good one for all our family and friends