Family Funday and Football in Llangedwyn

We had a really fun time at the Funday in Llangedwyn this afternoon. The local schools submitted football teams for a knockout tournament and there were traditional stalls and refreshments. Eric came first in our skittles tournament and was runner up overall, having deliberately thrown the game to his rival, a 12 year old local football player. Here is Beth with her best shot.

Beeston celebrates at the annual Carnival

 

Our MP and the Carnival Princess graced the proceedings with their presence today. A good time was had by all.

Janet paints the faces of Beeston children

 

At the Nottingham Credit Union stall at the Carnival this afternoon, Janet painted dozens of children's faces, while other members of the committee spread the word among their parents.

Beeston Carnival Princess crowned in the Square

 

Louisa takes the limelight at Beeston Carnival

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

From the desk of Miss Woodham

 

Her Royal Highness, Princess Louisa requests the honour of your presence at her coronation this Saturday, 11th July at midday in Beeston Square.

Princess Louisa will be crowned at a special celebration which will mark the start of the Beeston Carnival festivities. She will be presented with a diamond tiara and then process in a golden carriage at the head of a special parade along the High Road. Louisa will be accompanied by Prince James of Beeston.

All commoners are welcome to join her for fun and games at Broadgate Park to celebrate the start of the reign of Princess Louisa. There will be lots of activities for the children and stalls for the grown ups. These include Beeston Pipe Band, Belly Dancers, the Wildcats Cheerleaders plus a special appearance by the Maids of Clifton Clog Dancers.

Please remember to curtsy or bow as appropriate on being presented to Princess Louisa. Of course you must not speak to the Princess until addressed by her. Following the coronation she must always be greeted as Your Majesty or Your Royal Highness. First names are distinctly bad form and could result in banishment from the Kingdom.

The Princess looks forward to seeing all her subjects on Saturday.

Yours earnestly

King David
Father of the Princess

The Princess is sponsored by Mecca Bingo and Cable Cars of Beeston

Jonathan & Chris depart for Strathbungo, Glasgow

Jonathan & Chris depart for Glasgow, originally uploaded by Old Man of Mow.

At 6 a.m. today, Jonathan (adjusting SatNav) and Chris (final loading) prepare to depart for their new home in Glasgow. Joe is driving the hired furniture van up and down the M6. Think of it not as losing lodgers, but a gaining a garage!

Sunset in Sycharth

Jonathan, Chris, Beth and Daniel enjoyed a sleepy supper at sunset in Sycharth.

We are now off to watch Casualty.

We are all stuffed!

Janet recruits the Borough's bin-men

Janet helps to launch the NCU payroll deduction scheme for NCU at Broxtowe Borough Council, originally uploaded by Old Man of Mow.

Janet and NCU/NG9 colleagues spent the day touring the depots and offices of Broxtowe Borough Council helping to promote the new payroll deduction scheme to employees who wish to become members of the Nottingham Credit Union.

Raising money for prisoners in Malawi

The garden trail last weekend raised over £500 so prisoners at Blantyre Prison can receive a bar of soap each...

Traditional Smallholding Skills

Today I completed making the new garden gate, attached the gate furniture and hung it. It opens, it closes and has been signed off as fit for purpose.

Try New Quay for Your Family Summer Holiday

We had a wonderful time in New Quay. It is a quiet village at the end of a long sweeping bay. It has a harbour and a beach and is a low key family destination, although I imagine it is very busy in the height of the summer. We travelled up and down the coast visiting various other beaches and villages, all of which are very pretty. Have a look at our Flickr site for more pictures.

More pictures from the Garden Trail

 

Another successful Garden Trail event

 

About £720 was raised this weekend at No 16. We were raising funds for Prisoners' Welfare at Chichiri Prison, Blantyre, Malawi as one of a dozen gardens open on the Beeston and Chilwell Garden Trail.

Distinguished visitors at No 16

 

We were pleased to welcome Ian and Ros Gibson from Dunedin, New Zealand, to stay overnight. We first met them in Blantyre where Ros was supervising post-graduate students on a nutritional supplements field project. She is currently Research Professor in the Department of Human Nutrition at the University of Otago. Ian is a geologist who started his career working on volcanic rocks in Iceland. On Sunday they go to Ethiopia for three weeks to teach a course in nutrition.

Tom takes the new members of the No. 5 family - Billy and Flopsy - for a stroll

Warning: don't push a wheel-chair across the lawn

The tracks are still visible four days later!

Patricks back in Gaucin

Patricks having a beer and an ice cream outside Paco Pepes, Gaucin. Wish you were here...

A Hot Day in Summer, Ready for a Cold Night In The Winter

We continued with the log processing today. We employed Gwndof on the chain saw and three others positioned, split and stacked. The timber you see here is a fraction of what we have to process. We are trying to get as much split and stacked this side of the long hot summer that awaits us. Having the 16 tonne spliter and tractor and JCB is a real boon. To buy this amount of splits logs would cost you approximately £4,000, we paid nothing like that, but there is certainly a lot of hard work involved in the processing. Anyone want a Land Rover load?

The Patrick Family at no.5 get a new drive

Beeston & Chilwell Garden Trail in June

See the Garden Trail website (link) for information

Trip Down Memory Lane

Yesterday we had an outting on the Seven Valley Steam Railway. We travelled from Bridgnorth to Kidderminster and had a picnic on the train and a pint at the station at Kidderminster waiting for the return train. We all had a lovely time!

Open Garden in Ellesmere

We had a lovely outing to Ellesmere where we visited a garden of the parents of our friends, who live in the next farm. The garden and grounds were fairly mature as there has been a dwelling on the site since it's listing in the Doomsday book and for most of that time by the same family.
The sun shone, we walked about, met our friends and had tea and cake.

Preparing for the Garden Trail in June

 

The garden at No 16 is at its best in May, provided you look up to the blossoms and not down to the weeds!

Minor surgery completed

I had a small lesion on my tongue removed under local anaesthetic today. Now you see it - now you don't!

David elected to Credit Union Board

At the AGM of the Nottingham Credit Union this week, David (who is already on the Marketing Committee) was elected to the main board for a three year period of office. Congratulations! Janet and I remain on the committee of the NG9 Branch, helping to run credit union work in the Broxtowe area.

Patricks go to see Derren Brown

Dad and I went to see Derren Brown at the Royal Concert Hall last night. He's an amazing mind reader, magician and hypnotist and was extremely clever and entertaining. Look out for a new show from him on Channel 4 soon.

Day out in Nottingham

Joe, John, Thomas, Chris and I all had a day out in Nottingham and went up on the big wheel in Market Square. This is what we saw from up there. I think John is holding on for dear life up there. Thomas is blissfully unaware of the dangers. And Chris is reveling in them!

A short tour of Scotland

We stopped by Broughty Ferry on our tour of Scotland. The place hadn't changed a bit physically. The house was now a semi rather than a terrace! but the park out front hadn't changed nor had the railway underpass leading to the beach.

We walked along the beach to the castle (bumper cars have since moved on) and back along the lanes.