Hayling Island

We had a brief holiday at Lakeside, on Hayling Island.

Not a lot remains of Warblington Castle, near Havant. It was finally knocked to pieces in the Civil War. (click on picture to enlarge it)

Roses at Southsea

We had a short break with cousin Mary Thurlow at Southsea, which boasts an excellent rose garden situated on the site of the former second world war training base of the 'cockleshell heroes' - the commandoes who broke behind enemy lines in France by canoe. (Click on picture to enlarge it)

Family visit to Alveley

We went to stay with David, Frances and the boys at Alveley with Andrew and Ruth Sims. Our time there included a trip on the nearby Severn Valley Railway, hauled by 7812 'Erlestoke Manor'. For more pictures of our visit, click on http://www.flickr.com/photos/80674038@N00/ and look for pictures dated 12th June 2008

Brecon Mountain Railway

This train ride takes you through some very beautiful countryside. Despite its name it is nearer to Merthyr Tydfil than to Brecon.

David's 65th

Brother-in-law David Beales celebrated his 65th birthday recently. For more pictures of this event, click on this link:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/80674038@N00/

where there is an option to click on 'slideshow'.

A get-together at Jill's

for more pictures of relatives from Wendy's side of the family, click on

http://www.flickr.com/photos/80674038@N00/

and scroll through until you get to the pictures dated May 30th 2008

SNAKE AND CHICKENS

Grace is having a close-up look at Frankie the snake, who wants to kiss her with his tongue. (!)

Our neighbours Andy and Zoe have 6 chickens - hatched from bantam eggs which our friend John Miller provided.

A wedding with a difference

We represented the Baker side of the family at the wedding of Sue to George on 16th May. It started with a trip down the canal from Limpley Stoke to Bath. We then walked (in all our finery) to the Guildhall where the marriage took place. Then back by narrowboat to Limpley Stoke where the reception was held alongside their boat 'Galadriel' at Brassknocker Basin.

Transferring food from one boat to the other. We needed it to keep us going on the two-hour journey!

No turning back now!

Sue, where did you buy your dress?? (Hampstead Bazaar, in the middle of Pulteney Bridge).

It is easy to enlarge or download pictures by clicking on them.

For more pictures click on my link to Flickr: on Flickr there is a 'slideshow' option near the top right of the screen. The link is:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/80674038@N00/

Places recently visited

The Black Country Living Museum at Dudley in the West Midlands is well worth a visit. It includes a Victorian village and Canal basin. For more pictures see my photos dated May 9th 2008 on

http://www.flickr.com/photos/80674038@N00/

Goodrich Castle near Symonds Yat is in a stunning location.

The canal at Kinver in the West Midlands passes through beautiful countryside

The view from Alfred's Tower near Stourhead. (National Trust property)

For more of my pictures of all these places, see

http://www.flickr.com/photos/80674038@N00/

and look for pictures downloaded on May 9th 2008

Making Music

Our church worship group having a good sing.

Grace's 7th Birthday

Our oldest grandchild Grace had a swimming party on her 7th birthday: hence the cake with the swimming pool theme. (Click on it to enlarge it). More party pictures are on my flickr site at

http://www.flickr.com/photos/80674038@N00/

Sydney Gardens

On April 19th I posted a picture of an express train passing through Sydney Gardens. The park is a very scenic part of Bath at is also cut by the Kennet and Avon Canal, which is one of my favourite bits of towpath (see picture above). At the other end of Sydney Gardens is the Holburne Museum (below).

With Anton and Erin:

I thought I would put this picture in again as it aroused quite a bit of interest before, but it has disappeared off my blog main page. I first published it in my February 2008 blog.

Mary's 70th birthday

My cousin Mary celebrated her 70th birthday this weekend, and we gathered at Geoffrey and Margaret's house for the party. The rest of my pictures of this notable event can be seen by clicking on the following link

http://www.flickr.com/photos/80674038@N00/

where you can click on the individual photos and enlarge and/or download them to your own computer.

34067 Tangmere at Bath

Battle of Britain Class Tangmere was designed by Oliver Bulleid in 1945 for the Southern Region. It is now the only member of its class to do railtours, and I took this picture as it passed through Sydney Gardens, Bath, on 17th April.

Blaenavon

We went on a fascinating visit to Blaenavon Ironworks. Many people have visited the ‘Big Pit’ at Blaenavon, but just as fascinating are the remains of the Ironworks, which are all part of the Blaenavon World Heritage site (just as significant as the Taj Mahal, then!). My photos are of one of the blast furnaces and of the water balance tower, which used to hoist trucks loaded with iron to the top of the site, from where they would be pulled for several miles to a tunnel through the mountain, and then down an inclined plane to the Brecon Canal. The whole area is well worth a visit. For more on this, click on this link:

http://www.cadw.wales.gov.uk/default.asp?id=6&PlaceID=145#

Corsham Debt Advice Centre - run by Priory Street Baptist Church


The Christian impact on the Economy.

A survey ignored by the media.
Faith communities (Christian, Moslem and Jewish) in UK contribute over £2bn to the national economy each year. Many faith communities are working in areas of emerging need such as employment training, alcohol and drug awareness, and debt counselling. Projects tackling these problems are particularly needed in many urban areas now suffering high levels of deprivation.

Many faith communities provide accommodation for the wider community. In Wales alone, (where the survey was conducted by carried out by Christian group Gweini, working in partnership with the Wales Council for Voluntary Action) , over 600 operate purpose-built community centres; 1,800 rent out rooms to outside groups and 1,100 supply accommodation free of charge. 98% of this work is done by Christian churches, whose congregations in UK are contributing something of the order of 1.6 million hours of voluntary work on behalf of the wider community every week. This is the equivalent of 40,000 full-time workers provided by the church for free.

None of this survey was taken up or reported on by the mainstream media. Indeed public commentators are fond of asking all too frequently whether religion is good for society, and equally often giving a negative response. So, to those who say ‘Christianity is fine, as long as you keep it private’ my response would be, ‘Do you really want that £2 bn taken out of the economy, or all that voluntary work removed?’

Sapperton Tunnel

For my 66th birthday we had a meal at the Tunnel Inn which is just above the mouth of the old canal tunnel at Sapperton, near Cirencester. At over 2 miles long, the tunnel was, when constructed, the longest tunnel in Britain. Click on picture to enlarge it.

Sean ,Eva and Grace

Sean thinks this might turn out to be the best photo ever taken of him!

Our latest photos of grandchildren

Rosie - gimme five!

With Andy, Debs and Rosie by the Sherman tank at Slapton Sands. (The tank was rescued from the seabed after a disastrous episode in World War II when the U.S. Army was attacked by the Germans whilst training at Slapton for the D-Day landings)

With Frances, Isaac and Lubin at Beesands

With Jacob, Grace and Eva at East Portlemouth, near Salcombe