TRAPPED!

For two or three weeks we shall not be able to use our drive, as Wessex Water workmen are digging a large hole and building a new manhole for the main sewer which runs across the road here. Since the sewer has been there for at least 40 years we do not know why a manhole is suddenly needed.

Some Snow PicturesPingu and Cedric (courtesy of Leila)
Two pictures taken near Neston

Littlecote

We had a short break at Littlecote House, near Hungerford, in February

Honest, I didn't keep Wendy in this contraption for the whole holiday!

Wendy's mother and sisters

Above: Jenny, mum (Joan), Wendy, Joy, Jean, Joanne. Below: Wendy with Jenny's dog, Libby. There are more photos of Wendy's mother and sisters on my flickr acount: click on

http://www.flickr.com/photos/80674038@N00/ and find the pictures uploaded on 2 February 2009.

Uplyme weekend, January 2009

We had a weekend at the Whittomes' cottage at Uplyme in January. More pictures of this are on

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

Isle of Wight

We had a short break on the Isle of Wight after Christmas. The weather was sunny but bitterly cold. Wendy is trying to keep warm here, outside the Bembridge Coast Hotel.

Godshill Church. They say that Godshill is the most visited village in Britain. Hmm - with Lacock and Castle Combe close to where we live, I'm not so sure. Anyway, I couldn't resist taking a photo of the church (which must have been reproduced on many biscuit-tin lids and chocolate-fudge packets). This was difficult. First a teenage girl and a dog stopped for ages whilst she used her mobile. So I took the picture, visited the church and came back to try again, by which time a large red car had been parked on the drive by the railings. I took another picture, and by the miracle of cloning and airbrushing I manged to construct a picture without the girl, the dog, the mobile or the car!

Christmas with our grand-children


More Christmas pictures were uploaded to flickr on 30 Dec 2008 at

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

Christmas Morning at churchMore pictures of this event at

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

(see pictures uploaded on 26 December 2008)

Nepal First Christmas

News from The Bible Society: For the first time Christmas 2008 will be a public holiday in Nepal. And the churches there are seizing the moment.
The Church has grown from around 30,000 people 15 years ago to 700,000 believers today. This means over 95 per cent of Christians in Nepal are recent converts – and the Bible is essential to them.
Fifteen years ago, Christians in Nepal risked imprisonment. Today the Church in Nepal has official freedom, and the government has even given official recognition to the Nepal Bible Society.
The Nepalese government has announced that this year Christmas Day will be celebrated as a national holiday for the first time.

We shared in celebrating this event, at Priory Street Baptist Church, on 21 December. For more pictures, click on http://www.flickr.com/photos/80674038@N00/sets/72157611527693468/

and then click on 'slideshow'

Pumpkins

Our friend Rachel Hall said how much she liked this picture of pumpkins, so I thought I would put it on the blog again for my readers' delectation. It was taken at Tyntesfield in the kitchen garden in 2006. I didn't arrange the layout, I merely photographed it!

Corsham Carols 2008

The annual outdoor Carol Service in Corsham attracts large crowds. It starts in the High Street; and the congregation, accompanied by a brass band, progresses to the Square outside St Bart's Church.

Santa's little helper

Santa's little helper (on left) distributed presents to the Corsham Disabled Club on 15th December.

Rosie

Our youngest grandchild Rosie Prior was dedicated at St Paul' Church, Stonehouse, Plymouth, on 14th December 2008. More photos of this are on Flickr at http://www.flickr.com/photos/80674038@N00/ dated 15 December 2008

Christmas Lunch

Here are the cooks, about to serve up the Christmas lunch for the TLC lunch (Tuesday Lunch Club) for our seniors at church. More pictures of this are on flickr at http://www.flickr.com/photos/80674038@N00/ uploaded on December 11 2008

A contribution by Leila

Leila is busy making models out of Fimo, of which these are a few examples.

Church Weekend away, Lox Lane Shaftesbury, November 2008

This picture is a memento of the conquest of Mount Duncliffe, (aka Duncliffe Hill) taken in the rarified atmosphere and dizzying heights of 210,000 mm above sea level. Other pictures of our weekend away are on Flickr at http://www.flickr.com/photos/80674038@N00/sets/72157610033779567/

or

http://www.flickr.com/photos/80674038@N00/ (pictures downloaded on 25th November 2008

With grandchildren at Box

Frances, Isaac and Lubin visited us recently. We went to Box playing fields. More pictures uploaded on 12 November 2008 onto
http://www.flickr.com/photos/80674038@N00/

Special Birthdays

We went to two parties on 8th November. Somehow the order of the pictures has got reversed here, but at lunchtime we were with Andrew Sims at Alveley in Shropshire for his 70th birthday celebration, and in the evening we were with the other side of our family for Richard Snelling's belated 40th birthday celebration in Radstock. More pictures of both are on http://www.flickr.com/photos/80674038@N00/ - look for photos uploaded on 12th November 2008

David Lockett's exhibition

My cousin David Lockett (pictured here with Eve outside the Saxon Church in Bradford-on-Avon) is holding an art exhibition at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford. The artist and photographer Martin Beek has made an excellent set of photos at the exhibtion, which can be viewed by clicking on the following link, and then clicking on the 'slideshow' option:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/oxfordshire_church_photos/sets/72157605443388216/

Hugh Lockett's funeral

My uncle was the last of his generation in the family. My father Jack and his two sisters Norah and Grace all married between 1936 and 1939, and Hugh was Grace's husband. His funeral was at the parish church in Cley-next-the Sea on the North Norfolk coast where he had lived for many years after retirement, a keen birdwatcher, golfer and active Christian. Afterwards the mourners went to the Blakeney Hotel (shown in the bottom picture) for a lunch.

You can see more pictures of family and scenery by clicking on

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

and looking at the pictures uploaded on September 30th 2008