16th February 2020

Dear All,

We travelled to Hove via Bexhill-on-Sea on Tuesday as we met up with Robert and Heather Hadland who we met on holiday in Turkey in 2014 and have kept in touch. Robert is chairman of Bexhill U3A and his daughter Sarah is prospering as an actress most famously as Miranda’s sidekick. After we visited Pevensey castle which dates back to Roman days and was very important to William the Conqueror.

Pevensey Castle

Amélie had made an excellent model of the Titanic for homework which was duly taken to school on Wednesday. We took Albert to Hove Park on Wednesday where there is a decent playpark and he played – with caution not liking to get too far from the ground!

HMS Titanic

Fearless Adventurer

Driving back, we had the by know usual excitement of 7 junctions of the M11 and A14 being closed so we had to divert through the villages. A feat I had to repeat on Thursday evening when I was returning from a Garden Club talk in Stapleford.

Our walk this week started in Great Chesterford close to where Kate worked in her final years for Takeda and circled close to Hadstock and Linton. It was a return to mud but compensated by a herd of deer and some rolling hills.

Site of old Roman camp near Gt. Chesterford

On the Icknield Way

 

Manor Cottages Gt Chesterford

Our “Biography” topic this week was Sir Cloudesley Shovell who rose from cabin boy to admiral. He had a distinguished career in naval battles mainly with the Dutch and French but is best remembered for being in charge of one of the biggest naval disasters in British history. He was returning from the siege of Toulon with a fleet of 22 ships when they encountered a storm and ran aground on the Isles of Scilly. All 800 men on his ship drowned and altogether 4 ships were lost and 2000 men. It was mainly due to their inability to calculate longitude in those days.

Sir Cloudesley Shovell

We had a spring-cleaning session at chapel yesterday morning and achieved quite a lot in a short time.

Football was played in less than ideal conditions yesterday afternoon but Over beat Hemingford 3 v 0.

With love

Mike & Kate