13^th May 2018

Dear All,

As forecast last week this has been a family week meeting up with cousins on Wednesday and children and grandchildren yesterday. As it happened Brentwood/Hutton featured on both occasions as on Wednesday we met and ate at the Brentwood Harvester before walking in South Weald Park ending at John & Muriel’s in Upminster for reminiscences and tea.

Cousins at South Weald Park

At Upminster

South Weald Roe Deer

Yesterday we mostly met at Esther’s in Hutton before picking up Ben from Billericay station and enjoying a meal at The White Horse at Ramsden Heath. Andy was not able to join us as he had been sick through the night. He successfully completed the circuit of the Isle of Wight 2 hours ahead of schedule, but understandably exhausted.

Post lunch at Esther’s

Albert with Chocolate Ice cream

Amélie decorating William

On Tuesday I had a lunch with former NIAB colleagues at Girton Golf Club and one gave me a cheque for £400 for Moldova. After I had to address Girton Baptist Tuesday Afternoon Friendship Group on the Wildlife of Costa Rica – a fairly elderly gathering! And called on Brian Tyrell afterwards. In the evening I updated our house group on Moldova.

Thursday’s walk started at Wicken and went as far as Upware returning through Wicken Fen. It was sunny and even the fens came alive especially the herd of Konik ponies which were introduced to environmentally control the vegetation.

Konik Ponies

Break at Upware

In the evening we had a Street Pastor’s training session with the Police as they explained their latest policy of controlling the county with 100 extra recruits.

Still plenty of gardening and crops are beginning to motor

Love

Mike & Kate

6^th May 2018

Dear All,

On Thursday we walked the second section of the Stour Valley Path from Cattawade to Nayland. It is a beautiful section of the walk as it goes through Flatford and Dedham and this week bluebells were showing everywhere. After recent weather it was boggy underfoot on occasions but the sun shone so it was very enjoyable. The journeys to and fro were frustrating with numerous traffic lights and two accidents on the way back.

Flatford Mill

Willy Lott’s Cottage

The Stour at Flatford

Muddy section near Dedham

Cricket season began in earnest yesterday so John Lane and I had a morning cutting, rolling and marking wickets for two games this weekend. The outfield grass- which is someone else’s responsibility has been going berserk so the green resembles a hayfield once he had cut it this week.

Plenty of gardening this week sowing winter brassicas, squash, pumpkins, spinach, salad onions, leeks, parsnips, red beet, lettuce and more sweet corn and planting lettuce, cucumbers, aubergines and celeriac. I also helped Ken who is over 90 sow carrots (as he cannot see well enough) and earth up his spuds.

We celebrated Kate’s birthday by lunch at Oakington Garden Centre, then it was our turn on Street Pastors again so we had a long night out on the town –what more could any girl want?! We are hoping to meet up with the children in Brentwood next weekend to celebrate properly as Mary-Ann and family are over this week. Andy was due to walk round the Isle of Wight yesterday – 105 km; we haven’t heard the outcome yet.

The streets were fairly quiet on Friday for a bank holiday weekend; the worst case lad had to be fetched by his mother from Saffron Walden at 3 am. The police have been reorganised and we had five at the briefing and encountered them throughout the night in a deliberate attempt to be seen on the streets. They are planning to grade each night red, amber or green according to the likely liveliness and match their presence to the rating.

We are looking forward to seeing you all next week either at the cousins reunion or Kate’s birthday gathering.

Love

Mike & Kate

29th April 2018

Dear All,

We have had an enjoyable five days in north Wales and the weather was kinder than back home with only one partially wet day. We drove up on Sunday together with Jutta, a German lady who lost her husband about 3 years ago, stopping en route at Chirk Castle near Wrexham. It was built between 1295 and 1310 in the time of Edward 1^st to subdue the Welsh and has survived in excellent condition. It has spacious grounds, a formal garden and well preserved inside rooms.

Chirk Castle

The Saloon

We eventually arrived at The Princes Arms, Trefwir about 3 miles north of Betws y Coed with a magnificent view over the Conwy valley. One of our group (of 24) had been at catering college with the host so had made all the arrangements. The hotel was comfortable and the food excellent.

The Princes Arms, Trefwir

On Monday we started a walk from the hotel and skirted two local lakes: Crafnant and Geirionydd before arriving back in Trefwir via the Fairy Falls.

The Crafnant Valley

Fairy Falls, Trefwir

On Tuesday we drove to Conwy and walked up to Conwy Mountain taking in the Sychnant Pass. The weather deteriorated after midday and we arrived back in Conwy cold and damp. In the evening our catering managed arranged a Spanish themed meal complete with wine to match each course.

Conwy & Llandudno from Conwy Mountain

We had a free day on Wednesday and returned to Bodnant Gardens which we visited 3 years ago. It is one of the best gardens I have been to as it has natural features with a cliff, stream and numerous lakes which have been attractively planted and at this time of year the azaleas, magnolias and tulips were at their best.

Bodnant Gardens

In the afternoon we explored Conwy walking the walls and visiting Plas Mawr a fine Elizabethan townhouse.

Plas Mawr, Conwy

Thursday began with an interesting drive 19 miles to the NE for a river valley walk. We had a convoy of six cars and met a car and lorry on the first narrow bridge so had the back off. The leader then took a wrong turn which meant finding a turning place for the convoy then took a route through some of the narrowest lanes that I have driven. The walk began at Llanefydd not far from Rhyl and eventually had fine views of Colwyn Bay. Although advertised as a river walk it involved a fair amount of climbing but the views made it worthwhile.

River Elwis valley, Llanefydd

The journey back on Friday was rather tedious as it rained nonstop and there were numerous road works and traffic lights.

It was back to earth on Saturday with the Street Pastors AGM, Kate was helping cater at a Lego afternoon at chapel and we were invited to share an Indian meal in St Ives to celebrate Bob Kitson’s birthday.

Love

Mike & Kate

21st April 2018

Dear All,

Just a brief note between absences. You should have received my account of the Moldova visit and the photos on Dropbox so I won’t repeat anything from that. We leave tomorrow for a walking trip with uncle Philip to Wales staying at Trefriw north of Betws-y-Coed.

It has been a hectic four days catching up with the garden, preparing the cricket square, a meeting at NIAB, a planning meeting for the Village Show, cleaning the car, restoring my office, writing the report, labelling the photos, balancing the accounts and Street Pastors last night. On top of that I went to watch Over playing football on Wednesday and ended up taking my neighbour to A&E as he suffered a broken jaw following a sliding tackle.

Kate had arranged for my office to be re carpeted while I was away which entailed taking everything out into the playroom – it is amazing how much can be fitted into a small room!

Before

After

Street Pastors was a warm night which increased the foot fall and we had a couple of tricky cases. The first was a street life girl Julia sobbing and uncommunicative in Rose Crescent. The second was a large lady aged 27 collapsed outside Vodka Revs. She was unable to stand so could not go home in a taxi and was very difficult to encourage into locomotion due to her size. She almost certainly not just on alcohol and eventually had to be taken off in an ambulance. Otherwise there were plenty of requests for water and several grateful for flip flops.

Love

Mike & Kate

8th April 2018

Dear All,

Highlight this week was our Thursday walk which saw us begin the “Stour Valley Path”. We had previously walked from Newmarket to Cattawade but this time we began at Shotley Gate and walked to Cattawade on the north bank of the Stour. The weather was perfect on Thursday with good conditions for walking with views of Felixstowe, Harwich, Parkeston, Wrabness, Mistley and Manningtree from across the water, with lots of water birds in evidence. We stopped at Stutton for lunch and carried on to Cattawade after, which was less interesting, and a bit of a slog as the whole walk was nearly 13 miles.

Setting out from Shotley Gate

Erwarton Bay

Opposite Ramsey

Holbrook Bay

Royal Hospital School Holbrook

Stutton church

Seafield Bay

In addition, we did a short recce yesterday at Moulton near Newmarket for a walk Kate is leading next week while I am away.

I was speaking at Willingham Garden Club on Monday night – a friendly but elderly bunch.

Meanwhile at the cemetery we have organised an improved area for the interment of ashes this week. There was a small area which kept getting overgrown by the surrounding grass, so a new dedicated site has a mypex lining with stone infill and plastic surround.

Ashes Site – book now to avoid disappointment!

We have pressure washed the cricket roller this week, marked the square and given it its first roll of the year. The roller was in a mess because the farmer with whom we store it for the winter, used it to press the chalk/cement floor of a mew cattle yard he is building and much of the floor material ended up in the engine compartment via the rollers.

We have managed some outdoor gardening this week between showers and with the aid of duck boards. Kate helped plant maincrop potatoes at the allotment and I have puggled in peas, broad beans, red onion sets, sweet onions and radish.

Otherwise Kate has spring cleaning fever and has begun clearing my office ready for carpet laying while I am away next week. We plan to depart from Stanstead on Tuesday afternoon so no epistle next week!

 

                              Potato Planter                                     

  Mother’s Day Gift from Esther

Love

Mike & Kate

1^st April 2018

Dear All,

Street Pastors last night was chilly and damp but not quite as busy as expected for pay day and a Bank Holiday. At the beginning of the week we had teams of four for both the patrol and the cafe, plus a prayer pastor, however three people dropped out during the week so we were down to the bare minimum of three for each activity. During the first patrol we were summoned to Fez in Market Passage to tend a large youth who was heavily intoxicated, incoherent and vomiting profusely. As there was no prospect of a taxi taking him home his parents were summoned from Cottenham and when they eventually arrived it took four of us to load him into the car. The main highlight from the rest of the evening was the appearance of Neil Carpenter, who had been imprisoned for attacking a Street Pastor. He was very loud but fortunately affable and followed us for some time entertaining us with improbable stories. Otherwise it was reasonably peaceful but when we went to the Café at the end of the night they had been left a dog by a street life character who then disappeared! – what to do with a dog on a lead with a quilted coat at 3.30 am? We decided to walk him round town to try and find his owner. Fortunately again the first rough sleeper we encountered said he knew who he belonged to and took him off our hands!

The main activity this weekend has been joining the cricket club repainting the pavilion. New cupboards and surfaces have been installed and the walls painted two shades of grey. 13 turned up to help on the first day – an instance of quantity rather than quality but with only three the second day it was the reverse!

The walk on Thursday started at Great Easton near Stanstead and took in Monk Street, Little Cambridge and Tilty. There was plenty of mud after a wet week but also plenty of spring flowers – daffodils, primroses, violets, celandines and hawthorn. The River Chelmer had flooded fields on either side and often the pathway too.

By the Chelmer

Tilty Water Mill

Tilty Church

Hawthorn

Threatening Hedge!

We had another funeral on Tuesday. Bernard married Pat and joined the walking group three years ago after they met via a dating web site. Sadly he contacted cancer after a couple of years.

Love

Mike & Kate