Catch-up of our time with Mum & Dad...

It was fantastic having Mum & Dad stay with us and we really enjoyed being able to show them where we have spent the last 12 months. Even though the weather hasn't been brilliant we have managed to get out walking and doing plenty of things (as well as continuing with school, swimming etc)

On Saturday 16 May Dad, Lionel, Josh and I went into Twickenham to watch the Guinness Premiership Rugby final between London Irish and Leicester. It was amazing being there with a sold out crowd of over 81,000 people and we really enjoyed the atmosphere. It was a good game but unfortunately London Irish lost 10-9.

While we were at the rugby Mum went to the Aquadrome to watch Rebecca swim in a team gala. Rebecca swam well with a Personal Best in her 50 free...Mum enjoyed being there to watch Rebecca swim, but remembered what it was like sitting at the pool for hours!

On Sunday afternoon Mum & Dad came to watch Rebecca & Josh do a puppet performance for a local youth group.

On Monday I took them up to Stansted Airport to fly out to Santander, Spain! Rebecca, Josh & I are looking forward to seeing them again in Spain.

'Filmharmonic' at the Royal Albert Hall

Rebecca's music teacher had arranged tickets to the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra last night and so she headed off on a coach for a night at the Royal Albert Hall.
We had managed to get 5 tickets and so Lionel, Josh, Mum, Dad and I headed into London on the train.
The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra presented a celebration of film music, from timeless classics to the latest Hollywood blockbusters.
The orchestra was just amazing and we loved the performance and watching the various musicians and their instruments. The programme included the theme music from many movies which Rebecca & Josh have seen and so that made it even better. The music included Mission:Impossible, Chariots of Fire, Gladiator, Ghostbusters, Quantum of Solace, Casino Royale, Jurassic Park, Star Wars, Where Eagles Dare, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone and Superman.
The Royal Albert Hall is an amazing place and although our seats were spread throughout the theatre we all loved the experience. Rebecca was sitting in the Circle and so was up really high but had a fantastic overview of the theatre and orchestra. The rest of us were spread throughout the Stalls - Lionel & Josh were in the front row, about 7 seats away from the orchestra and so got a close up view of the orchestra but couldn't really see some of the woodwind section as they were a bit low.
A great night out....and I can't believe I didn't take a camera!

Avebury

It is great to have Mum & Dad here visiting and on Wednesday we went up to Avebury for the day.

Around the village of Avebury is the largest stone circle in Europe and you just walk around the fields and stones, unlike Stonehenge which is roped off. In some ways it is not as impressive as Stonehenge because it is so spread out and there are not the tri-stones with the lintels, however the size of the circles and the massive excavations to form the ditches make it equally impressive.

The earliest farming communities to settle in the British Isles arrived about 4000BC and the 'field monuments' in this area date back to this time. It was quite amazing to stand at the top of the banks and imagine the construction of these sites thousands of years ago.

Bluebells in May

The bluebells have been flowering abundantly in the wooded areas and they create a magnificent display as the carpet the ground.

Duxford Air Museum

Lionel & Josh looking over one of the display areas
written by Lionel...
On Saturday we drove up to Duxford (not far from Cambridge) to visit the air museum.
There were some great interactive displays about understanding flight and piloting which Rebecca & Josh spent ages on.
It was amazing to be able to touch aircraft that have always only been pictures in a book or on a wall or a screen. Particularly for Lionel the SR71 Blackbird the holder of altitude and speed records for horizontal flight. The range of aircraft at Duxford is diverse and spread over seven display areas and a number of aircraft outside as well. Ranging from history of British and Commonwealth aircraft, including comprehensive WW 2 display and conservation areas to today, plus American aircraft based in the UK and a Land Warfare including a Normandy experience. A day with an especially big tick for Lionel.

'Blackbird'

ANZAC Day

Highlanders supporter!

The social committee at church organised an 'ANZAC Antics' evening to celebrate ANZAC Day. We had a great night out with food, friends and lots of laughs!

Gordon & Ian (an elder & our minister)