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CHRISTMAS 1996

Christmas is fast approaching, so we thought we'd send our good wishes to you and use this opportunity to tell you what we've been up to this past year.

Michelle has been as busy as ever this year.   She still attends Greendown Community School, where we like to think she studies hard.   In June of this year Michelle went on a school trip to La Rochelle in France.

This year's dancing achievements:   she took exams, passing 9 with the highest pass grade; namely Standard V & VI and Grade V Ballet, Grade IV and Gold (Junior) Tap, Silver & Gold (Junior) National and Grade V & VI Performers Award.   Michelle also took part in the school's production at the Wyvern Theatre, titled "I've Got To Be Me" in March which was a very enjoyable experience.   At Prizegiving she was awarded the Musicality Shield and a Commendation for Ballet.

Michelle also took part in the Cotswold, Bristol and Bournemouth Festivals, where she won three medals and a trophy for "National Duet Or Group, Any Age" along with Hayley her partner.   In November Michelle went to the Grandison Clark Awards regional heats at Bristol; she was invited to the finals in London for two dances.   According to this last year's calendar, Michelle has had 321 dance lessons, plus all those extra lessons which were not written down!

In May Michelle celebrated her 12th birthday with a party for 15; it was a good time for Mandy to get to know the faces that go with the names Michelle talks about (the change of school the previous September meant we only knew 3 girls in Michelle's class).   We followed the usual course of silly games, lots of food and drink, then dancing until parents arrived.   This was Michelle's last birthday for many years, as we have told her she is not allowed to become a teenager!

Mandy spends a lot of time shuffling Michelle around from lesson to lesson, as well as sorting costumes and props for dance festivals.   The church music group, Central Sounds, 'disbanded' this year when the pianist, bass guitarist, and acoustic guitarist/clarinet player moved away from the area; as this only left Mandy playing guitar, it was not practical to carry on.   However, before this took place they did play at Avebury Chapel, St. Saviour's in Swindon, Foxhole in Paignton as well as many times at Central Church.

Duncan is still working in Bristol.   Duncan still helps out with readings, vestry stewarding and operating microphones at Church, and enjoys playing cricket - this year he captained the Central Church team at they battled to retain the Swindon Churches Cup; alas this was to no avail as they were beaten in the semi-finals.   Duncan's other passion - football - proved exciting when Swindon Town won the league, and thus were promoted (as was the season ticket price!).

This year we went to Criccieth in North Wales for our holiday, as well as day trips to Bournemouth (we were there for the dancing anyway, so made the most of our location).   We also went to Ogmore-by-Sea, the Forest of Dean, Birmingham, Newbury, and Hengistbury Head.

This time last year we told you about our new rabbit Poppy.   Well, in February Poppy died after a traumatic day involving a major operation which proved too much for her.   At the end of March we felt able to cope with another rabbit, so along came Jasmine (Jazz).   After only 20 days Jazz gave birth!   Yes, what a bargain she was - buy one, get four free!   We were very worried about Jazz to start with as she was still a very young rabbit, but she coped very well.   We allowed Michelle to keep one of the kittens (yes, baby rabbits are called kittens - this proved really funny when Michelle told her school friends that her rabbit had given birth to kittens!).   Rabbits have a certain reputation and in September Jazz and Rover managed to escape and, well, become friends.   Jazz gave birth to 12 kittens and later collapsed with eclampsia.   Mandy took over looking after the babies and the local paper heard about her endeavours and took photos, which lead to a television interview.   Mandy's 15 minutes of fame!!   Despite 8 weeks of countless trips to the vets, surgery, medicines and finally 5 days in intensive care, Jazz succumbed to her illness.   We were all terribly sad.   Rover also needed two operations - one on his eye and one on his teeth, and he has recovered well.


As you can see, we've had a very busy year.   We send our thoughts and wishes to you as we wish you a very Happy Christmas, and a healthy and prosperous New Year.


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