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CHRISTMAS 2004

This page is being written in June 2006 so we'll try our best to remember things that occurred in 2004.

In February we welcomed Oliver Williams into the family as he made his first appearance.   Ollie is such a happy, contented little chap who obviously loves the fuss big sister Emily makes of him with help from mum and dad Mel and Ant.   Later in the year the family gathered for the Christening of both Emily and Oliver in Malmesbury Abbey as they were 'officially' welcomed into God's family.

February saw sadness for the family when Mandy's grandmother Queenie Lea died.   We gathered at the Salvation Army building in Swindon to pay our respects; there was not a dry eye to be seen as Queenie's daughter Val got up to speak about her mother.   Val had cared for Queenie at home for many years as her body became frail.   We heard how much she loved children - she did after all eleven of her own!   We also learnt how one day when grandaughter Terri Lea was visiting, Queenie was alseep and Terri painted her toe nails with bright red polish.   We also admired young Jennifer as she played piano as a tribute to her great grandmother.   Please remember Queenie in your prayers, and also her children, grand children, great grandchildren and great great grandchildren who will miss her.   We would like to add our special prayers for Val as she tries to build a new life for herself.

   
The interment at Whitworth Road Cemetery, Swindon, 2nd March 2004.   Some of 92 floral tributes.

June saw Mandy's mum Pamela's 70th Birthday.   Pam has been severely disabled since a major stroke so it gave Mandy much pleasure to see the obvious enjoyment Pam had when being made such a fuss of.   We thought a birthday cake with 70 candles was too much of a fire hazard, but managed to find a '7' and a '0' so she had a proper birthday cake.   She also liked her presents but was a bit unsure about the 'I am 70' badge, which Mandy insisted she should wear for the rest of the day.   Pam had always been secretive about her age - in fact Mandy only learnt how old her mum was when she was nineteen year old!  

   
Singing 'Happy Birthday'
Since Pam had lost the ability to speak Mandy spent a lot of time singing with her - the part of the brain responsible for singing is a different area to speech so with some hard work Pam learnt to sing a few songs.   When Pam went in for respite care Mandy spent some time each day making Pam do her speech therapy exercies and singing with her; singing became an enjoyable time together.   Surely one of Pam's great achievements was learning to sing 'Happy Birthday,' by herself - what a great confidence boost for someone with such a severe disability.   In the first photograph she is joining in the singing - you can see she is joining in with gusto!

We had two family weddings in July, although we could only manage to attend one.   Mandy's cousin Keith married Mandi in London.   A few days later we welcomed another person into our family - this time Mandy's brother Sean married Julie Curtis.   We wish them all well as they start their journey together.

   
The marriage of Julie and Sean Lea, 31st July 2004.

Michelle has been well travelled this year.   She flew to Australia to spend a bit of time with Nev (her AunT's partner) and Greg (her cousin).   She spent the first part of the holiday in Perth then flew to Sydney for the last few nights.   Whilst there Michelle was brave enough to climb to the top of the Harbour Bridge.   What a super holiday she had.


Michelle & Nev, August 2004

Michelle continued her training at Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance in London, returning in September for the third and final year.   The previous two years she had come home each weekend but this final year that stopped; Rambert keep their students busy at the best of times, but the final year is very demanding.   This also meant Michelle stopped her weekend work in New Look shop, only returning during the Christmas break.


Mandy had a terrible shock during the year, which left her very stressed and needing Duncan's support.   Mandy was also glad to have her friends caring for her.   The more 'normal' events in Mandy's year involved working on the website (a new host for it was found in April), and singing with Swindon Scratch Choir.   The choir mainly meet to enjoy singing together but are sometimes asked to perform and this year sang at the Forest Festival, the Swindon Literature Festival Dawn Chorus, Shaw Farm and at Roves Farm Willow Theatre in Sevenhampton.

Duncan has had a strange year too.   He managed to survive each round of redundancies announced at work but found it very unsettling.   As we have ill parents to consider, moving away to find new employment is not an option for us at the moment.   It has been hard to fit in any relaxation time for Duncan this year as full time work and visiting Harold each day means there's not a lot of time left for himself.

We both felt we should make ourselves take a break from our stress and take a holiday away from Swindon.   We decided to go to Scotland.   Not having been there before we decided to do a tour rather than stay in one place.   After stopping in Carlisle overnight to break the long journey, we spent the next three nights in Newtonmore which is vaguely central, the next three on the Isle of Skye, and the next three in Taynuilt (near Oban).   Each area was very different and we enjoyed them, but we have to mention Skye.   It really is the most beautiful place we have been to; we did not want to leave.   We decided we would have to return the following year and spend more time.

We also managed a short break in Plymouth in November; we thought the weather at this time of year would prevent us doing things, but fortunately the sun shone for us.

   

Christmas was a lovely time marred only by Mandy not being able to see her mother.   However, Michelle came back from London, Duncan took some time off work and we met up with family at various times, so it was a nice end to the year.

Just like every family, this year we have had happiness and sadness; birth, marriage and death.   Good time, bad times. We are grateful to have a family to care for and to be cared by.



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