light at brean

Moira+I went an exhibition of monoprints by Bedminster artist Ruth Ander this afternoon. We’d seen her work before at the SouthBank Arts Trail over the past couple of years and been hugely impressed. This exhibition was entitled “Light at Brean” and depicted the changing light and drama of the weather as it rolls up the Bristol Channel. It’s on at the Brean Cove Café until the end of July (you could combine it with a coastal walk!).
You should see it – it’s simply beautiful.
Photo: Moira talking to Ruth Ander next to some of the monoprints.

last leavers' day

Yesterday was a special day for Year 11s at our school. Definitely a day for dressing up and arriving at school in style. Of course, there were usual limos, vintage cars and the odd London bus, but the show-stopper was a massive white tank (complete with UN insignia) – hired by fourteen boys at the cost of £120 each! And to cap it all, the BBC’s “Points West” local news team had got to hear about it and decided to feature it in their programme yesterday evening. I was even invited to present the Awards at the Year 11’s own party (these include such highly-prized awards as: “Most Likely to End Up working at MacDonald’s”, “Most Likely to Be Rich”, “Most Spoilt” and “Best Assets”!).
Definitely one of the highlights of the school year.
Photograph: Me with four of my favourite people – Quantock House and Sports Captains (Demi, Dan, George and Eloise).

garden again

As I’ve previously indicated, our garden is tiny (5x5m). I’ve been reflecting on how it has changed since we first moved to Bristol in 2003. Initially, we had felt very exposed to our neighbours and, in 2006, we erected a timber screen at the back of the garden which is now well covered by honeysuckle and bamboo. Two years ago we built another timber screen to replace a dilapidated side fence and this too is now starting to mature – we’ve planted an espalier apple tree (which has started to produce fruit) and a climbing rose. Unfortunately, our original aim to grow food hasn’t been wonderfully successful to date – although we do seem to be very popular with the local slug and snail populations!
Photo: garden in June 2009 (top) and in June 2011 (bottom).

may-june books

More books (sorry, but it’s a good way for me to remember stuff!):
In The Blood (Andrew Motion): A rather beautiful memoir of Motion’s childhood. I was pleasantly surprised by his simple writing style (I’d half-expected long paragraphs of clever prose) and was immediately drawn into the book by the opening chapter - which tells of an accident to his mother. Motion is two or three years younger than me and I couldn’t help contrasting our respective life styles as I read the book (Prep and Public schooling, horses, hunting, middle class and pretty wealthy – that’s him, not me!) and his detailed recollections compared with my own rather vague memories of childhood.
Wish Her Safe At Home (Stephen Benatar): This is our third Book Group book so I’d best leave my main remarks for the next meeting! It’s definitely not a book that I would normally have chosen to read, but I actually rather enjoyed it. It’s a novel about a woman who inherits a house in Bristol from her great-aunt – she gives up her job, sheds her old life, becomes a woman of leisure, takes up writing and a whole lot more. An amusing, but unsettling, book.
Getting Through (John McGahern): A series of short stories, set in Ireland. Stories of new life; retirement; forgetfulness; death; friendships; dance committees; love; lost youth; priests; whiskey; sex; music and families. Beautiful writing. It made me realise that there was a time when I loved reading short stories – I read so little that a short story felt like an entire book. Now I find that, instead of quietly reflecting on one of the stories, I’m into the next one before I know it.
Love Wins (Rob Bell): I have a somewhat grudging admiration for Rob Bell. When I first came across him (just before reading Velvet Elvis), I had imagined that he was the pastor of a small religious community in the States; it turned out that he’s the leader of a somewhat larger church community and frequently preaches to audiences of 10,000 or more! The fact remains that he’s really a very good communicator and I very much like his writing style. I hope to see Rob Bell at Greenbelt this summer, so will hopefully be able to form a more balanced view of him then. An encouraging, provocative book - which will no doubt cause outrage within the ranks of the evangelical alliance.
Where Three Roads Meet (Salley Vickers): I’m not quite sure what to make of this book – probably something to do with my relative lack of intellect and knowledge of Greek mythology! Vickers’s re-telling of the tale of Oedipus imagines Sigmund Freud, in his final days, listening to the story (and participating in the dialogue) as told by Tiresias, the blind seer who plays a part in the Greek legend. I thought I was going to love this book, but ended up feeling somewhat disappointed.

tom porter

I received a text message from Hannah earlier today querying if one my college lecturers had been a bloke called Tom Porter… if so, she’d just discovered that he and his wife had lived next door to our good friends Tony+Sue (parents of Hannah’s bestest friend, Hannah!).… but that Tom had sadly died in April last year (aged 72). I think it’s highly significant that one of my daughters had remembered the name of one of my college tutors. Indeed, I had talked about Tom only a couple of days ago when lovely friends Chris and Felicity friends had visited us in Bristol. Tom was an absolutely inspirational figure to me. I arrived at Oxford School of Architecture in 1967 and, frankly, while having a pretty good eye for design, I was probably a student who might have been prone to “play safe”. Art was an important part of the architectural course for the first two years (I very much doubt this is the case these days, more’s the pity) and, for me - through Tom, it provided a wonderful springboard for my architectural career (significantly, I won the “most improved student award at the end of my second year”). I recall a poster I designed for the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford (thanks to Tom’s encouragement); I remember him insisting that I went to see the film “2001, A Space Odyssey”; how he introduced me to the new Habitat store; and I certainly remember accompanying him to the Bauhaus Exhibition at the Royal Academy in 1968. As well as producing books on graphic techniques (in conjunction with my college friend Sue Goodman), Tom’s main interest was in the use of colour in architecture. I clearly remember one of the students having an epileptic fit during one of Tom’s art sessions; Tom seemed only mildly concerned – his key reaction was all about how amazing it was that the student concerned had become SO involved in his artwork that it had resulted in his fit!
I love this photograph of Tom – it was definitely taken in the late 60s/early 70s – and is exactly as I remember him (always wearing a brightly-colour tie, loud jacket and with his flowing dark locks!).
A truly inspirational man and someone I remember with huge affection and gratitude.

kielder challenge FINALISTS

Last month, I blogged about our team from Norton Hill+Fosse Way schools (four pupils with disabilities and four without) managing to win the Regional Heats of this brilliant event - by a considerable margin! Well, amazingly, we’ve just heard that the team has actually qualified for the NATIONAL FINAL in the Kielder Forest, Northumberland in September – in other words, they’ve reached the LAST SIX out of more than 200 entries from all over the country! That’s really great news and they thoroughly deserve their success. It’ll be an exciting time for them – flying from Bristol to Newcastle and then staying at the Kielder Forest Adventure Centre. I was lucky enough to accompany a team from our joint schools to the Plate Final in 2006 (just a month before I started blogging – so I can’t get you to click on some old “footage”!) and that was certainly one of the highlights of my time working at the school. Obviously, with retirement imminent, I won’t be with the team this time (in fact, Moira+I will enjoying a French boating holiday with lovely friends Chris+Lal!!). I look forward to hearing all about their adventures from Laura and Jodie.
Photo: teamwork in action at the Regional Heats.

RSC at stratford

I love live theatre. I love the possibility of witnessing something very special (ok, sometimes it doesn’t work out quite like that, but…); a unique experience - being captivated by a piece of theatre or by particular actors or by wonderful stage design.
Moira+I have just spent two days in Stratford, where we were really blessed to be able to see two shows by the Royal Shakespeare Company (“Cardenio” and “The City Madam”). They both proved to be completely captivating productions – simply wonderful acting; brilliantly devised and performed. We saw both productions on the same day (two three-hour shows). It was also lovely that great friends Bob+Christine were able to join us for the “Cardenio” matinee. What made the day even more special was that it was the first time that Felix (daughter Hannah’s husband) had been part of the RSC. He didn’t disappoint! Indeed, Libby Purves’s “City Madam” review in “The Times” concluded thus: “Felix Hayes wins my 2011 award for Best Use of Yorkshire Accent while wearing purple ribbons and lace-trimmed boots” (you have to see the play to appreciate this fully!)! She respectively described the two productions as being “a treat” and “a hoot” and I wouldn’t disagree. Having watched the actors in two utterly contrasting plays, their adaptability and all-round talent was breathtakingly impressive.
Magical theatre at its very best.
PS: This same group of actors has also just started rehearsing the THIRD play in this season’s run (“Midsummer Night’s Dream”).
PPS: It was the first time that Moira+I had been to see a performance at “The Swan” and we were very impressed (it’s a beautiful space); “Midsummer Night’s Dream” will be in the recently re-modelled main theatre, so we can’t wait to return to see that in July/August.
PPPS: The one depressing note was the lack of young people in the audience for both plays (sadly, the average age seemed to be very much older than us!); hardly ANY teenagers or twenty-somethings – despite the fact that the RSC offer special tickets for 16-25 year olds at £5 each.
Photo: a rather poor photograph of the beautiful “Swan” auditorium (but, hopefully, it gives you a "feel" of the space).

desert island discs

In March 2007, I blogged about having a cunning “business plan” (back in the very olden days!) for producing personalised “desert island discs” for ordinary people like you and me. Well, the BBC has finally got round to inviting the public to do just that (you’ve only got a matter of a few days to respond to Radio4’s invitation to submit your own Desert Island Discs). Somewhat pathetically, I still have a page in my filofax (dated 10 December 1988 – blimey, that’s over 30 years ago!) outlining my own selection. Please note the following: a) I’m still waiting to be asked to appear on the programme, b) my original list contained NINETEEN records, c) I’ve just submitted my own list to the BBC (the telephone will be ringing any minute…) and it only contains TWO of my original selections (Joni Mitchell and Leonard Cohen) and d) I found it absolutely impossible to restrict the list to EIGHT (I could actually have submitted half a dozen lists of eight records).
Anyway, for what it’s worth and in no particular order, this is my final selection (I’d be very interested in hearing about your own versions!):
1. Love Letter (Nick Cave+the Bad Seeds)
2. Cold Water (Damien Rice)
3. Both Sides Now (Joni Mitchell)
4. Suzanne (Leonard Cohen)
5. I’ve Got You Under My Skin (Frank Sinatra)
6. The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face (June Tabor)
7. Let It Be (The Beatles)
8. Symphony no.5: 4th Movement (Gustav Mahler)
PS: Actually, this is NOT the list I submitted to the BBC! I ended up realising that my list couldn’t ignore The Beatles or Mahler – so, very reluctantly I deleted: To Be Lonely (Joan As Police Woman) and A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall (Bob Dylan). How could I?!

bruce+sara's big adventure

This time, some two years ago, Bruce+Sara were trawling the English and Welsh countryside in the hope of finding a suitable property and, crucially, some land on which they could continue to explore and develop their ideas for permaculture living. They finally discovered their new home (a dilapidated barn in some 17 acres) in Llangurig, Powys in mid-Wales – within 300m of the river Wye - and exchanged contracts in January last year. Like us, friends of Bruce+Sara will have been following their progress via Bruce’s lovely FB photographs – but, this weekend, Moira+I were able to experience a little of their big adventure for ourselves. Of course, Bruce+Sara were the perfect, generous hosts and it was absolutely lovely to see them again, but it was also encouraging (and somewhat inspiring) to see how far they’d progressed in a such a short time (not to mention producing the adorable Gracie along the way!). They’ve made a wonderful job of converting the main barn (there are three other smaller barns, plus two massive open sheds!) and incorporating lots of eco-friendly design principles; they’ve created lots of raised beds immediately next to the main barn; they’ve started to convert another barn; they’ve got their own chickens; they’ve moulded some of the higher land to enable them to erect a large poly-tunnel, plus more vegetable-growing space; they’ve planted nearly 5,000 trees…. oh, and they’re also well on their way to establishing their own herb tea business!!
Moira+I are full of admiration and have returned home to Bristol feeling incredibly lazy….
We had a lovely time – lovely friends.
Photo: Moira, Sara+Bruce (+Gracie) walking "their land" – it doesn’t include the vast acres on the other side of the valley!
PS: I didn’t take very many photographs (but here are some) and especially regret not doing so (due to the drizzle) during our beautiful Sunday forest walk.
PPS: Bruce+Sara first introduced us to the concept of permaculture in the garden of their rented house in Bristol in March 2009 (as part of GrowZones).

the long goodbye

The Year 11 pupils at school are now on study leave preparing for their GCSE exams. Before they departed, the wonderful Quantock House and Sports Captains (Eloise+Demi+Dan+George) wanted to present me with a farewell gift from the whole House – even though I don’t actually retire for another eight school weeks. First of all they’d contrived to organise a whole Quantock House photograph so they could present me with a really good framed copy. Then they encouraged all the House tutor groups to contribute comments/greetings/drawings for a brilliantly entertaining “Thank you Mr Broadway love from Quantock" retirement book. There are lots of really lovely, heartfelt notes of thanks including these particular gems: “Thank you for being a good head teacher” (if only they’d paid me accordingly); “you were there when no one else was”; “you were my favourite teacher” (even though I didn’t teach); “heroic and stunning” (really?); “I hope you get a big villa” (the football team or a palace?); “thank you so much for helping when I had my stomach pains”; “no one will forget you” (is this a threat?); “I will never forget your great handwriting and brilliant fun attitude” (a wonderful combination!); “thank you for looking after me through everything”; “I would never have felt welcome without you”; “thank you for being there for me with my ups and downs”; “thank you for supporting me and showing me the light at the end of the tunnel” (did I?) and, finally, “you are, and shall always remain, a legend and by far the most amazing Assistant Head (?)… words cannot describe how much you will be missed”.
Money can’t buy this sort of stuff… very humbling (as well as funny, sometimes) and it reminds you of all the good things about working with young people in education (of course, I could list a lot of bad things too!).
It now feels wrong to have to go on working for another WHOLE term!
Photo: the cover of my lovely, big retirement book.

kielder challenge heats

Our Kielder Challenge team took part in the Regional Heats at Ashton Court yesterday. They were wonderful and we all had a really good day. They ended up Heat winners by a considerable margin and they were absolutely thrilled. There’s even a chance that they might end up at the national finals in the Kielder Forest, Northumberland in September – but only a couple of teams end up qualifying from the Region (and the Region is HUGE!). It’s just a brilliant event.
Photo: Gary, Andrew, Charlie, Charlotte, Chris, Polly, Megan, Roxy and Becky.
PS: Gary was a last-minute substitute for Alihan – who was ill; Charlotte was unable to participate due to an injured foot (she was on crutches) and Polly substituted as reserve.

kielder challenging

We’ve just completed the last of our training sessions in preparation for this year’s Kielder Challenge’s local Regional Heat – which take place in Bristol on 20 May. As I’ve mentioned before, four pupils from our school work with the four from Fosse Way (a school catering for young people with physical disabilities and/or severe learning difficulties) in a series of outdoor challenges. It’s such a rewarding event and SO good working with these wonderful individuals.
Photo: Chris, Alihan, Charlie, Roxy, Becky, Polly, Andrew and Megan.

centenary school photograph

We had a pretty disrupted afternoon at school today with pupils assembling for a whole-school photograph to mark the school’s centenary. The main photograph was taken in two separate sittings and, somewhat surprisingly perhaps, the arrangements seemed to go remarkably well. We were also incredibly lucky with the weather – it started raining 30 minutes after we’d finished. Sadly, the only staff members appearing on the whole-school version were the Head and Deputy Head Teachers – with a separate staff image taken at the end of school (to avoid complete chaos!). It’ll be very interesting to see the final results. Photo: just a few of the pupils waiting to be snapped this afternoon.

paul lewis at st george's

Somewhat pathetically, I decided to forego the second meeting of our newly-formed book group (even though it was at our house AND I’d read the book!) and, instead, attend a Paul Lewis piano concert at St George’s, Bristol. I’d watched one of Lewis’s televised BBC Proms last summer (a Beethoven piano concerto) and had been mesmerized by his performance. I’d missed out on seeing him in February due to Gail’s wonderful birthday celebrations and vowed then that I would try to ensure I saw him perform the next time he was in Bristol – and, of course, one of my “resolutions for retirement” was to be a more regular concert-goer (yes, I know I haven’t retired yet, but it’s important to get in some practice!). Last night featured Schubert’s piano sonata (no.18 in G D894, if you must know!) as the main piece. I’m not a particular Schubert fan but the concert was mightily impressive and I was utterly captivated by Lewis’s stunning, masterly execution. Not only do I struggle to see how anyone can play a musical instrument with such technical accomplishment, but also just how anyone can learn such complicated pieces “by heart” and play for over an hour. A wonderful evening.
Photo: you’re not allowed to take photographs during the concert, so I decided to take one of Lewis’s piano instead, before the concert started! As you can see, I had a brilliant seat in the gallery.
PS: Amazingly, during the interval, I bumped into Richard+Sarah (good friends and Felix’s parents – Felix being married to our daughter Hannah, you understand!), who had travelled down from mid-Wales especially for the concert.
PPS: I actually got back home in time to grab a glass of wine before the Book Group meeting had ended (we call ourselves “The Slow Readers Group”). They were pretty scathing about: a) my concert-going, b) that I was the only member who had cried reading the book and c) that I had taken so much pleasure in the change of font for different chapters featuring the two principal characters!

royal wedding day

This time last week, it seems that I was amongst the very few people in the country NOT to have been following the royal wedding. Instead, Moira+Gareth+Alan+I spent the day enjoying the beauty of the Somerset/Wiltshire countryside walking between Freshford and Bradford-on-Avon, along the banks of the Frome and Avon rivers (which also just happened to take in a pub lunch). A really lovely day amid stunning surroundings and rather nice people!
Photo: various images en route.

april-may books

More books (sorry):
Cities of the Plain (Cormac McCarthy): The last of “The Border Trilogy” books. I’ve seen someone describe the books as a “coming-of-age story” and I think they’re probably right (certainly not a “traditional western” as I’ve also seen them described!). Idealism and optimism of youth set against the reality and harshness of the “real world”. I found them quite magical.
Lent for Everyone – St Matthew (Tom Wright): As the name suggests, I’ve been using this as my Lenten study book. Even though I’m not a great admirer of Tom Wright’s writings (having previously been irritated and disappointed by “Surprised by Hope”, for example), I did find some of his insights into St Matthew’s gospel quite helpful - and his Good Friday comments particularly powerful. I certainly enjoyed the discipline of the daily readings.
The Elegance of the Hedgehog (Muriel Barbery): I originally read this last Autumn, but I’ve just re-read it because it’s our Book Club’s latest book (even though I’m going to miss the meeting!) – and found it even more charming and uplifting this time round.
Will You take Me As I Am – Joni Mitchell’s Blue Period (Michelle Mercer): Mitchell’s “Blue” is probably my favourite album (if I was only allowed one, then it would be this one) - clearly, this could have something to do with it coinciding with my uni-days of the late 60s and early 70s (the album came out in 1971)! Despite its rather haughty attempts to contrast Mitchell’s writings with those of St Augustine of Hippo and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, the book provides a fascinating (for me) background to the album – eg. going to live in the Matala Caves, Greece for a couple of years from Spring 1970, feeling somewhat “in crisis”. The book was published in 2009; Mercer’s not a brilliant writer, but the book’s well researched and informative. I adore Mitchell’s music but probably wouldn’t like her as a person (too much ego? selfish? arrogant?)… and I’d be much too boring to be her friend!
Editor (Max Hastings): I’ve long admired Hastings as a military journalist, but this is specifically a book about his time as the editor of “The Daily Telegraph” (not really my kind of newspaper!) between 1986 and 1995. Frankly, despite him not being quite as a right-wing as most of the Telegraph journalists he first inherited, the book shows him up to be a rather pompous, arrogant, wealth-seeking, old-fashioned Conservative who seems to pay scant regard to the real world or to the likes of you or me (somewhat outrageously describing the not-so-well-off as the “underclass” at one point!). Nevertheless, it’s a fascinating book (and very well written) – especially describing the political squabbles at the end of the Thatcher era and his less-than-complimentary views of the Prince of Wales.

ten tors

I helped out over the weekend with Ten Tors practice on Dartmoor. It was the last chance for some thirty pupils from school (14-15 year olds) to secure their places in the final team selection for the event itself on 14+15 May. All pupils had previously gained their Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Awards as a pre-qualifier for consideration for team selection. I love watching the mix of the “gifted and talented” individuals (who seem to be brilliant/determined at everything they do) and those pupils who are often associated with poor behavior/attitude working together quite brilliantly. At least half the pupils taking part this year are girls and - this isn’t a sexist remark in any way - it’s amazing to see even the tiniest of them “lugging” their kit across the moor with comparative impunity!
It’s a very humbling experience to see them grow in confidence and self-belief.
Photo: If you think it’s easy, why don’t YOU try walking 35 miles over Dartmoor (often over very rough and difficult terrain) carrying a heavy rucksack containing a tent, a sleeping bag, cooking facilities, food, water, spare clothing etc?

more big six supermarket stuff

It was depressing to see and read recent news of the “Bristol Riot” over a new Tesco Express store. According to reports in The Guardian: “Police were left guarding a severely-damaged Tesco Express store in Stokes Croft as local residents complained that heavy-handed tactics had provoked a night of violent rioting. It seems that police were responding to reports that petrol bombs were being assembled in a squat opposite the new store and were acting because of the “real threat posed to the local community”. I obviously don’t know if this was true or not and I don’t condone violence in any circumstances but, in some ways, I’m not at that surprised by the turn of events (note: local campaigners have made it perfectly clear that they are against any form of violence and I’ve read a categorical denial from the four squatters who were occupying the building at the time). People feel completely powerless against the financial might of the big-six supermarket.
The sad fact is that it’s REALLY easy for ANYONE to get a change of use for such stores (Tesco’s agents made the original change of use application without having to mention Tesco’s name). Indeed, under current planning legislation, you don’t even need planning permission these days to obtain any change of use to A1 shop classification (or post offices, funeral directors, dry cleaners, travel agents for that matter!) from any other “A class” establishment (eg. banks, building societies, betting offices, restaurants, cafes, public houses, wine bars, hot food takeaways etc). The only planning application that a supermarket might need to submit (depending on the store’s location) would be for a new shopfront and/or signage – by which time the deal is already done. In Bristol, Tesco alone already has SIX stores within half-a-mile of the city centre and FIFTEEN within a two-mile radius of the city. We’re about to have a Co-op Express (or whatever it calls itself) open here on North Street in Southville/Bedminster – approximately 70m from a Tesco Express. Apparently, the Co-op is promising us that it will have its own in-house bakery. Just brilliant – don’t they know we already have FOUR bakers within 350m? Absolutely ludicrous.
Of course, this is all set alongside the “support” for local communities from our beloved national politicians. Eric Pickles, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, has stated:
“For far too long local people have had too little say over a planning system that has imposed bureaucratic decisions by distant officials in Whitehall and the town hall. We need to change things so there is more people-planning and less politician-planning, so there is more direct democracy and less bureaucracy in the system. These reforms will become the building blocks of the Big Society.”
Greg Clark, Minister for Planning and Decentralisation, clearly agrees:
“Most people love where they live, yet the planning system has given them almost no say on how their neighbourhood develops. The Coalition Government will revolutionise the planning process by taking power away from officials and putting it into the hands of those who know most about their neighbourhood - local people themselves. This will be a huge opportunity for communities to exercise genuine influence over what their home town should look like in the future. It will create the freedom and the incentives for those places that want to grow, to do so, and to reap the benefits.“
I’ve previously expressed my frustrations and fears about the big-six supermarkets taking over our local communities but, frankly, they’ll continue to do so unless some form of planning legislation is introduced to limit their numbers – but, even now, you feel it’s too late.
Be afraid. Be very afraid!

good friday

I’ve just been to a thought-provoking and stimulating three hour “preaching of the cross/Good Friday liturgy” service at St Mary Redcliffe. Last Tuesday, I sat in the church’s Lady Chapel for twenty minutes or so reflecting on my own spiritual journey into Holy Week (I’ve been reading Tom Wright’s “Lent for Everyone: Matthew” during Lent). The stained glass east window is absolutely stunning and provided a fitting backdrop to my contemplations. Our weekly “Ithaca” group has also been studying great friend Ian Adam’s excellent book “Cave, Refectory, Road” during Lent. This week, the chapter we were reading (“the way of rootedness – learning from the vow of stability”) talked about becoming “willing to be shaped by our setting, to root ourselves somewhere specific, to engage with a small piece of the world”. Well, I’ve been reflecting on this since Tuesday and think I might have discovered a couple of potential “rooted” places for me (Ian might not agree with having more than one such place, but I could envisage me ending up with three or four!!). I found the Lady Chapel very conducive to quiet reflection and my other “thinking” place could well be No.1 Harbourside (café/bar overlooking the harbour) – I drop in there quite regularly and think that it’ll become a regular source of “refreshment” as I enter retirement.

Photo: Easter detail from the east window at St Mary Redcliffe church.

mini irish tour reunion

Ken, Steve, Simon+I met up for a game of golf at Ogbourne Downs, near Swindon earlier on today (Barry+Christian were the only Irish tourists missing). Ken+I beat the Eyre brothers by four holes (or something like that) but we all had a lovely time and the weather was just about perfect. It was my first game of 2011 – in fact, it was the first time I’d touched a club since our Irish Tour in October – and, not for the first time after a prolonged absence from golf, I played “out of my skin” for the first nine holes (just five shots over the course’s scratch par!). The second nine weren’t quite up to that standard – although I did birdie the 17th hole! It was great meeting up again and the others are already talking of more golf trips to Ireland (I don’t think my pension will stretch that far unfortunately!).

Photo: Steve teeing off on the 12th, watched by Ken+Simon (the wonderful "long valley" hole is in the background).