Our new home in Quarry Lane (telephone 01629 582591*) is splendid - it had to be to finally make us turn our backs on a lifestyle we enjoyed and to look forward to a comparatively static but no less eventful future. There are 15 other houses in the lane but it is quiet and comparatively isolated despite the bus stop a couple of hundred yards away that keeps me (a non-driver) in touch with shops and civilisation. And most importantly our landlords, Kate and Steve Elliott, could not have been more welcoming and helpful.  

 

The photograph on the new opening page gives some idea of the view from my den in the attic. The one on the Holloway section front page is the field at the back of the house while those at the top of this page show the lane itself looking left and right from our back gate.  Finally on the right is a view of the back of the house, on the left a view of the front.

 

 

This weekend we should have been driving to Norwich to see Jonathan, Jenny and our two grand-daughters Sienna and Camille but last week Liz had a very bad cough that disturbed her sleep for several nights, and this week I've come down with it, though so far the coughing has not kept me awake. But then I slept through the recent earthquake, surprised to hear about it on the news next morning.  

 

We hope to travel next weekend when I'll at last see Camille for the first time - until now I've had to make do with marvellous pix like this one sent by Jenny the other day. 

 

 

 

Sienna is still as marvellously involving as ever, of course. Camille is very different : very quiet, very content and absolutely adorable - she smiled every time I went near her which makes her very special indeed. And if you think this is all grandfatherly exaggeration have a look at the pictures I've posted on Sienna's page  - rather more than usual because it's been such a gap since the last.  The one on the right is a taster of what to expect and is chosen because it's the only one in which Camille looks as though she is on the edge of tears. This contradiction is easily explained. She loved looking at me but was not so certain after a couple of minutes of "dandling" on my knee. 

 

In the weeks since our return to Matlock we have continued whipping the house into shape, or rather its contents. My record and CD collection is now well ordered and I have spent many hours transferring cassettes to CD via a splendid Numark deck that copies both cassettes or LPs. A free program called Audacity then helps me cut the recording into individual tracks or manageable chunks and another freeby called Burrrrn transfers the resulting tracks to CD. 

 

With Liz settling in at her new job in Chesterfield and inclement weather most of the time, visits to Snecklifter have been suspended but they will be renewed from this Saturday when we hope to put in a couple of hours sorting and cleaning (some change!) We've heard little from prospective buyers and though it's some consolation to be told that there's little movement generally in the boat sales market we have dropped our asking price by nearly ten per cent. 

 

 

Even though it was probably my last voyage on her, I enjoyed myself immensely, despite travelling faster over the 65 miles and 37 locks than Liz and I ever did. (We'd have probably taken a month or two over the same trip.) Most of the locking was done by Mike Hecken - well, when I say most I mean all but a few paddles that I dropped before leaving locks. Towards the end of the trip he was joking that he had known what to expect and had thought of it as a working holiday - he was just wondering when the holiday bit would start. At least, I think he was joking - the serious look on his face when he was at the tiller makes me wonder! 

 

In fact, we did fit in a little relaxation, starting each morning at 6.30 and mooring after six or seven hours cruising. We caught a bus from Hopwas into Lichfield to visit the Cathedral and have lunch, and by the time we reached Hawkesbury Junction we were well enough ahead of schedule to justify a five miles each way detour to Coventry where we spent an afternoon shopping before overnighting in the quiet, well-lit basin where local authority staff had greeted us on arrival with an information pack and a lovely smile. We also arrived in Braunston in good time for a traditional lunchtime pint at the Plough and then an evening meal at the Millhouse.  

 

The one drawback about the timing of transits through Hawkesbury was that we couldn't stop and chat with Vicki and Ian Harley on PEM No 6. We talked briefly with Vicki on the way through the first time but Ian was away shopping in Coventry and next morning we arrived at the lock before 8.30 and decided it was too early to go calling. But they are a couple we will certainly see again - we met on the Macclesfield in our first months and have seen each other many times since then.

 

In early June we visited our friend Mike Hecken (late of n.b.Ronarosa) in Romsey for a few days. On the left is a picture of Mike and me beside the river Itchen in Winchester 

 

He had gone with Mike (Holloway that is) on the week-long trip to take Snecklifter to Whilton marina and brokerage. They met up at Barton Turns to pick up the boat and load about a month’s supply of food and drink on board. While they were away I put the dogs into kennels because I was working and couldn’t get home during the day to take them out.  The two Mikes had an excellent trip — they even got good weather — and when I picked them up they’d eaten/drunk almost everything (but not quite) and looked very fit.

 

 

One of our trips was on the Swanage Railway which runs the six miles of track between Swanage and Norden, through the beautiful Isle of Purbeck, passing the magnificent ruins of Corfe Castle.  The weather was perfect that day and we walked along the sea front at Swanage.  On the way back we got off at Corfe Castle and looked around the village before catching the last train back.  The two Mikes took lots of photographs, some of which are here.  Many of the shots were the same ones — I’d never seen competitive photography before … the one on the right was taken by Mike He on the train. 

 

We are looking forward to welcoming Mike to Matlock later in the year. 

This morning we decided to explore Ashover, a village just ten minutes away, and discovered The Old Poets Corner which has very friendly staff, good food, more than a handful of big name beers and its own micro-brewery.  Mike was delighted and had a pint of their own Poet’s Tipple plus a half of their light bitter.  They also let him sample one of their stouts and another bitter which wasn’t quite ready for drinking. They have a folk night on a Sunday and acoustic music on a Tuesday.  It could turn into our local! 

 

The weekend before I went away we had a visit from David and Chris Owen-Roberts (n.b.Aeshna) who rode over from the Nantwich area on their very impressive Triumph motor bike.  They parked it on the steps leading to our back yard and it was much admired by people going up and down the lane.  I suspect our street (or should that be lane?) cred has risen enormously.We spent the evening catching up on all the news and eating and drinking.  On the Sunday we went for a two and a half mile walk — again in lovely weather — and they left after lunch.  

 

 

 

 

 

We’ve included a photo (above) taken by Mike as we walked Sandy Lane towards Cuckoostone Lane and another (left) taken by Chris showing Quarry Lane from above. 

 

 

Finally, a note on the dogs. Bess is thriving, with almost daily walks with Mike while Molly is recovering from a sore rear paw. Her cut fore-paw is better but she needs an operation to remove a lump under her left arm.  We’ve been assured it’s benign but is getting bigger and will eventually impede her movement.  So off it has to come (another £200 bill according to the vet). 

 

It’s back to work tomorrow.   

 

 

However I enjoyed the two weekends when I could join in and the evenings were busy as well, including three visits to the Old Poets Corner (two of them for folk/live music sessions) and one to the Duke of Wellington for their excellent Thursday evening steak sizzler. The weather was dry for most of the week which made everything so much more enjoyable.   

 

It was the first time Mike He. had visited this part of Derbyshire and as the pic on the left (taken at the Sherwood Foresters' memorial tower at Crich) vividly demonstrates, he enjoyed at least a day of it bathed in rare sunhine. 

 

Mike Ho. told me he saw parts of Derbyshire he hadn’t seen in 12 years of living in the county and didn’t realise how much he had enjoyed his week as a "tourist" until three days of inactivity later when heavy rain was falling and he sat at home experiencing withdrawal symptoms!

 

 

 

Saturday saw us driving over to a very well-appointed and attractive woodland camping/caravan site on the edge of the lovely Carsington Water to meet up with Sarah Levick and Andy Jury, another couple of boating friends. They were staying in their camper van with their five greyhounds for a few days. The weather was glorious and after a walk around the south side of the reservoir with the dogs (see pic right) we repaired to their mobile home for tea and cakes.  

 

In the evening they drove over to us in the behemoth, parking in the lay-by on Chesterfield Road, and we had a meal in which the centre-piece was pork steaks in cider that had simmered most of the day in my new slow-cooker (see below).  

 

Yesterday morning they came back to Quarry Lane for a full English before setting off on their return trip to Suffolk. It was marvellous to see them and to enjoy their company over a longer period than was usual when we met on the Cut. We hope they’ll be back before Christmas.

 

 

 

That afternoon, Saturday, I managed a few hours of relaxation when Liz took them all off to Matlock Bath where they caught the cable car up to the Heights of Abraham, a memorable trip that I had made with Mike Hecken a few weeks ago. They clearly enjoyed it, though Liz insisted that the cable car ride itself was an experience she would repeat - but not for a while. Sunday morning was marked by a short birthday celebration for Camille who was one day short of being one year old. Jenny had baked a delicious apple cake (see left) and we all produced birthday presents that helped distract both grandchildren for some of the following hours when Jenny and Jonathan drove to Ikea near Nottingham. We had a reasonably early dinner and the family then drove off about 8.30 pm to repeat their night-time journey while the girls slept. A late text message confirmed that the trip had been quiet and uneventful except for one 20-minute delay caused by a road closure. 

 

The short trip on Aeshna, our first since we left Snecklifter at Barton Turns marina in October 2007, ostensibly to spend winter with our friend Brian Parker in Ashford in the Water before returning to life on the Cut, brought back many memories. Most of the time I was content to sit at the stern while Dave threaded his way through Nantwich and enjoyed the half hour or so when I took the helm on the long straight stretch once Nantwich visitor moorings had been left behind. I scraped her rear only once passing under a bridge so I certainly didn't delay handing back the tiller when we approached the winding hole below the lock. It was one of the manoeuvres with our own boat that showed my handling skills at their very best one day - and their very worst the next. Dave's turn, by the way, was textbook stuff. 

 

As one boater after another greeted us in passing it reminded me of the friendliness when you are cruising the canals. A hesitant skipper who waited for what seemed ages in a bridge hole instead of holding back to allow a winding boat to get through confirmed that some narrowboaters are less than expert, especially in judgement.  Still, we were in no hurry and the five hours aboard ended all too soon, though just in time to beat threatening rain.

 

Our family continues to prosper, at least as far as health and happiness are concerned. And I include these photographs of granddaughters Sienna (left)  and Camille (right) to illustrate the point. Their own pages will be updated in the next few days once the shock of returning to this diary after five months of idleness subsides.

   

 

 

Although the last month or so has been mostly quiet and routine there have been a few highlights that merit more than a passing mention.  

 

The highest of these lights was the four-day visit by our son Jonathan, his partner Jenny and our two lovely grand-daughters Sienna and Camille (this last claim can be substantiated by a quick glance to the left, followed by a visit to Our Granddaughters' pages ). Liz and I spent a lot of time reading stories to Sienna - not unusually, she likes to hear familiar tales over and over again - and making sure that now-walking Camille didn't fall up or down stairs. One day was spent at Chatsworth, mostly in the farm and the adventure playground where the girls stroked various animals, washed their hands and then moved on to the next excitement. Most of the dirt that covered Sienna's coat, however, was picked up as she climbed up and down a muddy bank while we waited for 40 minutes to get into the farm. Between mud slides she walked to some nearby trees, hid chocolate Easter eggs for us to find and then returned to show us where they were ! Still, she loved it. The following day the family had enough energy left to travel on a Peak Rail steam loco while I stayed at home to recover.

 

 

Our next trip out was a car journey to the Miners Arms at Adlington to meet Chris and David Owen-Roberts who we first met when they owned n.b. Isis.  They now cruise on n.b. Aeshna which is moored near their home in the Nantwich area, so inevitably some of our conversation over an excellent lunch and a couple of pints was about boats and boating. The rest centred on their month-long holiday in Australia - they clearly had a marvellous time and if you have a look at  http://joomeo.com/dor, using the login mikeh and password ozpics you can see for yourself some of the outstanding coastline and countryside they explored (You need to open the comments to see a description). Both of them looked health and very relaxed after their Antipodean travels. 

 

Several other old boating friends have been in touch as well, including Barbara and Mick Hill on Vavara, Jeanne and Rob Bolton on Tywardreath, Vicki and Ian Harley on PEM No 6 and Mike and Jo Edwards on Sarah Kate. It's lovely to hear where they are, where they are heading and how much they are still enjoying their boating - but it does remind me of how much I miss aspects of the life, especially them (our many friends, that is) and the constant change of scenery and mooring as we travelled the system. But keep those emails coming - I'll live with the bouts of nostalgia. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally a couple of pix (right and far right) of our recently "discovered" family from South Africa. Claire McGeer and her husband Lance are now living in Llantwit Major, South Wales (see March 18 entry) with daughters Meagan and Skyla. Claire is the photographer and has promised some more up-to-date shots soon.

 

 

 

 

 

The weather was the major surprise - in the high 20s throughout our stay and on our first full day at Chur reaching 33 deg C - the highest recorded in Switzerland for the month of May in over a century. Fortunately we were high enough up to find cool breezes most of the time and we were indoors in our hotel during the only rain (and thunder) storm of the holiday. The second surprise was to be hailed as we left the station at Zermatt by a familiar voice. It was Shirley, the daughter of Dora Eyre, our next-door neighbour through our 11 years in Ashford in the Water, travelling with her husband Michael Calvert on another Great Railway Journeys trip that started a few days after ours. They had travelled all the way from Harrogate to Switzerland so that our paths could intersect here where we could be photographed together by another member of our group. What's that old saying about a small world?  

 

 

Perhaps our closest friendship on the trip developed with Roger Ward and Margaret Finney, a couple from Leek with whom we sat for most of our breakfasts and evening meals in the hotels (seen on right with Lynn Palmer behind them). We seemed to have so many interests in common (jazz, walking etc) that we never ran out of topics of conversation. We saw quite a lot, too, of a delightful woman who was travelling alone - Sheila Shinman, who lives in Pickering, North Yorkshire.  Years after retirement age she is still a Research Fellow at Brunel University, carrying out field work for HomeStart. Our field work involved watching her eat a special lunch on the Glacier Express - with her ready permission! - and then sampling a piece of her splendid chocolate gateaux afters.

 

 

Sitting high up in Arosa, drinking half litres of Swiss lager, and chatting with Barry and Marianne Grant from Poole in Dorset was another highlight and we managed to dig out some of Barry's obviously interesting history (he had enjoyed a succession of jobs including being warden at a site for gipsies). But an enigmatic Marianne only hinted at a fascinating life that included being a "child of the 60s."   She was clearly enjoying the weather, sitting in the sun as often as she could to top up her incredibly deep tan - and incidentally reducing the number of chances I had to ask her more about her life.  

 

That's them on the left, high up on the balcony of their hotel room in Brig. (We didn't get a balcony, by the way!) Close-up pix of them later (see footnote).

 

Much of the time in Chur, I passed the first and last hours of the day sitting on a bench in a quiet square next to the hotel, watching the locals walk their dogs and talking with other shade-seekers like Roger and Chris Keable from Witney in Oxfordshire. Part of the "back-stories" that Liz and I elicited from them included the unusual fact that Roger had been the manager of the region's lollipop ladies (and men) and he had loved the job. Chris had been a librarian. 

 

Postscript (July 15) : We have just received an email from Chris and Roger in which they tell us they, too, were celebrating their 40th anniversary. Coincidences continue to surface!

 

 

Certainly the most intriguing fellow travellers were two sisters in their 80s, Eva and Lotte Heymann, with whom we passed several hours on the train from Cologne to Chur and sat with a few times later on in the week. Born in a German-Jewish family, they were rescued as young girls by the Kindertransport and brought to England to escape the Nazis. Their parents managed to escape and join them later. Eva (right) converted to Roman Catholicism, became a nun in the Society of the Holy Child Jesus for which she took an oath of poverty.  You can see her telling her own story on http://www.shcj.co.uk/who_we_are/stories_Eva.html.  

Her older sister Lotte (left) became a district nurse and now in retirement has been able to take Eva with her on holiday. 

 

Telling their story on that first train journey Eva told me with a twinkle in her eye that she always felt embarrassed when people asked where she lived - a house in the very upmarket Cavendish Square in London that had been gifted to the Society.  But she needn't. If anyone had earned a holiday in the Swiss Alps she had after a lifetime devoted to helping "unfortunates" - among them HIV/AIDs sufferers and troubled prostitutes.  She and Lotte were delightful company, full of marvellous anecdotes and with no trace of bitterness that I could detect.  

 

 

 

 

Bracketing this unhealthy hiatus were two visits to boaters who were close to us in our Snecklifter days, the first of them to Sarah Levick and Andy Jury on Greyhound which was moored in a quiet little backwater in Bugsworth Basin on the Peak Forest canal.  

 

We sat and drank morning coffee with them in blazing sunshine, catching up on the last several months since we last saw them and saying hello to their five adopted greyhounds. Seeking cooler shade and some lunch, we walked all of a couple of hundred yards to the Navigation, which has recently changed hands. The food was very good, the draught beers first class and the friendly landlord stood and chatted with us after I had asked him why the basin was Bugsworth while the village was Buxworth.

 

 

We've had cards and gifts from others, of course - our old friend from Ashford, Brian Parker, brought us a deep-red patio rose and an invitation to one of his marvellous home-cooked curries (well, it was our ruby anniversary.) And a lovely cushion embroidered by Vicki Harley of PEM No 6 and finally assembled by her husband Ian, arrived in time for us to admire  before leaving for Norwich on Friday morning.  The cushion (see right) now has pride of place in our bedroom - left in our front room it would have become a magnet for a sleeping Molly.

 

 

But the highlight of the highlight was a day spent in Portsmouth and especially a stroll around the old naval dockyard, now open without charge to the public, though you understandably have to pay for entrance to museums and other special attractions like HMS Victory.  

 

For me it was a short journey into the past - I last walked between those open dockyard gates (see right) 50 years ago when HMS Gambia returned from a year cruising the Mediterranean, Middle and Far East, and around Africa, freeing a very happy national serviceman for a well-earned leave.  

 

 

 

 

The rest of Portsmouth was fascinating, especially the 170 metre high Spinnaker Tower (see left) with its spectacular views over the dockyard and the sea approach to the port - yes, I actually overcame my fear of heights to travel up the fast-moving lift to the first two viewing levels.  I managed about 15 minutes up there before finally fleeing back down the lift to solid ground, leaving Liz and Mike to spend more time on the easier levels and then walk up to the third Crow's Nest level. The picture below shows them with Britain’s first iron-hulled, armoured warship HMS Warrior behind them, just before we explored the dockyard.  

 

We also spent an hour or so wandering around the shopping centre, reached by a local bus that drove us through streets that I must have walked many times in my naval days. But nothing seemed familiar. Some of it might have changed - the area around the Gunwharf Quays has been redeveloped as a tourist attraction with impressive results - but my memories too must have decayed with the passing years. 

 

Altogether a most enjoyable week, which we hope we can come close to equalling when Mike pays a return visit to us in Matlock next month.

 

 

 

Our second Bugsworth visit was with Dora Eyre, our ex-next door neighbour in Ashord in the Water (see left) and this time we enjoyed a full lunch rather than sandwiches at the Navigation. The food was again very good and the chips outstanding (I can't remember better) so it's obviously a question of who's cooking what - and when!  Our walk around the Basin was shorter this time but the weather was good and the atmosphere as evocative as ever. A new feature is a model of the Basin as it was when it was a busy working centre where limestone was loaded on to the working boats that transported it to industrial users. 

 

In between, we travelled to another old haunt, Higher Poynton, to have lunch aboard n.b. Windrift with David and Ruth Tomlinson who we have been in contact with long before they moved onto their live-aboard boat. Ruth had prepared a splendid lasagne with garlic bread and at least two of us (males) had second helpings before indulging in a very chocolatey, fruity pudding. It was great catching up on their travels and seeing just how contented they obviously are with their life afloat. 

 

The rest of the month? I've had another birthday, our son Jonathan and his family are in Mallorca for a long summer holiday, and Liz is still working hard, and happily, in Chesterfield.  The weather here has been wet and often windy. But what's new about that? 

 

 

No-one who knew Bess would challenge our assertion that she was the perfect dog. 

 

She behaved superbly well, was friendly with other dogs (though pushed lower in the pecking order by Molly, our Jack Russell) and an ideal companion on long walks in the Derbyshire hills before we moved on to the canals.   

 

In pubs she was no trouble. We'd often arrive before friends who'd sit with us for an hour before they realised she was lying under a bench or table, unseeen and perfectly contented to be at my feet. She clearly loved Liz as well but Bess was always my dog, as the photograph below demonstrates.

 

 

 

At Bugsworth I spotted a familiar boat, Sarah Kate, and at one of the windows the face of Jo Edwards who quickly joined us with husband Mike for a short chat (see picture left) before we walked down to the main Peak Forest Canal. 

 

 

Each day we returned home in time to cook a meal on those evenings when we didn't take Liz out to our favourite local pub, the Poet's Corner at Ashover - and one of those home-cooked feasts was a splendid-as-always Orchard Pork prepared by Mike.  When we weren't eating we watched Mike's videos shot during the week, argued/discussed the relative merits of television technologies, or listened to CDs of guitarist Barney Kessel. A most enjoyable but physically stretching week for a normally home-bound bloke like me. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Curbar Edge and Matlock Bath both featured again this weekend when Chris and David Owen-Roberts rode over from Nantwich on their Triumph Sprint to spend a couple of days walking, eating and tackling the odd bottle of wine or beer.  Dave always brings a few new brews for me to try and two of them from Brakspeare and McEwan were very good indeed - a third is yet to be sampled. Chris managed to pack her speciality Tiramisu well enough in one of the bike's boxes that there was not a sign of spillage when we tackled it at Sunday lunch. It was quickly demolished, however - delicious. You can see how well we looked after it in this photograph taken outside 9 Quarry Lane, using the timer on Chris's camera. 

 

 

I also like the pics below of Chris and Dave on Curbar Edge, taken on a wonderfully sunny Saturday afternoon. The wind was still whistling up over the Edge but it was much warmer and seemed friendlier than earlier in the month when Mike Hecken and I had to lean into it to stand straight.  Another splendid couple of days, and Liz and I are looking forward to seeing Dave and Chris again at the Miners Arms, Adlington, for our traditional half-way house meeting, probably in early December.

 

Chris in more traditional pose above while Dave looks mean, moody etc. Liz and I look on admiringly.

 

 

The late-October visit from Claire, her husband Lance, and their two daughters Meagan and Skyla was equally rewarding. I was certainly nervous before they arrived - there's no guarantee you'll hit it off just because they're family - but the weekend sped by. The girls are a delight and easy to entertain : we pointed them at our two computers and they amused themselves with Facebook or whatever for a couple of hours while Claire and I caught up on more than 40 years of missed family news.  

 

Her father, David, was younger than me by nearly three years and moved to South Africa when Claire was little more than a baby, so I had never seen her. Lance, too, was great company with many shared interests. He owns a Harley-Davidson, I love looking at them.  Inevitably we spent Sunday morning wandering through Matlock Bath and admiring the dozens of modern bikes parked side by side before they set off on their return trip to South Wales. Next time they came to Matlock, says Lance, he hopes Claire will drive their car while he rides up on the Harley.  

 

The photograph (left), with Meagan in the centre and Skyla on the right, was taken just before we headed off from Quarry Lane to watch the bikers. They left us with warm memories and that special feeling you get when you know your family has suddenly grown larger, especially for a couple like Liz and me who have never enjoyed an extended family relationship.  

And what better way to wish you all the best than this recent photograph of our lovely grand daughters Camille and Sienna sent to us as a Christmas card by their parents Jonathan and Jenny.  There are more below (taken last month on Sienna's 4th birthday and at her party in Norwich) but the one above shows them both at their characteristic best.  Camille looks wonderfully mischievous, Sienna wonderingly thoughtful. We're looking forward to seeing them again soon. 

 

The last month has been a mix of seasonal illness, disappointment and a happy reunion with old boating friends. Late November we were hoping to prepare a sausage, egg and chips lunch for Mike and Jo Edwards of nb Sarah Kate who were on a motoring holiday in the Buxton area - they were among our very first visitors to Snecklifter when we headed south towards Braunston. Unfortunately, I was flattened by an unknown stomach bug whose virulent aftermath left me feeling ropey for almost a week and I can only apologise to Mike and Jo (pictured above in the September 28 entry) for having to put them off at the very last minute. With any luck we'll see them next time they return to this area by boat or car.

 

We were more fortunate earlier this month when we drove to the Cat and Fiddle above Buxton to spend a couple of hours with David and Chris Owen-Roberts at one of our regular halfway lunchtime meets. They live near Nantwich where they keep their narrowboat Aeshna. Previous get-togethers have been at Adlington or Bugsworth Basin but this latest was one of the most enjoyable so far with excellent beer and food and a young bar staff who could not have been more friendly and helpful. We shall certainly return!  

 

The visit to Edensor church mentioned above was also very successful, especially the splendid lunch that followed the service - prepared in advance by our hosts Clive and Joy Thrower. It included homemade carrot and orange soup that was very very tasty and a lamb curry that has long been a Clive speciality. The service itself was interesting but failed to move me deeply. The sermon seemed a collection of quotes from famous clergymen or international figures and the baptism of a young boy (about two years old I would think) who was clearly frightened by the whole process seemed barbaric. I agree with those who have argued recently that full entry into the church community should wait until a boy or girl is old enough to understand and make an informed choice. If the church fears losing new members it could always issue a "provisional licence."  When I mentioned all this after the service, Clive - a retired vicar - made a spirited defence but left this old cynic unconvinced. On the plus side, I thought the Edensor congregation one of the friendliest I've come across (even though the Duke of Devonshire didn't even nod as he passed down the aisle) and the cup of tea after the service was just to my taste. 

 

Finally, another lunch at the Old Poet's Corner in Ashover, this one with long-standing Derbyshire friends Alan and Daphne Binns and our host Brian Parker. We each had different dishes and each of us registered delight( I've never had fish and chips at the Poet's that was not outstanding) and the two real ales from the dozen on offer were excellent, especially the pub's own brew, Poet's Tipple.

 

 

The rest of the month has centred around the death of Sue Bower - a friend of more than 40 years - after a long illness through which she unfailingly showed an optimistic courage, at least to those of us who cared deeply about her. Her ex-husband Mike Bower and I were close colleagues in my early years on the Sheffield Morning Telegraph and our families visited each other's homes regularly and occasionally travelled together on outings organised through Sheffield Newspapers. The small picture here is one of several I took of Mike and Sue with their daughters Sarah and Rachael on a trip to Chester Zoo - in the days when I did all my own developing, printing and enlarging in my cellar darkroom. A larger version can be seen on Sue Bower : A Celebration.

 

 

 

 

After Mike and Sue split up, my friendship with Sue continued through regular lunchtime meetings at favourite pubs near the Telegraph offices. When Liz and I moved to Ashford in the Water, we saw a little less of her but we kept in touch and Sue never forgot my birthday, driving out every August 12 to take me to lunch. There was always plenty to talk about - our children, their schooldays, careers, marriages, of course - but always politics and the ways of the world. I can't remember our discussing religion very deeply but was not surprised when her funeral at Hutcliffe Wood Crematorium on March 15 was celebrated by Matthew Simpson of the British Humanist Association. It was a moving service with thoughts and tributes from a life-long friend and an ex-colleague and eulogies from Sarah and Rachael. It was the sort of funeral I'd like for myself - but not yet, of course.

 

 

Afterwards, we drove to the Beauchief Hotel for light refreshments and a chance to renew friendships with Mike Bower and with Bob and Elaine Bennett.  Bob and I worked together on the Telegraph for nearly 20 years (left: that's him in his prime) and Liz and I still remember with pleasure their traditional open-house parties every Christmas Day afternoon.  For a while Bob and Mike shared an allotment next to mine in Nether Edge. And Bob's son Seth followed our four-years older son Jonathan as a Sheffield Cathedral chorister.  Jonathan now runs a music and arts festival. Seth is a member of modern jazz group IDST - a fine double bass player as I can attest from a CD sent to me by justifiably proud parents the day after our reunion at Sue's funeral. You can read more about the group on www.myspace.com/idstmusic.