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Baby Harry a photographic record of his first 2 years

Welcome to SandJ - Simon and Janet, this is a non-commercial site recording events in our lives and those of our friends and families.

Congratulations Jamie & Helen, 8th December 2007

Despite the mishaps and illnesses during the week before, and torrential rain on the day, the wedding was a great success. It was a wonderful day and Jamie and Helen looked very happy. The Town Hall and the restaurant were both excellent venues, the meal was very good.
I did a reading during the ceremony, and made a short speech at the restaurant. All the photos had to be taken inside, due to the incessant rain.
The celebrations carried on into the evening at their home. Jamie provided some gorgeous curries; we cut the cake and managed to fit in the wedding bubbles and confetti, to Harry's delight. Jamie and Matthew delivered speeches and around 9.30pm they left for their honeymoon evening in a hotel near Tower Bridge. Helen texted me to say they had a suite overlooking the river and Tower Bridge. Matt and Sara stayed to look after Harry.

Link to more wedding photos

Retirement

I am due to retire from the CIG team shortly, and my friends and colleagues incorporated my leaving with the department Christmas lunch. They are a great team, and have been very supportive over the last few months. I will miss working with them, and hope to keep in touch occasionally.

Autumn 2007 :

Welcome to Simon's nephew, baby Nathan, and congratulations to proud parents Richard and Sorya. Nathan arrived on 27th October and weighed 6lb 14oz.

The Bowles Centre:

Simon's work gave him and his colleagues a chance to spend a couple of days at this training centre. They had great fun as you can see from the photos.

Holiday in Norfolk:

This October we took a family holiday in Norfolk with Helen and Harry (Jamie was on a school trip), Matthew and Sara. We had a brilliant time, the weather was fine and it was a pleasure to be able to watch Harry growing up so quickly. He will be two in December. I was really spoilt by Helen and Matthew who did all the shopping and arranged all the meals so that I could have a rest after coming out of hospital just the week before.

My apologies for not updating this site regularly but I am undergoing a second round of chemotherapy after a diagnosis of secondary tumours in the liver and I often do not feel well enough.

July:

The party celebrations for Frans and Doreen's Ruby wedding anniversary and Doreen's 80th birthday were highly successful due to the hard work of my brothers and sisters, especially the girls.
Mum and Dad were delighted with the party and the entertainers Tom and Adam. The whole family and some old friends and neighbours were there to celebrate with them.

July:

Luke's Birthday and Christening celebrations were held at the Angel Centre in Tonbridge. It was a successful event with 30 or so of Luke's and Lara's little friends arriving in fancy dress and being entertained by Tom and Adam.

May Bank Holiday at Chatham Maritime Museum

Neil, Joy and Jack took me out for the day, it was the coldest May bank holiday on record! Nevertheless we had a very enjoyable day out.

March: Helicopter Flight

Link to photo slide show >

We were really looking forward to this trip. The helicopter was a 6 seater and quite new. The weather was good, sunny and a little hazy. Our flight was from Rochester Airport, a round trip to Battersea Bridge and took about 50mins.

February: Neil's 50th Birthday

Neil's birthday party was held in his golf club. The venue was excellent, we had a brilliant evening, with dancing and good food and drink. Well done to Neil's family for organising it so well.

January

We had a really good evening when we attended a presentation at the Barbican Centre with some of Simon's colleagues. The venue was a large indoor garden on the 3rd floor, complete with aviary and coy carp in a pool. The bars were free and the food was tasty.

November

A big thank you to our families and all our friends for turning up and making Simon's 40th birthday party a really good evening. We hope everyone enjoyed themselves as much as we did. Thanks also for all your cards and presents, and a special thanks to Soraya and Richard, Matthew and Sara, Ian and Chris for all your help. <Link to photos>

October

Carlo and Naoko's wedding

We had a great day, it was a pleasure to share in their wedding celebrations.

Deep sea fishing day trip

Ten went and only three managed to return to shore without being sick! The fishing boat left Brighton in fair to mild conditions but they soon hit strong winds and a force 5 gale. Despite the bad weather they still managed a few large catches between them.

August/September

Simon has gone bicycle mad these days and spends all his spare time exploring the cycle paths and tracks in and around our area. He has a road racing bike but prefers his new Marin mountain bike or the Saracen because he can explore both on and off road.

He has discovered Pilgrim's Way and is always finding new tracks to explore on the North Downs. He clocks up around 15 miles or more on each trip. Good excercise!

Joining the National Trust this year was a brilliant idea and we have had great days out exploring sites and gardens.

St Michael's Mount, Cornwall
Glendurgan Gardens, Cornwall
Charlecote Park, Warwickshire
And in Kent: Ightam Mote, Scotney Castle, Sissinghurst Castle gardens, Chartwell and more...
link here for more photos>

We recently took a weekend break in Stratford-upon-Avon. We visited some of the Shakespeare sites, saw part of an open air production of 'Much ado about Nothing" and met up with old friends Dave and Barbara who own a narrow boat on which they spend their summers.

Cornwall in April

We hired a cottage for a week with the family in the Truro area and found some good weather for exploring Cornwall. We enjoyed good food with both Matt and Jamie's master cooking, a cute cottage and a log fire in the evenings. Young Harry had a great time with all the attention from his relatives.
link here for more photos>

In the absence of a side stand, Mr.Vickers believes a knee will do.

The last of the summer wine!!

Box Hill on a Sunday Morning

Touring France

We set off Friday 12.00 for 2.30pm Eurotunnel. Once in France, we made straight for Paris then pushed on South to Orléans. We arrived at around 10pm. Saturday morning we explored the Sologne region of lakes south of Orléans , we found a small camp site at Salbris and camped by a lake.

Sunday morning we set off north to explore Paris - sight-seeing is brilliant on the bike, we just parked up on pavements, under the shade of trees for short breaks and photo opportunities.

We rode north out of Paris towards Rouen and camped in the Seine valley. Monday we packed up a wet tent and set off towards Calais, had a good lunch at Buffalo Grills before catching the 5pm Eurotunnel shuttle back to Folkestone.
More photos>

Off-Roading around Bluebell Hill

Simon did this earlier in the year with Johnny Boy and his son Sean in their old Land Rover. They explored bridleways and old roads around the Bluebell Hill location in Kent.
A229 area between the M2 and M20.

More photos>

Snowed Off The M2 was virtually impassable after Junction 5 in the Big Snow (for the south) of February 2005. I couldn't get off via the slip road as it was blocked by abandoned cars. So I tried to carry on to the next junction. I eventually had to abandon the GS and climb up the bank as I was in walking distance of home. Later I returned with Andy to lock up the bike after manouvering it to the other side of the barrier.

Later still, Chigley, Cleatus and Andy helped me load the bike onto a trailer towed by Chigley's Range Rover.

more snow photos>