Family Newsletter 2005

I hope you have had a good year and will have a very Happy Christmas. It's been another busy year, so news of James and Rachel first.

James did his A levels in the summer, getting an A in Media Studies and B in English, and he also did AS level music. He decided last year that he wants to do a degree in music, so is spending this year studying for A2 music with help from two of his teachers from school. He's applying for university at the moment, and wants to go to Goldsmiths College in London. James has been pretty busy with his new band, Small Victories. He's designed and set up a website for the band at www.smallvictories.org.uk and they have been rehearsing weekly getting ready to record a demo at the end of December, and they will put their songs on the web once done. They have played a few gigs, and have several booked in December, some locally and some in London. John and I are getting used to being roadies, getting all the kit in the back of my car and driving off to the venues, but now that James has passed his driving test, our roadie days may be coming to an end!

Rachel is now in the sixth form at school. She did really well in her GCSE's. She did 12 and got 4 A*'s, 4 A's and 4 B's. She has chosen to study History, Maths, Psychology and Performance Studies for AS level. She went on a school trip to Poland earlier this year, visiting Auschwitz, which she found to be a moving experience. She's still very keen on drama, and has just played Widow Corney in the school production of Oliver, as well as still going to an evening drama class at The Churchill Theatre once a week. She's not sure yet what she wants to do at university, but has another year to make up her mind, and she has already started looking up universities to see where she fancies going. Rachel has continued to have singing lessons at school, and di a solo performance of Lullaby of Broadway for the school's "Hollywood" musical evening. She has also just started learning keyboard - she enjoys going to gigs too, but so far hasn't wanted to be in a band.

John still enjoys playing the guitar, he and James have been going to an open mike night in a club in Limpsfield once a month, so I'm the only one not doing anything musical (apart from listening to it).

John's been a keen golfer this year - playing every week at the local golf club - his handicap is now down to 18, and he's won a fair few competitions, so we are gathering a collection of trophies (but only one wooden spoon). I had some golf lessons for Christmas, and paradoxically seemed to get worse for a while, which was frustrating, but am back on form now. I'm a bit of a fair weather golfer, so haven't played much now the weather's colder.

We had wonderful trip to Australia in the summer - we decided it might be our last big family holiday, and as James and Rachel finished school early after their exams, we were able to get away at the start of July for 3 weeks. We started off by staying in Singapore for 2 nights, and managed to pack in a fair bit of sightseeing, including a night safari at the zoo, and a bit of shopping mixed in with walking round the city. We then flew to Sydney, where we stayed for 6 nights - starting off in an apartment on Finger Wharf. This was pretty central, being close to the Botanical Gardens and the Opera House. We drove round the coast to Bondi beach as well as spending time exploring the city. We spent the weekend with John's aunt and uncle, Frances and Dave, in Winston Hills. It was good to spend time with them, and we also met up with Lisa, Tim and Dawn on a trip to the Blue Mountains, which was spectacular, as well as visiting a wildlife park, getting the chance to see kangaroos and koalas (very cute but smelly) at close hand. Although it was winter there, it was lovely and sunny and not too cold.