Dear Friends,
This year has been an interesting one for us as a family, with its highs and lows.
Andrew has been working with the Highways Agency over a year now and he and Sophie are living in rented accommodation in Ashford but are hoping to buy a house. Their wedding has been arranged for August 15th 2009. His disco company is still running and doing well.
Rebecca had her 21st birthday in May and is in her final year at Canterbury Christ Church University and is already looking for primary teaching jobs for next September. She still earns some money by baby-sitting and chauffeuring the headmaster's children. She has recently split with her fiance and is busying herself in her work.
Barbara is now in her ninth year in the boarding house and teaching maths. With a new Senior Management Team life is full of changes, even on a daily basis! Each week many miles are clocked up in the minibus, ferrying pupils to the local stables on a Monday and the cinema on Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon - we even succumbed to High School Musical 3! For our own entertainment we regularly support the local cinema in Dover and go to the Marlowe Theatre in Canterbury. We do venture further afield if the need arises - especially for Steeleye Span in its various formats. Barbara and Becky were amongst those at the Hoosiers concert in Folkestone (earplugs were not supplied)!!!!!!
Sadly, Barbara's dad died in October and in some ways this was a blessed release following a long and steady decline. Her mum is not very mobile so a lot of the arrangements were left to Barbara and her brother, Gordon. The funeral service at the local crematorium was well attended by the various generations of family as well as former workmates and his boss. This followed the sudden death of one of the cats, Blacky, during the summer holiday. More recently on a happier note we were able to attend a wedding reception for Gordon and Alison in Ramsgate after their fairytale marriage in St Lucia in the Caribbean. Once again it was another gathering of the clans with four generations present.
Our summer holidays this year saw JR and Barbara on a campsite at St Cyprien on the Mediterranean coast near to the Spanish border. With their new Vauxhall Meriva they were able to explore much of the region, especially the Cathar heritage trail. (This was after reading Kate Mosse's book Labyrinth). On the two Sundays they were there they attended an English-speaking Church service in Argeles. It was good to meet people from all over the UK, including Barbara's former headmaster Stuart Alcock and his wife Kathy who have retired there.
Talking of retirement, JR finally hung up his mortar board and gown in July and is now busying himself with gardening, cleaning the house and some cooking. Becky arranged a surprise retirement party at the Dover yacht club with a variety of people including family, church members and colleagues from school. He is now available for christenings, bar mitzvahs etc at reasonable rates! Joking apart, the vicar in St Margaret's is retiring in June so he will undoubtedly be called on to cover some of the services.
Next summer, before Andrew's wedding, JR and Barbara have opted to go to a campsite on the French Riviera at St Raphael. As it will be their silver wedding in April they have also opted for an Easter break at Palafrugell on the Costa Brava. This will be a fly-drive holiday to avoid two long drives in one year.
We also have our own website. All you need to do is log onto our site at www.broughtonfamily.co.uk Finally, we look forward to having friends from different parts of the country stay with us or simply call in en route from their continental holidays.
Best wishes and God bless