Graham and Dylys' news in 2013

A year of problems

The hall ceiling had to come down

It has not been the best of years for us. Our electric shower went “bang” in January, and soon after we got it replaced we had water leaking from the hall ceiling which had to come down. Decoration of the hall and stairs became essential, and we wonder why it should be so hard to get hold of a decorator in an economic slow-down. We managed to get the job done in early December, and the smell of the paint has had a chance to clear in time for Christmas.

In a completely separate incident, we had a blocked drain and raw effluent coming up through the washing machine discharge pipe all over the kitchen floor. We made an emergency call-out to a tradesman to clear the blockage, and then later called Dyno-rod to inspect the drain. Dyno-rod diagnosed a disjointed drain pipe running from the house to the manhole cover in the front garden (with roots growing through the joints). They finally came to insert a new lining into the drain pipe just before Christmas.

Graham made a series of trips to the GP and hospital early in the year with chest complaints - he was given the all-clear and the discomfort has eased, though without real explanation.

The car also caused us some concern when there was evidence of a leak from under the engine. The fluid was clear, and it turned out to be from the air conditioning system, so it did not affect the driving, but we had to pay to get the air conditioning fixed in order to confirm that this was indeed the diagnosis - it has been an expensive year!

The other “disaster” is that our ancient printer (circa 2000) has stopped printing in colour, apart from a bit of pink - so the Christmas newsletter that we sent around with our Christmas cards this year was lacking the usual pictures - you may be reading this online journal in order to find the pictures! Yes we did buy a new cartridge for the old printer, and ran the cleaning cycle several times, and carefully wiped the contacts with a damp cloth. Graham is expecting a replacement model for Christmas - the old printer had a good life span.

Leadership

It is not all gloomy news - we both completed the CPAS “Growing Leaders” course with our local church this year. There was no final exam, but we had several projects and assignments to review with our mentors. The course has helped clarify our talents and aspirations with regard to Christian service. Leadership can mean all kinds of things, but Graham has volunteered to lead the final church service of the year - the evening of 29 December. In past years it has been announced "no evening service" on that Sunday after Christmas, which seems such a shame immediately after the high profile of Christmas on the Christian calendar.

Graham was on the tech team at the carol service this year, which went very smoothly. As with most services, he has published a podcast on the Bethel website.

Holidays

We indulged in two “proper” holidays this year (an occasional luxury - most years we stick to one main holiday. We spent a week in Lancashire in May and were delighted to be given the keys to a brand new caravan with all mod-cons including the largest fridge-freezer that we have ever seen in a caravan! Graham's favourite day was when we climbed the hills of Quernmore and found this amazing stone structure near the summit of Clougha Pike - an awesome place and really not very far from home.

On the hills of Quernmore

In September we spent a week in Northumberland - we did some climbing and also did a tour of “Flodden Field”, soon after the 500th anniversary of the battle at that site which was prominent in the news this year. We also made a couple of brief visits to Cornwall to catch up with Graham’s family.

Happy days

We celebrated our 17th wedding anniversary this year with a meal at the “Rising Sun” - which is opposite the Council household recycling centre in Macclesfield, so we made a romantic trip to dispose of the rubbish that had been accumulating in our garage, prior to enjoying the meal.

Dylys was short on ideas for presents for her rather significant birthday this year, so she decided that we should go and see Evita at the Lowry in Salford to mark the event. It was a very touching account of a true story, and Dylys is now hoping for a CD to help her recall the experience.

They were not a birthday present, but as a mark of getting older, Graham has had his first prescription glasses this year.

Also on the subject of birthdays, Dylys and Maldwyn were instrumental in organising a surprise 80th birthday party for Aunty Rose in August - we booked the village hall at Checkley and managed to fill it with family members from far and wide - a very successful day.

Due to the complications of finding a mutually convenient time for a family get-together, we met with Graham’s family shortly before Christmas, but plan to spend Christmas Day with Dylys’ family, and to enjoy a few days off work together!

Graham and Dylys' news in 2012

In some ways it has been a year of not many changes – same house, same car, same church, same jobs. We are regularly travelling to see family – most often to Cheadle (Staffordshire) and Leicester where our mothers live, and we have also enjoyed some good  family times in Solihull and Cornwall through the year.

We always get to church early on Sunday mornings as there is plenty to set up. Graham is usually behind a computer, as he records the morning service and publishes it as a podcast on the Bethel web site. Sometimes, Dylys is behind a computer as well, projecting the words for the songs onto the main screen. You will often find her at the door, welcoming people into church, and sometimes she is helping out at Sunday School. She also manages the church building fund. Graham is a deacon and takes minutes at meetings, and manages the church web site. This year he has started taking part in the Conversational English class on Thursday evenings: a facility for people to develop their language skills in a fun and informal way – the students are mostly of Eastern European background.

This year we have both been taking part in a CPAS “Growing Leaders” training course run by the church. We are about half way through the year long course, with a class around once a month, and homework projects between times, along with meeting with a mentor.

Dylys used to be a member of the local hospice choir with weekly practise sessions, but this came to an end. However, she really enjoyed taking part in a production of “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” at one of the other churches in town this autumn. It was a three-night production, and the tickets were a sell-out.

Graham used to be more involved in youth work, but other activities have taken precedence in recent years. He still takes part in “Unleashed” youth leader networking events in the town, and one of the highlights of this year, like last year, has been the “Youth Unleashed” concert for which he organised the Powerpoint slides. This year there was a guest band “Crossfya” which made it a noisy evening, and the number of young people who came along was rather greater than last year.

Thanks to Facebook, Graham renewed contact with an old school friend Pete a couple of years ago. In September this year they met and went on a bike ride. The weather was excellent, and they were able to exchange information along the quieter stretches of road as well as over lunch.

We really appreciate our holidays, and this year we headed to Llanrug just north of Llanberis for a week in Snowdonia. The weather was great for walking and admiring the fantastic scenery in Snowdonia – with an exception on one day when we got a thorough soaking! Graham particularly appreciated getting wifi on holiday for the first time – and without leaving the caravan!

Our living room has received the Dylys treatment – she took a week off work in July and gave it a facelift with new wallpaper and paint.

Last Christmas our car let us down: we had to call out our rescue service and consequently failed to make one of the visits to Solihull – but we had the car checked over, and it has behaved  perfectly since then. As usual, we are due to be covering plenty of miles again this Christmas.

Graham and Dylys' news in 2011

We found New Year 2011 to be a humbling time, when our next door neighbour died – he was younger than either of us. He left a widow and two lads, who have been picking up their lives without him. Then in April we had to say goodbye to Aunty Jean – we made the trip over to Loughborough for the funeral, a big family occasion – we know that she is now in a better place with the Lord Jesus Christ. On a happier note, we were delighted to be able to take part in our niece’s wedding: Sandra and Simon were married in Betley near Crewe on a beautiful summer’s day in July.

In terms of breaks, we only managed one trip to Cornwall to see family (a few days in March), and a week’s main holiday in Northumbria (in May), as Graham’s holidays from work are getting fewer and more restrictive. That said, the week in Northumbria was excellent – it is a very quiet corner of the country, very pleasant driving, very relaxing, and a good variety of walks and sights to see.

We celebrated Graham’s 50th birthday whilst we were in Northumbria: on his big day, he chose to climb the Cheviot – a very decent walk, although wind was up and the clouds were down on the summit, so there were no views. Then went out for a meal in the evening.

Conquering the Cheviot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . conquering the Black Bull

Back at home, Graham wanted a bread-maker for his  birthday; however, despite the ready supply of nice fresh bread through the rest of the year, he has not grown big and round like his age.

At our home church, Graham was elected as a deacon at the AGM. We both took part in Child Safeguarding training, and Graham needs to organise a review of our church Safeguarding policy. Dylys is the building fund treasurer, and is helping out in Sunday School and with services at a local sheltered housing centre. Graham continues to maintain the church web site and sermon podcasts.

We both took a week off work in October. We took the opportunity some tidy-up work in the bathroom during that week. We are not sure that we would use grout restorer again – it looks very attractive when it goes on, but it soon cracks and starts to fall off.

Graham and Dylys' news in 2010

Holidays

We are conscious of just how well we have done for weather on our recent holidays. In the middle of October last year, we enjoyed an excellent week walking the North York Moors and coast: a mix of warm sunshine, low cloud and mist one day but only light touches of drizzle, and a bitter wind on the final day, but nothing to spoil our getting out every day. In May this year, we spent a week in North Wales. We did climb into cloud one day and there were no views, but the only rain during the week came overnight or whilst we were in the car. Then in October this year we paid a family visit to Cornwall, spending a week there on a wonderful summer holiday with not a spot of rain.

Home

There certainly has been rain this year. We bought a new water butt which collects water off the roof of the green house, and since it was installed we have never managed to empty it – as there has been no prolonged dry period over the summer. In January we found a damp patch in the boxing around the water pipes in the kitchen: and we suspected that we had a leak from the pipes. However, when we called in a tradesman, he diagnosed a broken tile vent on the roof. The boxing is where the original boiler used to be, and it hides the old redundant flue pipe – rain was coming through the tile vent, down the pipe, and into the kitchen! Then in the spring, we noted that a damp patch in the corner of the garage roof seemed to be getting more noticeable – we opted to call in Everest before the damp patch developed into a leak, and we had the flat roof replaced. We also had the kitchen radiator replaced before its rusty blisters got any worse: the new radiator has made the kitchen the warmest room in the house!

Out and about 

We had an interesting day out of a different kind in August. A friend had fallen out of a tree, incurring serious injury, and was in hospital in Sheffield. His poor wife was making daily trips from home in Macclesfield to visit him in Sheffield; so we took a day off work and drove her over. It was a really nice drive over the Peak District (through Castleton). We found Mike in the process of moving wards, and it was almost funny to see him racing about in his wheelchair getting everything organised – he was in good spirits. We are pleased to see him back in church now.

Lud’s Church, Gradbach, Staffordshire

We are getting old! On August Bank Holiday we decided to do a walk over Shutlingsloe (our local hill) and a circuit around the south Cheshire / north Staffordshire borders. It was over 15 miles – not really strenuous climbing, but not much of the walk was flat. Our hips and thighs really felt the hammering with each step along the latter stretch of the walk, along roads into Macclesfield Forest. It was a good day out, but we have rarely been so relieved to get back to the car. We have done the walk before, though from a different starting point and a rather shorter route. It has a number of highlights, including the summit of Shutlingsloe, and the amazing Lud’s Church: a passageway between walls of rock where a persecuted saint used to worship.

The nice people in Dylys’ office gave her two garden plants for her birthday. Sadly, the Hattie’s Pincushion was enjoyed by unwelcome predators. The Passion Flower has proved much more domineering: it has helped itself to a large section of the tall fence down the side of the garden, and has produced some nice flowers!

Church

At church this year we have stepped down from some official duties. Dylys had served as Deacon for six years, and Graham as Church Secretary for six years. The constitution obliged Dylys to take a break after this time period, and Graham was ready for a break too. But we have both got involved in Hope Mission Action Groups: Hope being the banner that unites most of the churches in North East Cheshire, and the action groups being the practical outworking of different types of mission. We were both looking after tables at the Hope Expo day in the Town Hall in November.

Graham and Dylys' news in 2009

It's official: salad is bad for you! Graham managed to break a tooth whilst eating a mouthful of cucumber and coleslaw. Actually, the salad was probably just the straw that broke the camel's back, as his molars had been getting increasingly sensitive in the weeks prior to the incident.

Holidays

The North York Moors in mid October

We hired a static caravan near Scarborough for a week in May. The weather was mixed, but it did not stop us from getting out and about. We did the coast walk from Ravenscar to Robin Hood Bay and back. We spent a pleasant day around Whitby, although getting caught in the heavy showers in the afternoon. We found some steep and slippery paths around Broxa Forest. We saw the amazing white cliffs around Flamborough Head. We were pleased to be able to walk "the Hole of Horcum" and not just part of it(!). We are hoping to return to the area, as the unsettled weather put us off visiting Goathland with its promise of a scenic waterfall.

We decided to see more of the North York Moors in October, and booked a cottage in Ruswarp just outside Whitby. All in all, it was a much better holiday than the one in May - the weather was better, and the cottage had real novelty value - it was the old ticket office on a station platform, with steam trains and regular service trains passing our front door! We did the walk around Goathland, travelled to the west side of the moors to see the Cook Monument and climb Roseberry Topping (sounds like a sticky dessert, but it's a little hill). We also did a coast walk, and another moors walk at Danby.

In November we combined a brief family visit to Cornwall with a couple of nights in Cardiff. We stayed in a shiny new Travelodge in the Cardiff Bay area, and enjoyed walking along the waterfront, and around the shopping centre and Bute Park next to the castle.

House

We had to call in our tradesman neighbour at new year, as we saw water dripping through the eaves outside the kitchen. We think it was just due to condensation, and hopefully the new ventilators have seen an end to the problem.

In the summer, with the promise of a local authority grant, we signed up for new loft insulation and cavity wall insulation. We were not very happy with the company that did the wall insulation - Dylys took a day off work, they turned up, announced that they could only do the front and back of the house and not the side due to problems with access from the garage roof, and then tried to bill us for the full job. Eventually they arranged another date and completed the job - no reason why the garage should be causing a problem!

Towards the end of the year, we had the dry stone retaining wall at the bottom of the garden rebuilt. The wooded area beyond our garden slopes down to the Bollin River, with the retaining wall keeping our back garden almost level. We had been advised when we had the house surveyed that this would be a job needing doing within a few years.

Church

At Bethel Baptist Church, Dylys took part in the Holiday Club at half term in February. We did not get as many children as anticipated, and the ensuing weekly youth club ran for only a few weeks. We were amongst a small group that went on a Child Protection training course in the spring.

This year we started recording the sermons at the church, and Graham now edits and publishes the sermons as podcasts, accessible from the church web site www.bethelmacclesfield.org.uk, which he also maintains.

Choir

Dylys continues to sing with the "Claritas" Hospice choir, as do several other members of our church. Besides the weekly practice, she has joined occasional public performances through the year, including one at Bethel in April; all raising money for the hospice.

Jobs

No change - Dylys clocked up another year at the Information Commissioner's Office, whilst Graham continued working for GPC.

Graham and Dylys' news in 2008

Family

The year did not get off to a very happy start, wtih two funerals in the first month: Dad Patrick (Dylys' father) died after months of being in and out of hospital following a major stroke in the summer of 2007. Less than a couple of weeks previously, he had attended the funeral of his brother Uncle Cyril.

Holidays

We booked up a caravan for a week's holiday in the Lake District in the middle of May. However, two or three weeks before we were due to go, we got a phone call from the site owner to say that due to unforeseen circumstances he had to cancel our booking. We did some frantic phoning around and got a caravan at another park near Bothel, not very far away from Cockermouth where we had originally booked. It was a great week during which we were able to climb Helm Crag near Grasmere, Grasmoor by Buttermere, Haystacks and Fleetwith Pike , along with some gentler walks.

We spent a long weekend with family in Cornwall early July - the weather was not so good this time around, so our walking activities were limited. We spent a few more days down in Cornwall in November, but although we were able to catch up with family nicely, Graham was not very well, so walking was again curtailed.

Car

After the several incidents recorded in last year's journal , our car fell sick big-time in February. The engine malfunction indicator lit up on the return journey from Leicester: fortunately we got home OK, but the following day the car was very jumpy and really not driveable. We were reduced to bus and train for over a week whilst it was in for repair. Then, on a couple of occasions, we had to book the car in again to get a malfunctioning airbag malfunction detector sorted out - we were getting a little weary of the hassle and expense associated with this car! Just weeks later the car became very noisy: it took some time to diagnose, but it needed new wheel bearings. Once we had got the car running OK again, we decided to trade it in before the next problem arose. We had only kept the car for four and a half years, and had budgeted on keeping it for eight. But in August we said good-bye and took delivery of a new Hyundai Getz. It feels a more basic car than the Micra, but we will be pleased if it requires less visits to the garage.

Church

We remain active with Bethel Baptist Church in Macclesfield. This year, churches around the UK have been getting together for Hope 2008 - to show 1000 hours of kindness to our communities. At Bethel we helped to renovate a playground in a local park, and organised community fun and games on the recreation ground. The two of us were stewarding on the Hope Sunday morning when there was open air worship and "Kidzone" children's activities.

Choir

Last year, Dylys joined "Claritas", the fund-raising choir of the East Cheshire Hospice. This year, she has joined them for concerts in Bollington, Wilmslow, and Congleton; and they had a summer outing to the Eisteddfod at Llangollen. Dylys also joined the community choir that provided the backing for the Graham Kendrick concert, held at Macclesfield Leisure Centre in December.

Graham and Dylys' news in 2007

House

May saw our first anniversary at our house on Abbey Road. In the previous month, we had had a fence erected at the bottom of the garden. The garden overlooks the Bollin Valley park, and in the summer months, all is screened by the trees beyond our garden; but in the winter it felt much more exposed, so the fence serves to sheild us from the footpath in the park.

We had our bathroom suite replaced just before Christmas, as it was getting increasingly difficult to get a certain item to dispense water. It was not the best time of year to be without the use of a shower for a few days!

Holidays

We paid a flying visit to Cyprus (in every sense of the phrase) in March. The purpose was to visit Graham's brother and family who are posted there for four years. We took Graham's Mum, so that she could see her new grandson, nearly a year old, for the first time. We flew from Manchester on a Wednesday, arriving late evening. We had two clear days there, and were on a return flight in the early hours of Saturday morning. We stayed at a hotel in touristy Ayia Napa, whilst Mum stayed with the family. The weather was great: pleasant and summery, and the touristy areas were nice and quiet - as the holiday season did not properly start until Easter.

For our main holiday of the year, we booked a caravan at Bunchrew near Inverness for a week in June. In a notoriously wet summer, we did remarkably well. The Sunday was very wet, and we were stuck in the caravan apart from when we went to church; but for the rest of the week we were out walking every day and never put our cagoules on. The highlight was a climb up Ben Wyvis , from where we looked out over a fantastic inversion.

We made the usual couple of family visits to Cornwall.

Car

Our Nissan Micra has not proved itself quite as reliable as our previous model. It has occasionally become jumpy and the engine has cut out, particularly when driving in heavy traffic in hot weather. It caught us a couple of times this year: once on our way back from Scotland, when the engine malfunction light came on and in accordance with the owner's manual, we drove the remaining 130 miles of the journey at 43mph. Our local garage failed to diagnose the problem properly, so we suffered it again when driving down to Cornwall. A little garage in Cornwall identified a faulty camshaft sensor, and there have been no further incidents since that was replaced.

Jobs

Unexpectedly, Capital One announced that the Macclesfield offices where Graham was working were to be closed. This affected many people, leading to a protracted affair with a statutory 90 day consultation period. We could never wish for this kind of development, although Graham has gone through it all before: for several months we are living in a state of uncertainty about the future. Graham was formally made redundant on 21 October, and secured a new job with GPC Computer Software Ltd shortly beforehand.

Thankfully, Dylys' job with the Information Commissioner has proved to be rather more stable.

Church

Graham has continued in his role as secretary, and Dylys as deacon, at Bethel Baptist Church. We joined the church weekend away at Quinta Hall near Oswestry in April. We held a couple of community fun days on the local recreation ground in the summer.

Other activities

Dylys joined the local hospice choir. The choir have cut a CD, in addition to a few little performances, so let us know if you would like to sample the CD. Dylys also signed up for an art class at the local high school, and has been acquiring art materials, and producing paintings and drawings. Hopefully sometime we will get some work scanned and published on a web page not very far away!