Welcome to the Gregson annual report for the year ending 8th December 2001.
For the first time in many years we stayed on the Suburb for New Year's Eve with the Glendinning family. We joined hundreds of other residents in St. Jude's for champagne at midnight, followed by fireworks on the Square.
January was rather a studious month - Emma had her mock A-levels, the results of which meant she was predicted BBC as her final grades. She spent some time visiting universities and was offered places at 4 - Durham was her first choice - subject to getting the correct grades. David sat the entrance exam for senior school and passed with flying colours.
During the February half term David and Luke went on the school ski trip to Italy. Both had a great time and Luke won the prize for 'best beginner'. Emma went on a field trip to Pompeii and Herculaneum with her school and we treated her to a couple of extra nights so that she could visit the Colosseum & Vatican etc in Rome. She LOVES Rome!
Poor Luke had a playground accident in March, which resulted in several stitches in his forehead. When the nurse looked at the wound she sucked on her teeth and said that the doctor would need to do the stitching as it was rather a jagged cut and he might end up with a jagged scar. Luke turned to his pale and shaking mother and beamed 'just like Harry Potter'!! We have photos to show the shades of yellow, purple and black swelling that spread across his face but he got off lightly - the other child lost 3 permanent teeth!
We stayed at home during the Easter holidays apart from a weekend at Moonfleet Manor with the Littles. Paul had been suffering from headaches for some time and had been to the Dr., Physio and osteopath but on the night of 25th April he suffered a very mild stroke. It transpires that he has a completely blocked main artery at the back of his head. He was very lucky that the stroke was so mild and there are virtually no remaining symptoms of the stroke. However the headaches have plagued him during most of the year - though thankfully non existent during our summer holiday - and he will remain on medication for some time. He had 4 weeks off work but is now back to his normal schedule.
The next few months were focused on Emma's A-levels and David's common Entrance exams and, of course, the Proms at St. Jude's. Once again we surpassed all previous years and raised over £18,000 for our charities. Work has been commissioned on the Father Willis Organ at St. Jude's. (www.st.judes.org.uk) Next year will be our 10th season of Proms and we are planning a very special week of events. We have become members of the British Arts Festival Association.
Emma took off for a week's holiday in Menorca with 5 girl friends. They were all so exhausted after their exams that they hardly left their villa - even to visit the beach - (or so I am told!). In mid July the boys & I departed for Ploz in Brittany and were delighted to be joined by Judy, James and Clare Lilley and Mike & Eli. Now they, at least, understand why we love it there.
After a couple of weeks at home, Emma took off again, this time for a month. She went to Egypt to stay with our friends the Rivett-Carnacs in Cairo. It was their daughter Emma and ours (now known as the two Ems) who, when we were all in Sri Lanka together, did a school project on Tutankahmun. From there began Emma G's love of archaeology, so it was entirely fitting that the two Ems travelled together all around Egypt this summer, visiting the famous sights, climbing Mount Sinai and swimming in the Red Sea. Lucky girls!
At the end of July Paul drove out to France with our friends Chris, Jules, Peter & Kate Allam. We all spent a week in Ploz together and then headed to Switzerland. En route we stayed in the Loire Valley and saw a magnificent 'son et lumiere' show at Azay-le-Rideau. It was one of those really warm balmy nights and wandering round the gardens in the dark was bliss. For 2 nights we camped outside Poitiers and then went SE through the sunflowers to Vichy. From there to Annecy, where I recaptured childhood memories by visiting L'Abbaye, right on the lake. Next was whitewater rafting in Chamonix and a visit to the glacier and ice grotto. We stayed in a delightful chalet-style hotel, which served delicious fondue. On to Gstaad, staying in a truly idyllic room overlooking the mountains. We took cable cars up the Wispile and hiked at the top which gave me my most vivid and perfect memory of the holiday - looking at the magnificent snow-capped vista and listening to the tinkling of cow bells. Then we took mountain scooters all the way back down again. Scary and tiring but great fun.
We then camped for 3 nights at Interlaken and decided to go up the Jungfrau on day 2. We were so lucky to have clear skies and views as we took the spectacular 5-hour train journey to the top. There we went for husky dog rides and visited another ice grotto. If we had had a little more time the boys could have ski-ied and toboggoned. The trains, of course, all ran to time and it has to be the very best scenic train ride I have ever taken. And to think we were throwing snowballs at noon and swimming in the outdoor pool again at 5pm! We drove on to Luzerne where we went to the excellent science & transport museum. That night we stayed in a chalet hotel on the side of Mt. Rigi. A short hike the next morning gave us an opportunity to see cheese being made in a tiny dairy room attached to a farm.
At this point the Allams left us to head back home. We spent one more night camping in Switzerland and found a superb campsite with brilliant facilities at Englebert In the town we visited an old monastery where they have a visitor centre where the monks demonstrate making the famous Englebert cheese. We spent our last day in Switzerland trying to find a swiss chocolate factory to visit. Eventually we came to Frey. However the lady at the desk told us we needed to make reservations at least 3 months in advance. So we were disappointed. We moved on to Germany and camped in the Black Forest for a couple of nights. Then we followed the enchantingly pretty Route du Vin through Alsace and spoilt it by spending a night at a grotty hotel in ? Then on to Wingen, - scene of the eclipse for us in 1999. We visited with Hans & Brigitte and crossed paths with the Glendinnings for 24 hours. Then we drove from Alsace all the way home in one day! Thank goodness for Harry Potter and Bill Bryson audio tapes!
My Uncle Len passed away just as we returned home, having suffered a severe stroke in April. He was married to Mum's sister, Hilda and I spent many happy holidays with them and cousins Sandy & Anne when I was a child. My Godfather Geoffrey Tozer, perhaps the friend who had known Mum & Dad the longest, also passed away in the Spring. He was one of those permanent figures in my life and certainly the reason that the Gillards first came to live on the Suburb, some 50 years ago.
3 days later I was privileged to be by Emma's side as she opened her A-level results and I watched the expression of incredulity on her face as she realised she had gained AAB and her place at Durham was secured. We are all so thrilled for her. She takes up her place to read Archaeology and Ancient History there in October 2002. Meanwhile she has embarked on her 'gap' year and plans to work at her modelling before heading to Africa on an 11 week organised trek at the end of April. She has appeared in a TV commercial for GNER Railways and features on the new Atomic Kitten pop video 'You Are', to be released imminently. She also made her first appearance in the UK version of VOGUE magazine and in several other publications too. You can check out some of her professional pictures on the Storm website: www.stormmodels.com/girls_set.htm (look for: Emma G)
Luke?s cat, Honey, produced 3 sweet little kittens - 2 gingers and a tortoiseshell at the end of August so we had much fun playing with them. David started at Senior School in September and has settled in very well. He has taken up Russian as his extra language, alongside French and Latin. He passed his Grade 5 singing exam in the summer and continues his work in the choirs - at least until his voice breaks!
We celebrated David's birthday by taking a large and very excited group to see a preview of the Harry Potter film. None were disappointed! At half term we stayed in the UK and went north to Chester to stay with our old friends the Tanswells. We had a great few days there - both boys tried out real go-karting in their back garden and David even tried out real driving when Dave T. allowed him to get behind the wheel of a BMW on private land. Talk about sparkle in a boys eye! We drove on down to Ross-on-Wye and met up with the Allams where we discovered a lovely cider farm and watched the apples being pressed and tasted the local cider and perry. It was a brilliantly sunny autumnal day and the orchards looked so dramatic against the blue sky.
Suddenly Christmas is almost upon us and we have had a mad panic to get the annual photo done in time for the US mailing. We used David?s new tripod for a hilarious set of pictures with the digital camera. If we had tried harder we might have been able to lose Paul and Luke altogether!
We exchange greetings at Christmas, possibly meet up once or often during the year, we have shared happy times and memories together. I know that all with whom we share our Christmas greetings must have felt as we did and ached for the whole of humanity as we watched the tragic events of September 11th. We pray that soon there may be peace everywhere but especially in Afghanistan, the Middle East and Sri Lanka.
NOW SIGN THE GUESTBOOK!!!