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| The happy couple with Hever Castle in the background |
Once again we've been a little aloof from posting on our blog, we're sorry if you've missed us, however we have been a bit busy what with a couple of weddings, Tim's big birthday and purchasing a new home in Bristol as well as enjoying some fun times with family and friends.
So first things first and that must be the news of the most recent wedding that we enjoyed this weekend as we celebrated with our middle son, Josh, and his new wife Haddy in her home village in Kent.
Josh and Haddy have been seeing each other since their university days so we've journeyed together and seen them grow closer together, they are both very eccentric and share the same sense of humour and fun, although they both have very challenging jobs.
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| The Walker girls |
Our youngest son, Arron, had flown in from Greece where the current boat he is working on was ending a charter and we were also joined at a delightful 'bed and breakfast' by our eldest son, Chris, his wife and our three young grandchildren. Tim's mum and dad also joined us as we prepared for the big day.
After a morning walk, all the boys together, everyone busied themselves with their final preparations, our grandchildren were flower girl and page boys, Arron was a groomsman, and obviously Josh had to pretty himself up as the groom.
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| Our family! |
2.30pm raced around and as we gathered with family and friends in the Holy Trinity church in Crockham Hill Haddy made her entrance with her father, Paul. She looked amazing, as usual, her natural beauty was complimented by her stunning dress and 'yellow converse baseball shoes'!
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| The Walker Boys all dressed up! |
The happy couple departed in a 1911 Rolls Royce towards their photos and wedding breakfast held at the nearby and historic thirteenth century Hever Castle, home of English Queen Anne Boleyn, of King Henry VIII fame.
Thankfully the sun shone which allowed both Josh and Haddy and also the bridesmaids to travel with the top down on their powerful Ford Galaxie.
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| Tim with his Grandsons |
After drinks overlooking the lake, where photos were taken whilst dodging a squally shower, we made our way through the Italian Garden to The Guthrie Pavilion where we enjoyed a few glasses of wine, local beer and three course meal before the speeches given by Paul, Josh and his best man Dan Williams, more about him later, and danced the night way.
It was a truly magical day, the weather was kind and as we were about to leave we enjoyed a fantastic firework display over the lake as a send off to our new Mr and Mrs Walker. They are now enjoying a honeymoon in South Africa and then Mauritius where they should see some sunshine and get some much needed rest before the next phase of their adventure.
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| Fireworks send off the happy couple |
Wow, how to top that!
To be honest one can't top a day like that but our summer has been one to remember so we'll quickly update you with the fact that Tim turned 50 in the middle of August, celebrating the day with some family, unfortunately both Chris, his family and Arron couldn't make it, and friends at the village hall in Oving.
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| Selfie on Tim's 50th birthday |
Once again the weather, which has been a little dull for most of the summer, was kind to us and we enjoyed a game of cricket, drank some beers and had some laughs. 50 not out isn't bad, especially after Tim had his health scare when aged 33, but we hope there's many more birthdays to come.
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| Dan with his ushers and best men |
Earlier in the summer Dan Williams, Josh's best mate and the son of Trefor and Mandy whom we have been staying with since our return from Madagascar in June, got married at his family home. We were part of the busy planning team, working on getting the gardens, buildings (old and new) and other paraphernalia sorted before his big day.
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| Marquee in the horse field |
Dan was getting married to his longish term girlfriend Lucy, they had got engaged whist visiting us in South Africa, and Josh was joint best man, with his other friend, Larne. Once again it was a great day with a huge marquee set up in one of the 'horse fields' and a field full of 'yurts' where the happy couple and some of their guests spent their first married night.
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| Chris on the Ridgeway |
We also spent a weekend chasing our brother-in-law, Chris, around the country as he 'ran' along the 86 mile ancient Ridgeway, which started at 10am at Ivinghoe Beacon and ended 22 1/2 hours later in Avebury with it's prehistoric stone circles. Our friend had lent us his new VW California Ocean which became our base to support Chris on this epic run.
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| Northampton Half Marathon |
The following weekend after and eventful day at the T20 Blast finals in Birmingham, Tim ran his first half marathon, a 13 mile run around Northampton town and surrounding villages and which he completed in a quite respectable 1 hour, 49 minutes and 23 seconds. He ran along with Chris, recovering from his previous adventure, which was great as he set quite a pace with Tim's sister, Vicki, coming home a few minutes later.
In amongst all this excitement we have been trying to finalise the sale of our long term family home in a village that has been home to Maz since her birth. We are buying a house near Bristol which we are going to rent out to Chris and Claire, this will both help them with their rental costs as well as helping us to pay off our mortgage.
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| JA at the Borderline |
This whole episode has been quite stressful but hopefully we are nearing the end now as we are busy planning our next trips back to Africa which will include a revisit to work with our friends in Uganda as well as a trip to Burundi to work with our great and long term friend Simon, which we are really looking forward to.
And that, other than having an incredible evening in London watching our favourite singer songwriter, Joseph Arthur, who was playing a one off gig at the Borderline in Soho, is that.
