Celebrations

Dave and Rosemary Playle
Dave and Rosemary Playle

It’s another couple of years before we celebrate our next significant wedding anniversary, but we were invited to the celebrations of two other couples this year. First it was Dave and Rosemary Playle; celebrating 60 years of marriage. We gathered with their family and friends in a golf clubhouse Ashton under Lyne. We met up with people we hadn’t seen for many years. Dave was the pastor who married us in 1971. He had been Barrie’s pastor in Yorkshire and then Joan’s in Brownhills. One surprise of the party was meeting their son, Andrew and his wife, Teresa, only to find they had recently moved into the next street to ours. The year Joan and I first met was the year Andrew was born, 50 years ago. This highlights that in 2019 we marked 50 years since we first met, followed shortly afterwards by man’s first steps on the moon.

Colin and Rhona Stanbury cutting their 40th anniversary cake
Colin and Rhona Stanbury cut their anniversary cake

In October we were in another golf clubhouse near Pocklington in East Yorkshire to celebrate with Colin and Rhona Stanbury. It was 40 years since we witnessed their wedding in Harrogate. So again we met up with their children and mutual friends and caught up with stories from the times we were together all those years ago and the things that had shaped their lives since. 

We frequently get together with Colin and Rhona along with Richard and Jenny Dean for a day out and a meal – resurrecting the friendship we shared during our days leading Harrogate Christian Fellowship in the 70s and 80s.

Claremont News 2018

Christmas Lights on Bootham Bar, York
Bootham Bar Festooned with Christmas Lights

First let us wish you all a Wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Here again is our new edition of Claremont News. It’s been a significant year with the wedding of Matthew and Laura. We’ve enjoyed holidays, serving in our church, family events and holidays.

Wedding of the Year
Half Marathon Man
Wider Family
Holidays
Street Parties
What Else We’re Doing
Gallery of the rest

Claremont News 2017 – in case you missed it

Wedding of the Year

Wedding Group
The Bride and Groom with Matthew’s side of the Family

Mathew and Laura’s Wedding

How can you not enjoy a wedding? It was a great occasion in August for two lovely people. Their family and friends all gathered to witness them make their vows. The venue: Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge where Laura is a fellow. The ceremony was followed by an amazing vegan reception and then dancing. It seemed everyone enjoyed themselves. Our granddaughter Emily fulfilled a lifelong ambition to be a bridesmaid, grandson Alex was a page boy. Their dad, Wes, was best man. Joan baked and decorated the cake and Deborah delivered a reading in the ceremony. So everyone had a job apart from the groom’s dad who just made himself useful and at times was left holding the baby. Anna (the baby) won everyone’s hearts without even trying.

Wedding Cake
Joan and and her first assistant, Emily, put the finishing touches to the wedding cake

Two more weddings of the year

There were two other family weddings this year, both in May. First my niece Robyn was married to Marcus. The wedding was in a glamorous barn in the Cotswolds – we had a great time. Robyn and Marcus live in in London. Robyn is Mark and Helena’s daughter. The second was for our nieces son, Jake, who married Rhiana in Royal Wootton Bassett. Jake is the grandson of Joan’s sister, Ann. At his wedding I was the official photographer while everyone else had a great time!

Next – Half Marathon Man

Half Marathon Man

Barrie ran three half marathons to satisfy his recent obsession with running. The first, in Coventry, was cancelled because of the Beast from the East. So rather than disappoint all the sponsors who’s donated to charity he ran the same distance near York a couple of weeks later.

The next was the Great North Run in September from Newcastle to the Coast at South Shields and finally in October, and most challenging of all, The Langdale Half Marathon in the Lake District, climbing over 1700 feet along the roads around and through his birthplace of Elterwater. Both of these challenges were with his brother, Mark. The Langdale run was so good they’ve already booked in for next year. 

Approaching the end of the Langdale Marathon

Cycling too

As if three marathons and the consequent training were not enough, Barrie also participated in a cycling challenge to raise money for his housing charity, Restore. The team of riders cycled 100 miles in a single day on a heart shaped route. It started from the Heart of Yorkshire at the West Front of York Minster and back between 8am and 7pm. The team raised over £4,000 for the charity.

Cyclists outside York Minster
Homelessness on the Map – start L to R Ed, Jo, Jenni, Paul, Paul, Barrie, Trevor, Steven

Next – Wider Family News

Wider Family News

Our annual sibling meals went ahead again this year in January and October plus the three yearly Stephenson Cousin’s reunion in July.

The cousins event in Ambleside brought its usual nostalgia with stories and photographs of bygone days. There were pictures of Barrie’s father he had never seen before, as a 12 year old with his mother (Sarah) and aunt in Ambleside in 1932

Whilst there Barrie and his sister, Ruth, recreated a snapshot of them as small children taken in Borran’s Park at Waterhead in 1953. 65 years have elapsed between the pictures. They’ve aged well don’t you think? 

65 years apart

The Ashmore’s October get together was in the small Lincolnshire village of South Witham where Janet and Charlie now live. We discovered a great place to stay with enough rooms and cottages to swallow a number of families. A quirky place called Halliday’s Folly in Greetham nearby in the tiny county of Rutland. Highly recommended for a family weekend.

L to R – Maurice, Joan, Anne, Janet, Philip
Eating meal in cafe
L to R – Joan, Ruth, Mark, Helena, Jan, Bill, David, Barrie in Dodds Cafe, Ambleside

Next – Holidays