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Australia Day bash was a great night.  Lovely to see everyone who could make it. Those that couldn’t wish you were here.  The children were soo giddy!  We had a BBQ, a huge meat pie was purchased from Blacker Hall Farm.  Indulged in Australian beer, wine and bubbly.  The children played well together and in record time trashed the house!  Stories were given upstairs in Jacks bedroom, maybe as an attempt to settle them down.. however there was no chance in this happening.

 Caitlin McGrath was caught dancing on the ceiling, Luke her brother was Dr Redspecs.  Luke Porter was full of smiles.  The train set was set up in Jacks room which entertained Olly, both Lukes, Thomas, Edward, Caitlin, Jacob Sam and Charles, Jack, Lidia, Sophie and Jessica was supervising!!  Well done Jess. And Im sure they only stopped jumping on the bed for a half a second for a quick photo!

 Liz made 2 berry fantastic pavs and Toni brought some very yummy sausages.  Thanks girls!  Love the hat Jane!  and the Cherry Ripes, Violet Crumbles and Tim Tams!!  And Will did a wonderful job cooking on the BBQ outside in the rain and freezing cold… what a ledgend!  Fab night had by all.

Edward put this here.

Last Saturday we went over to Doncaster to watch my old rugby team play.  They’re in National Division One now and the ground and clubhouse are very impressive.  A lottery grant provided £2 million for the club house with a huge balcony overlooking the pitch.

 Unfortunately, though the team were very good, they lost to Bedford.  Afterwards we had tea at a friends house, then I brought Jack and Grace home to bed.  Sarah stayed in Doncaster for a night with the girls.

 My visa application goes in the post tomorrow, so fingers crossed everybody.

Most Fridays we try to get together to catch up, have coffee and a chin-wag.  It was lovely to have the new babies around. Julia with baby Isobel, Helen with baby Melissa.  Both have given birth to their 2nd child.  Both had had girls again. 

Claire was with us ….. as Olly is at Nursery in the mornings. Zoe joined us with her youngest, Tilly and Daniel which she childminds.  All were busy with the train set, colouring in, playing with playdough, causing havoc and generally trashing the joint.  It was great fun!

 Then its a mad dash to collect Jack, Helen to get Abby, Julia to get Lidia, Claire to get Olly and Zoe to get Maddy all from different Nurseries around Horbury.  

Last Saturday we went to the West Yorkshire Playhouse in Leeds. Mary and Lance kindly took us to see The Magic Paintbrush. This was a show aimed at young children and was taken from an old Chinese Tale.

The story was all about a boy who was given a Magic Paintbrush. Evrything he painted with this brush came to life.

We were sitting right next to the stage and Jack was able to help make waves in the sea and spent some of the time sitting on the edge of the stage. The actor were a little loud for Grace so I took her to wacth from further back where she did enjoy the show.

Afterwards, Lance came to babysit, so Sarah and I could go to a party for Mozart’s 250 birthday. He couldn’t make it but we toasted him. The party was in a lovely old village hall in Wooley, and we made the effort and dusted off my dinner jacket and a very elegant dress of Sarah’s. Of course, the only time we put on our fancy rags we forgot the camera!

We had a good time and Lance didn’t even have any noises from the children who were fast asleep.

We spent Christmas Day in York with the rest of the Andrews family.

A great feast was prepared by all the different sides of the family and enjoyed by everyone.

On Boxing Day Sarah stayed in bed as she was not feeling well, and Will, Jack and Grace all went for a walk in the Yorkshire Wolds. Others from the family also came and we had a good walk though it was fairly miserable weather. Jack amazed us by the distance he managed to walk.

Between Christmas and New Year we went to stay in St. Albans. We met up with friends, but the main reason for going was a trip into London to see The Gruffalo. This was a stage show of a well known children’s book. Jack was entranced from start to finish, but Grace was a little scared when the Gruffalo first appeared.

After the show we went for a walk along Oxford Street looking at the Christmas Lights.

New Year was spent with a few friends for drinks and watching the fireworks of Wakefield from our bedroom window.

Just a few words to start this up. I’ll add more details as I work out how to do it!