Illyria's HMS Pinafore

We went to see this fantastic show for the last time at Berkhamsted Castle on 1 September. It's a frantic, very funny production played with lots of life with many quick changes of costume for the actors.

Here are the members of the cast in their various guises:

Theresa Brockway as:

A sailor

Buttercup

A sister / cousin / aunt












Anna Brook-Mitchell as:

Josephine

A sister / cousin / aunt

A sailor

A mermaid












William Finkenrath as:

Captain Corcoran

A sailor












Sophie Hall/Michaels as:

Cousin Hebe

A sailor

A mermaid












David Shorter as:

Ralph Rackstraw

A shy mermaid

A sister / cousin / aunt












Edward Simpson as:

The Rt. Hon. Sir Joseph Porter KCB

A mermaid

Bob Bobstay (Boatswain's mate)

A sister / cousin / aunt











Angie Waller as:

Dick Deadeye

A sea creature

A sister / cousin / aunt











And finally (but by no means leastly)
Ben Wiles, Musical Director as:

Himself (in a silly pose)












Here's a link to some galleries with loads more photos from Greys Court, Ightham Mote and Berkhamsted Castle

And here's a link to Illyria's site so you can keep a track on what they're up to next year!

Christine's and Darrel's trip to the UK

Our good friends Christine and Darrel visited us from Chicago. We had a great time and they saw the sights of Milton Keynes, including traffic on the Grand Union Canal (link to the Canal and River Trust) at Cosgrove Lock.


Here are some more shots from their MK visit

We went to Packwood House (Link to National Trust site) near Solihull. It had rained very hard earlier in the day and the house we had planned to visit, Coughton Court (NT link again), was flooded so we went to Packwood instead. It was really lovely and a great accidental find. here are Karin, Christine and Darrel hiding in the topiary.


There are more Packwood pictures here

We then travelled to meet up with Mike, Katy and Cath who live in Washington, Tyne and Wear. Mike is a very knowledgeable guide and he took us to Housesteads fort (link to National Trust) on Hadrian's wall. Here we are posing on the wall.


More Housesteads pictures here

Later that evening we were joined by Bob from Greenwich and the following day we went on a grand tour of the Northumbrian coast including a couple of castles and ended up on Holy Island or Lindisfarne (link to Holy Island site). It was stunning.


Northumbrian coast pictures here

And more of Holy Island here

On the Sunday, an intrepid bunch climbed to the top of the Penshaw Monument (link to National Trust) and we went to Durham where we had a look at the magnificent cathedral. Karin and I set out to drive home and Christine and Darryl caught the train to London to spend their final evening in the UK with Bob.


There are some pictures of Penshaw and Durham here

David Bowie Night

Dave Wilkinson and chums did a fantastic job of arranging and performing an evening of David Bowie songs. The evening was sensational and I was proud to be asked to play in some of the numbers.

Here's the band

Tim on drums did a great job of dressing up and makeup!

And so did vocalist Sharon...

...And Guy on bass

Here's Dave with his sparkling eye

And Steve on keys (and Stylophone in Space Oddity)




















Here's a link to a gallery with more pictures including a couple of the special guests.

Walking the South Downs Way

Day 1 - Winchester to Meonstoke


The official starting point is King Alfred's statue and Eastbourne is 100 miles east.


Here's the route for the morning (all routes are external links to Google Maps)


You'll see that we stopped at the Millbury's pub for a lunchtime drink and defrost

And here's the afternoon route

We stayed at the Buck's Head in Meonstoke

Day 2 - Meonstoke to East Meon


It was rather muddy! Here's Karin negotiating the damp path on the way up to Old Winchester Hill


Here's our day 2 route

Day 3 - East Meon to Buriton.


It rained. But there was a lovely pub in Buriton where we had lunch and dried out ready to walk another mile to our B&B at Nursted Farm


Here's the day 3 route

Day 4 - Buriton to Cocking


The start of the day was misty and it rained again in the afternoon. This time we got very wet and the pub in Cocking was just closing. Luckily, Sue and Steve at the lovely Malthouse B&B were more than happy to let us in early and we changed into dry clothes. We had a lovely meal there and it turned out that Steve plays English trad music, so we had a jam session to round off the evening. We also met the Four Amigos for the first time - a group of retired chaps walking the same route as us.


Here's the day 4 route

Day 5 - Cocking to Amberley


The sun shone and all was well with the world. We walked part of the way with the Amigos and stayed at the Sportsman in Amberley.


Here's the route for day 5

Day 6 - Amberley to Steyning
This route took us past Chanctonbury Ring, an Iron Age hill fort and we were fortunate to be able to see the stunning views from the top.


The Chequers in Steyning was our only B&B disappointment and we parted company from the Four Amigos here as well.
Day 6 route

Day 7 - Steyning to Pyecombe


This took us over Devil's Dyke, where we met old friends Collette, Dave and Molly for lunch and they walked a short way along the SDW with us.


The descent into Pyecombe is dominated by views of the 2 windmills, Jack and Jill. Jill was working that day so we could see the sails turning. The B&B here, Hobbs Cottage, was fantastic.

Here's the route we took in the morning

And here's the route after our lunch

Day 8 - Pyecombe to Kingston-Near-Lewes


We went past the windmills and off to Kingston, where we stayed for 2 nights so we could have a good look round Lewes, the county town of East Sussex.


Here's the route

Day 9 - Kingston to Alfriston


Another sunny day and we had a very pleasant walk to Alfriston where we had a cream tea and visited the National Trust's Clergy House (link to NT website) - the first house purchased by the NT for £10 in 1896.


The route for day 9

Day 10 - Alfriston to Eastbourne


The final push took us over the Seven Sisters - a series of folds in the downs with sheer cliffs dropping down to the English Channel. Whilst a bit scary, it's good that there are no fences and that, in this health and safety paranoid world, people are trusted to make their own decisions about acting sensibly.
Here's the route for that last day


So, overall, we walked closer to 130 miles after taking into account diversions for interesting things and the extra walk to and from B&Bs


There are many more photos in this gallery.


Maps were collected by running Google MyTracks on a Samsung Galaxy Tab - and it worked very well. 

The Cloud at the White Horse, Stony Stratford

I went to see The Cloud (formerly Cloud 9 but now trendier) and it was good! In spite of challenging lighting conditions, I managed to get some good shots

Here's Dave on guitar

Steve on keys

Ant on bass

Glen on drums

Guest singer Kelly

Guest guitarist Andy Fenton.


















And here's a link to more photos

A Springtime Walk

Milton Keynes has some excellent planting including drifts of thousands of daffodils which delight us for a few weeks in early spring.

Here's a drift near the Willen Tree Cathedral

Here's an "artistic" shot. It went wrong, but there's something about it...

Sunlight playing on the floor of the aisle of the tree cathedral

 A roadside drift

Odd one out

Moose Drool moored near Campbell Park