28th June 2015

The day after returning from Australia, the family gathered in Willow Bank during the evening for a meal. I gave Sue a copper bracelet with inset magnets to help her wrist, purchased in Byron Bay, and presented Charlotte and Sarah with bracelets made of shells, a small keepsake from the trip.

Sunday was spent tending to the garden and allotments, a long but necessary day of weeding, planting, watering, mowing, and hoovering debris from the bottom of the swimming pool.

On Monday, the family travelled to North Wales to fulfil Nan’s wish for her ashes to be scattered at her childhood playground, Caergwrle Castle. The previous day, I checked with Aunties Doreen and Josie to ensure everything was in place for the memorial bench, due to be installed on Nan’s birthday (16th June). I was pleased to learn that the Council had strimmed and cleared the paths leading up to the castle, leaving the area neat and tidy.

Our journey began the next morning, albeit with a delayed start as Sarah was caught in motorway traffic travelling to Harborough. Despite this, we set off only an hour after the Rothwells and met them at Alyn Waters Countryside Park around midday after a fairly uneventful drive.

The weather was lovely and warm as we sat on the picnic benches to enjoy our packed lunches. The boys were full of energy, so we decided on a walk along the river to burn off some calories and tire them out. The only problem with the Palmers being near water is their uncanny ability, like natural water diviners, to find their way into it! Predictably, all but the more sensible, mature ones ended up soaked.

After returning to dry land, we stopped at the park café for ice creams and a visit to the toilets, mainly to make use of the hot-air dryers. Once suitably dried out, we drove a few miles down the road to Caergwrle.

We inspected the site below the castle, next to the War Memorial, where the memorial bench was due to be installed the following morning. It was good to see a Council worker tidying up the path leading to the castle. Satisfied that everything seemed in place for the next day, we all set off up the steep incline to the castle ruins. As promised, the site was neat and tidy, looking lovely beneath a bright blue, cloudless sky.

For most of the family, other than Sue, this was the first time they had visited the castle, and they could understand why it was so special to both Nan and me. I have many happy memories of playing among the stones and trees there as a child, during the frequent summer holidays spent visiting my grandparents. I can’t imagine a better playground for ‘tomboy’ Nan.

As with water, rocks and walls are there to be climbed, and that’s exactly what the more youthful and flexible among us did. After fully exploring the ruins and reading the informative boards on the castle’s history, we returned to the cars and drove the short distance to Aunt Doreen’s. Unfortunately, she wasn’t home, so we diverted up the mountain to visit Aunt Josie, who was there with cousin David.

While we had coffee and chatted, David took the boys for a walk with the family dog, returning about an hour later with his partner, who wanted to say hello.

I had booked us all into the Premier Inn in Wrexham, so we headed there next. Check-in was fully automated at a console, which caused a few problems. Firstly, I needed my glasses, and secondly, I had to input all the details three times since I had booked three rooms. I couldn’t help but wonder why I was requested to bring the email confirmation printout in the first place.

Once we’d settled into our rooms, it turned out the Rothwell family room was just an ordinary double. The manager insisted, showing me on his computer that the room was for two people, but this didn’t match my confirmation printout, which clearly stated it was for two adults and two children in a four-bed family room. It also didn’t align with the printout from his console, which listed the same family room at a higher price than the doubles. I pointed out that if they had a human (you know, someone with legs, arms, and a brain) at check-in, they would have noticed the issue before it escalated, preventing customer dissatisfaction. As the hotel was fully booked, they eventually resolved it by giving us a family room that had been allocated to another family who hadn’t yet checked in. Problem solved, not our issue anymore.

Lee arrived later after driving up from Leicestershire, straight from work.

After a well-earned break to chill out, we all met in the bar before journeying to see Aunt Doreen. We only stopped briefly to check that she was ok for the next day, as we had booked a table at an Oriental restaurant in Caergwrle. Sue and I had visited before, and it was known for its excellent Thai food. When we arrived, there was only one other couple dining, and I think they were grateful for our custom. The meal came quickly, and although it was late in the evening when we returned to the hotel, we stopped for a while in the bar to chat before heading to bed.

We reconvened for breakfast the next morning. We couldn’t have asked for a better day; the morning sun was already warming the air as soon as we stepped outside. Before we left for the installation of the bench, Sue and I took a short walk into town and bought one of Nan’s favourite flowers, a small honeysuckle, to plant at the castle.

We arrived in Caergwrle just as Aunt Josie did, and the bench had already been installed by Cousin Jeff’s sons. It looked splendid, all taped off and in place. Missing Aunt Doreen, I quickly nipped down the road in the car and found her walking, so I gave her a lift.

Though naturally emotional, there was a happy atmosphere surrounding the unveiling of the bench, thanks to the beautiful weather and the sense of peace and fulfilment the day brought.

I thought it particularly poignant when we photographed the three sisters together once more, and then again with her favourite granddaughters.

Doreen and Josie stayed behind and sat on Nan’s bench while the Harborough contingent, along with David Prydderch, climbed the hill once more, this time with Nan. In the centre of the ruins, we divided her ashes equally into small containers, including portions for Lucas and Ellis, leaving a little for the honeysuckle. Each of us, in turn, scattered the remains. We then chose a spot next to one of the castle walls, where Charlotte and Sarah planted the honeysuckle along with the rest of the ashes. I think Nan would have loved that.

Finally, Charlotte climbed the highest wall and hid a little Welsh Red Dragon she had found in a car park a few days earlier, certain that it had been left there for her to discover by Nan.

Returning to the bench, we all drove over to the Holly Bush Inn, an especially meaningful spot, as it was the last place I took Nan for lunch on her final visit to Wales. We enjoyed a meal together, and afterwards, Suraj took Doreen home, while I did the same for Josie.

Meeting back at the Holly Bush, we then drove to Chirk to walk over the aqueduct as a break on our journey home. On the way, we managed to lose the Rothwells for a while, but eventually, due to the magic of mobile phones, we all reunited.

After crossing the aqueduct on foot, we took a detour through the tunnel, which Ellis and Lucas found quite scary. Their wide eyes and excited chatter, as we emerged from the darkness, were another highlight of the day.

The following drive to Harborough was during Birmingham rush hour, and we found ourselves stuck in the inevitable motorway crawl, which added about an hour to our journey.

On Thursday, I had previously agreed to help wait on tables at a ladies’ charity function at Marston Trussell Hall. Along with Sean Perry and Jim Crawford, I spent a hot afternoon serving champagne and rather posh food to a crowd of smartly dressed women. Pleasingly, among the guests was Branwyn, the school secretary from Farndon Fields when I first started teaching there. After the meal, we had a nice catch-up on family news and, as usual, spent some time gossiping about past colleagues.

I returned to Marston Trussell the following Saturday afternoon, but this time with Peter Cooper, where we enjoyed ourselves at the Marston Trussell Beer Festival held in the old school room and sampled a few of the available brews. It was a miserably cold day, which made the festival a fitting activity for such weather. Afterwards, we decamped to the Angel pub to watch a lacklustre England Under-21s team lose to New Zealand in the World Cup Final. The game was made a little more bearable by the fact that just a couple of hours earlier, England had triumphed over the Kiwis in cricket.

The following Tuesday, I took Sue to the Royal Hospital in Leicester for her final appointment with the specialist. She’s now been discharged, but was informed she can make an emergency appointment if she has any further issues with her wrist. We spent the afternoon with Sarah and Mia at Bradgate Park. We walked along the main path by the side of the river and came across dozens of Fallow deer idling in the sun. As we neared the ruins of Lady Jane Grey’s House, we encountered several archaeological dig sites being conducted by Leicester University. This was right up Sue’s street, and she thoroughly enjoyed talking to the ‘diggers’ who were very chatty and eager to explain all the details of their work. We even witnessed the discovery of a coin being dug up.

After climbing to the top of ‘Old John’, we returned to the picnic benches near the park café and enjoyed the packed lunch we had brought with us. The view from the top had been worth the effort, and it was nice to relax with some food while taking in the scenery. The rest of the afternoon was spent at a leisurely pace, enjoying the quiet of the park before dropping Sarah and Mia off in Braunston and returning to Harborough, feeling content after a lovely day.

The following morning, I was off again, this time to meet John Lee for a ramble. I’d plotted an 8-mile route starting from the Blue Dog in Sewstern. It was another beautiful day, and apart from a couple of fields of mature Oil Seed Rape that had overgrown the path, making progress a bit tricky, it was a lovely stroll through the Leicestershire countryside.

 

We stopped for lunch around 1 pm at the pub, where I had Haddock Goujons with chips and peas, simple but delicious, and definitely worth returning for. As usual, we discussed family news, moving on to the topics of allotment weeds, speculation on the upcoming World Cup, and, of course, solving a few of the world’s problems. A perfect, mildly active day.

I spent the next few days in the allotments and garden. Everything seems to be growing well, particularly the vines, which have already set fruit. The strawberries, raspberries, and gooseberries are starting to ripen, so Sue is often seen scooting off on her bike, only to return half an hour later with a container full of fruit.

Last night, Sue and I attended a BBQ at Joules and watched a Simon and Garfunkel tribute band. We were joined by seven of our friends, which ensured the conversation was lively, and as usual, the entertainment was first class. On a negative, Sue bitterly complained that our plates were smaller than on previous occasions and that there was no dessert! On a positive note, our waistlines benefited.

Jamie and Harley are cooking Sunday lunch for us this afternoon, so hopefully, she won’t have the same criticism.