On the return journey from Newcastle we took the scenic route across The Peak District to Leanne’s house.  It was a beautiful drive.  We hadn’t seen her for some time so it was good to  catch up.  She was working in the daytime so we headed off to walk around Rudyard Lake stopping off at The ‘Spoons’ in Leek for lunch.  The long drive to Seaton was uneventful and after being away for a week it was good to be back home again. 

Events in the Town continued with the final Seaton Eats in Cliff Field Gardens the following evening.  We went with neighbours Maureen and Paul and Sheila and Bob.  It was again a popular event and the queues for the different food vendors were long but worth it.  As it got later it started to get chilly so we all headed off to Sheila and Bob’s for a few more drinks and chat.

Saturday evening brought us back to Cliff Field Gardens for the annual outdoor cinema event.  This year it was Bohemian Rhapsody.  We volunteered to act as marshalls and to help with the tidying up after the event.  We’d missed the last two outdoor cinema nights so this time we were determined to take part.  There was an unplanned drama during the set up when the inflated screen slowly started to collapse.  It was clear from the body language of the professional crew that this was clearly an ‘oh shit’ moment, however, the screen was soon back up with some hasty rewiring and diverting all the electric supply to it.  Numerous phone calls were made to track down any available generators, but as this was 5pm on a Saturday evening there were none to be had.  Eventually the supply for the catering vendors was obtained via a hook up into a friendly neighbours garden supply!  The audience started to arrive, set up their chairs and picnics, the sun went down and the performance began.  It was an excellent night and we’re looking forward to next year.

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While we had been away, Maureen and Paul looked after the greenhouse and picked the excess courgettes, runner beans and raspberries.  The garden is now in full flow so we continue to feed them, give courgettes so Sheila and Bob and even give some items to the local food hub.  The freezer is filling up and we are experimenting with courgette soup.

We had a couple of days of catching up on garden, house and ‘admin’ before Neil’s sister June and husband Roy arrived to stay for a few days.  We had a lot of fun, plenty of walking and going to two attractions in nearby Beer.  First was Train themed Pecorama which showcases Peco model trains and has a miniature train providing rides around the meticulously kept gardens. 

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This was followed with lunch at the Anchor in Beer overlooking the beach.  Next day we went to Beer Quarry Caves for a guided tour of the historical caves.  The Romans discovered the stone that is quite unique in that when freshly excavated it’s soft enough for stone masons carry out intricate cutting and carving in the cave.  Soon after it’s exposed to the atmosphere the stone goes rock hard.  It has been in demand for churches as it’s easy to shape for statues and gothic style windows.  Some of the stone has gone as far as the USA.

Our volunteering for the tram this month started with the Heritage Open Day.  This is a nationwide event where many attractions are asked to put on free heritage based events to encourage wider participation.  The tramway offered two sessions which gave a behind the scenes tour of the depot and a bird watching tram through the wetlands nature reserve.  Both sessions were fully booked and as we ushered the attendees around the depot it was an opportunity for us to listen to the operations manager Gareth’s talk about the conservation and restoration of the various tram carriages and associated structures.

The next session was The Memory Tram, where with an extended team of volunteers and event staff we hosted around 20 older folk with varying levels of dementia plus their carers.  The garden room at the station in Colyton was transformed into ‘All The Fun of The Fair’ as we manned a selection of six games that you would have found at an old fashioned fairground.  Refreshments included hot dogs and popcorn along with the tea & coffee and we had lots of laughs with the attendees.  We heard later that the feedback from the home that they live in was excellent so well done to the Tramway Team.

We then had a visit from Alex and Freddy for a couple of days before we headed up to Bristol.  They stayed on for a few days to escape from London and their own house rebuild for a while to enjoy the sea and their paddleboard.

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This next trip for us started with spending the night in Keynsham before Cheryl headed off with Tricia and Miranda to join a group of family and friends for some pampering and relaxation at Champneys Health Spa.  While Cheryl was having fun with the girls, Neil stayed in Keynsham to spend time with Paul and to help out with grandson getting his breakfast, getting to pre-school and then trips to the park after school.

After a couple of days Neil drove to Champneys to pick up Cheryl and June to head for Manchester.  Earlier in the summer, June asked Neil if he would like to join her on a trip back to Manchester to look around the various houses the family lived in when they were little. We had a superb time, visiting the various streets where they lived and discovering the graves of grandparents, great grandparents and great uncle Bert who was a professional boxer.  We knew pretty much where to find the grandparents but the others were an amazing bonus discovered with the help of Derek The Grave Digger who was pleased to share his recently completed charts documenting the locations of all the graves in the cemetery. 

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The day ended with a long walk around nearby Heaton Park which is absolutely stunning.  It has a tram line in the park run by a group of volunteers and, as we are now official Tram Geeks we got chatting and were swiftly invited for a private tour of their depot.  They have a much wider gauge and were in the process of restoring an old Blackpool Tram which seemed huge in comparison to the ones in Seaton. 

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The next morning it was back to school for Neil.  Before the trip he contacted his old primary  school that he attended from the age of 5 in 1958.  He sent them pictures that he had of his class, pictures of The Harvest Festival Queen who was also June’s friend and Bridesmaid and pictures of Neil as a cute pageboy to the Queen and of him on Whit Walks.  The school has a ‘vintage’ page and they were so pleased to receive the photos that they invited him to visit the school for a tour and a Q&A with some of the children about life in Crab Lane in the 1950’s. 

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At the end of the month we heard the very sad news of the sudden and unexpected death of one of our old Goa friends, Sandra.  Our thoughts are with Tim and the family.

Reasons to be Cheerful

1. We were very lucky to get to know Sandra and share so many laughs and good times along the way.
2. It’s been a great time for family this month, seeing all three children, grandson and quality time with June on our trip down memory lane.
3. We’re still picking strawberries and raspberries – amazing.

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