Are you fed up with annual round robin letters from friends you haven’t heard from for a year (or 30 years)? You may even be fed up of the ritual newspaper articles complaining or chuckling about this year’s crop of family trivia such as what you will find on the following web pages.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2005/nov/30/christmas.bookextracts
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7785410.stm
Go on keep clicking and you won’t have to read ours…
http://www.familyaffairsandothermatters.com/round-robin-christmas-letter-draft-1/
So if you got past that lot you really must be keen to know about what the Smiths of Preston have been up to in 2010. So I suppose if the Queen can send a message to the Commonwealth so can we… Here goes,
Dear Subjects Friends,
My husband dear wife and I began the year with a state visit to Spain to mark the occasion of the 500th 20th anniversary of the our wedding of Catherine of Arragon to Henry VIII. If you want to see a photo of how we were in 1990 have a look on My Facebook. We were hoping to get away from the snow but guess what, it snowed there too.. (see http://picasaweb.google.com/gregmaistersmith/Madrid#5426712937163860930 and many more pix in that album). We dined in state at paid to get into the Royal Palace and enjoyed meeting King Juan Carlos a photographer from Madrid who is also on Picasa http://picasaweb.google.com/JuanCrls2009 had already taken a lot of photos which inspired my efforts…
Having just received a communication from the palace that HM’s message is copyright with a reminder of what can happen to wikkid leakers and bishops who disapprove of royalty I think we had better hand over to the usual speech writer..
In the Smith household in 2010:
Pawz the dog continues to demand long walks, regular swims in the river and prodigious amounts of food, while Oscar the cat asserts authority over him and the rest of the household. When we went away for a holiday in Cornwall in July, or to Scotland for niece Bridget’s wedding in October (photos here) the animals have a good friend Jill who looked after them.
Martha is in her A level year hoping to find a university place in fashion design while enjoying a great social life at college, at her church and with local friends.
Marcus is in his first year at university, doing theology at Kings College London seems to be doing well and enjoying life though it is all N.T. Greek to me. He is using a new road bike to commute through the streets between hall in Hampstead and lectures at college on The Strand in 20 minutes). Is it 30 years since his dad was doing similar speeds between Russell Square and Canning Town?
Jane is still working full time for Lancashire Probation and meets some really difficult characters (mostly staff and managers!). Too much evening work too often, but she usually can be at home on Fridays. She has also started walking the streets of Preston late on Friday nights as one of the Street Pastors team.
Greg would love to spend even more of his time travelling around taking photos, growing vegetables and cycling in the warm sunshine. Managed two days in the far north west of Scotland and a day in Cleethorpes as well as lots of Steam Trains. But in the real world there is work to be done and sometimes some money comes in return. Until September he worked for the Salvation Army, then took redundancy not knowing what was next. But Blessed be God and the Church Urban Fund who have taken him on (self employed for the time being) to develop a support network for Christians social action in this part of Lancashire. Have a look at the web site http://pcanprestonchristianactionnetwork.yolasite.com/ if you want more information about this. Also has managed to do some academic writing and conferences in the course of the year, been short-listed or interviewed for a number of posts but appears to be heading to a renewed calling in networking urban mission with some mix and match consultancy or research commissions.
We are still involved in the parish church round the corner, which acquired a new vicar recently. The future is open …and hopes include a senior’s rail card for Greg next year… but much more beyond that too. (Three of us have enjoyed reading Tom Wright’s “Surprised by Hope” this year. We still have an open door (literally most of the time despite the cold weather) and are usually quite hospitable if you are passing this way.
We are all on facebook too if you want to make contact that way.
Greg & Jane Smith 34 Broadgate. Preston PR1 8DU
Phone no. 01772 827987
No comments:
Post a Comment