Without Dee there would be no Stanton Family News Letters. She writes them and I publish them. Thank you, Dee for creating this family history. I love you. Mike xx

Well, it is time for the Christmas Newsletter, and I am showing my age when I try to remember what we have done!

We have seen a few shows this year. Ross Noble was very funny and very good. I do wonder how his mind works.  He jumps from topic to topic and still manages to get back to the original joke and deliver the punchline. We went to Furness Tradition, the annual folk festival in Ulverston. The stage was packed with the Joe Broughton Conservatoire. It is a folk orchestra with around 100 musicians and singers. Most of them are music students in Birmingham and they do this in their spare time.

Complete opposite was the Simon and Garfunkel Story, two very talented singer/actors who perform this show in the West End. We saw them at a packed Coronation Hall in Ulverston. The first LP I ever bought was Bridge Over Troubled Water. After seeing Paul Simon in concert a few years ago we were prepared to be disappointed, but they were excellent.

Earlier this year Mike’s sister, Janet died suddenly. Mike wrote a poem which he read out at the funeral and Janet’s daughter, who is only 21, delivered the eulogy, a fantastic tribute to her mum, and amazing in one so young.

But it got us thinking about friends and family, so we went to Cleethorpes to meet up with relatives and friends, some of whom we had not seen in years.  It was great to catch up and to visit some of our old drinking haunts and see how the place has changed since we lived there.

Mike was taking a photo of me outside my old home when the owner came out. I told her who I was, and she invited us in. It was strange to be in the house I grew up in and see how they had put their stamp on it. It still felt like home, and you could feel that the house was well loved.

Our dog, Basil is three years old now and quite a character. He climbs up onto the windowsill and goes to sleep. But when he wakes up he forgets how narrow it is and falls off, onto a little table and down to the floor. We take turns to walk him, and I am getting a lot fitter. Sometimes I think he is walking me!

Matthew is still working for the National Trust. He did not get a promotion this year, but the Trust had a regrading exercise and decided his job, being responsible for the lives of all the passengers on the steam gondola on Coniston Water, was a management position. So he is looking forward to going up a grade and getting a pay rise in the Spring. As I write he is packing for his annual holiday, Malta this year. He is coming home for Christmas. And so is Katie. Gabriel is spending Christmas with his parents. Katie and Gabriel got a flat together this year and will have their own Christmas together when she goes home.

Being a bar manager is hard work, but it has its perks. This year one of Katie’s bar staff won an award, an all expenses paid visit to Wimbledon from Stella Artois, who sponsor the tournament. He is a young man and Katie’s boss decided she better go as well to keep an eye on him. I did wonder who would keep an eye on her! Anyway she had a lovely time.

Mike has finally given up all his national commitments as a charity trustee and straightaway joined the board of a local charity, Art Gene. They run Allotment Soup, the community growing space where we have our plot. I do most of the planning and planting. Mike is better at digging up weeds and fishing the weed out of the pond.  

There is lots of bad news out there, but Barrow was in a good news story this year. Dave Myers, one of the Hairy Bikers, is sadly missed and greatly loved. Because he came from Barrow there was a national motorbike cavalcade from London to Barrow in his memory. 20,000 bikers took part. Every hotel room was booked and local people opened up their homes to accommodate everybody else. On top of that, £127,000 was raised for charity.

Here’s hoping for more good news in 2025.

All our love,

Dee and Mike

December 2024