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Sunday, December 17, 2023

Christmas Letter 2023

The big news from us this year is that we have become great-grandparents. The first child was Mia Lester the daughter of Hayley and Richard, who was born on 16th August. The second was Austin Creasey, Joshua and Lizzie’s son who was born on 7th October. We are delighted with the birth of these two children. We just have to drive to Coburg to visit Austin, but Mia is in England, who we visited in December – more on that later.

Margaret and Mia
Margaret and Austin


We have continued travelling this year. In Australia we stayed at our timeshare in Numurkah and then visited 19 painted wheat silos, which were stunning.

Here is a video of some of the silos we visited



Here is a link to a post on our silo art tour showing all the silos we visited

We also stayed with Michelle, David, Philip and Bev at Longford for 5 days. Philip and Bev spent a month here for the funeral of Philip and Michelle’s father, Ian Calder.

Our first overseas trip was to the UK via a week in Bangkok. After four days in London we stayed with Philip and Bev. Margaret celebrated her 80th birthday while in the UK.



We returned home via Prague, a beautiful city to visit. The video below shows the astronomical clock in Prague.



We already had a week in a resort in Phuket booked in November, so we decided to extend the trip to the UK to visit Mia, and celebrate her birth with Hayley and Richard.

As the rooms of the resort could sleep 6 people we spent the time with Michelle, David and Amanda.

One of the highlights of the events in the resort was the fire show.



The weather was always warm we regularly ate dinner at the beach.



A highlight away from the resort was the day Sea Canoeing.



We arrived in England in early winter, which was interesting, and required warm clothing.



We went Glamping (Glamorous Camping) with Phil and Bev and one evening Hayley, Richard and Mia joined us in the public shed in the camping ground. It was a very cold, wet and windy night but the fire kept us warm. (Margaret was surprised when the camera's light came on.)



We returned home via Dubai, and visited the Burj Khalifa.



In last year’s letter we reported that Mark, Beth’s husband had a very serious medical diagnosis – multiple myeloma. He has had some aggressive treatment, including a trial to test a new approach to dealing with the disease. The treatment has been quite effective and we are very pleased with his response to the treatment. Beth changed jobs from HR in the police to a similar position at the Austin Hospital. She is enjoying this new challenging position. Beth and Mark celebrated their 31st Wedding Anniversary at Magnetic Island, as shown in the photo below:



Michelle works in Deer Park Neighbourhood House. Her position was removed, but she has been employed at the position that replaces it. David was made redundant, with many other people at Australia Post. He is enjoying his break from work, while he considers his next steps. One exciting development for Michelle and David has been the final arrival of their caravan, which is fantastic with all the mod cons. They recently stayed in Colac in the van, at a music festival.



Catherine continues to work in Salvation Army social services. She travelled to New Zealand to deliver a keynote address to a Salvation Army conference. She also enjoyed a brief stay in Wellington.

Spencer voted for the first time this year. Here is a picture of Cath and Spencer going to vote in the referendum.



Philip and Bev continue to live in Preston in the UK. Philip continues to work in the Aerospace industry and Bev in hospice care. When we visited them earlier this year, Margaret and I were very impressed with their care for Philip’s father – Ian – before he passed away.

Life in our Retirement Village is returning to normal after covid-19. Margaret continues to be very active in the Craft Group. Stephen gave up his role as Residents Association Treasurer and enjoying a more relaxing life


Wishing you a happy and safe Christmas, and all the best for 2024, 
                                    from Margaret and Stephen

Thursday, December 22, 2022

Christmas Letter 2022

During the year Beth and Mark received the bad news that Mark has Multiple Myloma a form of blood cancer. Mark is receiving some very aggressive treatment which has had success in significantly reducing his tumors and Mark has now been accepted into a trial of a targeted treatment. Great Christmas News! Beth has accepted a new job at Austin Health to work on the upgrade of their HR system.

Michelle has completed her course in Community services which assists with her new job at Deer Park Neighbourhood House. She has spent a great deal of time working at her father’s home preparing it for sale.

Philip and Bev still live in Preston UK. Michelle and Philip’s father (Ian) is living with Philip and Bev as he needs regular care. Philip is still working in the aviation industry and Bev in aged care.

Catherine has received a promotion and is now working with Salvation Army Social Services Australia Wide in HR. She continues to live in a prize location near Lygon Street – shops, restaurants, book stores and cinemas!

All eight grandchildren continue to do well in their chosen fields of endeavour.

The main change in our lives is that we have started travelling. In October we spent a week at a Marriott Hotel / Resort on the Gold Coast. In November we were at the Bellbrae Country Club near Torquay. In December we spent 10 days at a Marriott Resort in Bali. Otherwise we continue to participate in our Village Community with Margaret as Treasurer of the craft Group and Stephen as Treasurer of the Residents’ Committee.

October in Surfers - views from our balcony




Bali

We really enjoyed our stay in Bali, in particular at the resort.

Our Apartment

Breakfast by the Pool



Dinner by the Pool



Ubud


Marriott Beach Club



Wishing you a great Christmas, and all the best for 2023, from Margaret and Stephen

Sunday, December 19, 2021

Christmas Letter 2021

Well, another difficult and unusual year for us all. We had planned some overseas travel this year but although that was impossible, we managed some travel in Victoria and NSW:

• Philip Island with Margaret’s Brother and sister-in-law, James and Janice

• Bright and Mulwala with our friends Les and Jenny.

This year was saddened by the death of Stephen’s beloved uncle Bill Spencer. This sad occacion was an opportunity to catch up with Stephen's aunty Joan and counsins Ross, Ian, Suzanne, Stephen Thompson and Julieanne. The photograph was taken at Bill and Joan's 60 wedding anniversary party. With Bill is Joan who he married and Julieanne, Margaret and Suzanne whose wedding services he conducted.


We also met our Goold cousins at Greg Goold's 70 birthday party in Morewell where Greg lives.

From left to right, Stephen, Robert, Ray, Greg, Phillip and Rodney.


The family is doing well despite the trying times. Some have been working from home including, Beth, Philip in England and our son-in-law David.

Michelle and Mark have found new jobs. Mark is working as a concrete truck driver, and enjoying it even though it is very different to his previous occupations in counselling. Michelle’s new job involve running programs at Deer Park Neighbourhood house. She is also studying a Certificate 4 in Community Services which will give her skills for use in her new job.

Catherine continues to work at the Open Door, a Salvation Army facility for homeless men. An interesting posting particularly in these times.

Our grandchildren are also faring well.

Our Granddaughter Hayley married Richard Lester in October.

This was their third attempt to marry, the first two were derailed by Covid restrictions.

It was good to watch the service live online, but it would have been even better if we could have been able to attend. The virus strikes again!

The wedding was in Dunkeld in Scotland which explains why Richard is wearing a kilt in the photo.


Jeremy, who spent 12 months in Australia, living with Michelle has returned to England and is working with Richard Lester supplying hospitals with equipment.

Troy is finishing off his electrical apprenticeship with a large and effective company.

Mandy is in her last year of her environmental management course and considering other education, she also is working in a company that runs Christmas and Birthday parties. She is still involved in Circus Fit.

Jonathan and his girlfriend Natalie have been working as life guards at a pool and at camps but covid has restricted opportunities in these areas. They are now looking towards careers in other fields.

Covid has limited Spencer’s opportunities in finding work in his chosen field in the theatre.

Some members of our family have been involved in purchasing new houses. Cameron and Kaitlyn have built a new house in Kilmore. Beth and Mark have sold their house and have purchased a block of land fairly close to Cameron in Kilmore, and intend to build a new house over the coming year. Joshua and Amy have also bought a block of land in Gisborne. Lastly, Stephen’s brother Phillip has sold his house and intends to build a new one on land he and Judith have purchased at Donnybrook.

Wishing you a happy and safe Christmas, and all the best for 2022, 
                                    from Margaret and Stephen

Saturday, December 19, 2020

Christmas Letter 2020

Well what a year that was! At the time of the last Christmas letter we had no idea what we were in for.

Happily, in Australia we have fared much better than many other parts of the world. The residents of our Retirement Village have been very careful, so no one in the Village caught the virus!

The virus did significantly effect our travel plans. Our granddaughter, Hayley, who lives in England had planned her wedding for November this year. The virus forced us to cancel our travel plans, and with the resurgence of the epidemic in the UK her wedding was called off. She is now hoping that the wedding will be in April 2021.

Our other grandchildren continue with their successful lives. Joshua and Cameron continue to work in their respective trades, and Cameron will soon be moving into the house he has built in Kilmore. Troy continues with his apprenticeship, and Jonathan has now completed his university education. Jeremy has started working with a medical suppyly company, in the UK. Amanda has completed her first year of university and Spencer has completed his secondary eduction.

We did manage to get to Tasmania for a few weeks in March, with our friends Les and Jenni. We saw the northern and eastern coasts, but the virus forced us to cut the trip short – the day before we were to travel to Hobart our accommodation there rang to tell us not to come.

Here are some videos of our Tassie trip.

Instead of spending money on traveling, many residents in our Village decided to install solar systems - currently 20 installed. We upgraded our existing system and are very happy with it. At the time Stephen is writing this our solar system is producing all of the electricity for our house and is still exporting more than 4,000 watts.

For Christmas Day we will host Michelle, David and Amanda for lunch and then go to Beth's house for Dinner.

Wishing you a wonderful Christmas,

and all the best for 2021,

from  Margaret and Stephen

Thursday, December 19, 2019

Christmas Letter 2019

Introduction

Another busy year for us and our families, involving travel and some important milestone events in the lives of our grandchildren.

The Grandchildren

Joshua, our oldest grandkid, continues to work as a diesel mechanic, and to work on his great golf game – currently with a handicap of 4.

Cameron and his girlfriend, Kaitlyn, have bought a block of land at Kilmore and are building a house on it. They are travelling to the US for Christmas and plan to be in Time Square for the ball drop.


Joshua


Cameron and Kaitlyn

Hayley celebrated her 21st birthday, finished her degree, started a job and announced her engagement, to Richard, this year. Her wedding will be in November next year.

Troy continues on with his electrical apprenticeship. He works extra hours with his supervisor on private jobs.


Hayley and Richard


Troy

Jeremy, our English grandson, has been in Australia since July, staying with Michelle. He will avoid the English winter by returning to England in March.

Jonathan continues with his university work in Environmental Studies, where he met his girlfriend, Natalie. They have both been offered part-time work on the recommendation of their teachers.


Jeremy


Jonathan and Natalie

Amanda finished her secondary education and is planning to enter an Outdoor Leadership course at university. She has excelled with her training in circus activities. She won the Duke of Edinborough award at school.

Spencer has completed year 11 and continues with his passion for theatre appearing in multiple stage roles this year.


Amanda


Spencer



Travel

We travelled for 12 weeks this year - to Europe for 10 weeks and the pacific for 2 weeks.

Europe

The highlight of our longest trip was attending, our English granddaughter, Hayley’s, 21st birthday. On that ten-week trip we visited Hong Kong, Germany, England, Scotland, Spain, Greece, Montenegro, Sicily, Italy, and France.

For a full account of this trip follow this link.

There were many highlights of this trip, and four in particular: Scotland, Athens, Kotor and Amalfi


Scotland

On our Scotland tour, Margaret’s favourite place was the Queen Mother’s house in Mey, on the far north coast. Stephen’s favourite was Eilean Donan Castle.
Queen Mother's House Eilean Donan Castle
On Loch Lomand The road to Fort William




Athens

Stephen particularly loved Athens and wants to return there. It is quite difficult to take photographs in Athens and not have the Acropolis in the frame.





Kotor

We did not have any particular expectations of Kotor and so were pleasantly surprised and delighted at what we found there. It is an attractive location that we would like to return to some day.





Amalfi

The last time we were in Italy was in 2012. We were unable to get to the Amalfi coast because a landslide blocked the road. This time Stephen was determined to get to Amalfi. As usual the fares for trips off the ship were exorbitantly expensive, but we managed to travel to the gorgeous Amalfi by local ferry.



The Pacific

We cruised with our friends, Jenni and Les for two weeks starting in Melbourne and visiting Mare, Port Vila, Lautoka, Suva and Noumea.






Wishing you a wonderful Christmas,

and all the best for 2020,

from  Margaret and Stephen