Our treasured colleague, Gary Whitehead, sadly passed away in 2019 and plans to
scatter his ashes in Lulworth Cove in April 2020 were well advanced. But that
reunion was an early victim of Covid and subsequently Gary's family held a more
private ceremony. So, this missed opportunity for a gathering spurred me on to
organise a replacement and I took advantage of the extra bank holiday associated
with the coronation to invite everyone I could contact to spend a long weekend
at our smallholding in Snowdonia. Convenient accommodation was available in our
two holiday cottages and also our neighbour's cottage.
11 Fids and 8 partners made the journey:
- Paul & Pauline Aslin ('86 & '87)
- Ben Chappel & Rachel ('86 & '87)
- Pat & Sarah Lurcock ('86 & '87)
- Steve Ault ('85 & '86)
- Dale & Claire Heaton ('85 & '86)
- Tony & Sandra Maggs ('86)
- Mark & Maria Stephens-Row (Halley '86, Rothera '87)
- Adrian & Sarah Bateman ('86, '87, '90)
- Tim Lawrence (Halley '87, Rothera '88)
- Che & Britha Modi ('87 & '88)
- Stephen Williams ('81, '82, '87)
And there were inevitably a few others who nearly made it. Try harder next time:
Toby Clarke ('85 & '86); Mal Smith ('86 & '87); Keith Stanwyck ('87, '91);
Phil Anderson ('86, '91).
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| Photo taken by Tim |
The weekend was entirely self-catered, with ample quantities of excellent
home-made food provided by all. Particular mention for Tony's lamb cassoulet
on Friday evening. A roll call of '86 and '87 winterers brought out a few
snippets of knowledge of where they are now and memories of those we have lost:
Gary Whitehead ('86 & '87) and Graham {Mick} Goodwin ('87 & '88). On Saturday
we followed a walk at Cregennen Lakes with a superb barbecue and music around
the campfire at Paul and Pauline's bothy with a spectacular view over the
Mawddach estuary. Sunday offered a beekeeping experience for those interested
followed by walking the expanse of Fairbourne beach, sea swimming for the bold
and then the inevitable slide show. The bank holiday allowed for leisurely
dispersal on Monday although fewer of us have jobs to go back to now as
retirement either beckons or has already caught up with us.
All in all a wonderfully successful reunion given that some of us had never met
in this hemisphere and others were rekindling acquaintances from previous
reunions 7 or 15 years ago.
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