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The Fourth Estate '98 | |
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From: |
John and Noelene Gillatt, 23 4th Avenue, Heaton, Bolton, Lancs, BL1 4LU, UK Tel. +44 (0) 1204 843429 |
E-mail: |
giblets@gaijin.demon.co.uk |
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The 4th Avenue Gillatts
We Moved!
At long last, after about two years of trying, we moved and it’s
"Lonsdale no more". In February we shifted our goods and chattels to
4th Ave., a distance of only 500m but just as daunting a task as if it had been
500km.
The house has one extra room, now the study come Noelene’s studio and a small garden. Oh, and it also needs completely renovating, so "here we go again"!
First step was the kitchen. So, twice over budget and taking three times longer than planned, the new kitchen was officially opened for business by Freddy Fantastic Fingers and Anne in October
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| Noelene gets the shakes with a pneumatic drill! | The official opening complete with champagne and silly hats! |
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After years of pounding the streets the body’s protesting rather too much these days. I went with the Garstang Running Club to the Ballycotton 10 in the spring and the time of 75 minutes didn’t seem too bad, especially after the Murphys the night before and very little training!
But then a succession of twisted ankles and now a knee cartilage to be removed seems to have put an end to the old fart’s hopes of "just one more marathon".
But you never know...........
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We’re not the only one’s who’ve moved. Earlier in the year Dawn decided that she was growing too old to take the strain of the nurses’ home and moved back to Heywood. Claire eventually got her very own flat through the Bolton Bolton Young Person’s Housing Scheme.
Then Danny moved from the rural delights of Cambridgeshire and is now "the lodger" (he's since found Bolton too exciting and has moved back to oor-aarr land!) whilst Aki has moved from Japan to Bolton for nine months. So the family grows.
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The political fight this year may not have been as exciting as last year with all the fun of the General Election but we’re still playing our part.
Tremendous changes are taking place and whilst some of them might not be to the liking of the more Socialist of us we believe that Tone’s got us going generally in the right direction
Our MP, Ruth had another good year too, giving birth to baby no. 2 (Sinead) and being appointed as the Agriculture Minister’s PPS.
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Yes, what style? Just to prove we still have some,
here we are all dressed up for the Dinner Dance at Harrogate recently. And yes, the hair does get thinner year by year! The suit gets tighter too.
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Helen, Janet, Mum, John and Rob on one of the few sunny days in Cornwall '98! |
Last year it was Malaysia and the Blue Ridge Mountains. This year we had a week in a tent in a very wet Cornwall and two weeks at home, rebuilding the kitchen. Cornwall was great despite the rain, especially as it was the first time in many years when Mum and us four kids (!) had been together in one place. Rob’s now living near Cork in Ireland, so the prospects of another reunion soon are some way off. But who can tell? |
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If music’s the food of love then we’re starving this year!
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The Cambridge Folk Festival is an annual must and is highly recommended, especially as the ‘98 event was during the only good weekend of the summer. Stars were Taj Mahal, Capercaille, The Blues Band, Natalie McMaster and Eliza Carthy. |
John, Noelene, Andrew and Claire at Cambridge '98 |
We did have tickets to see the Stones in Edinburgh but Mick’s had to save his tax money for the divorce settlement so we’re hoping that, complete with zimmer frames (them, not us!) we’ll see them in ‘99.
In November folk singer June Tabor was in Manchester and, although she’s not exactly a "bundle of fun" she’s an excellent and evocative performer.
Let’s hope for more sounds next year.
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Noelene got through her first year at college with flying colours, getting merits in almost all her subjects. So now she’s on the second foundation year, working just as hard as last and getting ready for university entrance in September next. Her latest passion is photography and has been seen lying down on pavements snapping leaves, so sit back and see what develops!
I can now find my way to the Post Office in German (liegt dem Theater gegenuber!) having passed my first German exam and am almost qualified for the GCSE course!
Dawn is in the last month or so of her course and will qualify to practise mental health nursing in February and Claire is doing voluntary work for the PDSA, still hoping to be an archaeologist
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Well, there must have been more to 1998 than that. And there was! But I ain't telling, so there!
If you liked our '98, were apalled by it, annoyed and upset that you weren't mentioned (maybe we didn't meet you!) why not say hello. You can go back to the homepage by clicking here or visit something much more interesting here! Here's to '99.
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