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My
photographs taken during 2013
NOTE
1:
to see photos of 2005 -
2012 click here
NOTE 2:
photos shown on this page tend to be albums of multiple photos. Where
I've just take a single photo at an event etc they will be shown at
'Latest News' which can be seen here
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Archie's 4th
birthday party - 31st December
2013
Going the my
sister Beverly's for my great-nephew's fourth
birthday party
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Christmas Eve at my
brother's house
the now
traditional family get-together early evening
Christmas Eve at Barrie & Jane's and where we share
and swap our presents. This is one of my favourite
family times of the year
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Cal's art
exhibition @ NAC - Friday 13th December
2013
Visiting
Cal's work at the
Netherton
Arts Centre Well, A
good night with live music too but I've never
claimed to be artistically-sophisticated ... so when
seeing a pile of of newspapers I [quite naturally!!]
thought were free papers from the Express & Star, so
I took a copy! People rushed at me .. it was part of
the exhibition!! You judge from the photo
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Black Country
Museum - 16th
November 2013
A superb day out here
viewing many places I remember from my youth!! My
favourite bit was the fish & chips as we used to
have, cooked in beef dripping!! Healthy or what.
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Festival of Remembrance - 9th November 2013
A very moving evening with
a concert by my choir and the local Salvation Army
band where we ended the evening with a 'festival of
remembrance' attended by the mayor and local Member
of Parliament. Now home watching on TV the nation's
act of remembrance with all the tales of heroism and
where school children from my fair city of Halesowen
have featured. How lucky are we to be born British.
So moving ....
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@ Abbey Pub, London - 4th
November 2013
Following on from Alicia's 'Introduction' on the afternoon of
4/11 we moved to the Abbey Pub for her eveining's celebrations
party. The Labour Party's 'great & the good' seemed to gather -
the ones I saw were Tony Blair's wife Cherie, Ed Balls, John
Prescott & Chales Clarke. We stayed till about 10pm when we left
for home!
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the ceremony of 'Introduction' of Baroness Kennedy
Held on 4th November 2013 in
the House of Lords, I was privileged to be invited to
watch Alicia’s ‘Introduction’ as a Baroness in a
ceremony that has remained unchanged since 1621. This
was followed by photographs in the Royal Gallery and
Afternoon Tea in the Cholmondeley Room and Lords Terrace
- posh or what!!!! I don't think I'll be seeing the like
of this day again!!
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Getting to London - 4th November 2013
I was lucky enough to be invited
to watch the ceremony in the Chamber of the House of Lords
of a friend’s daughter being ‘introduced’ as Baroness
Kennedy and to join in the celebrations that followed. These
photos are of me and other friends getting to London
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SVR -
24th October 2013
a specially organised trip by
steam-enthusiasts on the Severn Valley Railway (SVR) where
went from Kidderminster - Bridgnorth and return twice and
where each of us were allowed on the footplate!! My slot was
from Highley to Arley. It was like being in a full-sized
Hornby train set
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watch a
video
clip here
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Bletchley
Park - 21st October 2013
A day out at Bletchley
Park where one of WW2's most famous – and
crucial – achievements was made: the cracking of
Germany’s “Enigma” code in which its most
important military communications were couched.
This was home to Britain’s most brilliant
mathematical brains, like Alan Turing, and the
scene of immense advances in technology –
indeed, the birth of modern computing
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Air
Ambulance event - 17th October 2013
Walking from Kinver
today along the canal towards Merry Hill, we
came upon a situation where (we were told) a
woman had a heart attack and fell into the water
- paramedics were caring for her as we got there
followed within minutes by her evacuation by the
air ambulance. Ghoulish perhaps, but I snap
photos at every opportunity!!
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Prime
Minister's Questions - 16th October 2013
My application way back in February finally paid off with 2 tickets
for Prime Minister's Questions today. Meeting up with my nephew Joshua
McBain we first booked in to Portcullis House and after a brief tour of
that superb building we were ...taken to Parliament via the underground
passageway where we met Margot James, my MP, for coffee. Notwithstanding
she supports Chelsea FC she was charm personified and although this
photo makes me look like a rabbit caught in the headlights we chatted
about football and just a hint of politics. She was lovely. PMQs was
good too with a rare question from the 'Beast of Bolsover' aka Dennis
Skinner. A good day. |
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cottage
at Shipton Moyne - 26/30 September 2013
for Jodie's
wedding on 27/9 eleven of the family, plus five
dogs!!, descended on a cottage in the sleepy
village of Shipton Moyne in the Cotswolds which
was just a few miles from the wedding venue. The
other half of the family stayed in a nearby
hotel
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Jodie &
Simon's wedding - 27th September 2013
my niece
Jodie Aldridge married Simon Ziff on Friday
27/9 at the Matara Centre in the depths of the
gorgeous countryside of the Cotswolds. The
family descended en mass and I stayed with 10
others in a cottage in the nearby sleepy village
of Shipton Moyney from the Thursday to the
Monday. It was my first 'al fresco' ceremony and
luckily the weather was ideal for what turned
out to be a lovely ceremony & celebrations.
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Carl
& Amelie's wedding - Saturday 3rd August 2013
My first foray
into Essex [no orange tans or estuary English
seen/heard at all] the magnificent wedding venue
was held at Layer Marney Tower, built in the
reign of Henry VIII . Layer Marney Tower is the
tallest Tudor gatehouse in Great Britain.
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Scotland
- 14th to 16th June 2013
Going with
my sisters Beverly and Belinda along with my
nephew Matthew to visit old friends and family
in Scotland. We stayed with Lesley & Ian and
spent the weekend exploring Glasgow and sharing
fellowship with those we hold dear.
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Remembering
my sister Barbara - 2nd June 2013.
For the past 15 years
we've been to Clent for mum to scatter rose
petals in memory of my sister Barbara. Rather
than a meal out first we decided, as the weather
was so good, on Clent's famous Nimmins Cafe's
sausage & bacon sandwiches!! Very nice indeed
though my waistline continues to complain!
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Walton &
Clent Hills
- 16th May 2013
walking over the hills on a sunny but windy day
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At
Birmingham Town Hall Saturday 11th May for a Concert which
(and I quote) “Brings together some of the most exciting and diverse
choral groups from Birmingham and the surrounding areas; this concert
celebrates the wealth of choral talent in the city” and which included 3
local to me choirs from Lutley, Quinton and, in my view the stars of the
evening, ‘Stream of Sound’ an acapella choir from Stourbridge |
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walking
through the Kinver Edge woods on a windy Thursday 9th May |
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At
both
Spitalfield
& Petticoat Lane markets - Sunday morning
28th April 2013 |
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After
the Shard, we went by boat up the Thames to Greenwich to visit both the
National Maritime Museum and the Royal Observatory and which is
the home of Greenwich Mean Time and the Prime Meridian of the world -
Saturday afternoon 27th April 2013 |
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visiting
the Shard's viewing gallery and open-air observation deck - Saturday
morning 27th April 2013 - The Shard is a 72-storey skyscraper opened to
the public on 1 February 2013 and is the tallest building in the
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We were
in London for part of my birthday 'celebrations' (there's a misnomer!)
and we had decided Afternoon Tea at the Ritz would be a good idea .. !!
I'd like to say we fitted in well but hey .. !! Friday 26th April |
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On
Friday 26th April we had a private tour [it’s not open to the public as
it's now converted in to offices!] of the original Bethlehem Hospital in Finsbury Circus, London from where, in the bowels of the building, the
cells housed one of the world’s oldest hospitals for the treatment of
mental illness – and from where the word Bethlehem was corrupted to
Bethlem and thence to the word ‘Bedlam’ to describe chaos or
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At
the Hawthorns on Saturday 20th April for the v Newcastle game and then
straight to Stourbridge for a Concert of classical music. Eclectic or
what? |
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walking
through Wyre Forrest @ Hawk Batch and where we went to overlook
the Trimpley Reservoir - Thursday 18th April |
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with
my nephew
Alexander Joel Bevan's days as a medical student ended, his
Elective approaches. He's off to Belize for 5 weeks soon so, as he
was back home, mum, Belinda & I went to lunch at my sister Bev's to wish
him well - Sunday 14th April |
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a
good day out at The Gadget Show at the National Exhibition Centre
- with George - and loads of money could have been spent!! I loved the
state of the art 4k TVs which were 4 times the definition of an HDTV.
Even on a 60 inch TV the clarity was 'wow' - Friday 5th April |
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Going in by bus to Halesowen (3rd April) as it stopped opposite St
John's I thought what a beautiful church we have in our midst and which
we take for granted!! I couldn't help but snap these on my iPhone.
(Amazing to think there's been worship
on that spot since 1083.) |
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Easter
Sunday - 31st March - the morning service with mum at Short Cross
Methodist and then off to Bev's for our now traditional Easter lunch,
finally dropping mum at my bother's - and taking a photo of their family
of course!! |
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early
morning Good Friday communion @ 7.30am at Short Cross Methodist
and then my now traditional breakfast of toasted Hot-Cross buns & Easter
Egg Hunt at June & John's - the snow meant we didn't sit outside for our
breakfast this year!! |
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walking along the embankment of the
river Severn through Bewdley and along the bank beyond there - about 5.5
miles in all. Still a cold wind, when is the warmer weather going to
come!! 21st March 2013 |
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a couple of days in London for Mary &
Frank's rather special events to celebrate to mark their Diamond Wedding
Anniversary - 15th & 16th March 2013 |
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1) getting to
London by train & settling in to the Park Plaza Hotel |
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2) crossing
Westminster Bridge for our tour of the Houses of Commons & Lords |
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3) going on the
Friday evening for a celebration meal in the Attlee Room in the House of
Lords followed by a private tour of the oldest part of Parliament, the
1000 year old Westminster Hall |
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4) on the
Saturday morning we went first for a walk before then going on the London Eye |
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5) on the
Saturday afternoon it was Afternoon Tea at the Churchill War Rooms
followed by a tour. Then it was time for home |
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walking along the River Severn
towards Stourport on Thursday 14th March |
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Mothering Sunday
on 10th March 2013 - at church then a meal then back to mum's |
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Nicki's 50th birthday - a
meal, fancy dress party and a murder mystery evening held at Ma Pardoe's
on Saturday 9th March 13 |
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in Torquay staying for a few days
staying with Lynne & Ian - visiting
Exeter & Totnes - 1st/4th March |
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it was my niece Bethany's 18th
birthday party on Saturday 23rd February |
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walking along the canal @
Cookley - 21st February 2013 |
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at Wyre Forest -
snowless yeh! Thursday 31st January |
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walking today from home to the
Netherton Reservoir, everywhere still picturesque in its covering of
snow - 24th January |
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snow's still here and this is my
garden @ 21st January |
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can't get the car out in all this
snow, so hey lets walk to Haden Hill Park and enjoy it!! - 18th
January 2013 |
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at Birmingham Town Hall to hear Ex Cathedra sing Brittien's "A
Boy Was Born" - Saturday 12th January |
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walking over Clent & Walton Hills on Friday 11th January -
very foggy and very muddy. I took an embarrassing fall and slide down
the bank! |
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a few days away
for the fresh sea-air of Falmouth in
Cornwall, staying at the Royal Duchy Hotel - with Joy & Lynton and
Lynne & Ian from
6th-9th January |
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