My Turn as Chaperone

Here we have The Blue Fairy, Jiminy Cricket and The Cat all made up and ready to go.


Beth dressed as a villager.

We were at the theatre nice and early for a sell out performance. The kids were all hyper at the though of Santa coming tonight !! The audience were brilliant joined in with all the jokes and seemed to have a good time.
Must go as I have to get ready for Father Christmas.

Di Hickman Blog Card.

I loved this design and I decided to do a little something different with it! Back in the summer I made some little beaded charms, you can use them on your mobile phone or on your scrap bags, anything really that you fancy a bit of bling on. So this time I covered the card with green pearl paper from Crafters companion, and patterned paper from paper mania, I cut out an oval using my creative memories cutters, I then punched a hole in the card on top of the oval and clipped the charm to it. I decorated the charm with a little bow. I am really pleased with how this has turned out and I think I will use the idea when I am gifting ear rings!!

Been Busy

Well I have joined the rest of the country with a cough and general feelings of unwellness, so I am dosing myself up to get through the festivities!!
This morning I have made a walnut cake, two apple pies and two dozen fairy cakes, just need to ice them and do the vegetables for tomorrow.
This afternoon its my turn to help out at the panto which is where I think I got the cough from in the first place!!!

I've had a cuddle!

This afternoon I had a long cuddle with baby Olivia, she is beautiful, serene and very chilled. She has perfect little fingers, perfect little nails, perfect little hands. She has a beautiful dusting of dark straight hair, the most perfect eyelashes and cute nose. Her Mum is exhausted and her big sister is suffering from a virus and is miserable. Its going to be a long few weeks for them!!
I love having a baby in the street again!!

Its Almost here.

I can hardly believe that Christmas is almost here, Its a strange thing but the whole country, maybe the whole of the commercial world are taken up with this obscene buying frenzy in the name Christmas and the coming of Jesus. I am sure its wasn't meant to be like this!! Don't get me wrong I do enjoy Christmas and the meeting up with friends and family. I like the sharing of meals and good times, but sometimes, possible due to my advancing years,I think they whole lot has got out of hand.
I always lust after a white Christmas, but I can barely remember us ever having one. It seems to snow here on the 30th of January and then that's it. I love doing all the Christmas things to ensure that everyone has a good time. In doing that I am usually knackered and fit to drop by the time it arrives.
So one year I would like to take myself off somewhere and enjoy a different Christmas where things are done for me. Perhaps that will happen when I have grandchildren and we are then invited to their house to celebrate and I can sit in the corner and get drunk!!

Pinocchio.

The Pantomime is now well underway, with Beth having two performances today. Matinee and and evening performances. She is really enjoying it. We thought that we would have to collect her between shows, but luckily the people who are organising back stage have arranged for Fish and Chips in 'The green room' This means she will be able to stay there with her friends.

The production is an amateur one, but it has been organised and produced in a very professional way. The programme is fantastic, great quality and a bargain at £1.50. It easily equals the quality of those sold in West End Theatres for five or six times the price!!

Three down, only 16 to go!!!

The Baby has Arrived!!!

We have a new baby in the street, our neighbour Emily gave birth to Olivia today, Mum and Baby doing well!! Congratulations to everyone!!!

The Roar of the Crowd, the smell of the Grease paint!

In the Dressing Room.


The stage from the back of the theatre, Beth sitting on the left.


Beth playing the Cat.


The Villagers Talking to Gepetto.

Last Night was dress rehearsal for the production of Pinocchio at the Barn Theatre. I stayed behind to help in the dressing room with the changes. I hadn't realised that Beth had three costume changes plus make up. Its a really labour intensive job. Most of the outfits were ready but there were a few running repairs made as we went along and Beth's skirt needed a zip fixed. A lot of the cast were suffering from sore throats and colds, so they need to rest their voices before they perform for real.
I was able to watch the show and apart from a few issues with the scene changes the actual acting went very well.
The theatre itself is very small and cosy so they don't use microphones, they all have to speak up to be heard. I sat at the back and it was perfectly clear!!
Last night there was also a professional photographer there and Beth was asked to do a Bio for the newspaper, so its all very exciting!
The only down side was that they didn't finish until 11pm and she was shattered this morning.

Di Hickman Card.

This weeks card was hard for me, I am uneasy with the design as its not something I would have chosen, I have done my best !! The pink paper is from Paper mania, the ribbon Offray, the stars from Casa in Belgium, white Sakura pen and a hand made little vellum envelope, I think it has turned out alright in the end!!

Great Friends

We were shocked by the prawn cocktail.



Perhaps the chef had lost his knife??


I hate lettuce, I had pate!! Hurrah!!

Tonight I went out for the Annual Girls night out, one of many that I go on around the Christmas season. Its usually a very happy event (or several events) and tonight was no different. I went with Maddy, Sandra and Sue. Maddy I have grown up with and has been a part of my life through thick and thin since I was 5. I can't remember a time without her, we have been through so much together. I don't need to talk to her to know what she is thinking and the same goes for her.We booked our table at the pub last month and the miserable manager was at great pains to tell us that he would not be providing us with any festive items, no crackers, no party popper, he would provide the food alone. I just knew what Maddy would do and she didn't disappoint me. She came armed with a rocking Santa for the table, plus crackers and baubles, we had our own festivities much to the amusement of the other diners!! She is all you can ask for in a friend someone who is always there even if we don't talk every day or even every week.
Sandra went to secondary school with Madeline and Sue was originally her friend, but is now my friend too. These friends are from the early years of my life and have endured.
Next I have my local friends, Karen over the road who I can see virtually every day but often don't get a chance to speak to, chatting after a break we can just pick up from where we finished even if that was weeks or months ago. Sue who has children the same age as Laura and Carl who I keep in contact with, along with Jenny, Maxine, Lorraine, Michelle and Julia, all girls I call school mum friends.
Fran who now lives away in Suffolk, I still love to chat to Fran and her family although distance has made that less regular, she is still up there as one of my all time favourites!!
Tina who I have known for 25 years, who gave me a shocking insight into looking after babies, when she contracted meningitis when her twins were 6 weeks old. She was so sick that she ended up in hospital and I got baby sitting duty for an extended period, having had nothing what so ever to do with tiny babies before then. Those babies are now 25 and Emma is my God Daughter who is in turn expecting her first baby in March next year.
I have my new friends Dina and her family who are great fun and who are always game for a laugh. Wendy who has been through hell and has still come out smiling and willing to start over again, no matter how many knocks she has taken. Scrapping friends like Jaffne, Ginger, Shirleen and Sue D. New friends like Debbie who have added so much to our lives.
So without wanting to sound too slushy I have had a fun evening and I have looked back at fun Christmas times in the distant past and I count my blessings and hope for many more to come.

Well it was original!!!

Today I was up bright and early to take dad into hospital to have his hip replacement op. You know how it is you get yourself worked up, him worrying about it and me worrying that I would oversleep and miss the 7am slot.
Anyway we got there in plenty of time, we were shown to his bed in a ward with 5 other guys, I settled him in filled out the paper work and made sure all was well. Being an ace 'earwigger' I heard one of the nurses talking to another nurse, saying that there were no beds in the High Dependency Unit. I knew then that it was unlikely that he would have his operation. On the way out I chatted to the nurse and she confirmed the bed situation and said that Dad wasn't even down for a bed in HDU, which I knew he should have been, so that made him second for the non existent bed!!!
Sure enough 10am came and the surgeon came around and said that they couldn't do the op due to the lack of beds, and then the best reason of all time, 'your replacement part is stuck in Leeds' (just the odd 175 miles away!!) So he will be re booked and they will try again in January. That gives them one last chance before they have to do the op come hell or high water!!

Christmas has arrived!!

Today Christmas has arrived in this household. It seems to have been a bit of a slog this year with so much else going on, but finally we are sorted. This morning I dropped Beth off at practice and headed for the garden centre to look for a tree. I was shocked at the price, last year we paid £20 for a 'real' tree, which I love to have. I was shocked to find the cheapest tree, was now £24 and it was only 3ft tall. Not a nice 3ft either, one of those 18 inches of tree and 18 inches of one single pointed bare branch. The next price bracket was £29. I decided that it was far too much to pay and set off in search of a fake tree.

I struck lucky because B and Q had got all of theirs in a sale, I eventually settled on this one above which was reduced from £49 to a bargain £6.48! Its described as a 6ft 6ins slim Aspen Pine and it fits the gap perfectly!!!

When I was living at home we always used to wait until December the 14th before putting up the tree, the 14th was my sister Val's birthday, and it was only fair that she celebrated that before the decorations came along. I can hardly believe that it will be 10 years next March since she passed away, we think of her all time and specially on her Birthday!

Walls to you!!!!

Yesterday at work it started off really icy , black ice, white ice, snow a little tiny bit, it was pretty chilly. Just outside my office is a brick wall which is covered in loads of little mounds of moss. It looked particularly pretty with a very slight dusting of snow.

I am glad it is the weekend its been a very long and miserable week work wise, I am only in for as long as it takes to cook something for someone and then its off out again to panto practice, guides, swimming, shopping a never ending list of things for everyone else!! I though today would be a break, but no Beth had to be in town to hand out flyer's for the panto dressed up in her Cat outfit. 9am start, 9am on a Saturday!!!! Its been pouring with rain all night and all day so there is loads of water lying everywhere. So we dropped her off, popped into town to pick up a last minute present and to buy some more wrapping paper, we got drenched. We had just got back to see mum and dad when she phoned for us to collect her!!!

Next she decides that she would like to make a Victoria sandwich for the practice tomorrow, so we went shopping for the ingredients, then she has pestered me silly to make it. I swear one of these days I will have nothing to do, but by then I will be about 105 years old !!!

Di Hickman Blog - Jingle Bells!

Another nice simple design from Di Hickman!!

All papers are from Papermill, the snowflake embellishments are from a reel of snowflakes that I bought from Casa in Belgium (Always on the look out for bits to use in my crafting!!)The jingle bells sticker is from QVC, ribbon from Offray and the charm is one of those wine glass charm thingies!!

Take a look at Di's blog for all the other interpretations!!

It has been a long week

On the one hand it has flown by on the other it has dragged. Work is absolutely awful at the moment with the threat of redundancy hanging over lots of people which in turn quite rightly makes them twitchy and worried about their future, so they take it out on the people who are trying to help them work their way through it all. This has an effect on those people and so we go around. Last night I didn't finish work until 9pm which was great after an 8am start.
I am so pleased that I have got a shopping delivery slot, all I have to remember now is to update my shopping list or Christmas will consist of two packs of cheese and a bag of sausage rolls!!

I have managed a pretty amazing thing though, I have managed to keep alive all year a potted Azalea. Its been sat on my windowsill in the conservatory through all the hot weather, it has dropped all of its leaves on a couple of occasions, after I forgot to water it. It has then revived itself. This morning it has burst into flower and I am amazed that it has thrived basically on neglect from last Christmas!!

False Alarm!!!

My neighbours absence was caused by the breakdown of the central heating boiler, she is fine all ready for the kick off, so still waiting!!

My Cards in Preparation

I finally got my hands on a Swiss Dots embossing folder which is great and I am using it for everything at the moment, So here is the Boy and Girl version. The spotty paper is from Papermania, The ricrac is from wait for it, Ikea!! On the Girl card I made the little pearly thingy out of wire and alphabet beads, more embossing and the same spotty paper.

Fingers crossed for some news today!!

I wonder??????

If my next door neighbour has had her baby??? The signs are good, they left the house in the early hours of the morning, There has been nobody at home all day (and they have a toddler, so they are usually home by now) One Car is missing. The baby is due on the 10th so its near enough!! Fingers crossed that they now have a new baby!!
This afternoon I have made a couple to cards, one boy and one girl to cover every eventuality!! (although my prediction is that it'll be a little boy) Its really exciting.

Cold and Frosty Morning

This morning I got up to a very cold and frosty morning. The cars are under thick ice and everything looks very pretty. I checked the temperature and it was -3c and it was 8.20!! When I went to get the milk in I snapped these two shots literally minutes apart looking across the road towards the woods. I love the colours and I am amazed that they are so different given that they were taken virtually at the same time.

The rising sun has a dramatic effect on the frost and although you can't see it too clearly in the photos, the roofs of the houses seem to be steaming! In the back garden the birds seem to have finally found our bird feeders and in the last couple of days the nuts have halved in quantity, I will have to top them up!

Last night I wrote the last of my Christmas cards, I have around 6 special ones left to make and then I can say I am done. Have a nice week.

Busy week

The time seems to be flying by and we are heading at break neck speed into Christmas. I sat up a couple of nights ago with my finger poised on the enter key in an effort get get myself a Tesco Delivery slot on the 23rd of December. The second my PC time said 12 I hit the button only to find every single slot for the day had been sold out!! There must have been hundreds of us sitting there with fingers poised! I have decided to stick with the slot I had snagged for the 22nd.

Work has been a nightmare, so much going on that I just don't know where I am going next. Today we have been all over the place and next looks like it may be more of the same with the addition of Christmas functions in the evenings. I am so glad that I have a few days off over the Christmas to chill out.

The house is a tip and there is 'stuff' all over the place, so i will have to try and sort that out tomorrow, I have decided that I hate shopping so I don't really want to join in the throng of people all battling around the shops. I really want to go to Poundland to get some decorations for the office (because both poundland and I are 'cheap')

I have been spoilt by some online friends who I have entered into an Advent swap with. So since the beginning of the month I have had a cute little parcel to open, its a four way swap so we have decided to split it so that we all send parcels to each other. Its really great to open my own personal advent calendar every morning!!!!

So I hope you all have a great weekend and that you don't work too hard!!

Di Hickmans Blog - Holiday!

Here is this weeks card following a sketch on Di Hickmans blog. I really love working from a sketch, it makes it so easy!! This card uses paper from Papermill and crafters companion, the scalloped edges were embossed using my Cuttlebug embossing folders. The stars are by Dovecraft. The sentiment is from a pack I got off of QVC a fair while ago!!.

I am a simple soul and much prefer the clean and simple style.

Pop over to Di's Blog and take a look at all the other cards!

A Bit Of WGC History (or the battle of the shopping malls!!)

The Howard Centre



The Galleria.

In my previous posts I have explained how my local council is responsible for two towns, Welwyn Garden City and Hatfield, along with several smaller villages . Hatfield has always considered itself to be the poor neighbour, its been the industrial town of the two responsible for the development of the Comet aircraft and the British Aerospace 146.
My story involves the controversy surrounding the construction of two shopping centres, The Howard centre in WGC and the Galleria in Hatfield.

Back in the late 1980's the council were anxious to redevelop part of town centre in WGC, they wanted a new railway and bus station and a few more shops wouldn't go amiss, so they entered into negotiations with the biggest construction business in the UK at the time, Slough Estates.
While negotiating a deal to provide all the things mentioned above for WGC, they were also dealing with a rival firm, The Carroll Group to provide a shopping centre in nearby Hatfield.
Because of the close proximity of the towns, Slough estates negotiated a Tenant Mix agreement (TMA) with the council. This was to enable both centres to attract different types of shops and restaurants.The Howard centre was to have traditional High street shops and restaurants and the Galleria was to be geared more to entertainment, restaurants, cinemas and outlet shops.

The council was keen to have both developments the site of the proposed Galleria was on top of a tunnel which had been constructed to take the A1M underground and the area on top was perfect for shops. The Howard centre addressed the station problems. Slough Estates were playing hardball and wouldn't agree to the development until the council signed the TMA, this they did. Both sites went ahead and eventually opened at almost the same time in 1990/1. It was at this point that it came to light that the council had been doing a bit of underhand dealing and while agreeing the TMA with Slough they agreed the exact opposite with the Carroll group. This resulted in Slough taking the council to the High court for damages.

Slough won and was awarded 48 million in damages!! The chances of the council being able to pay that was remote, there were limits as to what could be paid from the public purse, and the council only held reserves of 2 million pounds. So Slough Estates won a moral victory and few a few years we suffered the reduction in events such as fireworks.

Incidentally both places are now thriving shopping centres and The Howard centre DOES have more traditional shops and The Galleria is an outlet centre!!

Update ...... I have done a little more digging to try and find out exactly what money changed hands in the end. It seems that prior to the court case the council were offered an out of court settlement for 16 million pounds but shose to ignore it. They didn't pay all the money awarded but they did pay a huge chunk of it and they way they managed it was to use reserves and to 'sell' all their stock of council houses to a housing association releasing capital. They were limited to only using 25% of that money raised, by government legislation. They eventually settled with Slough Estates for 29 million pounds.

Its beginning to feel a lot like Christmas!!

Look what my friend Ginger Claire has sent me!! My very own Christmas tree advent calender!! Its beautiful lots of sparkling gems and detachable numbers!! I love it. Thank you Claire!!!

Well Done!!

Beth came home from school yesterday with a whole clutch of awards, She has been collecting merits since she started in September and is very keen to amass as many as possible.I think its a great way of encouraging them in their first few months at secondary school. She was surprised to get the academic performance award but that was as a result of her gaining 6 plus marks over all subjects. The school also wrote to us to to say that she had excelled across the curriculum very encouraging!!

Beth's school is a sports college, so it follows that they would be keen on sport. Beth was also really pleased to be awarded 'colours' for outstanding performance in netball. (I think that is more important to her as its in the form of a discrete badge she wears on her blazer!!)

Di Hickmans Sketch - Happy Birthday

Here is this weeks interpretation of Di Hickmans latest Sketch. (Please check out all the other designers over on her blog.)

In this card I have used one of my favourite colour combinations, Yellow and Green. I love the bright sunny colours, you can't help but smile!!

This time I have tried out my new toy, a cuttlebug, So far I am impressed with it. I was never going to have one as I already have a robo and couldn't see a need. BUT I snagged this one in an online closing down sale, for half price, it would have been rude not to have bought it wouldn't it??? This little die and embossing folder came with the machine. I added colour to it by smearing the front of the folder with brown chalk ink, and then squishing it between the rollers.

Anyway the patterned paper at the top is from DCWV Glitter matter stack (a very useful pad!!) The yellow is from Papermill and the flower is from Prima. The heart is also a cuttle bug die cut shape, I used a piece of card from packaging coloured with silver ink. I have stamped the greeting in brown ink with invaluable Studio G Mini Stamps.

I hope you like it.

Christmas Pantomime.

Beth has a part in the Christmas Pantomime at The Barn Theatre in WGC this Christmas. Its a huge commitment, loads of practices and 16 performances all over the Christmas and New Year. She seems to be enjoying it and for the past few weeks they have practiced three nights a week and a full day on Sunday. She likes the full day as they get pizza takeaway for lunch!!!

So any of you who are in WGC please consider booking a seat, great value at £9 and it looks like its going to be a great show!! Look out for the naughty cat, that will be Beth.

I really love the poster that she came home with and I'll keep a copy of that for my scrapbook!!

Happy Birthday Beth!!

Today my baby girl is twelve years old!! It only seems like yesterday that I was in labour waiting for to arrive. She has been very excited about today, she asked us for a new phone. She has always had our cast offs which in the main have been plain boring black ones. This time she wanted a snazzy white and red one which also has a MP3 player, so that's what she got. She also had some money and tonight nan and grandad and Laura and Scott will be coming around. We also have her cake so stand by for more photos!!

Happy Birthday Beth.

Finally!!!!

I have managed to do my Christmas Cards!! I have had a very good crafting day, Christmas Cards, Beth's Advent calender and Beth's Birthday invites, So I am happy with my production rate!!

I am pleased with my Christmas Cards, they have come out fairly similar to what I had in my head (which is a miracle!!) I used my Cuttlebug embossing folders and the wreath cutter. I got the cute bows and bells from Hobby craft , the wreath is covered in iridescent Glitter, I am particularly pleased as I have made 30 of them in half an afternoon. Whooo Hoooo!!!!

Get Well Soon!! Di Hickmans Blog!

This week I have made a 'Get Well Soon' Card. The patterned paper is by Paper Mania, The gems are by paperchase. The flower was attached to a beautiful little pot of ribbons that I bought from this shop - The Ribbonrie
The stamping is done with the very versatile Studio G mini Stamps!!
Please check out the other cards over on Di Hickmans Blog HERE

My Town Monday - Around my Town

This week I am fresh out of interesting stories, so I have decided to show you a few shots of the town and one of the reasons I like living in a 'Garden' City!!
Above is shot of the main Campus looking towards the white bridge, called the white bridge as its a bridge painted white!! (That said you can't see it in this shot!!!) The council have recently taken out a load of huge Laurel bushes and replaced them with a pleasant circular paved area with seating which is great for open air meetings, its also the venue for the Christmas Tree.

This shot is looking towards Welwyn Department Store - John Lewis, this is a huge store over three floors. When it was built there were apartments and a social club build on top. As recently as the 80's the club boasted a couple of squash courts plus a bar and function area primarily for the employees of the store. The club and courts have now gone and are used as offices however the apartments are still there. My daughter and her partner live there. Its ideal for them, right in the heart of town, they don't drive so no parking to worry about and her partner works for John Lewis, so they get a reduced rent. There are all sorts of flats up there ranging from studios to three bedroom flats, the down side is the lack of lifts meaning a trudge of around 80 steps to get to where they are and there are two further floors on top of them!!

We visited Laura for her birthday and on the way out caught a Church Parade which started in one of the roads off of the Campus and marched via the Campus to a nearby church. It was great to see so many Cadets joining in!!

This shot is looking towards the council offices (on the left) The building in the centre distance is the multi storey car Park and the building on the right is the other end of John Lewis.

Although this shot looks very similar to the first , its not the same. This is a shot of 'Campus West' This building houses the main town library, The theatre and Roller City. There are also many function rooms where all sorts happens. On the other side of the road is the college and the Police Station.

So A quick tour of my town on a pretty Autumn afternoon!!

Nice Evening!

Last night we had a house full, we don't have a very big house so nine of us really filled it up!! Debbielou and her family and my friends kids Ali and Emma. Emma has ended up staying for a sleepover. We hadn't really met up with Debbie and Malc since our holiday in the summer. (If you don't count me popping into Malc's office and 'breading' his desk!!) We took a look at their photos (they were clever enough to avoid looking at ours!!)AND we celebrated Georgies Un Birthday, having missed her birthday completely in September!
This morning Tom is at work and I have just put the dish washer on for the second time, we seem to have generated a ton of washing up.
Carl has been away all weekend camping, so I can't wait until he gets back stinking of campfires and putting my washing machine into overdrive again!!
I think I might try and wrap a few presents while its peaceful.

I can't even shop in peace!!

Today Tom and I went to Watford to do our Christmas Shopping, I was standing in the queue of the bargain shop of the century, Primark, when Sue (as in Suebaru, ELC girl) Turned up, I am sure she is stalking me!!!!
I shopping trip was successful, we managed to get just about everything and I even bought some silicone muffin cases, WHY??? Must be having a sudden rush of blood to the head!!
We have a busy weekend planned, with Debbielou and her family coming over for tea. A chance to catch up on all that's happened since our holiday.I have nearly finished scrapping my summer photos so thats a bonus!
My Baby Boy is away for the weekend, not really too much of a problem, except he is camping!! I think he is mad. He is a young leader for the scouts and he and two other leaders are taking a group camping. Its been dark since 4. So I have no idea how they will cope. At the moment its 5 degrees C, I hope he has a load of clothes to wear to get him through the night!!
Hope everyone has a good weekend.

This weeks Sketch from Di Hickman.

This weeks sketch is a little different to cards that I usually do, to start with I have trouble getting curvy things right, they really don't please my eye, I seem to prefer regular shapes with straight lines. I was worried when I saw this sketch, but its turned out fine once I was underway!!

The main patterned paper is from Laura Ashley, The purple paper from papermill and the ribbon from Offray. the heart is a cuttlebug die cut and the gem is from paperchase.

I have used the Studio G stamps and chalk inks.

Pop over and look at the cards by the other designers HERE.

My Town Monday - Elstree Studios.

This week I have been made aware of a theft, not just any old theft, this is the theft of THE 'golden gun' As in Man with the Golden Gun of James Bond fame.

Hertfordshire has long been the home to Elstree Studios where lots of famous films are produced. I suppose the most world famous are the Bond films.

Here is the report from the local paper:-

Police were called to the Hertfordshire studios at Friday lunchtime to investigate the theft of the prop, believed to be worth £80,000.
The Man With The Golden Gun, which also starred Swedish star Britt Ekland as Bond's lover Mary Goodnight, was Moore's second outing as 007.
Christopher Lee played his enemy, Scaramanga, a three-nippled assassin who only ever needed one golden bullet fired from his golden gun to kill his target.
In the film Scaramanga played a game of cat-and-mouse with Bond, whom he had been contracted to kill for $1 million.
The impeccably mannered Scaramanga would carefully assemble the weapon in the film from a pen, a cigarette case and a lighter before dispatching his foes.
The gun was being cared for by Elstree Props, a tenant based at the studios.
Its website states that it offers storage of film props, as well as a service to "police the internet, dealer network and auction sites to counter theft and piracy".
Stephen Wickenden, its managing director, said: "I'm hoping the gun will be offered to one of the memorabilia dealers and from them we can trace it back to the thief.
"We have no idea who stole it or when it was stolen but things do not usually go missing."
It was being housed in a cabin at the studios.
Nicolas Cage's latest film Kick-Ass is being filmed there. It is thought a crew member was being shown around by Mr Wickenden when the weapon's absence was noticed, although he would not confirm this.
A spokesman for Hertfordshire Police said: "We were called to Elstree Studios in Borehamwood at 1.25pm after a report of a theft of a prop, which was the golden gun. Inquiries are ongoing."
Asked about the theft, a spokesman for Sir Roger joked: "You'd better ask Christopher Lee about this. Search his house."

So there you are, I nearly live in the Hollywood of England!!

Party Time - Going Underground!!

Last night we celebrated the 50th birthday of my long time friend Sandra!! I can hardly beleive that its been ten years since her last big bash. Being a love of 'Birthday Games' Sandra had started the whole thing off by making it a themed party. The theme was London Underground stations. We didn't have to go the whole hog on the fancy dress, a hat would do. So just about everyone joined in.

There were some very good outfits and brilliant hats, loads of stations cleverly represented. Tom went as Kings Cross, Sue was Queensbury (Tiara and Strawberries) Richard was Wimbledon complete with shorts and raquet. Beth came with us and dressed up as Arsenal. I was Green park, I wore Beth's communion headdress with a swing on the top! Sandra on the other hand dressed up as shepherds bush, and I'll have to leave it to your imagination how she did the 'bush' bit!!!!

It was great to see what the others had come up with. One man dressed as Black Friars and his face was PITCH black, I am sure it will take him a month to get that off. We had a fair few Angels for Angel Islington, Oxford Circus, Clowns carrying dictionary's. We had several Cockfosters, which you will have to imagine!! High Barnet was very popular with lots of BIG hair do's. One of the cleverest was Burnt Oak, they guy turned up in bandages with the odd oak leaf poking out.

This morning is Remembrance Sunday, 90 years since Armistice day. Always a very emotional service at the Cenotaph in London. Its sad to think that so many died in such terrible circumstances. It is best that we never forget.

Break Through!!!!

I have a few hobbies, best not to have nothing to do!! One that I pick up and put down quite often is my family history. I really enjoy looking into my history, it somehow helps to ground important historical events when you can relate it to a person in your own history.

Anyway I had reached a real brick wall with one of my oldest couples, Benjamin and Susan Botwright. I had traced them back to 1819 when they arrived in Hertfordshire from Suffolk. I couldn't find a marriage for them and the first time they came to light was when they registered the christening of their son Benjamin Jnr in 1819 in South Mimms. I have been looking for years, checked out all sorts of books and references always coming up with nothing. The only clue I had was that Susan said on the 1851 census that she was born in Walpole in Suffolk. I have even travelled there and to the county record office and failed to find them. Today Genes reunited threw up a 'hot match' so I went and had a look and Eureka, the match was with a lady who I have met who is a distant relative. She had been struggling with the same brickwall, but had made a break through.

This lady, Pat, had discovered my pair through the magic of Family History on line. The reason that they had eluded us was a simple spelling mistake which hadn't been picked up on any of the 'near misses' or 'wild cards' on searching. Benjamin Botwright had been recorded as Batright. Susan was in fact Suzannah. Pat has cracked the mystery. She has located their marriage in 1810 in Saxmundham in Suffolk, They were recorded as widow and widower. Another surprise was that Benjamin Junior was not their eldest child, they had a daughter,Sarah, born in 1815 in Bengeo in Hertford, but she died as a baby.

I now want to try and find out about Benjamin's parents, I will have to see the marriage entry for myself and see where I can go with it. Its so exciting !!
One of the strange things is the places in Suffolk, My friends Fran and Pete have moved there and we have visited them a few times, it now seems that Suzannah's family came from Henstead which is a small village where Fran and Pete moved to first of all!!

I am so happy!!!!

Di Hickman - Card for this week!!

This is my offering for this weeks sketch over on Di Hickmans Blog (Check out the rest, they are great!!)

This time all the papers are odds left over from other projects the only identifiable one is the patterned one from DCWV Glitter mat stack. Plain Purple from papermill, The crazy 4U plaque is unknown origin. This is a great sketch to use up all those scrappy bits of paper left over from other projects (I have loads of those!!)

My Town Monday - Guy Fawkes Night

In England we 'celebrate' Guy Fawkes night every November 5th. I really think that the true origins of this celebration has been lost, Beth doesn't really have much of an idea what its all about, although she does know its something to do with trying to kill the royal family a long time ago.
The real story goes something like this......
Guido Fawkes, known as Guy, was born on 13 April 1570 at High Petergate in York, Yorkshire.
He was born in to a notable family that had connections with the Church of England, his father was either a notary or proctor of the ecclesiastical courts. Fawkes father died in 1579 and his mother remarried in 1582, this time to a Catholic Denis Bainbridge of Scotton. The family were known to be recusants, resisters of the authority of the Church of England, and it is probable that his stepfather's influence contributed to Guy's affiliation to Catholicism; Fawkes finally converted to Catholicism around the age of 16. In the same year that Fawkes converted to Catholicism (1586), he would be made brutally aware of the repression the English Parliament enacted on local Catholics.
In 1605 Fawkes and his co conspirators planned to blow up the protestant King, James the First, at the houses of Parliament, They hid barrels of gunpowder beneath the houses of Parliament and planned to detonate them. Unfortunately for them they were discovered and on the instructions of the King they were tortured until they admitted their plans. They were eventually tried for treason, found guilty and hung drawn and quartered.
The planned day of the plot was 5th of November 1605 and the plot has been celebrated since then.
Part of the celebration involves Children making a 'guy' usually clothes stuffed with newspapers and sporting a mask. When I was young we we often see kids asking for 'penny for the Guy' They would then go and spent any money they made on fireworks. Now a days people under 18 can't buy fireworks and the PC brigade have said that penny for the Guy is begging, so it has dropped off.
We still celebrate with Fireworks and you can't beat the smell of a damp night, burning wood and the fireworks, Pure start of Winter time!!!

So on the 5th all the towns surrounding ours will be having their celebrations, WGC will be refraining, some years ago the council cancelled the event citing Health and Safety concerns. We all know that they cancelled it because they are saving money. Miserable wotsits!!

Home Again.

This picture was taken by me at around 3.30pm yesterday in the beautiful city of Brugge. The reason that I took it was that back in the summer when we visited with Debbielou and her family we found that it was extremely easy to get lost in the back streets that are all very pretty and somehow look the same. As it turned out it was lucky that I did, as we wandered around the squares and chocolate shops, we mis judged and couldn't find the car!!! Luckily with the assistance of a sat nav and my photo we were happily reunited!!



We had decided to call in on Brugge as we had a late ferry crossing, 10pm from Dunkirk. The weather was really chilly and it got dark very early. Brugge is so pretty with horse traps all over the place, clattering through the cobbled streets. The passengers wrapped up with bright blankets. It would be beautiful with a covering of snow!! We had a good look around and even managed to revisit the Hamburger place that boasts a 'Crusty' Burger on the menu!! (only to use the loo!!)


We came across this really tiny chocolate shop, it was a tiny really old building that looked like it had been left over from a different time. It smelt absolutely beautiful and it felt like I had stepped into the set of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang!!

We finally sailed at 10pm last night the ferry was on time and seemed to be nearly empty. We sat in exactly the same seats as the way out. We finally arrived home at 1.30am driving the poor dog into a frenzy of excitement!!

I intend to blog hop and catch up with all your news as soon as I get a minute!!