April 2011 - Another winter over and spring is bursting out all over. Irene and I are both enjoying our retirement time and filling the days with lots of things to do - spring cleaning for a start and the gardens have been a little neglected but getting a make over. Everyone is well and getting on with things especially Kevin, Monica and the family in Canada who spend lots of weekends in the snowy Rockies - Arne is now skiing downhill and Mina won't be far behind I think! I have finally joined Widnes Golf CLub and look forward now to playing regular golf and hopefully getting back to how I used to play 30+ years ago (or better if that's possible) - will need some lessons from Laura I think...... The Rutland girls are growing quickly now and becoming young ladies - most of the time anyway!!
Bill Watson in Australia has sent his final book (his 4th) and have enjoyed reading it as much as the previous 3 - what a prolific author he has been.
January 9th 2011 - today is the 50th Anniversary of me starting my working life at Bowmans Chemicals Ltd in Moss Bank. So my first new year task is to write down my memories of my starting work (and finishing 45 years later) in "My Working Life"
Here we are on January 4th 2011 - the start of another year with changes abounding due to Irene and I retiring - finally..........
What a year 2010 was - the highlight being our first visit to the Harde-Keogh family in Calgary and a trip along the Rocky Mountains with them to Canmore, Banff, Lake Louise and Jasper. Then we travelled across the Rockies on the train to Vancouver before sailing up the Inside Passage to Alaska and then meeting up with Helen and Ian Dalziel in Vancouver before returning home. A brilliant 4 weeks of new places and adventures.
Irene retired from Kinsgway at the end of September and I retired from Halton Borough on 22 December - both of us have achived the status of working for HM Governments Pensions Service!! Our bus passes are being used now for some of our travel and we have seen our 4 grandchildren growing into wonderful little people with very different personalities.
Monica Kevin and the children have spent their first year in Calgary (where does the time go?) and we have enjoyed their experiences through the hundreds (or thousands!!) of photos, videos and phone conversations. We managed a video link to them on Christmas Day which was a fantastic day as we were all together for the occasion even though we were separated by the Atlantic Ocean and almost the whole of Canada - what wonderful technology....
The Rutland family are also seeing the changes in Jessica and Sophie, one a little princess and the other a little character in the making as they continue to fill us with the joys of seeing them grow.
Laura and Danny have settled into their new home after their first year (they moved in just before Christmas 2009) and their new jobs are going well - both of them changed jobs during the year. Laura has taken up golf again and I think I will be joining her from time to time as I attempt to start playing again after many years (joints and rhythm permitting), the clubs are ready to go when the weather improves........
SO we look forward to a very different year in 2011 with so many changes and possibilities to look forward to, and as I have no work commitments now I am devoting one day each week to this web site to keep up to date with the year as it unfolds and to seeing what lies ahead for us in the future. Keep watching.................
Past Years
2006
21 August 2006 - Just back from a week visiting Kevin and Monica in the cabin and to see their new apartment in Stavanger. The weather in Gullingen was great and we had a few good walks, round by the cabin and over to Stranddalen where we walked to the Tourist Hytte (over the mountan first!!) and had lunch - quite an experience for Irene and I (as it is some time since we managed to get up Preikestolen). Had another trip to Sandeid and as usual we were made very welcome and enjoyed the day........sorry we missed Hildegun and Svein and the kids, so hope to catch up next time. The apartment is in a great spot and will look good inside when all the boxes are sorted !!!
The biggest changes in our lives so far revolve around Jessica and Arne growing up and some very sad family news with the passing away of our sister Pat early this month after a long and valiant fight against cancer. She was cremated in Newquay, Cornwall recently and her ashes will be interred in Widnes with our Mum in the near future - her fortitude and cheeriness throughout her illness will never be forgotten
Arne Joseph was christened in the Scandinavian Church in Liverpool on 14th April and Jessica received a blessing from Pastor Lars at the service. It was a traditional Norwegian christening (in English) with a small gathering of family and Guardians. Monica's Mum, Svein and Hildegun (Kevin and Monica's good friends) stayed over with us for the service and we spent some quality time in Liverpool and Widnes during their short stay. The service was quite special with Monica, Inger-synnove and Hildegun in traditional dress for the service. (Photos of the Christening are on Arne's website Photo's link at the top of the page).
2007
September 2007 - Well that was our summer...............We went to Norway in June and had ten wonderful days with Kevin, Monica and Arne.............a week in the cabin (Hytte) in Gullingen and 3 days in Stavanger, and what an eventful couple of journeys with lost luggage, a re-route though Aberdeen where the plane was struck by lightning...............the grandchildren are growing and changing into little people - brings back wonderful memories of our own growing up. We holidayed in the Italian Lakes at Sirmione on Lake Garda and had a wonderful taste of Italian holidaying again and we look forward to the impending visit of our Norwegian family to Widnes in October. Then we look forward to celebrating the 1st birthday's of Arne and Jessica in November.
The end of September also brings the second anniversary of the closure of the Moss Bank works and the life changing few years since have been pretty hectic in many ways.......... then it will be Christmas before we know it and the start of another year - 2008 being the Liverpool and Stavanger twin European Cities of Culture year - we look forward to it and to see if there are any links forged between the two cities that are very close to us in many ways.....................
November 2007 - The most notable dates this month are the first birthdays of Jessica and Arne on 8th and 10th November. Kevin, Monica and Arne came over to stay at the end of October for 10 days, during that time we had an early birthday celebration for the grandchildren while they were both together. How good to see them together and how lucky are they to have two birthday celebrations in their first year!! There will be pictures posted in the Birthdays page if you want to view.
2008
April 2008 - I can at last say that my website has really found relatives who I was not aware existed before and what a great find it was. I was aware of Auntie Kitty (Gilmore) and Uncle Bernard's families and had met some of them over the years in Widnes. Auntie Monica (Jones nee Keogh - daughter of James Keogh) had said that some of Bernard Josephs sons had gone to America in the early part of the 20th century but that was all I knew. Steve Keogh in Tennessee found my site and he contatcted me. It transpires that his great grandfather is Bernard Joseph also - His grandfather is one of the older brothers who went to America and settled to raise his family there - SO now I have a new page on the site for our American Cousins and I hope this will bring together our "distant" Keogh's both over the internet and in the future to meet up in person and share our stories.........................
July 2008 - The Keogh families of America held a re-union in Nashville on 20th July 2008 and there will be lots of news from this in the weeks and months to come......Keep watching the American Cousins page...... As we were visiting Kevin Monica and Arne in Norway on 20th July, Irene and I could not get to the re-union in Nashville but are looking forward to the stories and the pictures from everyone and to building the American Cousins page over the coming months. We won't miss the next one though..........
2009
March 30 - Another grandchild arrived today......Sophie Claire weighed in at 8 lb 6 oz. second daughter to Claire and Paul and little sister to Jessica...... a beautiful little baby......
HOT NEWS - 13 June - A little learlier than planned - Monica gave birth to baby Mina today.......another beautiful little girl in our family. She was born in Stavanger and weighed 3.08 kg (or 6 lb 13 oz. in old money as we say......). Aren't we blessed with good news lately..... MORE news and photos to follow...........
July 2009 - Off to Stavanger to visit our new grand daughter (and Arne, Monica and Kevin). Looking forward to seeing Mina for the first time, and the new house, as well as enjoying a welcome break in Norway with them.
August 2009 - Another first with a cruise down the River Nile in Egypt to enjoy the delights of one of the great civilisations of the past.
December 2009 - Our last visit to Norway for a while as Kevin, Monica, Arne and Mina set off for Canada for a period of time - and look forward to travelleing WEST to the North American continent - another new experience for Irene and I as we plan to holiday there when visiting later.