Tradition dictates that every year we send out a review of the year with our Christmas cards - this helps us keep up to date with people who we don't see from year to year (and remind them that we are still around).
Just to make my life a bit easier I thought that it was worth reproducing here with a few additional photos and bits of text.
January
Welcomed the year in down in the flat lands
of Suffolk.
London with the Scouts to play full sized Monopoly.
Lovely winter training weekend in the Peaks complete with snow – slept in a large tin tent.
February
Annual (rainy) bivouac camp
Lakes trip – Tom came up with us and, with
Gary, had a couple of epic cycle runs before Tom went back to York. Then the car died near Penrith and had to be
towed to Carlisle to be fixed! Gary was
ill but got well enough for crampon assisted ascent of Great Gable.
March
Gary & Pete off to Scammonden with the
Scouts – Pete doing some Gold D of E Training whilst Gary is off with the
youngsters GeoCaching.
Early Easter meant an early (and very cold)
Silver D of E Expedition for Gary and Helen to supervise (Pete came along for
the jolly and loved the cold weather).
April
A quick trip up to the Dales for Gary to take
some fellow teachers around the Three Peaks in pleasant winter conditions (if
you ignore the thick snow and howling gale).
Then to South Wales for Pete to complete his D of E Gold Residential whilst Gary and Helen decided that there weren’t enough hills down there!
May
The St Leonards Way for Gary & Peter, Gary
happy to be back in the top three finishers.
The Bronze D of E Expedition that Gary was
assessing clashed with the Sheffield Half Marathon so it was an epic dash
around so he could do both.
June
Back to the Dales for the Three Peaks with
Explorers, awful weather.
July
Busy couple of weeks as Gary & Tom
completed the Saunders Mountain Marathon – Tom’s knees giving up 200 yards from
the end.
Then to Gilwell 24 with the Scouts.
The month finished with Pete off to walk Hadrians Wall, including a 20 hour walk as they had miscalculated where the campsites were.
August
Helen, Gary and Pete off to the Lakes for an
odd summer holiday. After a few days on
our own we were joined by the rest of Pete’s D of E Gold team (who were nicknamed
the Dream Team) as they completed an East-West crossing of the Lake District
finishing at Seascale. From there the
family holiday headed North to Carlisle then onto Nortumberland. Quite odd in that there was only one wash out
day.
September
Gary is 50!
And we have a barbecue to celebrate – he got a new camera (finally)!
Growing old doesn’t involve growing up and it’s
another Great North Run (sadly Tom injures his knee a few days before and can’t
compete).
Pete and the Dream Team present their expedition
findings.
Then to Trent Lock for a weekend of
watersports – again Gary breaking off, this time for the Yorkshire 10K.
October
To the Lakes (Ashness Hut) with the Scouts
and a cracking ascent of Great Gable (Pete taking a sporty line).
Tom turns 21 and his party means that he
misses out on the OMM.
Pete completes a canoe course and is invited
back next summer to help out on the courses.
Gary, together with his reserve partner, head
to the Brecon Beacons (despite the fact that storms are forecast in the
area). The weather on the second day is
awful and the poor weather route is used.
November
Pete discovers a new Scouting event in the
Dales and puts together a team. Sadly
one of the team collapsed and the team had to retire. Pete then joined another team to complete the
course.
Helen off to York on a course (making sure
Tom has a proper meal while she is there) and stays over with the Rambos
(thanks Steve for re-locating her several times!).
Couple of caving trips in the Peak District.
Pete completes his D of E Gold, the youngest
Explorer Scout to do so.
Remembrance Sunday was on Kinder Scout with
the Explorers.
Another night under a tarp! At least is doesn’t rain.
Gary is nominated for a Community Award for
his volunteering (finishes runner up).
December
D of E Training weekend for 30 odd Explorer
Scouts – Gary, Helen & Peter all involved in supervising the trip. As ever, we had rain!
Pete finishes off the year by receiving his
Queen’s Scout Award –the second ever Explorer Scout in Rotherham to receive it
(you can fill in the gap with who the first was!).
At the Scout Carol Service Team Bacon
dominate with Peter & Helen getting presented with Awards and Gary running
around trying to make a PowerPoint work.
Last run for Gary is a pleasant 10K in Bolsover.
As we said, a bit rushed. Next year normal service will be resumed!
