When we started to think of what could go in our annual ‘letter’, we thought it had been a quiet year. By the time we had listed everything we wanted to share with you, though, it became clear that the last 12 months have indeed been quite eventful.

At the end of last year, I was offered a job at the university in Bangor, and this imposed an element of chaos in the period just before Christmas. We all went to take a look around the area and made investigations about the schools there – just what you need when you’re trying to get your Christmas shopping finished! In the event, Lancaster offered me a promotion – to Professor of Economics - at the same time, and we decided to stay put. It was a close run thing, though. As I am external examiner for one of their courses, we found ourselves visiting the Bangor again in the summer for a weekend, and very much enjoyed the beaches and the lovely scenery there at that time of year.

Earlier last year, I had become associate dean of our Management School. This has given me an interesting new angle on my work, and it’s quite refreshing to have a hand in the management of the place. It’s allowed me to get to know a lot of people in the university that I hadn’t known before. Also, having grown used to working on lengthy research projects that have a gestation period of perhaps 18 months, I find it gives me a great sense of achievement regularly to be able to sort out some problems that arise from day to day. Our Management School is one of the top three in the UK, and it’s interesting to be able to take an active part in its strategic development. Our dean (the big boss man) has recently resigned, so I guess my role is going to become increasingly time-consuming over the next few months.

We’ve made a lot of changes to the house over the last 12 months. We have had a new kitchen put in, and in the process of doing that we moved a door and some radiators. Of course, all of this had a knock-on effect in requiring a whole lot of decorating. Jill’s organisational capabilities were put to the test and used to great effect in designing the whole thing. We’re very pleased with the result.

At the beginning of the year, we had something of a shock. The children’s school had had an OFSTED inspection late last year, and the report came out in January. It was bad. So bad, indeed, that the school has been put in special measures and so bad that the headteacher resigned. We were very sad to see him go, and feel that he was made a scapegoat by teachers and governors who had their own agenda to pursue which was at variance with the interests of the pupils. I was particularly surprised at this turn of events, since I had been a governor until shortly before the inspection – and I had been unaware of the personal antagonisms that led to the headteacher’s demise. In my view, the flawed system of inspection that can produce this type of outcome is just plain iniquitous. Anyway, the school now seems to be well on the road to recovery (not that there was all that much wrong to begin with), and after a rough year we are looking forward to better times ahead with a new headteacher in the new year.

The children have survived this trauma as though nothing much has been going on. Tom has been doing particularly well, and had passed his tests at level 4 (the expected achievement at age 11) before his 8^th birthday. He has been pushed up a class, and is now studying in the same class as Becky. She too is progressing well. Her violin lessons are going well and she will shortly be taking her first exams. Both Becky and Tom are keen members of the school science club, and they continue respectively to be involved in Brownies and the local under-10s football team. Katy, meanwhile, does everything with characteristic enthusiasm, has started violin lessons, and has joined the school drama club.

Our annual holiday this year involved a return to southern Brittany, to a gite which we last rented a couple of years ago near Lorient. We stayed there for a fortnight, and had a great time visiting interesting chateaux at Josselin and Pontivy, megaliths at Erdeven and Carnac, and beaches just about everywhere. The children went quad-biking and horse-riding a few times. And, of course, we much enjoyed the French food and wine! I also managed to squeeze in a short business trip to Boston over the summer, and took in a visit to some old friends at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire and a trip to watch the Boston Red Sox play baseball.

Tom and I decided not to renew our season tickets at Blackburn Rovers this year. The combination of travelling and disgust at the bunch of overpaid undercommited players who ‘served’ the club last season contributed to our decision. So instead, we have been going to watch Morecambe, who play in the Nationwide Conference. We have been delighted by both the atmosphere at this small club, and by the high standard of football played at this level.

We’re still birdwatching when time allows. Our garden is currently host to a great spotted woodpecker, and a couple of weeks ago we got great views of bearded tits at Leighton Moss, just a few miles from our home.

We all hope you have a great Christmas and wish you the best for 2001.