I started the year still on research leave, which gave me the chance to go to several conferences which otherwise I might not have had the chance to attend. This being so, I had some trips to Finland, France and Portugal. I also made a whistlestop trip to Alberta to give a public lecture, arriving there at the same time as the worst snowstorm of the year. Travelling light with only one pair of shoes, I had to stick the hotel’s hairdryer in my shoes each night to dry them out! But the pleasures of my sabbatical were soon to be forgotten when I became head of department. In an academic setting, this means becoming line-manager to some people who have previously been (and others who will later become) my own boss. Strange indeed. But I have a good team, including Jill who is our Director of Studies for Part 2 (second and third year undergraduate) students. On the research front, I’ve been working on a project for the Equal Opportunities Commission, and another for the Welsh Higher Education Funding Council, and Jill and I have recently won a EU grant to work with some partners on funding issues in education.

Jill has also continued to be very busy. She juggles her commitments with her usual sense of organisation, and gets more out of being on a 70% contract at work than most people do who are full-time. Before I became head of department (fortunately), we got the great news that she has been promoted to senior lecturer. This is very much delayed recognition for her contribution to the work that we do in our department, but welcome nonetheless. With Becky, Tom and myself, she has played a lot of tennis at the Lunesdale club in our village – but of all of us, Jill has made most progress this year, playing very well indeed by the end of the season.

The children have continued their busy lives. Katy started at secondary school this time, joining Becky at Lancaster Girls Grammar School. She seems to have settled well, particularly enjoying the junior drama competitions. She continues to attend Stagecoach drama schools on Saturdays, and again took part as an ‘extra’ in a professional touring company’s opera production at the Grand Theatre in Blackpool. She has also become one of the regular readers of lessons at church. Tom has continued to play rugby and cricket for his school’s B teams in his age group. He has recently joined the Combined Cadet Force, specifically the air force branch. He has been gliding a few times with them, and has also participated in some weekend camps. In addition he took advantage of last year’s Christmas present – a flying lesson at Blackpool airport, during which he flew a Cessna north to circle a few times around his school. He is still ringing bells at church, and I’m sure that this is to the delight of the whole village. Becky seems to do little but work. She came top of her year for the second year running this time, and (two years early) took an AS level in Critical Thinking, coming out with a grade A. She does also find time to play the piano – she’s currently studying for her grade 5 – and helps out with the local guide troop. Earlier in the year, she passed the bronze stage of the Duke of Edinburgh award, and this involved her in, amongst other things, making 30 mile hikes and camping in the Yorkshire Dales.

We had a couple of holidays during the year – a short break at Easter in Amsterdam, and a couple of weeks in the summer in Andalucia. We were very impressed by the Moorish remains that we saw, especially at the Alhambara in Granada, the Alcazabar in Malaga, and the Mondragon Palace in Ronda. We had a great casa in which to live, with our own pool in a very private garden – though the village fiesta kept us awake through the night for a few days! (See our photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnes/)

At the back end of the year we put our house on the market – we’ve seen another house in the same village that we would like to move to if possible. But the market around here has been very slow of late, and we’ve only had one viewing in ten weeks. We’ll let you know if we change address, but don’t hold your breath. We did succeed in changing cars this year, and are now driving around a (huge) SsangYong Rodius MPV.

I’ve continued to support Morecambe football club – though last season was another term best summed up by the phrase ‘always the bridesmaid…’. Tom and I went to see both Lancashire and England play cricket at Old Trafford a few times. Birdwatching highlight of the year was a pelican in Preston (!!!). Astronomy highlight was Comet Swan which briefly flared to naked eye visibility during November. Needless to say, for me, Bruce Springsteen in Manchester was another major highlight of the year!

We hope you have a great time over the Christmas season and wish you all the best for 2007. Do please send us your email address – we lost most of our contacts in a computer crash a while ago.