The past year has been another eventful one for us. Early in the new year we had a few days break at Oasis village near Penrith. This is a competitor to Center Parcs which is very conveniently located for us, and we had an extremely enjoyable time there, spending the days cycling, walking, roller-blading and swimming.

Our main holiday this year - as last - was in France. We spent a week in Brittany, not far from the spectacular megalithic remains of Carnac, and a second week in the Loire Valley. The gites in which we stayed were both superb, and we had a terrific time. Indeed we intend to return to one of the gites soon - probably in 2000. The part of Brittany around the Gulf of Morbihan has so much to offer. If you can access the internet, you might want to read Becky's diary of our holiday (at http://www.angelfire.com/pa/beckyjohnes/france.html).

The children are growing fast. Becky is now 7 years old, Tom 6 and Katy 4. Becky has started in the junior school and is flourishing under the guidance of her new teacher. She is learning to play the violin, and she continues to be an avid reader, sometimes disappearing for hours at a time to enjoy the company of a book. She has progressed from Rainbows to Brownies during the year, and has already started to accumulate badges for her sash. Her first badge was for art, and this complemented two school prizes which she has won for artwork during the year. Tom also won a school prize, for decorating a star during the school's Europe week - this was a week in which all the children dressed in national costumes and ate dishes from various European countries. Tom is in his second year of school and, like Becky, progressing well. His strong subject is maths, and he is doing a lot of work with the third year especially in that subject. He adores football, plays it every spare moment, and like his Dad is now a season ticket holder at Blackburn Rovers. (But the least said about the Rovers this year, the better!) Katy will not start school till next September, but she attends the local playgroup, the pre-school and (while Jill is working) the university crèche. She talks a lot and is an extremely confident and charming girl.

At work I have been kept busy on various projects. I was fortunate to be invited to give seminar papers in the US on two occasions this year, each time involving a short trip (the shorter one involved flying out on the Tuesday and returning the next day!). This first was to New York, and the second was to the World Bank in Washington DC. I remain a member of the Board of Governors of Becky and Tom's school, and (for my sins) have been chair of both the Health and Safety Committee and the Management Committee of the Lune Valley Pre-School Centre during the last year. I have also been designing the school's site on the world wide web.

Jill continues to work part-time at the university, and has also remained active in village life. For most of the past year she has been secretary to the school's Parent-Teacher Association. She also did a lot of work planting new garden areas on the school grounds. We have done various bits of work around the house over the last year which Jill has masterminded and (apart from minor input from me) executed - putting a pond in the front garden and decorating a couple of rooms.

We remain keen birdwatchers, and have had a terrific year at our local patch - Leighton Moss. Unusually, we had long visits from an avocet, ospreys and dowitchers this year. During the winter our garden played host to a great spotted woodpecker and nuthatch, as well as the more usual birds. But the best birding experience for me this year was seeing an osprey flying (high) over our back garden during spring passage!

Despite the many good things which have happened for us over the last 12 months, the year ended on a sad note. Following diagnosis of a tumour in her colon and a subsequent short illness, Jill's mother died in November. During the previous few months, she had continued to write and publish her poems and short stories, and had taken on a new activity - knitting over 150 teddy bears to send to children in developing countries. Our memories of her will be imbued with love, warmth, and her indomitable sense of fun; we shall miss her sorely.

As Christmas approaches, the children are all involved in various plays and musicals run by the school and playgroup. Katy is playing the starring role as Mary in the playgroup nativity play, while Becky and Tom are both singing in the school's production of Hosanna Rock. Once these performances get into full swing, we shall feel the festive season is truly upon us!