2013 Annual review

A generation is said to be 30 years long. This year we followed this fine tradition by celebrating a 90th, 60th, two 30ths and a 0th birthday.

Zoe arrived on a snowy ‘essential travel only’ weekend early in the new year, a sister for Olly. This brought the grandchildren count to a balanced four: m/f and f/m.

Kate celebrated her 60th birthday in late January with a family party in Kew and, naturally, a Cornish cliff walk with local friends.

The big one followed in March when Felicity began a year of celebrations with a party in Suffolk followed by a succession of visits by the family. The highlight of the celebratory events was a massive Dobson family party on a sunny day near her childhood home.

The two newly 30 year olds celebrated the first year of marriage with a trip to Rome then Greece to become Day Skippers, which Peter managed to slip into his many work trips around Europe and Rebeka between tending kidneys.

The grandchildren dominated most of our leisure time during the year and the house and Cornwall came into their own during a sunny summer. So easy are the children with each other and their uncles and aunts that our photograph album needs captions explaining who belongs to whom. A boat is being prepared for their future adventures.

We did manage to escape for some time of our own, however, completing our exploration of the upper Danube by cycling through some wonderful scenery from Passau to Vienna, where we met some Slovak friends. We then took a night train to enjoy a couple of days in Venice to search for Kate’s ancestral atelier which we had failed to find last year. As always, we were struck by the sheer beauty of the place despite the crowds.

We needed a new potting shed alongside the garage but our builder thought otherwise. After a twelve week programme we had a new large garage with a room on top. The Look Out is designed as a games/rumpus room, office, spare-spare bedroom and general doghouse. We weren’t sure we really needed it but it was not long before we were sleeping there ourselves, leaving the house to four adults and four children.

The garage also came into use sooner than we expected. ‘Mum, we are coming to Cornwall’ said Emma one day. About six weeks later the garage - J’s nice new ‘workshop’ - was full of their belongings and she was settling into a flat as House Mother at Truro High School, where Kate teaches, with Lana in the Nursery: so there are now three generations at the school. Wyl has taken over the Look Out as an office and we are beginning to learn how local grandparents are meant to help.

We did not neglect culture in this restless whirl, making music and singing Patience, attending regular concerts and a performance of Hippolyte et Aricie at Glyndebourne – we don’t think we have attended an opera set in a fridge before - Iolanthe at the Minack, and the pre-production run of Perfect Nonsense, written by Kate’s cousins.

Sadly we did not do nearly enough sailing but that is a regular complaint in these Reviews. We did get out occasionally to enjoy the Cornish countryside so there is life and fresh air in us yet.

The Museum held a Gala Fundraising dinner at the end of the year which meant we had to dust down the glad rags to meet and greet HRH the Princess Royal who has been a great supporter. We have included a picture to show you that we don’t do everything in lycra, walking and sailing boots.

We leave you with a cheery message of love and hope for the year ahead. There is always a warm welcome for you in Cornwall, even if you find yourself above the garage. One day we must try and sort out which of these is which - and whose.

Much love, Kate and Jonathan
PS. There are more pictures here, if you can face them.