2015 Review

This was the first year of our joint retirements. Kate insisted that she had only entered this state when she did not have to go into school. So, on what was for some the first day of the January term we started walking the Saints’ Way from Padstow to Fowey. This set the tone for one of the major activities of the year: walking the Cornish section of the SW Coast Path and visiting Cornish churches.

By the end of the year we had walked over 250 miles of the path and have only 50 miles to go, and had visited over 90 churches. Some of you may have followed our exploits at our new website: www.acornishjourney.wordpress.com It was difficult to avoid the words ‘bright sunlight’, ‘clear turquoise sea’, and ‘magnificent cliffs’.

The second major theme was enjoying the company of friends and family. At the end of January we moved Jonathan’s mother Felicity into a flat close to the cathedral in Truro. She settled in quickly and soon knew more about the history of the city than we did. She could now attend a great-granddaughter’s school plays.

We have been busy. With Emma and Wyl also in Truro we had two local grandchildren to entertain; Claire and Nick visited regularly from Epsom bringing two more; Peter and Rebeka came from Wimbledon when they could; numerous cousins arrived to see Felicity and, with our siblings and friends visiting as well, we were never short of company. Parties in bright sun on the terrace often featured.

Somewhere, amidst this reckless round of entertainment, we managed two ‘holidays’: as though every day of retirement in Cornwall were not a holiday. In the first we went to Bulgaria where we discovered that we had not forgotten how to ski. The second was with niece Juliet and her family at her glorious house in Tuscany. We bravely crossed the Tamar a few times to England for weddings, opera and visits: we even made it into Wales. We may try harder next year.

One of the high spots of the year was one of Kate’s leaving presents: a skydive. A six hour wait for a weather window resulted in a proud, ecstatic, if somewhat relieved former teacher (not to say husband).

After falling from 15,000ft	On the slopes in Bulgaria
A rare moment during the year was when the whole family - minus the Swiss branch - was assembled in Truro ...	... but that did not stop us putting the oldest to work
Scaring the neighbours	Scaring the fish

The arrival of a hot tub added to the variety of entertainment and relieved aching muscles. There is something magical though about lying in its warmth and watching the space station pass overhead on a dark night, listening to the hoot of passing owls.

Somewhere, in this giddy round of pleasure, we found time to support a Home-Start family, keep fit and help out in three local schools (K); sing, sort out databases for the museum and cathedral, help out in community matters and edit a book (J). We doubled the amount of time we spent sailing but it was still not nearly enough. First we must finish the Coast Path and then there are Cornish rivers to canoe and …

We leave with a message of love and much-needed hope for the year ahead. We love seeing friends from near and far. You are all welcome any time, especially if you enjoy walking, visiting churches, seeking standing stones and holy wells, sailing, canoeing, walking or just relaxing …

Much love for a Happy Christmas,
Kate and Jonathan

PS: There is a larger selection of pictures here which highlight some of the events of the year.

PPS: Any suggestions as to who these are and what we should do with them?

New book

'Let us now praise famous men and our fathers that begat us ...'

Well ... certainly a father. Paul wrote a main autobiography - Changes and Chances - and then expanded some of the elements in a series of subsidiary volumes.

Changes and Chances was one of about a dozen major books which were unpublished at his death in 2012. It has been transferred from typescript and is now published with minimal editing.

It covers his years from 1922 until the late 1970s when he first retired and accounts for his time in the Indian Army, through student-hood at Cambridge and as a young master at Uppingham, to being a headmaster in Cyprus during the 'Troubles' and latterly at Aldenham during the social revolutions of the 1960s.

Paul is famous for his clear thought, clarity of expression and directness. This style pervades Changes and Chances. He observes the changing world as he himself was growing and developing his ideas. Starting as a lonely boy whose best friend was a dog he became a headmaster who was almost blown up by terrorists, and whose fictional alter ego was destroyed in a film.

As might be expected, the account starts with a poem of which the first verse runs:

Changes and chances,
Dirges and dances:
This is the curious pattern of men:
Picking the daisies,
Driving like crazies,
Silent at breakfast and shouting by ten.

Changes and Chances is now available from www.lulu.com/shop (search on Changes and Chances or Paul Griffin) for £10.

We hope to print more of Paul's work soon, including some of the subsidiary parts of his autobiography and his novels.