Going into work this morning, I noticed a flock of Canadian Geese feeding on the lush green grass (one of the very few things to benefit from the recent storms),in one of the East London parks. They were quite oblivious to their bleak surroundings; the bare branched trees, the heavily pruned shrubs and the noteable absence of all things human, but their presence reminded me of the urgency with which I must put pen to paper in order to send our seasonal greetings to all our friends.

            As a family we seem to have been busier than ever. Nicola is now into her last few months of school - she will sit her 'A' levels in Art, Geography and Economics in May. Something tells me that we are going to have to get our big stick out if Nic is going to achieve the results she requires.If only she was as anxious about her academic studies as she is about driving a car ..... perhaps by Christmas she will manage to achieve the latter! During the next few weeks Nicola has been asked to attend for interviews at the 3 Colleges of Higher Education which she has selected for doing a B.A.(Ed.). Her first choice is Christchurch College,Canterbury -a delightful situation immediately next to Kings School and across the road from the North gate into the Cloister Garden of Canterbury Cathedral; then comes St. Pauls & St. Marys, Cheltenham - within shouting distance of one much loved Auntie Lydia and family; and thirdly Bretton Hall, Wakefield , the Alma Mater of her present Art teacher. Nicola's interest in the Havering Youth Choir continues - the Royal 'we' ( for which you may read 'my mother & I' ) are now the Catering Committee. "How many grains of rice are required for 200 people at a Barn Dance?" !!! At Brownies she has been promoted to the rank of Snowy Owl - she is extremely popular with our pack and we'll miss her when she goes to college.

           The big light in Nicola's life is Andrew, a delightful young man of whom we are all very fond. Sadly for these two, they have formed a very close relationship , and I think that the next few years are going to be a very testing time. Andrew works at Bache Securities , in the city , as a Computer Programmer - he left school in July and began work in September. He has a delightful family and we have had some very happy joint family parties.

             Keeping up with our second daughter's romantic attachments is quite another matter - although I am delighted to report that she is working on the principle of ' safety in numbers ' ... the only problem is , her ageing parents have increasing difficulty in remembering their names! The Summer brought not only another fabulous holiday for Suzanne in the South of France, but also some very pleasing 'O' level results. She managed 8 out of her 9 subjects , and did exceptionally well in the 3 subjects which she is planning to take at 'A' level: Maths, Economics and Computer Studies. Sadly the one to hit the dust was French ( and with a Grandma who is a Francophile! ) , but in fairness to Suzanne she was not permitted to drop French as it was a compulsory subject,and in fairness to her teachers it must be near impossible to teach a foreign language to someone who doesn't have a working knowledge of the language of her own mother tongue! Needless to say Suzanne , Alan and Andrew converse quite naturally in the various computer languages.

             Suzanne has had a very busy year as one of the school's Vice Captains and as the school's Rounders Captain. On the home front her impoverished parents were unable to meet her growing financial demands , so she has taken to the world of work - as a Shoe Shop Assistant with Freeman , Hardy & Willis on a Saturday afternoon; this means that she can still take part in the school Hockey/Rounders matches which are played on Saturday mornings. She is also looking after her spiritual well-being , at present attending a series of confirmation classes. And all in all she is once again a caring, pleasant & happy (not to mention very fashion concious) member of the human race.

             Our son and heir has made great strides this year, in short he appears to have received the message loud and clear that neither his doting parents (one of whom threatened him with the choice of sitting a 13-plus examination at Brentwood School next year or alternatively requesting the Local Education Committee to transfer him to Campion School - they are arch enemies on the rugby field ) , nor his teachers were at all amused with his 1st. year high jinks and poor academic achievement. On day 1 he was made the form 'rep' - as the person responsible for seeing that the appropriate homework books were collected it made it rather difficult not to hand yours in too!Our young hero is still enjoying his school rugby and basketball seems to have overtaken his E.M.H. football. Several members of his football team seem to have transferred their loyalties to fishing , golf and other sports - the new boys don't seem to have the years of experience behind them , consequently the team's results are very marred this season. In the Summer time many happy hours were spent with Andrew Barry on the local putting green ..... however failing to replace the divot in the back garden lawn used for practice purposes has resulted in some stern words from the Chief Lawnkeeper , alias his adoring father! Douglas' other interests include Scouts - he has been on several camps this year , and being a member of the Havering Young Singers - sadly our young man's voice is showing signs of breaking , so perhaps this will be his last year of singing with this group, maybe in the future he will join the Youth Choir. He is eagerly anticipating his Skiing Holiday during the February half term , when a party is going to Austria. He continues to grow, we ordered size nine boots for his holiday - the same size as both his Grandfathers take.

             It would not be fair to pass on to news of Alan and myself without mentioning that their housewifery skills have been well and truly tested, especially during the last month. Suzanne is the chief home maker , but the other two have done their bit too.

             As for myself, after 6 happy years at Faircross School, it was time to move on. I have taken a full time post as a Nurse Liason Officer with the London and Provincial Nursing Service. My work involves interviewing nurses of all grades who then work back in the National Health Services , with our office being responsible for the Whitechapel group, which includes the London Hospital , my old teaching hospital. My office colleage is a 49-year old ex-Naval officer;some of his traveller's tales are amazing,but we get on well and enjoy working together. I'm still involved in Brownies , and increasingly more of my leisure time is taken up with family activities.For the past year I have been serving as one of the managers for our Church , we are just in the throes of raising £13,000 for a new roof.

             The garden has been neglected this year , it has been impossible to keep up with the fast growing weeds , the only consolation has been that everyone has been in the same boat. Well , nearly everyone , needless to say Grandpa Greig has had an excellent vegetable crop,not up to his standards but very satisfactory for the recipients! Mum continues to produce pounds of jam for her family - all the fruit coming from their garden.

             Lyd, Warrick and the children are all well - Daniel started at senior senior school in September. They have been very busy this year and we have missed seeing them as often as we would have liked. Sand and Sue are well - it's lovely seeing more of them now that they are established in Sevenoaks - just forty minutes away. Alex started at Hurstpierpoint College in September - he described public school boarding as "just like being with Grandpa Greig all the time"!!

           Now it's the turn of the typist/computer-operator! My parents will be with us as usual for Christmas. They come to see us on a Saturday quite regularly, and it was nice to see them looking very well recently.

            Work goes on much as usual , despite some bad publicity regarding our finances. Really it is high time that the Government took responsibility for seeing that we have the resources to educate our young people to the highest standards , so that we can adequately compete with the rest of the world. In the absence of this initiative , we struggle on the best we can , but at least in the Computing field there is no real danger of redundancy !!! This term I have had a very interesting injection of teaching ideas into my my courses from a visiting lecturer from Singapore.He was here to do an M.Sc. course , which finished in September , and since then he has been helping me for two days a week and attending a teacher training course for the other three days.

           My Baha'i activities have mainly centred around the Baha'i children for the last year or so. In July we had a most successful prize-giving ceremony for our Sunday School , which now goes from strength to strength. At present we have four teachers for the three classes , with one reserve teacher , which allows me more time for general organising. I usually spend some time teaching two of the classes myself on each of the alternate Sundays that we meet , and there are also things to arrange for other meetings on special days. There are now fifteen children regularly attending , with several more just coming up to starting age.

            Ann and I still sing with the Roundwood Singers and help with the organisation , which is not without its problems. However the choir is now on a sound financial footing and has been successful in several charity concerts.

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