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There’s a thoughtful article on body types and sports discipline in the New York Times.
And there is Tom Fleming (my coach) who won the New York City Marathon in 1973 and 1975. He is 6-foot-1, and while he ran his fastest marathon, 2 hours 12 minutes, weighing 159 pounds, he ran the Boston Marathon in 2 hours 14 minutes weighing 179 pounds. "I tell people that’s the fat-man record of Boston," he said.
Clearly, he has a different conception of ’fat man’ than most of us.
It turns out that there are rules governed by physics to explain why the best distance runners look so different from the best swimmers or rowers and why being big is beneficial for some sports and not others.
That does not mean that parents should push their children into a sport based on their body type, exercise physiologists say. Most people who run or swim or do other sports, even competitively, do it because they love the sport, not because they are aiming for the Olympic Games. Many also choose a sport because they discover they are good at it.
US 1500m runner Alan Webb swam as a teenager and he talks about swim training to David Letterman.
Webb breaks the US 1500m record and beats Bala of France. The commentary is better than Brendan Foster’s. (Actually, the little you hear before the music takes over is better than Brendan Foster too.) There’s an impression of speed which makes the camerawork and direction better than anything I’ve seen broadcast by the Beeb (in my opinion).
Alan Webb running his debut 10,000m. I’m not sure of his finishing time, but it seems to be 27:35 which is very impressive. Again, there’s a very strong impression of speed. It’s not the whole race, just highlights cut with an interview. Webb comes across as articulate and likeable. I prefer him to the miseries who dominate British Athletics at the moment.
In contrast, the Guardian reported Girl, 8, slave to the Olympic spirit which is the tragic story of a Chinese runner.
While she ran, her father, Zhang Jianmin, cycled beside her. A frustrated athlete himself, he has poured all his ambition into his exceptional but vulnerable daughter.
Frustrated dads are the worst, aren’t they?
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I’ve not seen a paper all week, so the news page on the Welsh Athletics site* was the first I heard of Andy Norman’s death.
The Independent obituary provides a useful starting point.
Unfettered, his less attractive traits began to emerge. There were suggestions that he could manipulate who would be drug tested at his meetings, and that he even had fellow serving police officers on hand to provide "clean" urine that could be exchanged if a star athlete might be "embarrassed". These allegations prompted the first of three official enquiries into the promoter’s conduct, but the evidence ranged against Norman left Peter Coni QC, who chaired the panel, unable to take any disciplinary action against him, though he "remained deeply unconvinced by the man’s testimony".
Rumours that Andy Norman inspired the ’urine sample’ scene in Withnail and I are, however, utterly without foundation.
The Scotsman picks up the story.
On the way, there were ructions and scandals. In 1987 the Times published a series of articles arguing that Norman’s recipe for success for British athletes was down to manipulating drug tests. Though strenuously denied by Norman, he never sued the newspaper over the allegations.
Then in 1994 Norman was sacked from his powerful position as promotions officer within British athletics when he was implicated in the suicide of a Sunday Times journalist, Cliff Temple. A year earlier, Temple had been preparing an exposA(C) of Norman’s then girlfriend Fatima Whitbread’s business dealings. Norman phoned him up to object, issuing thinly veiled threats of violence - all caught on tape - and threatening to spread false rumours of a sexual nature.
Temple went ahead with his story and Norman went ahead with his threats. Though Temple was depressed at the break-up of his marriage, the coroner found that Norman’s unfounded allegations were a contributing factor to his suicide.
Ever the man to spot a business opportunity, Norman then diverted his energies to the emerging countries of eastern Europe as the fall of communism created new markets for his unique talents. Meetings suddenly sprang up in previously unknown locations where British athletes could cut their teeth against foreign opposition.
Norman was sacked from his £65,000-a-year job with BAF. Dave Moorcroft, one of Templeas closest friends, led the calls for his dismissal.
The Times reports without irony that "Norman had strong views about where British athletics had gone wrong."
"In those days, first was first and second was nowhere," he said. "Now we are asked to celebrate mediocrity."
Norman married the athlete Fatima Whitbread. "When you’re the best female javelin thrower in the country, the world is at your feet," he observed. "These days, every little girl dreams of chucking a spear further than anyone else, and Fatima is the best." As Norman said, second is nowhere, and we can’t remember the number 2 javelin thrower, but we think there was one. Probably, as the Carlsberg ads say, anyway.
Norman must have fitted right in in Eastern Europe, happy lands of drug cheats and religious bigotry, if the Telegraph obit is to be believed.
Temple had not been the first journalist to be intimidated by Norman, who was capable of spreading malicious rumours and of simple vulgar abuse (a researcher at the BBC was branded "a little Yid s***").
Good riddance. I hope it was painful.
NB: Opionions expressed are mine (Dave Weeden) and not necessarily those of the club. (Updated to add that paragraph and alter ’we’ to ’I’ in the paragraph above.)
*I can’t find a permanent link, but it may be here later.
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Wednesday, 15th August 2007
Leckwith Stadium
The last of this season’s Welsh Masters’ Track and Field League meetings will also be the last competition to be held at the existing Leckwith Stadium. The stadium is to be demolished on the 19th August 2007. The stadium was opened on the 3rd August 1989 but officially opened on the 3rd June 1990 by the Mayor of Cardiff. I have been reliably informed by Derek Williams that the first track and field meeting was also a Welsh Veterans’ League meeting.
Does anyone have a copy of the results of the first league meeting?
If you wish to take part then registration begins at 18:30 with the first event starting at 18:45 (discus). That was not an Oxbridge entrance question. Membership of the Welsh Masters’ Association is needed for you to gain points for the club. Even so, the organisers will allow you to compete even if you are not a member. I am eager to enter teams (male and female) for the last event - the relay.
The event does clash with the club’s duathlon series and comes after the last Rose Inn of their series, but if you are interested, the schedule for the evening is given below:
6:45pm - Discus
7:00pm - Long Jump, 300m
7:20pm - 1500m
7:40pm - 60m
7:45pm - Shot
8:00pm - Pole Vault, 800m
8:20pm - Relay (2x 200m, 2x 400m)
You can contact me on 029 20890851 or mdavies50@yahoo.co.uk .
I look forward to seeing you there.
Mike Davies
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It is my [Mick McGeoch’s] sad duty to report the news of the death of Mike Lister last Friday afternoon (July 6th). Mike died peacefully at home. He was 54. I think the speed of his illness has shocked us all. He raced many times in the Spring in preparation for the London Marathon, his last race (I believe) was the San Domenico 20 on April 1st. His fundraising for Macmillan Nurses is thought to have raised £10,000 – that’s the sort of guy he was.
The funeral is Friday, 13th July at Thornhill Crematorium at 1.15 PM. Family flowers only. Donations (if desired) to Macmillan Cancer Support, c/o Mrs Melanie Hayman or Mrs Linda Snow, 1 Floor, 1 Oldfield Road, Bocan Park, Pencoed, CF35 5LY.
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Shaun Connor and family are leaving us for the sunnier-than-Barry climes of Portugal. (How, how can anyone leave Barry? Oh that’s right. Very easily.) From the 3rd of August their address will be:
Rua 4, Lote 6, No 2 Terras Da Costa, 2825 412 Costa da Caparica, Portugal. Ph: 00 351 21 290 3889
However, they are leaving before then, and their farewell party is on July 15 at 7 Cwrt Aethen, Pencoedtre Village, Barry. Ph 01446 741505. NB They will have packed everything, so you’ll need to bring your own food, drink, cups, and cutlery.
Members in search of a bibulous weekend should start with Julian Carter’s 40th birthday which will be in the Cayo Arms from 5:30ish on Friday the 13th.
OK, I have to comment on the non-logic of that link’s text: William Julian Cayo-Evans was a famous Welsh man who ran the ’Free Wales Army’. So what was he famous for? Running the Free Wales Army. So the ’famous man’ bit is kind of irrelevant. His Wikipedia entry says, He was active in the FWA during the 1960s and along with two other members of the FWA, Dennis Coslett and Gethyn Ap Iestyn, was convicted of conspiracy to cause explosions and other public order offences following a 53 day trial in 1969. In other words, he was a terrorist, just like our friends in Glasgow Airport, though his skin was a different colour, so instead of having the excrement kicked out of him, someone named a pub in his memory. I like the Cayo, I just happen to agree with tehgrauniad on this (see ’The Chic of It’ halfway down the page). As do all right thinking people. (Oh, that’s me again.)
Anyway, back to the Contintent. Prominent Frog Nicolas Sarkozy’s jogging (or for language pedants ’le footing’) has been attacked by "prominent intellectuals" as ’un-French’ and ’right-wing’. Sports editor Odile Baudrier agreed, saying: "Jogging is, of course, about performance and individualism, values that are traditionally ascribed to the right." (Have these people even read Sartre or Camus, both competitive and pro-individualist?) Boris Johnson, cycliste terrible, defends the practice.
Finally on cycling, Mick reports back from Londres:
The Tour trip was brilliant. For many reasons. Superb organisation by Mel - the hotel was top notch. The fact that only 16 people went made things very easy to manage - we were in a single minibus. We decided everything by mutual consent. We all walked to Hyde Park on the Saturday and watched the action on a big screen, whilst the riders were whizzing past just metres away. Anyone you wanted to see in the flesh, you could - but it was just more practical to sit on the grass in beautiful sunshine for three hours and watch. The atmosphere was electric.
Went out to a spit and sawdust pub in Lambeth on Saturday night for a live jazz session - just a pianist and female vocalist but very good.
We decided to go on the minibus to Southborough on Sunday - it was the top of a hill prime. Brilliant - loads of craic with the police and marshals. The sheer size of the Tour was hugely impressive.
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I love deadlines - I love the whooshing noise they make as they go by
Yes. I remember that I still haven’t fixed this thing properly or got the club championship for this year up and, as they say, running. There’s heaps of other crap I have to get through too. Maybe I’ll do it today. But it looks nice out.
According to Andy Marr on the box this morning, bashing the London Olympic logo has become a national sport. The Sunday Times reports that Olympic logo firm chosen ’blind’ and the jokes just write themselves.
Brian Boylan, the chairman of Wolff Olins, already had close links to the culture department, which is overseeing the Olympics. Jowell appointed him as a commissioner of the government’s Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment and he is a member of the Tate Modern council.
Nepotism in the New Labour Party! It boggles the mind really. There must be some rational explanation, it’s not like Tessa Jowell could ever do anything corrupt. Why the entire EU butter mountain would take minutes, minutes I tell you, to melt in her fat lying gob.
As for the monstrosity itself this accurate observation is as it were the "people’s" take. The animated version is said to be better - this is from the BBC Breakfast news (warning: said to have caused epileptic fits*). Snap judgement: no it’s not.
Marr also said (though I can’t find confirmatory evidence of this) that the word ’London’ was added because Ken Livingstone insisted. Now a quick calculation from the countdown on the homepage of the London 2012 site suggests that the Games begin in late July (I couldn’t find the actual dates - but who cares about the running and jumping stuff? they’ve got a brand image). I suspect that after nearly 7 months most people (using the term accurately; I’m thinking of 51% or more) will be aware that the year is 2012 (if New Labour hasn’t resest it to zero). However, given that most people don’t know that food comes from farms (it’s not as if there aren’t songs by popular beat combos about this very fact) and people in the USA have trouble trying to Name A Country That Begins With U. It doesn’t seem unreasonable that those in far flung places, Reading, say, or Milton Keynes, may not know that the Olympics are in London. The designers cleverly decided on an unreadable colour for the name of the capital - white on pastel, yes that stands out, and went for a crappy font with a planed off side to the ’d’ which looks more like the writing on the boxes my toy Daleks used to come in. Then there’s the oh-so-up-to-date lower case choice, so ’london’ looks like ’Iodine’. I understand that the logo can’t incorporate built landmarks like the Eye or the Houses of Parliament in case they fall down or Gordon Brown’s coming recession closes them or terrorists blow them up (in the case of Parliament, oh please). But there was nothing wrong with the original logo. Vlamdimir Putin’s entire arsenal (no, the Russians still only own Chelsea) couldn’t divert the dirty water of the sweet Thames.
The real insult comes in the press release.
London 2012 will encourage active participation [pleonasm] involving people [well participation isn’t going to involve concrete cows, is it?] in a whole range of Games activities [but not anything resembling sport] from community activities [god knows what these are] and volunteering to sporting and cultural events [this isn’t even English]. It will [I love the future tense] inspire young people and connect them to sport by putting the inspirational values of the Olympic and Paralympic Games on the school curriculum [but again, they won’t be playing, because our lovable leaders sold off the playing fields, and anyway, someone might get hurt].
London 2012 will be a Games for a connected world making the most of exciting new technology to get people closer to the action they want to see, when, where and how they want to experience it. [Note the passive again, this is a Games for watching. Don’t get off that sofa and run yourself.]
The new emblem is dynamic, modern and flexible reflecting a brand savvy world where people, especially young people, no longer relate to static logos but respond to a dynamic brand that works with new technology and across traditional and new media networks.
That last paragraph is classic. To call it bullshit would to be to risk being sued by members of the bovine ilk.
I think I had a few other stories I wanted to link to, but that took all of my anger so Kieran Healy’s tales of having family members who are irritatingly athletic is the only one I can remember.
* As I may have had an epileptic fit myself, I find this quite plausible. I can think of plenty of jumpy animations or silly moving text on other sites which make me uncomfortable. Though that is probably as much an aesthetic objection as anything. I’ve deleted links to those sites with such things.
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As promised, a picture of Lou and Gareth’s daughter Elin. I was sent the original files twice which kind of hacked me off, as they were something like 2.5 Megs, but I realised that my .mac mailbox holds 500Mb and my Gmail an even sillier number, so it’s not really a problem, and editing the things only takes seconds. I’m way behind on other photos, despite being sent shedloads by the week.
Not as promised, I’m still very very late with the club championship and even later with debugging the scripts behind this. I’ve always worked from short flashes of inspiration followed by manic periods of energy and I’ve been short of both lately. At least I do have all I need for the club champs in that I already have rankings, because I have results of each race so far: I’ve just got to work out what to do with them.
On the club championships front, the Great Welsh Run has been cancelled and replaced with the considerably more expensive Great Wales Run which not only has an entry fee of £22 (I think, I can’t find it on the site now, because you have to register and tell them lots about you before they’ll tell you that you can’t afford to enter) but has the cheek to call itself a a brand new event
- the old site of the Great Welsh Run doesn’t agree! It also starts at midnight, which in running terms is a after my bedtime as well as making photography harder than I’d like. The club committee decided that the new race would not be in the championships because of the price hike. No one is saying that you can’t enter if you wish, but speaking for myself I can only give the answer of Bartleby, the Scrivener.
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I could have the name wrong here, but Gareth Thomas’s partner Lou gave birth today to a daughter, Ellen who weighed 7lbs 6oz. Congratulations to Gareth and Lou. Pictures will no doubt follow.
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Club Captain Phil Cook will be organising mid-week training sessions.
Starting on Tuesday 8th May, I’m organising a group training session at Heath Park – I must point out that this session will not be ’coached’ as my coaching licence has lapsed, but rather a group session based on my past coaching & running experiences. these sessions are open to anyone who may be intersted.
There will inevitably be clashes of events during the summer – as there is this tuesday with the Rose Inn Series. I intend for these sessions to carry-on throughout the year - the summer will basically be the more ’speed’ based reps, while the winter will edge towards the ’speed endurance’ and will also include some hill sessions. Throughout the year I also hope to include some other sessions like Merthyr Mawr on weekends.
These sessions will only work if people support them, as I said before they are open to anyone. If you are interested could you let me know so that I’ve got an idea of numbers?
The intention is to be warmed up ready to start at 6:30pm by the carpark for the model railway & golf course.
If you have any questions please feel free to ask.
Thanks
Phil
Proposed weekly sessions as an Excel spreadsheet and the overview as a Word document.
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Friday 11 May, 7.30 for 8.00 pm.
Spiro’s @ St Peter’s Hall, St Peter’s Street (off City Road), Cardiff CF24 3BA Google Map.
Tickets £10.00 from Clare Johnson for a three-course meal (wine included).
Please come and bring your friends. It’s always a good evening.
(I know I still haven’t fixed this or done the club championship and so on and so forth. I will when I have fewer distractions - DW.)
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The next committee will be on the 18th of April in the club house. I’ll try to automate this before the May one.
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The next committee meeting is scheduled for 21 March. I think the time is 8:30 pm. I’ll try to make this a regular feature. Remember all members are welcome to come along and contribute.
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Mick has sent me two documents in memory of his father.
I know that someone calling himself or herself ’Anonymous’ wrote in the last hard copy (that is, printed) Ace, that the club should limit itself to articles about running. Anon, you’re just going to have to lump this.
The first is the tribute he read at the service.
I want to begin by thanking you all for coming. You’ve certainly done Dad proud, and it’s particularly nice to see so many young faces in the audience. Of course, when someone lives for as long as Dad has there’s a real possibility that having outlived all one’s contemporaries that the funeral is relatively sparsely attended. Since he died I’ve felt like a man on a mission to inform as many people as possible about today’s proceedings. After all, it’s my last chance to do something positive for him.
I’d especially like to thank those who’ve travelled a long way to be here. If I may, I’d particularly like to welcome Yvonne, Nicola and Joanne from Mum’s family. Please extend our love and fondest wishes to the rest of the family in Coventry who are with us in spirit. I hope your memories of Dad are all positive and might entail images from his 90th birthday celebrations here almost five years ago. For those who weren’t present, I must tell you that Dad was on top form that day. Still articulate, still passionate, still mischievous. After all, if you can’t tell it like it is when you’re 90, then when can you? I bet George Bush’s ears were burning that day all right. And given American foreign policy since then, with good reason. Dad would have liked that last defiant gesture – for he was ALWAYS a man of peace.
Next, I want to pay tribute to the staff at Ty Dyfan Residential Home where Dad spent his last three years. Please accept our heartfelt thanks for providing the 24 Hour Care that our family could never hope to provide, which gave us such peace of mind that he was in safe hands. Always a fiercely independent man, it’s no secret that Dad did find his final years hard to cope with. However, he always spoke in glowing terms of the kindness and quality of care he received and that was always of great comfort. Our thanks especially to his Keyworker Pam for her personal touch. One of these was the buying of a Beatles CD for each of the last two Christmases which Dad often listened to. He always loved the Beatles and the intro of Penny Lane seems so appropriate. However, it could have been almost any track. "All you need is love" he would definitely have approved of, and given his lifelong trademark moustache we might even have played "I am the Walrus!"
I next want to pay tribute to the dedication and professionalism of the staff at Llandough Hospital on the few occasions he was ill and during his final hours in particular. Last Thursday week truly was "A Hard Day’s Night".
The day after Dad’s death, last Monday, was a telling moment for me. I’ve never had to co-ordinate a funeral before, and my mind was full of trepidation. My emotions on entering this building were one of "Help, I need somebody, Help, not just anybody, Help, you know I need someone, Help!".
To Lyndsay and all your staff here at Adams Funeral Directors, and to Win, may I say that it didn’t take long for me to realise that you weren’t "Just Anybody". You provided the help that I craved but more importantly the trust that the intricate organisation for today would be undertaken with all the professionalism and sensitivity that I was looking for.
It’s now eight days since Dad passed away. As any lady in the audience will readily testify, no man can multitask and I’m no exception. These last eight days I’ve had but one thing on my mind, but those who know me closely will tell you that that’s absolutely nothing new. So to Caroline who I’ve neglected during this time may I say:
I send "All my Loving" and thanks for being able to "Stand by Me" "Eight Days a Week". "I’ve gotta feeling" and that overriding feeling during this last week has been "I wanna Hold your Hand".
As Win has already mentioned, Dad was a man of many talents, and many of them are on display today. Please feel free to browse, both here and at the Mount Sorrel Hotel later. Artist, poet, diarist. And, if he’d wanted, he most certainly could have been a "Paperback writer".
As you already know, Dad was born in 1912. That year was famous for many things, but first and foremost in most people’s minds would be the Sinking of the Titanic. The Titanic actually sank the week prior to Dad being born, so that on 22nd April the papers were still full of news of the survivors, circumstances etc. I would venture to suggest that when one Titanic went down, another emerged. Dad was 12 pounds at birth. OUCH!!
Death is a very tricky subject to talk about. No one really knows what happens after we depart. It’s quite scary. However, I can assure you that Dad was ready. He almost embraced it as a release, and we should be thankful that he departed peacefully and on his own terms. "Let it be". I can also tell you that he had a very irreverent view of death, which he often related. Many of you will know what I mean:
Whilst Dad had many talents, ability to sing in tune was not amongst them. Neither have I. So be prepared for an assault on your ear drums. I must also apologise to the late actor Stanley Holloway and to the cast of the film "My Fair Lady" in general.
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We really hope you can join us in Cornwall to celebrate our wedding. Your attendance at the service would mean a great deal to us on what, for us is a truly momentous occasion. The wedding is intended to be a relatively no frills affair, but this shouldn’t suggest a flippant approach, or any lack of seriousness of the occasion. On the contrary, the bare-bones approach is intended to bring into sharp focus, the total commitment we are making to each other and our families and the sincerity of our promises. The ceremony, reception and the following week’s holiday in Cornwall (for those who can stay that long) will allow all the guests to share in our happiness as a family and enable us to extend the celebration into the following week and enjoy one of the most dramatic and naturally beautiful coastlines around.
The Wedding Ceremony will take place on Saturday 14th July at 3:00pm in St Buryan Parish Church which is located in the centre of the village of St Buryan. The most direct route is to follow the A30 all the way down through Cornwall (see enclosed map) and just before you enter Crows-An-Wra, turn left for St Buryan. This road takes you right up to the church.
Dress Code is as smart or casual as you feel comfortable (bear in mind we’ll be in church) but this is NOT a posh wedding!
Wedding Presents are not requested. The fact that you have travelled to Cornwall to celebrate our wedding with us is much more meaningful, but if you do wish to bring something, then perhaps a bottle for the reception/evening.
Photographs of the wedding/reception/weekend will be taken by the guests (as opposed to hiring a photographer)! Each couple or family attending the service will be issued with a disposable camera at the door of the church and you are encouraged to snap as many posed or candid, formal or casual shots as you wish during the course of the weekend. Before you return home you will be asked to return the camera to Rob or Liz and upon our return to Brecon, we will take these to a photo-lab and all the photos from the disposable cameras will appear on the photo-lab’s website: www.say-cheeze.co.uk The password is: Gwenver. You can then print them off as you require, or ask us and we’ll arrange it for you. Should be interesting!
The Wedding Reception will take place immediately after the service. The venue is Trevedra Farm Camping Site. This is about 3-4 miles from St Buryan. You simply drive back to the A30 and turn left for Land’s End. Pass through Crows-An Wra, then go just past the turning right for St.Just (B3306) and the turning for Trevedra Farm is the next turning on the right. We have reserved a large area of the bottom field (nearest the beach!), so as you drive into the farm, follow the track through the camp-site keeping the sea in front of you and look out for a large marquee. The reception is intended to be informal. Weather permitting, it will be held in the open-air, otherwise we’ll be in the marquee. Seating will be available for all guests, but you are encouraged to mingle and as the caterers will have prepared a cold buffet, you can take your food with you as you go!
The Evening Do will be on Gwenver beach (the most beautiful place on earth) and will probably start as soon as the reception finishes! The format is a choice of either: beach/bbq/bathing/busking/ball-games/booze. Or; surfing/sun-bathing/snorkling/swimming/slurping/sausage-sizzling/silly games/singing/selebrating. You probably get the idea, it’s an evening with friends and family on the beach doing whatever you want to do.
Accommodation. We have reserved part of one of the camping fields at Trevedra Farm from Saturday 14th July, to Saturday 21st July. If you wish to camp, phone Wendy Nicholas on 01736 871835 with reference: Kersley Wedding. The deadline for booking is 8th April. The cost is £4.50 per adult per night + £1 per tent. Children 5-15 years old £2, children less than 5years old are free. Large groups such as ours are required to pay a ’good conduct bond’ of £10 per adult. This is refunded when you depart provided there have been no complaints from other campers of noise or rowdy behaviour. Wendy has emphasized that, whilst as a family we are well known to her and have used the camp site for many years, she would have no option than to evict anyone who became a nuisance. Those not wishing to camp, can find a range of other options by looking at: www.sennen-cove.com and follow the links. Here you’ll find (amongst others):
Tower Park Caravan Park, St Buryan 01736 810286
Penny Ellis (has 2x static caravans at Crows-An-Wra 01736 810366
Lower Treave (caravan site) 01736 810559
First and Last Inn 01736 787633
Old Success Inn 01736 871232
Finally we hope you attend and help to make this a truly special occasion.
Rob & Liz
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Mick writes: Dad died last Sunday morning (11th Feb). He suffered a massive stroke last Thursday evening and never regained consciousness. The end came very peacefully. He enjoyed almost 95 years of embarrassingly good health. Even in his final years his mind was as sharp as ever, though he was frail. I’m sad, but it’s not a tragedy.
His funeral will be next Monday 19th February. The timetable of events is:
3.00 PM Funeral service at Adams Chapel, Gladstone Road, Barry (next to the Memorial Hall). It will be a humanist service, Dad was a self-confessed agnostic. It will be full of personal memories and anecdotes. Speakers are warmly welcomed!
4.30 PM Cremation at Thornhill. Dad’s ashes will be scattered in the Gorse Garden, just as Mum’s were in 1969.
5.15 PM Get together at the Mount Sorrel Hotel, Porthkerry Road, Barry. Buffet and coffee available.
Family flowers only, please. Donations, if desired, may be sent to Cancer Care Cymru, c/o Mrs Val Aston, Atlantic House, Cardiff Gate Business Park, CF23 8RD.
Dad was an everpresent at races in my formative years as an athlete, just as he was for my elder brother Keith. He was very well known in the local athletics community in the 1970s and 1980s. He was Treasurer for Barry and Vale Harriers and served on committees at regional level for many years.
However, he had many qualities which will be on display. These will include his poetry and portrait drawings. A man of many talents!
Please feel free to join us. The day will be a celebration, as it should be. Dad would have wanted it that way.
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