The Holiday continues ....

Sunday 19th May

Its officially Rays 90th birthday.


Another day of celebration.
It was arranged that the immediate family would meet up for lunch to help him celebrate.
The lunch was at a restaurant called The Highfield which was not far from Jane and Glynns apartment in Edgbaston.

Above the table were big silver balloons in the shape of a '9' and '0'.
 

Jim and Johan studying the menu.

Jane, Di, Louise and Andrew.

 The birthday boy.

Emma with Glynn in the background.

Glynn, John and Emma.

Ray, John, Jim, Glynn and Johan.

After the lunch the ladies went off looking at fancy furniture shops while Johan, Jim, John and myself walked along the canal towpath from the apartment to the Mailbox in the centre of Birmingham.

Unfortunately our walk was cut short as it started to rain.

After a great day out we eventually drove back to Great Witley and started to pack as tomorrow Jim and Johan are returning to Stockholm and we off on our travels once again.

The Holiday continues ....

Saturday 18th May continued ....

The rain eased off while we had our coffee and cakes at Witley Court, from where we headed off to the family reunion at The Masons Arms, Wichenford.

The event had been organized by our great niece Martine and what a fantastic get together it was!!

Lots of family that we hadn't seen for a number of years and amazing to see young adults that we last saw as children. Lots of  old photographs appeared and bits of hand written family tree information to go in the collection. Laughter and reminiscing were the order of the day.
There was even a lovely birthday cake for brother-in-law Ray who was to be 90 years old on the following day.

 The birthday boy.

Martine with cousins Emma and John.

 With my brother-in-law Alan.

 The family patriarch with his birthday cake.

Alan and his number one fan, Richard.

My sister Joy who I hadnt seen for 12 years.

Our son James with his Auntie Joy.
 

  

Waiting for the kids to get sorted ready for photos.

Andrew and Lydia.

Some of them are keen having their photo taken and some not so.

Johan with some of his young English relatives.

me with great nephew John, who was standing in a hole!

Great nephew John with great niece, Grace.

James with a few of his cousins.

It really was a great day. Lovely to have time with Johan and Jim who came across from Sweden just for this occasion. It was also great to see my sister Joy and her husband Alan, residents of USA, who just happened to be on holiday in the UK at this time.

If my records are correct there was 47 of us at the event.  Well done and a big thank you to Martine.

The holiday continues ....

Saturday 18th May.

A very grey, cold and overcast morning. Seeing as we don't have to be at the reunion venue until 12.30 we thought it would be nice to give Johan another glimpse of history, and visit Witley Court.

Witley Court is one of our favourite places to visit in Worcestershire and is not far from where we used to live in Worcester. Since our last visit a few years ago there have been a lot of improvements done to the fountain and gardens.

Witley Court was built in the 17thC and expanded in the early 19thC by the architect John Nash for the 3rd Baron Foley. It was later purchased by the Earl of Dudley but unfortunately the house was  destroyed by fire in 1937.

Johan guarding the entrance.

This fountain is one of the great attractions at Witley and it starts to work every hour on the hour.

The golden dome is part of the attached Great Witley Parish Church, built in the early 17th C and is noted as the finest Baroque church in England.

Johan and Jim waiting for the fountain to start working.

The fountain, which is gravity fed, is starting to build up pressure.

The main jet rises to a height of 30 metres.

Unfortunately just as the fountain reached its full height the rain came in and it was time to find some shelter.

Inside the beautiful Great Witley Parish Church.

As the rain eased we went to a small cafe in the grounds for a well earned coffee and cakes.

The weather was much better back in 2007 when Elin and Jim came to England to meet us and we introduced Elin to the delicacy of Scones with jam and fresh cream. Yum!!