Category Archives: Claremont News

Meals for the family

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Stephensons 2017

Barrie, Ruth, Jan, Mark Stephenson

 

The first family meal of the year with the Stephenson family met up in Kenilworth.  It was a good evening although Jan and Bill were a little under the weather with a dose of flu.

In October Joan took on the mammoth task of offering to provide the Ashmore Family meal. She wanted to keep costs down and make the event as cheap as possible for the younger families with children. We hired the Burntwood Institute Memorial Hall so that the venue was with easy reach for families that wanted to travel home afterwards.

So with many hands making lighter work Joan set about providing a three course meal with three menu choices for over forty people. The event also marked what would have been Mum Ashmore’s 100th birthday so it was good to have a celebration that so many could attend. Sadly we were so busy not a single photo was taken.

 

 

Running his socks off

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Barrie in Shelter tShirt

After a year of running Barrie stood at the start on the Great North Run, the half marathon from Newcastle to South Shields, along with 56000 other runners. His time to the end 2 hours 19 minutes.

Preceding this challenge he had contributed 10km to Chase the Sun and run the York 10k, both in aid of Restore. This race as the shirt shows was for Shelter. In total he raised over five and half thousand pounds to help homeless people.

Running has remained a firm commitment in 2017, usually with three runs a week including the York Parkrun on Saturday morning with a steadily improving personal best times. Some of the most memorable runs have been with family members; son Matthew and brother Mark.

Will there be a marathon in 2018? He’s already booked into the Coventry Half Marathon, York 10k and the Great North Run – the Yorkshire Marathon is in October – will he have recovered enough for 26 miles? Possibly.

 

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Back to Madeira

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The Miramar, Funchal, Madeira

The Miramar, Funchal, Madeira

We were drawn back to Madeira this spring with a relaxing break at The Miramar Resort in Funchal. Joan swam, Barrie ran, we walked for miles and read entire books (not unusual for Joan but an achievement for Barrie). Last year we promised ourselves early and late holidays but as the year closes we have only taken this one. Our excuse was the arrival of a new baby, but in reality we should have taken a second break. When we stay in York we tend to fill up our diaries with busyness.

Next year we have booked a river cruise in France with our old friends Colin, Rhona, Richard and Jenny. We travel Eurostar to Paris and sail the Seine up to Honfleur on the channel coast and back to Paris. We are assured there will be excursions along the way to explore France by bike and walking away from the river. We have never fancied a traditional ocean cruise but this one with its excursions seems like a manageable option.

Despite not going away we have taken a day off most weeks and escaped to some of our favourite places in North Yorkshire. Fountains Abbey and Studley Park remain our favourite place, but there’s no shortage of places to walk and cycle in this beautiful county. Dales, Moors, coast, National Trust sites and Harlow Carr Gardens – we are spoiled for choice. We have been able to share some of these places with friends and relatives who’ve visited us during the year.

We enjoyed a long weekend in The Lakes for Joan’s birthday and a visit to Wootton Bassett to stay with Derek and Ann (Joan’s sister) too.

 

Reading at the Railway Museum

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Alex and Emily reading on a train Easter and Alex has his photograph taken at various places around the National Railway Museum for a school project. He had to be pictured reading in unusual locations. Emily joined in too.

It’s always good to have our two older grand-children to visit us in York – their mum and dad are both welcome too.

Alex reading as he sits on the front of the museum's largest locomotive

Alex reading as he sits on the museum’s largest locomotive

Next year Alex goes to ‘Big School’

Alex and Emily

Earlier we had been to Harlow Carr Gardens in Harrogate. Lovely day for a picnic.

More for Restore

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Restore notice at GatewayIt has been another successful year for the housing charity that Barrie helped to found in 2010. Restore has successfully established engagement for tenants. As well as simply providing them with a place to live and support to live there, each tenant is now offered a range of activities and opportunities to help them on the way to independence. There is an allotment, sports activities, days away, residential activity holidays, volunteering in retail outlets to name just a few of the things on offer.

A chart from the annual council report of Homeless Services in York shows that more people were referred to Restore than to any other supported housing service in the city. This demonstrates just how important Restore is for homeless people in York. Despite everyone’s efforts it’s sad to see the number of people begging and sleeping on the street increase significantly this year. This is due to a number of reasons but mainly because there is less money for local services, both for housing and for mental health, and the introduction of Universal Credit which leaves some very vulnerable people with no money and nowhere to go.

Thankfully, we have had a successful year of fundraising. Our annual Chase the Sun relay run across the country on the longest day of the year brought in about £10,000 in sponsorship  Also bids to a number of grant making organisations have been successful. Each year, in addition to the income from rents we have to raise about £100,000 to pay staff salaries and running costs. I am always thankful for the way this work, started by our faith in Jesus Christ, is provided for by his continued goodness and the generosity of the people who support us.