Summers passing..

Well, that's it.  Summer is officially over..the sun has lost it's glow.  Autumn began on Friday which left me to ponder over Summer just passed.  What memories will i take from summer 2011?  I'll remember fondly Ollie winning medals at Cub sports days, Swimming and Diving.  Enjoying his School Sports Day and fun days by the river at Ilkley and Baildon.  Our trip to London, Ollies first, and days out to the York Maze and the Forbidden corner. The trips to Bourne are always anticipated and enjoyed, the annual Bourne Boules Championships being a fun memory!  Eddie and Jackie are always generous hosts!

For me though the Summer trip to France is something I'll remember all my life.  As well as the pleasure of visiting parents who always welcome with open arms and a parents hug, the fulfilment of a wish to visit the Normandy battlefields was finally fulfilled.  It was an emotional trip at times, visiting the places I had read about and seen countless documenteries about.  To stand in the footsteps of heroes and imagine what trials and tribulations they lived through.  To visit the cemetries and see at first hand the row upon row of well tendered graves, sometimes friend and foe side by side was eye opening.  The sheer scale of loss of life is astonishing.  To see that the French still to this day pay due respect was quietly pleasing with American, British and Canadian flags flying proud from Official monument, to roadside memorial to individual houses.  To enjoy touring the idylic countryside of Normandy with its quiet country lanes , deserted roads and picture postcard villages and enjoy the famous French local food and wine was wonderful.  It was great to share this with Eddie and Jackie and of course Jo.  It was great to visit Denise, Eddie and Bernie

So, another summer closes but with that begins the planning for next year...

What was memorable for you this summer?

A Quiet Place

I visited a place once, it made me cry

A place where sons and fathers were sent to die

The distant drums of what went before

Are an echo now, heard no more

A Band of Brothers, they went ashore

From the skies above they dropped to the floor

To face the duel of life or death

I followed paths their souls had tred

The land I trod is tranquil now

On sands and sod my head did bow

Repect to pay is honoured now

As names together lay row on row

I will go back, as should we all

To honour those who in battle did fall

To a lay a wreath, a silent thought

To those brave young men who died and fought..

Adrian Smith 2011