news2002p2

Steve Rubie tells me that his daughter Sarah has arrived home from UK and Elisabeth comes home from Melbourne and both will be spending Christmas in Auckland. He met up with Brent and his family in Sydney a couple of months back. He also mentions that he was fortunate enough to travel through parts of Mainland China in July and that he was very taken with the Great Wall and the Forbidden City. His mother Ivy will celebrate her 95th birthday on 25 January 2003. We send her our best wishes and hope she has a good day.

News from Ralph: Penny had to have a major operation in July but has made a very good recovery and, as a bonus, is a stone and a half slimmer! (A bit of a drastic way to slim!!) We have nothing to add to your births, marriages and deaths records since Taegan's arrival, but Harry is expecting a little baby brother or sister as a New Year (or even Christmas!) present. Delivery will be confirmed on arrival! We had seven American visitors in September! All except Guy and Lori. John and Amanda had to sleep in a B & B over the road! They only stayed one night as they had other relatives to see and also made a quick visit to find out what �Old� Jersey was like. It was lovely to see them all. It was Amanda's first visit to England - and Taegan's of course! The only other family news we have is that Nick has left Glaxo and now works for a Pharmaceutical firm in Dublin. The family moved over in bits, all finally taking possession of their new home in County Wicklow in June. Now that Penny is able to undertake the journey, we are flying over from Bristol for a short pre-Christmas visit to see their new home. It will be great to see them now they are all finally settled. Have a lovely Christmas. We are going to Stephen and Gail's - could be exciting!