May 2005 : the
Reunion at Bishop's Waltham
Carissimi Pelicani:
Zelda and I made good time down
to Bishops Waltham on Friday 13.?Thanks to an early departure and
the pax britannica, the roads were all open and we were at Tom Wilkie's
in good time.
Poor Tom is thinking of shutting up shop on account of the feral
youths who rent rooms.?Some of them can't go outside to smoke.
They bung up his smoke detectors with plastic bags and papier mache.?
We felt very sorry for him.
Peter Vale-Humphreys, Zelda and I went out to the
Jubilee which is open all day on a Friday.?Then up to Galley Down.?
Back at the Jubilee we met John and Margaret
(Morton) and the five of us were at Banks' (the restaurant)
in the evening where we were joined by Mike
and Andrew and Tony (Guilfoyle) and Pauline.
Next morning we went up to pay our respects to Fr
Buckley who was on his way to see the Bishop. I got Peter
to give his (Sunday) talk to us in the chapel as so many people
had said they would be racing off on the 15th.?We practised the
Veni Creator and set off for Portsmouth on another of Margaret's
wonderful trips, this time to the Historic Ships Dockyard where
we saw the Mary Rose (awesome!), the Victory and HMS Warrior.?
A splendid day despite the rain. Peter
Finn appeared after Mass and then the apparition of apparitions:
Robert Clyde whom I hadn't seen
since 1951!!! He hopes to come to Preston and I have circulated
all his old classmates in the hope that more than Pat
Menzies can make it. The priest (not Fr Buckley) preached
a very odd sermon about the WFs in Africa and I'll tell you about
it sometime.?Just magine you have 60 miles to go on your pushbike
before you reach the mission station and I pass you aboard the station
lorry with a merry wave and no lift.?Apparently this will be a
good lesson for you.
(source : Michael Byrne. Names
shown on photo below. Note the old Priory
pews.)
At Mass on Sunday : Chris Cooper.?
The Veni Creator got a great burst of applause. Verna
Burdett-Clark was there looking a lot better than last
year but Paula was on crutches.?
Ann Butler (Terry's wife) looked
good too but she has had an operation for hernia. We walked the
bounds after Mass and then took off for home.
(source : Michael Byrne)
(L-R) :
Front : Pauline Guilfoyle, John Morton, Zelda, Margaret Morton,
Eugene MacBride and Peter Vale Humphreys
Back : Tony Guilfoyle, Mike Byrne and a lady whose name will
come to me . . .
I felt deeply
sorry at that point not to be spending the Sunday at Bishop's Waltham
as was our custom (Zelda's and mine).?In fact I don't think I'm over
it yet. All in all, another morale booster.?b>
Brenda Finn has given us a marvellous wee book of her writings
that sometimes make me roar out loud and at others reduce me to tears.
God Bless, Eugene
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