26th October - 2nd day of visit to Birmingham

After breakfast, Janice drove us to Joan's local church in Hodge Hill for their monthly coffee morning. There were quite a few things on sale there - I bought some handmade Christmas decorations and Janice bought all her Christmas cards.
We then went into the city centre by bus. We had a look around the Pavillions - the layout of the place is still the same, but a lot of the shops have changed. We had lunch of cheese and ham croissants upstairs and then made our way to the Art Gallery.
I was really pleased to see the place again - it is over 3 years since my last visit.
I spent lots of time spotting all my favourite paintings. It was good to see that the Burne-Jones nativity painting now has a good spot in the gallery and is surrounded by a few of the sketches that he made for it. There were also quite a few new Pre-Raphelite paintings that I hadn't seen before which were hung alongside more familiar works by the same artist.
When we left the art gallery, we went into the renovated Town Hall for a very welcome cup of tea. We were impressed by the restoration work on the organ and concert hall. Janice and I then went off to find our bus stops - she was going home and I was off to see John and Jo in Handsworth Wood. Although it is a while since my last visit the bus route seemed very familiar. When I reached my destination I was warmly greeted by John. We caught up on each other's news over a lovely meal of salmon. John seemed quite impressed that I still remembered the names of most of the people I knew at his church (St.Andrews). It was good to hear that life is continuing to treat them well. He explained that they were going to see a special production of La Traviata which some friends were taking part in that evening. They managed to leave in good time. Shortly after Janice arrived to take me back to her house.
We rounded off the evening with supper of cake and coffee and a game of Trivial Pursuit. We started off using the Young People's questions, but decided they were a little too easy. Janice and I raced against each other to get all our wedges. As it was getting late we decided to have a last round of questions which she won.
I had no difficulty getting to sleep tonight as it had been such a busy and enjoyable day.

25th October - First day of visit to Birmingham

I arrived at Birmingham International station this afternoon to be met by Janice and her friend Joan, who were both pleased to see me. Janice drove us to her new home in Sheldon. Although she has only been there for a few weeks, it is starting to look like home as all her favourite photos and ornaments are now on display.
Allan, Janice, Joan and I went to the local Toby Carvery tonight for a meal. Janice had a voucher which allowed us to have a carvery meal and ice-cream for £5 each provided we ate before 7pm. The portions were generous and there was a wide selection of vegetables available. The only let-down was that the mash was obviously instant, but otherwise the food was very good.
After the meal, we gave Joan a lift back to her place and then returned to Janice's.
I checked up on my email and found that my visit to John's tomorrow will be shorter than expected as they are going to see the opera at the National Indoor Arena. Never mind - it will be good to see them anyway.

14th October - Final day of Nantwich weekend and Dance at Grappenhall

After breakfast this morning, we had our morning worship session. Richard led the music and Susanna gave an emotional talk based on some of the things she has learnt from reading Philip Yancey's book - Disappointment with God. She spoke about her Mum's battle with cancer. Many of us were moved by her talk.
We then went back upstairs to pack before lunch. The meal was very good - roast lamb, roast potatoes and vegetables followed by chocolate gateau. After this people started to leave. Eventually there was only Karen, Kay, Tim ,Chris, Jenny and myself left. We had a final check around the place and then went on our way to Warrington.
We went over to Chris's house for coffee and a chat. Karen then went home and the rest of us went over to a local pub called "The Springbrook" for dinner. They did a good deal of two meals for the price of one. I had a Caesar salad as I only wanted a light meal - it was very good.
We then went to the Jive class at Grappenhall Community Centre. The room was quite packed by the time we got there. It is quite a small place - only about half the size of the place I normally go to in Prestwich. Tim, Kay and I joined in with the intermediate class which turned out to be quite challenging. I was quite pleased that I managed to master a couple of the moves. After the class I had a few dances with Tim and Chris. Kay then drove Jenny and I back to Manchester. The motorway was quiet fortunately so we just about managed to get home before midnight.
In all it has been an enjoyable, but exhausting weekend. I'm glad I'm not in work tomorrow.

13th October - Second day of weekend away in Nantwich

After breakfast this morning, we split up into 2 groups. I was surprised to see that most people wanted to visit the Nuclear War Bunker - I couldn't see the attraction of being underground for a couple of hours. I joined the group who were going to the Dorothy Clive gardens instead. The weather was drizzly, but we still managed to have a good look around the gardens which looked beautiful in their autumn splendour.
We then returned to Regents Park where we had lunch of Pizza,Chips and salad. I didn't bother with the chips as I didn't have the appetite for them.
After lunch I walked into Nantwich with Kay, Jenny, Chris, Tim, Julie and Karen. We had a good look around the shops. We found a lovely craft shop where Jenny bought a mobile and a couple of other ornaments.
When we returned back to the college we had dinner. This was the only meal that was different from last year - we had chilli instead of curry. After the meal a few of us went upstairs to watch "Strictly Come Dancing" whilst the others were practising the music for tomorrow's service. Most of the guys went down to the pub to watch the rugby. When the dancing was finished we went down and joined them in the Leopard. Some of us were quite glad to see that there was a karaoke machine in the corner.
Everyone's spirits were lifted by England winning the rugby so we had quite a lively evening of karaoke. Kay sang a couple of songs. Mike sang a duet with my room-mate, Sarah and Chris C showed he has hidden talents by singing "I've got you under my skin". Chris and I danced to a few of the songs - it was a bit difficult to dance as there wasn't much floor space and we had to be careful we didn't trip over any of the wires. In all it was a fun evening which we thoroughly enjoyed.

12th October - 1st day of weekend away at Nantwich

I arranged to meet Alan and Ian in Withington at about 5pm today. I didn't realise that the bus from town would end up taking about an hour to get there - the rush hour on Wilmslow Road was worse than I expected. I ended up arriving later than expected, but the others didn't seem to mind. We headed off to Mike's flat where we stopped for a coffee, before setting off for Nantwich. We decided to go down the A roads to avoid the rush hour traffic. When we got to Nantwich we had a little difficulty finding Regent's Park as there turned out to be more than one level crossing near the town centre. We eventually arrived about half-an hour before the evening meal which gave us just enough time to find our rooms before eating. I found I was sharing with Elaine and a girl called Sarah who hadn't arrived yet.
The evening meal turned out to be exactly the same as last year - salad and cheesecake. After the meal we went into the lounge for some fun activities. First we had to tear our animal shapes from paper with our hands behind our backs. Then we had to try and make the longest strip of newspaper out of one sheet. For the last activity each person had to read out three facts about a member of the group and try and guess which fact was false. There was a prize for the people who managed to fool the most people and that turned out to be Jenny in our group and Chris in the other group.
After the games quite a few of us decided to go to one of the local pubs. We chose the Peacock because they had karaoke on the Friday night last year. Richard led the way - it turned out to be quite a long walk. We arrived to find that there was no karaoke, but it was quite a nice pub. Chris shared out the chocolates he won as his prize and we all took the opportunity to catch up on each other's news. We then walked back to the Bible College. By now everyone had finally arrived. I had the opportunity to meet my other room-mate, Sarah. She is from Manchester and she knows a few of the other members of 25+ through church. There were also a few other late arrivals who had travelled up from Birmingham and Bristol. I eventually went to bed just after midnight.

6th October - Sarah's surprise 'Thank You' party

When Brian and I arrived at Kay's tonight we found Debbie, Andrea, Kay and Anya in the dining room putting the final touches to the decorations. We started looking at the menus for the local takeaway to choose our meals for the evening. People gradually started arriving. It was good to see some old faces that I haven't seen for a while. I spent some time with Robin who told me about his plans for starting a Phd in the near future. Eventually Anya got the message from Mike to say that He and Sarah were on their way. Robin went outside to watch for their arrival and at a given signal we all did our best to keep quiet as they entered the house. When Sarah came into the room we all shouted "Surprise" and let off our party-poppers. She was amazed and pleased to see so many people.
We rang through the orders for the takeaway and after a short wait, Chris and Kay set off to pick up the meals from the local Chinese. About twenty minutes later we had a phone call. Leigh picked up the phone to say "I'm sorry but Kay has just gone out". The reply she got back was amusing - "Yes I know Kay isn't there - she's standing beside me!" It was Chris asking for others to go over to the Chinese to help collect the food - they had been overwhelmed by our large order. Tim and Rachel went out to help him. Eventually at about 10pm they returned with our food. By this time we were all starving so there we all rushed to the kitchen. Fortunately everything was clearly labelled and everyone was pleased with their orders. On reflection, I think it would have been better to order the food before Mike and Sarah arrived so that we wouldn't have had such a long wait.
After the meal, we presented Sarah with the money we had collected for her - she was lost for words when she saw the amount- and the book of photos and good wishes we had put together. We then shared out the cake. I decided to leave at about 11pm as I was rather tired. We had a good journey back home. However it took quite a while for Brian's taxi to arrive so I didn't end up getting to bed until after midnight. It was good to see the party went to plan and that we managed to keep it all secret.

1st October - Ray Quinn concert at Apollo

When Mum, Dad and I arrived at the Apollo tonight we noticed that it was half empty.
I suppose that's because tonight's show was an extra show that was added when the original one had sold out. I was surprised to find that there were two support acts.
The first was a young girl called Gloria Critchley who sang country and western style songs - she was quite good. Then came another girl with four breakdancers. All her songs sounded the same so we soon became tired of her.
Eventually at 9pm (one and a half hours after the concert started) Ray took the stage accompanied by two girls who looked like a budget version of Las Vegas Showgirls. His first number was "Crazy Little thing called love". He showed off his dancing skills by dancing with the girls. Next came a medley of 'Rat Pack' songs. Although Ray's singing and dancing were good, it was obvious that this was a low budget show. About half way though the show a fat stage hand dressed in shorts and T-shirt brought a table and chair onto the stage and Ray sang "Mr Bojangles" and did some tap dancing. Mum pointed out that changes of scene and costume were much slicker when we saw Michael Ball in concert.
The show ended with a medley of Elvis songs. For the encore Ray came back on to the stage in a white suit and sang My Way and New York, New York.
On the whole it was an enjoyable concert. Ray is a very likeable guy. I was pleased to see that he danced as well as he sang. We reckon that in a few years time he could be a successful star in musicals provided he gets the right management.