Saturday 21 December 2013

Christmas Letter from the Mellish Family of Bromley

Dear all,
Apologies if you have not had a card so far this year. We, or rather I, managed to lose our address book earlier in the year. You are never quite certain whose addresses you do not have until Christmas cards start arriving. So if you have not had a had from us please email me your postal address
It has been a mixed year for us - most of it was brilliant, but it has ended with a downer - the death of two cousins, one on my my mum's side of the family and one on my dad's.
The really good parts were:
1. Birth of our first grandchild on Friday 5th of April - Henry Thomas Reynard Mellish his parents being Lawrie and Emma

2.
My ordination to the Permanent Diaconate in the RC Church - 8th June
The Litany of the Saints
With the Bishop and assembled clergy

3. Wedding of our daughter Helena to Sam on 17th August



With Julia's twin sister and her family

The Family - Barry, Julia, Sam. Helena, David. Andrew, Gaew. Lawrie, Emma and Henry

Additionally I did a Sky Dive in April- my last years birthday present from my children - do they really love me???



Wishing you all a very Happy Christmas and peace, prosperity and good health in 2014.

Barry and Julia

Tuesday 17 December 2013

Lost address book

We (or rather I) managed to lose our address book during our summer holiday on the Channel Islands. With the arrival of Christmas cards we are finding out whose addresses we do not have, which is quite a few!
So we would be grateful if you would email your postal address to me - barry_mellish@yahoo.com.

In particular we need Peter and Teresa, Gus and Pam, Barry O'G, Ann and Gerard (in Australia)

Many thanks

Thursday 12 December 2013

Gordon Mellish RIP

My cousin Gordon died a few days ago from cancer. He was only 72 and a wonderful guy. He will be sadly missed, his mum and dad only died recently - his dad in December 2011 aged 99 and his mum Grace about a year later. His funeral is next week on December 19. Gordon was the oldest of the family on mu dad's side. I am glad that we met in September at the unveiling of the family memorial, which was a good family get together. I also saw him in hospital. We had a great two hour chat about rugby, politics, religion - all the important things in life. That was just a few days before he died, he was in fine form.
May he rest in peace.

Do I want to be a poet or an artist?

W H Auden, the famed English poet, the day started with a dose of Benzedrine; that is to say: speed. He then fuelled himself to work with coffee and cigs, before starting on the martinis at 6, following on with litres of vino, then popping a Seconal (a downer) at about 11, so he could sleep. Fitfully.
The painter Francis Bacon would have laughed at Auden’s puritan sobriety. He commenced work at the crack of dawn (and he worked hard) but by 11am he was ready to “socialise”. First a friend came over to splice a bottle of wine. Then he repaired to a Soho restaurant for a long boozy lunch, drank through the afternoon, before dining out, going to a nightclub, necking some more wine, moving onto spirits, then visiting a casino, then having another liquor-fuelled meal at a bistro, then popping some sleepers to help him snore away the grog.
It is reliably estimated Francis Bacon drank six bottles of wine a day. He also died at the age of 83, and created some of the most valuable paintings in history.


Not sure whether my constitution would stand it!