Movember - Prostate Cancer Awareness Month

What disease affects 1 man in 6? Prostate Cancer
I'm joining the growing club of modern gentlemen who believe in the virtues of fine moustachery, immaculate grooming and growing a moustache for Movember. I am looking for like-minded ladies and gentlemen to join my team to change the face of men's health.
Movember is about raising funds and awareness for men's health, specifically prostate cancer. Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men. One man dies every hour from the disease in the UK.
It's time we did something about this.
The more people we get on board, the more lives we can impact. I am asking you to join the team and either grow a moustache as a Mo Bro or as a Mo Sista to help us on our journey.
The rules are simple, you are cleanly shaven on 1st November and you have 30 days to grow a Mo and raise cash for charity. I think especially those who already have facial hair should join, shave, and grow a Mo.

Clean shaven at start of the month

If you would like to donate please click here and then follow the steps

If you would like to join my Movember team click here  and follow the steps. Once registered you'll be sent all the information you need to raise funds and start growing as part of our Movember team.

To see the impact Movember citizens are already making, click here.

Also, a few FAQ’s
•      Yes Julia doesn’t like me growing a Mo either, so isn’t that even more reason to participate and raise funds for a fantastic charity
•      I need you Mo Sista’s now to encourage the men to join in, and later to help and encourage. So no worries you don’t need to grow anything
•      The team name I’m a member of on the public register on the UK Movember website is ‘The Authority & Co’ – I’m doing this with some work colleagues. 

I hope you join / support me to change the face of men's health and have a bit of fun along the way.

Memorial to a Frenchman

Last weekend we met up with a couple of old college friends of mine John and Martin together with Maria and Julia their "better halves". Regular readers of this Blog (are there any?) will recall that we meet up two/three times a year. This time it was the turn for us to meet up in the Bromley area. We went for lunch at "The Thai" Chislehurst; excellent food albeit service was a tad slow. Still we had a good time and will happily go back there again.
After lunch we went for a walk around Chislehurst Common and the duck ponds.

Further on the walk we came to a rare site in England, a memorial to a Frenchman and a royal one at that! Napoleon III and Empress Eugine, who were exiled to Chislehurst, and made Camden Place their temporary residence. The Emperor and Empress soon established a varied social life at Camden Place (now Chislehurst Golf Club) and entertained much royalty and nobility there. The Emperor and Empress' only child, Louis, Prince Imperial, was also residing in Chislehurst, although he was stationed at the Royal Woolwich Military Academy as an officer cadet in 1872. He went with the British Army to South Africa nd fought in the Zulu Wars when his party was ambushed at the Umbanzi River. The people of Chislehurst erected this memorial to him.

It was not all history on the walk, we did see some interesting funghi

Then it was back to Mellish Mansions for tea and cake before our friends departed for home.

Family Matters

We called in and saw my last remaining uncle and aunt; Gordon and Grace who live in Worthing. They are 98 and 96 respectively and have now been married for over 71 years, some achievement! They are both OKish although not quite as sprightly as they were; hardly surprising really to say the least. We had a good chat with them and spent a happy hour or so with them.
The other recent family event was the double birthday celebration of my cousin John and his wife Anni. It was a great bash with some 60 plus family members there.

After we had chatted, ate and drunk our fair share (or even more than our fair share) their children gave a life history with photos. They then said that as Anni was Austrian they had a surprise for them; some dancers came in doing the Viennese Waltz. There was a sudden cry from Anni when she recognized the masked dancers as her two sisters, husbands plus two children who had flown from Austria for the party.

To say that Anni and John were delighted is the understatement of the year. Quite a party!