Jill and Adrian Chatfield's 2019 news

2019 was the year Adrian turned 70! We went to Prague and Budapest in March to celebrate, continuing the tradition of exploring new European cities. It was slightly marred by Jill tripping and falling on a very uneven pavement in Prague, and she was blue-lighted to the University Hospital. Two and a half hours later, she had received CT scan and emergency treatment, and we were back out on the pavement. Very impressed, not least by the ambulance equipped with a card machine for payment.

Adrian had always wanted to be listed as a MV70, male veteran for the uninitiated. So he ran the Edinburgh Marathon for the Alzheimer's Society in May, and then his usual Yorkshireman Fell Marathon in September. Both were harder work, no doubt because of the new decade. He keeps thinking that it's time to reduce to half marathons, but time will tell. 

Continuing on the theme of time away from home, we actually spent twelve weeks out and about. In January we were delighted and privileged to hold the fort in six rural churches in County Donegal for a good friend. Visiting Derry/Londonderry for the first time made us more than ever aware of just how complex politics is, and what a mess the Brexit negotiations have made of the Good Friday Agreement. We missed a car bomb by one day, but the thing that will stay with us is wonderful Irish hospitality, some very moving opportunities for ministry and lots of exploring. A Friday night's healing service at Malin, attended by Anglicans, Presbyterians and Catholics was for
us the highlight, not least because everyone came forward for prayer.

The centrepiece of our caravanning was five weeks in France, which took us to Amiens, the Loire (Checy), Orleans, Vezelay, Chambery and Bourg-St-Maurice. We are not now able to do as much steep walking as formerly, but a mixture of art galleries, country walks and the occasional foray into the foothills is deeply satisfying.

When we are not playing, we keep ourselves pretty busy. Adrian gives spiritual direction and speaks at a number of retreats. Jill does voluntary chaplaincy in the Emergency Department at Queen's Medical Centre once a week and occasional bank chaplaincy at Queen's and City Hospitals, and we both help out in our local church: St Laurence Heanor. Adrian's second ever book came out in September, co-authored with a former student. 'Soul Friendship: A Practical Theology of Spiritual Direction' seems to have been well-received by people whose opinion we trust.

For those who know our wider family, Michael is now a Chaplain in the Royal Navy, having moved from the RAF and Helen continues with Youth and Children's work in a multi-parish benefice in rural Hampshire. Rachel and Dave are settled in Occupational Therapy and Electrical Services respectively. Our four granddaughters are now 19, 17, 15 and 12. That's what makes us feel really old, but we are delighted that Hannah (19) has come to the University of Nottingham to read Global Issues and International Affairs, so we are really enjoying getting to know her as an adult.

We're writing this in the tradition of the 'Christmas letter' and are grateful that we get news back from so many of our friends. But we are intensely aware, writing this in the week of the third General Election, that we live in unpredictable, politically foolish and troubling times. So our prayer for all our family and friends is  that you may find peace in the midst of uncertainty, hope among deeply conflicted proposals for the future, and - if you are a Christian - enduring faith in Jesus, our Lord and Saviour.