Chatfields' 2016 Christmas letter

December 2016

Dear all

 If we were Chinese, we might designate this year the year of the red-billed quelea, which we saw for the first time this month in South Africa. Month after month, for us and for the whole family, it’s been a year of new beginnings. Adrian retired from paid employment at Ridley Hall, we both moved to a new house (only the second we’ve ever owned), Michael and Helen moved from RAF Honington to RAF Odiham and new jobs, Dave started a new life as a self-employed electrician… Hannah spectacularly completed GCSEs and went into the Sixth Form (yikes!) and Charlotte completed her first year at secondary school. That leaves us with only one granddaughter in single digits.

Since we moved here to Ilkeston, we’ve kept work at bay, concentrating on getting to know a new though very familiar neck of the woods. Il’son is just over the Derbyshire border from Stapleford, where we used to live, but we remain within ¼ mile of the same river Erewash, albeit on the rive droite. We’re nearer to Derby than to Nottingham, but Nottingham will probably always feel like the home city. This whole valley is part of the old coalfield area, and both of us have mining in the blood. The starkest contrast lies in moving from the top 10% of wards in the country to the bottom 1%, and it shows.

Much of the past five months has been spent away from home. We had a week with very good friends in Calderdale in early September, and Adrian was able to run his third fell marathon in Brontë country. Then we holidayed with Jill’s sister Lynda and husband in the Cotswolds near Evesham, while Lynda recovered from a broken kneecap. The post-retirement bash was five weeks in South Africa camping, first in Kruger, then in Stellenbosch and finally in the wonderfully named Camdeboo (sounds like something from Puss in Boots), in temperatures between 24̊ and 42̊ C. Highlights included seeing all the Big Five on the same day and spotting 155 bird species.

We spend a lot of our time at the moment looking forward. 2017 was going to be the year in which we identified a church we could be associated with, but that’s now been postponed, as we shall be helping out in a city centre church where the vicar will shortly be off for surgery. That will take us up to Easter, and then we will have to think and pray again. Jill is in the process of exploring and training for voluntary hospital chaplaincy at Queen’s Medical Centre. When he is not walking with Jill, running or cycling, Adrian continues to give spiritual direction, supervise theses, and speak at occasional retreats.

It goes without saying that if you are ever in the area, and would like to stop over for coffee or tea, or even have a bed overnight, you’d be very welcome. Please get in touch!

Thank you to all of you who in different ways have sent us your news: we really appreciate keeping in touch, and value your friendship and care. Our prayer for you and all our friends is that in the midst of a dark and uncertain world, you find the peace of Christ, hope for the future and the strength to face all that life brings.

Adrian and Jill