This weekend Clare and I were invited to The Seven Stars on the green at Marsh Baldon to celebrate Suze and Rob’s little girl Jasmine. It was a lovely afternoon, despite the imminent arrival of hurricane Bertha – we were in full sun! The occasion was held in a lovely converted barn just off the pub, with drinks and a buffet for all the guests… … Continue readingCelebrating Jasmine

Every summer, in the grounds of Highclere Castle (where the famous drama series Downton Abbey is filmed) a picnic concert called Battle Proms is hosted. You turn up with your own picnic – sit in a field and listen to a concert choreographed to an aerial display from a Spitfire, cannon fire, cavalry displays and fireworks! … Continue readingBattle Proms

Today we went with Polly to her friend Alfie’s 4th birthday party, where the theme was super hero’s! Polly decided to go dressed as Batman, with her own boots and cape to match!

After bouncing around on the bouncy-castle, they all played pass-the-parcel before tucking into some birthday cake!

Happy Birthday Alfie – here are some photos! … Continue readingAlfie’s 4th Birthday Party

This weekend Clare and I popped along to a fundraising concert organised by Oxford Operatic Society, for an evening of Christmas songs ‘Around the Christmas Tree’. Some really great singing and performances by our friends in the society – we came away feeling very Christmassy!

Here are some photos I took from the evening. Well done to all – and Merry Christmas! … Continue readingAround the Christmas Tree

On Sunday we were invited to Noah’s Dedication at the Trinity Church in Abingdon that his parents, Libby and Dave had organised. The Dedication formed part of the Sunday morning service, so all of the church’s regulars were treated to Noah’s infectious little laugh! He was having a great time.

After the service we all headed back to Dave and Libby’s for the afternoon, where little baby Erin and Sophie could be found trying to keep out the sun. Noah meanwhile got stuck into the rice crispy cakes… … Continue readingNoah’s Dedication

On what was probably the hottest day of the year, we all got together yesterday evening to celebrate Dave’s 40th – in the Cape of Good Hope in Oxford. The style of the evening was a ‘James Bond’ theme, with casino tables for us to play Black Jack and Roulette. A sensible decision not to have a poker table, our poker games go on for hours… … Continue readingDave’s 40th

Another one I’ve been meaning to post for a while – a group of us celebrated Stotty’s 40th birthday in a lovely house not far from Swansea in Wales last December. It was an amazing house, with a heated pool and a jacuzzi! On the Saturday evening, Stotty had organised a ‘Titanic’ evening, where we were given different characters to dress up as with different names. Most of them were far too rude to post on this blog… … Continue readingStotty’s 40th in Wales

This was the theme to Ed’s 30th birthday, where we were invited to attend in costumes depicting what we wanted to be when we grew up. There were plenty of pilots, train drivers, dancers, figure skaters – Andy Blagrove wins the award for best costume, a Stormtrooper… … Continue readingWhen I grow up I want to be…

A few photos from a Barbecue at the Malloy’s to celebrate Amy and Dave’s joint birthday weekend! Lots of photos of baby Noah too, who was passed around for the girls to have a cuddle, whilst us men did manly things – such as trying to keep the barbecue alight!

Of course, we succeeded – barbecues are what us men do best, aren’t they… … Continue readingAmy and Dave’s Birthday Barbecue

So I was flicking through some old albums last night and I found these! Photos from the OxOps Dinner Dance held last October (two weeks before our wedding – which is why they slipped through the net…)

There are some great photos in here… … Continue readingOxOps Dinner Dance