Just thought I'd better give you an update on the family news, granny has come out of hospital and is doing ok. She is getting on but needs constant care and watching over, she is very strong but I think all this trouble with her heart and hospital stays has really worried her, she is a lot more anxious and is not eating much. She did manage a trip round here today which was nice and she stayed for about an hour, so I'm glad she got out for a bit. Also my little sister Georgie is getting on well, her arm is still in a sling and is going to take some time to heal properly but she is not in so much pain now :) I now have all my children living back at home, which is going really well - as is all the food! - and today it's my eldest daughter, Sophie's 18th birthday - now I feel old! She off out tonight, we all had a lovely birthday breakfast and a little lunch time party with the family popping in and out. I can't believe my little girl is has now grown up :)

Yesterday was just a crazy day. My son Iain is here to visit and he and his sister Sophie made a brilliant tea for us all which was lovely :) My mum then phoned to say that granny was having another heart attack and she was following the ambalance up to the hospital. Just as I got of the phone from mum, my little sisters (Georgina) friend phoned me saying Georgie had fallen of her bike up near Netherhall School - just round the corner from my grannies - and there was all this crying and yells in the background, I didn't have my car as it's in getting work done for it's MOT retest today but luckily my other sister Suzanne was close by so she flew up to where Georgie was, rang me and said she'd called an ambalance for Georgie as she couldn't get up. I then phoned the family so everyone knew what was happening - mum said that granny was in one bed in A & E and Georgie was in the Opposite bed! Poor granny has had to stay in, so we are just waiting on news and my poor little sis had really badly broken her collar bone. She is at home now with  my mum, resting on the sofa but it must be really really painful, she has only got a sling because they can't put plaster there, so she'll have to just lay still for a while. I'll go and visit granny and Georgie later once Iain gets here, Georgie will get spoilt :) I hope my poor lovely granny won't suffer in any way, it's a very testing and emotional time for us all at the moment.

Poor granny has been back in hospital but she should be out today. She's amazing, she just keeps fighting and is made of strong stuff! Along with my sisters new little baby, granny now has yet another great great grandchild as my 2nd cousin Liam Toller has just had a baby. It's amazing how many peoples lives granny has affected and help make :)
I am still juggling being a mum and working, summer holidays are always a challenge! I have been teaching Charlotte (my 8yr old) to knit, we can only do little stright lines but it is a bit of fun. Sophie (my 17yr old) moved back home last week which is great but poor thing, she can't unpack properly yet as the bedroom she is going to have, the plaster fell off of the walls! the council should be coming to fix it on the 31st and then she can get sorted. In the mean time the house has been a muddle what with the old fireplace and boiler being taken out and a new combi boiler being fitted in our bedroom, the phone and internet wire coming off the wall outside - which has just been fixed today and Iain (my 16yr old) due homw next week!!! Life can certainly be interesting! Little puppy Willow is doing great, she had her micro-chip put in yesterday and we are taking her to puppy training classes at the weekend :) In between all that I have finished off my War Ditches work, done several wedding makeup jobs and been busy with other work. More updates will follow later so keep an eye out!

I've had a very busy couple of weeks and haven't had the chance to get on here to do my blog ! Summer holidays have started and Charlotte went along to the Holiday Club run by the Churches in Cherry Hinton last week, in the mornings. She had a great time and we got to go to a lovely fun fair, parents show on evening :) Poor granny is still very ill and the family are having to do shifts looking after her, it has been really really hard, especially seeing her when she isn't thinking clearly, it can be very distressing, I hope she gets more better days and things sort out a more :(
Well, one week of summer holidays done only 5 more to go! Will have to go for more picnics and walks, which will be easier now that little puppy has had her injections and can go out as of Friday and I've almost finished writing up War Ditches research :)
So, what else has been happening....
On Saturday 24th July we had the Cherry Hinton Community Groups Fair which was hosted by The Friends of Cherry Hinton Hall and showcased all different kinds of groups and clubs in the local area. It was a great chance to meet each other and find out what things are going on in and around Cherry Hinton.
We had a packed afternoon of displays and demos by some of the groups and then The Friends of Cherry Hinton Hall had its new logo unveiled by the Mayor. We had got local school children to enter a competition to design the logo and had choosen a winner at our last meeting. There was a lovely bit in the paper about it last week and the Mayor spent some time with me finding out all about CCAN and looking at the Cherry Hinton CCAN :)

After a really busy and intense week working hard on finishing off War Ditches history, fiting in makeovers and coping with lots of family stuff, especially my lovely granny who is still in hospital I managed to get a llittle break at the weekend. I went to London on saturday afternoon with Russ, we stayed in a hotel right next to the Tower of London and in the evening we went to Somerset House on The Strand to see one of my favorite musicians - Neil Hannon of Divine Comedy doing a solo Divine Comedy live show. It was fantastic, the music and performance was just brilliant topped off by the lovely surroundings of the great courtyard of Somerset house which was all lit up pretty :) We drunk Pimms and took some nice pictures. The next day we got buses down to Knightsbridge and went to Harrods where we looked at the little puppies in Pet Kingdom and I brought some Hello Kitty things for my girls from the Toy Land. We then walked round all of the food halls and brought some chocolates to bring home for the kids - We only got 8 single truffles and I won't tell you just how much they cost!!! I nearly fell over! ;) We stopped off at Trafalgar Square on the way back to the train station and got some lunch, it was such a nice warm summers day, I really, really needed that :)

Last weekend I had a great time finally getting the bike out and heading off into Cambridge with Russ, we biked to Parkers Piece and spent some time walking around the great stalls that were out for the 'Big Weekend', we went on the French Market and got to visit the Doctor Who exhibits in the Radio Cambs tent. We then biked down Hills Road to St Paul's Church where we did some exploring of 'New Town', we took some fantastic photos which will be appearing in Michelle's Archive and CCAN with attached stories shortly. We had a look down Russell Street where my granny lived and went to school, I have some great audio clips of her describing her childhood there, one of which I have already added to Michelle's Archives for you to listen to :) It was strange as just as we were walking about this area where my granny was born I had a phone call from my aunt to tell me that granny had had a heart attack and was back in Addenbrookes :( So the whole family has been up and down the hospital every day since to visit her, it's been really hard as she has been quite ill and it has been horrible to see but she may now be allowed to come home - it's been just over a week - even though it seems longer.
After that phone call me and Russ stopped off on our bike ride home to Cherry Hinton at the Cambridge Botanical Gardens and had a pleasant walk around and took more nice pictures. We then biked back to Cherry Hinton along the length of Cherry Hinton Road. Once home I found I had the most amazing T-Shirt tan and a bright red sunburnt face! Luckily it wasn't too bad and didn't get too sore. I have been so busy this last week with finishing the big research project about the War Ditches Hill Fort and with family stuff that I haven't updated much on here but School Summer Holidays start in 3 days time and I will have finished any outstanding jobs ready to spend quality time with my kids and to be able to start adding my thousands of great archives to Michelle's Archives and CCAN :)
I then had another phone call later that day to say that my sister, Lynsey, had had her baby at the Rosie Hospital at Addenbrookes!!! So I have another little neice! Later that week granny was strong enough to be wheeled to the family room in the ward she is on to see her new little great grandchild - another one of many :) It was a very moving time, granny didn't think she would get to see the baby so it was so lovely, granny has always loved babies.

Busy as ever! What a weekend, on Friday I did a prom makeover in Cherry Hinton and then did a bridal pamper party in Godmanchester which was all lovely.
A word of warning... if you ever have to take your child to ballet exams, be prepared! You will need food, drink, entertainment and to keep calm. Charlotte had her ballet exams this weekend and they are spead out over the whole weekend so that there is no point going home in between exams, the place is filled with stressed out, hot parents and a formidable but wonderful principle! :)  it wasn't that bad really but it was a lot of waiting about and the hot weather didn't help when everyone was stuck inside for hours and hours. The examiner is very strict and presentation is everything, so the fumes from cans of hairspay abounded. Charlotte did very well, she thinks, we don't get results until the end of September but fingers crossed and she should have her grade 3 now. Now exams are over, the rehersals for the Jan 2011 show begin!
In between that I got out on Saturday morning to give a guided tour of Cherry Hinton Hall for the Cambridge Antiquarian Society, which Tony Kirby had organised. We had a good walk around and I pointed out and explained the features in the grounds from the prehistoric archaeology to the Victorian parkland. We even made a quick trip out of the site up the road to Giants Grave which is the large natural spring pool opposite the Robin Hood Pub in Cherry Hinton.
Saturday evening we popped over to Ely to my lovely friends, Emma and Rob, for their house warming which was great. I love Ely, I used to live there many years ago.
My son was here to visit for the weekend  too, so Sunday - in between ballet exams- we had a great BBQ in the garden and Russ even brought the TV out into the garden so we could watch the England match (no comment on that!).
Yesterday I went to my grannies to sit with her for a couple of hours, then I totally skived off of work and went into the town and spent some money on myself :) haha, it was brilliant! I haven't done that in ages, I was a total girl, I brought some clothes, false nails and false eyelashes, got a bit of makeup and some hair stuff then I came home and gave myself a haircut and stuck on my false nails and eyelashes (I can hardly type now). That was well needed.
Then in the evening, last night, I went and gave a lecture on local archaeology and history to Cherry Hinton Local History Society, it was a great evening and I had a suprise visitor along, Barry Fuller, from the Cambridge Archaeology Field Group - he had been involved with CHLHS 25 years ago and is a great friend of mine, he'd been trying to get the chance to come along for the last year and had finally made it, so it turned out to be a great evening all round :)
I must now finish off the War Ditches work I have been doing and have a week free of appointments to get it done, wish me luck!

It's been a busy week so far. I've been busy working on History Pin, promotion and the amazing plans we have for Cambridgeshire and History Pin. I will keep you posted here on developments. Monday kids went back to school after the half term break, so I have been using most of the time during the day to write up the background history for the War Ditches (Iron Age Hillfort site), still a bit more to do but I'm almost done, there be a good bit about that project on here when I've finished the write up. Monday night I had the Cambridge Antiquarian Council meeting to go to, which was at the Sedgewick site at the Backs in Cambridge. Closely followed by the lecture there on 'War Ditches' given by my collegues Richard Mortimer & Alex Pickstone. Then I went for a nice drink with Proff. Nick James at The Granta by the Cambridge mill pond.
Tuesday morning I chaired the Cherry Hinton Local History Society committee meeting, we got lots of great stuff sorted out. Again a lovely committee to work with and all so supportive and friendly which always makes the difference because I hear some dreadful tales about some committees! One of my friends says she will write a book on committee's one day!
In between that I have popped up to see my granny in the hospital - she's getting along ok and may well be out of hospital today x
Tuesday night it was the Cherry Hinton Community Archives group meeting at Jon's house - another lovely set of people - Jon always produces a cake he has made! We had a lot to discuss as we are now all working in conjunction with History Pin and there's a lot in the pipeline.
Yesterday I went to a lovely village near Huntingdon called Hilton to do a  bridal makeup trial. This morning I am going to get on with finishing War Ditches and I am really looking forward to tomorrow as it's my birthday :) I haven't any plans yet, my son is coming down from Shrewsbury for the weekend and my sister is coming over in the afternoon, I'm just gonna chill out and not work for a day! ;)  m x