Family Visits And A Late Ruby Wedding Celebration

After having all the grandchildren together for the very first time two weeks ago, things seemed extremely quiet for a few days. 

Paul, Catherine and Teddy were back in Rochester.

And Sarah, Duncan, Rose and Melody were in France meeting their favourite Disney characters at Disneyland Paris. They had a fabulous break and came back to Framlingham on Friday evening for a weekend stopover before catching the train back to Scotland.

Our dining room table is rarely full so it was good to be able to cook an excellent beef joint from Hall Farm butchers in Framlingham for Sunday dinner. I took the family back to Ipswich Station on Monday morning and all was quiet again. It will be some time before the house is filled with the noise of children - millions of grandparents are in the same boat nowadays as families are spread across the country (and the world). At least we've got Skype.

With the family safely back in Scotland it was time to catch up on a bit of gardening. After feeding and top dressing the lawn last autumn it was almost perfect this summer so we've scarified, forked and fed it again. The last touch was the top dressing. We brushed fifteen bags of it into the front and back lawns and are looking forward to more lush green grass next summer. It was supplied by a company called Pitchcare - highly recommended.

Last night we went up to Framlingham College for another of FramSoc's regular talks. Documentary makers Min Clough and Todd Austin recently moved from London to Suffolk where they now operate their independent documentary production company Bohemia Films. They treated us to a fascinating evening of insights into the world of documentary making and included plenty of clips from their work including their BAFTA winning Lager, Mum and Me (above). It was a brilliant event that captivated the audience who bombarded the couple with question after question until MC Tony Lawrence had to call a halt to proceedings while hands were still raised, pointing out that Min and Todd had an early appointment in London in the morning.

We've not had a holiday this year (I know that every day's a holiday when you're retired) so we're changing that and are heading up north to Ullswater this weekend for a week in an award winning self catering house. This is the view we are looking forward to enjoying. Six of our friends are joining us at the weekend for a belated celebration of our Ruby Anniversary. They're leaving on Sunday and early in the week so we'll be rattling around for a few days. Ullswater should be beautiful at this time of year.

This week's detecting news. I finally took the huge boxful of lead that I've accumulated over the years to a scrap metal merchant. There was over 31 kilos and they paid me £33 for it. I didn't find a great deal this week but did find a fairly rare coin (see below)

This silver penny was minted in Calais c1430. The monarch is Henry VI (Another flattering medieval portrait).

I found two more Charles I Rose Farthings

I find scores of buttons. Most are of little interest but I liked this one. It reads FRAMINGHAM LOYAL VOLUNTEERS CHURCH AND KING. In  a blog in June 2014 I mentioned another find of  one of these buttons from this group of home guard militia which was established in Fram in 1798. This one is in much better condition with more of the tinning intact.