111% IN THE SHADE OF THE BLADE - AND THE SHADOW OF THE GUN

Talked The Walk to Reading U3A on Monday, at a church which stands virtually next to The Blade - the tallest building in Reading.

Raised nearly £200 and spread some awareness for Pancreatic Cancer UK.

I have now raised 111% of my fundraising target and am still over 2 years early.

We travelled south on Saturday and spent the weekend with our good friends the Kings. In keeping with this royal theme we took a trip over to Windsor on Sunday. This place was very crowded with tourists, more than usual lured out by an untypically warm day. It was also rather alarming - one doesn't really expect to see machine guns in the street in UK (at one point I was within a few yards of four machine gun-toting police). It could never happen here, they used to say!

TWO FOR THE PRICE OF ONE

ON A HILL FAR AWAY STOOD A ...?

If my mother were still alive she would have continued with "... An Old Rugged Cross" - one of her favourite songs, and one played at her funeral.

But last Tuesday Gay and I travelled to The Hut on the Hill, at Parbold, to give a talk to Parbold U3A. This went down very well. The audience seemed to find it very entertaining, I autographed several books, and funds were raised for Pancreatic Cancer UK.

We just had time for tea and a tabnab at a lovely cafe in the village before we had to travel across to Blackburn, the land of my father, to give a similar talk (no two talks are exactly the same but they are all about my 70-day walk from SW France to NW England) to the recently formed and very go-ahead Blackburn Bees WI branch. We were enthusiastically received there as well.

For the day's work, we raised £300 for the vital work of PCUK, had a great time, met some lovely people, and hopefully entertained them for a couple of hours. They said we did, anyway.

Yes, we can come to you also. Just holler!