As the snow has now properly reached Anglesey, such that I am not able to go to work, I can finally put finger to keyboard and get the Christmas letter written, sent in Christmas cards AND posted on the blog. Since I started writing this last week, we’ve had 20cms of snow on Anglesey, a place where we never get snow because we’re too close to the sea! There was even snow on the beach right up to the waterline and glorious clear blue skies to go with it. We have even been out on cross-country skis (hopefully I will post some photos to go with this) and I had a very brief go but had to resist properly, having only just had new joints this year! Temperatures went as slow as -14 degrees 2 days ago, as well! Apparently Lapland (where a colleague has just been) was only -15. And we had more snow last night (21st) to add to what’s still there. Roads are less clear this time round but the sun is shining. In fact the only day it wasn’t clear skies was the night of the eclipse of the moon - typical.


This year has been somewhat dominated by my operations – new hip in January followed 6 months later by a (2nd) new knee in August. I have recovered well and quickly from both but realise that the knee will take a while longer before it truly feels natural and pain-free. Paul, as ever, has been a wonderful nursemaid – I don’t know how other patients manage without one to cosset, feed and boost flagging morale. He will no doubt be relieved that I have no plans to repeat the experiences for a very long time.

It was very sad for all the Griffiths that Paul’s Mum died in May after a few difficult weeks in hospital. We did however give her the most wonderful send-off in a cardboard coffin decorated with bluebells, something that Kate had arranged, much to everyone’s surprise. The secular and very personal service was equally appropriate and would have raised a smile for the guest of honour had she been there. In September, we had a second gathering in Dolgellau to scatter the ashes on Granny Wales’ mountain behind her old house in Dinas Mawddwy. My unintended choice of eccentric house and owners was thought very apposite and reminded us all of Granny’s home in Wales.

Some other significant news of the year is that James has been in Suzhou, China (near Shanghai) since July on a working exchange programme organised by Liverpool University. He is having a great time out there, slightly tempered by the fact that the company he is working for, have hardly any work for him to do as their Graphics Designer. Unfortunately, it seems to have confirmed his determination to avoid working for a living, his ambition now being to marry a doctor and become a writer! Meanwhile, he is learning Mandarin and enjoying the company of new friends.  He was relieved to find Suzhou is commercially astute enough to have Christmas trimmings even if the Chinese take no time off. He is going to Hong Kong for New Year to meet up with a Uni friend to enjoy more festive times. We meanwhile hope to not feel his absence too much for our own celebrations at home. Assuming everything goes to plan, he returns early summer to embark on his final year of Law.

Emma’s news is that she has landed herself the perfect job with Conwy council, working as a social worker for the Flying Start project (similar to SureStart) in a preventative role with families of 0-4 year olds.  Both she and Rich now work for Conwy and have dallied with the idea of buying a house along the coast but I think most recently are feeling that they would prefer to commute and live on or near Anglesey.  In the meanwhile, we are lucky to continue to have them as very well behaved tenants in our house in Menai Bridge.

Paul (and I but to a lesser extent) has been very busy getting the old dairy ready to let out for holiday lets (www.stickcottage.co.uk) and we have had a very satisfying first season with reassuring feedback and plenty of happy customers.  We are gearing up to a couple coming over Christmas, which will be fun and then hope to have lots of bookings pouring in for 2011.  Indeed, we have found it works so well that we are now planning long-term to move to Menai Bridge and let out Tyn Rardd as a second holiday house.  

Anglesey Stick in festive mood

Paul’s paddle-making business continues to attract customers but he is frustrated that his new product, the Anglesey Wobbler, has not had more appeal as a Christmas present.  He has decided to make another strip cedar deck sea-kayak in the hopes of promoting it at shows next year.  And when he isn’t earning money in all these numerous ways, he has been dividing off our building plot which, despite being on the market for 6 months, has not had a peep of interest.  We are now delineating the boundaries, in the hopes that prospective buyers will see more clearly what they are getting for their money.  Meanwhile I am propagating 50+ cuttings to grow a hedge next spring along the boundary fence. 

As for me, in between operations, I have been building websites and doing all things admin and marketing for the various strands of our businesses.  And when I can, I have been working as a relief secretary at the hospital.  I am currently working in Paediatrics, which is a very nice department.  My advocacy work also continues as occasional evening work as well, something I much enjoy.

Isabelle, James, Paul, Phoebe, Dad, Rich
Emma, Catherine, Mum

Mum and Dad continue to be remarkably healthy and thoroughly enjoy all the company they can get.  Dad has made an amazing recovery since summer 2009 and if it weren’t for his crumbling back and eyesight, he would be fitter than the rest of us.  He has gone from double carers twice a day to one carer 3 times a week. He is limited with his mobility but still makes himself do lengths up and down the ‘promenade’ using the wheelie-walker that social services have supplied, amongst many other aids.  We have been so impressed with the level of NHS community care poured on them and have been very fortunate to find a care agency with exceptional staff, who cannot do enough for my parents.  It is a great relief for us and Mum to have this reliable backup.  Christmas last year at their house went amazingly well and really was very special, even though the village was buried under thick ice and snow.  Mum was completely relaxed about other people taking over her kitchen and we even managed to organise the dining table to make a comfortable festive dinner at one end of their ‘bedroom’.  Some of us joined the annual Christmas Eve torchlight procession and carol singing round a bonfire, which is now attended by literally thousands of people and is great fun.  Isabelle and Phoebe seemed pleased to have family with whom to spend Christmas and even managed a Skype call to Charles and Liz in Australia (courtesy of the neighbour’s wi-fi!).

Emma, Shasha, Oliver

Mum and Dad have been so fit in recent months that they even made it to a wonderful family party in early December to welcome my nephew, Oliver’s wife, Shasha, into the family.  You may remember from last year’s letter that this was one of the many weddings of 2009 and this was the first time Shasha had left China.  We were all thrilled and impressed at how acclimatised and relaxed she was surrounded by 50 guests, all clamouring to meet her.  Charles and Liz laid on a lovely do in a local hall, decked out with winter greenery and even a huge real Christmas tree.  This will be the first Christmas for many years that C+L have had all their family together again and Isabelle and Phoebe are no longer orphaned.

Holidays didn’t feature greatly this year, what with operations and being new to cottage letting, but we did manage a short break (courtesy of Tesco Clubcard) in Buxton, staying in the grand Palace Hotel in town.  Thanks to my brazen ways, we managed to get upgraded to one of their premium rooms with a glorious view over the town towards the hills and free drinks, as I had the temerity to point out things were not quite up to scratch!  As a result we thoroughly enjoyed the luxury and revisited our favourite haunts in Derbyshire.  Emma and Rich managed to get to Gentle Jane again this year and even visited Ted in Kent too, putting Paul and I to shame for not having made the trip down to that corner of England in a very long while.  Needless to say, I have managed only one kayaking trip between operations but Paul, Emma and Rich have enjoyed as many as they can fit in around working for a living, the most recent being in November (brhhh) when our friend Rod was over from Milos.

Happy Christmas from Emma, Rich,
Catherine and Paul

I do hope you all have a good Christmas and happy New Year (in spite of the gloomy predictions of this sorry government).  Remember to enjoy the snow too!  With love from Catherine and all the Griffiths of Anglesey.

Monk News December 2010

Read all about it! 
Andrew Monk family branch news available at link below. 
When you get there ignore the unrealistically young looking photo and scroll down to the very end of the page. Click on the link to download.

            http://www-users.york.ac.uk/~am1/

Bangkok et le Laos Mars 2010

I just got back from Bangkok and Laos . I stayed with a nephew in Bangkok,he has been working there for 20 years so I had a good guide. It's an amazing city,a contrast between ulta modern skyscrapers and poor areas and all very active and busy. I loved the boat rides on the "water taxi" and on the Chao Phraya river, not to mention Chinatown at night, the splendid Wats, the little markets eveywhere and the weather!

Then François joined me and we left for a tour in Laos. We had an exciting time going down the Mekong for 2 days.

There wasn't enough water on the first day for a proper boat so we took a "speed boat",a canoe propelled by a car engine and canisters of gaz and skimmed along. The second day we had a "traditional boat",a sort of barge for the two of us and our guide and had a lovely 10 hr sail to Luang Prabang.

Luang Prabang is a nice quiet town,interesting temples,good markets,friendly people.

The thing is you are in a thin smoky atmosphere all the time because of the fields being burnt before planting at the rainy season. Great patches of mountain are logged and burnt every year. Not good for views!

Then on to Vang Vieng across mountains on a very twisty road. Vang Vieng was full of stoned young americans with painted legs who go there to do rafting and tubbing and who watch "Friends" in the bars! Very strange!

And finally the capital Vientiane,also beautiful temples and people with an attitude as every good capital should have.

Now we are back in Paris in the cold and damp as I expect you all are too.

Charles Monk - family intro

Hi Monks etc

This is Charles [Charlie] Monk, eldest son of James and Diana. As already pointed out by my sister Catherine in her entry I am: “(b.1952), married to Liz
Children: Oliver (b.1982), Isabelle (b.1985), Phoebe (b.1987)”.

Liz and I are currently on a circuit of the globe for 8 months having decided not to wait until retirement age before we enjoy a bit of freedom and now that all our children have (for the moment) finished their full time education. We left UK at the end of Sept 2009 and have been spending the main part of the time based with Liz’s cousin in Castlemaine, Central Victoria, Australia, where we are now. If you want to see [much] more detail see www.monks-retreat.blogspot.com .

We started the trip with a visit to China where Oliver now has his first architecture job in Shanghai, currently one of the few places in the world where new architects are still needed. He worked there as a student in 2006 And met Shasha, kept up with her after he left, and went back when he qualified last year. Not long after that they decided to get married, 

so we were able to start our sabbatical by celebrating their wedding in the village where Shasha’s parents live. An amazing experience - also described in our blog. (http://monks-retreat.blogspot.com/2009/10/update-wedding-etc.html photos added later at http://monks-retreat.blogspot.com/2009/11/photos-oliver-and-shashas-wedding.html ).

We will be returning to UK via Vancouver amongst other places and are looking forward to meeting up with some of the MacLeod contingent in Salt Spring Island.

Liz and I were previously living near Eastleigh, Hampshire where I am assured I still have a job to go back to in May as a project manager for a Siemens r&d centre, dealing mainly with communications systems and equipment development. Liz was working as a carer in the community, but would like to get back to more artistic or creative activities when we return. We have rented out our house while we are travelling and plan to rent a smaller place nearer to where I work near Romsey when we get back, preferably with more of a community nearby.

Isabelle (left) has just completed an MA in human rights and is now doing internships in London which will hopefully lead to full employment in due course. Phoebe (right) has just completed a degree in Philosophy and working in Wales whilst considering options for the future. It is hard for both the girls to be job seekers just at this time.

We look forward to hearing more about you all in due course.

This is Tim Monk, second son of Hugh and Anne, brother to Andrew and Simon, and father to Dave. As noted by Andrew, my wife of 37 years Fran and I now live on a 90 acre farm in Western Pennsylvania. We moved here in 1997 when Dave went off to University. We have 19 angora goats, one llama, six hens, one cat and two dogs. I still work at the University of Pittsburgh where I am Professor of Psychiatry, but fortunately can electronically commute much of the time. Here is a 34sec. movie of our Pennsylvania winter on the farm.

James Monk Family Tree

Here is a summary of my family, for those who have not been in touch with the James Monk branch of the family in recent years:

Catherine (b.1957), married to Paul Griffiths
Children: Emma (b.1984) and James (b.1988)

We have lived in southwest Anglesey for 22 years and have no plans to move!

My parents:

James Francis Monk (son of Frank and Beatrice) born 1915
Diana (née Bettington) born 1927

My siblings:

Nichola (b.1951), partner Rick
Children: Niall (b.1975), Naomi (b.1977), Ciara (b.1980)
Grandchildren (Niall’s): Sol (b.2004) and Asha (b.2007)

Nichola lives in Bangor, Northern Ireland

Charles (b.1952), married to Liz
Children: Oliver (b.1982), Isabelle (b.1985), Phoebe (b.1987)

Charles and Liz are currently travelling the world on sabbatical – see their blog: www.monks-retreat.blogspot.com

Rowly (b.1962), married to Chris
Children: Daniel (b.1992), Alastair (b.1995), Elise (b.2000)

Rowly and family live in Bristol

News from Catherine Griffiths

Here is an amended and updated version of my annual Christmas letter, which I normally punish close relatives with!! 2009 has been quite a momentous year for our family, the spectacular highlight being our daughter, Emma and Rich’s wedding in September, which surpassed all our hopes, considerably assisted by the hot weekend that Emma managed to arrange (in spite of the disastrous summer). This was fairly important as they held their ceremony on our local beach on Anglesey, surrounded by their 150 guests. The readings and vows were beautiful and made the whole event very special. Smaller guests happily built sand-castles and paddled while the boring bits went on. Needless to say, we caused quite a stir amongst the holiday-makers on the beach. The rest of the celebrations took place over the weekend at a very comfortable Outdoor Centre, where the Monks and Griffiths stayed, and younger friends and Hughes cousins (Rich’s family) camped in the grounds. We were entertained by some excellent speeches, good food, drink and disco – and most satisfying of all, E+R managed it all on a shoestring (including a beautiful wedding dress from eBay!) and yet nothing was lacking. It was especially nice to have time to catch up with friends and relatives and actually enjoy the wedding at last, having found the preparation just a wee bit stressful… There was also a certain sea-kayaking theme to the wedding, with a cake that I made in the shape of a kayak, to complement the strip-cedar double kayak that Paul made them as a wedding present. On the Monday, we took the kayak for its maiden voyage, with Emma wearing her tiara!

This has been quite a year for weddings in the James Monk part of the family, with two of my nephews also getting married: Oliver and Shasha in China, Niall and Shima in N. Ireland. Both have since had wedding parties to enable family and friends to join in the celebrations. N+S had a lovely event in Bangor and also arranged good weather for the whole weekend. Needless to say, only Oliver’s immediate family managed to get to the traditional wedding party held in Shasha’s family village, but we have all enjoyed the fascinating photos and descriptions. Charles and Liz have since been continuing their sabbatical world tour and are currently in Australia.

The other significant episode of the year has been my father (aged 94), James’s precipitous decline in health, resulting in a worrying stay on a cardiology ward just before E+R’s wedding, escape back home after 11 days with carers set up as a way of both helping Mum (Diana, aged 82) and reassuring us children that they could manage. Luckily, we have been able to convert the dining-room to a very comfortable bedroom for them both, even fitting in an invaluable hospital bed. Poor Dad has had a real roller-coaster, healthwise and, in my opinion, very nearly perished for the second time thanks to lack of proper monitoring of his drugs post-hospital. Now with two fewer drugs in his daily cocktail, he is fairly mobile again and mentally as alert as ever. Interestingly, the more people I have mentioned this to, the more I hear similar stories of elderly relatives deteriorating as a result of over-enthusiastic blood pressure treatment. Mum’s life has been somewhat curtailed in her role as full-time carer but she remains remarkably cheerful and upbeat, especially as her Bell’s palsy seems to have become irreparable and her wet AMD is always a worry. Sadly, neither of them were able to get to Emma’s wedding, which was especially sad for Mum as she was so looking forward to it.

This year we took Christmas to my parents which proved even more successful than I hoped. Although we were 9 extra guests in total, including Isabelle and Phoebe, their lovely cottage in Goring stretched quite easily and Dad and Mum just thrived rather than wilted at having us all around, and Mum sensibly accepted the fact that Paul was taking over the kitchen and became a guest in her own house. It certainly made it a very special Christmas for them both, especially considering Dad wasn't expected to live that long.

What else have we been up to? Paul and I find ourselves working hard (harder?) yet not managing to reap a decent return for the effort. We remind ourselves that money is less important and enjoy the freedom of being home-based. P continues to sell wildlife recording software, bespoke systems and making Greenland paddles. We have decided to look to our land and buildings for generating income and so P has also been working on the old dairy to prepare it for letting to holidaying sea-kayakers next spring. And we now have a building plot in the garden with full planning permission, which we hope to sell next year. And all this with the long-term aim of eventually selling up and moving to Menai Bridge, which we feel will suit our desire for a Straits view and better community spirit. As a first step in this plan, we have sunk our retirement savings in a small terraced house with the requisite view which we are renting out initially… to Emma and Rich! They have both got themselves excellent local jobs (E with Women’s Aid, R with Conwy Council) since the wedding and are thrilled to be living back in Anglesey. They are now saving madly to buy a smallholding, so we hope to have them as tenants for quite some time! The bonus is that Paul now has a reliable sea-kayaking partner in Rich, as I tend to be a warm water paddler only!

Workwise, I have been enjoying temping this year as a way of boosting our income without the commitment to continuous work. As it’s worked out, it gave me the flexibility to go down to M+D when they most needed me. I have mostly been based at the local hospital, which has been an eye-opener seeing behind the scenes… My audio-typing skills are quite accomplished now and so far I have an extensive vocabulary in orthopaedics, genetics, substance misuse, family planning and oral surgery! I’ve also become a facilitator for self-advocacy groups of learning disabled adults, which I love and would like to do more – both advocacy and support work would appeal.

Meanwhile, I have been working up the courage for a second knee replacement operation, only to find that my hip has also deteriorated, such that I am having this done next week. I suppose this time next year I may be beginning to reap the benefits of healthy joints at last but I don’t much relish the months in between (and nor does Paul either, I’m sure).

And what about our son, James? Well, he has been thoroughly enjoying life as a Law student at Liverpool Uni and now has (pecuniary) ambitions to become a corporate solicitor, realising just in time that it will involve hard work and good results if he is to succeed. He is enjoying his house share with 3 very tidy (male) medics and has even started DJ-ing on the university radio station, which even we enjoy each week via the internet.

Depending on how much my siblings decide to contribute to this blog, I will adjust my news to include other members of the James Monk branch of the family in future, so hopefully it won’t be exclusively cousin Catherine news for you all!

Paris in the winter

I have now figured out how to send photos too! We don't have quite so much snow but it's a shambles anyway! I am rather proud of this photo of the Tuileries at dusk. love Jean

Much snow in York

North American cousins will be amused to read about the fuss we are making about the current cold snap in England. Here is a picture of Lottie in our back garden. We don't normally get snow in York (it falls on the hills around us - and then the river Ouse floods in York when it melts :) Note also that half an inch of snow is big news in England, so this really is much snow in York.
Andrew (son of Hugh)

Hello Monks et al

This is the Salt Spring South contingent of the Monk Blog, featuring Tony Macleod (b. 1949), son of Liza Monk Macleod.

As for family data, I'm married to Susan Thorpe Macleod (b. 1946), we have one son Ian Macleod (b.1984) who resides in Seattle, Washington.

Our home is on Salt Spring Island, BC, Canada, at 349 Roland Road, very near to Fulford Harbour where we have lived since 2004.

Previously we lived in Sandpoint, Idaho from 1977 until escaping the U.S. by moving back to Canada to help my aging parents and to fulfill a dream of retiring on the ocean (with reasonable health care).

For the last 3 years or so we have been remodeling our house and property, and thankfully that is now mostly completed allowing us to relax and enjoy the place. Now its just the regular endless household stuff.

Ian has been

working at Amazon.com as a developer for two years now and is living his dream as he puts it. All those long years at university becoming a computer engineer were worth it I guess as he's very happy to be living in a city as vibrant as Seattle, has made a bunch of good friends, and is eagerly awaiting a new office in the new Amazon buildings on Lake Union.

Susan and I will be escaping winter here by racing off in our subaru down the Oregon/California coast and over to Tucson, Arizona to see a huge mineral and fossil show there in mid Feb. Its been a dream of ours for decades to see the show, and will be visiting friends and relatives along the way for about a month

. Unfortunately we can only bring back 2 bottles of wine or the car would be clanking and sloshing all the way up the coast from napa valley! As it is, only WE shall be sloshing I'm afraid.

More later.

Jean Loncle

Hi everyone, I am Jean Loncle (ex MacLeod) daughter of Liza Monk and Bob MacLeod and wife of François Loncle.

We have three sons: André, born 1961,production manager; Olivier,born 1968; Thomas,born 1970,lawyer. We have two grandsons, sons of André and Faouzia: Tareq born 2000 and Miliani born 2005. André and Tareq both have Canadian citizenship and I am taking Tareq to Saltspring this summer to stay with his great aunt Jennifer and great uncle Tony for a first contact and english immersion. We are very excited about this trip,specially Tareq who is going to stay on for two weeks after I go back and come home alone!

I have been retired for a year and a half now and am thoroughly enjoying it. I am still working very part time as a psychologist in a "Maison Verte" a sort of day care center for small children, ages 0 to 4.

François is still an elected député (M.P.) until 2012 and works in Africa often for the foreign affairs commitee.

My sister Jennifer and my brother Tony both live on Saltspring Island in B.C. Canada. I am sure they will love to contribute to this family letter.


We live in Paris and I love it!