Last year felt as if it flew past. As the
blog title suggests, and with apologies to Oasis, ‘as my year slides away, don’t look
back in anger, you’ll hear me say’ - I thought it was a great year. In 2015, both W and I
reached the grand old age of 60. Over the last 12 months we have enjoyed a whole range
of 60th birthday celebration parties, starting with a huge outdoor one last May. That party had taken a year to plan and the only thing that wasn't perfect was the
weather, which right at the last moment decided to turn chilly and windy.
Two other members of the family were having significant birthdays during 2015 –
Emma who was 40 and Glenda who was 70, chose to celebrate with us in May. Our
eldest daughter Jennifer (who was also 40 in 2015, but who chose to keep this
fact to herself), had a small family celebration last week. Over a 100 people came to the May
birthday party and we had smaller events for other friends up here in Scotland.
If anyone wants a barely used Garden Marquee (in black, with church arch windows)
just let me know – I have one and I don’t expect to use it again.
Other things I didn't expect to do was to travel so often to Abu Dhabi last year. But due to the project
we have out there I found myself flying out there once a month for the Board
meeting. I did get to visit the splendour and quiet sacredness of the Grand
Mosque, a truly awe inspiring experience. At the other end of the spectrum,
I also spent a week in Uganda, visiting our students on clinical placements out
there. I found it very challenging to witness the often abject and endemic
poverty that appear to characterise so many people’s lives. However, there was examples of resilience to be seen and
the students and I were privileged to meet some of the most creative and
innovative people I had come across in while.
One of the other places I also
visited last year was Slovakia. I went there to celebrate the life of my long
term friend and colleague Alzbeta, who had died in 2012. It was a poignant
ceremony, but one I was very pleased to be asked to be part of. Later on in the year, and for the
first time in 8 years, I returned to Australia to take part in the International
Mental Health Nursing conference. It’s a conference that holds great
significance for me, both in terms of my professional development and
achievements and for personal reasons.
The last time I had been there
was immediately after my brother Christopher had died in 2007. Although his
death was sudden and not expected, he had struggled with poor health for a
large number of years. Sadly there were others in my life who had also
struggled with life shortening conditions. My thoughts are with the families of
Irene, Alex, Maureen, Pauline, Fraser, and Kevin, all of whom died during 2015.
At the last funeral, Kevin’s, just before Christmas we were asked not to wear
black – which for those of you who know me, this was a slight challenge. Anyway
my wardrobe now contains a yellow number.
And like the average
Ambridge
year (a show which celebrated its 65
th anniversary on the 1st Jan 2016), as well as deaths and illness there were plenty of good things to
note as well. Our 9 grandchildren all continue to flourish; the long running
saga of my parents missing sofas was resolved; I won the 2015 village boules
championship; got to watch the Osprey chicks hatch, get reared by the most attentive
parent birds and saw them eventually fly the nest. I was invited to take part
in a ‘
thought leadership’ group aimed at making a difference to nurse education,
and I finally managed to buy a strimmer whose cutting cord doesn't break when
you hit a stone.
The School continues to be the
best performing School in the University. My thanks go to all my wonderful
colleagues who put so much of themselves into ensuring the Schools success in
so many areas of its work. It makes my job one of the best in the world and one
I feel privileged to undertake. I took a 10 day break for Christmas 2015. And now the holiday has been gone and I feel ready for the challenges the new year will bring, This is the first blog of 2016, and I wish all
my blog readers the very best for the year to come- and thanks for all your
support over the past year.
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