Jane Baugh - The Council Years

JANE EVERALL BAUGH A BIOGRAPHY An Extraordinary Life among Many

THE COUNCIL YEARS, 1990 TO 2019 THREE DECADES WITH AMUSING BUT ALSO DIFFICULT TIMES & EXPERIENCES BY PETER J BAUGH

Jane knows in which direction she is going, politically, for her favourite holidays and for wedding celebrations

Third Volume Index Page 2. Background to the Council Year and Labour Party Activities Page 3. Chapter 10. 1990 – 1999 A very varied first council decade Page 45. Chapter 11. 2000 – 2009 The second council decade with many ups and downs Page 94. Chapter 12. 2010 – 2019 The finale- the third council decade with many road trips.

Appendices 1. Page 41. Tribute from Tom Ross Page 43. Jane Baugh addressing the pupils of Altrincham Boys Gramm School Page 44. Thank you letter to supporters following the 1997 General Election and poster showing Jane as Environmental and Leisure Executive Member 2. Page 148. Photographs of MPs, Councillors, Trafford personnel and Friends Groups 3. Page 150. Council Diary for 2018-2019 4. Page 155. Parkinson’s exercise class devised by Jane NB Special Volume: The Mayoral Year, 2011 – 2012, first edition published, September 30, 2020, second edition, December 01, 2020

Jane Everall Baugh, MCSP, Senior Physiotherapist, Altrincham General Hospital, 1987-2012

ISBN 978 18380432 47

Publisher: Jane Everall Baugh Available electronically in pdf format © Peter J Baugh, October 30, 2021 Also accessible via the link

https://issuu.com/barrybrotherton5/docs/janeeverallbaugh19902020shedit

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Background to the Council Years and Labour Party Activities In describing the 30 years J served as a councillor, it is difficult to portray the impact she had in the Town Hall. Unlike the Houses of Parliament there is no equivalent to Hansard at local council level and public record of committee and full council meetings or the speeches J made other than in her own notes. In the main, an account of her contribution to council business is difficult to determine without records. Council meeting minutes are archived but unavailable, publicly.

Her activities could be described largely as routine with attendance at the Town Hall for admin. purposes, for meetings of select committees, as a member of the executive, 19952004, 2018-2019, Labour group and full council, which were scheduled on a regular basis throughout the year and as an opposition member, 1990-1995 and 2004-2018. As a ward councillor, she held surgeries, regularly, first in Broadheath ward and then Priory ward, in which she dealt with a range of domestic and public issues brought to her attention by the ward constituents. J always followed up the problems and replied diligently for which she became well-known, referring the matters to council officers in various departments, appropriate to the particular problem or concern.

As a Labour councillor and LP member, she loyally campaigned for her fellow colleagues standing as candidates in target wards at every opportunity in all areas of the borough and in all weathers. In Priory ward, she teamed up with her political brother, Barry Brotherton, to leaflet the ward endlessly, with promotional campaign literature and mobile surgery notices.

Every January New Year cards with relevant details were delivered to every household in the ward and she even managed to collate leaflet rounds with Barry in late December 2019, two months before she died.

To narrate completely her council activities is impractical and probably not necessary as it would be too repetitive. Also it is not possible to relate all the assistance she gave to ward constituents.

She also had governorship duties to perform but was selective because she considered that being a governor of more than several schools at one time was not practical, stating that in her opinion only lip service could be paid if too many governor positions were held. She was a governor at Park Road Primary School, Timperley and then Moorlands Junior School in Priory ward. She also held the chair of Governors position for a number of years at Trafford College resigning in 2010.

As of May 2018, she was 5th longest serving councillor with 28 years of service being elected in May 1990. She was extremely pleased that the Mayor of Trafford for the year 2018 – 2019 was Councillor Tom Ross who she had known since 1997 as a school boy in Altrincham.

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Chapter 10. The 1990s. A Very Varied Decade Introduction This period of the biography has to be one of the most interesting and fascinating because Jane Everall Baugh had made the decision to take her politics extremely seriously. Having failed to get elected in 1988 to Trafford Council, she was determined not to fail again and her election in 1990 was the turning point in her career as a local politician. She retained her Council seat in 1994 and again in 1998.

This decade was also to be one of the most taxing decades of J’s life in which in addition to her part time career as a physiotherapist and council work, she had to experience and endure a complex time from a family standpoint.

In 1990, J and P had been married 25 years and celebrated their anniversary with a short break in Paris. She also had to ensure that Jon and David transferred to tertiary education having completed their secondary education in 1990 and 1992. James would begin his secondary education in 1991 and commence his tertiary education in 1999. There were some interesting complications in these educational transfers, which will be narrated in the journey.

As well as many holidays in the UK they commenced 14 years of falling in love with Greece and returning to France on occasions. A memorable highlight in 1995 was a return after almost 29 years to New Orleans, as part of a visit commencing on the west coast of the USA and taking in the National Parks of California, canyon country of Arizona and Utah, before spending time in New Orleans, staying with P’s ex-boss and his wife, but having a scare at the end of the holiday.

During this decade, she stood as a parliamentary candidate in 1997, had to endure a heartbreaking experience with her sister’s marriage breaking up and her sister dying of cancer in 1999. This sadness coincided with P’s dad suffering a stroke although he lived for another two years. 1997 was also the 60th wedding anniversary for P’s Mum and Dad. Margaret and P’s brother, Philip, married a second time for them both. J’s enthusiasm for holding dinners, New Year’s Eve and parties on other occasions continued to blossom. She with P was extremely proud to attend the graduation ceremonies of Jon and David in 1995 and 1996.

Jane’s eldest son, Jon, and Julie married in 1999 but there some difficulties for a considerable time.

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1990 The Council years begin This year was the commencement of an exciting time for J because she was anticipating success in the Council election in May. Beforehand, she had an engagement with her husband to celebrate, which interrupted her campaigning, but which was important to her and P as they always took time out to celebrate anniversaries, not always in nights away but always going out for a meal. However, on this occasion, it was to celebrate by going away, as they had reached the silver milestone in their married life, which was important to them.

Wedding Anniversary celebration: April 24, 1990 was the 25th wedding anniversary of J and P’s marriage and they decided on a romantic venue, ‘April in Paris’. It was the second time they were away without children and they did not ask her sister, Jill, again because of the almost disastrous outcome in 1988. They booked a short week break, flying into Le Bourget and taking a coach to a hotel in the Marais quarter of Paris. It was a memorable visit and they managed to visit Versailles, Sacre Coeur, Montmartre, Arc de Triomphe, Tour d’Eiffel, Notre Dame, only from the outside, Victor Hugo Musee, La Madeleine, Des Invalides and take a cruise on the Seine. They celebrated their anniversary in style by having lunch with wine in Les Jardins des Tuileries in beautiful spring sunshine, served by a very pleasant waiter. Other delicacies were sampled in an inexpensive Les Routiers in the Marais quarter, namely, Coquilles St Jacques.

Jane with iconic Tour D’Eiffel as a back drop; J at Versailles, J in front of fontaine near La Madeleine; J and P in Versailles gardens; P on steps of upper walkway of the Eglise Sacre Coeur

J and P, as ever, did not deprive their relations and friends from celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary with them and later in the year they held a party for many of them to attend. The

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catering was always self-administered, there was never any thought of getting outside caterers in. A memorable photo was taken of the physio gang of four with Judy Lee, Tim’s wife, who was best man for P in 1965.

Tim Lee (Best Man, April 24th, 1965) with Jane and Peter; J & P cutting the 25th wedding anniversary cake; Jane, Judy Lee, Sheila Lane, Sheila Abbot (later Lloyd in 2000), and Liz Rees, the physio gang of four.

Election to the Council: In the May election, J was successful in being elected to the Council against all the odds, as Broadheath ward had consistently been represented by three Conservative Councillors except on one occasion in previous years (John Hyland 1986 to 1990). This election of a labour councillor broke the mould but did not open the flood gates as J remained the only Labour Councillor south of Sinderland Brook, the Sale-Altrincham boundary, until 1995. In fact, except for several Councillors in Wythenshawe and Sale East Wards, Priory and Sale Moor, she was the only Labour Councillor south of the Mersey (and alone south of Sinderland Brook). Her strength of character was demonstrated during these 5 years holding her own in splendid isolation as a socialist outpost in the midst of a Conservative stronghold. This dedication and her strong presence were to be manifested and almost rewarded in her strong showing in the General Election of 1997. She was joined by Julia Chapman-Barker in 1995 making it two Labour Councillors but still with the majority of seats in the Altrincham area being held by Conservatives (note: several seats in Timperley and Village Wards were held by the Liberal Democrats and there was one other Labour councillor, Terry Crewe, elected in the Altrincham ward from 1995 to 1999).

Broadheath Ward, May 1990 Votes

%

1,908

44.7

+8.0

Conservative A. Rhodes

1,754

41.1

-10.8

Liberal Democrats

S. J. Chapman

391

9.2

-2.2

Green

M. Fielding

212

5.0

+5.0

Majority

154

3.6

-11.6

Turnout

4,265

48.0

+1.7

Party Labour

Labour hold

Candidate J. E. Baugh

±

Swing

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1991 to 1993 Educational matters: For J and P there were decisions to be made regarding the children’s education and transfers. James had failed the 11+ in May of 1991 by some odd chance as the primary school had predicted that he would pass. Several reasons have been advanced for this failure.  He accidentally omitted to answer the middle part of the exam paper.  He omitted the middle section of the exam paper, purposely.

The truth was that he had already made up his mind to attend the same comprehensive school as his brothers out of the Borough. J and P were inclined to believe that James had purposely not answered all the exam paper. He commenced secondary education at KCHS lower school in September.

At this time, David was studying A levels in English, History and General Studies. Jon was attending South Trafford College to study an A level in Art, much to the relief of J and P, as he had obtained an A grade in GCSE in 1988 but opted then to take science at A level for two years. He maintains that his parents did not pressure him sufficiently in 1988 but J and P’s policy was to allow their children to make their own decisions even if they considered that these could be wrong. However, retrospectively, Jon’s career path might have been smoother and not delayed by these two unsuccessful years.

These years are somewhat absent from memory but there are occasions that should be narrated. For some reason, the photo albums, which J had produced so diligently for almost every year, were missing for these years. There were no vacations abroad but there were visits to Yorkshire Dales and West Sussex.

A rare visit: It was one occasion when J and P with James paid a rare visit to J’s aunt and uncle in Nutley, Uckfield, West Sussex (they had stayed at Moss Lane in the mid-1970s before James was born). Paul, her only cousin, their son, was also there. At about this time, they called in on Liz and Nev in Claygate. The evidence is in a photograph of Nev, P and James in the conservatory that Nev had built. This was the final photograph of Nev that J took as Nev died in 1992.

J and P had also visited Stonehenge and toured around Kent visiting Leeds Castle and called in at Sandgate, where J’s mother lived for a while when young.

J and P with J’s aunt and uncle; J and P with Paul, their son

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J and P in front of Stonehenge

Nev and P with James with the Rees’s dog in conservatory, sadly one of the last photos of Nev; J, P and James

Leeds Castle entrance with J and P in foreground; gardens at Sissinghurst Place

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Several photos of J and P relaxing on holiday breaks during these years

The terrace in Sandgate where J’s Mother lived when she was young (J and P with Sue, Louise’s Mum stayed in the Sandgate hotel on the same terrace on their way to Narbonne in August, 2018)

Sadly, Liz’s husband died in June 1992 at the age of 52 and as he was a senior civil servant there was a special service of remembrance in Esher, which many of his colleagues attended.

Liz has said on many occasions that she and J were unrelated but special sisters as Liz had no siblings. He had been awarded the OBE for services to government.

Lost in Tanzania: In early 1992, P had been asked to go on a British Council visit to Dar Es Salaam in Tanzania as a replacement because his analytical prof. was not able to go. It was term time and he had to re-arrange all his lectures and classes because he had just assumed responsibility for coordinating the MSc in Analytical Chemistry programme for full time and part time industrially based students. He flew from Manchester via Nairobi to Dar Es Salaam and was met by a technician with a small truck. His baggage was dumped in the open back for all to see. He was taken to a state hotel, which was supposed to be luxury accommodation.

He could not ring J to tell her that he had arrived safely as the telephone was out of order and he could not send a telex. After arrival, he was left from late afternoon on Saturday until mid -morning on Monday before a driver with a 4 x 4 came to take him to the Department of Chemistry. The telephone and telex system were out of order and P was unable to contact J for 3 weeks. Meantime, she rang the University to ask where he was and no one seemed to know although he had filled in a form of absence as required for admin purposes and the visit had been officially set up by the coordinator in his department at Salford, Alan Fitton. So, J was left in limbo with P on the east coast of Africa presumably still alive. J was left with two boys finishing their courses prior to entering tertiary education not knowing whether P was to return safe and sound. However, P did have an adventurous time. If time allows the experiences will be narrated in an appendix as this story is about J’s life but also how it was influenced by P going missing, which did not happen in China in 1995 and 1998 as

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communication was much improved, and the telephone system was fully operational. J again had been left at a critical time to look after three boys in secondary school and two of them taking college exams and A levels prior to progressing to tertiary education. P knew she would cope with looking after the large house, part time work at AGH and Council work in which she was beginning to make her presence felt.

P at gates and coral church with museum at Bagamoyo

School house, Bagamoyo, where David Livingston taught; Entrance to Mikumi Safari Park

P with Dutch colleague in front of the lodge where they stayed; Land rover blocked by Joseph, the local bull elephant, who had charged the BBQ table the previous evening, scalding his trunk with hot milk.

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Herd of zebra in the high grass; hippo pool early morning in Mikumi Safari Park

School matters: J’s work at AGH and as Councillor continued during these years and James’s early secondary school life (Years 7 to 9) was spent with his mother often at evening meetings, campaigning, leafleting and door knocking in local elections in the run up from early in each year to the May election day.

James’s academic progress in secondary school was generally good to very good after an unfortunate experience in his first year, 1991/92, when a so-called friend who was invited to the house on a number of occasions, proceeded to show bullying tendencies towards James, making life a little uncomfortable for him. J and P decided this friendship was not going to continue and requested that James was moved to another form to limit the contact. The school duly obliged and moved James for the start of Y8. J and P hoped that James would be happier going to school in the future.

In 1992, Jon who had spent two years at South Trafford College (A level in Art and B Tech. foundation course) had been accepted by Camberwell College (London Institute) to study 3D Design and Ceramics. David had passed at A level with moderate DDE grades and J had, as she always intimated, perhaps too much influence on his career path. However, with these grades, he was accepted to study a four years degree course in education with a science option at the Didsbury Campus of MMU. With two boys commencing university at the same time, the financing of their education was considerable, and they were both obliged to take out student loans. Fortunately, only Jon was away from home in London. David remained based at 121, Moss Lane until 1996. LEA grants covered Jon’s first year hall fees, £1700, in Wandsworth and David’s travel expenses from home to Didsbury and return.

For David it was an important milestone because this year, he met Louise, aged 15, two years younger than himself and the relationship was long lasting until they wed 10 years later in 2003.

1993 This was an intermediate year, educationally, with Jon and David in their second years at university, and James progressing to Y8 at KCHS. J had now been a Councillor for three years and was preparing for an important milestone in 1994, to be returned as a Councillor for the second time. There were no holidays abroad but several vacations in the UK were taken but only with James and one of his friends in the Yorkshire Dales and North Devon.

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1994 Broadheath Ward Local Election: J had now been a Councillor for four years and it was time for her to attempt to be re-elected in May. She was determined to repeat her initial success of 1990, despite being in a Ward in which was she was outnumbered by two Conservative Councillors. Why did J manage to get elected with an increased majority of 546 from 154 in 1990 and poll over 2000 votes in a good turnout for local elections, 47%? It was always underestimated and never really appreciated by her Labour colleagues in the north of the Borough about her being able to have a presence in what could be called splendid isolation.

It might have been due to the fact that she was eloquent in speech (slightly plummy) not a typical northerner but by adoption from South Wales. However, they could not dismiss her success in holding the seat for Labour in the south of the Borough. Her name in the Altrincham area became almost household and was to lay the foundation for her very high showing in the 1997 General Election. She developed a wide circle of friends and acquaintances in the area and the Broadheath Labour Party fully supported her. She was also reluctantly revered by the opposition who recognised J as a strong and determined adversary.

Broadheath1994 Party

Candidate

Votes

%

±

Labour

J. E. Baugh*

2,068

49.1

+17.2

Conservative

L. Leggett

1,522

36.1

-18.7

Liberal Democrats

B. C. Lynch

623

14.8

+1.5

Majority

546

13.0

-9.9

Turnout

4,213

47.0

+6.0

Labour hold

Swing

In the same month, John Smith, the Labour Party Leader died tragically, aged 55, who J did admire. In the contest for the new party leader she voted for Brian Gould and not Tony Blair who she did not consider was a leader that she could loyally support. Brian Gould returned to his native New Zealand soon after losing the leadership election.

Jane with Barry Brotherton and Brian Gould (centre) on his visit to Altrincham and Sale West constituency

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A Holiday in 1993/94, showing Jane’s determination when not 100 percent: During the interface between these two years, a memorable vacation was enjoyed in the Lake District by J and P with James and Rob, one of his peer group friends from school. This period also coincided with Jane beginning to suffer from symptoms that required her to have surgery and undergo a partial hysterectomy. As part of her recuperation, she went to visit her brother in Stoke Rivers, North Devon, for a few days and P joined her there later. The reunion was remembered by a walk through a wooded valley, down a steep rocky bridle path, to a bridge over a stream where they tarried romantically for a while.

She was not too well when visiting the Lake District with P, James and Rob. However, this temporary frailness did not deter her from the holiday activities and with P, and the boys, she ascended the Old Man of Coniston, one of the smaller mountains but still 2700 ft. in height, Whereas, a number of women were reluctant to climb the last 200 yards to the peak and cairn, which was a little difficult, steep and narrow, she determinedly, slowly but surely completed the climb. This determination was a measure of her character in always doing as much as she possibly could to enjoy every occasion even if a little strenuous.

Tour de Lake District; Physio friend, Marian’s cottage apartment on an estate, South Lake District

Old Man of Coniston, relaxing at the top and point du vue cairn; But where is Jane? Evidence, well, someone is behind the camera?; Windermere waiting for the ferry?

An unlikely liaison: During J’s early years a councillor she became heavily involved in Broadheath Ward affairs, in meeting ward members, during campaigning, leafleting and door knocking and the occasional social to raise funds for the local Labour Party.

J could, if she felt like it, be very amicable (flirty) with friends and labour colleagues in the BlP and ClP. She showed her gratitude in a very embracing way. Normally this behaviour was only expressed on social occasions, at events, parties, and birthdays and in the festive season by an embrace and on occasions with a kiss. On meeting good friends, who she had not seen for a while, she would react in the same way. When this warm character was observed by admirers at a distance, who did know J well, it could be interpreted that there was a possible meaning beyond a normal friendship, as a colleague or an associate, and an approach could

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be made. One Labour Party member took a shine to J, made an advance and asked her out for a drink. James, when told of this advance commented, ‘Does Dad know?’ To which J replied, ‘not yet’. J made a decision to invite the person concerned to meet her at home after P had been informed who did not disagree, as he thought it highly unlikely that J would consider this advance seriously because he knew that her Labour associate did have some difficulties. The meeting was arranged by J and one afternoon her Labour colleague called and was shown into the lounge. P was in the house but left J to talk to him alone considering that he did not need to interfere as he knew that J would conduct herself in a straightforward and dignified way. The conversation was not recorded but when her colleague asked if she was available to go out with him, he was informed by J that there was not the slightest chance that she would consider his offer.

J was only available to her own husband and he should have been aware of that fact. J was wary but not averse to working alongside male friends and colleagues, socially, in governing bodies or in Council business. She did, however, comment sometimes, when seeing an attractive male, ‘He’s a bit of alright’.

1995 1995 was a proud year for J and P because Jon who had been labelled as an 11+ failure in 1983 graduated from Camberwell College with an upper second class honours degree. In June, they attended his final exhibition held in the College, with, coincidentally, P’s relative, Lilian Newbanks, from Trenton, NJ, USA, who was on one of her frequent visits to the UK. His exhibits are worth a special mention because he demonstrated his imaginative skills in 3D ceramics with outstanding and large ‘objet d’art’. He graduated in July at the London Institute ceremony held at Westminster Hall next to Westminster Abbey.

Jon with a proud Mum and Dad at Westminster Hall on graduation day, July 1995 ; One of Jon’s five final year exhibition pieces, fabricated from his own moulds, with his own chemically-prepared ceramic glazes and on stands, he spot welded.

David was in his penultimate year of his education degree at Didsbury Campus, MMU. In the Yangtze River and the rescue: P was not lost in China earlier in the year in March, when he visited Lizhong Liu, Director of the Institute for Coastal and Estuarine Research at East China Normal University with Simon Hutchinson (Department of Environmental Science, Salford) on a British Council grant to investigate sediment and flora taken and sampled from the Yangtze River estuarine region close to Shanghai.

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Peter, extreme left, with the East China Normal University Institute team with Simon Hutchinson on the extreme right; The director, Lizhong Liu, with Peter & Simon and Xu Yu on the right As a young undergraduate student, Lizhong Liu was transported to Manchuria for ten years during the Red Guard purge in the early 1980s but happily later studied for a PhD at Liverpool University with Simon Hutchinson.

Peter was rescued by 4 Chinese fishermen in a flat- bottomed mud boat drawn by a female water buffalo; in the water’s edge of the Yangtze River

Near Bao Shan, the main sewage outfall from Shanghai; Duck herding, tended by one shepherd, count the ducks!

However, for a month early in the year, J was again left in charge of the boys’ education, while working part time and continuing with her Council work.

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In mid-year, Jane’s physiotherapy, ‘gang of four’, friend, Sheila’s daughter, Rachel married Andy Elkin in Margam, South Wales. This occasion marked one of the very few times that all four of the physio friends met up.

Holiday in Skye: Going to Scotland was like going abroad and J and P decided on a trip to the Inner Hebrides (almost 1000 miles round trip). J and P with James and his friend Keith Jones toured the Isle of Skye in their now aging Carlton estate stopping with Geoff and Ann on the way. They had rented a cottage near Dunvegan Head on the north east of Skye and to near Milovaig. It was raining stair rods for much of the week and J suffered raging toothache, which meant a round trip of 100 mile to the dentist in Broadford near Portree to get treatment. However, there was a treat in store when they visited the island main town, Portree. There was a fish market on the quay where Scottish scallops were on sale. P purchased six costing £1 each for their dinner that evening (not for Keith) and P cooked Coquilles St Jacques (a reminder of the treat during the 25th anniversary in Paris in 1990) The visit to Talisker Distillery was interesting because after the tour there was a malt whisky tasting session. However, James and Keith, who were expecting a taste of the malt, were each presented with biro pens with which they were extremely disappointed.

Tallest and Shortest Man on Skye with James and Keith in the giant chair; not always raining stair rods; Dunvegan Headland

Skye on a good day; investigating ruins; Flora McDonald Memorial

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Return to the USA: It was almost 29 years since J and P had departed from New Orleans (ref., Jane Everall Baugh, an Extraordinary Life among Many, 1960 to 1966 (2020), publisher Jane Everall Baugh, ISBN pp 54). They had not had the finance to afford the trip back and P had not had any international meetings to attend in the USA, in which he could make a detour return to New Orleans. The only contact with Big Easy was through the infrequent visits of the Arthurs.

Fortunately, 1995 was the final anniversary of their 20 year mortgage and the endowment policy attached paid off the outstanding mortgage and with a terminal bonus, J and P had a nest egg of £14,000, which they partly invested and could use to fund a visit to the USA with a return to New Orleans included. They could not afford to take all three boys with them and James only accompanied J and P (Jon has often remarked since, ‘why didn’t I go?’ ; the airfares were £700 per person and taking the two older boys, the outlay would have been £2800 for the flights before considering the extra accommodation costs). The tour was planned for late summer and since they had not been in a position to visit the west coast of the USA, they organised their tour to commence in San Francisco. This provided an opportunity for J and P to see Peter Nelson, a school friend of P’s, and so they arranged to stay for 3 nights at Peter and Janice’s home in Los Altos. They had a stopover at Kennedy Airport, NY and then departed on an internal flight to San Francisco, where they were met by Peter. This flight to the west coast of the USA from Manchester was the first for James, because all the family holidays were terrestrial. By the time they returned home, he had flown over 12000 miles, a good baptism to air travel and he would experience many long-haul flights in the 2000s.

The two days in San Francisco were memorable with Peter Nelson as tour guide. The Golden Gate Bridge was an experience in itself. The city is famous for its sea mists, which make photography special. They rode the famous funicular tram on San Francisco’s steep roads built by a Scottish engineer, cruised around Alcatraz and, visited Chinatown. Peter advised J and P to collect the hire car from Palo Alto rather than downtown San Francisco. They departed from Los Altos and drove to Yosemite (160 miles) via the farms in the fruit growing area and lower slopes. Their hotel accommodation at Fish Camp was outside the Park as they could not get accommodation inside at this time of year because of the large number of tourists.

Early the next morning J decided to go for a swim in a cool outdoor pool and P went for a short run. When he commenced running down the hill less than half a mile from the hotel, he observed a large dog bounding towards him. When the dog was within about 25 yards P had a nasty feeling that the large dog was in fact a wolf; he decided immediately to run back into the hotel grounds. Fortunately, a car horn sounded at that moment, which appeared to alarm the animal and it did not proceed any further in the direction of P. When he returned to the pool, J was swimming leisurely oblivious of his predicament. It was a case of Peter met the Wolf not Peter and the Wolf (Prokofiev). He had also been running at 6000 ft. and noticed he had a blood shot eye.

The visit to the park was memorable because of the variety of things to view, El Capitan and the cascading waterfall, Mariposa Grove, walking in the Sequoia redwood forest at 7000 ft., along the gangway on the fallen monarch, and experiencing the tranquillity of the virgin meadow. They really required another day, but they were scheduled also to visit the Sequoia national park and again they did not stay in the park but in Visalia about 100 miles from Yosemite. The visit to this National Park was also exciting, particularly, as a large redwood, General Sherman, was a feature and also the drive through a redwood acting as a tunnel was

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an experience. The park includes King’s Canyon and scaling Moro Rock at an elevation of 6250 ft to view the High Sierras in the distance was an experience to savour.

Their next stop was Las Vegas, which required a 360 mile across the Mojave Desert. Before they departed from Visalia, they called in at a gas station to pick up two ice chests as a safety measure in case they broke down in the desert. They passed through several small towns, Bakersville and Baker, which has the distinction of possessing the tallest thermometer displaying the record temperature of 134oF (56oC). They made a stop at a gas station in the desert and the attendant was sitting outside and muttered when approached that it was too cold with aircon on inside the shop and so he had come outside to warm up in 40 oC degree heat.

They reached their destination and pulled into the car park of Bally’s Casino Hotel to check in.

P went to check in, leaving J and James in the car with the engine running to maintain the aircon. The desk was at the far end of the ground floor casino with fruit machines clicking, continuously. James was only 15 and the security guards made sure that he was kept well away from the sides of the walkway to the accommodation accessed at the far end of the casino floor. They proceeded to the 11th floor to a spacious room which would have accommodated a family group. J, P and James decided to go to a restaurant at Aladdin’s cave for their evening meal, a short distance from Bally’s. But on progressing along the sidewalk they felt the full force of the heat, 116oF (45oC); so they returned to the hotel and took the monorail over to Caesar’s Palace, a sensible decision. Food in Las Vegas restaurants was extremely inexpensive, a feature of Las Vegas because of the advanced age of many of the casino punters. So, they ate well for $30 with a selection from the largest salad bar they had ever encountered, and large steaks cooked to perfection.

After leaving Las Vegas their next stop was the Grand Canyon, about 120 miles distant.

Because of their tight schedule they did not have time to go down into the canyon but had a walk around the southern rim and ventured to a slightly lower level for a bird’s eye view of the grandeur of the canyon. When leaving the Grand Canyon, they were made aware of the huge distances between venues in the USA, as a sign post displayed Salt Lake City, 550 miles.

The next night was spent in the vicinity of Bryce Canyon in Utah at a lodge about 150 miles to the north. This canyon is at an elevation of 8000-9000ft and the next day the trio decided to go for an extended walk into the canyon. Because of the altitude, J began to feel a little faint and had to take a break, but it was as spectacular a walk as they had ever had, a bit different to the Yorkshire Dales in the rain! They visited Zion Canyon, UT, about 80 miles away but did not enter because of the traffic congestion and the time available (visited again in 2014).

The next stop was at Page, AZ, for two nights on the edge of Lake Powell the largest manmade lake in the USA, with some stunning visits to go on. They ate out at a very good Mexican restaurant on the first evening, preparing for their next day trip. Monument Valley, UT, is actually the Navajo Tribal Park and is a distance of about 130 miles from Page. There is virtually no habitation between Page and the Valley, except for a small town, Kayenta near to the valley. They departed early from Page aiming to get to the valley in good time for sightseeing. There was a slight miscalculation in reading the state highways number, was it the 98 or 89? They proceeded for a distance 50 miles on the 89 when they should have taken the 98. The error made the journey to Monument Valley and return 350 miles instead of 260.

They realised their mistake and had to retrace to the intersection between the 98 and 89 and take the road to Kayenta. They had a welcome stop for lunch to relax. They were later than expected getting to the entrance to the park. This was a park with a difference in that the

17

ticket office was manned by members of the Navajo tribe and they were not particularly welcoming but still took the dollars as entrance fee. Before they entered the park, they had a treat, Navajo fried bread. It was also quite different because of the sand dirt roads, travelling/crawling along at 15 mph to vantage points and lookouts. The visit was one of a number of highlights of the tour and there were more to come. They returned later to Page on the right road and J and James opted to go for an evening meal at Taco Bell, which P reluctantly agreed to. It was one of the worst meals in living memory topped with guacamole pureed to death.

Flagstaff just 120 miles south was the next stop for two nights for more outstanding spectacles. In the evening they dined at a very good Chinese style restaurant with food prepared on hotplates for them to observe hungrily. The next day they had three venues to visit, the first was the meteor crater about 40 miles east which they viewed but did not complete the walk round the rim because the temperature was about 40oC. The next spectacle was the petrified forest a distance of 100 miles, which they strolled round in afternoon heat of 40oC, not venturing too far from car. The final venue about 50 miles from the second venue was the Painted Desert which stretches for about 150 miles to the east from the Grand Canyon and which again was well worth the visit. After a round trip of about 300 miles they returned to Flagstaff for a well-earned rest at the hotel.

Their final destination on the 11 days tour was Phoenix where they had accommodation at one of the premier hotels, the Hyatt Regency at Gainey Ranch, Scottsville, near to the airport.

This venue was a treat for J in particular because the hotel had 7 interconnecting swimming pools. From mid-afternoon until after 7.00 pm, just before dinner, J swam continuously visiting all the pools in succession. This was paradise and she was reluctant to leave the water.

The distance covered in the tour was 2,500 miles in 11 days where the direct distance from San Francisco to Phoenix was only 760 miles.

Alcatraz in San Francisco Bay; Golden Gate Bridge rising from the mist

Jane and James on the San Francisico funicular; Peter Nelson, P’s school friend, with J and P

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Jane having her favourite exercise while P meets the wolf; Yosemite National Park

El Capitan, 3000 ft ; Redwood Forest walk scenes at 7000 ft

Cascade at El Capitan; Redwood tunnel with James and P; Gigantic tree roots dwarfing Jane

Hire car traversing redwood tunnel

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Bryce Canyon at 8000 ft

Lake Powell and Colorado Dam; Monument Valley, Navajo Tribal Park; Arizona Crater

Petrified Forest entrance sign with Jane; James and Peter posing in front of a large fragment of a petrified trunk

James and Peter examining the petrified trunk; Montezuma’s Castle visited on the road from Flagstaff to Phoenix

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Hyatt Regency at Gainey Ranch with 7 interconnecting swimming pools for Jane to swim in for 4 hours

Dusk from the Hotel apartment on the final evening of their tour

New Orleans revisited: The final destination on the tour was the Big Easy and they departed for New Orleans from Phoenix with a stop at Dallas. They were met by Jett Arthur now retired and stayed with him and Leverne for the remaining 8 days in the USA. During this time, they met up with friends they had made during their time in New Orleans in the 1960s and visited places of interest in and around New Orleans. They were invited to Oscar and Elaine’s and Lloyd and Georgia De Luca for meals, including Po’boy sandwiches and beer. Lloyd also took them on a 125 miles trip for lunch to a restaurant called Joe’s place. They visited the French Quarter for beer with Oscar and Louisiana Purchase Kitchen with Jett & Leverne for an extensive buffet meal. The Café du Monde near the St Louis Cathedral was always a must for coffee and square doughnuts called beignets. Chalmette, the site of the Battle of New Orleans, in a visit with Jett, was highlighted as a defeat for the British in 1812 by General Andrew Jackson’s army.

They also met up with Jett Arthur’s former group including Trinidad Mares. Unfortunately, one of their New Orleans friends, George Drake, had died some years earlier, but they met up with his wife, Janette, who was a good friend of Leverne.

A scary experience: The day before they departed, they decided to take a cruise on the Mississippi on the paddle steamer as an experience for James. Jett offered to drive them to the quay side for the cruise. They had driven as far as the lower part of Canal Boulevard when Jett suddenly ran a red light on a dual carriageway intersection. P had shouted to Jett but to no avail. A large 4 x 4 entering from the left, hit the rear door of the car adjacent to where J was sitting. Jett did not stop but carried on. It was suggested to him that he should report to the police station nearby, which J and P thought he had decided to do. Instead he took the next right and then turned right again and proceeded to return in the direction of Metairie and the Lake. When he had reached about one mile from the Lake, P realized that Jett was making a beeline for the causeway across Lake Pontchartrain, which was 25 miles long. The situation was looking ominously perilous and P attempted on several occasions to persuade Jett to turn towards his home. At the last moment, P succeeded, and Jett drove home and into the driveway. Leverne came out to meet them and was told what had happened. Very kindly, she drove them back to the Mississippi river for their cruise. Jett had apparently had

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one of his mental blocks, while driving, which he been prone to for some time at intervals.

Aged 77, he did not drive again. J, P and James were driven to the airport the next day by Leverne. They were not to see her again as she died several years later. They returned home via Chicago after one of the most memorable holidays and a return to New Orleans, which was not the final time that J and P would pay the Big Easy a visit.

Touro Infirmary where Jane worked as a physical therapist 30 years earlier; Jane outside Apartment 1 on Coliseum Street where they lived while in New Orleans

Jane and P’s first apartment where they spent their first night of marriage, April 24, 1965; Outside Jett and Leverne’s house on Ridgway Drive, Metairie

Chalmette, the site of the Battle of New Orleans, 1812; St Louis Cathedral, New Orleans

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Typical French style building with balcony in Vieux Carre; Mississippi River Bridge

At Jett & Leverne’s for party time; below shrimp boil at Laura and Al Porter’s

Visit to Oak Alley Ante Bellum Home, Natchez, with Jett and Leverne

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Famous Café Du Monde Coffee House; SS Natchez River Boat for the cruise they nearly did not make

Return to life in the UK: James entered the final GCSE year. J continued her part time work at AGH and Council business attending the Town Hall for admin., Council and group meetings.

She had been joined in Broadheath by a Labour Councillor, Julia Chapman Barker, who had been elected in May. For the first time, the Ward was represented by two Labour and one Conservative Councillor. This advantage was offset by some difficulties on the part of her colleague who had a tendency that was not always helpful to what J was trying to achieve in the Ward. JCB had a definite party first attitude when what was required in this Ward was a person first approach. This incompatibility was to persist for some years even when J was selected to stand as candidate in the General Elections of 1997 and 2001 (ref: Chapter 11, 2000 – 2009). J did not concern herself greatly as she was working to her own agenda. There was no real reason for this attitude because J conducted herself mainly in a compromising manner with her Labour colleagues, some of whom did not always reciprocate.

Some odd attitudes prevailed with an unsuccessful candidate, she had fought tooth and nail to get elected twice in the early 1990s and who had acted as her agent on one occasion.

Political friendship was lost for no good reason and a quite unsavoury climate resulted, which was not easy for J to comprehend. Had she changed in her own attitudes towards Labour colleagues as a Councillor, as she was accused of doing or was there animosity based on her success as a Councillor? She was disappointed for some time by this unfortunate occurrence, but she had to get on with her activities in council and in ward surgeries.

1996 After celebrating New Year in the usual fashion, it was time for J to campaign to get her labour colleague, Howard Western, elected as a Councillor in May. Campaigning commenced before Christmas and continued to Election Day. The committee rooms for Broadheath had been set up at Ian Golding’s house for several years. Ian had stood several times as a candidate in the Ward in the early 1990s but was unsuccessful. The outcome was extremely close almost requiring a recount with Howard Western coming within 107 votes of the Conservative candidate, Kathy Bullock.

This result was the closest that the Labour party came to having three councillors representing Broadheath until the late 2010s. In fact, the boundary changes in 2004, in which a Labour held ward in the north of the Borough was removed, led to an immediate swing to the Conservatives of six seats.

The result in Broadheath was that three Conservative candidates were elected (all Ward seats were up for re-elections a result of the boundary changes).

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However, Labour gained overall control from the Conservatives from NOC in 1995 with a healthy 35 seats to 23 for the Conservatives. This position was to prevail until 2003/04 when there was NOC. Graduation for David: There was a very proud occasion for J and P when they attended David’s graduation ceremony for the award of a degree in primary education at the Free Trade Hall in July. J had encouraged David to take up a career in teaching as with very moderate A levels, it was unlikely that he would have been accepted on a degree course in a single arts or science subject. Anyway, although J regretted this decision, she was extremely proud of his achievements in the 2010s and towards the end of her life.

David’s graduation, MMU, Free Trade Hall, Manchester, July 1996

James’s GCSE Success: It was also an important year for James taking GCSE exams in May/June. He received his results by ‘phone to KCHS when on holiday at Thwaite in Swaledale in the Yorkshire Dales, later in August, with his friend Rob Sharman. His results were very good, mainly As with several Bs, as also were Rob’s. His peer group at KCHS was mainly high flying, academically. The question had been answered; he would not have achieved better results if he had passed the 11+ and attended Sale GS or Altrincham Boys GS (a case for comprehensive education catering for all abilities). J and P were very pleased with the decision they had made in 1985.

Fists of success: James and Rob having received their GCSE results by the telephone, mainly As with some Bs Rented cottage in Thwaite

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Falling in love with Greece commences: P had taken over responsibility for the MSc in Analytical Chemistry in the Department of Chemistry and a European Social Fund (ESF) grant for the advanced course had been obtained as Salford University was located in a deprived region (ESF 1 designated). This grant allowed access to postgraduate students in the local area to be maintained by payment of fees and a living allowance. It also allowed access to students from the EEC. One of the first students from Europe to be funded was Melina Leinoudi from Thessaloniki in Greece. While Melina was a student at Salford, she informed P that her mother and father had a summer residence in Halkidiki on the west coast of the Sinfonia peninsular in a village named Nea Plagia, a few miles south of Thessaloniki. She offered them free accommodation on her parents’ behalf. This was an invitation that J could not refuse but they did not arrange a visit in 1995, the year after Melina had graduated and returned to Greece. However, they did make a flight only booking for late August 1996, to spend two weeks in Nea Plagia. They were to continue to visit Greece on occasions until the late 2010s with some very special events along the way.

Having decided to visit in 1996 they got the bug and fell in love with the country. Swimming was very high on the agenda as it had always been. When they arrived at the airport, they had been instructed to hire a taxi to drive them to Nea Plagia about 40 miles to the south.

When they arrived, Eleni, their host came to meet them on her bike to direct them to the house, 6, Androutsou. The Greek delight had begun. They were shown to the premier second floor apartment with balconies on three sides. This venue was like 14 days in paradise.

George, the husband, had been a two-star general in the Greek Army, as part of a NATO contingent and spoke very good English. He had spent one year in England at Camberley with Eleni and their two daughters (Thalia was the younger sister of Melina), and also several years in Germany. He now worked doing accounts for Wendy’s. Melina was working in a Government Lab as a chemical analyst. Eleni was an extremely good cook, as they found out to their delight, preparing spinach and feta pies as a speciality, and also baked zucchini and moussakas. George had an olive grove with almond trees, and he processed the olives locally to make olive oil, which J and P were presented with. The sea was delightful as expected, three times a day, am, pm and evening, sometimes, for swimming and relaxing on the beach served with Greek coffee and pastries. Walking to other villages nearby and getting the bus to resorts further away were also enjoyable. Visiting Thessaloniki was a little more difficult at the time they were staying because July 31 was the start of the autumn service with only three buses a day.

J and P were to meet Eleni’s mother, who had experienced an event in 1922 when there was a migration of Greeks from Constantinople in an exchange with Muslims , as part of an agreement between Greece and Turkey. She with other Greeks, in part, had settled on the west coast of the Sinfonia peninsular and founded villages with the prefix Nea, meaning new, e.g., Nea Plagia, Flogita and Moudania indicating these settlements were formed from that date.

Further Greek holiday experiences will be related in the years to come with some unique events to describe. The photos following are a culmination of Greek vacations in 1996 and 1997.

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The umbrellas in Thessaloniki, a favourite walk before a Greek meal ; P in front of a reproduction of Greek trireme; A wise woman beside the wisest Greek, Aristotle

Yamas! George, Melina, Peter and Eleni toasting at one of Eleni’s gourmet Greek meals; J with George, Melina and Eleni at a late night meal at the sea front, Nea Plagia

Jane in George’s olive grove picking almonds; Peter at Pella near Vergina

Monastery on Mt Athos; The Monks returning to a monastery; Monks administering mass on the stern of the boat J and P accompany Eleni and 50 women on a trip to Mt Athos down the coast of the west Aegean Sea

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Day trip to the Kolpos (gulf) between Sifonia and Kassandra peninsulas, fingers 1 and 2 of Halkidiki; J and P swam round to this inlet to relax while the extrovert Greek captain was organising a volley match with the German tourists, him & the German women versus the German men

Oscar and Elaine visit from New Orleans: During the mid-1990s, Oscar and Elaine, the couple who met and married as a result of a party that they both attended during J and P’s time in New Orleans, paid their first visit to the UK. As well as taking them to various places in Cheshire and surrounding area, J and P gave them special treats in York and North Wales and arranged for the four of them to stay at a B & B in Criccieth. During their visit they crossed the famous Telford Britannia Bridge over the Menai Straits and stopped in a lay-by to view the two bridges across the straits. Oscar and Elaine wowed the view. Later they visited Llanfair PG to visit the station with a sign showing the longest village name (now a retail outlet) Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch.

They also drove through the mountain passes, Aberglaslyn, in particular, was again wowed.

The experience in mountainous country was unique for Oscar and Elaine as New Orleans was below sea level and not much above where their lived on the Haring Road near to one of the canals and levees that broke during Hurricane Katrina in 2005. To top it all, they arrived back just in time to rush into a local sit down Chippy to have a scrumptious meal of fish, chips and mushy peas. The chippy closed at 8.30 pm immediately they had finished their meal. The visit was the first of three tours that the foursome was to enjoy in the next decade.

Jane and Oscar at dinner at 121, Moss Lane; Oscar with J and P in front of house

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Little Morton Hall, 16th century tudor house; Elaine and Oscar at the pub bar

Oscar posing to the left of the sign on the railway station of Llanfair P G, 58 letter name; Outside the Chippy in Criccieth where the foursome ate

Miners at Llechwedd Slate quarry underground; Oscar and Peter pose to the left of the iaconic Britannia Suspension Bridge across the Menai Straits built by Thomas Telford

Christmas and New Year and P had new neighbours at 125, Moss Lane as Alison and John had moved in mid-1995. They were dinner and party minded and they organised joint New Year’s Eve parties on several occasions, which were fancy dress with themes.

1997 This year was a year to focus on and was almost momentous for J. 1996/97 was the first year of teaching for David but he did not qualify for the teachers’ panel, which would have enabled him to get a post as an NQT. The situation was disappointing for him because he had qualified with a degree in education and was essentially unemployed. He was employed temporarily at St Alphonse’s PS in Partington. Fortunately, John, their new neighbour and also a secondary

29

school teacher, knew the head of Broomwood Primary school in Timperley Village, socially.

As a result of this contact, the head offered David a temporary contract, which was a step in the right direction and allowed him to get the experience he required as an NQT. Because their first Greek vacation had been so enjoyable J and P decided to return to Nea Plagia in June, within one year of their first visit, to relax after the thrill of the General Election with ‘an almost an MP’ result.

Events in year: It was the 60th wedding anniversary of P’s parents and the celebration was again held at The Manor House, Derek’s hotel in Walkington which he had established 10 years previously (His father had asked and expected it, not thinking of the outlay and the fact that Derek had to close the hotel for a private family function). His wife, Lee, had suffered a catastrophic fall from her horse, which slipped on a wet road, and which rendered in a coma for a number of weeks. She was a very accomplished horsewoman and miraculously, she recovered from this injury. J and P attended without the boys who were at the advanced stages of their education and early careers.

Philip and Margaret, both divorced, married for the second time, in July of this year at a very beautiful venue in a Hotel registered for weddings and in a marquee, near the Trough of Bowland. All the family attended with P’s parents.

A unique occasion, three sisters in law, three brothers at Margaret and Philip’s wedding, July 1997

General Election, May 2, almost an MP: J had been a local councillor for 7 years and she considered it was time for her to stand as a Labour candidate in the constituency in which she resided and in which she was well known, particularly in the south of the Borough where she had made a statement for her party. The difficulty for her was that it was not a target seat as the majority in 1992 for Sir Fergus Montgomery was more than 16,000, a very safe Conservative seat. J was therefore not given much of a chance of taking the seat and was told so by councillor colleagues who were very much party animals with no feeling for what could be achieved in Altrincham and Sale West by a local candidate with a high profile. The support for her from her ClP members was minimal; union reps canvassed in Oldham and local LP campaigners migrated to Warrington South. Telephone canvassing and door knocking and use of the Labour data base for voting options were used but the canvassing generally was not as intensive as for target wards, where members from non-target seats descended to canvas en masse. J supported by P held the belief that every constituency should be fought with all the intensity possible. The committee rooms were J’s own home and the campaign car was their own unreliable blue Vauxhall Carlton. The few loyal ClP members who remained to fight the seat were enthusiastically supportive. Mike Rose was her agent who gave her superbly strong support.

On the day of the election, there was the usual hustle and bustle at the committee rooms with last minute leafleting, door knocking, telephone canvassing and car calls. There was an expectation that Labour would win control of parliament but with how many seats was

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uncertain. As mentioned earlier, Altrincham and Sale West was not a target seat and one her ClP colleagues arrived early to commandeer four members to canvass in a target constituency in the North of Manchester (which incidentally did not require a large swing for Labour to take). So, there was only a skeleton group left to canvass in the constituency but there was enthusiasm and expectation that something special was going to happen in the constituency.

Election evening came not too soon and Jane, her agent and family arrived at the George Carnall Leisure Centre in good time. The count for Stretford and Urmston was also to take place and Beverley Hughes was expected to hold the seat for Labour with a comfortable majority. The appointed scrutineers were watching the vote count eagerly and as the evening progressed it could be seen that it was neck and neck between Jane and Graham Brady, a young locally educated, Conservative, aged 27, who was informed by his predecessor, Sir Fergus Montgomery that he was going to have a job for life. The final stages were reached, and the bundles of votes were condensed into 5000 lots. The position looked desperately interesting and ominous for GB as JEB was allocated 5,000, 10,000, 15,000 and 20,000 in parallel with him. GB did not appear until late on as his agent had warned him that the vote was going to be very close. The final bundles, 2248 for GB and 843 for JEB indicated that J had come up short by 1505 votes but had reduced the Conservative majority by a factor of more than 10 from 1992. As you can imagine there was huge relief on the faces of GB’s supporters and bitter disappointment for J’s loyal supporters. Her dignified acceptance of defeat was hugely applauded.

There was some embarrassment among her Labour constituency colleagues who had absconded to target seats and Council colleagues who had remarked she had not got a cat in hell’s chance of getting elected. How could a Labour candidate poll such a high vote in what was a very safe Conservative seat? Was it the fact that suddenly almost 50% of the voting electorate had suddenly turned red or was it because of the high profile personality of Jane Everall Baugh who had been elected as a local councillor in a sea of wards held almost totally by the Conservatives. The swing of 12.6 % to Labour had been commensurate with the target seats where swings of only a few % were required to take control. The lesson that has never been learned is that if there is a popular local candidate in a non-target seat, the seat should be fought tooth and nail and not left for the candidate with a few loyal supporters to fight unassisted by the party machine. In 2001 when she stood again, there was a different approach, but J’s vote was to fall back. However, the Conservative majority did not recover substantially until subsequent elections.

J had asked P on a number of occasions, ‘If I get elected, you will come down to London won’t you?’

To which P had replied, ‘I would not go near London’, which he really did not mean.

Parting quote to Graham Brady from P, ‘Graham, you and I have jelly legs for diametrically opposed reasons; I was almost the husband of an MP and you were almost not elected as an MP’.

General election 1997: Altrincham and Sale West Party Conservative Labour Liberal Democrats Referendum Prolife Alliance UKIP

Candidate Graham Brady Jane Baugh Marc Ramsbottom Anthony Landes Jonathan Stephens Richard Mrozinski

Votes 22,348 20,843 6,535 1,348 313 270

% 43.2 40.3 12.6 2.6 0.6 0.5

± N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A

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Majority Turnout

1,505 51,782

2.9 73.3

N/A N/A

As you can imagine the committee rooms later were a buzz with disappointed excitement and the loyal supporters celebrated with Jane until late in the night. What could have been was not to happen, but the occasion was much enjoyed. The following year in the local elections it was business as usual and J was to be elected for a third time.

J with some of the Labour Party Candidates in the North West, prior to GE1997; Campaigning in Altrincham with loyal supporter, Elsie Smith, she was never a supporter of Tony Blair, pictured in the poster on the left

Jane’s speech accepting the result with Graham Brady, newly elected MP on the left; A close up on the right of her acceptance with dignity, if this could only have been her acceptance speech as the MP for Altrincham & Sale West Constituency

Celebration of Jane’s result, nearly an MP at 121, Moss lane, with Mike Rose her revered agent and Jane accepting flowers from loyal campaigners; it was a case of disappointment with excitement

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Croquet on the lawn for the Labour Executive Team 1996/97, left to right, Joyce Acton, Andrea Jones, David Acton, Jane Baugh, and Beverley Hughes (Leader) on the far right.

1997 was a local election by-year and Labour had gained overall control from the Conservatives in 1996. Bev Hughes had been elected as MP for Stretford and Urmston and relinquished the leadership of the Council to David Acton. J was a lead member on the executive group and with the new Leader became responsible for the Waterside development, which the previous leader of the group had not favoured.

J’s relationship with the previous leader was not always congenial as both had their own opinions about Council proposals and strategy. Some evening phone calls between the two of them reached melt down on occasions as differences of opinion were expressed strongly on both sides but more so by the Leader. The new Leader and J always had a respectful and cordial relationship.

1998 This year was one of mixed events and J had to deal with a serious situation with her sister’s marriage.

On the Yangtze River: Early on in March, P disappeared but not without trace to Shanghai for one month to conduct some more sampling in and on the Yangtze River with Simon Hutchinson and the group from East China Normal University.

The East China Normal University Group in darkness on their way on an open cargo boat to a newly formed island in the Yangtze River estuary; Leaving the boat to investigate and sample the sediment and flora.

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Is this Liverpool or Shanghai?

The Bund walking area in front of the Victorian Facsimile of the Liverpool waterfront buildings

It was also a local election year for J, and she was campaigning vigorously from January on, to be elected for the third time as a Councillor for the Broadheath Ward. In May, she was successful and although the turnout was much smaller than in 1994, J’s share of the vote was higher at 51.3%.

Broadheath Ward 1998 Party

Candidate

Votes

%

±

Labour

J. E. Baugh*

1,704

51.3

+6.9

Conservative

D. C. Simm

1,383

41.6

-5.6

Liberal Democrats

D. Jones

238

7.2

-1.2

Majority

321

9.7

+6.8

Turnout

3,325

38.3

-5.4

Labour hold

Swing

J knows best but P knows better: There was an occasion after the local election, when J made a decision while P was at work, which almost ended in a catastrophe for them and James.

James had passed his driving test first time in 1997 and was due to attend the General Studies exam in early June. He asked J if he could borrow the aging Carlton to drive to school. J agreed and he collected his good friend, Ben Kearns, on the way. The route to school was on the back road to Ashley. A short distance before they were due to reach the Greyhound in the centre of Ashley James came up behind a tractor with a keep right sign on the rear. He made a misjudgement and attempted to overtake the tractor only to experience the tractor turning towards the Carlton. The car was forced into a tree and came to a full stop. A teacher from KCHS saw the accident and expected the occupants to be severely injured but was very surprised and relieved to observe both boys getting out of the car uninjured but badly shaken.

The large robust Carlton had saved them from injury but both vehicles suffered severe damage. The wheels had detached from the tractor and the Carlton front bumper had been lifted to the base of the front windscreen (as observed by P when he visited the vehicle recovery depot, Egerton’s in Mobberley, to collect belongings and items from the car). James sat the exam, but Ben did not. Retrospectively, J and P thought that the school should probably have arranged for James to be sent home. As it happened J and P did not see James

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until he arrived home from school in late afternoon. As you can imagine they were both extremely relieved to see him.

Her sister, Jill’s illness and problematic marriage: J on many occasions regretted that she had not cared for her younger sister more sensitively and in recent years the situation in her marriage had gone from bad to worse. Her husband had become very attached to drinking and this habit occurred also at work. He was in danger of losing his job. At almost the same time, Jill had been diagnosed with terminal cancer of the oesophagus, and she lost her ability to swallow solid food. Towards the beginning of the illness, her husband had attempted halfheartedly to set fire to their house. J and P received an SOS call from her and immediately drove down to Ham, Charlton Kings, near Cheltenham, where the couple lived. On arrival Jill was in considerable distress and the house was blackened throughout with soot deposit on all the walls and signs of an attempt to light a fire, with half burnt newspaper. J and P stayed with her to clear up the mess as best they could. Jill had banned her husband from the house and for a while he lived in the garage. The following year was to be the final episode in this sad affair for Jane’s sister.

During this heat-breaking period, as a treat J and P with James had planned to take Jill to attend ‘Othello’ at RST in Stratford and had booked the tickets. A few days before the date of the play she informed them that she was not well enough to attend and J and P asked James if Gareth (Gaz Newall) one of his very best friends would like to attend. On the day of the play they drove down to see Jill in Cheltenham to have lunch with her. She was finding difficulty consuming anything but soup. Later, J and P with James and Gaz left to attend the play in Stratford thinking that Jill, if she had been well enough, would have enjoyed it.

It was to be a double tragedy because Gaz, while at Newcastle University, 1997/99, and almost at the same time was diagnosed with a brain tumour. He was editor of the student mag. and remained as editor from his hospital bed. His father, Brian, requested that the Council consider calling the railway flyover on Lloyd Street, ‘Gareth’s Bridge’, after his son. The Council obliged and a plaque was placed on the bridge in memory of Gaz. He was awarded a degree, posthumously.

James has a gap year and opts for one course of study only: In late August James received his A level results, which were A, A, B with a C in AS music and was accepted to study at Leeds University with his friend Olly Nuthall. However, before the first term commenced, James decided that he did not wish to study Sociology and English at Leeds. Instead he opted for a gap year and worked at Victoria Wines in Altrincham, various pubs and The Coach House restaurant on the Dunham Massey estate.

In early 1999, he applied to Manchester University to study Social Anthropology and Comparative Religion. By mid-1999, he had not received any notification about his application and P, knowing how university admissions operated or didn’t, suggested that James call the university to ask about his application. He was a little concerned when he was told that his application had not been processed because he had not included a CI, as an alternative, if the CF offer was not approved. His application had been left on a desk which is quite normal for university admissions. James was also informed that there were no places on the course for which he been applied (only 6 applicants could be accepted per year). He indicated that he had applied for that course alone and he was not interested in studying an alternative subject. The professor who spoke to him said he would look into his case and three weeks later called back to inform James that his application had been accepted for the course for which he had applied.

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J’s treat for P: 1998 was the year of the big 60 for P and J as ever, thoughtful more for others rather than herself, treated P to a mid-week break in Rome and booked trips for them to go on, every day, St Peters, Sistine Chapel, the Coliseum, Pompeii/Sorrento via Naples and art galleries & museums. On two occasions, including on his birthday, he was fortunate to be able to wave to the Pope with 20,000 other people in St Peter’s square.

They stayed near to the Presidential Palace at the Hotel del Quattro Fortuna where they could view the daily changing of the guard. The room they were originally allocated was acutely triangular with the bed position such that it was difficult to get into. J strongly demanded an alternative and the hotel manager duly obliged. They had a long day trip to Pompeii and Sorrento via Naples. On the return journey, which was long and tiring, in the darkened coach they relaxed much as they had done on train journeys to and from South to North Wales in the 1960s before marrying. The evenings were also spent in a relaxed way and J on occasions would play a role, amorously (she never had any aspirations to be a real actress but she could show that she had such an imagination if only for her husband’s amusement; it was a case of when in Rome, do as Romans do!).

Birds eye view of St Peter’s with Jane in the foreground; Shopping was always on the holiday agenda; Victor Emmanuel Monument, Rome; Below, a lava ash figure in the ruins of Pompeii

1999 This year were full of events, some good, some quite difficult and some very sad.

Normandy: J and P had not visited France for some time and had only stayed overnight in Normandy on return journeys from elsewhere in France, further south. They decided on a P & O package break early in the year, taking the ferry from Portsmouth to Cherbourg and returning via Le Havre, which allowed them to visit Mont St Michel, St Malo, Caen, Orbec and Honfleur. For some reason, Sue, her brother’s wife, who was an avid market gardener with a stall in Barnstaple market (visited later in the 2000s by Prince Charles) asked them to try to buy some Jerusalem artichokes while in France, for her to plant. She had given J and P the name in French, ‘topinambour’. They stopped in a village in Normandy at a vegetable shop to enquire where they could purchase the artichokes. They were directed to a farm outside the village and met the farmer who brought out several boxes of the vegetable. P decided to buy a box at a small cost. On a later visit to Orswell in Devon J and P delivered the artichokes

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to Sue for her to plant in her market garden (J and P were always willing to oblige even if the gesture was not always reciprocated).

Mont St Michel; P collecting Jerusalem artichokes from a French farmer; J on the quai at Honfleur

Polytunnel contruction worker at Orswell, Stoke Rivers with Peter, Sue & John, 1990s

MUFC Treble: After the local elections in May, J and P decided to have a short break in Dorset and their very good friends Sheila and Colin made a trip from South Wales to visit them for a several nights’ stay. It coincided with the European Cup Final between MUFC and Bayern Munich and Colin, although from Swansea, was also an avid MUFC supporter. The night of the match was excruciating for Colin because in extra time, added on for stoppages, it was still 1-0 to Bayern Munich. He was tearing his hair out as he thought his beloved MUFC was about to lose. Alex Ferguson played his ace cards like a master with a double substitution, first Terry Sheringham, who scored to make it 1 - 1 and then Ollie Gunnar Solskaer, super-sub scored to make it 2-1. The atmosphere as you can imagine was electric.

Iconic Lulworth Cove, Jurassic Coast, Dorset; P with Colin & Sheila in Gardens near the Swannery First son marries: A happy occasion was when Jon married Julie and after the marriage vows at Sale Registry; the reception was held at Dunham Village Hall on a beautiful day in July. The

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number of guests was limited because of the accommodation and decisions made. Because both were vegetarian, Greens, the vegetarian restaurant, Oxford Road, Altrincham was asked to cater. All the guests commented that it was one the best wedding occasions they had attended. Unfortunately, due to difficult circumstances, the couple did not stay together very long, which affected the family for two decades until J died in 2020. J and P always tried to assist but accepted that there was never going to be a satisfactory solution. Perhaps they had not been able to provide the right atmosphere for a compromise.

Jon and Julie’s first rented house in Slatterthwaite; Julie and Jonathan on their wedding day; J and P in a memorable photo near Slatterthwaite

Jill’s illness and passing: This year was particularly heart-breaking for J because her sister’s condition deteriorated rapidly. The consultant in Cheltenham had fitted a stent to assist her swallowing but gradually she needed to be fed through her stomach. J wished to look after Jill as much as possible and arranged for her to stay in Timperley. For several weeks, she remained with them but because of her condition she was admitted to Wythenshawe Hospital during this time in an unsatisfactory attempt to ease her discomfort.

Auntie Jill smiling and looking towards James, her nephew, outside her home in Ham, Charlton Kings, 1997; At 121, Moss Lane, with James holding his violin, Christmas 1997 on happier occasions

J and P had arranged to return to Greece for a third time in late August/ early September. J was very uncertain about being away at this time, but Jill insisted that that they should not cancel their holiday and J asked her brother John to come to look after Jill while they were abroad. The holiday turned out to be very special as will be narrated separately but curtailed as they were advised to return home early because of Jill’s parlous condition. She returned to her home in Ham to continue her treatment at local hospital there.

Special event in Greece: J and P returned to Greece for the third time longing for the sea to swim in, walking into the sunset and some sightseeing. But a special treat was in store arranged by George as it was the 50th anniversary of the 1949 Civil War in Greece. It was also particularly special because George had never attended the remembrance service held every year in the mountains in Northern Greece.

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50th Anniversary of the Greek Civil War, 1949, in the mountains in Northwest Greece

Eleni, the special Greek cook preparing one of her delights; Greek party always a feast

Minoan Dolphin hydrofoil service from Nea Moudania to Skiathos; P and J on the harbour front with Skiathos Town in the background

Favourite exercise for J and P; the tranquillity of an inlet on Scopolos; on a street in Alonissos

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Greek and British Sisters waiting for the Sunset, Nea Plagia

Sadness late in the year: After Jill returned to Cheltenham, her condition rapidly deteriorated and J and her brother John urgently arranged to meet in Cheltenham to visit Jill who had already been admitted to Cheltenham Hospital. They had seen Jill on the evening before she died but on the day, unfortunately, when they arrived, they were heartbroken to learn that she had passed away a little beforehand. They suspected the medication administered had assisted in her passing.

A celebration of her life was held in the main hall at Cheltenham Ladies College in which songs were sung in Welsh, including ‘Oes Gafr Eto’ and her favourite Beethoven piano piece, ‘Fur Elise’, was played by David Barlow. Eleni, J and P’s Greek friend, who was on a visit to the UK, attended with them and all the family members. *The singing of Welsh songs was a feature of the common room at Cheltenham Ladies College at break & lunch times when Jill and one of her teacher friends were together.

Memorial seat for Jill Wilder (nee Lugg) in the grounds of Cheltenham Ladies College At a later date, John, her brother had visited the college for the day.

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Lilian Newbank’s Last visits, 1995 to 1999: Over many years Lilian Newbanks (nee Pimlott) had visited the UK to visit family members, mainly in the Stoke on Trent area, from where the family originated but also in Colwyn Bay where her Uncle George and Aunt May Phillips (nee Pimlott) had settled in 1913. She had taken over from her mother, P’s great aunt, in the 1950s, who had returned on a number of occasions after WW2, and she had continued the tradition until her mid-80s. In 1995 a reunion with Lilian was organised in Colwyn Bay, which all the Baugh family attended. Her final visit at the age of 85 was in 1999. J had first met Lilian and stayed at her house in Trenton before her wedding in 1965.

Lilian’s visit to Colwyn Bay with all the Baugh family present

Conclusion So ends another chapter of Jane’s biography, with many and varied events, describing her progress to becoming a strong Councillor with 10 years of experience with an ability and dedication to multitask in all kinds of ways and which paved the way for two more memorable decades to follow, including her Mayoral Year, 2011 to 2012.

Appendix 1 Tribute by Tom Ross: Reflections of a School Boy meeting Jane Baugh at Altrincham Grammar School for Boys, General Election, 1997 I remember very clearly the first time I met Jane Baugh as it is one of those encounters that has had such a positive impact on my life. I was 15, lacking confidence but passionate about the Labour Party. I had joined Labour in October 1996 and was keen to do my bit to get a Labour Government elected even though I wasn’t old enough to vote myself. The trouble was that I had not built up the courage to make contact with the local party and time was running out before polling day, It was April 1997 and I finally had an opportunity to meet someone from the local Labour Party in person. My school, Altrincham Grammar School for Boys, was holding a mock General Election. Each of our local parliamentary candidates was invited to speak at a lunch time hustings and I couldn’t wait to attend the Labour event to hear Jane Baugh speak.

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We were in the school hall and Jane, accompanied by her Agent, Mike Rose, spoke with passion about the Labour Party and why she was a member. She recited our manifesto commitments and five key pledges and then took a number of questions. I was too shy to ask a question but I did wait until the end and, with a lot of courage, approached Jane to introduce myself and offer to help.

Jane immediately put me at ease and was both kind and keen for me to get involved. She gave me her number and asked me to get in touch. The following evening I did but was so nervous I left a garbled message on her answer phone. Despite my incoherent message she phoned straight back and asked if I wanted to come over to help the following Sunday.

That Sunday, my friend, Leon, and I went along to 121 Moss Lane, Jane’s home, and campaign centre. Leon –always acerbic and sceptical- wondered what I was roping him into! We both arrived to a warm welcome and were ushered into a room where a number of local members were busy at work. We were tasked with bundling election addresses into fifties before placing them in Royal Mail sacks. Jane was there, Peter on hand too. Other members present included Helen Walsh, someone I got to know as a local stalwart, and also Alice who turned out to be a former communist (and bit of a New Labour sceptic). It was a simple task but both Leon and I had so much fun and were made to feel so welcome that it felt like we’d entered a second home.

Cllr. Tom Ross, Stretford Below is a page of the AGSB school magazine notes illustrating Cllr Jane Baugh addressing the school during the general election held at the school in 1997.

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Cllr Jane Baugh addressing the school in 1997 where the mock General Election was held.

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Jane Baugh, Labour Party parliamentary election candidate, thank you letter to Altrincham and Sale West Clp Members, May 12th, 1997.

Labour party leaflet illustrating Cllr Jane Baugh, Chair of Environment and Leisure, promoting a clean environment, 1997.

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Chapter 11. 2000 – 2009. The second council decade with many ups and downs The second decade of J’s 30 years as a Trafford Borough councillor was just as eventful as the 1990-1999 first decade. The new century 21st began and 2000 the first year was full of activities, both domestic and political. The LP group were still in control and J had an important executive position. It was the final year of P’s academic career at Salford as the bid for a Master programme funded by the EPSRC failed and the ESF grants were discontinued.

He was not retained to oversee the resulting closure of the MSc in Analytical Chemistry course and his research projects also came to an end. There were no other academic activities in which he could have become involved without research grants and his career at Salford was at an end.

Meantime J at 57 had almost 20 years of council service to look forward to and 12 years as a physiotherapist at AGH. In 2001 she again stood as a LP parliamentary candidate, retained her council seat in 2002 in Broadheath and in 2004 stood in Priory ward when Trafford had an all-out council election as a result of a boundary change, which favoured the Conservatives.

She was required to stand again in 2006 as the newest councillor in the ward. The LP lost control in 2005 but Jane had made a significant contribution to the development of the Waterside Arts Centre and became active as a council rep. on Friends Groups including Walkden Gardens and Worthington Park, vice-chair of Sale Festival, President of Parkinson’s Trafford Branch, Sale Brass Band and the Alma Singers, a member of the Friends of the Bridgewater Canal and joined in with the FBC litter picking group on the canal banks on a regular basis.

The New Millenium New Year 2000 was special and celebrated with New Year’s Eve Party, which was total fancy dress and held jointly with Alison and John Thornton at 123, Moss Lane.

The Millenium New Year’s Eve Fancy Dress Party; The 1920s duo, Jane & Jenny; Ann & Penny; a montage group of revellers

2000 On the domestic front, James had delayed entry into Manchester University until 1999 and was completing his first year. David was now a teacher at King’s Road Primary School in Stretford and Jonathan had obtained a post at Kendal College but only at a 0.5 level, which proved to be inadequate from a financial standpoint.

Special wedding: Their good and long standing friends, Sheila and Colin Lloyd, married in July, 2000 at Margam Abbey Church with the reception in the Abbot’s Kitchen close by.

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Sheila Lloyd and Jane; the Bride and Groom; Jane, Liz and Sheila Lane from the gang of four

Greece again beckoned for the 4th time and two Greek Girls attended the MSc Course at Salford, 1999-2000. They lived in Patra, east of Athens and invited J and P to stay with them on their return to Greece, which allowed them to sight see in Athens, have an overnight stay in Patra and visit Cephalonia, one of the Ionian Islands, a short ferry crossing from Patra before travelling to Thessaloniki and Nea Plagia for their usual relaxation there.

With Greek friends in Patras, beach BBQ party and Greek dancing

Ferry from Patras to Cephalonia; Hotel view near Sami (Captain Correlli’s Mandolin filming had just been completed)

Scenes of Cephalonia; coastal panorama; subterranean boat trip; Myrtos beach where J experienced a strong tidal undertow warning P not to enter the water.

Greek cuisine with Eleni and feasting time

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Scenes from Petrakerasse: Donkey loggers on the trail near the village; J, P and Eleni near the village, 3000 ft above Thessaloniki; George’s family home in the village (under German occupation in WW2)

Their first grandchild was finally born on August 28th after a delay of a birth expected in early August, which meant that J and P who had tried to ensure that they would be in the UK for the birth had already departed for Greece on August 24 th. They did meet up with Jon, Julie and Maya later in the year staying at a hotel overnight but it was not a happy occasion, which J and P could not completely comprehend.

This unfortunate occurrence led to the commencement of some difficult years. J and P continued to provide financial support at a distance during this period. Within months the marriage was in difficulty and a separation ensued.

2001 In this year J again stood for parliament and J and P after 25 years decided to renovate the kitchen. At the same time the election period also overlapped with Jon’s wife and daughter arrived to stay with two collies while Jon who was still working in Kendal. This complicated situation was handled by J and P as diplomatically as possible and they attempted to accommodate the family as best they could in difficult circumstances.

The May General Election coincided with this visit and J and P were having to multi-task during this period. There was much greater support than in 1997 in the campaigning, both locally and from other areas in the North West. It was realised mistakes had been made in 1997 and that J was capable of obtaining a very good outcome. A senior LP member, Alf Bates was J’s agent and with Cllr. Barbara Keeley (now an MP) took control of the committee rooms at 121, Moss Lane. Unfortunately, this arrangement miscued as while P was on a car call there was a problem with the PC and printer. They uploaded printer drivers to relieve the problem unnecessarily as P if he had been present would have sorted the problem out without this need. For some months after, the operation of the computer was affected by this action as the printer default was linked to the LP data base used during the campaigning.

Martin Williams (CWU) converted his van trailer to accommodate a board displaying the closeness of the result in 1997 and toured the area with a PA announcing “Vote Labour” (see poster below).

Election Day arrived and the result although very good did not match that achieved in 1997, an opportunity had been missed to return J as an MP. However, the conservative majority was such that the constituency remained marginal and it was still a puzzle that the Labour vote was over 17,000 still the best result until that for Cllr. Andrew Western in 2017 and 2019 (although the conservative majority was greater in these GEs).

There was a moment of some amusement at the count. James had noticed that the celebrity, Jordan (alias later Katy Price), was standing against Bev Hughes in Stretford and Urmston. In a rush of blood he hurdled the barrier between the counts for the two constituencies and approached Jordan to get her autograph. This action was totally out of character.

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Altrincham & Sale West Conservative hold Name

Party

Votes

%

+/- %

Graham Brady

Conservative

20,113

46.2

+3.0

Jane Baugh

Labour

17,172

39.4

-0.9

Christopher Gaskell

Liberal Democrat

6,283

14.4

+1.8

Majority

2,941

6.8

Turnout

43,568

60.7

-12.6

Swing Against 1997 General Election

1.9% from Labour to Conservative

Elsie Smith, canvassing & door knocking; Election Centre at 4, Frieston Road, home of Pat and Eric Williams; Cllr Julia Chapman Barker & Mary Atherton, Labour scrutineers at Park Road Primary School Polling Station; poster displaying how close Jane got to being elected an MP in 1997.

Jane, the Labour Party candidate with Tom Ross (Now Cllr in Stretford); J with a Trafford Youth Group

Although disappointed, J had her local council work to carry on with, which she did diligently and robustly for a further 18 years.

Later in the year in August, they arranged to visit France to attend the Marciac Jazz festival in which Diana Krall and Winton Marsalis were appearing. They travelled separately with Ann and Geoff Flood and stayed overnight in the mid-west of France before travelling on to Marciac. They rented a Gite attached to the property of a retired Gendarme and his wife.

This visit gave them an opportunity to visit the area around Marciac and drive to the Pyrenees,

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Pau and Lourdes. Also two Labour colleagues had settled in the vicinity of Marciac and they were able to visit them on several occasions. They went on several tours and tasted Armagnac the traditional spirit of the Departement. J and P enjoyed a day out in the Haute Pyrennes region driving to Cauteret and taking a ride on the tele-siege in the mist to the top of the ski slopes. On their return they visited Lourdes.

On the return home they made a detour to the Auverne region near the volcanic area and the Puy de Dome, which they drove up in a violent thunderstorm, and Claremont Ferrand where they were forced to park up in a back street because of torrential rain. They had to drive along the motorway in the direction of St Etienne in a continuing downpour and realised that no car was overtaking them as visibility was down to less than 50 metres. They were relieved when the turn off to a small town was evident, which was in the direction of their accommodation. They had booked into an 800 year old b & b named Castle Vaux. On arriving at the entrance, they had to drive several kilometres to the back entrance of the castle. On alighting from car they were greeted by two large hounds which was a little disconcerting but they seemed reasonably friendly. P went into the kitchen and there appeared to be no one available to greet them. He ventured further into the castle and came to a room where the hosts were sitting with family members watching TV. They appeared unconcerned on seeing P but welcomed him and showed him to a circular room which was on the top floor of one of the towers. They felt that they had gone back in time to Mediaeval Ages as the castle had been a family home for 800 years. P had thought that they had booked an evening meal but were told by the wife that because of illness no evening meals were being served. So later they drove along the drive back to the entrance and to a small town nearby. As they proceeded along the drive way the two hounds bounded along beside the car in a slightly fierce manner which made them think of the Conan Doyle story of The Hounds of The Baskervilles. They were relieved that they were not walking. The dinner was memorable in that P had a starter of tripes avec herbes, a specialty of the Auvernais region.

The following day they decided to tour the area and drove deep into the forest on a winding road. It was a slow journey and very unfortunate because after a while they approached a sign displaying passage interdit, which indicated road closure. This occurrence meant they had wasted several hours on their tour having to retrace their journey to find an alternative route, which consumed much of the morning. On this trip they met up with a large number of hell’s angels bikers who were roving around and because of their having to redirect appeared to meet up with them several times. Forest roads are all very fine if you are able to arrive at your destination in reasonable time but are boring with a lack of view if not. It turned out to be one of those less than enjoyable days.

In the evening they again had to go out for a meal in a town nearby and as it was a Sunday evening the restaurants were few and far between. They ended up eating at an Algerian restaurant not French.

J and P had arranged to meet James who was resident at a Buddhist retreat, La Gendronniere, a chateau, near Blois in the north. They parked at the edge of the gardens and James met them and gave them a tour of the house and grounds. The trio had a day out touring the magnificent chateaux on and bridging the river including chateau des dames and of course a delightful lunch. The next day they drove to the ferry to return to the UK.

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The accommodation and gite owned By Pierre, the retired gendarme; BBQ for Pierre, his wife, friends and guests; lunch at Bassoues with Andy McNee & Partner, John and Patty Beer, Labour Party colleagues from Trafford who had expatriated to the Marciac area

The Marciac Jazz Festival site entrance and main stage; Jazz group; Ann and Geoff

James and P at a chateau venue; one of the magnificent chateaux of the Loire valley visited

Monument to French resistance

2002 In May J again stood for council and as it happened for the final time in Broadheath; she was successful with 400+ majority and one of the highest votes for successful labour candidates.

The status of the council was no overall control, although Labour remained the largest party until the all-out election of 2004.

2002

Broadheath Party Labour

Candidate

Votes

%

2,454

49.9

+6.0

2,060

41.9

-6.7

404

8.2

+8.2

Majority

394

8.0

Turnout

4,918

57.3

Jane Baugh*

Conservative Alexander Williams Independent

Labour hold

Guy Morgan

±%

+19.8

Swing

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2002 was the final year at Manchester for James and he graduated with a first class honours degree in Social Anthropology and Comparative Religion in July.

James photoed at the Manchester University Graduation Ceremony, July 2002, 1st class honours

An early autumn visit by Elaine and Oscar from New Orleans had been arranged for a tour of the Island of Ireland commencing with a ferry crossing from Holyhead to Dun Laoghaire on the day after they flew in from New Orleans. The first night was spent at Avoca, near Glendalough, an area of outstanding natural beauty in which St Kevin’s tomb and shrine was located (note: patron of Dublin). They arrived at their accommodation just in time to drive to the lough before nightfall for a delightful evening stroll and pay respects to the Saint.

The second day they drove south through Cty Wexford to a pub in Thomastown, for visiting several sites the next day, including the Waterford Crystal centre. On the third day they visited Kilkenny castle when they experienced the only afternoon of light rain. Although the temperature was much lower than in New Orleans, Oscar, in the daytime, wore only light clothing, short sleeve shirt and trousers, which J and P had remarked he would probably not be able to do at this time of year in Ireland.

Maps: Southern Ireland; Glen of Aherlow

On day 3 they stayed in one of the most picturesque locations in Ireland, Glen of Aherlow, at a country hotel with a bar and restaurant detached from the accommodation. Oscar and P remained drinking Guinness in the bar until around 2.00 am and after the main door to the hotel had been bolted; the two were directed through the kitchen by the hotelier to their accommodation.

On Day 4 they had two memorable sites to visit, the JFK Memorial Park and Blarney Castle.

They drove to Blarney Castle to kiss the iconic stone in a prone position as was the norm. The accommodation venue for Day 4 was Tipperary, which was unfortunately not directly on the route of the circular tour and meant back tracking.

The evening of day five was spent at Macroom near to Cork and they were able to visit Cobh, formerly Queenstown, for a visit to the dock and museum from which the majority of the Irish

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emigres embarked to the USA, from the period of the Irish famine in the 1840s and thereafter through the 19th century and beyond.

On day 6, they drove up into the mist over a mountain pass to stay at Kenmare and had a prior arrangement to meet a cousin of Elaine’s at a bed and breakfast and where they had an evening meal with them as a reunion.

From Kenmare, on Day 7 they drove around the ring of Kerry on a road hardly wide enough for the passing of a car and a bus. They realised that there was one way to drive around the ring and they were actually driving in the reverse direction to all the coaches, which made negotiation of the road difficult. This area was the real Ireland as the place names became Gaelic only and they visited ancient stone dwellings down a narrow road along the edge of the sea.

They drove on to Tralee, which the week prior had been the venue for ‘The Rose of Tralee’ and at which entrants from the USA had been in competition. Although on the drive they were in the vicinity of Killarney and the iconic Macgillycuddies reeks they did not stay there.

From Tralee to avoid a long detour via Limerick they decided to take the ferry from Tarbert across the Shannon to Killiner, which enabled them to motor up the west coast to some of the most panoramic features of Ireland, including The Burren and The Cliffs of Morr and an isolated estate, Kylemore Abbey, which had an interesting history. They paid a brief visit to Galway during this memorable sightseeing part of the tour and stayed further north at Westport in Cty Mayo, at the Augusta Lodge.

On day 9 they drove north to Sligo for short tour but then turned in land to find accommodation at Carrick on Shannon; unfortunately the roads around the river had an obscured view and as a result they did have much sightseeing in this area. Day 10 was the final day and they drove back to Dun Laoghaire via the bog of Allen and Ctys Meath and Kildare to catch the ferry. They had hoped to pay a short visit to Dublin on the Dart rly but time did not allow.

Scenes from Ireland: The whispering bridge; Prehistoric monument; Guinness for ever; early evening at Glendalough

Kissing the Blarney stone; Cliffs of Morr; Prehistoric dwelling; On the ferry across the Shannon, Tarbert to Killiner

Glen of Aherlow; Sea lough near the Burren, West Coast; Kylemore Abbey; Re-union with Elaine’s cousin in Kenmare

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West coast sunset: Homeward bound for fish, chips & mushy peas in Conway, North Wales

Elaine with resting stag, Dunham Massey

Oscar and Elaine flew back to New Orleans on Day 11 having experienced a whistle stop tour of Ireland and a repeat tour of the foursome around Spain was to come in 2006.

2003

Photo of Cllr. Jane Baugh working in her bedroom office at her home, 121, Moss Lane, July 07, 2003 (Councillor for the Broadheath Ward) This was the year that James, much to his Mother’s dismay, made a decision to go to Japan to teach English. J remarked, ‘Why does he wish to live so far from home’ and P answers, ‘Because he wants to get away from his mother’.

He had taken Zen Buddhists vows and become ordained as a monk earlier in the decade at Christmas 2001, while in La Gendronniere, a Zen Buddhist retreat in France. This reason was why he had wished to go to Japan where he could practice his Zen Buddhism. He had also studied Japanese while at Manchester, which was a further reason for spending sometime in Japan enabling him to enhance his understanding of the Japanese language.

In early May, having booked a flight to Narita airport, James departed for Japan with J and P not knowing when he would return to live in the UK. He did return for his brother’s marriage

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to Louise on August 02 but on leaving for Japan he informed J that it would be very unlikely that he would be able to return for Christmas. Later in the year, he confirmed this fact and immediately made a suggestion, ‘Why don’t you come out to Japan during the Festive season’.

J and P deliberated and said ‘Why not?’ After some thought, this was an opportunity to travel to a country that would probably not have been high on their future travel itinerary, that had come about because of James’s momentous decision. So plans were put in place to book flights with SKA through STA and a package tour with InJapan Tours, based in Bristol.

A family wedding: J and P’s second son, David, married Louise on August 02 at St Michael’s Church, Dunham Massey, which was attended by all the family, including three grandparents; the reception followed at the Mere Court Hotel. James returned from Japan for the wedding and sang and accompanied himself on the guitar during the signing of the register (one of David’s favourite, a James theme?)

Wedding photos: posing by the wedding car with bridesmaids; the bride & groom with Sue and Roger Bracegirdle, the bride’s parents; with groom’s parents, Jane and Peter Baugh

Jane’s generosity knows no bounds, where a puncture repair and a Roland piano are concerned: During 2003, J and P paid one of their frequent visits to South Wales to stay with Sheila and Colin Lloyd who had moved from the Bridgend area to Upper Tumble near to the Cross Hands roundabout on the A40 to Carmarthen. On the motorway, their unreliable Renault Laguna, which was to have many repairs of all kinds from 2002 until scrappage in 2013 on this occasion only suffered a slow puncture on the offside front tyre. This slow puncture did not prevent them from reaching their destination but did require them to make a number of stops at Mway service stations to increase the pressure to normal. They were able to monitor the tyre pressure reducing by the display screen on the car dashboard showing one wheel oscillating between on & off, indicating a tyre problem. Their final visit to a service station was in Swansea about 35 miles away from their destination, which enabled them to arrive at Upper Tumble without a further stop. Overnight, as expected, the tyre flattened totally, which required a call to the AA to replace the tyre with the temporary spare for running at speeds less than 50 mph. Later in the morning, the four friends in two cars visited the tyre service centre at the retail park off the Cross Hands roundabout. While P arranged to get the tyre plugged, J and Sheila decided to pay a visit to Leeks, a mega store, further down the retail park road. After a while they returned to the tyre service centre and J said, “I want you to come to Leeks as I have something to show you”. P was suspicious but obliged and went back to Leeks with J and Sheila. J took P to the display of Roland electronic pianos and showed him the baby grand. “I wish to buy this piano for you”. P was dumbfounded and speechless and fully taken aback. He hummed and hawed for a short while but realised that J was deadly serious about the purchase. So the story, which has been told many times, and the initial

54

question asked; “What is the relationship between a £7.50 tyre repair and £5000 Roland electronic baby grand”. Well now you know.

Roland KII Electronic Piano, purchased by Jane for Peter, A mega 65th birthday present!

Christmas 2003/New Year 2004: J and P had the usual very busy Christmas period and a big family gathering on the 25th. The day after Boxing Day was largely devoted to packing large holdalls and a variety of small pieces of luggage, checking travel documents, tickets and vouchers for travel on JR lines. On the 28th they departed by SKA to Copenhagen to take an 11h flight over Siberia and Lake Baikal to Narita airport. James met them at the airport from where they caught the sunshine express to Shinjuku station for a one night stay at the Shinjuku Washington Hotel on the 29th. James and P made a futile attempt to find the JR office in the station, which was enormous to exchange the vouchers for JR passes and reached the office just after closure at 5.00 pm; unfortunately, it was early closing for New Year.

The next day, the 30th, they departed for Hakone to stay one night near to Mt Fuji. Their accommodation was a ryokan, a traditional Japanese guest house, with a natural spring onsen, which was a new experience for them. The next day before they departed they took a bus trip to Lake Ashe for a cruise on the pirate ship near to the iconic mountain before catching the bus to a local station where they could exchange their vouchers for JR passes.

They embarked on the semi fast Tokaido Shinkansen for Osaka and Kyoto; this was a bullet train that made several stops but still travelled at speeds up to 165 mph.

Thermal Springs at Hakone near to cable car ride; Ryokan accommodation in Hakone

After arriving at Kyoto station, they walked to another traditional ryokan, Ohanobe, a short distance from the station for three nights stay, 31st to 3rd. In the evening they were served by two women in traditional dress and the three of them wore kimonos to sit or squat at low tables. It was a traditional dinner, which J was not too happy with what was being presented, although it was splendidly arranged in individual and small dishes. Jane suffered from excruciating stomach pains possibly reacting to the sukiyaki of farmed beef, Japanese vegetables and raw egg earlier.

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Ohanobe Ryokan in Kyoto

Later, they walked from the ryokan up to the shrine where thousands of Japanese and foreign tourists had gathered to bang the gong to signal the arrival of the New Year, 2004. This New Year was special as it was the only time that J and P experienced celebrating the occasion in a foreign country, and in a very special location in Kyoto with number three son, James san, who had made this decision possible.

The Shrine in Kyoto at Midnight 31st January, 2003 On the 1st they had their first sightseeing day in Kyoto visiting many of the shrines and temples including the Japanese gardens based on 15th century garden designs of Saomi, including the Zen Buddhist temple, Ryoan-ji. The sightseeing continued on the 2nd with a visit to the old quarter of Kyoto for lunch and the Golden Temple, which had been rebuilt after destruction in WW2. In the evening it was time to celebrate the New Year, Japanese style.

Golden Temple, Kyoto; A unique Japanese garden, Saomi 15th century From Kyoto they departed for Hiroshima on the 3rd to stay one night in the city, which enabled a visit to the peace dome & museum, which depicted the flight of Enola Gay to drop the atom

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bomb on the city in 1945 killing over 150,000 of Japanese citizens and also to view the eternal flame which could be photographed in a unique way.

The Peace Dome and Eternal Flame, Hiroshima

From Hiroshima on the 4th they departed on a local line to the ferry to take them to Miyajima Island in the bay for one night stay in Ryokan and a chance to view the island from a cable car ride in an ascent of the mountain. By 18.00 h they were only tourists left on the island with a large number of resident small brown deer on the water’s edge. In the evening they had the Japanese traditional experience dinner (not great for J).

The shrine at the water’s edge; Traditional Japanese dinner at the Ryokan on Miyajima Island in Hiroshima Bay

The following morning J was relieved that the grandmother served tradition American-English breakfast but apologised for the lack of heating in passageways in the Ryokan, which is the norm in Japan. She immediately turned up the temperature via a large heater mounted on the wall near to their table.

In mid-morning on the 5th, they departed by ferry and local line for Hiroshima and from there to Kyoto to catch the Shinkansen back to Tokyo where they again stayed in Shinjuku at the same hotel. James who had been on tour with them departed for Daigo where he was due to recommence teaching English in a local school.

Tokkaido Shinkansen, Kyoto to Tokyo

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On 6th J and P had time to visit the local Shinjuku area, going out for breakfast, and visiting the JR office to obtain tickets for the Shinkansen, from Tokyo to Ichinoseki & Ichinoseki to Utsunomiya followed by a stroll around Shinjuku Goyen Gardens & green house, with a late lunch in the park before returning to SWH. They arranged to send excess luggage to Narita (Business centre extremely helpful with good English). They visited the 52nd floor of the North Tower of the TMGB for a night view of Tokyo, in a lounge with jazz piano for expensive drinks, 2950 yen, and then proceeded on to Sumitomo Building, 50th floor, to eat at The Wine Bar, reasonably priced meal, but expensively marked up, 6900 yen.

On the 7th they checked out of SWH and took the local JR Yamanote line to Tokyo to board the 10.16 Shinkansen Yambiko, having seats with a view on the top deck of double decker and arrived at Ichinoseki at 12.57 h. On reaching Ichinoseki, they had the option to take the local Tokoku line or a taxi and they opted for the latter. Hiraizumi, Iwate Prefecture, provided a special visit as there was a large Temple complex to view, including the Chuson-ji and Motsuji temples, which is a World Heritage site. They informed the taxi driver of the name of the Musashibo Hotel and were driven to the hotel to check in. The staff on reception spoke no English but politely showed them to their room. Later on but before darkness fell they walked to the Temple complex totally alone and had tour round for a couple of hours. At dusk they decided to make their way back down the road to the hotel. In the early evening they decided to go to the onsen, separately.

Hiraizu mi

Location of Hiraizumi showing the Chuson-ji Temple Complex

Chuson-ji Temple, World Heritage Site; snow scene from the room at the hotel

J had an interesting altercation with some fairly inebriated Japanese guys who confronted her on the way to the onsen. Fortunately, they were harmless. Later they enjoyed a traditional Japanese meal, all types of fish and sukiyaki with raw egg.

They arranged at reception for the Hotel car to drive them to the local station, largely using sign language. On their departure on the 8th, the smartly dark suited receptionist stood by the car in the snowy conditions and bowed when they drove off; this outstanding courtesy

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was again evident. After taking the local train, they proceeded to the Shinkansen line at Ichinoseki for the trip to Utsunomiya. The snow was falling all the way with light blizzard conditions.

They then took a local JR Nikko line to Nikko, a winter resort to stay for two nights at a large Victorian style Nikko Kannaya hotel with staff wearing smart black attire. Their large room had a huge 8000ft mountain to view from the window. They took lunch in the French restaurant, superb cuisine & service, a Les Victorians! After they toured to the Temples and Shrines, walked up snow covered road to the shrine - up many steps to view the water fall at 2400 ft, returning in the dark via an avenue illuminated by Japanese lanterns to the Kannaya Hotel. They phoned James and arranged a pick up by car at Utsunomiya because of difficult connections from Nikko to Daigo. Later they had dinner in the French restaurant.

Kegon Falls – Nikko region On the they did not take breakfast but went out to the Temple and Shrine complex – Rionnji (Teiyen), Toshogu, and for noodles in a local café. They booked the bus at Nishisando, 2200 yen each, to take a round trip to Lake Chuzen-ji. On the way up, it was clear that the road, which was in a dangerously icy state, had only just been opened after a snow fall. They walked to the lake in deep residual snow and to the Kejon Falls, had coffee in a shop, bought pottery (Mashiko ware). On return to Nikko, they checked the time at JR Nikko station for leaving the next day and then walked back to the hotel; and checked out the Hipari Tako café for eating out near to the Hotel. They ate there later having very good yakitori & dumplings with hot sake, etc., cooked by the grandmother and entertained by her two year old granddaughter with her mother.

9th,

Temple Complex and road side shrine in Nikko; Lantern illuminated walk early evening; main entrance to temple complex

Temple arch; entrance; decorative feature

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.

Pagodas; Temple; Kejon Falls; Winter scene, near Lake Chuzen-ji, Nikko The following morning they took the local JR Nikko line to Utsunomiya and were met by James who took them to where he lived in Daigo. On seeing his flat, J was dismayed at the starkness of it with little furnishing and with an oil heater to keep the temperature above freezing. Later James took J and P to their Hotel, The Daigo Hotel, to settle in, after which he drove them to meet Mr and Mrs Abe at their home, who had kindly taken James in to their family when he first arrived in Daigo in May, 2003.

They were staying in Daigo for three nights and had two full days of sightseeing which was eventful. They visited the Fukuroda Falls and they walked up the narrow road alongside the small river, the banks of which were snow covered and the bed of river was frozen. The falls were flowing over a frozen backdrop, which they had never experienced in the UK. James and P climbed the well-known 1000 steps to overlook the falls while J relaxed at the base. On the way back they tasted skewered fish cooked over charcoal.

James wearing Buddhist kimono; P with Michiyo and Shintaro Abe

Fukuroda Falls, semi frozen; View from wooded area on Mt Kyuzu; Traditional skewered fish

View of Shinjuku from Tokyo Government Metropolitan Tower; Sensoji Temple, Ginza district

Temple illuminated, early evening in Ginza; Orchid display in Ginza Store; Ginza at night

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James also drove them for a medium category climb up Kyuzu Mountain in the vicinity about the height of Snowdon in Wales with a look out giving a panoramic view of the area around Daigo.

They also visited James’s favourite pizza restaurant, which had a pizza named after him on the menu. J and P bought him a bottle of Chivas Regal, which was kept behind the bar for him to quaff at his leisure.

On the 12th J and P departed from Daigo on the local JR line to Mito from which they caught the limited express to Ueda with a transfer to Shinjuku, where they stayed for the night at the same hotel before departing for the UK the next day. At Narita airport they collected their excess baggage from an upper floor where they were greeted on leaving the floor by smartly dressed female and male airport personnel who bowed as they passed; this gesture of courtesy was much appreciated by J and P. They arrived at Manchester Airport rather worn out after this memorable tour engineered by number three son who had left the UK to teach English in Japan.

2004.

This year saw the opening of the Waterside Arts Centre, on April 29, by actress, Sarah Miles, wife of playwright and screenwriter, Robert Bolt, which had been a PFI initiative commenced in 1997, and which J with the leader, David Acton, had been instrumental in overseeing to its completion. The theatre was named after Robert Bolt, who was born in Sale; he was responsible, in particular, for writing the screen plays for two epic films, Dr Zhivago and Man for All Seasons. The first event was with singer Thea Gilmore.

Sarah Miles, actress, wife of Robert Bolt

All out local elections: In May the council elections were all out because of the boundary change, which essentially removed two wards in the north being replaced by one and created two wards in the south, which favoured the conservatives hugely, a swing of 12, from no overall control with labour 31 to conservative 28 with 4 liberal democrats to conservative control 40 to 20 with 3 Liberal Democrat. Jane had made a decision to stand as a Labour candidate to replace Barbara Keeley in Priory ward having forsaken Broadheath for a safer seat, which was possibly considered to be disloyal. As it happened, Broadheath returned three conservative councillors, which meant that labour had no representation to the south of Sinderland Brook, which remained so for a considerable number of years.

Priory Ward, 2004 (after boundary changes) Party

Candidate

Votes

%

Labour

Barry Brotherton*

1,413

14.3

Labour

Roland Griffin*

1,320

13.4

Labour

Jane Baugh*

1,248

12.7

±%

61

Conservative

Joseph Garner

1,135

11.5

Conservative

Hugh Pitcher

1,063

10.8

Liberal Democrats

John Hunter

932

9.6

Conservative

Saleem Bhatti

923

9.4

Liberal Democrats

Michael Riley

821

8.3

Liberal Democrats

Derek Hurst

771

7.8

BNP

Jason Gough

232

2.4

9,858

51.4

Turnout Labour win (new seat) Labour win (new seat) Labour win (new seat)

2004 was also a year of a number of memorable holidays and short breaks.

In late May, J and P took a two Centre holiday in Western Crete flying into Chania, which gave them the opportunity to visit Knossos (site of the Minoan empire), trek in the Dalmatia Gorge in the north and drive though the Sumerian gorge to the southern coast where they experience the coldest sea temperatures imaginable in Mediterranean before the warm up from June onwards.

It was one occasion in driving abroad in countries where driving was on the right hand side of the road when they had a lucky escape as P, when coming off the main highway, took the left slip road instead of the right, which could have been catastrophic. Very fortunately, the traffic was extremely light and they were relieved (P drove 20000 miles in the USA in the 1960s, many times in France, on road trips in Canada, USA and Europe and never had any other such frightening experiences when driving).

Location of first holiday centre, vista and pool

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View of the White Mountains, rural area and beach

Knossos, Minoan empire site

Fort at the southern tip of the Sumerian Gorge; trekking in the Dalmatia Gorge in the north

Swimming in southern Crete was uncomfortable; Secluded pool at the location of second centre; rock pools

Plenty of goats, not always alive; Cretan sunset; WW2 British Cemetery at Salva near Chania

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In July they spent a few days in North Devon helping with work on the small holding and market stall.

Orswell Cottage, Home and Market Garden of Sue and John Lugg

Garden Views: A multitude of flowers and vegetables

Scenes from South Devon showing Cockington Village, near Torquay

In and around Torquay

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Cottage where J spent her summer family holidays in the 1940s and 1950s

Cockington Village Forge Michiyo Abe visited them from Daigo in Japan and James returned home also. She was the mother of the family who took care of James when he first arrived in Japan in May 2003. She was an English teacher and interestingly, a Jehovah’s Witness, which was somewhat unusual considering the culture of Japan, Shinto and Buddhism. Michiyo prepared delicious Japanese pancakes for them and some guests, Sheila & Tony M. while she was staying.

Several trips were organised, to the Yorkshire Dales and an overnight stay in London in which a tour of Buckingham Palace was undertaken and the George III & Charlotte museum.

With Michiyo in the Yorkshire Dales: By the side of Aysgarth Falls in Wensleydale; Jane and Michiyo at evening dinner in the Yorkshire Dales

One of their frequent trips to Nea Plagia in Greece took place early September in 2004.

Unfortunately, at this time of year, the winter timetable is extremely limited to only three buses a day to Thessaloniki and J & P had to rely on George to drive them to sites of interest

Sunset over the golpos at Nea Plagia; Late night meal at Greca Pizza with Eleni & George; At Greek memorial in the North Mountains

Eleni at the waterfall, Northern West Greece near Meteora; Olive tree in George’s orchard; Thumbing a tractor ride with George

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Honey (meli) from bee hives; olive grading by farmer family; J under the Moon They also visited Aberfeldy towards the end of October with Ann and Geoff who had a time share property there.

Scenes in and around Aberfeldy and the Birks

Statue of Robert The Bruce at Stirling Castle

2005 2005 was a milestone in the married life of J and P; it was the year of their 40 th ruby wedding anniversary. They made a decision to return to New Orleans for the first time since 1995 and planned to stay with Elaine and Oscar and meet up with Jet Arthur and his family. They arrived in mid-April prior to the date of their anniversary and were met by Oscar. After a few days they hired a car so that they could spend some time away from New Orleans and celebrate their anniversary. For this memorable day, they had booked a deluxe b & b Nottoway Plantation home up the River Road on the banks of the Mississippi River.

Nottoway Plantation Home, A Superior B & B for J and P’s Ruby Wedding Celebration; View of Old Man Mississippi River, a short early evening stroll from the B & B.

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A visit to New Orleans would not be complete without a boat trip to the bayous and swamp region. Elaine arranged for the four of them to have a high speed tour but stopping to view the density of the swamp and observe a wild life novelty.

A trip to the bayous and swamps: The marshmallow eating alligator; swamp view

They also had planned to visit Houston where Jett’s daughter Martha Ann Lived with her husband, John. Very kindly John and Martha motored to Nottoway to take them back in convoy to their home in Pearland, a leafy suburb of Houston. For the few days in Houston, they were taken to several locations of interest including the butterfly pavilion and the Space Centre, which are renowned. They visited the old port of Galveston, which had been devastated early in 20th century with more than 6000 people dying. They also met up with Martha’s daughter, Jinny Sue, partner and family.

Ruby Wedding Anniversary Cake; Celebratory dinner with Jett C Arthur Jr., aged 87, P’s ex-boss (extreme left), P and J, Elaine and Oscar; On the right, Martha Ann, Jett’s daughter, John, her husband and Georgia & Loyd De Luca, WW2 veteran, who liked warm English Beer!

After their return to New Orleans, they motored down the gulf coast to the location of their honeymoon in 1965 and revisited several places of interest including, Biloxi, Bellingrath Gardens and Pensacola, parts of which had been devastated by Hurricane Ivan, the previous year. Little did they know that Katrina was to follow later in the year, shades of Betsy which they experienced in 1965? They also celebrated their 40th anniversary at a Restaurant, Ralph’s on the Park with Jett, Laura Jean, Al, Elaine, Oscar, several of their daughters and Loyd & Georgia De Luca and where Anita, Elaine and Oscar’s daughter, worked.

Loyd and Georgia De Luca invited them with Elaine and Oscar to take Breakfast at Brennans where the food as always was sumptuous. Cocktails in the early morning are not always acceptable but why not at this famous restaurant. Also breaded oysters in a hollandaise type sauce were ordered by P as a specialty.

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Breakfast at Brennans with Cocktails

For one of their anniversary dinners, they visited the Court of Two Sisters in the French Quarter with Elaine and Oscar, where P asked the trio to play a special request, ‘It had to be You’, for their 40th anniversary, which they obliged to do at the table; he knew how to embarrass J. They also were taken to Gautreaux’s, Restaurant in the Garden District at which Elaine and Oscar’s one of their sons in law was a chef and Anita, their daughter, worked (the best cocktails in town!).

Two dinner dates: Court of Two Sisters with the trio playing 'It had to be You’; Gautreaux’s uptown, Garden District for Margarita Cocktails, Superior Californian wine and New Orleans French Cuisine Late in April they had a day out the well-established New Orleans Jazz Festival booked by Elaine.

Always Oysters with Jazz They had the experience and pleasure of attending a wedding of the daughter of a friend of Oscar and Elaine’s at the St Louis Cathedral near the Vieux Carre.

Wedding at St Louis Cathedral: Oscar, Elaine, J & P in the cathedral; St Louis Cathedral J and P departed from New Orleans, Louis Armstrong International Airport, early May, 2005, having had a memorable 40th Wedding Anniversary, a trip into nostalgia.

Farewell to The Big Easy

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Also in 2005, their second grandchild, Benjamin, was born on July 15, two weeks after his parents, David & Louise, had moved to Northwich.

Roger and Jane, two proud grandparents

Benjamin’s christening and early years

James after a year in Daigo moved to Tokai on the coast near to Hitachi to the south of Fukushima. While in Tokai he met up with Joy Robbins an American girl also teaching English.

Within a year they had become close and after moving together to Fukuoka, Kyushu, they married, which was a bolt out of the blue for J and P. J and P had always wanted to visit the Champagne region of France and in September, they rented a small cottage between Aucune and Beaune, at a small hamlet, Le Foret. However, beforehand having crossed from Folkestone to Dieppe , they had several days in the Jura Mountains and the region around Meuse, which was close to the Ossuaire de Verdun and the WW1 cemeteries (over 300,000 French and German casualties).During the visit later on, they visited several wine caves and champagne houses, including Mercier in Epernay, where they purchased six bottles of champagne (which were kept for the unanticipated renewal of vows celebration in 2008). The visit to the Mercier champagne house was unique in that the tour involved a ride on a laser guided train around the wine cave and a viewing of the enormous wine cask, capacity 200,000 bottles, decorated with carved scenes from Greek mythology.

Mercier was looked down on by the more highly established houses and to prove a point he arranged the driving of the cask on a dray pulled by 24 oxen and 18 horses over a period of 8 days and nights to Paris for the 1889 world exposition, having to get permission to pull down houses on the route to allow the dray to pass through. He was disappointed in being only awarded second prize in the competition, which was unfortunate, as the first prize was awarded to Eiffel for the construction of the Tour D’Eiffel in Paris, completed in that year (March 31). Other features of the visit to the region included the well-preserved Roman amphitheatre in Aucune.

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P dwarfed by Giant outside Hotel de Ville; Ossuaire du Verdun (containing bones of 100.000 soldiers) and WW1 cemetery (French)

Accommodation at Le Foret, Champagne Country ; Jane at café in Epernay; Dom Perignon, shades of James Bond

Le barrel a la Mercier Champagne Chateau, 2nd prize at World Exposition, 1889; Mercier champagne tower; Fountain at Chateau near Beaune 2006 Having been elected for Priory ward in 2004 and being the newest councillor on the block she was required to stand again in the May local elections. She was successful and increased her majority in a low turnout.

Priory Ward, 2006 Party

Candidate

Votes

%

±%

Labour

Jane Baugh*

1,121

39.2

-1.2

Conservative

Marion Rigby

950

33.2

+1.5

70

Liberal Democrats

Margaret Clarke

510

17.8

-7.9

Green

Joseph Westbrook

281

9.8

+9.8

Majority

171

6.0

+2.6

Turnout

2,862

39.3

-12.1

Labour hold

Swing

A three week tour of Spain was arranged later in May with Elaine & Oscar, basically because Oscar was a Spanish speaker being a Mexican American from Texas and it was his first language. He had always wanted to visit the mother country. So Jane and P planned a three week tour around Spain whereby the foursomes would meet at Madrid Airport and collect a hire car. They drove to Toledo to spend two nights at B&B in house which El Greco had lived with magnificent views of Toledo. They motored through Extremadura close to the border with Portugal via Bazojos and Caceres to Parra where they stayed in a parador, a converted abbey, with Storks nesting on the roof. From Parra they drove on to Huelva at the Portuguese border and toured the facsimile of the ships that Columbus sailed in to the New World in 1492.

The tour took them to Seville, Córdoba, with an excursion to Ronda a panoramic village split by a deep ravine, Granada, Albacete, Barcelona, Rioja, Esparren and through the Pecos mountains in the north to the Spanish Basque Country with a drive parallel to the pilgrimage way to Santiago de Campostella. Iconic sites were visited, including, The Alhambra, Alcazar, Mesquite, El Escorial, Segrada Familia, Parc Guell, Picasso Museum, Gaudy architectural buildings in Barcelona. They bade their farewells at Madrid Airport having had a magnificent tour with their Spanish speaking language guide. They were to meet up again in 2016 when J and P took a road trip from Orlando to New Orleans.

Toledo panorama from the B & B; Three of the group in B & B grounds; Roman Remains; Dinner at Parra

Outdoor bedroom at Hosperderia Convento de la Parra; Facsimile of Columbus’s Ships; Mesquite, Cordoba; Oscar in peephole window of accommodation

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B & B in Extremadura; Ronda gorge views; an olive processing plant venue

Alhambra: high hedge with Elaine and Oscar in the distance; Nedra palace; The couples enjoying dinner with the Alhambra in full view (same night as the 2006 European Cup, Barcelona 2 Arsenal 1)

The Mexican American, Oscar, holding court with Spanish Senoritas, the accents may have been different!; the stained glass window at the Segrada Familia and the spires

Features of Gaudy architecture; Roof top walk; Gaudy Apartment and building; Flamenco dancer

Barcelona Market Stall; Parc Guell features

Pavement feature, Las Ramblas near the Picasso Museum; 1866 Espana Brandy; Iconic building

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Monastery near Ronda; Hotel in Spanish Basque country; Serano ham buns; poppy field in Rioja

Burgos Cathedral; Night time in the square; Roman bridge with J peeping

Alcazar, Seville;

El Escorial Palace, Salamanca

Christmas and New Year’s Eves summary: During these years without being repetitive the festive season was a busy period with extended family groups attending on Christmas Day and New Year’s celebrations with some fancy dress parties. J and P not only accommodated David and Louise’s Mum and Dad but also P’s Mother, Louise’s Grandfather and friend, Louise’s brother, Nick, wife Suzanne and daughter Amy, Suzanne’s Mother and father both wheel chair bound and her brother Ryan who was Downs Syndrome.

Semi Fancy Dress on New Year’s Eve at 121, Moss Lane

2007

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After all this partying, of which 2006/2007 was typical, on January 15 th, 2007, they departed for a month’s tour of New Zealand with no stopover in Singapore except for a 2 h break to change flights and 23 h later they arrived in Auckland where they stayed exhausted overnight.

On leaving the airport because J’s small rucksack contained an apple they were taken to the security area by immigration officers under suspicion for being in possession of an illegal item.

Their walking boots also were put in quarantine and cleaned. The prosecution could end with $10,000 fine or 6 months in jail. The payment of $200 fine was to be paid within two weeks of the offence while they were on tour in NZ, which proved not possible.

They checked into an airport hotel in the mid evening rather fatigued after the long haul flight.

The next morning the car hire company contacted them and collected them by car to drive them to the depot. After checking in they were provided with a Toyota Avensis, automatic, which in a tired state P proceeded to have difficulty driving tending to hit the brake, which stopped the car abruptly frustrating the driver of large truck behind. This action happened several times before he managed to proceed in the direction of the small town, Wellsford, at which they had book a room in a B & B. On arrival after an hour or two, they checked in and virtually collapsed. They decided not to venture out until later and had a well-earned rest. After a while, J and P decided they would like a bite to eat and went into the small shopping centre of the town, where they located a roast dinner take out, which had only recently opened up. They decided that they would have a lamb roast after visiting the well-known extensive Pahiri beach about 20 k from the town.

On reaching the beach they had a pleasant stroll for a short while and then returned to the town to order their roast. They very much enjoyed this take out, quite unusual and a first for a roast but delicious.

After an early night they rose the next morning to motor on to the north to the Kauri National Park for a tour of the museum and Kauri forest. The trees had been cut down by the British in the 18th and early 19th centuries to use in the building of warships and because of their size and longevity over 1000 years, the growth and renewal was extremely slow, not sustainable, and the forest was largely denuded. The forest had stop off points in clearings, a short distance down paths from the forest road, in which it was possible to view the remaining small number of large trees with girths similar to those of the redwoods in USA. This experience provided a most memorable start to their tour of NZ.

North Island, New Zealand

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800 year old Kauri Tree in Parry Kauri Park nr Warksworth, NI; First stroll along the Pakiri Beach, nr Wellsford; Maori traditional dancing; Maori war canoe; cruise through the sea arch, nr Pahia; Comet Mcnaught viewed between Pahia and Keri, January 19, 2007, J thought it was plane?

Facades and Buildings in Napier, the Art Deco Capital of NZ

2 h walk around thermal park, nr Lake Taupo; Champagne Pool, Waiotapu Thermal Park, NI; Geyser spectacle (11 years later, also observed in Iceland October, 2018)

The next two nights were spent in the north at Keri, Bay of Islands, which provided the opportunity to visit Pahia and Russell by ferry. On the first night on their return from a local restaurant at about 9.30 while driving, Jane observed a bright object in sky ahead of them, which she thought was a plane. However, P identified the object as a comet which as the sky darkened became prominent with tail lengthening to the horizon. J remarked can we pull in somewhere? The road was narrow with no parking areas to stop at and so they had to wait until they got back to the hotel for further observation of the comet; which was named comet McNaught (not as prominent in the UK).

The following day they toured the area visited Pahia and Russell by ferry; also took a short cruise to observe wild sea life and to negotiate a narrow passage through a sea arch.

The next stop took them to Coromandel on the peninsular of the same name where they had several picturesque walks on trails bordered by low shrubbery to the sea. From here they toured the area in vicinity of Whakatane and the Bay of Plenty and onwards to Gisborne to the most easterly point of NZ to view the statue of the cabin boy from Capt. Cook’s ship looking out to sea. Due the poor weather during their stay in Gisborne, they decided to visit their first vineyard for a tour and to sample the wine for purchasing. This location also gave

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them the opportunity to visit the art deco town of Napier, which had been devastated by an earthquake in 1932.

It was time for them to experience one of the main reasons for visiting NZ, the hot springs and volcanic/thermal pools & lakes in the area of Rotorua and Lake Taupo. They found accommodation in Rotorua with an outdoor Jacuzzi, which they had not experienced at home.

On the following day, for several hours, they walked around the geothermal springs and champagne pool in the Waiotepo area. They also visited Whakerewarewa, a Maori village, where they sampled sweet corn steamed in a thermal pool. They were not disappointed with this experience and J remarked often that the road trip tour of NZ was the best vacation that they had ever had and they were to have quite a few more memorable road trip tours.

They stayed for one night in the vicinity of Lake Taupo with further geothermal features to visit. From here they drove to stay in The Glow Worm motel near to Waitomo named after the caves that they were to visit the following day.

South Island, New Zealand

Crossing from Wellington, NI, to Picton, SI, as foot passengers

Split Apple Rock, SI; Tasman National Park Trail View; Rope bridge featuring Jane; Blacks Point Goldmine, NR Reefton

Jane at the Terminal Morain of Fox Glacier; Path of Franz Joseph Glacier

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View of Milford Sound; J on a cruise traversing Lake Manapouri to Doubtful Sound; waterfall in fiordland

Scenes of the Mt Cook Region; J and Peter Barber (Alias Butch) in Queenstown

Sir Edmund Hilary Statue near Mt Cook

After this part of the tour it was almost time to leave North Island and their final stay was in Wellington, the capital, where they were to leave the hire car and proceed as foot passengers on the ferry to South Island. After a night’s sleep, they dropped off the hire car at the depot and the car hire personnel drove them to the ferry terminal where they boarded the ferry for their crossing to Picton. On arriving, they contacted the same car hire company who took them to the depot to collect the hire car for their tour of South Island.

Arriving at Picton gave them the opportunity to visit the Marlborough area, home of some of the finest white wines in NZ. They had booked an eco B& B at Split Apple Rock for two nights close to the Tasman National Park. On arrival they were greeted by the owners and given a tour of this unique property complete with eco-roof. From the house they could view the Split Apple Rock in the sea a short distance from the shore. The steeply wooded garden had a path which took them to the secluded beach, which they visited for J to go swimming. It was one occasion and for no apparent reason, that J decided to go for a swim without a swim suit, which she felt was unnecessary because there was no one around other than P to see her (Greece and Crete were other venues where this private experience occurred on occasions).

In the evening they were served a meal by the hosts with another couple as guests and were joined by the hosts for the meal, delicious fish with lemon. A very enjoyable time was experienced with much talk about NZ and Welsh rugby.

The next day they decided to walk into the Tasman Park for a few kilometres but not for the whole length of the trail, which was over 100 km. Walking along the trail with sea views was also a memorable experience.

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The next day they motored on through the Northern part of the west coast hardly meeting a car and stopped at Reefton for the night (population 1000). On driving down the Main Street to their accommodation they observed that there was no other traffic. They did spot a restaurant which they thought they would go for a meal to later. Around 7.30 they decided to walk the short distance to the restaurant. To their dismay, they were informed that the restaurant closed at 8.00 pm and so they could not be served. So they ended up having a snack in their room, which was very basic. Eating out in small towns in NZ had its drawbacks.

The next day before departing from Reefton, they back tracked to a mining museum at Black’s point where they were entertained by the proprietor, who originated from the mining region of Cornwall. They had short tour down a narrow path littered with mining paraphernalia and were introduced to the operation of equipment used in the panning for gold. An Australian company had recently restarted operation of the mine.

Travelling down the west coast of South Island was to experience driving in isolation as the towns except for Greymouth were small or non-existent. They travelled in this remote environment and stopped at Frank Josef for two nights in order to view the glaciers at close quarters. They decided not to take the walking tour or helicopter flight on to the glaciers.

However, they did experience when visiting Fox glacier the dangerous state as the terminal moraine was constantly fracturing and large fragments of the glacier were splitting off. They observed that the glacier had receded dramatically in recent years (global warming).

From Frank Josef they drove on to Haast for a short break in their journey to Queenstown and went into the visitor’s centre and in to the museum to see a film about natural history and the wonder of NZ. They had planned to stay with Peter and Val Barber for three nights who they had not seen since their visit to the UK in 1976. After a further long drive past lakes and rivers they arrived in Queenstown and located their friends’ house. Unfortunately Val was in OZ on family duty for the whole of their stay. However, Peter was an excellent guide and took them to a number places of interest in and around Queenstown, including a very excellent and well known vineyard with excellent lunch cuisine, named Amisfield. It was quite unique as red wine was produced here, which was unusual so far south in NZ. They also visited a quaint mountain range, called the Remarkables, with peaks rising to over 2300 m.

Their next stop was Te Anau in Fiordlands where they stayed for two nights. During this stay they visited both Milford Sound and Doubtful Sound, both silent, tranquil, panoramic and remote an experience to remember. For the Milford Sound visit they booked on a tour from Te Anau which took them by minibus to a stopping point where they trekked through a pass to a cruise boat, which sailed through a variety of inlets to the mouth where seals could be observed in the open sea.

They were told of a kayaker who had recently canoed from OZ across the Tasman Sea for about 1200 miles across only to be tragically lost in the sea near to the mouth of Milford Sound.

Doubtful Sound was accessed via a boat trip across Lake Manapouri. They had a feeling of the remoteness when the captain of the boat switch off the engines so that they could experience the silence with only the infrequent bird call.

They also observed tree slip whereby because of the steepness of the peaks around the sound and the thinness of the soil the trees often slid down into the fiord creating a denuded path.

Could such experiences ever be surpassed?

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For their next stop they drove through the central region of South Island, which was almost totally unpopulated, to reach the region around Mount Cook where they stayed in a prefabricated wigwam centre in a village called Twizel. This location gave them the opportunity to take a short trek in the vicinity of Mt Cook passed Peter’s pool at low elevation with truly magnificent views.

On the second evening they had booked on a tour of Mt John Observatory to view the night sky at midnight. The observatory was about 30 miles from their accommodation and at about 11.00 pm they set off. They were to experience an unusual sound as they drove in the darkness. Every so often there was a soft sounding bump on the front of the hire car. This effect was disconcerting when they were told that possums frequently were killed on the roads in NZ (not indigenous marsupials but imported from OZ, estimated population 70 million animals).

This visit to NZ was the only time J and P experienced the night sky in the Southern Hemisphere with large and small Magellanic Clouds prominent and also comet McNaught, which had faded somewhat since their first sighting at Keri in North Island.

At Twizel they met a local landscape and astrophotographer who had taken excellent photos of the comet and they purchased a CD and photobook from him.

Their final destination was Christchurch for their flight back to the UK the following day. They delivered the hire car back the depot and were taken to the airport. During the 5 h stopover in Singapore they were treated to a New Year’s Eve event and performances by local artists in Changi airport. They arrived back at Manchester Airport and did not recover for several days after waking at odd times of the day and night.

J was not up for re-election to the council this year but supported her colleague Roland Griffin in his election campaign. Later in the year James and Joy returned from Japan and stayed with them for some time. Jane returned to physiotherapy work and council duties.

In the autumn they also paid a short visit to Venice with James and Joy which was eventful because of the unreliability of the travel agent who failed miserably to inform them of the extra charges for baggage for the Ryanair flights and had not given them the correct information for the return flights. Having to contact the travel agent from the hotel during the visit affected their enjoyment of the trip although it was memorable in many ways because of many features of this iconic city.

Scenes of Venice; Grand Canal; Joy and James in front of a glass monument (Venice is famous for Morano glass with a factory on an island reachable by local ferry); Doge’s Palace

A third grandchild, Lily, born on September 28, to David and Louise, which was a delight for J and she busied herself with looking after Lily as the opportunity arose.

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Lily, a few weeks old, with Big Brother Benjamin; Lily with Benjamin, Mum (Louise) and Grandpa Roger; Lily’s Early Year bike ride

During this year, Joy’s family visited James and Joy from Bethesda, MD, and J and P arranged to meet them in Bradford on Avon during their visit. Joy’s mother, Hope, arranged to have a lunch in a local bistro where she had ordered turkey, traditional at thanksgiving, which was carved by P and taken home as it was too big for the group to eat during lunch. Sheila and Colin Lloyd also visited from South Wales to join the family groups. In the evening of October 13th England were playing France in the semi-final of the Rugby Union World Cup winning 14 to 9, which was an alternative to NFL for the American group to savour.

UK and US Family groups at a pub lunch in Bradford on Avon 2008 This was not a re-election year for J but she still campaigned strongly to get her council colleagues re-elected in Priory ward.

After the local election their best friends, Sheila and Colin Lloyd visited and this gave the opportunity to visit North Wales, the iconic Bodnant Gardens, Liverpool Waterfront and cathedrals.

Beaumaris Castle, Ynys Mon; the Laburnum arch and walk way views, Bodnant Gardens; Liverpool Waterfront (photos by Jane)

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Special visit: Jett and Leverne Arthur did not visit again after the mid-1980s; Leverne died several years after J and P had visited New Orleans in 1995 and Jett did not visit alone although J and P did see him during their 40th wedding anniversary New Orleans tour in 2005. However, there was a first visit by Martha Ann, his eldest daughter, and her husband John Stitsinger as part of their European tour in June, 2008 during which J and P treated them to a trip to North Wales, including sampling of traditional fish, chips and mushy peas and more locally, in Sale and Cheshire.

Jane and Martha Ann sampling a swing hammock at a garden centre; Martha & John outside the iconic Tu Hwnt I’r Bont café, Llanrwst, North Wales; Martha & John with P outside the George & Dragon, Great Budworth

Renewal of vows arrangements: Hope Hare had suggested that the families should arrange a celebration for the couple in Bradford on Avon because no family members on either side had been present when the couple married in Japan. J and P felt that this would not be suitable as few of James’s relations and friends would be present. They decided that it would be more appropriate if the celebration was held in Timperley at 121, Moss Lane. So J and P, in late 2007, made arrangements for the house to accommodate the celebration for families and friends. As part of the celebrations, James and Joy registered to have a renewal of their vows ceremony in Sale Registry. J and P hired a marquee to be attached to the back entrance of the house with access to the kitchen and with a bar in the yard and for the first time outside caterers were employed. The cost was to be shared by the two families, as it turned out, rather unequally, although the US family group had air fares and some accommodation costs to bear.

Several days before the celebration day, the American family arrived with Hope and Lawrence initially, accommodated at 121, Moss Lane in the major bedroom which P had newly renovated. However, after several days at the Cresta Court because of the cost, the two sons, Jacob and Aaron were also accommodated at the house.

The day arrived and in the afternoon the renewal of vows was celebrated in Sale Registry with family members with majority of guests present. More than 60 guests were invited to the reception and entertained in the marquee with food and merriment.

Sale Registry Renewal of Vows guests; Joy and James; signing the register; Registrar conducting the ceremony

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Wedding renewal of vows cake; in the marquee cutting the cake; Scenes of the evening reception

Later on reflection, J and P thought their ambitions to organise receptions and celebrations had gone a step too far. This event could be described as a pinnacle in their socialising and entertaining skills, which was well in advance of the capability of most couples in arranging social occasions, and much beyond the expectation of their own families. However, this activity had started in 1960s and the number of events over and above those of the festive season are too numerous to recall and would continue until Christmas in December, 2019, less than two months before J died.

As per usual, J continued her council work with duties as ward councillor and as shadow executive member, vigorously, and with considerable diligence. She also strongly supported and campaigned for Barry Brotherton in being re-elected for Priory Ward in the local elections. Unfortunately, labour were at low ebb losing a seat in Sale Moor, which meant the conservative hold on Trafford was even stronger.

Later in the year, August J and P took one of their frequent trips to Nea Plagia, near Thessaloniki, Greece, and as always there was something different to savour. It was the one occasion when they experienced thermal spring bathing at Pozar near Pella in Northern Greece although they had the onsen treats in Japan in 2003/4 and 2017.

Pozar thermal spring baths in Northern Greece; Relaxing with Greek friends after bathing

Olives in George’s Grove; Old boat plant pot; Fruit on the gates of 6, Androutsou, Nea Plagia

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Marios and Daphne with their grandparents, George & Eleni; J and P with Greek friends in a taverna in Petrakerasse, George’s home village

James commenced his master’s course in translating and Interpreting at Bath University for one year and he and Joy found a room in large house with communal accommodation in Bradford upon Avon.

J and P as ever thoughtful loaned them a car to enable journeys to and from Bath and also for James to take a temporary contract post at a high tech Japanese company in the Midlands some distance from Bradford on Avon.

Late December 2008 J and P decided to fly to Washington DC to celebrate New Year with James and Joy and her family. Although an extremely enjoyable visit because of the sightseeing, taking in the Smithsonian Institute- Natural History & Arts with an extensive exhibition devoted to the works of W J M Turner, RA, a visit to Arlington to view JFK’s memorial and other features, the Lincoln Monument and various war memorials as per usual J and P arranged most of their own activities during the week with minor input from the American family and also led the celebration of seeing the New Year in with a rousing performance of Auld Lang Syne, which the US group joined in, almost as spectators.

Eternal flame near to JFK memorial; Christmas tree adjacent to The White House; Arlington cemetery

Memorial Building and Lincoln Memorial; Miniatures of the Capitol in the hothouse at the Smithsonian Museum

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Hope and Lawrence’s house, Madawaska Road in Bethesda, MD; Cup Cake celebration array; Lawrence’s curry cuisine platter; Hope & Lawrence on duty at dinner

2009 This year provided a light relief from local elections as it was a bye year and campaigning was put on hold although New Year cards and mobile surgery leaflets were delivered to the electorate in Priory ward. In May, European Parliamentary elections were held for which there was campaigning generally in the Northwest region in which Labour finished third nationally behind the conservatives and UKIP with only 15.2% of the electoral vote and with 2 MEPs in the Northwest.

J and P attended the wedding of Eleanor, Liz’s daughter, and Damien, in the Crypt Chapel in St Paul’s Cathedral, organised, as such, because her father who had died in 1992 was a prominent civil servant, which enabled the use of this venue for the conducting of wedding services for the family.

J and P with Liz and Sheila & Roy Lane; J and P in front of the London Red Wedding Bus; J with Eleanor, Liz and Sheila

Eleanor and Damian on the steps of St Paul’s Cathedral; Photogenic J at the wedding breakfast in the Barbican (very rarely was she happy being photographed)

When J and P resided at 121, Moss Lane, Timperley, two young women, who were partners, lived for a number of years in the mid-1970s in a downstairs flat next door at 119. A few years ago, early 2000s, the two women had moved to a very small village, Ronsenac, in France and had bought a small chateau with an outhouse, which they had converted into a gite with

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accommodation for two persons. J and P were invited to visit them and stay in the gite. This village was in the Cognac region of France, a region in which J and P had only stayed overnight on one occasion in 1989 with the boys en route to the Pyrenees. The visit for two weeks provided an excellent opportunity for them to explore this region more fully.

Barbara & Chris’s Chateau at Ronsenac; Chris as waitress with J at Local restaurant, LA Lavelette; Jazz group at the restaurant; View of the gite where J & P were accommodated

Garden view; Hennessey ferry boat for cognac tasting at Jarnac; Courvoisier Chateau and gardens; Chris & P at the market

J with Barbara &Chris, the basket is large but full of purchases; Traditional sunflower; J in a favourite flower pose; J hand in hand with a mediaeval guard

Several visits were made by J and P to a static caravan owned by Sue and Roger Bracegirdle, David’s mother and father in law, on a site near to Silverdale, Arnside and Ulverston in the Lake District, including one short break with Jonathan and Maya.

Thumbs up from Jonathan and Maya relaxing in the static caravan; Eric Morecombe being cajoled by Jonathan and Maya; Maya with her favourite animals

J and P attended the graduation ceremony in Bath in July 2009 at which James was awarded a Master’s degree in Interpreting and Translating.

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J and P with James at his Master’s graduation ceremony in Bath

A short review of council, community and physiotherapy activities in the first two decades of the Council Years In the introduction to chapter 10 it was stated that council and community activities were largely repetitive in nature and a log of these activities would be rather tedious. However, Jane did keep some highlights in press cuttings and photographs, which illustrate her wide ranging involvement. These activities are exemplified in this section at the end of these first two decades of her council-ship, in some order of chronology. Some photos are illustrative of the later years but provide examples of her commitments across the whole thirty year spectrum.

1. Aspects of Council and Labour Party work: As previously described much of the council and LP activities were routine or semi-routine:  Surgeries, static and mobile  Visiting constituents at home or at venues (Broadheath, 1990 to 2003 and Priory, 2004 to 2018)  AGMA & other bodies’ meetings at various venues in the Greater Manchester area.  Town Hall meetings- full council, executive, labour group, selected committees, individual council meetings- officers/chief executive  Ward meetings  Campaign activities: street and door canvassing, leafleting,  Local and General Election day activities- late leaflet drops, car calls, door knocking, the final vote 2. Aspects of Community Activities: To some extent J’s council and community activities overlapped because as a councillor she often wore two hats, representing the council and/or the community.  Friends Groups: Walkden Gardens, Worthington Park, Bridgewater Canal Jane, as councillor rep., with a group of Friends of Worthington Park (FWP) and Walkden Gardens (FWG) at an event in the Park, with Garth Jones, Chair of Sale Festival and FWG, Pat Coulburn, President of Sale Festival (centre and centre right), Chair of FWP, centre left, and Cllr. Barry Brotherton, inner left.

 

Parkinson’s Trafford Branch (President) Alex Hulme Foundation (2011) (Patron)

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   

Sale Brass Band (President) The Alma Singers (President) Litter picking with Friends of the Bridgewater Canal Sale Festival as Vice Chair Jane as Vice Chair of Sale Festival wearing the SF sash with Cllrs. Roland Griffin, Phil Gratrix and Barry Brotherton at Sale Lyons day in June, 2008



Trafford Arts Association (chair and council rep.) in late 1990s early 2000s

3. Physiotherapy: As well as undertaking part-time, mainly orthopaedic work, from 1987 at AGH, Jane actively participated for a number of years in the private work of a Multiple Sclerosis group in a unit in Westinghouse Road, Trafford Park who used oxygen therapy as part of the treatment. As a result she became familiar with the difficulties faced by MS patients and well-known locally by the MS fraternity. Although treatments were in the main unsuccessful, she was a great believer in the welfare of patients from the standpoint of mobility and designed her own exercises to ease the suffering of those afflicted with such a debilitating and terminal disease.

As part of her expertise development she also undertook training and practiced acupuncture. She also stood in for the resident physiotherapist taking exercises classes for Parkinson’s Trafford Branch at Timperley Methodist Church Rooms.

4. General elections: As described on pages 32 and 48, Jane stood for parliament in 1997 and 2001 as a Labour candidate. A press cutting highlights how close she came to being an MP in 1997.

Jane Baugh’s response to the election result, May 07, 1997

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5. Some features of a collection of newspaper cuttings for the period, 2007-2011 A comprehensive review of press cuttings depicting public and local issues in which Jane was involved, is not possible because Jane did not keep a file on cuttings for the whole of her council years. Examples of the collection for the period 2007 to 2011 she retained are featured here.

Funding boost for plays areas- Protest by Jane, The shadow leader, David Acton, and Priory Ward councillors oppose parking charge increases in Sale and Altrincham

Article by Jane on supporting Parks and Gardens in Sale; Protest against sale of Watling Gate, a grade II listed building in Timperley

Opposition protest against the expense of Trafford employing long term temporary staff; Campaign against Post Office Closure on Northenden Road

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Friends of Worthington Park working party clean-up team; Campaign against the sale of Shaw land in Altrincham, bequeathed to the community

Jane as opposition spokesperson opposing the decision to slash wages of TMB workers; Jane and Sophie Taylor, physiotherapists and councillors condemning Trafford Council’s decision to cancel the free swimming scheme contrary to a Government initiative (Labour pre 2010)

Mrs Cordingley’s Secret Garden is revealed to the Public by Friends of Walkden Gardens; Hope Road traffic calming campaign protest supported by Labour Councillors, unsuccessfully

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Successful campaign to retain Bowling Greens; Cllr. Jane Baugh says No to lap dancing club in Sale

Walton Park Sports Centre indoor football pitches get a reprieve supported by Cllr Jane Baugh

Cllr Baugh protests in an article about Green Space strategy; Call for reopening of the public loos by local councillor- The public are inconvenienced in Sale because of the closure.

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Councillor supports local residents in 10 year campaign for approval of tree pruning; Opposition to inadequacy of the TMB council plan for Green Spaces

Article by Jane Baugh with her physiotherapy hat on in Frontline magazine highlighting the problems in reducing the time to 20 minutes to treat patients with 10 minutes to write up the patient notes https://www.frontline-magazine.co.uk; Fellow Priory Ward councillors with local MP Paul Goggins displaying a Save Our Parks petition

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Physiotherapy press release regarding Cllr Jane E Baugh being named as deputy Mayor of Trafford in 2010; The Priory ward councillors, Barry Brotherton, Roland Griffin and Jane Baugh at an event in Walkden Gardens

Cllrs. Jane Baugh and Barry Brotherton supporting a Fair Trade initiative; Cllr Jane Baugh featured on an exercise bike, part of the outdoor gym in Worthington Park

Cllr Jane Baugh, Mayor of Trafford, supporting the Alzheimer’s Society in 2011; a petition article featuring Cllr Jane Baugh in support of a campaign to save the local Post office

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Cllr Jane Baugh and Alison Buckley, Chair of Friends of Worthington Park opening the outdoor gym; Campaign for free range eggs to replace battery eggs in Trafford Council premises

The launch of Trafford’s new leisure strategy for state of art fitness facilities; Campaign group in Walden Gardens to Save Our Parks

Conclusion So ends the second decade of J’s council years with many activities and council successes.

Holiday adventures were very prominent, which J enjoyed immensely, as always. She continued also with her physiotherapy employment at AGH, which she always treated with a diligence and dedication, a testament to her nature and warm character.

The final decade, 2010 to early 2020, except for 2019, is awash with road trips and away breaks, in addition to successful council re-elections in 2010, 1014 and 2018. A highlight of this decade was her mayoral year, 2011-2012, which is documented separately in a special volume already published. James and Jemma’s wedding in Slovenia in 2016 was an extra special occasion for J and P to remember for ever. Now read on to the end.

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Chapter 12. The Finale, 2010 – 2020 Introduction This decade, the final instalment of Jane’s life, and as a councillor, was full of vibrant and memorable activities. The first year, 2010, was a re-election year for J and again she was successful. At the end of May she also was installed as deputy Mayor. 2011 was both an enjoyable and sad year as she was became Mayor in May and her mother in law passed away in July. The Mayoral year is the subject of a special volume, which has been published (1st edition, September 30, 2020 and the second edition, December 01, 2020). The holidays taken were short breaks during periods of lower mayoral activity.

Road trips and long haul holidays featured strongly in this decade:- Cyprus 2013, Canada 2014, USA 2015, Canada/Slovenia/USA 2016, Japan 2017 and Scotland-Orkneys/South West France/Iceland 2018. In addition, J with P took short holiday breaks in Cyprus, Porto, Madeira and several visits to Greece. Family vacations included Cornwall, mid-Wales and Pembrokeshire.

In 2019 with J not feeling too well, they did not venture far but they celebrated their 54th wedding anniversary at Port Meirion on April 24th and had a delayed two day break in a country hotel in Smardale near The Howgills and Kirby Stephen. They had a sad occasion in June when attending the funeral of John Moore in Great Oak, who with Joan, his wife, they had been friends with since the early 1960s.

The Labour council group was largely in opposition in Trafford during this decade, until 2018 when they progressed from No Overall Control to being the major party in 2019. J once again assumed executive member roles, first for children and young people and second for culture and leisure. Unfortunately, in 2019 she was not well enough to attend meetings after July and was given special dispensation to be absent from full council and committee meetings.

She was kept aware of council affairs through her political brother, Barry Brotherton and the leader, Andrew Western, both fellow Priory Ward councillors.

2010 This year was an election year for J and she canvassed as always strongly in Priory ward with Barry Brotherton and a reluctant leafleter husband. She was successful in the May 2010 local election with an increased majority.

Priory Ward, May 2010

Party

Candidate

Votes

%

±%

Labour

Jane Baugh*

2,087

39.3

-1.6

Conservative

James Callaghan

1,618

30.5

-3.4

Liberal Democrats

Will Jones

1,345

25.3

+13.3

Green

Emma Handley

263

5.0

-3.5

Majority

469

8.8

+1.7

Turnout

5,313

66.7

+28.0

Labour hold

Swing

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Also in May, she was installed as the Deputy Mayor of Trafford with her husband as consort.

She had a few engagements as designated by the Mayor, Cllr. Ken Weston, which are described briefly in the special volume on the Mayor Year, 2011-2012, already published as mentioned previously.

During this period and a little earlier, they had put the house up for sale, privately, and had an offer from a local entrepreneur for a sale at £550,000 and went house hunting, locally.

They were on the point of making an offer for a detached house on Woodlands Road but were rapidly gazumped when attempting to do so. They had also located a detached house in Mayfield Road, Timperley, at a price of £470,000. However, the sale fell through and they delayed moving until 2011/12.

In October, they attended the wedding of Wyndham (Abbot) and Fiona in South Wales. The gang of four physios, who trained together in Cardiff, were all present at the wedding with several of their other physio contemporaries. Weddings were in the main the infrequent occasions, when they all met up. It was, as with all physio meetings, an occasion, which was extremely enjoyable; sadly as with other marriages of their families, there was a break up, after several years.

Wyndham, Sheila Lloyd’s son, the bridegroom; Fiona and Wyndham with the physio friends enjoying a drink and celebrating with the couple.

2011-2012 From May 2011 to 2012, J was Mayor of Trafford and this period was taken up with a wide range of events, engagements and fund raising activities for the Mayor’s Charities. A special volume has been published and already referred to. Except for chairing full council meetings J had no other council or ward duties. On July 05, 2011 mother in law, Elsie, died at the age of 98 having lived in Colwyn Bay since 1913 when she was 6 weeks old.

Montage of Elsie at various stages in her early life produced by her grandson, Jonathan, for her funeral

Andrew Western had been elected as a Labour councillor to represent Priory Ward in May 2011 in place of Roland Griffin, who subsequently sadly died on May 28th 2012, immediately

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after Jane’s term as Mayor terminated. Roland was a revered Priory ward councillor and a colleague of Jane’s.

In mid-2011, an opportunity came available to move house, as a local estate agent made a promotional offer to sell properties for £1000. J was not happy with moving house in the Mayoral period. However, P considered that it was too good an opportunity to miss and proceeded to arrange with the estate agent to sell the house they had occupied for 37 years.

Within a month, two offers were made below and at the asking price, the former was a cash based offer, the latter required a mortgage to be negotiated. The buyers offering a cash sale, subsequently, increased their bid to the asking price and the sale was agreed with a deposit lodged with the solicitor. Contracts were exchanged in September and a special agreement was put in place to the effect that the buyers would not move in until June 15, 2012, after J’s term of office as Mayor had ceased. However, the buyers took out an order restricting the vendors to the sale of the property to them, solely. This gesture was quite unique but a huge relief for J except for the fact that during the latter stages of the Mayoral Year, January to May 2012, a suitable property would need to be found and purchased.

They had some sole searching experiences in attempting to find a suitable property. A wellappointed house on Wood Lane, Timperley was viewed several times but after some debate they decided not to go ahead.

With time getting short, in February 2012, they made an offer for a Dutch style property on Kirby Avenue, Sale. Having subsequently had a survey conducted, it was found that the house required a renovated roof and a complete damp course replacement. The vendor was not willing to decrease the asking price to assist with the outlay and the decision was made not to proceed.

Fortuitously, P noticed a semi-detached property for sale in Priory Road, Sale, in the very ward for which J was a councillor. J had leafleted this road with Barry Brotherton many times and often remarked that she would very much like to reside there.

On one occasion in March, on the way home from an engagement in the Mayoral car, J and P asked the attendant to make a detour and stop outside the house in Priory Road. It was early spring and the full length of the front of the house was covered in a climber, which was totally devoid of foliage. At first glance the property did not look very inviting but when viewing the house with the vendor J and P fully appreciated the garden to the rear, which was narrow but extensive. J’s gardening activities would not be curtailed by the move. However, although the property was smaller in room size than 121, Moss Lane, it had been extended to create an attic bedroom and store room, at the side to accommodate several small rooms and at the rear to incorporate two conservatories. It was a case of down-pricing rather than down-sizing.

Holidays during the Mayoral period were restricted to short breaks.

Late in the year they celebrated Jane’s 70th birthday on October 29th in a favourite place and a World Heritage Site, The Mawddach Estuary, while staying in Barmouth.

Jane at the sign post knowing where she is going; View of the Mawddach Estuary

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2013 J was back in harness with her council work with the usual vigour and enthusiasm after the intensity of the Mayoral Year and as shadow spokesperson.

Early in the year an ex-mayoral tour to Scotland was organised and booked with Highland Heritage. Their destination for a short week was Dalmally, which was where John Smith, Leader of Labour Party (1992-1994), family home was located. It was a hand gel hotel so much so that one of the mayors refused to use it either on entering the dining room or the tour bus. There was also a system of rotation around the bus so that the touring group could have a different view from the windows each day. Everyone accepted this arrangement except the same mayor who adamantly refused to move. After several days having also insulted the hotel manager he was asked to leave, and with his wife he was escorted from the premises and driven to nearest train station. The tour went smoothly after this and a selection of tours to a variety of locations was organised, including Oban, Rothesay on the isle of Bute and visit to Mount Stuart, the home of the Marquess of Bute (of interest to Jane because her association with Cardiff and Marquess of Bute who owned much property and after which one of the Cardiff docks was named). J and P paid their respects by visiting the family home of John Smith, the Labour Party Leader, who tragically died in 1994 making way fortuitously for Tony Blair to become leader (J and P did not vote for him in the leadership elections).

View of Rothesay; Jane with the ex-mayors and mayoresses of Bolton and Bury on the ferry to Rothesay, Isle of Bute; The lone piper with the Scottish mist on the brow above; The plaque on the house where John Smith, Labour Party Leader, was born, September, 1938 (Jane had a Scottish birth also).

Having moved into 23, Priory Road in June 2012 they now embarked on stamping their mark on the house with the installation of a summer house and greenhouse, which was essential for J’s Green Fingered activities.

It was time to recommence holidays with intensity and enthusiasm, short breaks and long hauls and it began with a week in Croatia near Dubrovnik and Split in a two centre break, which was memorable and of historic significance and memories of the Balkan War with a visit to Bosnia, crossing the Mostar Bridge with shell holes in buildings still evident and a short stay inside the border of Montenegro.

One interesting excursion, a short crossing by ferry was to one of the islands in the bay of Dubrovnik. The island was densely wooded and J and P as always ventured into the interior, when they came across a male virtually in a state of undress. They thought that this was a little unusual but were soon made aware that they had stumbled across the border of a naturist encampment which was hidden in the wooded area on the far side of the island, well away from the main tourist paths. They hastily made their retreat to a clothed area.

At their second centre they toured the Krka National Park

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In Split near to Diocletian’s Palace; Model of the palace; The Bridge at Mostar, scene of intense fighting during the Balkans War

Waterfall at Krka National Park; Jane on the walking trail around the waterfalls

Unexpected encounter with naturists In the woods on the island; Spectacular sunsets always a feature J’s photography

Las Vegas again: In late October, J and P with James visited the city again having enjoyed a brief experience in August, 1995; this visit resulted from an invitation to P to chair a session of a two day scientific meeting on Analytical and Bioanalytical Techniques. It was an opportunity for J to have a vacation in the USA and visit some of the areas they had not been able to go to in 1995. Although LV is a glitzy place to have a meeting it is also a superb location for access to Arizona and Utah canyon country, Death Valley and the California-Nevada border. James was again delighted to accompany them.

They spent 4 nights in LV having an experience some of the delights of the city, including cocktails and Chinese meals at The Mandarin, an oyster platter and mega steaks at Doug and Antony’s in the Golden Nugget and James singing at the Pub with the DJ playing God Save the Queen as a wind up.

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James singing in the Pub; Tour D’Eiffel a la Las Vegas; Is it Venice Las Vegas?

After the stay in LV for four nights, they hired a car at the airport and motored along the California Nevada border taking in Red Canyon and Zion Canyon in Utah.

Red Canyon, Utah; angry disturbed rattler

Zion Canyon, Utah; note that the camera date is wrong

They proceeded on to Tonapah, an old silver mining town, which is the premier dark sky sight of the USA. Their accommodation was little strange and quirky but okay. They dined in an old Edwardian style hotel where the elevator they were informed dated from the early 1900s.

Coincidently, by chance, they met a guy who was from Altrincham who was working as engineer in the area. Before departing from Tonapah the next morning, they took a tour around the mining museum which had a board walk area featuring mining machinery and workings. On entry they had surprised the curator who appeared not to be expecting any tourists.

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Tonapah Mining Museum walk way and mining machinery

Altercation with the state police: The next part of their road trip was to take them through area 51 of UFO fame and to a tiny village called Rachel. Before they reached their lunch stop they parked up temporarily on the side of the road to check maps. The only other car on the road on the other side facing in the opposite direction was a state police car. They did not take much notice and drove on to a T junction ahead intending to turn left. Unfortunately, James, who was at the wheel, pulled on to the left hand side just prior to turning left. He corrected this mistake and a little after turning left, they noticed that the state police car had been trailing them. They pulled to the side of the road and the policeman pulled up behind.

He came to the window on the driver’s side and asked to see James’s license. J commented that James had only just taken over driving and his dad had done most of it, to which the sheriff retorted in a drawl, ‘Perhaps that is the way to continue!’

The trio were relieved to get off with a caution. Their lunch stop was at a café restaurant called, appropriately, the Little A'Le'Inn with a UFO strung from a recovery truck outside and aliens peering out of the windows. This was a place for mementos and a very good lunch.

The little A’le’Inn, Rachel, Area 51, Nevada

They motored on to Bishop staying two nights, which enabled a spectacular visit to the Bristlecone pine forest in the Inyo National Park and drive to over 10,000 ft. to stroll around the pines which are the oldest living trees in the USA, up to 5000 years old.

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Bristlecone Pine tree at 10,000 ft. in the Inyo National Park; Jane at 70 with a 5000 year old bristlecone pine trunk as a backdrop; Eye of the sky taken though a bristlecone pine lens

Manzanar A Japanese Internment Camp: A harrowing memory of WW2 was experienced when visiting Manzanar, which was one of ten Japanese internment (concentration) camps in these south western states. As you would expect these camps were grim with no heating in very cold winter time and no air conditioning in the very hot summers and, in some cases, open to the external air without surrounding walls. More than 11,000 men, women and children were interned here out of a total of 120,000 interned.

Memorial and graves of Japanese aliens interned at Manzanar, Inyo County, CA

From Bishop they drove on to another border town, Bridgeport, over 6000ft above sea level, where they could visit Bodie a deserted gold mining town at 8300 ft. The approach road for the last three miles was unmade up and extremely rocky providing an experience of the mid 1800s when Bodie was established (William Bodie died in a blizzard in 1859 and did not live to see the establishment of the mining activities). All the buildings left standing after a disastrous fire in the 1930s were left in a dilapidated condition, including the library and the town bar.

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Bodie at 8330 ft.; Library; Jane posing; beat up 1930s rusted automobile The location of Bridgeport allowed also visit Mono Lake, one of the features of many areas of this part of the states of the USA but unique in the large outcrops of salt which had erupted from beneath the surface of the lake.

Mono Lake with outcrops of salt protruding from the surface like icebergs

Time did not allow for them to get as far as Lake Tahoe from Bridgeport and they had planned in advance to visit Death Valley, which they had decided not to do from Yosemite in 1995.

Their first sightseeing excursion was to Lone Pine and Movie Road where they visited the cowboy museum. Some interesting shots of yesteryear were taken on the road where the imagination could run away.

Poster of Roy Rogers’ film in the museum; A gunslinger in the rocks, Jessie James?; The side of Movie Road

The next sightseeing spectacle was Death Valley and it is impossible to illustrate the many spectacular photos that were taken. One or two are featured, which show how dramatic the

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area is. The temperature in late October was a cool 32 0C. The below sea level visit to Bad Water Basin and the trip up to the surrounding mountains at 4000 ft. topped by Dante’s Peak were memorable.

Badwater Basin, 282 ft. below sea level; James and Jane posing on the surrounding mountains 4000 ft. above Death Valley

Panorama of Death Valley; The iconic signpost for Badwater Basin, 282 ft. below sea level; Setting of the sun, probably one of Jane’s best photos, October 25th, 2013

Their last evening before returning to Las Vegas was at Pahrump, a small town, 60 miles to the west. Arriving late, after their long day in Death Valley, they were too late for a meal in the restaurant. The personnel in the hotel very courteously directed them to the bar and served them with substantially delicious meals and beer. This stopover not far from Las Vegas allowed them take a tour of the Hoover Dam, which is a magnificent man-made spectacle.

Hoover dam, Boulder City, NV; Birds eye view of the control building; the turbine hall; the exterior of the dam; J and Photo at perimeter of the dam

Their final night was spent at a Travelodge near to the LV airport, which P had booked a moderate price. It was to be uneventful except the large advert at the front of the motel advertising ‘GIRLS to your room in 20 minutes’. P considered this was little unusual and unwarranted for an airport Travelodge to display such an advert and emailed the company to complain. It was noted that the advert reverted to advertising accommodation before they departed the next morning.

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J and P did enjoy the large Jacuzzi facility in their room, why not?

This road trip commencing and ending in Las Vegas for about 11 days was as good as it gets but there is more to come. These interludes enabled the councillor to get respite from her duties and campaigning activities and were to do so until 2018.

Las Vegas trip montage

2014 This year was a re-election year and J was campaigning strongly in Priory ward to retain her council seat. She increased her majority to 752 taking 53.7% of the votes cast in a low turnout, which indicated an extremely strong support from the electorate for a Labour Party candidate. As the Labour group was still in opposition she continued as shadow spokesperson for culture.

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Priory Ward 2014 Party

Candidate

Votes

%

±%

1,609

53.7

+1.9

Labour Co-op

Jane Baugh*

Conservative

Daniel Critchlow

857

28.6

-2.4

Green

Mark Hamer

322

10.7

+1.7

210

7.0

-1.3

Majority

752

25.1

+2.5

Turnout

2,998

39.5

+2.5

Liberal Democrats Michael Macdonald

Labour hold

Swing

Immediately prior to election day and for their 49th wedding anniversary, April 24th, J and P decided to take up the auction bid they accidentally had been successful with, at the MUST event, during the Mayoral year and spend the 4 night voucher with £350 spending money at Holbrook House Hotel and Spa in Wincanton, Somerset. This stay gave them the opportunity to tour part of the county, including Taunton, and visit the road to view the house in which he was born. Jane took advantage of the offers in the Spa, which was quite unusual for her other than for hair coiffuring.

Mountfields Avenue where P was born, 26/10/1938; Holbrook House Hotel; J relaxing in Swing hammock

Another road trip beckoned in October later that year to Western Canada. James had met Jemma on line and she had lived in Vancouver for several years where her father resided. It provided an opportunity to visit Canada and meet up with Jemma who had planned to visit her father during their trip.

With James, J and P flew by Air Transat into Calgary, staying one night there and collected a hire car to drive to Vancouver via Banff, Lake Louise, Jasper, Columbia Icefields, Okanagan Valley, Penticton, Kelowna, Lillooet and Whistler with several other stops interspersed, to stay in Vancouver and then tour Vancouver Island by ferry from Horseshoe Bay to Power River to cross over to Courtenay for one night and staying at Ucluelet, Nanaimo and Vancouver before returning to Vancouver to fly back to the UK.

Scenes from Banff with panoramic view

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Scenes from above Banff; Jane approaching the top of the Peak above the Banff gondola

Jasper, port of call for the Columbia Icefields

P in kitchenette at Jasper; iconic coca cola truck

Glacial lake scenes and terminal moraine of a glacier flowing from the Columbia icefields

Lake Louise

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Columbia Icefield

James lying prone under mountain goat; caribou at the roadside

Athabascar River scenes

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Okanagan Valley and Kelowna; Wine tour with Danny, James’s astronomy friend from Timperley

Swimming time for Jane in the evening

Peter and Danny; features of wine region, Okanagan Valley and Lake

Danny’s in laws winery, Kelowna

Mural of First Nation People

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Waterfall in the torrential rain on the road from Whistler to Vancouver; Ice hockey match- Vancouver vs Calgary (3-0), courtesy of tickets from Jemma’s father, Jim

Totems in first Nation Park near Vancouver

Scenes from the ferry and the sea, Vancouver Island

Oyster platter; J, P, Jemma, Gillian. Jim and P at Jim’s favourite fish restaurant downtown, Vancouver

Ferry crossings from Horseshoe Bay to Powell River and Courtenay, a three ferry trip of 12 hours duration

Cathedral Grove of Douglas Firs, Vancouver Island; Pacific Ocean from Ucluelet, next stop Japan

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Scenes from eco B & B in Ucluelet, west central region of Vancouver Island

Seashore, Lake Scenes VI; J waiting for the ferry en route to Vancouver Island

Iconic Butchart Gardens, Brentwood Bay near to Victoria, VI

Endless flower and shrub beds, borders and walkways

Garden flowers; waterfront at Nanaimo, east coast of VI; First Nation ceremonial dress

2015 J and P had reached the golden milestone in their married life and celebrated the event in style inviting more than 60 relations and friends to a pizza restaurant in the Waterside precinct in Sale, on Saturday, April 26th.

Celebratory drinks; The Golden Wedding speech maker; Cutting of the cake

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Jemma and James; Jon and his nephew, Benjamin; Louise and David

The Baugh music makers; David and Benjamin on guitars with Lily on drums; James on Guitar; Phil on saxophone

Colin and Jane, Welsh Buddies

In July, J and P who had always wanted to visit Norway and Scandinavia decided to take a cruise to the Norwegian fiords and for historic reasons J wanted to visit Stavanger where her father was stationed with the RAF in WW2. So the seven day cruise on the Fred Olsen Line had to include this stopover. Bergen was the first port of call and the cruise included a unique celebration event for the cruise line. All four liners in the Fred Olsen fleet sailed into the harbour at Bergen and manoeuvred into the form of a cross with bows pointing outwards, Balmoral, Braemar, Boudicca and Black Watch. There was gala on the quayside and Fred Olsen casually dressed appeared to greet passengers. Passengers from the particular ships were invited to visit the other ships moored at the quayside.

As well as the cruise liner celebration, J and P climbed the mountain to view the harbour from a lookout point. It was a fairly strenuous walk and they could have taken the easy way by boarding the Floibanen funicular. The cruise also took them to several stops up fiords to Flore and Olden, including sampling expensive micro brewed beer at Flore, £8 a glass, but very appetising.

At Stavanger, J and P visited the library to obtain information about the RAF squadron stationed there during WW2. Although there were some photos and minor details of the squadron they could not obtain information about the identity of the personnel, which

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included, J’s father, W J Lugg, commissioned Officer. J was a little disappointed but pleased that at least she had visited Stavanger during the cruise where her father had been stationed As J related a number of times over the years, her father had been offered a civilian post in Norway by a family company with whom he had become acquainted, which he could not accept because of the circumstances that prevailed as he was commissioned in the RAF and, as such, could not be released prior to returning to the UK. Had that happened, J and P would not have met and she may well have lived and been educated in Norway.

Fred Olsen Cruise Liners in formation in Bergen Harbour; Bergen Harbour from top of the mountain walk; Stavanger waterfront and old Stavanger

J on board cruising up a fiord; Micro beer at Flore; Glacial waterfall and walk in the mist

J and P on deck during a fiord cruise; J and P with uniformed waiters; Table for four with Marjorie and David Tremblath from Tonypandy

Eastern Canada was a must do road trip after touring Western Canada and also it provided an opportunity to stay with Jane’s only cousin, Paul, who lived with his wife, Maureen, in Kanata near Ottawa. This road trip commenced in Toronto with an overnight stay and a visit to famous CN tower before having a meal near to the hotel at 3.00 am, UK time. From Toronto using satnav to attempt to drive to Midland, 120 miles to the north they looped round several times because of un-monitorable construction detours which were rife in the months prior to and after the winter (two seasons were used to describe the year in Canada, namely, Winter and Construction). Staying in Midland on the edge of Georgian Bay, a large lake inlet to the east of Lake Huron, enabled them to visit the water front and view one of the many wonderful Indian Murals, this one on the side of a grain elevator by the side of the bay.

Views from the CN Tower on their first night

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Grain Elevator building mural, waterfront at Midland, Georgian Bay; First Nation tepee in an outside museum centre

From Midland they drove on to Algonquin Provincial Park to stay two nights on the border at a caravan park with holiday prefabs, having Boddingtons beer as a starter at a café pub prior to gorging large steaks. The visit to the park accessible from the car park for walking to view the inner park and lakes was a sufficient experience in the time available without portage (canoe carrying, which is required to access the inner areas). The experience of remoteness and vastness of Canada was opened up to them.

Algonquin Provincial Park; Boating Lake at campsite; scenes of the park;

Algonquin logging museum; the horses are not alive!

Their next stop was for two nights at Kanata, near Ottawa to stay with Paul, Jane’s only cousin, and his wife, Maureen. Paul and Maureen took them on a sightseeing tour of Ottawa, which included the Government Buildings, a cruise on the Ottawa River and the iconic library with unique architecture.

Scenes of Ottawa, The ultra-modern Library; City Hall; lock complex entry to the Ottawa River

Canadian Government Building; on land and from the Ottawa River; Maureen, Peter and Paul (photo

by Jane)

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From Kanata they motored on across the state border into Quebec. They had a pleasant stop during the day at a ski resort area taking the lift to the top of the Mont Tramblant at around 3000 ft. to absorb the panorama and magnificent views.

Mont Tremblant: Views from the top of sky lift; waterfalls in the region That evening they stayed at a remote hotel, Auberge du Lac, by a lake, which was extremely difficult to navigate to by the satnav. An extra feeling of remoteness was experienced by J & P and also danger when seeing signs displaying bear paws on tree trunks on the isolated paths as they strolled along during the early evening.

Scenes near the Auberge du Lac illustrating the remoteness of the area

Their next destination was Quebec City where they stayed uptown for two nights at a rather down market hotel, rather tired, which needed considerable attention regarding the décor and furnishings. However, the one full day gave them the opportunity to tour the site of the 18th century battle between the British and French on the ‘Plains of Abraham’. The Citadelle and Museum of the 22nd Royal Regiment, informed them of the extreme cruelty of the victorious British who torched all the villages of the local population and those of the Indians who were loyal to the French.

Quebec City: Old town scenes; La Citadelle de Quebec; Architectural phenomenon- Fairmont Le Chateau, Frontenac

Quebec Government Building; Cannon emplacements on ramparts of the Citadelle Montreal was their next stop for one night and they had time only to visit one of the iconic cathedrals late in the afternoon.

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Notre Dame de Montreal Basilique

From Montreal J and P took the road back towards Kingston along the St Lawrence Seaway they made a short stop at Belville where they visited a unique café/restaurant and hotel fabricated completely out of logs to appear like an enormous overgrown log cabin.

In this area they had the opportunity to take the Thousand Islands Cruise with views of the many of the properties built by the wealthy on small islands barely large enough to accommodate the large mansions.

Thousand Islands Cruise, views of the many houses on tiny islands on the St Lawrence River (The salad dressing is named Thousand Islands after this region, origin- possibly, concocted by Sophie La Londe, a fishing guide’s wife from Clayton, NY)

Having stayed one night in the Kingston area they had to traverse Toronto to get to their next destination, Niagara, on the Canadian side of the falls. J had decided to drive the first part of the trip and let P take over before arriving in Toronto. However, it did not quite work out and with directions from P, using satnav, she managed to negotiate the many twist and turns on the motorway through Toronto and drove on to Niagara, a distance of 230 miles, without a stop.

The aim of the short stopover in Niagara was to experience the dramatic waterfalls from the Canadian side, which is of a much higher profile that of the US side with ‘Maid of the Mist’.

The sightseeing cruises involved larger boats and a more complete experience.

Niagara and Horseshoe Falls

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Peter in red rain poncho; Spray rising like a geyser; almost under the Horseshoe Falls

Rainbows generated in the spray from the falls

2016 This year was both memorable and sad. Colin Lloyd, Sheila’s husband died early in the year and Jemma & James married at Lake Bled, Slovenia. Later in the year, J and P went on another adventurous road trip from Orlando to New Orleans staying for a few days with Elaine and Oscar at the end of the trip.

The Labour group remained in opposition with J as a member of the shadow executive.

A wedding to remember: Jemma decided that she and James should marry in a unique location, Lake Bled, Slovenia. J and P thought that this decision was quite unusual but what an opportunity for a European Road Trip, flashed across J’s mind, “We can drive there?” So a plan was hatched to take a road trip through France, Germany and Austria to Slovenia returning via Austria without stopping to Germany and Belgium. The 3 week road trip was centred around four days to celebrate the wedding in Bled.

The arrangements for the wedding were quite complex but Jemma had a penchant in this respect. It involved Jemma’s Dad and step mother, Jim and Gillian, and Chris., the best man, flying in from Canada, Jemma and James, Janet (Jemma’s Mum), and the two bridesmaids, Jan and April, flying in from the UK, in addition to J and P taking the road trip. Permission had to be sort from the Slovenian authorities for the wedding to be registered at Castle Bled. Also J and P who were arriving by car were able to transport the bouquets, corsage and the bride’s veil. The wedding suits, as specified by Jemma, for the father of the bride, best man and father in law were to be light blue, the groom’s suit, a darker blue, all with golden ties and kerchiefs.

Jemma’s wedding dress was custom made in London and the veil designed by a dressmaker in Timperley.

A few days prior to the wedding date J and P departed to Dover to stay over in a hotel local to the ferry. They stayed in France for two nights, first at Chalon sur Saone and then Nancy.

The hotel in Nancy was located in a narrow street with no parking outside, which created some problems and on leaving they inadvertently forgot to collect P’s overnight bag from the foyer, which meant they had to return to the hotel after they had commenced driving to Germany.

Their next stopover was Baden Baden, accessed across the border from Karlsruhe; they found difficulty in finding the right direction because satnav took them via a road which ended abruptly before the border. The town was extremely difficult to drive around but they found the hotel which was Greek owned. After arriving, late pm they drove around the town which seemed to be divided into two halves accessible by a tunnel. They drove up to a point de vue out of the town and returned to the hotel via a route which appeared to be in the wrong direction; however on this occasion satnav did guide them back to the hotel. Shades of their Greek food delights ensued in the evening meal.

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Their next stop was accessed after a spectacular drive through the Black Forest, the location of which was close to Lake Konstanz. This two night stay coincided with June 23, UK referendum day or BREXIT day. The German guests at the hotel were clearly not in favour of the UK leaving the EU and thought it a crazy move. The result was not what J and P wished for, either.

Austria was their next stop over for one night each at Salzburg and Innsbruck. Before entering Austria they had to purchase a vignetteAustria pass to cover the period they intended to be in the country taking account of their return journey after the wedding. They found that not all gas stations had the vignette purchase facilities and they got closer and closer to the border before being able to make the purchase. Salzburg was their first night stop and in the evening they had the Austrian experience of a large typical wooden fabricated restaurant and bar.

Innsbruck old town was a feature of the visit with old cobbled streets and typical Austrian architecture.

The drive across the border to Bled from Austria was short as Lake Bled is in the north of the country but a seven day vignetteSlovenia pass was again required for travel. The accommodation arranged by Jemma was the Garden Village with hotel, glamping and tree house accommodation.

As they arrived on June 28, J and P had a full day to get acclimatised and meet up with the wedding party totalling only 10 including themselves. A walk through Vintgar Gorge on the 29th along a path winding parallel to a babbling river was a feature of the day.

Features of Vintgar Gorge: The wedding couple; J and P on the bridge across the river

The wedding party excluding J, photographing and Chris; Capers on the bank with Jim, Chris & James

Lake Bled was too inviting not to plunge into and P decided to go for a swim from the bank near to the island on which there was a church, which on the wedding day the wedding couple after the marriage ceremony were to visit to ring the bell.

In the evening of the 29th there was a special dinner in the Garden Village restaurant, al fresco.

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The special dinner on the 29th; unique eco-breakfast settings The wedding arrangements were extensive as arranged by Jemma and every aspect of the day was carefully planned to the finest of details, which was well beyond expectation. A short book could be written separately to detail all of the aspects of the planning and preparation.

Nothing was left to chance. Jemma had made the three bouquets and corsage using origami techniques to produce over 1000 cranes

The three bouquets and pinholes fabricated by Jemma and transported by car from the UK by J and P The bridesmaids, James, Chris, Jane & Peter were transported to Castle Bled after Jemma and Janet in twos in the open top VW Beetle. As the Jan and April, the bridesmaids were leaving P remarked, thoughtfully, “Where are the bouquets?” The bridesmaids had left the bouquets in the glamping tent

April and Jan with the forgotten bouquets, retrieved; P with James and Chris; the open top VW Beetle with James, Chris and Garden Village chauffeur (photos by Jane) The wedding ceremony had been arranged to take place in a special canopied area on the open area at the top of Castle Bled. The access to the castle from the road below was via uneven innumerable steps, which meant that Jemma with her mother had to alight from their horse drawn carriage and negotiate the steps having first changed into flat shoes.

The ceremony was conducted in Slovenian by the registrar and champagne and canapes were served following. The cork removal by sword ceremony was demonstrated by one of the staff before James repeated the feat successfully. After some time to celebrate the marriage, the next feature of the wedding was for the wedding party to cross by a large canopied boat complete with oarsman to the island and traverse the 100 or so steps to the church, where the belling ringing by the couple and by the bridal party took place.

Jemma and James leaving Castle Bled for the boat trip to the island The wedding breakfast was conducted later in the outside section of the restaurant of The Grand Hotel Toplice close to Lake Bled and wedding party were treated to a five course meal of sumptuous and delicious portions.

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The wedding breakfast outside restaurant of The Grand Hotel Toplice until the fifth course when rain interrupted

Jemma and James departed the next day for their honeymoon in a hire car which was to take for a few days on a tour of Slovenia and to Italy crossing by ferry from the only port in Slovenia, Koper. One of the features of their honeymoon was attending the opera in Verona with Jemma wearing a dress of distinction.

July 01, departure for honeymoon; Dressed for the opera, posing at home in Sale prior to the wedding and honeymoon

July 01 was an extra day to sightsee in Ljubljana and J and P met up there with Jim and Gillian.

Afterwards, J and P visited the castle above the city and then drove to Lake Bohinj in the north west of Slovenia.

Lake Bohinj; P with a foreign family at the lakeside That evening J and P stayed at a pension just outside of Bled which was in an idyllic setting with its own restaurant and Slovenian beer on tap.

Scenes at the Pension Petank: The garden from the outside balcony; P with the proprietor; the view beyond the garden

The following day J and P drove to the border with Austria stopping at a chalet café only for delicious coffee and strudel served by the owner in traditional Tyrolean style dress. At the border with Germany close to Salzburg and stopped for a tour of the salt mine, Salzbergwerk Dürrnberg, which required them to dress in miners’ overalls and during the visit they had to negotiate a steeply inclined shute to reach the salt face.

They were staying at B&B near the border but had time to visit iconic Lake Konigssee and the Eagle’s nest, Berchtesgaden at 6000 ft. negotiated via steep road which had been purpose built for A Hitler in WW2 to reach the retreat.

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P in miners’ overalls ready for the salt mine tour; the Lake Konigssee area near Berchtesgaden in Southern Germany

Scenes from the Eagle’s nest, Berchtesgaden

Finding the B & B in a tiny village in misty rain with poor visibility presented a challenge but on this occasion satnav did not let them down. Finding somewhere to eat was a little difficult on a Sunday evening but a restaurant was located later in the village, which, unfortunately, presented somewhat disappointing less than appetising German fare.

The following day they needed to drive to Augsburg to the northwest of Munich. P managed to negotiate driving through middle of this large city with the aid of satnav and J’s assistance.

The hotel was located on the corner of street with the car park in a side street some distance away. The hotel desk assistant directed P to the car park by walking in front of the car to the parking lot; J and P gratefully acknowledged the courtesy. They had time to visit the large square typical of German towns and take a tour themselves of buildings of distinction.

Augsburg: Kirche und Rathausplatz J and P made a two night stopover in Saarland the smallest state in Germany staying in a unique B & B in Mettlach. This location gave them the opportunity to visit the town alongside the banks of the River Saar. They had stayed nearby in the Mosel valley previously in 1969 on their first visit to Europe (the Saar flows into the Mosel at Konz).

The River Saar at Mettlach; Tebeck’s B & B with P and J posing; Gardens near to Mettlach

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J was delighted when in Mettlach sightseeing to spot an outlet for Villeroy Boch, the wellknown German ceramics manufacturer (circa Francois Boch 1836, later Villeroy Boch), the factories for which were centred in the town. Purchasing some of the fine ware was a must for J and she made more than a short visit to the outlet.

Their final stay in Europe was in Bruge, a visit to which had been on the cards for quite some years but for which they had never got past the preliminary planning stage. The hotel was located near to town centre but the car park was underground below in a small park some distance away. The visit was one of canals, beer and chocolate, not necessarily in that order.

J at various venue: Beer on the Wall; Dinner at Pomperlut; Castello Bianco Wadern

Iconic Pomperlut restaurant: stainglass windowed decor

P with beer for quaffing; Duvel Chandelier

Le Chocolat factoire: cocoa pods; chocolat figures; le Chocolatier preparing champagne bonbons

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Canal cruise scenes

P with decorated scooter; Beer wall

Dancing in the square; Bruges at night during the stroll back from the Pomperlut restaurant

The following day J and P departed for the ferry at Calais 72 mile distance taking in the 38 mile Belgian coastline. Their return journey was long and tiring from Dover to Sale but the road trip to Slovenia was worth every precious moment and one to savour, thanks to Jemma and James.

Later in July, there was a further wedding reception in Scotland at Strathaven, the home town of Jemma’s father, so that the newly wedded couple could meet up with many of Jemma’s relations; Philip, Margaret, David and Lily also attended.

August 2016 was a very sad month as Roger, Sue Bracegirdle’s husband, died on the 6th, after being diagnosed with mesothelioma about 10 months, earlier. He had been unfortunate to have been employed with his father in a haulage firm, which was used to transport Turner Bros asbestos products out of Trafford Park over 30 years previously. This disease is slow in development and can take decades to appear for which also there is no cure.

Also, almost at the same time, Geoff Flood, who J and P had known as a good friend since 1968, suffered a severe stroke, which was not immediately and effectively treated by a local hospital, resulting in him being wheelchair bound and unable to utter more than a few words.

(Geoff, now at the age of 84, will have been in this heart-breaking state for five years in August, 2021).

On the road trip road again: Would you believe it or not there was a further road trip later in the year. P had received an invitation to attend, chair a session and present a keynote at an Analytical and Bioanalytical Techniques conference in Orlando, FA, from September 28 to 30.

Another opportunity to plan a road trip beckoned, this time to do a southern states loop from Orlando FA, via Savannah GA, Asheville NC, Nashville, TN, Memphis TN, Jackson MS, to Metairie and New Orleans, LA. The forgotten driving license: After arriving in Orlando, it came to light that J had not retained her driving license in with her credit cards in a wallet she had brought with her. What to do was the big question. James was contacted to locate the license and he mailed a copy of the driving license, immediately. It was realised that a copy of the license would be insufficient for the purpose of enabling driving of the hire car by J. Additionally, James dispatched the driving license by courier scheduled to arrive before J and P collected the hire car from

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Orlando airport. A tracker of the progress of the license was put in place and on the final day before departure and two hours prior to J and P leaving the hotel, it was tracked to the hotel mail room and delivered to them just before they departed by cab for the airport.

They collected the hire car and set off for Savannah, GA, their first stop. Satnav directed them to a private address several times before P used his mobile to locate the hotel via Google maps which was adjacent to this location but on a road roughly parallel, a few 100 metres away.

Hurricane chasing: J and P were aware that one of the frequent seasonal hurricanes was south of Orlando crossing the central region of Florida fortunately proceeding at a slow rate.

Fortunately, their direction of travel was taking them North West away from the track of the following hurricane (later in the month, Savannah and Charleston were both severely damaged when the hurricane hit).

They had one full day in Savannah, which they had almost planned to spend in Charleston, 105 miles, north east. A tour locally in Savannah was much more relaxing.

Their next stopover, a distance of 300 miles, was in Asheville NC, for one night as a link to Nashville and Memphis TN, which were a main focus of the tour along with a return to New Orleans.

J and P had one night in Nashville which allowed a visit to the Johnny Cash Museum and Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum.

Memphis, their next stop gave them the opportunity to visit the Lorraine Motel, the museum dedicated to Martin Luther King, and poignantly, apartment 306. Also Gracelands was about 25 miles away, which they visited to savour the Elvis Presley atmosphere and grandeur of the country style of music and his distinctive, very elaborate but very absorbing estate.

As the distance to NO was 400 miles from Memphis a drive of around 8 h another stopover was taken at Jackson MS, at a hotel which, unfortunately, was in a dry county. J and P were dismayed that they were going to have to watch the second presidential debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump on TV that evening without any alcoholic beverage. They dashed to a local store to purchase some snacks and drinks, which would enable them to relax. DJT did not disappoint in his belligerent attitude and stalking behaviour behind HC when she was talking indicating that he was going to jail her after his election. J and P were not overly impressed with either candidate as HC had to explain why 25,000 private emails had been sent from her official email account.

Their final stop was in Metairie LA, a suburb of New Orleans, with their very good friends, Elaine and Oscar Hinojosa, who they had known for 50 years. During their stay, Elaine had booked a cookery course for them to attend with demonstrations in how to prepare gumbo and other New Orleans dishes. They purchased a selection of spices, typical of the region.

Highest mountain, east of the Mississippi

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Martin Luther King Jr, Memorial apt 306, Lorraine Motel, Memphis

Bus with Rosa Parks figure in a seat illustrating her defiance, 1956; Museum features

Gracelands: Elvis; Favourite suits; Garden memorial and graves

Scenes of New Orleans: Vieux Carre with St Louis Cathedral; Tutor in School of Cooking; J and P during their cookery course; Garden District home off St Charles Avenue

Mississippi State Capitol in Jackson MS; War Memorial; P with a personal war veteran guide in the main hall; Upper senate chamber

2017

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This year contained of the some of the most memorable holiday experiences. J was not up for re-election to the council until the following year and therefore could afford to get away from the routine of council duties.

May 14-18 Oporto: J & P spent a 4 night break in Oporto, Portugal, which included the six bridge cruise on the River Douro, touring the Hennessey facilities for tasting the sherry, taking a cable car trip above and along the river bank and a vintage tram ride to the estuary of the river.

Jane at Breakfast at the coffee shop for and light breakfast, very cheap; Favourite Portuguese red wine at favourite tapas; Iconic Oporto railway station at night, the murals and tiled walls are well worth seeing!

May bank holiday: A week’s family holiday was arranged in Saundersfoot, West Wales in a house rented from a friend of Sheila Lloyd. A visit to Llanstephan castle was memorable as J decided to take up armed combat in mock mediaeval garb.

Three of the gang of four physios on the balcony of the rented house in Saundersfoot with Sue Bracegirdle (centre right); Welsh mediaeval character ready for armed combat (complete with the yellow mac underdress)

June/July, Scottish 500 and Orkneys: J had spotted, when surfing the internet, what appeared to be a tour of Scotland by what was called the ‘Scottish 500’. Further searches shed light on what this term meant. It was a circular road trip of 500 miles normally taken in the anticlockwise direction commencing at Inverness, east to west. J thought this was an opportunity to tour the more remote counties, of mainline Scotland, Ross and Cromarty, Sutherland & Caithness and Royal Deeside in the east. P decided to add on the Orkneys to this tour as the islands were only a short Pentland ferry crossing from the northeast of mainland Scotland.

In the planning of the road trip, J and P decided to drive the Scottish 500 in the clockwise direction, stopping one night in Perth and then Gairloch, Lochinver and Betty’s Hill before crossing to the Orkneys from Gills Bay to St Margaret’s Hope for three nights and returning down the east side of Scotland to Kildrummy near Balater and Balmoral with a final stop at Kelso.

Particular experiences included a less than satisfactory Gairloch hotel, first room with bath, no shower, second room with cold shower, the weather was a little turbulent but they walked in isolation along the Gairloch Beach, late afternoon. Walking to a local pub for a very good

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meal, including haggis, tatties and neaps, returning to the hotel in drenching rain for almost a mile and relaxing with a malt whisky in the hotel bar was a fleeting adventure.

A visit to Inverewe Gardens was unexpectedly spectacular and the Rose B & B overlooking the loch at Lochinver was panoramic and excellently appointed, with a courteous Dutch owner and his French partner. Walking to the pub for fish and chips took J and P past several deer grazing peacefully on the grassy pavement. After leaving Lochinver their intermediate stop for the afternoon was at Ullapool where they had one of the best lunches at a quayside café and visited the local RNLI station. Bettyhill was their next night stopover at the hotel of the same name.

They boarded the Pentland ferry from Gills Bay to St Margaret’s Hope, South Ronaldsay in the Orkneys the next day, where they were staying for the three nights. The island accommodation was almost completely booked up but luckily this pub accommodation was available. This stay gave them the opportunity to visit many of the interesting sites on the main island but not Hoy in the time available.

Scenes on the Orkneys, Jane in the Valley of Eagles on South Ronaldsay; Scapa Flow

Inverewe Gardens; Loch Inver; Rose B & B, Lochinver; Bettyshill

August: Cornwall & Devon, Portreath/Appledore: This holiday was a family one, one week in Cornwall at Portreath on the North coast and a few days in North Devon at Appledore. It gave them an opportunity to revisit St Ives, The Lost Gardens of Heligan, attend a children’s concert at the outdoor iconic Minack theatre, Lands’ End and call in on John and Sue in Stoke Rivers during their stay later in Devon.

P deep in the Lost Gardens of Heligon; Family Group, near Lands’ End

October/November, Japan: This year included J and P returning to Japan, this time with Jemma and James, travelling separately, and during which J celebrated her 75 th birthday on October 29th in a typhoon when touring the Imperial Palace Gardens. J and P stayed near to the Tokyo Tower which they visited; the third floor area was devoted to features of Halloween.

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From Tokyo they caught the local Yamanote Line to take the limited express to Mito where they were to meet up with Jemma and James who were intending to drive them to Daigo to meet up with Mr and Mrs Abe. Unfortunately, the typhoon had caused severe disruption and after proceeding for about 20 km from Tokyo, the express came to a standstill and did not move any further for over three hours. This cause of delay was virtually unheard of in Japan but apparently the problem was associated with a huge deposit of leaves on the railway lines caused by the typhoon winds (quite often given as the reason for railway disruption in the UK). They managed to contact James by ‘phone and suggested that they proceed to Daigo and J and P would follow on taking the local JR line from Mito to Daigo. However, James and Jemma decided to wait for them. Finally the express moved on but it was a case of frequent stop start before the journey was continuous. After 4 pm over three hours late they arrived in Mito. The JR personnel had set up a table and were in the process of immediately compensating passengers for the delay. J and P were issued with vouchers, which they exchanged on a later day in Daigo.

Jemma and James drove them to meet up with Mr and Mrs Abe who were in a state of disbelief about the late arrival.

Later Jemma and James drove them to their Omoide Romankan Hotel, which was apparently the most luxurious hotel in Daigo and which had its own personal onsen overlooking the river and guest onsen below by the side of the river. On the first night, the traditional Japanese dinner was included in the deal and after several courses when the third course came J and P embarrassingly had to inform the waitress that they were unable to eat this very substantial main course and had to refuse it. J was never too happy about the traditional Japanese fare.

They had two full days in Daigo and met up with Mr Abe at his used car lot, which during the severe floods in 2019 was totally washed away resulting in his livelihood being devastated.

The Abe’s house, fortunately, although flooded was restorable.

With Jemma, James and Mrs Abe, they had a very adventurous experience in a walk to a local point de vue and also visited Fukuroda Falls as they had done in 2003/4. During the day with Mrs Abe they were treated to apple picking and tasting at a local orchard owned by a friend with 550 apples trees. They also visited the Daigo temple complex and the old school house where they met up with Shintaro, the Abe’s son, who was the first person that James met on Daigo station when he arrived in Daigo in May, 2003. They were treated to a substantial dinner at the Abes and a meal out at James favourite restaurant.

Narita express to Tokyo; Jane celebrating her 75thbirthday; The Tokyo Tower

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Tokyo Tower displaying Halloween Night Fantasia; J on the third floor of the Tokyo Tower with model of the tower; The Halloween Tokyo Tower Alley

Egglike illuminated Halloweenies; P at the café bar sampling the food

Typhoon time: J and P in the Imperial Palace Gardens in drenching downpouring rain

Tree supports in the Gardens; View of the Place Gardens’ moat and pagoda like corner buildings

James, Michiyo Abe, P, J and Mr Abe at the family home; River bank scene from the Omoide Ramankan hotel in Daigo; Fukuroda Falls; Jemma & James in a photo display

Michoyo, James, Peter & Owner of James’s favourite restaurant in Daigo

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Eigenji Temple complex in Daigo

Jemma & James on pedestrian bridge; Information display for the geological park; enlarged logo on the bridge

Apple pickers on duty followed by apple tasting

Unique lemon centred apples; J and P leaving Daigo on the local line to Mito

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Sunset in Kawakuchiko

J by Lake Kawaguchi with Mt Fuji in the background; J secluded in the Kimono gardens; Mt Fuji

J and P in bright sunshine walked around the side of Lake Kawaguchi to the Itchiku Kubota Art Museum Museum, which had been set up by this well-known Japanese kimono designer. The museum architecture was also quite unusual.

Itchiku Kubota Art Museum; Kimonos in abundance; inside the museum café with window displaying shrubs and flowers outside Their next stop was for one night at Kofu. J had not been feeling too good and thought the meal the previous evening had reacted badly on her. They had to visit the local retail centre and find a chemist to ask for some medication for her condition, which was very severe.

Unfortunately, the pharmacist spoke no English and their phrase book was not of much assistance; they did, however, by using sign language, finally obtain some pills, which were appropriate.

Robotic assistant in the retail centre that took a shine to Jane when she approached and accidentally activated it; no english was spoken

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They were able to visit the Keiko-inTemple the late afternoon and in the evening they chose badly in going to a local restaurant, which was extremely noisy and so much so that they found it difficult to enjoy the meal, which as it happened was not great; they made a quick exit early evening.

The next day while waiting for the bus to Matsumoto they were treated to a show by a street performer with an audience of Japanese tourists except for J & P from Manchester, UK, who were introduced by him. Kofu castle was close by and P climbed up the steep road to the Castle walls to view the gardens below where J was relaxing surrounded by their baggage.

J outside the Keiko-in Temple; Autumn Leaves; Kofu Castle with audience for street performer

Jane relaxing on a park bench with baggage, birds’ eye view from top of Kofu Castle walls

The local scheduled bus with limited capacity for baggage took them on a multi stop 2 h journey to Matsumoto, which was their next stop for two nights, and which gave an opportunity for them to tour the Black Castle (or Crow Castle). Also the the Chrysanthemum Bonsai Festival had just ended but the marquees with show flowers could still be visited. They were very fortunate as there was a voluntary English speaking guide from a nation wide group who accompanied them for an hour around the castle and the festival area.

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The Black (Crow) Castle, Matsumoto; daytime and twilight hours There was one crack in the walls of this extremely strong wooden structure which was evidence of the earthquake which struck Matsumoto, 8.3 magnitude in 1946

The Black Castle viewed across the moatJ and P with Samurai warrior in front of the Black Castle

The Bonsai Chrysanthem Festival, top of show exhibits

The old school house in Matsumoto

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The stop at Nagoya for one night was too short for a large city, which was unfortunate, because they did not have time to visit the Nagoya City Science museum.

Nagoya City Museum; Upper façade of the hotel rstaurant; Nagoya at Night; Victory signs with local pupils with questionnaire for Jane, practising their English

From Nagoya their next destination was Kyoto, about 90 miles, to meet up with Jemma and James who had a separate tour since leaving Daigo. They had three full days to explore Kyoto and visit Narra, which they had not done in 2003/4. They met Jemma & James on the first evening taking the local line for a few km to the north and went a tradition noodle bar.

The first day was Kimono day when Jemma and James had rented kimono attire to wear all day. There was some confusion about which Kimono outlet they had booked, which delayed J and P meeting up with them having alighted at a distant local stop, which involved a walk of 1 km or so. Having met up with Jemma and James they toured a temple complex close by and visited a local restaurant to consume a rather a large lunch.

Kimono posers at local Temple Complex From this location they walked up a steep road to the main shrine from which they could view the city (ref: celebration of New Year’s eve 2003).

Bibs for diners in Kimonos; Yasak shrine in Kyoto, day and night

On the way down from the shrine P became violently ill with upper stomach pains. The substantial lunch had reacted badly on him and he had sit down by the side of the road. They called a taxi to drive them back to the hotel for him to recover.

The following day they had planned to board the cable car and ropeway to Mt Hiei taking the local line and Eizan line to Yasehieizanguchi station. The focus of the visit was the Mt Hiei Garden Museum, which was distinctively impressionist French complete with Café Royale.

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Scenes of the steep walk up to cable car

Cable car and rope way poster to the summit of Mt Hiei

Inside the gondola and views of Kyoto and forest

J at the summit of Mt Hiei

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Jemma and James near the Café; Thermal foot bath experience for J, Jemma and James at the summit

Monet’s Garden reincarnated at the summit of Mt Hiei

Views of Kyoto Bay from Mt Hiei

During the visit to Kyoto, because J and P’s hotel was close to the Kyoto Tower, they decided to sample some cocktails overlooking the city from an elevated bar in the tower.

Cocktails in Kyoto Tower bar

Their third day in Kyoto was a visit to Narra with Jemma and James, which was a memorable experience with the vastness of the temple complex and the giant Buddha and other large idolic figures.

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James & Jemma hustled by brown deer

Features of the temple complex; giant statues housed in the Todaiji Temple (centre) Largest temple in Japan

Giant Bronze Buddha

Isuien Gardens scenes with tree surgeon and support structures

The visit to Narra from Kyoto was the final day of their tour and the following day they returned to Tokyo for their flight back to the UK the day after. In the morning before they left Kyoto their visited some local urban gardens which they had not been able to visit the prevous evening.

The hotel in Shinjuku was situated in walking distant from the station. Although downtown Tokyo was close by they did not pay a visit in the evening but had a relaxing drink and meal in the hotel. Before their departure for the airport the next day they visited the Takashimaya mega store near Shinjuku station

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2018 This year was a re-election year for J and from early January she was canvassing vigorously with Barry Brotherton, her Priory ward council colleague. Her majority of over 1000 with 60.3 % of the vote was the highest J achieved in local elections in her 28 years as a councillor.

It was to be her last re-election but it was fitting that she was so strongly supported by the electorate of Priory ward. With the Labour group gaining seats to be the major party but with no overall control (NOC) Labour required allegiance from the Liberal Democrats for an overall voting majority. The Green Party, interestingly, were presented for the first time, and were successful in taking two council seats from the Conservatives in Altrincham.

Party

Seats +/-

Labour

30

4

Conservative

29

5

Liberal Democrat 2

1

Green

2

2

J again was on the executive as member for Children’s Services. She did suffer some adverse criticism from the Tory opposition, which was totally unwarranted and sometime later her executive role was changed to Environment and Leisure, which was more comfortable for her.

2018 Priory Ward Party

Candidate

Votes

%

±%

2,018

60.3

+5.3

Labour Co-op

Jane Baugh*

Conservative

George Barker

988

29.5

+2.9

Green

Paul Greer

170

5.1

-0.1

Liberal Democrats

Michael MacDonald

170

5.1

-0.5

Majority

1,030

30.8

Turnout

3,346

40.9

Labour Co-op hold

Swing

Several very enjoyable vacations were experienced, including a road trip to Narbonne in South West France for a two week family holiday and Iceland for P’s 80 th birthday (not her 76th!).

Immediately prior to going to France their very good friends, Judy and Tim Lee, visited for several days in early August. P and Tim had known each other since 1958 and were reciprocal best men.

Narbonne, Languedoc-Roussillon: This holiday was the first and only one abroad with Family members. J booked a house in the centre of Narbonne for David, Louise, Benjamin, Lily, Sue, Louise’s mum and themselves. Flights were arranged for the family, Manchester to Beziers return, and then car hire to Narbonne. J and P with Sue planned to drive to the Euro Tunnel terminus near to Folkestone after staying in Sandgate for one night at the Sandgate Hotel, The Esplanade, which coincidentally was in a terrace, a row of houses, where Jane’s mum lived as a child. The following night in France was spent in Bourges after crossing by Euro Tunnel (for the first and only time), taking a route via Rouen to avoid Paris and also to break the journey to Narbonne (over 700 miles from Calais).

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+1.0

The touring from Narbonne was eventful and included visits to vineyards for wine tasting and purchase, Peyrepertuse to scale the steep steps and path to the top of this Cathar castle, Carcassonne (including swimming in the River Aude), the coastal towns, Gruisson, Fitou and Leucate, for swimming and sea salt processing and purchase, the Canal de la Robine for a cruise, Figueres a short distance over the border into Spain to visit the Dali museum, Narbonne for the market and festival, The Camargue (including a visit to the Parc ornithologique du Pont de Gau) , Pont Du Gard, Nimes for a short visit to the coliseum.

Relax with biere, Mediterranean waterfront

Chateau visit in Cahors

Family relaxing by the Canal de la Robine; Evening meal time near centre of Narbonne

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Narbonne Festival Parade, late August, 2018

Night time in Narbonne

Swimming in the River Aude

Late night Gig in Narbonne; Boules in progress

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Pont Du Gard; River scene from the viaduct; Jane & Sue with Pont Du Gard in background

Peyrepertuse Cahar Castle and vicinity

Flamingo Lake, Parc ornithologique du Pont de Gau, Camargue; The Coliseum at Nimes

Dali Museum features at Figueres, Espana

On their return Journey during the very slow drive on the A75 (la Méridienne) because of a traffic backup they re-crossed the Millau viaduct bridge, one of the highest in Europe, and visited the museum, particularly, to view a display how the bridge had been constructed.

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The Millau Viaduct on the A75 Auto Route; Eiffel’s original iron bridge

J, P and Sue again stopped for the night near Bourges at a small town, St Amand Montrond with a superior B & B, BB Fleurie owned by a Dutch couple. They were treated to an excellent dinner, extremely well-presented. The second stop also in France was near to a small village, Wissant, close to the Eurotunnel Terminal at Calais. The accommodation was in Hotel Chateau Clery, which had been converted into a B & B with adequate facilities.

The following day they boarded the euro tunnel train for the crossing to Folkestone and journeyed back to Sale and Timperley.

A treat for Elaine from New Orleans advertising and enjoying marmite on toast

An 80th Birthday in Iceland: J as always thought of the enjoyment for others before herself and decided that P should celebrate his 80th birthday in Iceland as she had known for some time that it was a country he wished to visit. J and P were accompanied by James, Jemma and Janet, Jemma’s Mum on this five night visit, October 24 to 29. The flight out was with Icelandic Airways and the cabin staff who were made aware of the birthday celebration delivered five mini-bottles of champagne to their seats for them to celebrate P’s birthday.

Every hour of every day had been meticulously planned by Jemma with her considerable touristic skills. The first night they splashed out staying at the hotel, Grindavik, with private inlet to the Blue Lagoon, which they took advantage of. The next day they spent a second experience in the Blue Lagoon from the public facility and treated themselves to drinks at the Lagoon bar.

Public bathing at the Blue Lagoon

The accommodation was Air B & B about 65 miles to the east of the capital near a small town, Hvolsvollur, in sight of the Eyjafjollajokull glacier at a distance of about 40 miles. Jemma had arranged for their accommodation to be within the Golden Circle, a region of outstanding natural beauty. Their visits included, one of the prime geyser regions, for a view of the Great

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Geysir, the cascading Skógafoss falls with 400+ steps to ascend for the view, the black beach

The Geysir; Jane, Jemma & James at the smaller secluded falls; Skogafoss with Jemma & James in the fore ground; the falls viewed from the top after the ascent of 400+ steps

Gulfoss, The Golden Falls

at Reynishverfisvegu with basalt rock columns (akin to Staffa, Scotland, and Giant’s Causeway, Northern Ireland),

Reynisfjara, The Black Beach, and basalt rock columns

and the tomato restaurant and hothouse, Friðheimar, near Selfoss where they were served with delicious tomato soup with large hunks of savoury bread and an 80th birthday tomato complete with candle.

The Tomato Greenhouse and restaurant, Fridheimar, thermally heated; The birthday tomato for P’s 80th on October 26th, 2018

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Taken from a video of a panorama of Thingvellir National Park, Iceland during which there is a recording of a snippet of a conversation between Jane and Peter, almost unique and the dialogue reads as follows: J: Do you send all these to your iPad, IPad? P: They should go, in time.

J: There all sorts of things, I should be doing on my phone. I could have got the…..

The final day gave them the opportunity to visit the Lava Centre in Hvolsvollur, to experience virtual demonstrations of the eruptions of the prominent volcanoes in a realistic environment and also virtual earthquakes.

n

an

in

The Lava Centre, Hvolsvollur: Model depicting volcanic activity; Laval activity; a volcano J erupting

After leaving the centre they took the higher mountain road to the airport which was fog bound at the higher elevation and snow bound.

Snow scene outside the B & B on final day, -10oC at night; volcanic activity visible through the snow on the drive to the airport on departure

The return flight was by EasyJet, on J’s 76th birthday. The generosity shown by Iceland Air was not repeated but the Captain did wish J a happy birthday, announced over the PA. 2019 A quiet, reflective year This year was a real struggle with J having to wind down from her council commitments and not feeling a 100% from early in the year. She commented frequently that she would not be here next year but that she had had a wonderful life for 77 years.

The long haul and road trips had come to an end and during the year, J and P made only two short trips, the first for one night in Port Meirion for their 54th wedding anniversary and the second for two nights on the north west edge of the Yorkshire Dales near Smardale, Newbiggin on Lune, Kirkby Stephen and the Howgills on the northern rim. These venues were both favourite places for most of their married lives.

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Their 54th wedding anniversary at Port Meirion, April 24th was the second time they had stayed the first being in 1967, 52 years previous. They stayed in self-contained accommodation in grounds a short walk from the hotel where they were treated to excellent cuisine.

Also, in April 2019, the pavement commemorating the birth of J P Joule, which had been commissioned by the Friends of Worthington, was unveiled in the park in front of his statue.

J and P final short break together was at Brownber Hall near to Newbiggin, where they for two nights, June 19 and 20; the hall was a short walk from the Nature Reserve trail along an old railway track to Smardale Viaduct. This very short stay was as memorable as any that J and P had ever had and for one very good but very sad reason.

Brownber Hall and House; Looking towards the Howgills from the tea garden; The guest lounge, always a slice of delicious cake on the sideboard.

Smardale Viaduct and Nature Reserve Walk, June 19, 2019 (J and P’s last walk together) The walk was taken in a circular route of about 5 miles with the return section a little strenuous and steep but J was well and fit enough to cope with the extra effort required

The walk that J and P experienced and the old railway track which formed part of the Nature Reserve Trail An unfortunate occasion for them was to attend the funeral of John Moore in Great Oak in June as they had known John and Joan, his wife, for over 55 years.

The results of the scan half way through the year were as she expected, the worst possible.

Her council work was still important to her but from July onwards she did not attend full council, executive group or Labour group meetings.

She did not inform the family and made an excuse about falling downstairs and having a stomach ailment. One or two friends and relations doubted this diagnosis and thought that she was telling fibs.

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Family outings: At this stage in J’s life, day visits to places of iconic interest were very important and were arranged with family members to Bodnant Gardens and The RSPB sanctuary at the side of the estuary on the River Conwy opposite Conway Castle and the town, which resulted from excavation work for the tubular tunnel built under the river as part of the Mway system.

Palliative care: From August on for several months she had palliative medical treatment at The Christie, driving herself on occasions for appointments. She gave up on the trial and for a while felt a little less unwell after terminating the chemotherapy, still mobile enough to walk without assistance but aided by a wheelchair, later on.

In fact, earlier in this period, she strolled around Skipton woods with Jonathan and Peter, a distance of several miles.

She attended several engagements in December, a youth orchestral performance at the RNCM by invitation from Ruth O’Keefe, The Director of the Music Service in Trafford. Her last engagement on December 13th was as honorary president of the Alma Singers where as per usual she gave a congratulatory speech at the end of the concert. She did see her girl friends on Thursdays in December who had met together since the early 1970s to exchange presents.

J with Barry Brotherton were involved in a project working party at Worthington Park in December, just 2 months bfore she died.

J identified by the iconic yellow mac with Barry Brotherton on a project with a working party in Worthington Park, December 2019

Christmas Day Dinner was organised by P with James, Jemma and Janet and for the first time since the early 1970s she took a back seat.

She shopped intensively on line for Christmas presents and her bank statement was three pages in length due to the extensive number of Christmas purchases made mainly via Amazon.

She also organised a double birthday celebration for Barry and Jeni on December 28th at the Boathouse, Sale Water Park and attended a quiet New Year’s Eve celebration at Lynn Griffin’s house with her family and friends. Also she collated the New Year’s cards into rounds with Barry Brotherton for delivery to residents in Priory ward.

2020 A Year Cut Short January: Jane’s last outing was on January 02 when she went to the Vue cinema in Altrincham, taken by Sue Bracegirdle to see ‘Little Women’. Thereafter, J did not leave the house even to stroll around her considerable garden. The palliative care visits intensified by McMillan Nurses and District Nurses and a stair lift was installed, which J thought was a waste of money but for a short while, it did assist her in retiring, and which P named ‘The Stairway to Paradise’ (Gershwin).

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Her eldest granddaughter, Maya, a vetinary undergraduate at Glasgow University, visited on a weekend at the end of January, who she had not seen since she was 9 years old. It was to be a memorable reunion, which J very much appreciated.

Her last TV viewing was of ‘Call the Midwife’ on Sunday, February 06, which P recollected was always on when they were having their evening meal.

During this period although struggling badly but J continued to show the stoicism and resilience she had throughout her life. She was looked after intensively by her three sons during the latter part of January and February.

She was sensitive to the fact that P’s condition had deteriorated with the gall bladder problem; he had delayed the operation from October 2019 because of J’s condition. During one visit from her Doctor, Dr Sally Frier, in late January, it was arranged that P should be referred to the consultant at Wythenshawe Hospital, asap. Within the period, February 1st and 14th P had been referred to outpatients at Wythenshawe Hospital, for a pre-op and final operation to remove a gall stone on February 14 th. J was immensely relieved and more concerned about P’s health than her own failing health, within 12 days of her death. She was stoically resilient as always.

Final days: The last few days were heartbreaking with her sons constantly at her bedside doing various things, Jon acting lead nurse, David, as back up, and James reading some of her favourite stories. They were supported excellently by the McMillan, District Nurses and the Palliative Care consultant. They were warned in the final week that the end of life for J was approaching fast and on Wednesday, February 26th at 10.35 pm J passed away attended by her three sons and two of her daughter in laws.

J’s quote on many occasions was, ‘I have had wonderful life for 77 years’ Arrangements had been made for J to be transferred to the Medical School for anatomical research. The following day the funeral director designated by the Medical School arrived to remove her to the funeral home. Later that day, a phone call was received from the Department of Anatomy to inform the family that J could not be admitted to the Medical School because of her condition. A very quick decision had to be made regarding a funeral as J had left no alternative instructions regarding her burial. P with the family decided that J should be buried in a natural environment rather than being cremated. They contacted George Ball & Son, Funeral Directors, who were responsible for the Friends of Nature Burial Ground at Mobberley and arranged for her burial to take place on March 06.

March 06: By arrangement with the Funeral Director the Cortege after leaving their home at 11.00 am drove to Worthington Park and entered the main gates. On the drive around the park, a number of friends had congregated to pay their respects, in front of the statue of J P Joule and the pavement commemorating the 200th anniversary of his birth (2018), which had been designed and created by a local artist, Gordon Cooke, and which J had been involved in commissioning with the Friends of Worthington Park. Her physiotherapy colleagues from Altrincham General Hospital also lined up in their uniforms.

The cortege processed from the park to the burial ground. The coffin on a bier was attended by her granchildren, Lily and Benjamin, her three sons and P and transported up the lane to the grave. A song, ‘I will Love You’ by one of her very favourite artists, Shirley Bassey, and a jazz piece, ‘Windmills of Your Mind’ by Oscar Petersen were played. At the graveside the ceremony was led by a humanist preacher with a dedication by P. The Welsh flag was draped over the coffin and several items placed on the coffin. The Welsh anthem was sung and led

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by Peter and Peter Lawton, ‘Mae hen wlad fyn adau’. The mourners returned to the family home for the wake.

Headstone Jane’s grave in the Friends of Nature Burial Ground, Mobberley after the funeral on March 06, 2021 and March 2021 after the laying of the headstone in November 2021

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Fund raising and tributes: A justgiving page was set up on April 01 in her memory to donate to St Ann’s Hospice and has raised £6000. Tributes from the Council appeared in the Altrincham & Sale Messenger and the Manchester Evening News. The flags were flown at half mast on the Trafford Town Hall and Sale Town Hall.

Following is one of the tributes paid to Jane as a long serving councillor.

Tributes have been paid to much-loved long serving councillor

https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/...

28/02/2020 · Councillor Jane Baugh represented Broadheath Ward for 14 years before moving to Priory Ward in 2004……

An honour was bestowed on Jane and Ray Bowker, posthumously, at an EGM of the Council, February 01, 2021. A YouTube video of the meeting can be viewed and accessed via The Trafford Council YouTube Trafford Council 'giants' receive posthumous title of ... https://aboutmanchester.co.uk/trafford-council-giants-receive...

01/02/2021 · Trafford Council ‘giants’ receive posthumous title of Honorary Alderman. Two Trafford Council ‘giants’ have received the posthumous title of Honorary Alderman. Ray Bowker and Jane Baugh, who both died in 2020, received the special award at an Extraordinary Meeting of Trafford Council on Wednesday. Honorary Aldermen must have made a significant contribution to the Council and the …

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Dedications Sale Festival 2021 was dedicated to the memory of Jane Everall Baugh. A Sculpture trail in Walkden Gardens has been named after her with a commemorative plaque and was opened

by Peter on Saturday, August 14, 2021

The memorial plaque near the dove cote citing ‘Jane Baugh Sculpture Trail, Councillor and Long Time Friend of the Gardens’; The Dovecote; The owl sculptured by Andy Burgess APPENDIX 2 Photographs with MPs, Councillors, Council Officers, Friends and Women’s Groups, 20132017

Jane with MPs, Tony Lloyd (extreme left), Andy Burnham (left centre) and Paul Goggins (extreme right); and Barry Brotherton, Trafford Councillor and Political Brother, (centre right)

Jane on crutches with a Friends group protesting against removal of post box on Broad Road; Councillor roadsweeper; Jane with Dave Roam, Environmental Officer and Council Workers

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Votes for women celebration with Jane and Kate Green, MP for Stretford & Urmston

APPENDIX 3 Diary for 2018-2019: Council work, year on year, is somewhat repetitive and recounting the commitments would be rather tedious for the reader. However, aspects of the final year of J’s Council work is pertinent to this biography and is described briefly here for period September 2018 to August 2019 taken from an academic year diary. She did not attend council meetings for the latter part of the year because of her health difficulties and was allowed dispensation by the leader to do so.

Academic Year Diary for the year, 2018-2019: Council and Personal Commitments Month/Day/time Activity/Commitment Location Key TTH or TH Trafford Town Hall or Town Hall LCC Lancashire Cricket Club August 2018 personal activities 7-9 Tim & Judy Lee Sale and North West August 16 –September 04 France with the Family Narbonne, SW France 06 at 5.30 Vision 2031 Rm 12, TTH 10 at 10.30 Startwell Board TTH 10 at 12.00 Meeting with Steve Kay TTH 10 at 6.00 Trafford Children Care leaders Event LCC, The Point 11 at 10.30 Good Send Practice Manchester 12 at 7.30 Priory ward meeting Excelsior Club 12 at 2.00 Health & Well Being Diane Eaton’s Office 13 at 6.30 Corporate Parents Board.

Brindley Lodge 15 at 11.00 Coffee Morning Home 16 at 10.30 Battle of Britain Cenotaph, Sale TH 17 at 21 noon Governors Moorlands Junior Sch. 17 at 6.00 Exec Meeting Trafford Town Hall 18 Personal commitments 19 at 5.00 Vision 2013 21 at 2.00 Children’s Board GM Bury TH Elaine Hinojosa, USA, two daughters and grandchildren Home 21 22 ditto ditto 25 at 12.30 Early Years Strategic board Trafford TH 25 at 7.30 Parkinsons – Dr Mark Jarvis Timp. Methodist Ch 26 at 10.00 JWC Rm TTH 26 at 3.00 Budget Meeting TTH 26 at 6.00 Full Council TTH 27 at 4.00 JCB Crossgate House 28 McMillan Coffee Morning

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29 October 2018 01 01 02 02 at 3.00 03 at 7.30 04 at 11.30 04 at 6.00 05 at 9.30 06 at 10.00 08 at 10.00 09 at 7.30 10 at 10.00 11 at 11.30 15 at 11.30 15 at 12.00 16 at 9.30 16 at 11.00 16 at 4.00 pm 16 at 6.00 18 at 11.00 18 at 5.45 pm 19 at 9.30 22 at 7.00 pm 24 at 9.30 25 to 29 29 at 6.00 pm November 2018 01 12 at 4.30 pm 12 at 5.30 pm 12 at 6.00 pm 13 at 1.00 pm 14 at 12 noon 16 at 9.30 17 at 10.00 19 at 7.30 pm 20 at 6.30 21 at 6.00 pm 22 at 1.00 pm 22 at 6.00 pm 23 at 2.00 pm 23 at 8.00 pm 26 at 6.00 pm 27 at 1.30 pm 29 at 12.30 pm 29 at 4.00 pm 30 at 3.00 pm

Granddaughter’ Birthday

Health & Well Being Board Helen Gollins Jo Fenlan Deborah Hartey Childrens Social Care Friends of Worthington Park Safe Guarding Cycling, Chris Boardman Strtford Childern’s Centre Friends of the Bridgewater Canal Startwell Sale Festival Commitee JNC, Sian Bloor St Vincents PS Health & Well-Being Board School Issues Mayoral Banquet Worthington Park Photocall Trafford Schools Funding Forum Great Manchester Clean Air Plan Karen McCallum Great Manchester Leaves event Health and Well Being Board Trafford Arts Association Bury Town Hall Iceland trip Executive Meeting

Aspire restaurant Michelle Mclaughlin Executive Meeting North West Employers Startwell meeting Catering staff Sale Arts Society Priory Ward Selection Sale Festival AGM Governors’ Forum Bolton Beer Challenge

The Adventures of Andy Kershaw Executive meeting Graham Bentley Parkinson’s Lunch JCboard Pewithall School Fair

THT Rm 15, THT TTH TTH Home TTH TTH

Home TTH School Committee rm, TTH Rm 07, TTH Gonbay Sainburys Sale CC TTH 124, Oxford Road TTH Waterside

TTH

TTH TTH TTH Salford Quays Trafford college Church Hall Excel, Sale Sale TH TTH Clarendon Rd Bury Waterside TTH TTH Aspire, TC TTH Weston Village

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December 2018 01 02 at 5.00 pm 03 at 12 noon 03 at 6.00 pm 04 at 6.30 pm 05 at 11.30 05 at 7.30 06 at 9.30 06 at 5.00 pm 08 at 11.30 10 at 11.30 11 at 11.00 11 at 12.30 pm 12 at 1.00 pm 12 at 7.30 pm 13 at 12 noon 13 at 3.30 pm 14 at 7.30 15 at 7.00 pm 16 at 7.00 17 at 6.00 pm 19 20 at 4.00 pm

Walkden Gardens Trafford Music Service Workshop Executive Briefing Budget Scrutiny Governance visit Priory ward meeting Parent Board THT Officers Coffee Morning Council officer meeting Helen Gollins Early Years Egerton High Christmas Special, Sale Festival Comm Sale Moor Community Centre Safety in Schools Alma Singers Concert Christmas Concert Concert Council Brentwood School JCBoard

January 2019 07 at 6.00 pm 12.30 08 at 1.30 pm 10 at 11.30 11 at 9.30 14 at 10.00 14 at 12.30 pm 14 at 2.00 pm 14 at 6.00 pm 15 at 9.30 15 at 11.30 16 17 at 4.00 pm 18 at 2.00 pm 20 at 12.00 noon 21 at 1.00 pm 22 at 4 pm 23 at 12.30 pm 23 at 7.30 pm 24 at 5.30 pm 28 at 11.00 28 at 1.30 pm 29 at 11.00 30 at 9.30 30 at 6.00 pm

Labour Group meeting Council officer Startwell Council officer Heal & Wellbeing Board Council officer Partington Youth Centre Foster Carers Meeting Executive Briefing Town Centre Partnership Trafford Hospital Executive Meeting JCBoard Bury Town Hall Collecting for Parkinson’s Education Board Trafford schools Funding Forum Holocaust Friends of Worthington Park Care Leavers Event Schools Capital Programme Executive meeting Trafford High School Social Services event Full Council

RNCM Rm TTH TTH TTH Excelsior Club Life Centre Sale Point Home TTH TTH TTH Kingsway Park Home TTH URC, Ashton Avenue Meth. CH Manch. Cathedral TTH TTH

TTH TTH TTH TTH TTH TTH

TTH

TTH Crossgate House

TTH Sale Community Sale TH Waterside Home Leaders off. TTH TTH

TTH

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31 at 5.30 pm 31 at 7.30 pm

Care Leavers Launch Event Friends of Walkden Gardens

February 2019 02 at 11.00 02 at 7.00 pm 04 at 10.00 04 at 1.30 04 at 4.00 pm 04 at 7.00 pm 05 at 9.30 05 at 11.00

Coffee morning Mayoral Charity Concert Mayoral Officer Dr Hynes Mr Roy Labour Group meeting Trafford Schools Peer Review Leader with officer

Home

Café Rose, Brooklands Salvation Army Hall, Sale TTH Conway Road MP TTH TTH

Meeting with Trafford Parents forum

06 at 10.00 06 at 11.30 06 at 4.30 pm

Council Officer Governance visit Debrief Trafford School Peer Review

TTH, Rm 05 TTH TTH

06 at 5.30 pm 07 at 12.00 noon 07 at 1.30 pm 07 at 6.30 pm 08 at 1.00 pm 11 at 5.00 pm 11 at 6.00 pm 12 at 11.00 12 at 7.30 pm 13 at 12.00 noon 13 at 4.00 pm 14 at 3.30 pm 15 16 18 at 7.30 pm 19 at 6.00 pm 20 at 12.00 noon 20 at 1.00 pm 21 at 9.00 am 23 25 at 11.00 25 at 6.30 pm 26 at 11.00 26 at 7.30 pm 27 at 9.30 27 at 7.30 pm 27 at 5.00 pm

Councillors Meeting NAS Meeting Startwell Civil emergencies Meeting Council Officer Executive Meeting Geoff & Ann for coffee Priory ward meeting Lunch & Principal’s office JCBoard Jeremy advisory physio Bury children’ Services Trafford Labour Conference Sale Festival committee Autism Talk/Film Priory ward

TTH Leaders Office TTH TTH Old Trafford CPS TTH TTH Home Excelsior club, Sale Trafford College TTH home Bury TH Mass leafleting in areas Home Excelsior Club, Sale

March 2019 01 at 9.00 04 at 10.15 04 at 5.00 pm 04 at 6.00 pm 05 at 4.30 pm 05 at 6.30 pm

J Taylor Meeting with Trafford Parents Forum

Sale Market Fund Raising event RD Wines Magdalen & David, personal Executive meeting

School road, Sale

Parkinson’s AGM Stretford Hub Boathouse Meeting

Timperley Methodist Church

Campaigning Physio Apprentices SIPS Executive Meeting Sarah Todd CEO Giving Voice, Young People

Locations in Borough AGH

Home TTH

Sale Water Park Leaders Office

TTH Office, TTH

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06 at 6.30 pm 07 at 9.00 pm 08 at 11.00 08 at 2.00 pm 11 at 1.00 pm 11 at 5.30 pm 12 at 9.30 12 at 12.30 pm 13 at 10.30 14 at 10.30 14 at 4.00 pm 16 at 3.00 pm 18 at 10.00 18 at 11.00 18 at 4.00 pm 19 at 3.30 pm 19 at 8.00 pm 20 20 at 6.30 pm 21 at 12.00 noon 22 24 at 2.10 pm 25 at 11.00 25 at 1.00 pm 25 at 7.00 pm 26 at 11.00 26 at 7.00 pm 27 at 4.00 pm 28 28 at 2.00 pm 28 at 7.00 pm 29 at 7.00 pm

April 2019 01 at 2.00 pm 01 at 7.30 pm 03 at 7.30 pm 05 at 9.00 am 05 at 6.00 pm 08 at 2.00 pm 10 all day 11 15 at 10.00 15 at 2.00 pm 16 22 23 26 28 30 at 8.00

Friends of Parks meeting Sale Brass Band AGM Personal, coffee

OFSTED Foster Carers Meeting Safeguarding Sale Partnership Early Years Startwell Board Leafleting JCBoard Early Years Business meeting Wendy Sinfield Parents Forum Trafford Schools Funding Forum Friends of Worthington Park Social Workers Conference Full Council Parkinson’s Lunch Children’s’ Board Sunday Music Services Meeting at Selby Road Education Strategy Board

Trafford Arts Association Andy Zilka Meeting Meeting Corporate Parenting Board Sarah Todd CEO Peter Dowd, MP Magdalen Donlan

Clarendon Club Wyevale, Timperley TTH Thomas de Trafford TTH TTH Locations in borough Crossgate House Old Trafford Community PS TTH Airport Officer’s office Sale Community Centre Home TTH Aspire, Trafford College

TTH Waterside St Ann’s Social Club Egerton High School CEO Office St Joseph’s Church Home

Children’s Social Care Governance Sale Festival Committee Priory Ward, Poverty talk Officer meeting LP Campaigning Mocking Bird meeting Family outing Introduction to Rigoletto

Leader’s Office Home The Railway, Sale TTH Locations in Trafford Waterside Chirk Castle

Officer meeting

TTH TTH Priory ward Brooklands ward Broadheath ward Brooklands ward Worthington Park TTH

Childrens Services LP Leafleting LP Leafleting LP Leafleting LP Leafleting Easter Craft Fair Education Plan

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May 2019 6 8 at 1.00 pm 09 at 5.30 pm 10 11 at 7.30 pm 13 at 6.00 pm 14 at 12.00 noon 14 at 7.30 pm 15 at 9.30 pm 15 at 7.30 pm 15 at 2.45 pm 16 at 6.00 pm 17 at 11.00 20 at 7.00 pm 21 at 4.00 pm 22 at 6.30 28 at 4.00 pm 28 at 7.30 pm 30 at 2.00 pm 31 at 7.00 pm

June 2019 01 at 7.30 pm 02 at 10.00 03 at 6.00 pm 04 at 2.30 pm 04 at 4.00 pm 04 at 6.30 pm 05 at 6.00 pm 06 at 10.30 06 at 8.00 pm 07, 08, 09 10 at 11.00 11 at 7.30 pm 13 13 at 10.00 pm 14 at 11.00 pm 15 at 7.30 pm 16 17 at 1.30 pm 17 at 7.30 pm 18 19 20 21 at 1.30 pm 21 at 7.30 pm 22 at 2.00 pm 24 at 11.00 24 at 6.00 pm 25 at 11.00 26 at 5.00 pm

Garden Party Simon Wilson Meeting with Andy Burnham Health & WellBeing Board Ballet Central performance Labour group meeting Trafford Diagnostic Health Care Friends of Worthington Park

Walkden Gardens TTH Waterside TTH Mansion House Home

Town Centre Partnership

Priory ward Trafford General Hospital Labour group meeting Waterside Trafford Arts Association AGM event Full Council AGM Friends of Parks Parkinson’s Bingo evening George Carnall Centre Frank Sidebottom Story

Excelsior club, Sale Personal

The trails of Oscar Wilde Morning service Labour Group meeting Budget workshop Town Centre Partnership Climate Change Manchester Library volunteers Worthington Park WP

Waterside St Peter’s Hall TTH TTH

Mike Hall – Poplicity group

Waterside Waterside

Sale Festival events Project area 3 meeting Sale Festival event Sale Festival events Joe Cherrett, TTH Officer Meeting with Darren Adams Sale Festival event Sale Festival Youth Band Day Meeting on Suicide AGM Friends of Walkden Gardens Brownber Hall Brownber Hall Parkinson’s Trip Disable workshop Halle Sale Brass Band Disability Workshop Funeral of John Moore Meeting

Waterside George Carnall TTH TTH Timperley Methodist Church Urmston Waterside

TTH

Waterside

Waterside Waterside TTH Moorfield Pub Newbiggin on Lune Barton Grange, Lytham St Ann’s Bridgewater Hall Worthington Park

Great Oak, Raglan Leader’s Office

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26 at 6.00 pm 27 at 11.00 27 at 2.00 pm 27 at 6.30 pm 28 at 10.00

July 2019 01 – 04 08 09 10 13 at 7.00 pm 15 at 4.00 pm 16 at 7.30 pm 17 at 7.30 pm 22 23 24 24 at 3.00 pm 25 all day 25 26 29

Labour Meeting Stephen Harper Meeting Meeting Meeting re: trees

Away in South Wales Various activities Health and Safety Town Centre Partnership Alex Hulme Foundation Star Ball Budget Workshop Friends of Worthington Park AGM Walkden Gardens meeting Apprentice Sponsors

Course Employment/Bus Transport Drop in Session Personnel advisers Parenting Board Care Leaver Covenant Meeting on GDPR

Members room Altrincham Library Brindley Lodge Worthington Park

TTH As Patron, Cotton’s, Knutsford TTH Rob Frier’s House Airport academy Airport Academy Trafford Centre

TTH Sarah Todd CEO

August, September and October 2019 Commitments in Brief from Notes in Diary. Note: not attended August 29 at 4.00 pm CCB TTH September 10 at 12.30 pm Early Years Board TTH October 09 at 10.30 Startwell Board TTH 18 at 9.30 Health and Wellbeing Board TTH 24 at 4.00 pm CCB TTH November No date, 12.00 noon Training Lancs CC December No date, 4.00 pm Virtual School Board of Governors TTH

APPENDIX 4 J took exercise classes for Parkinson’s Trafford Branch at Timperley Methodist Church Hall and Larkhill Centre on a stand in basis when the regular physiotherapist was not available. The exercise regime is described in the table following.

Exercise classes for Parkinson’s Exercise Standing A Posture 1.

Movement with music ‘As time goes by’ Hands on Hips

Number X10

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2.

3.

4.

Standing B 1.

2.

3.

4.

Hands on hips with twist Sideways stretch Knee bends Movement with music ‘Just the way you are’ Side steps

Sitting C 1.

2.

3.

4 5 6 7.

8.

9.

Movement with music ‘In the mood’ eyebrows Eyes open/close Mouth open/close smile Shoulder circling backwards Should raising Hands on shoulders Arms backwards

D 1.

2.

3.

4.

5 6.

Movement with music ‘Imagine’ Heel back and for Straighten knee Lift knees Lean backwards and forwards Hands pat knees and cross to shoulders Pat shoulders sideways

Standing E 1.

2.

3.

4.

F. 1.

Movement with music ‘Millenium’ Leg out to side Leg behind Knee up

2.

3.

4.

G.

Breaststrokes Shoulders up Shoulders out in front Robot Walk, Rag Doll Sitting cross hands

H.

Walking in a circle

X10 X10 X10 X4

Steps backwards and forwards

Reach up in the air Walking on the spot

X4 X4 X4 X4

Arms upwards

Bend knee up and behind

Movement with music ‘Through the Grapevine’ Arm swing back, L then R, then both

Sitting- breathing exercises

ISBN 978 18380432 47

Publisher: Jane Everall Baugh Available electronically in pdf format © Peter J Baugh, October 30, 2021 Also accessible via the link

https://issuu.com/barrybrotherton5/docs/janeeverallbaugh19902020shedit

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