A 'Back to the Future' moment...

"Great Scott!" This happy couple are my Grandparents, who celebrated their 50th Wedding Anniversary last weekend! I find it incredible to think of spending fifty hours with someone let alone 50 years (!), so perhaps that's an indication of how far they've come. They're looking a tad older nowadays (although they're both good looking in my opinion) but then it was hardly likely that they'd always stay as good looking as in these black and white photos from their wedding day..! (At least now you know where I get my looks from... or maybe not!)

So, moving swiftly on, this is the before photo -













And this is them five children (all girls) and twelve grandchildren later! They're not doing too badly at all - Grandad swims five times a week, and Grandma does the gardening with an amazing fanaticism - in fact, with looking after their grandkids, they're more busy in retirement than they ever were in work, or so they say (although maybe that's because they were really lazy workers or something! OK, i apologize, I know they weren't..!)!














So we had a big bash last weekend, with nearly all the family together (which is a heck of a lot of people by the way) to celebrate their longevity. my younger cousins James, Lucy, Joshua, Jack and Emily sang (I tried to put them off by pulling faces in a juvenile fashion!) and there were speeches aplenty.... which are always fun (and slightly emotional!)

Ady's 1st Class Degree was announced to the masses, so that even though he is sunning it (and probably checking out all the ladies) over the world, he was still dominating proceedings!

Before that we had a grand meal - here's a blurry shot of the happy couple before they tucked into their pud! -














And this motley bunch are my Uncle Vic, Fred, and Grandad, who all went to school together (the original trio - maybe George Zhao and I will try and replicate this someday!)




























As always, there was the chance for a family photo - as you can see, I'm not the only good-looking one..! Actually, looking at it again, I think I am...















And this is me (sweltering in my suit jacket) with my cousin Ben, who is thinking of becoming a teacher! This photo captures the simultaneous moments when I tried to talk him out of it - and Ben finally stopped listening to anything his older cousin had to say...
















As ever, it was great to see most of the family together (with the exception of my brother, who is travelling, and the Australian contingent) - and somewhere along the line was the thought that if not for that wedding, 50 years ago, none of us would have been there! Some people would say the world would be a better place, but I like to think that's not true..!

So a big cheer for Grandma and Grandad - just think, without them, this blog wouldn't even exist...