Summertime

Tania,

This is brilliant - and just the sort of thing the Blog is handy for (that there seem to be so many IT illiterates in the family is a blessing in disguise).
So, 'Mum' is the word.

Could other family readers of the Blog (if you are out there), confirm that you have seen Tania's post and taken the message on board, promising to discreetly pass it around.

Well done Tania.

summer time

Hi All

I've finally worked out how to write something!!

This has to be a quick one Im afraid. This is being written in secret as I dont want Julian to see this (dont worry he hasnt a clue how to get on this website and read messages!).
Now I may be jumping the gun here but i wanted to think ahead to August as it is Julians 40th birthday!! I am hoping to organise something but I wanted all the family to know so that we can get as many people down as possible. So at the moment maybe if we could just pencil in the Sat 18th August for a possible get together here in Bude. This will be a complete surprise for Julian so sshhh!!
There is the old town band hall which is available to "hire" right opposite Clare and Keiths house so maybe a gathering in there with food and drink would be a good idea. Its located right next to Bude canal so if the weather is nice it could be a jolly nice day!

Will be get back to you with more info as and when.

Hope everyone is well. Take Care all
Tania x

PORTSMOUTH V MANCHESTER UNITED

Commiserations to Portsmouth FC who lost 2 - 1

GUILDFORD

Sally & Graham have gone to Guildford this weekend - grave hunting. I believe they also plan to take a look at Sandy Knowe.

Sally has promised to take photos which will be posted on the Blog and in the album.

Welcome Kate

A big warm welcome to

Kate

who is the first Portsmouth family representative to sign-up.

We all hope that she will not be the last.

Happy New Year!!

Dear all, thank you to Nic for inviting me into the Houghton beach party blog. Firstly just to say a very Happy New Year to you all!! full of love,peace and auspicious (one of dad my dad's favourite words!) occassions ahead.
The photos of you all in Bude are lovely and it's great to see everyone looking so well and happy. Christmas here in Portsmouth was lovely and time split between each others houses checking out the kids toys and over indulging as we always do! then followed a hearty New Years Eve. Myself checking out the local entertainment and merry making with Terry and friends in our regular pub The Florence and then staggering onto Jenny's house to meet up with the rest of the party animals!!! A good night was had by all, safe to say highly celebrated!

So here I am back to it and already it feels like eons ago! It was lovely to see Abi, her mum Marguerite and her friend Leslie who visited at my Mums house on Boxing day for tea and chrimbo cake. I do hope we will manage to get to see you all again this year and I would like to take Mum away for a w-end break-possibly Dorset over the summer months.

Well I'll sign off now, but will keep you posted. Take care all, much love from Kate, :) x

Snotty Note

Well here I am after an unprecedented two days off work with a Kleenex in one hand and a bottle of cough mixture in the other. I'm feeling so much better by giving myself time to recover but Big G is now snuffling in the background and is blaming me as the infector.....of course his cold is much worse than mine! Good to see Abi's post and looking forward to a sneak preview of the family tree on Genes Reunited. Happy days!!!

Happy new year to you all! Joe and I really enjoyed our trip to Bude and it was wonderful to see everyone looking so well and happy. I am in the process of making the family history up into a booklet for you all so hope it will be out and posted by February. I have got a tree on genes reunited if any of you want to have a look on there, I am not sure how up to date it is now though.

Great photos Nic, not sure about the one of me though!!

Abi xx

Joining Up

Well done to those that have joined the Blog so far. There are still a few invitations pending. However, if you are reading this Blog and would like an invitation to join up then send an email to me putting "HBP" in the subject line so that I can easily indentify such emails: nicknight2000@yahoo.co.uk

I will then email an invitation to you.

Who is eligible? Any family member with a traceable link to Annette Hatton, Adrian, Christopher and Jonathan Houghton. This includes wives, husbands or partners of those with direct blood links.

If you know of anyone that should receive an invitation please refer them to the Blog and invite them to apply or send me their email address and I will issue an invitation direct.

In time as the Blog membership grows, we can close it off to the public domain so that it becomes completely private. This will allow us to be freer with information on say addresses, telephone numbers etc. At present the Blog can be read by anyone. So bear this in mind when posting.

Please take joint ownership of this Blog. I have set it up for the benefit of us all. Please make suggestions for its improvement. I have included links to a photograph album and to Genes Reunited. I can easily add other useful links if required.

If you feel able to take an administrative role in the functioning of the Blog, then let me know. I can change status of members from 'Guest' so that they are able to makle background changes. A knowledge of HTML code would be an advantage, but not essential.

Have fun.

Nic

PS The work that Abi has done in researching the family history should be acknowledged. Her briefing in Bude last week was very interesting. There is a lot more 'digging' to do. This Blog may help in pooling resources and exchanging information and ideas.

happy new year

Dear All

Graham and I would like to wish you all a very happy new year that is filled with love, laughter and wonderful things.

We both enjoyed our day in Bude with you all so much and can't wait to meet up again.

I drove Jonathan back to Guildford on Friday - not a very nice journey, blowy and wet. Jonathan has a lovely cosy little flat in a very nice house just out of the main town. We unloaded all Santa's gifts - (and I loaded up his empty beer bottles and promised to take them to the recycling centre!) and headed off to the town. I was suitably impressed with the cobbled shopping street which featured some very tempting opportunities to flex the plastic. (I resisted). We then had a very tasty lunch before returning to the car for me to head back to Devon.

Saturday Mick and Sue, old friends from Sussex came to stay for the weekend. Poor Sue was not very well and had the most dreadful cold with headache, aches, sore throat and cough. We took them to the panto on Saturday and out for a meal afterwards and she bravely joined in it all. New Years Eve was down the pub for a meal but we returned at 10.30 to see the new year in at home.

sorry got to sign off now the Vicar of Dibley is about to start - love you all loads - get blogging!!

S & Big G xxxxxxx