Mary-Jane's 21st

On Sunday 21st September 2008, Mary-Jane celebrated her 21st birthday.
Here she is pictured with her grandparents, boyfriend, parents and various uncles, aunts, cousins and second cousins.

お墓参り Led Zep pilgrim

Chris, Mayumi, Mary-Jane and Romeo enjoyed a flying visit from an American friend, Bob Beatty, who Chris met in Nagoya last year. He came to the Midlands at the end of a long summer tour of Europe. As a life-long fan of Led Zeppelin, one of his aims was to visit the last resting place of the band's drummer, John Bonham. By a happy co-incidence, it happens to be only a 15-minute walk from the home of Chaddesley Corbett RFC, so Chris was able to combine the pilgrimage with watching CCRFC's ten-year anniversary rugby match (see previous post).

Decade of CC rugby

Chaddesley Corbett Rugby Club celebrated the tenth anniversary of their first fixture against Droitwich with a re-match at the Cakebole ground on September 13th, 2008.


It was a time for celebration, with several players from the original fixture on the field, and founder members and staunch supporters showing up to offer support on the sidelines. Among them was the first president, Roy Hurdman, who has made a great recovery after being hit by illness last year, and A.B.Bond (88) who helped to get the club off the ground.


Arthur was the senior of the Bond-Dodge family, eight of whom turned up to enjoy the occasion (pictured above after the match).
The Chaddesley team avenged their defeat ten years earlier with a narrow win and a good time was had by all!

Ben starts his second year at college in Wales - ベン君大学二年生

After spending a lot of the summer holiday flatly refusing to even consider a return to Coleg Elidyr, Ben surprised everyone by suddenly changing his tune completely a couple of days before he was due to return. He was like a young child on the way to the seaside on the journey to Wales, and was overjoyed to see familiar faces when we arrived.
He is now in a new house, Ty Rhieni, which is the largest (six students) and newest (completed last year) on the campus. So far he seems very happy, and everyone is pleased with his excellent start to the new academic year.
Keep it up Ben. 　ベン君頑張って！

Summer hols

There wasn't a great deal of summer to enjoy in the UK this year in terms of weather. But the Bonds did get out and about a bit, and welcomed a few visitors to Evesham. Here's a selection of the good times.