Charidee Ball

We've had an exciting weekend at Wallmead. We arrived at about 5.30pm after a good drive down. Emma slept all the way, only when we pulled up at the farm did she make a noise. The Ball started at 7.30pm. It was in aid of Cruse, the bereavement counselling service. Dad is chairman of the Salisbury branch. The Chairman is appointed every 3 years and is normally not a counsellor, but someone who provides an external guiding influence on the service. Dad was without a suit having lent his old one which didn't fit any more to Peter. I was in a similar situation having lost 2 stone since January on my lipotrim diet, my suit was decidedly saggy. So he wore mine and I wore my new work suit which was just about up to the occasion!

I was pleased to recognise Idris and Judith Kirby as we arrived. Idris was the pharmacist who owned the pharmacy in Tisbury. I did my work experience with him for a week when I was 14 and after he retired worked in the pharmacy for a month or so. I picked up lots of experience there as I was a very new pharmacist back then in 1999. He now works as a photographer. Emma received lots of attention from the other guests. She slept through the whole thing, except for one feeding and change when she stayed quiet. The food was a spectacular buffet and we all ate very well. There was a 10 member band with a singer who kept the crowd dancing. Jon Amos (the father of an old girlfriend of mine) auctioned off various days out and my brother John won a bottle of House of Commons Port, signed by Salisbury MP, Robert Key.

We stayed up until 1am chatting, then Emma woke us twice in the night. Helen grabbed about 6 hours sleep, getting up at 9am, whilst I luxuriated in a huge lie in, sleeping until midday! Mike cooked lots of sausages, lamb chops, spare ribs and chicken drumsticks on the barbeque, which together with a host of salads that had been produced made an enormous feast.


The weather was perfect for the kids (and me!) to run around like lunatics as it was overcast and windy, but dry and warm. We invented a new version of blind man's bluff involving a rocking horse and a chair, then played rounders and British Bulldog. It was lucky the rocking horse was on the soft lawn as when Rosie went flying off the back, she had a mossy landing - you've got to love the picture as she was about to come off! People started to go home at 5ish.

Poor Mum had her kitchen rearranged by her daughters and daughters-in-law. She can now see the wall underneath some units. When the worried noises died down, I think she was on balance quite pleased.
We headed back paying Granny Daisy a long overdue visit. Granny is 94 and very frail. She can no longer walk on her own and her mind tends to wander taking you on circular tours of South Africa after the Boer War. We got to Hays House just after 7pm and realised we were a bit late when we saw Granny's curtains were drawn. She'd just gone to bed but fortunately wasn't asleep yet. She got up onto a seat and was delighted to meet Emma. Her main nurse said how much she'd mentioned her in the last weeks, and there were pictures of Emma around the room. She managed a cuddle then watched Emma having a feed. As we drove back, Emma woke for the first time in the car and cried. Fortunately we were near a viewpoint with parking. The pictures show Helen feeding Emma with Glastonbury Tor in the background and the cows who watched her.


We got home around 9.30pm and weren't long before heading up to bed. We managed three sleeps of three hours between feeds then had a gentle start to the day. I thought I'd take Emma around Poets Walk to allow Helen some time to herself. When I got back after an hour she'd finished the ironing and was having a bath. So much for time out!






















This afternoon we had lunch at Tesco then did a shop, then headed back to a Pick Your Own farm in Tickenham. We were too late in the year for strawberries, but we filled some punnets with raspberries and blackcurrants to be made into wine tonight. We bought some of their gooseberries too. As I write this, Helen is catching an hours sleep, then we're going to start crushing the fruit with our fruit press.