That was until B day we've actually had the party we had Rachel's party last Saturday she had a pool party of course and lots of fun and we've just got back its about 1130 we've just got back from the first of the.
Chest A Park summer pop concerts with the symymphony.
And Rachel is armed with her autograph book and now has the autograph of Dottty West and in case you don't know who she is, she sings with Kenny Rogers quite a lot she has done and she's one of the big top country in Western singer.
She's quite flat chested compared with Dolly, she said in case she said my name's Dotie, not Dolly and just remember I'm the redhead one and somebody screamed out something about a size and she said, yeah, I think Dolly's about 5.8 or maybe when she's lying down.
Anyway, Rachel I think she said 73, she had a pop song number one record which also became the top commercial of a year and you may know that it's totally last for everything that's fine or whatever.
And she had made that.
Records, so at last of the show tonight, all these people were waiting to get into the dressing room and.
She follow the plea for outside, of course Rachel has battle past the police. I think she's going to spend the entire summer dodging cop, but she's waiting outside there and with Maitland and John I gathered up all our junk because of course we go armed with ice buckets and goodness knows what the background music tonight is all our fans going at the photos as hell and.
Anyway, the Co said to them, oh, you with coach and they said oh well, no the guy said oh, well, it doesn't matter And he let them on through. Anyway, they got to talk to her for quite a while. John told her that when back don't come back Rachel said Dannyny told her that he played baseball or softball with Kenny Rogers in19 and make them said, I don't believe that B ball with Kenny Rogers and he said, I don't think did say that sure enough, I said I get me I said Rachel claims you said you played baseball with Kenny Rogers and he said he should Kenny Rogers was Kenny Rogerdges in the first.
 years ago, but of course he's very famous now and he was doing all right then, but not so well years now, and they came to New Zealand and too they'd be organize a softball game, which apparently John played and she told him about who called her today apparently from China' on holiday.
So that was the first of the concerts. We're going to how many this year we've finally got season tickets for the children, both Fridays and Wednesday nights or both.
Wednesday here it is Tuesday night tonight but there was one Tuesday night conference all the other with the other seven I'll be on Wednesdays and Fridays and there's a list mile along I'll send you the list but a few of them are George Sheing Chet Atkins Billy Estein, Stepfan Grelli, Steve Allen.
Edenro again, which the kids are looking forward to the Manhattan Trans Judy Collins, Mel Tome and the fifth dimension mentionion, Richard Hayman and Nancy Wilson, just some of the concerts that will be on this year so it should be good, the weather there tonight was of course as always fine but it's the humidity that of course gets to you but tonight it was really not too bad at all.
So hopefully it will continue that well, I don't know. we took a swar about7 and we ate about 8 o'clock and then we just went off to the show at9 and by then, you know, the sun's gone down. you can we probably won't take our dinner the other this year because the kids want to eat before9 and it's all right if you eat at nine, but if you go at seven and sort of have your meal beforehand, it's so hot.
Anyway, so that's the beginning of that.
We're, of course are in the summer holidays now our first two days into the summer holidays and the last week of school was just beinglum I just didn't know how we were going to get through the week it seemed to be a mass of parties and field day we had to choose them because we'd been to.
Camberland Island and St Simon the weekend before.
So it was a very busy time. I suppose if I should go really back to I got your tape yesterday, too, by the way, Thanks so much. it was very nice to receive that. And this may well be the last tape you get before you go to Australia. And if you let me have the address, Well I'll just send on mail there. And then I'll tell you when I'm sending the last letter so that you know that you've had it.
Send the other stuff back. It was really interesting to hear about the police training college It must be just gigantic and you know real good to hear that it was all an operation and all that stuff although but it sounds like almost was the police not leaving their jobs, I guess because they.
Of the radical economy, they are tending to stick weather.
You're not training so many or whatever.
Anyway, let's go back to Cumberland Ireland we left on the Thursday well of course we left on the Thursday after we had done Tom Soo I was in no mood to really be thinking about getting away Cumbland because I was still trying to get us all organized and dressed and everything for Tom Sawyer, which I went to see before I left, Of course we had to have all the photographs taken and was first repeated everything after all the parents had gone to get photos of the kids from the newspaper andness knows what and we did our car.
And it all went off through well it was actually very well done and kids enjoyed it and they did a real good job of it.
And lots of parents turned up to see it.
So, we lived about.
Thursday midday well, of course, in the meantime I only even thought about it till we should have almost got to St Simon's, but I had left my bathing suit behind Well thank you again see you finally get to the beach and you haven't got a bathing suit and you know St Simon's and seevari and I was not about to buy a bathing suit there four times the cost of anywhere else and have to rush and just sort of buy whatever they had anyway So one night it was funny it was becoming so hilarious the fact that I had no bathing suit I had to go in and get one but I'll explain a little.
 we drove down, it took we were the first car there because we didn't stop at all, most of the cars stopped quite a few times for candy and Coke and Gar knows watch, you know, these kids unbelievable.
How much Coke and drink they drank and some kids were sent off, you know, with 40 backs to spend on absolutely nothing.
And so we got there about 515. we left at midday so it took us about five and a quarter hours straight driving when didn't stop at all and the last car got there at6 Well we stayed at the Ne retreat called Fworth5 to C, which is really very nice and it can cater for probably 800 people in a weekend. It has a large cafeteria, The meal was7 and 12 and6, which was really good for the kids at least it saved the meeting quite as much junk as they might have except that, of course there was machines everywhere and these kids have money that they something.
 they were going out of fish and stuffing themselves the food and coat I mean we had girls waking up in the morning with candy in their hair and goodness knows what Well I was probably very fortunate on the way down to probably had the smallest car So that meant that I didn't really get to take too many but you know, some of these people with the Great Lake American station wagons although Miith did restrict them to five to a car you know but some of those American station wagons because they had the seat two back seats and then another backse wear to the back that turns the other way they can take when we on field trips.
 take anything up to 1416 children without a lot of trouble, but you know, it always worries me that if they should have a pray it would be a major catastrophe anyway, so we get down there and that night we swam and then we had them ghost stories mirrorria a Fred ghost stories of.
I've seen Simons as it happened they with have ghost stories on these trips and Father Bob was with us this year which was a load of fun and he sang its songs. we had one about Jesus that he sang to the last post which we all joined hands to sing each night and he was really fun Well we all tried to get to bed early the girls just could not sleep I mean it was like chain reaction with three chaperones in our cabin and I guess about10 or 15 girls Well you know one had giggle the others at all giggled then they start passing jolly Rogerdges which is a candy no jolly ranches I believe.
Calling the wrong thing So anyway, they finally went to sleep at half past121 o'clock in the morning and we had roaches in the cabin they were air conditioned man which was very nice because it was very hot down there, but of course it seemed nicer because there was no humidity and there was the sea breeze Well we got up early next morning I got I woke up really funnily enough I was awake before the girls waiting for the first little chtter chatter was sure enough at pain and then they were in control of they couldn't keep quiet until the other sleep so I got up and went for a run around the island and had a look at some of the fancy houses.
And then when I got back from that they were all starting to gather and wake and they because the moment they wake up, they start playing with electronic toys and all this stuff and anyway we went off to breakfast and that morning Meredith said that we had to go do our sight saying she was pretty good you know she insisted that the children do a certain amount of sightee before they had their little pleasures at the beach so we did the Christchurch, which I sent you the postcard off and we did For Frederick Fort Frederick which was an early British post against the Spanish.
And once the Spanish one of the Spanish wars anyway was over, they will abandon this town and left these poor people that, you know, the shoemaker and the chemist and the doctor and all that stuff and they really had nothing left once the forces had gone or whatever they the battavion or whatever they called them on those days and finally the place was.
Taken by fire, but there's still all the remains of the houses there and there was a car there, by the way.
So that was very interesting and it's out like in the marshes you know the marsh land is interesting, the more interesting the more you read about it I John brought back a great book when he went down the groundham and them and I think if you read and understand the marhes they become much more of a fascinating area there's a lot to be learned about the marshes and it's just interesting the way the Indians lived there and the first white men and it's fascinating in the birds and you know the ammarillos and all the different animals and that they've got down there fascinating so we did Christchurch and we did the pierre and we did the lighthouse on the island and we did this and that the other thing and then about 11 o'clock the kids wanted to go horse riding.
 total disaster. Rachel had said she'd like to go because she, you know, having been to Westminster everything where horses. We get therell go up damn it. This woman was the real army major. She just let them get on the horse on2 seconds. She told them whether they could ride or not the same thing happen with the kids in the afternoon. one in the morning that I was taking were doing an hour long trip for 7,50 an hour. Kids in the afternoon We doing a 1250 for two hour trail. She got them on those horses. She said, no, she can't go out. She can't go. She can't go out there not, you know, riding well enough.
Well, that was fine And I completely appreciated that she needed to have the last words And that after all, it was quite responsibility. However, she should have just said right what if you want your money back Yeah that that wasn't where it was. No, they stayed in the ring. And she said what their money. I mean we could have got off whether still had to pay our money and they stayed in the ring how we damn horses of so damntic this sea whichly when elite bloody country type pose in the country. And here were the horses failing to follow one another cannot do the damn thing And if the horse on front you, the damned horse behind would not move because the other one wasn't moving Rachel spent the whole hour with it fire.
She was just starting tears in the in and the woman one other girls said to me, well, I think I could get Rachel horse to go and I was so angry because one of the girls she would not let down Margaret had two horses of own now that kid got about to ride a horse anyway that was all the the point Rachel was going to the other girl and they're changing horses said what are you doing and I said, well they're going to change horses and she said oh well I think your time up I said it's quarter till12 I said you know and they got on up like far past even I said their time is not up you know the kid bill off horses it a little better but Rachel sort then to bigly.
I think the horse riding is very expensive and there all such old nags at place like that where they're public horses, you know, it's understandable. It's like lending you.
Manual drive car to somebody that's never driven, you know,' only driven an automatic.
Anyway, so that was that. And then in the afternoon, we went all went there and had lunch for Father Bob.
And the whole team and all the boys. And there was. And then we went to a very fancy beach in the afternoon, which is called the Kingham Princes, which is the Kingham Prince is a hotel. Very fancy hotel. And then we just swam right kind of next to it. And you could swim out in front of it. In fact, it's a public beach. But you know, there's all these fancy umbrellas and everything. And the people were all lying there with the screens and potions you know, one doesn't seem to be very welcome. So we swam down the beach you It have a steam suit. So finally, it was so hot. And I wanted to get some sun. I just a running short. And I took.
 I just said a bra on father Bob liked to walk, but they were having me on father poor father Bob couldn't sit down with us because he had to keep walking left and right and up and down the beach because I was sitting there a bra Well he was laughing because said, what's the difference between a bra And it was not a sea through bra anything between a bra and a bikini, a few stripes or something. you know, anyway, so that afternoon when we got back from the beach people got got a lot of sun that there talking sun and sun.
And then we went back, took them back to the Air by the sea and they all went swimming in the pool before dinner. Well, then I shot over into Brunswick, which is the nearest town across the causeways and through the toll bridges and stuff and I rushed into seers was the first shot we see us there's no shop to go by anything really any clothes. So but anyway I managed to pick up a really nice bath seat at the bright turquoise and everyone just loved it where the next day was the day we went to Cumbland that night we all went out to the beach and we wandered on the shore and we went right out the tide.
We looked for oh what do you get from down there silver dollars and we had a lot of fun running along the beach and stuff and then we all went to the ice cream parlour that because we were following one another in the car first car had not no intention of going to the ice cream parlor and drove on back to the camp and we're all following sea so we all end up back at the camp and Miriad jumpeds out at the stop line before we get there and says were you going to down going the ice cream parlolor so we all turned around and come back again.
When I lost me, It have got there by this stage, and I'm following with.