17th December, 2017.......Ford Park and a Festive Birthday!

Finally finished the school year....Christmas can start at home now! After that really cold snap, we're back to damp and drizzly weather, but it looked quiet and calm at Furness Abbey this afternoon.....

....the river is running really high....

.....and it's pretty muddy.....

...the Herdies don't seem to mind though!

Always time for a spot of afternoon tea at Abbey Mill Café....

...indoors today, as you can see!

We met up with family for a festive birthday breakfast earlier in the day, at The Coach House, Ford Park- what a lovely place.

Really nicely cooked food too....

.......and the kids, of course!!

......a bit damp, but what a little gem of a place- well worth a visit!

We had our lovely Nativity and Christingle service to finish the term....our local community is supporting us massively at the moment, which was great to see..

...and a light sprinkling of snow on the fells to get everyone in a festive mood!

10th December, 2017...Brrrr...an arctic blast at Furness Abbey!

Okay.....we haven't got the snow that came in after Storm Caroline but the temperatures have dropped away dramatically.....

....freeeezing at Furness Abbey this afternoon....

.......didn't stop the 'olds' having a trek across the tops though!! Looking quite bleak now though, isn't it!

Oh no...the woodpecker tree has been chopped down...where will they nest now??

The light was fading by 2pm.......

......time to head over to the Dalton St.Mary's Christmas Tree Festival......

...some lovely ideas for trees this year...very creative.....

......and we were there too!

We completed our festive Christmas production and performances earlier in the week (with it's 120-strong cast), so are breathing a sigh of relief.....

                                               .......still lovely on River Bank though!

3rd December, 2017...Festivities abound!!

Along with the extremely cold but lovely weather and the onslaught of Christmas Fairs, shows, craft workshops and jumpers, it feels rather festive already and it's only early December!

Massive attendance at our school Christmas Fair...we raised £960, a fantastic amount and tribute to the support our school is getting from the local community at the moment! Santa came too....

.....aka Dan Hayes, who is raising money for his favoured Motor Neurone Charity by doing seventeen challenges in'17...being Santa was just one of them!

We raised a little bit for him too- worthy of your support I think!

We've had the Grinch in school too...forcing us to support the Save the Children Christmas appeal....

...some of us being forced more than others!!!!

Lots of support from staff and children alike though!

And a special thank you to Alison of POSH Flowers fame.....she lead a fabulous Christmas Wreathmaking workshop for staff and friends of Greengate...and the results were beautiful!!

Our boss was especially proud of hers!

Don't forget to support the Dalton St Mary's Christmas Tree Festival over the next few weeks...we have a tree in it again, thanks to my very lovely colleague Mrs Gay!

It's looking absolutely beautiful at Abbey House at the moment.....

...and we were lucky enough to have a meet up and meal with family there at the weekend....lovely setting and gorgeous food, as always!

We did have such a laugh afterwards, trying to figure out who's jumper this was....

......we all lived together in the massive house Dunvegan when Rosie was first born, and as I didn't have more than the minimum clothes as a poor student, I often wore my brothers jumpers- we reckoned this was Rog's in the end, bought on dad's Burton's account!!! Most people had a wear of it at some point though!!

So...we ended the weekend with a sunny walk to Furness Abbey!

Tales from the RiverBank this week!!!

Looking decidedly wintery now...could even be a dusting of snow next weekend!!!