THE STONE FAMILY 

Dear Friends,

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Here’s our round-up of news for the year...

 

Alastair: This year has been a very good year for me. My last few terms at school were busy – conducting a musical, directing a choir and continuing to attend the Royal Birmingham Junior Conservatoire, all the while studying for my A-levels, but after lots of work and many exams I received a good set of A-level results and a piano diploma. Following a long summer, I started as Coventry Cathedral’s organ scholar and successfully applied for Oxford University, getting a place to read music with an organ scholarship at Pembroke College. The Cathedral is continuing to give me invaluable experience as an organist and I look forward to all that is in store for 2020. Merry Christmas and a happy new year!

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Tim: I’ve had a really great year, highlights being finishing school, starting an intern year with Elim Coventry, and getting baptised. It’s also been a stretching year, especially in this Christmas season with balancing work, so I’m really excited to be winding down for the start of 2020 and focusing on the year ahead. Merry Christmas!

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Buff: Best bits of 2019: Spending time with Dawn and Gill in a magical castle; running a half marathon in Liverpool with Nikki and Georgina (and living to tell the tale); finding the sunshine in Cornwall with David and the boys; working with the fantastic Falcon camp team and our young people from church; the opening of the new St Catherine’s Church centre; receiving so much grace and support from the wider church in the process; recovering in Gran Canaria with David... Challenges: starting the New Year with Granny in hospital and David unwell (both now recovered); finally almost definitely selling Peatswood; finding and fixing the snags in the new church building; feeling the responsibility of such a great community asset. Ambition for next year: now we have a building, working to build the church.

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David: Another year with plenty to do at work punctuated by moments of recreational delight – notably in Newquay in the summer and Gran Canaria in November: somewhere hot without biting insects! Who knew? A particular highlight of the year was a visit to Saarbrücken near the German-French border to present a Cross of Nails to a new Community Partner – a much-needed sign of hope in our fractured world.

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With our love and best wishes for the peace of the Christ Child this Christmas and through all that 2020 will bring.

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David, Buff, Timothy and Alastair Stone