July this year, for many people, was a month dominated by the weather, and bad it was. Thankfully we were spared the floods that devastated so many homes and lives, one benefit of living several hundred feet above sea level in the Chiltern Hills. But like everyone else in the UK we had weeks on end of little sun and heavy rain. These hailstones were photographed during Malcolm's team away-day event near Aylesbury. The event was planned for the summer months so the outside activities could take advantage of the warm weather. Ha! One of Bridget's Godsons, Francis, took his first communion this month. We have been used to first communions as it's a long tradition in the Roman Catholic Church, but Francis is an Anglican where the norm is only to take communion after confirmation. So it was a surprise to find his church, in Charlbury, had decided to bring a number of children to first communion in advance of confirmation. We've been a bit dissatisfied with our own Methodist Church for giving communion to children with no formal preparation beforehand, and it was good to see the Anglicans giving this formal recognition of the children's progress towards adulthood. Charlbury, where Francis and his family live, did not escape the bad weather. During a freak rainstorm the river flooded to such an extent that one wall on the bridge into the village was washed away. Several gardens had been waterlogged but appeared to have recovered. Less lucky was the cricket club pavilion, which may have to be demolished and rebuilt. For more than a year several local mums have been campaigning for a new play area for the children, as the existing one was very run down. They gained a lot of support and after much hard work reached their target. The new play area was constructed, and we heard that a surprise guest would be officially opening it. This turned out to be Cherie Blair, who herself had supported the fund raising and had organised a charity event at Chequers (which Matthew's piano teacher had played at). Somehow James managed to get into shot as she was pictured on the new roundabout (look just to the left of Cherie's head), and hence also made it into the local papers! In the week following the schools' breaking up we all went once again to Lighthouse, the Christian Holiday week for children held in Great Missenden. Malcolm and Bridget were both Lighthouse keepers (in the 9's and 7's), which meant James once again had his dad as his "keeper". Matthew also had a great time in the 6's, his first time in the "big tent". This was the 20th anniversary of Lighthouse, and the theme was based on celebration - celebrating the creation and God's love for us all.