Nov-03: After 11 weeks of rehearsals Harry performed in a school production of ‘Oliver’. Harry said that all the rehearsals were ‘boring’ but the show was excellent with everyone ‘oompahpahing’ during the encore.

Oct-03: Ben has started work at the Mecca of south coast soccer, St Mary’s Stadium. At the moment its casual work on match day but it’s a start, it’s a job and it brings in some money for him.

Sep-03: Back to school, Hope is now in Year 9 and Harry has made the jump to senior school, Year 7.

Jul/Aug-03: This year we spent 2 weeks in the sun drenched tropics of Cuba. We had views of the Caribbean Sea from our hotel room, and we were 50 metres from white, sandy beaches with picture card coconut trees. All very idyllic. To see the ‘real’ Cuba we took a taxi from our small island to the mainland where we were invited by one of the waiters for a meal with his family. It was fascinating. We had a great day driving through the mangrove swaps on speedboats and we managed to get to Havana - a must see.