Milnes Family News – Christmas 2024
Hi, and welcome to our news update for 2024.
We have been busy, as usual, and hope that you enjoy reading our annual journal.
Please do get back to us with your news too, we will love hearing from you – you must have done something interesting in 2024!
Our life here in Ashton Keynes continues with largely the same routine as in the last few years.
TIME in PORTSMOUTH with GRAND-KIDS
We spend one day a week in Portsmouth looking after our two grand-kids. It’s pretty tiring at times but worth it. Callie is now 5 and started school in September. Marley is 2 year and 10 months and goes, part-time, to nursery. We have had a lot of lovely days out with them, including days at the beach, visits to the Spinnaker Tower and (favourite of the kids) visits to Portsmouth’s big Tesco Extra!
CALLIE’S SOLO TRIP to ASHTON KEYNES
In the summer Callie came to stay with us on her own for a few nights. She was very impressed by our apple tree and helped us to make an apple pie.
In the summer Callie came to stay with us on her own for a few nights. She was very impressed by our apple tree and helped us to make an apple pie.
MUSIC – PIANO and VIOLIN
I have continued with lots of musical activities. I have really enjoyed practicing the violin and passed Grade 6 last January. I have been working on several Grade 7 pieces for the last few months and I think I am improving, although it is VERY slow progress.
I play in two string groups:
Cirencester Eclectic Strings
I play in a small string orchestra. This year I have helped out as musical director at a few rehearsals and also at a fundraising event that we played at which was in the garden party of our local MP (Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown). It was an eye opener to see how the other half lives.
The Akcidentals
The other group that I play in is a septet which is based in Ashton Keynes. We have only played in a couple of concerts so far. I love it because everyone else is much better than me and it sounds really good.
This is the opening of our concert at The Goods Shed in Tetbury on 9th October:
I also play piano in a trio (piano, violin and cello). We call ourselves the Jasmine Piano Trio and we mostly perform at the Tetbury Goods Shed (arts venue), where we join the Piano Club for their Wednesday afternoon sessions.
COCKTAILS @ 8
And, as if that’s not enough, I am also still playing in Cocktails at Eight on keys and saxophone. I really enjoy playing the saxophone with them as I get a few good solos! We played at the Red Lion Pub in Castle Eaton in July. I didn’t know it at the time, but I had Covid when this video was shot – so i do look a bit subdued!
TENNIS
I continue to play tennis is AK with a small group of friends. We usually play on Wednesday and Sunday mornings although we have had to cancel more than usual recently as it seems to have rained a lot recently. We had an outing to Cirencester Tennis Club recently which was nice, especially the coffee and cake at the cafe afterwards. They are all much better than me (I’m feeling me age a bit :(, but I really enjoy the challenge of playing against them.
THE GARDEN
I spent much more time working on the garden this year and was really pleased with the results although I’m not sure if it wouldn’t be better to spend less time gardening and more time just sitting in the garden and enjoying it.
HOLIDAYS
Our main holiday this year was a two week cruise to the Mediterranean, sailing on Britannia, leaving from Southampton and visiting Spain, Ibiza, Majorca and Gibraltar. It was really fun (although not quite as fun as our similar 2023 cruise on Arvia). My favourite stops were Majorca and Ibiza. It was my first (and only) visit to each island and I loved them both.
Here is a short video from the very similar cruise we went on in 2023. I took the video from the Sunset bar at the back of the ship. It is real time (not speeded up a all). The sun really did set that quickly!
WALKS and BOOKS
Ben is still living with us (having moved back from Windsor in 2023) as he works on building a portfolio of books for his Amazon publishing business. He specialises in maths, physics and astronomy workbooks for exam students. In the very competitive world of Amazon KDP publishing he is gradually and reliably building up his sales. We both like walking in the dark (which is something I don’t feel safe doing on my own) and at this time it’s lovely to walk together around the village and see all the lights.
Like Ben, I also publish on Amazon KDP ( and have done since 2014), mainly piano books. I find that Christmas Carols books sell well so I have done a lot of them. Until recently I was designing the book covers myself, but I have recently become fascinated by AI and the AI platform called mid-journey which can create pictures for you. It is actually quite creative despite what you might think. I have revised some of my book covers using this and love the results. Here are two of the recent ones:
COACH DRIVING
Martin is still driving coaches, taking school kids on trips, although less often now. He continues to be interested in folk music and keeps practicing his melodeon in the hope that he will master it one day.
Mum and Dad keep going strong and we still enjoy our big family gatherings, especially at Christmas. We went for a morning out to Cerney House Gardens in March.
Wishing everyone Merry Christmas and a Happy 2025