Thomas and Rebecca Jarvis

Congratulations Tom and Rebecca.

English: Bamburgh castle at the coast of Northumberland. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Yesterday my cousin Tom married his long time girlfriend and fiancée Rebecca at the rather impressive venue of Bamburgh Castle. It was a beautiful day, the service was held in the grand hall at the castle which made it feel like we were watching royalty get married.  After the wedding there was a pre-reception on the gun terrace, looking over the beach and coast. Later we went on to Budle Hall for the wedding dinner which was a hog roast held in a giant teepee.

It was a lovely day, Tom and Rebecca's friends all seem to be really lovely folk - we managed to meet everyone briefly at a pre-wedding beach party the day before.

Thanks again both of you, I sincerely hope you are both as happy as Meg and myself are, marriage is a really wonderful thing.

Girl on the Platform - Match.com Advert Spoof

The really pretty girl on the opposite platform is my cousin Hollie.

White Wells - New Year's Day 2012

Mr Moosehead, Father-in-Law, YS

No matter how many times I do this, and it is 11 years in a row now, it never feels any warmer.

Son Of The Groom Speech

For those who were unable to be at Dad and Shirley's wedding...

Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen and welcome to the wedding celebration of Jack and Shirley Jarvis.


I would like to thank you all for being here, especially those of you who knew I’d be saying a few words – it’s very touching that you’re still in the room.

When Father asked me to do this speech, he said he was looking for someone with right amount of decorum, the correct gravitas, somebody with a sense of propriety, a man who understood decency and decorum and whose style of formal ceremonial speech would complement and underline the occasion, however, he conceded his best friends were the likes of Graham Walker and Mike Exley so that was unlikely, and even if knew anybody else of that ilk he couldn’t afford their services and so as a back up would I do it for free.

No problem, as now as I have almost 15 years of the marriage experience, I thought I might be in the position to offer the happy couple some general advice.

As I said, I have now been married, oh hang on, Meg’s been editing my speech. I have now been HAPPILY married, what’s that dear ? Sorry, I have been VERY HAPPILY MARRIED for almost 15 years now.

Actually, this reminds me of a story, we were flying on holiday and the lady in seat next to Meg was admiring her ring.

“Yes” said “It’s the famous Jarvis diamond, but it comes with a terrible curse”

“Oh what’s that ?” asked the lady.

“Mr Jarvis” my wife replied.



Strange but on the same holiday I managed to get lost in the airport, realising I had gone missing Meg went to the assistance point and said she had lost her husband.

“What does he look like ?” said the assistant.

Meg replied “He’s about 6’6”, a body like a bronzed Adonis and the features of a young George Clooney.”

The lady pulled up a picture of me on the cctv and said was this her husband.

“Yes” said Meg.

“But” said the lady, “this man is 5’4” with a pot belly, a frankly ridiculous beard and looks like Lemmy from Motorhead.”

“I know” said Meg, “but who wants him back “



I asked my good friend Phil Baxendale if he had any experiences he could pass on as a married man and he told me this story of his own wedding. Apparently Michelle was very nervous on their wedding day and afraid she might get something wrong at church. Phil said “It’s very simple dear, just remember that first comes the aisle, because that’s what we’ll be walking down down, second comes the altar, because that’s where we’ll be standing, and finally comes the hymn, because that’s what we’ll be singing.”

And how did that work ? I asked Phil.

Not so good he replied, when we got to the front of the church all I could hear was Michelle muttering Aisle – alter – him , aisle – alter – him.



Now, a recent holiday survey showed that the items that appeared most often in the luggage of young newlyweds were

an industrial sized tub of KY jelly

a rampant rabbit personal pleasure device and

a kinky nurses costume



Whilst the items that appeared most often in the luggage of older newlyweds were

an industrial sized tub of Deep Heat

a Johnson & Johnson personal support truss and

a nurses outfit, complete with heart monitor and defibrillation machine

some older couples also took along a dirty movie, not so much to get them in the mood as to remind them what they were supposed to be doing.



This does remind me of the wedding day of my Great Great Grandfather Wilfred, at the wedding breakfast his rather elderly bride turned to him and said

“Tonight I’m going to give you super sex”

Great Great Grandfather thought for a moment and then replied “I think I’ll have the soup.”



Ok, this has been a load of daftness, but to conclude I would like to recall the final words of my Great Great Grandfather Wilf. I was a young boy, and the family were all gathered around Wilf’s hospital bed, he lay there with his oxygen mask on, and he began struggling for breath and indicated with his hands that he would like a paper and pen. With these he scribbled a few words which he passed to me, and then the poor old soul expired.

Dad turned to me with a tear in his eye and said, what did he say Mike.

I look down at the paper and solemnly read out to the assembled family.

It says “You’re standing on my oxygen tube.”



Now, to be properly serious, I would like to take this opportunity to formally welcome Shirley into the Jarvis clan, and I’m very sorry but we don’t get any more serious than this.

And now ladies and gentleman, if you would charge your glasses, I would like to propose a toast, to the much loved and respected patriarch of the Jarvis clan, and to the equally much loved and respected most recent addition to our family, Jack and Shirley Jarvis…

Ellie At The Yorkshire Sculpture Park

I Have Returned

Image by Rob J Brooks via FlickrThe blog isn't dead, yet. The past two weeks have been exceptionally busy here at Ilkley Golf Club with the Autumn Senior's Open, Ladies Invitation Day, Yorkshire Golf Guide Qualifying Event, Clitheroe Ladies Exchange and a host of visiting club and golf societies to look after.

The whole team have done a wonderful job, but as the season draws to a close there have been some changes on the staff front.  The summer uni student brigade have gone back to their palaces of learning, so it is goodbye for now to Rob C, Calum and Izzie.  Little ray of kitchen sunshine Hannah is moving on to become a shop assistant, bye Hannah, it has been fun working with you. Staying on with chef Rob W and myself we have Fred (although he wants to work away in the ski season over the winter), Laura, Rachel and Ellie.  We had a bit of a false start with new girl Brook, although we will welcome her back if her circumstances change, so our latest addition to the team is Maddy.

I like this time of year, the brutal long shifts and work patterns are almost behind me, the nights are drawing in so we can get to close earlier on evenings when there are no bookings, and it is very nearly holiday time.

We bought some flights at a fund raising event for Ilkley Rugby Club (and I'm still waiting for an invite to look around the place !), so we are having a few nights in Amsterdam in October.  For our big holiday this year we pondered over going to California and doing a long distance driving holiday, but then we changed our minds and decided on Florida and a single base holiday.  So we will be going to some of the big fun parks, Harry Potter at Universal's Islands of Adventure, Seaworld, and then a few lazy days at the nice villa we are renting.

Image via WikipediaWe arrive back from the USA just in time to get to Hard Rock Hell V for a fairly raucous weekend featuring Girlschool, Magnum, Black Stone Cherry, Therapy ?, Ginger Wildheart, Lizzy Borden, Ace Frehley, Michael Monroe and a host of other bands.

On Christmas Day, the one day of the year when the club is closed, I will of course be cooking for the family, and no doubt the twins Alice and Jack will be the stars of the day, adored and pampered by everyone.  I will try to get up to Ripon Cathedral to watch Joe singing, and a big hug from Ellie, plus some chin pie for Ellie, are compulsory.

Who knows, with the nights drawing in, I might even do things that normal folk do, like having nights off and going to the pub, see you in Bar'Tat, mine's a bitter.

class of 2011

As you all understood, these are the pictures from my graduation that happened yesterday! It was one of the most important days of my life. I want to thank my family who were there and supported me during this journey. I feel a little sad as well, as I was not able to invite more people to the ceremony. 

I am off for "billabong girls surf weekend" now. Have an amazing weekend too!

with grandpa and dad

with my mum

with my parents

with my cousin Penny

BA (Honours) Degree from Middlesex university

to all those who don't speak greek this is a commendation my uni gave me because I got the second best grade in my class!

with my grandparents

my mum and my grandmother

with my friend natasa

the girls of my family

inner outfit

(yazz dress, Silvia Rossini shoes, topshop bag, YSL ring, vintage jewelry)

"acropolis" and downtown athens photo diary

Yesterday we went to visit the new Acropolis museum, then we went to Acropolis and finally to monastiraki to eat souvlaki and for some shopping. It was sooo hot, I was literally sweating. We had a beautiful time and took loads of pictures. Here is just a sample of them :P

MORE PHOTOS

family

mount lycabettus on the back

hopscotch bird

alex 

effie and I with our new headwear after our shopping spree at monastiraki

say cheeeeese

(topshop dress, insight shirt, marc jacobs pink fluo bag, rayban sunnies, all star shoes)