Happy New Year 1997
from Martin!
Well another year has gone round and I have moved home.
I have bought a newish three bed detached house
in a village halfway up the chalk escarpment.
Jasper loves the duck pond, the downs and the Ridgeway trail. I
love the walled garden, the conservatory and the five minute run
to work. You are most welcome to visit either Ashbury or
Parkstone or both in the coming year.
The year began with Cranfield University winning the
uncontested bid to run RMCS for the next ten years. The new
contract specifically lists all those staff with security of
tenure, including myself, in preparation for the next competition
in 2006 when I shall be 53 and looking for early retirement.
All along we knew we would not benefit from the national
Research Assessment Exercise and in the event our entries were
not even submitted. In the paper-based Teaching Assessment
Exercise we were content to be graded satisfactory.
The year also began with my first Country & Western dance as
DJ/Instructor at a hotel in Bournemouth. So now I run a dance
and a workshop every other weekend in Dorset. I also assist
Lewis Watson in running classes in Swindon and Highworth during
the week and helped out on 3 out of 4 of his weekend events.
My favourite C&W dance venues include Brighton, which I
visited for 4 weekends during the year staying with my friend
John in Hove, and Weymouth, which I visited twice with my friend
Carol. I have also run a couple of charity dances for a local
church in Dorset.
What with the move at the end of August I had no proper
holiday this year, just weekends away in the caravan to Wales and
Devon. So this has been the first year in four that I haven't
been to the States.
The year ended with my starting to teach a new OU course in
Intelligent Systems: Analysis & Design as a change from Intensive
Prolog.
I hope you are well and that we might meet up again in '97.