Early in January each year, for a fair few years now, I’ve written a blog post in which I review the year which has just ended, and reflect on my thoughts about the year ahead. I find diary keeping, journaling and this kind of activity therapeutic and satisfying, and have written about that here. One of the books I read and enjoyed this year (thank you, Loren, for the recommendation) was Daniel Pink’s ‘When’, and his quoting of Ting Zhang resonated:
‘By recording ordinary moments today, one can make the present a ‘present’ for the future.’
So these were some of the ‘ordinary moments’, and some significant ones, from 2024. I look forward to rereading my annual ‘nurture’ posts in years to come!
January to March – winter into spring
The header image for this blog reflects one of the earliest challenges we faced in 2024. We live in an area which floods, and we’d had high levels of water, and flooding in the village, from October 2023. The water meadow at the bottom of our garden had never completely drained, and in December and early January we realised that our home was at serious risk of flooding (something we had experienced in November 2000). We were monitoring the river levels carefully, and on 5th January decided that we needed to prepare ourselves. Removing the Christmas tree and the decorations a day earlier than we’d expected to, packing up, moving and lifting our possessions wherever we could, was sobering, but necessary. The water came into the house in the early hours of the morning of 6th, reached 9” throughout the ground floor over the next couple of days, and the disruption and damage took us the better part of nine months to put right.
When friends and family heard what had happened, a common response was along the lines of ‘So sorry to hear this. We hope there isn’t much damage, and that you’re soon back to normal.’ I felt the need to explain that the volume of water we had experienced causes a huge amount of damage, and recovering from that was never going to be a quick fix.
However, remembering the wise words of Amy Edmondson, who I had interviewed for Myatt & Co the previous year, we could see that the flood was an ‘inconvenience’, rather than a tragedy. We stayed generally calm, relied on our resilience and started the long process of putting our house and garden back to rights.
I was also recovering from my second knee replacement surgery which had happened in December. The operation had gone well, as the first (in September) had, but wading through the flood water, and getting in and out of the rowing boat we have, weren’t feasible, so I was house-bound for much of January. I appreciated the fact that I had some online work to do, I read a lot, binge-watched ‘This Is Us’, and eventually, when the water had receded, resumed my usual activities – meals with friends, my Book Club, and my Choral Society. By the end of the month I was able to travel to London for face to face leadership development work.
In February we travelled to Brighton where I visited a school to work with their Middle Leaders. As usual, John came with me and we make a mini-break of it. And we did the same in March when we had a wonderful weekend in Belfast with the WomenEdNI contingent, who were so warm and welcoming. We loved meeting Paul Hazzard for a drink in The Crown, the Conference itself, and drinks and a meal with the amazing WomenEdNI team on the second night. We had hired a car and drove up the coast road to the Giants’ Causeway on the Sunday, had a walk and then lunch in The Causeway Hotel before driving to the airport and flying home.
A final highlight of the first part of the year was hearing the witty and talented Brian Bilston reading and talking about his poems at the New Royal Theatre in Lincoln in March. I’ve been a fan of Brian’s since his first Twitter poem:
you took
the last bus home
don’t know how
you got it through the door
you’re always doing amazing stuff
like that time
you caught a train
and I loved his novel ‘Diary of a Somebody’.
April to June – spring into summer
My face to face and online work continued in the second part of the year, including supporting a new head near Wakefield, and leadership development and review work in Leamington Spa, York, and Wimbledon. I also carried on with my educational writing, reading and reviewing, and connecting with educators through social media. And I loved speaking again at the #WeCollaborate conference in Rickmansworth – thank you, Anne Williams! – and met Ian, Jen, Hannah, Nicky, Shirley and Jo the evening before the conference for dinner. Such a great night!
We enjoyed visiting friends in Dorchester, Karl Jenkins’ 80th Birthday Concert in Nottingham, a spa day with friends at Eden Hall and a week’s sun in Funchal in Madeira in May.
I also worked with a small group to plan a ‘Come & Sing’ day for my Choral Society, which was well-received and hugely pleasurable:
And my fourth novel, a longer work, came out in May (as an e-book) and June (as a paperback). ‘Eighteen Months’ tells the story of a family of four as they navigate the pandemic in the UK between March 2020 and August 2021. Read a sample here.
July to September – summer into autumn
I was invited to Harrow School by senior leader Hannah Fox at the beginning of July to take part in a panel on the subject of Women in Leadership as part of the International Boys’ School Coalition, which brought together representatives from state and independent boys’ schools in the UK and overseas. The evening before the event, Hannah took two of us to dinner at the Oxford and Cambridge Club in London, which was a brilliant experience. I also delivered training on professional learning and development for HMC in Market Harborough, and worked with aspiring Senior Leaders from a Catholic Multi-Academy Trust in Rotherham, South Yorkshire – my home territory!
I visited friends in Bedford later that month and caught up with a number of people from my headship days – always a joy – and travelled from there up to Halifax for Ross Morrison McGill’s latest Book Launch party, which was a hoot! In August John and I visited Yorkshire Wildlife Park with my brother and sister in law and delicious great-niece Phoebe, who’s now nine (and she was four when she featured on the cover of my Three Short Novels). YWP was so impressive we went back in September with John’s cousin and his wife and their four year old daughter Coralie, who, like Phoebe, is just delightful.
And in September we travelled to northern Sardinia for another week of relaxing, soaking up the sunshine and enjoying excellent food and drink.
By this stage of the year we had managed to transform our home back into all we wanted it to be – better, in a number of ways, than it had been pre-flood – and the pleasure that has given us is difficult to describe.
October to December – autumn into winter
I travelled to Salisbury to work with a Senior Leadership Team – always something I find fulfilling. John and I went to Manchester in November to watch the Girls’ Schools Association film commemorating the organisation’s 150th birthday, followed by a dinner. It was good to catch up with other guests, including Jane, Alice, Megan and Vivienne.
I enjoyed singing Orff’s Carmina Burana, one of my favourite choral pieces, with my Choral Society in November. I went to my second ever football match and saw England Women beat Switzerland at Bramall Lane. We decided to buy Phoebe an ‘experience’ for Christmas, and took her to see ‘Matilda the Musical’ at Covent Garden in December, had a meal afterwards and stayed overnight. We had a brilliant time.
I had recorded an interview for Sarah Kent’s ‘Field of Dreams’, and was delighted to see it posted online on Christmas Eve. I have continued to give talks about my fiction writing, including short readings, to WI, Inner Wheel and Probus groups, and I sell a few novels every month. These talks will continue in 2025. And it is always a thrill to receive a positive response to my writing, such as this, from the wonderfully supportive Helen Wright.
So what of 2025?
My #oneword for the year is #pace, as I intentionally pace myself to make the most of my time and energies and to find the best possible balance in my life.
We have planned a holiday in Vietnam in May, which we really look forward to.
I will continue to read, sing, meet friends, talk about my fiction and support serving and aspiring educational leaders at all levels. We hope to keep our home safe and dry. I will enjoy the company and conversation of those who lift and nourish my spirit!
And I wish the same for you.
Thank you for reading.
jillberry102 