Ian Howarth's 70th Birthday Singing Day

Today I had a long and tiring, but very enjoyable day rehearsing for and singing in an informal concert "Hope in Song" in Cambridge Road Methodist Church in King's Heath, Birmingham. 

Weekend Quick Cryptic 130 - Solution

Phil Jordan, Sawbill and I are continuing to produce our series of Weekend Quick Cryptic crosswords. We take turns, publishing one a fortnight, and this week it's my turn. 

You can find a link to the crossword here and the answers below.  Feel free to leave any comments or questions here as you would do on  TfTT .  You can find an index to the complete series of crosswords here. 

Summer Social. TimesforTheTimes is having a Summer Social at The George, Southwark from midday on Saturday 14th June. All three of your Weekend Quick Cryptic setters are planning to be there. Do come and join us for a drink or two as we celebrate 5 years of the Weekend Quick Cryptic series.

Weekend Quick Cryptic 130 - Going Trekking

This time it is my turn to provide the fortnightly Weekend Quick Cryptic crossword, Number 130 in the series. The title "Going Trekking" is a clue to the theme. Can you find all the thematic answers in the completed grid?

You can try and solve the crossword interactively here on MyCrossword or here on crossword.info. As usual you can download a PDF to print which you can find here. Alternatively you can copy and print the image below. Comments and queries are welcome with the solution post (which also gives tips on some of the clues).  I will react to any comments or queries there as soon as I can. You can find an index to the complete series of crosswords here.  

Summer Social. TimesforTheTimes is having a Summer Social at The George, Southwark from midday on Saturday 14th June. All three of your Weekend Quick Cryptic setters are planning to be there. Do come and join us for a drink or two as we celebrate 5 years of the Weekend Quick Cryptic series.

Helmingham Walk

Today we had a walk starting and finishing at Helmingham Hall.

Colchester Beer Festival

Today I had a day out in Colchester to visit their 38th Real Ale and Cider Festival.

U3A Bury St Edmunds Monthly Talk - Charlie Haylock

Today I joined the audience at The APEX for this month's U3A lecture, given by Charlie Haylock.

Rougham Park Walk

Today we went for a short walk in Rougham Park with William, who has been home for a few days,  to view the rhododendrons.

Bedford Bamberg Beer Festival

Laura and Laurence have been on holiday this week visiting Prague but now they were home. They had discovered there was a German Beer Festival on celebrating the twinning of Bedford with Bamberg in Bavaria. They invited us to go through to Bedford and join them at it today. So we did!

Thorpe Morieux Walk

Today we revisited a favourite walk we hadn't done for a while from Thorp Morieux.

Cambridge Beer Festival

Today I had my annual visit to the Cambridge Beer Festival.

Staverton Park

Today we had a return trip to Staverton Park, which we passed through on this walk from Rendlesham in January.

Eurovision Party

Tonight we are having a Eurovision Party with Dawn's brother Jonathan and his family. Dawn got me to buy some bunting and she has hung it in the living room.

Exning Beating the Bounds Walk

Today we joined the annual Exning Beating the Bounds Walk some of us did 2 years ago as part of the Suffolk Walking Festival (see here).

John's Walks 2025 Updated

I've updated the page John's Walks 2025, which you can access via the menu bar at the top of the page or the  "John's Walks" section in the sidebar to include all walks this year so far. John's Walks 2025 provides an index to all the walk blog posts so far this year. As usual, I'll continue to update it periodically during the year - every couple of months on average.

Weekend Quick Cryptic 129 - Solution

Phil Jordan, Sawbill and I are continuing to produce our series of Weekend Quick Cryptic crosswords. We take turns, publishing one a fortnight, and this week it's Sawbill's turn. 

You can find a link to the crossword here and the answers below.  Feel free to leave any comments or questions here as you would do on  TfTT .  You can find an index to the complete series of crosswords here. 

Weekend Quick Cryptic 129 - by Sawbill

Phil Jordan, Sawbill and I are continuing to produce our series of Weekend Quick Cryptic crosswords. We take turns, publishing one a fortnight, and this week it's Sawbill's turn, Number 129 in the series. 

You can try and solve the crossword interactively here on MyCrossword or here on crossword.info. As usual you can download a PDF to print which you can find here. Alternatively you can copy and print the image below. Comments and queries are welcome with the solution post (which also gives tips on some of the clues).  I will react to any comments or queries there as soon as I can. You can find an index to the complete series of crosswords here. 

Stratford St Andrew Walk

Today Joyce's Weekly Walks group were treated to a lovely walk around 6 villages and their churches led by Karen.

Helios at Ickworth House

Dawn saw something yesterday about this and today is the final day, so we went to have a look and have a walk around the estate before lunch.

I don't believe it

A parcel arrived for me today.

L is for Little Cornard Walk

Today we reached L in our alphabet of walks. It was a circular walk from Little Cornard Village Hall.

Absinthe #2 - Bottling

I probably should have done this sooner, but we've been out every day this week so far.

The Red House Aldeburgh

Today we were on another U3A Bury St. Edmunds day trip, this time to the Long Shop Museum in Leiston and The Red House in Aldeburgh, former home of Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears, Our second stop was The Red House.

Leiston Long Shop Museum

Today we were on another U3A Bury St. Edmunds day trip, this time to the Long Shop Museum in Leiston and the Red House in Aldeburgh, former home of Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears, Our first stop was the Long Shop Museum.

Kersey Mill Walk

Today we repeated a walk we did for the first time last April from Kersey Mill.

Lackford Lakes

Today we took a trip to Lackford, parking in the village and walking to and around the Lackford Lakes Nature reserve.

Another win!

 

I saw on Monday on the Crossword Club site that I had won another runners-up prize for the Mephisto crossword and the letter has now arrived.

Absinthe #2 - Distilling Day

Today was my day for distilling my second batch of Absinthe.

Weekend Quick Cryptic 128 - Solution

Phil Jordan, Sawbill and I are continuing to produce our series of Weekend Quick Cryptic crosswords. We take turns, publishing one a fortnight, and this week it's Phil's turn. 

You can find a link to the crossword here and the answers below.  Feel free to leave any comments or questions here as you would do on  TfTT .  You can find an index to the complete series of crosswords here. 

Weekend Quick Cryptic 128 - by Phil Jordan

Phil Jordan, Sawbill and I are continuing to produce our series of Weekend Quick Cryptic crosswords. We take turns, publishing one a fortnight, and this week it's Phil's turn, Number 128 in the series. 

You can try and solve the crossword interactively here on MyCrossword or here on crossword.info. As usual you can download a PDF to print which you can find here. Alternatively you can copy and print the image below. Comments and queries are welcome with the solution post (which also gives tips on some of the clues).  I will react to any comments or queries there as soon as I can. You can find an index to the complete series of crosswords here. 

Hen Reed Beds Walk

Today it was the first Thursday of the month and my turn to lead the U3A Bury St Edmunds Longer Walks Group.