Segaran Family News 2015

To family and friends all over - we hope you find this summary of events in our lives this year interesting.

Jane has been working very hard throughout the second half of 2014 on a project to acquire and run a holiday cottage in York. We were able to have Mayfield Cottage ready for launch by January 2015. This is Jane's main job now and certainly the popularity of the cottage has kept Jane busy. She has had guests from all over the world including Australia, Greece, France, USA and Germany. Here is a link to some photos.

Luke has been working for a software company in York as part of his Year in Industry. He has enjoyed this very much and home conforts was an added bonus. He is back at Sheffield for his final year. He had an interesting trip to Ukraine which included a tour of Chernobyl. We also had a short break with him in Krakow. Luke is still passionate about music and made it to Glastonbury this year.

Emily started her new job at the Youth Hostel Association this year where she is Activites Manager. She is having great fun and enjoys the interaction with school groups and outdoor activities. She is also very active with the Scouting organisation and frequently goes climbing - now as an instructor. Emily is still involved with fundraising for Oxfam and organised a fun Oxjam day this year.

Joseph continues to enjoy life in Amsterdam keeping busy between working at Watersones, doing art commissions and promoting his silk screen prints, postcards and greeting cards. Here is his website. I took Amma across to stay with him in April and we went on a tour of the bulbfields. He is a great cook and certainly impressed Amma with his efforts.

I continue to fill my time with electronics and books. On the electronics side the new products are aimed at home automation like monitoring freezer temperature and switching appliances on and off remotely. I helped two authors with publishing their books as 'print on demand' versions. One was "Evolution of an Ethnic Identity - The Tamils of Sri Lanka" and the other was "Endless Inequality - The Rights of Plantation Tamils in Sri Lanka". 

Jane and I felt able to visit Sri Lanka after the recent change in government. We were able to travel to all parts of the island freely and so we did by visiting Jaffna, Trincomallee, Battocaloa, Kathirgamam and Galle. While in Jaffna we visited Manipay Hindu College where my grandfather was once the Principal. It was good to see the money that the Navaratnam family fundraised for sports being put to good use. There seemed to be new optimism in all parts of the country.

Wishing everybody a peaceful 2016.

Segaran Family News 2014

Much has happened in 2014 - here is a snapshot of some of the more memorable events.

Jane and I have settled nicely into our new home - not so new as we have now been here more than 18 months. The log burning stove is in, woodpiles ready, the new patio done, two internal walls demolished and currently awaiting new kitchen in a few weeks. I am looking forward to sampling the end products of Jane testing out the new ovens. It's a nice area with lots of open spaces and we have some great neighbours.

Luke has finished 2 years of Uni and was fortunate enough to land an industrial experience position for his 3rd year at a software company in York. So he has been at home since June and cycles off every morning with his carefully made and generous 'pack-up'. We bought him a road bike when he turned 21 in July and he has been away on long bike rides after work with colleagues.

The tour-de-france came to Yorkshire this year and the county went crazy over it. Yellow bikes and bunting cropped up everywhere. Large crowds turned up to cheer the riders on - a never to be forgotten experience.

Since coming back from her South American tour Emily has thrown herself into life in York. She has her own place about a couple of miles from us and is stamping her own mark on it. She ran York Oxjam in 2014 (a music based fund-raising event for Oxfam) and raised much needed funds for them. 

Joseph turned 30 this year. He came to York and we had a joint celebration for him and Jane's mum who turned 90 around the same time. After a tea party for 'Gran Mary' we drove across the North Yorkshire Moors and spent a night at a delightful apartment in Whitby.

Jane gave up working for the council this year and we put in motion our plan for running a self-catering holiday home in York. The last three months have been very busy for both of us in decortaing and furnishing the cottage. Jane has done a fantastic job and Mayfield Cottage is now available for breaks in Yorkshire.

I have been making full use of my 'free days' and have launched into helping authors publish and market their books. Working with a family friend (Thiru Arumugam), we successfully re-published 'Hundred Hindu Temples of Sri Lanka' which was written by his father, Sanmugam Arumugam.

Every Christmas, Jane and I look forward to letters from family and friends and one in particular is always thought provoking and challenging - from a lady of some 94 years who still rides her bike around York. Her letter deals with the growing gap between rich and poor and finishes with: 

 'So this Christmas season let's take time to pause to reflect to discover how we can help in the progress we long to see towards understanding, honesty, fairness, peace and justice!'.

On that note wishing you all a peaceful 2015.

Jane and Seggy

 

Segaran Family News 2013

Here is a round up of the Family News for 2013. This is an all electronic version, done as a blog. Made sense as most have access to the internet or know someone who does.

Guess the big event in our lives this year was the house move. After 18 years at Holgate Road, and a sales process that dragged on for 6 months, we were pleased to move into a very pleasant 2 storey house in a quiet residential neighbourhood. Here is a picture of the house when Amma, and Rachel came to visit.

Jane was delighted that the house had only 13 steps - compared to 56 in our old house. This, plus the layout of the house, the office space to allow Jane and I to work from home and backing onto Hob Moor were all factors that sold us the house as soon as we walked in.

Jane is still quite busy at work with increased responsibility for mentoring trainers, but still makes sure to find time to be the main carer for her mum who turned 89 this year. Following 2 falls (one major, one not so major) Gran Mary needs a stroller for trips out of the house. Jane does all the shopping, provides most of the meals as well as make arrangements for friends to visit.

Jane has spent more time on her photography this year. Following a Masterclass with a local photographer, she has been taking some fantastic photos. Having stepped away from Carecent, she now provides relief cover and has been called up a few times already. We all spent a very happy Boxing day morning dishing out breakfasts.

One of Joseph's high points this year was his participation in a "pop-up shop" in August. Here he is transporting everything on the day on his bike. His hard work is paying off  with much interest in his screenprints and many commissions. His artwork has been used for the Waterstones cloth bag in Amsterdam and he has commissions to do the one for the shop in Piccadilly as well as the Hatchards bookshop.




Out of all of us, Emily has probably had the most exciting year travelling around South America from January to August this year. I am not sure where to start describing her travels. She trekked to Machu Picchu, danced tango in Buenos Aires, climbed volcanoes in Chile and learned Spanish in Bolivia. I was impressed by her ability to live out of a (carefully packed) rucksack for this period and some very long (36+ hours) coach journeys. If you are on Facebook you might be able to see the whole trip in photos.

Luke has just started his second year of Software Engineering at Sheffield Hallam. He is well into the music scene and finding time for his passion - playing his guitar and singing. He managed to get to Glastonbury this year by helping out at a fast food stall. Luke seems to have a nice group of friends both in York and at Uni. He has been a great help to me in building the Custard Pi add on boards which is aimed at hobbyists and electronic students. Click here to hear one of his original songs.


2013 also saw Tele-Products (TP) celebrate it's 25th year of trading. This was a fantastic achievement and one that would not have been possible without support and
encouragement from Jane. Since putting a full time MD in charge last year, I have been enjoying my new (more technical) role at TP for 3 days a week. The rest of the time has been spent building up the electronics hobby business with help from Jane and Luke.


Wishing everyone a Happy and Peaceful 2014 - from all of us.