Segaran family - A year in Pictures 2020

It has certainly been a different year to the one we planned to have back in January 2020. But in general, we have a lot to be thankful for. We have acquired new skills, took pleasure in doing things locally and spent time with distant friends using Zoom and a myriad other video apps. 

Jane set up a spare room as her sewing workshop, updated her sewing machine went on a few virtual courses to up-skill and started sewing bags for the mini rocket stove and for the Wonderbox thermal cooker in earnest.

Wishing everybody a Happy New Year. Below are are some of the family highlights from 2020. 

January: We attended our first Solar Cooking Conference in Faro and presented 2 papers. It was great to meet solar cooking enthusiasts from across the world and share stories.

February: We pick up our caravan - the first part of our plan this year to take our low impact cooking workshops out to a number of green festivals. We used it to run remote workshops from as well as to discover Yorkshire over the summer.

March: The year's highlight was being part of the celebrations surrounding Joseph's and Richard's wedding. It was a lovely lovely family gathering - here are a few photos to try and capture the event.

Little did we know how lucky we were to enjoy this - the troubles to come best highlighted by this notice in one of the toilets in Amsterdam. Empty streets in York in the first few days of lock-down.

April to June: We spent the first lock-down by trying out new recipes, going for bike rides and walks when we could and taking a few of our planned sustainable living workshops on-line as virtual events. 

Various garden gatherings for Birthdays.

August 2020: Coming out of the first lock-down. Work and play at Beetle Bank Farm - A Community Supported Agriculture venture.

Joseph collated all his cooking photos into a new website - Cooking with Joseph

Emily picked up joinery, DIY and gardening skills with great results.

Luke and Sarah carried on working from home all through various Covid lock-downs. They managed to get a short break in Lincoln. Luke used the time to try out exciting new recipes using black garlic and other exotic ingredients. 

Christmas Day 2020: 

Segaran family - a year in pictures 2019

Wishing everyone a Happy Christmas and a peaceful New Year.

2019 family highlights

Jane and Seggy spent 2 weeks in January helping Amma with her move to her new flat - the culmination of a 6 month project.

In March & April we spent 6 weeks in Sri Lanka promoting solar and haybox cooking followed by a holiday with Joseph and Richard.

Joseph and Richard are engaged and getting married in March 2020 in Amsterdam.

Emily graduated from York University as a teacher in July and is now working at York St John University.

Luke and Sarah are both busy in their respective fields of programming and staff welfare at an NHS trust. At Easter, they traveled to Las Vegas for Sarah's sisters wedding and managed to get to the Grand Canyon.

January

Last stage of our 6 month project in helping my mum move from a large 3-bedroom semi into a spanking new flat. Jane and my mum waiting for a taxi after all the furniture has gone.

My mum settled in her new flat

February

Fountains Abbey - a good spot for a walk on a winter's day

March

Off to Sri Lanka promoting Solar and Haybox Cooking. Click here for a video summary.

April

Joseph and Richard join us in Sri Lanka for a holiday.

May

A short break in the Lake District

Luke and Sarah on holiday

June

A walk in Levisham with Jill and Ian Souter

Northumberland in June

At Durham Miners Gala

July

Engineering projects with my apprentice!

Garden Party - with competitive games

Emily graduates as a French and Spanish teacher

August

We are at Green Gathering in Chepstow again - our 3rd year

September

Family get together to remember Jane's mum

We run workshops at the Festival of Thrift at Redcar

October

Visit to Beamish open air museum

Segaran Family 2018 - A year in pictures

We have been blessed this year - keeping busy with many projects but still having time to have a lot of small holidays. The Green Gathering in Chepstow was a high point. Luke left home and Emily returned from Canada and started training to be a secondary school language teacher. Sadly, Jane's mum passed away in October. 

Our love to you all, wishing you a Happy Christmas and a Peaceful New Year.

January

We had an overnight stay at Ravenscar. Discovered Saltwick Bay - just south of Whitby. One of the photos show the wreck of the Admiral Von Trump from 1976.

March

Jane and I had a lovely break in Madiera. Walking the Levadas, riding the cable car to the Botanical Gardens and trying out the Madeira wine.

April

Joseph and Richard came for a weekend and managed to visit Gran Mary.

May

Luke moved with Sarah into their own house closer to the centre of York. 

Jane and I went to see Emily in Montreal.

June

Emily back from Montreal. Jane and I spend a few days in Snowdonia. 

Carecent, where Jane volunteers, gets new kitchen and face lift.

July

My nephew, Danesh, spent a few days with us getting some hands-on engineering experience. We had a small gathering at the end where we got to try out a pizza oven in the garden, making our own mini pizzas.

August

Weeks of experimenting with solar, haybox and hybrid cookers culminated at the Green Gathering in Chepstow. It was great to meet up with our Solar Cooking colleagues and make new friends.

Jane starts helping out at Luke's Larder - intercepting waste food from supermarkets and sharing it with the community.

September

Jane and Sggy have a break in Andalucia and Tangier.

October

Sadly, Jane's mum passed away at the end of October. Aged 94, she has been in York since 2000, the last 2 years in Ivy Lodge, an excellent family run residential home. Her funeral was attended by friends from Acomb and Great Ayton Quaker meetings.

Segaran Family 2017 - A year in pictures

January

Celebrated Seggy's mum's 80th Birthday - lunch with family and friends in North London.

Jane's  photo of Staithes won 1st prize in the 'Rural and Garden Landscapes' category at the Easton Walled Garden photography competition.

February

Joe and Richard came to visit us from Amsterdam. Wintry walk at Fountains Abbey followed by a family meal at home.

Gran Mary moves to Ivy Lodge.

March

Luke takes a month off work and travels to join friends in Australia and Bali.

April

We had a family gathering in Yorkshire for Raj's 60th birthday. Used the opportunity to show off the North Yorkshire moors to Pam and Kumar.

May

Emily is off travelling again, this time to Montreal in Canada. She is going to be away for a year on a work / travel visa.

Jane and I had a very relaxing week in North Cyprus (the Turkish part).

June

Solar cooking demo at St Nicks Environmental Centre summer fair. Managed to cook bread buns and chick peas.

July

Celebrated Thishani & Steven's wedding in London - another chance for a family get together.

Socialist revival at Durham Miner's Gala with a stirring speech from Jeremy Corbyn.

August

Low impact cooking at the Green Gathering Festival in Wales. My retirement gift from the family was a Slick Solar cooker.

September

Luke and Seggy trekking up the last of the Yorkshire 3 peaks.

October

Celebrating our joint 60th birthdays with family at Milton Keynes and friends in York

November

Following our joint retirement, we had a glorious 3 weeks in Sri Lanka. We traveled far and wide using train, car, taxi and tuk-tuk. This is us at the top of (little) Adam's Peak.

December

Seggy finished his 100 km swimming challenge and raised £1750 for the Manipay Hindu College sports fund.

Wishing you all a peaceful New Year.