Friday - Rory trying on air cadet kit at Bournemouth Air Show

Wednesday - Rory looking for Seahorses…found one too!

Tuesday - Peter, Rory, Calum & Chris on the beach at Studland

Darren Gough, the ex-England fast bowler and Strictly Come Dancing contestant is now an ambassador for Collier Cheese. The largest cheese festival is held in Nantwich and Aston Cricket Club juniors were asked if they wanted to meet Darren at the cheese festival and challenge him at a cricket game on Xbox 360. The boys had a fantastic time and Darren was great, chatting and joking with the boys. All of the boyss were given a mini cricket bat which Darren signed for them and a large slab of cheese! Rory was the boys captain.

Rory stepped up an age group tonight when he played for the Under 13s against Wistaston. They scored a famous victory winning by 6 runs with Rory Man of the Match. Rory bowled superbly taking two wickets including a caught and bowled and also took another catch.

Jill, Martin and Andrew stopped off on their way home after their holiday in Scotland.

Rory’s last day at Primary School today! Can’t believe it - 7 years have passed so quickly. Here he is with his school polo shirt signed by all his friends.

Rory played for Wrenbury School today in the Cheshire Schools Cricket Tournament. They won 4 out of 4 matches and now progress to the next round next Tuesday against other winning heat teams from across Cheshire.

No rugby today for Calum or Rory as we had temperatures of -7 last night. This has left the pitches frozen and dangerous to play on so it’s training for both.

Who would believe it! After a great day and evening on Saturday with a fabulous coaching session from Leicester Tigers, we awoke on Sunday ready for two matches against local teams - only to open the curtains and see 3″ of snow. Matches cancelled so ten pin bowling hastily arranged…we had taken two coaches and were just getting our bags together when…one coach wouldn’t start, flat battery, then…second coach drove onto a grass area covered with snow thinking it was concrete! Coach sunk 2′ into the mud and couldn’t be moved.

Two hours later and after a visit from a massive tow truck we were on our way…too late for bowling but time enough for hospitality from Leicester Lions.

Boys very disappointed that they didn’t get to play a game but a good, and memorable, time had by all.

Rory and I wearing our tour shirts ready for dinner on Saturday night. After dinner there was a rugby court which was great fun and a first for the boys! Rory was very disappointed not to have been accused of anything…

As part of the Leicester experience the boys paraded around the Leicester pitch at half time. Chris, the coach, posed the boys under the posts.

We spotted Bryan Redpath, ex-Scotland player on the pitch at Leicester and I called him over to us. We had a good chat with him and he kindly posed for this photo with Rory.

Up in Dollar for a few days from Boxing Day. Lots and lots of snow here. Boys built a giant snowman in Mags & Neils back garden.

Rory won player of the match this week for his performance at Fly Half against Sandbach. As you can see, it was quite muddy!

Rory played football for the school team today. Won 2-1 at home.
Update: He played on friday as well, this time away to Highfields School and won again 2-1!

Rory playing for the school football team above. He played right back as they defeated another local school 9-0

For his birthday treat, Rory took a load of friends for a couple of hours of outdoor laser quest near Oswestry. Gallery of photos available here.

Rory has just returned from two nights away at cub camp. It was a medieval theme this year with lots of activities. As it was a district camp there were lots of cubs and scouts and plenty to do. Rory had a great time but didn’t sleep too much! Photos here

Rory was one of the players selected for the squad to play at the Whitchurch Rugby Tournament. (pictures here) The tournament was played as a league, with the under 11’s playing six matches. They made a slow start, losing their first two matches 1-0 and 2-0 (Rory not in the team). Rory played in the following four matches and the team rallied to win three and draw one. They drew 0-0 with the eventual winners Whitchurch 0-0, but beat Shrewsbury B 4-0 (rory scored a try), Shrewsbury A 1-0 and Sandbach B 3-0. They ended fourth in the league table. Rory played in a variety of positions - Inside Centre, Outside Centre and on the wing.

Went to an excellent outdoor laser quest in the countryside near Oswestry with our friends Glyn, Helen, James & Katie. It was adults against children - and the kids won! Some more photos here.

Two tries for Rory as Crewe & Nantwich under 10’s run in 8-0 winners against Helsby. Rory was playing at Inside Centre for a change and had a very good game, making lots of tackles and passing well. What was even better was that Calum and Chris were there to see him as Calum had no football today.

Rory in army kit for a party this afternoon. Note the non-standard issue white trainers!

Rory decorated an egg today for a competition at school. His egg was decorated as a surfer, complete with surf board. Unfortunately he didn’t win. The winner was his friend Billy, who made two pink pigs from eggs and added a sty and some hay!

Rory’s rugby team, Crewe & Nantwich Under 10’s took part in the Cheshire Cup yesterday. You can view a slideshow of photos here.It was played at Sandbach RUFC with 32 teams taking part. Rory’s team got as far as the quarter finals before being beaten in a close match by Stockport. Rory played in all the games on the right wing. The weather was beautiful, in sharp contrast to last year when the competition took place in a mud bath. Both he and I came away with a bit of a tan this year!

Rory and I went on tour with his under 10’s rugby team last weekend. We had a great time and more photos and some video of the games can be seen by clicking here

Pets night at cubs tonight. Rory took his pet hamster ’smiler’.

Rory collected his Chief Scouts’ Silver Award on Thursday at a ceremony in Crewe. He finishes cubs this summer, and has not decided if he wants to move up to Scouts.

Rory hard at work with Maths homework on Sunday afternoon

Rory played rugby today against a touring side, St Mary’s from Bristol. Click here for a slideshow. This is the team that Rory played last year on tour. Rory’s team held a very strong St Mary’s team to a 2-2 draw, Rory playing out on the right wing. His team did much better than the other Crewe & Nantwich side who lost 5-0 to St Mary’s.

Rory and I went to see the annual re-enactment of the Battle of Nantwich in January. Just posted a slideshow of images from the day here.

For the first time in quite a few weeks Calum had a football match this morning. It was a friendly against Nantwich, a strong local team. Calum’s team were very rusty and lost 4-0. They have a league game tomorrow and will be hoping for better things. Rory played cricket indoors for Aston U13s at Shavington. They played two games, winning one and losing one. Rory batted and was wicket keeper.

Have posted a new gallery of a walk we went on over new year with our friends. (Click here to see gallery) We walked for about six miles along part of the Sandstone Trail near Beeston. The weather was very cold and foggy, and when we walked past Michael Owen’s stables (very grand) it was too foggy to see much.

No football match for Calum today. Apparently it was too frosty on wednesday for the council to paint the white lines. Bet you don’t get that at Old Trafford! Coach decided that they should go for a series of cross country runs instead. Calum did well, finishing fourth out of 15.

Rory had rugby training inside the sports hall today. Matches for the next four sundays from now, starting with a hard match next week away to Macclesfield. For my sins, I’m the roving reporter for his team (Crewe & Nantwich RUFC) and pen the match reports. You can see them online here:  http://www.candnrufcjuniors.org/minis/Under_10.html

Rory put on his new (christmas present) Spurs kit todat ready for football training at the school. Chris took him down at 9:30 - only for it to be cancelled. Still kept his kit on all day though!

We are lucky enough to have Jill and Martin for a few days. Off for a brisk walk to Llangollen today!

Went for scooter ride down towards Wrenbury Hall with Calum & Dad after tea

Rory played rugby for the Crewe & Nantwich Under 9’s today in an away match at Northwich. It was a bitterly cold day with a biting wind blowing across the wide open spaces of the rugby pitches. Rory played at Scrum Half and played a great game, making lots of tackles and getting stuck in to the rucks and mauls. 

He and his team passed the ball more than usual today and this contributed to the victory of 6 tries to 2. It was following one of these tackles that Rory accidentally got kicked in the mouth. He now has a proper rugby player’s fat lip!

The short movie above shows Rory making a great tackle then getting a boot in the lip as a reward!

Football for Rory cancelled today as the pitch at the school was covered in snow. Unfortunately too much snow for football but not enough for building a snowman! We still managed to have a snowball fight in the garden, but with very small snowballs!

Calum making progress but still in some discomfort and lacking energy.

Great excitement of the first weekend of the six nations. This was soon deflated by England’s appalling performance against Wales. Let’s hope Scotland do better against France at Murrayfield.

Rory and I took a walk into Wrenbury to the Post Office. Well, I say a walk - Rory took his scooter!

Check some photos on our web gallery at:

http://gallery.mac.com/heathcottage#gallery

We all (Peter, Chris, Calum, Rory, Margaret, Neil, Ranald, his girlfriend Lyndsay, and David) went to see Edinburgh play Glasgow Warriors at Murrayfield. A very close match ended with Edinburgh winning - just!

Short movie to follow shortly.

We all (Peter, Chris, Calum, Rory, Aunty Margaret, Uncle Neil, Grandpa, Gavin, Ranald, Carolyn, Uncle David, Euan & Neil) went to see Joseph at the Playhouse in Edinburgh. Above is a picture of Chris with Craig Chalmers after the show.

Had a long lunch at Aunty Margaret’s house with 16 for dinner.

Spent Christmas this year in Dollar staying at Neil’s house. Above is a picture of Calum and Rory putting down food and drink for Santa & Rudolph.

Rory played rugby for Crewe and Nantwich Under 9s on Sunday. He played two games against Wilmslow.
In the first game his team were trailing 3 tries to nil at half time. Following a very powerful half time team talk from their coach Chris (a first team player at the club) they improved greatly in the second half. Rory in particular played a great game and scored three tries to level the scores at 3-3. In the dying minutes a fast Wilmslow player broke through the Crewe & Nantwich defense pushing through three tackles. Rory however caught him up and made a text book try saving tackle twelve inches from the line to save the match for his team.
The team continued their great performance in the second match winning 8-3.