Bringing them Home

“There is a kind of magicness about going far away and then coming back all changed.”
― Kate Douglas Wiggin

Yesterday, many residents of the local town turned out to watch the homecoming march of soldiers returning from Afghanistan. We don’t often have parades such as this, so it was incredibly nice to see so many people line the streets, almost like a flash mob really. The morning begun slowly, with people milling around, doing their shopping – and then as 10:30am drew closer, the crowds drew in.

The 22 Engineer Regiment from Perham Down all returned safely after a six month tour of Afghanistan. It makes a change from the last home-coming I went to at Wootton Bassett where the gaps in the lines of soldiers were fairly significant, as was the list of names of those who had not returned safely.

The mood yesterday was very different, very positive and upbeat. The soldiers marching were struggling to hide their smiles and their emotion as the crowds cheered them through the town.

Then to top it off nicely, and provide a true home-coming – the sunset was gorgeous!

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The Business Awards – Winners!

“Sometimes not getting what you want is a brilliant stroke of luck.”
― Lorii Myers

Last night I went to the Test Valley Business Awards, an annual ceremony awarding local business for various achievements. I’d never been before and this year only attended because my parents business was nominated in the customer service category.

Actually, they didn’t win in that category and instead were announced as finalists (which was awesome regardless!) But the nice surprise came at the end of the evening when it was announced that there was an extra award for excellence – and when they started to talk about the business we very quickly recognised who they meant!

So they ended up coming up with not one, but two certificates, a huge bunch of flowers and membership worth £300 to the Hampshire Chamber of Commerce – what a result! There were also some fantastic photos too, including Fred Dineage (above a few photos). There’s even a photo of me somewhere! It was a very proud moment to know that the business my parents had spent over two decades building up, with their fantastic team, was a success in others eyes too!

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