Paul Starmer,an A.B. Walker Operative was thrilled to announce the arrival of his daughter Olivia Daniella on 18 June 2010 weighing in at 6lb 14ozs

Matt Walker and Lee Atkins came 37th in their class and raised over £9000 for Help for Heroes, A.B. Walker's chosen charity of the year.

A.B. Walker has chosen Help for Heroes as its Charity of the Year for 2009/10. This event raised £750 – the total stands at over £4,000 and will increase with several staff events in the pipeline.

A.B. Walker conducted it’s first burial at sea for some time this winter about 3 miles south of the Needles in accordance of the family wishes. An emotional if bracing experience for those in attendance.

Thank you all for supporting me I just missed my target of under 4 hours - I managed 4.00hrs and 42 seconds (but at least I beat Gordon Ramsay!).

I have to admit to rather enjoying myself, it was very hot for running (20 degrees plus), especially as all of my training has been early on frosty, snowy or wet mornings - my only injury is a spot of vest shaped sunburn! Nicky managed to spot me en route and together with friends Alex, Seamus and Franny, take me for a celebratory beer or two in the West End within minutes of finishing!

Together with your help, my sponsorship total for Sue Ryder Care is £5,329.34. I am going to see the staff at the Sue Ryder Hospice in Nettlebed on Wednesday for a ceremonial cheque handover.

Thank you everyone for being so generous with your money and your encouragement, especially the training tips and hints. From my personal health view, I have lost about 4 Kilos and reduced my body fat percentage by over 7% from Christmas time to be well within the recommended healthy range!

Thank you all.

Julian

Head Office Building renovation is progressing – all of the administrators are now safely ensconced in their new office and the conversion of the chapels, mortuary and entrance reception has started. We are on track for completion in December 2008 and look forward to a service of dedication of the new chapels in the late spring time on 2009.

David Walker is blessed with another grandchild – this time a girl!  David’s elder daughter Sian and son-in-law Alan have announced the birth of Molly Naomi.

Over 70 specially invited guests attended and the evening was thoroughly enjoyed by all. 13 Leander Club athletes won medals at this year’s Olympics for rowing which made the venue even more spectacular.

As a treat for some Latvian students on an exchange with girls from the Abbey School, Reading, they were collected from the airport in three of our new limousine fleet.

In July A. B. Walker sponsored the running shirts and transport to London of seven runners for the British 10km. Amongst the exhausted runners was Julian, his wife Nicky and local Twyford GP Carol James. Well done to all those who took part!

We have had two causes for celebration recently. In July Paul, one of our Funeral Operatives, married Giustina and spent their honeymoon in Turkey, and in August Pam married Giancarlo and enjoyed their honeymoon cruising around the Mediterranean. Coincidentally Giancarlo is the uncle of Giustina so a double celebration for their family!

We held our annual staff event on the ‘New Orleans’ in August with the vessel taking us on a leisurely trip along the River Thames. It was a thoroughly enjoyable evening which was rounded off by a spot of dancing. Our thanks to Hobbs of Henley.

Every few years the Village of Rotherfield Peppard near Henley, holds a weekend celebration on Peppard Common which on the Saturday includes a family day, an evening event and a multi-denominational church service followed by lunch on the Sunday. In the past, themes have been The Millennium, The Queens Golden Jubilee and the Bicentenary of Trafalgar. This year we are supporting the evening extravaganza celebrating the centenary of the birth of local author Ian Fleming (the Fleming family were resident in Joyce Grove, now Sue Ryder Care in Nettlebed). The evening we are sponsoring is a James Bond Ball – tickets and information are available from http://www.peppardrevels.org.uk/

Hoping for better luck than last year we entered a highly trained team into the 2008 football tournament, played at the Madejski Stadium in May. Yet again we were unsuccessful in winning but we all know that it’s the taking part that counts!