Wed 21st Oct: Visited a lovely primary school in Long Marston and spoke to a yr 6 class. They had prepared lots of questions and I had an enjoyable hour answering them.
Sun 18: We ran the York 10 mile!
Sat 17th: We jogged to the Racecourse where we ran the York Parkrun. At midday we met with Nick, Emma, Kate and little Leonidas!
In the evening we went out for a meal with all the other joggers.
Fri: 16th: A day of walks around York.
Thu: 15th: Set off for York with a stop at a stately home on the way up. Parked at the racecourse just over a mile from the hotel.
Sun 11th: After refereeing two matches at Maccabi in Rowley Lane, chaired the Watford Area Humanists AGM at home.
Sat 10th Oct: Early drive with the new MG to Reading. Katerina did the parkrun at Green Park. I volunteered to do the Parkwalk but got slightly lost and only did half of it… We then drove the short distance to the Thames Lido for the GRAM 2026. It was a good event with a nice lunch!
Sat 26th Sept: After a Leavesden Parkrun and refereeing at Kings Langley, we drove to Worcester to the pub where Eric Eracleous was singing. He was good but was constantly fighting the England v Spain game on the TV a few metres in front of him.
Fri 25th Sept; Drove to St Albans and took quite a time to find a car park. Then walked the 20 min to the One Vision at the Islamic Centre.
Sat 19th Sept, early rise and a short drive to the nearby Parkrun. Then the longer drive back to Bushey.
In the evening we went to the West Herts Golf Club for the Watford Joggers 50th Anniversary!
Fri 18th: A short visit to nearby Llandeiro which had some amazing views all round this beautiful village.
Thu 17th: Today’s day trip was to Swansea and Mumbles.
Wed 16th Sept: Drove to nearby Llandeilo and to a stately home at Dinefwr and the adjoining 12th century castle.
Tue 15th: Drove to the beach near Llanelli and walked along the sea front.
Sun 13th: Drove to nearby Carmarthen where we had a ride on a big steam engine as well as a miniature railway. Then had a short walk along the very quiet Carmarthen High street.
Sat 12th: Drove the 4hr drive to Pantglas House north of Swansea.
Fri 11th In the evening we went to the Fisheries Wharf in Hemel Hempstead to see the launch of Laura Dannan’s first album.
Thu, 10th Sept: Went to Welwyn to speak to the Welwyn Hatfield Interfaith Group about Humanism.
Sun 6th Sept: Went to Bedford where I ran the 20 mile in 3:50 the last few miles were very difficult.
Fri 4th Sept: picked up the new car from Glyn Hopkin: MG4 Urban EV.
Mon 31st: Bank Holiday. We went to West Wycombe to a stately home across the hill from an impressive mausoleum.
Sat 29th Aug: Decided to go to Cassiobury and do pacing at the Parkrun. They only had slow numbers left so I did 36 min.
Sat 8th Aug: Went to Cassiobury for a park run then we went to the National Bowl, Milton Keynes to see Sister Sledge, Kool & the Gang, UB40, Candi Staton and Grace Jones!
Fri 7th Aug: Went to Southend with Stefanos. Walked along the rides, had late lunch at Harvester and ice cream before driving back through some traffic.
Sun 2nd Aug: Decided to play the accordion at Alex William’s Dial up at The Peace Garden. It was a lovely event!
Sat 1st August: Ran the University Parks Parkrun near the centre of Oxford!
Fri 31st July: Drove to Oxford where we met Anna for a souvlaki lunch and cakes.
At St Hilda’s College we also met Nuron and Benji, also later saw Tristan V.
In the evening we went to see a piano recital.
Thu 30th: Met Enoch and Harjit from One Vision at a noisy Starbucks in Garston Woodside:
Sun 26th July: We had a celebration event at Bovingdon FC, 25 years since Inter FC was formed! It was great fun and raised money for the club.
Thu 23rd July: in the morning we drove to the nearby Park run in this amazing wooded area and walked the whole of it! Lovely but a bit dusty.
After the walk we drove to Brighton Pier and we stayed at the Madrophenia event where we saw The Blockheads, The Selecter and Madness!
Wed 22nd July: We drove to Polegate to stay for a few days near Eastbourne for the Madness concert and a short stay with Stefanos.
Sat 11th: After many weeks of organising, the 1st WHAM music Fest took place in the Purcell CP Hall. Alex Williams was the MC and Natalie Bleicher played the piano. Clara Dale, Laura Dannan, Levi Francis, Pete White, Natalie Shay, Eric Eracleous, Daisy Chute and Marianne Leigh were all amazing!
Fri 10th July: At 11am we had the prize giving final assembly on the Avison Lawn where I presented the very first “Fellas Science” prize. Daria Bui was the very first to receive it. Very well deserved.
In the afternoon I visited Croxley Danes school and spoke to the second yr 8 group. This group a little more challenging.
Thu 9th July: An amazing pop concert in the CP Hall in very hot conditions! Lia was a star and so was Clara Dale and many others!
Wed 8th July: In the morning I went to Croxley Danes school for the first in 6 sessions with the year 8 groups on humanism.
In the evening I took part in a Q&A about the history of the Purcell School, before the farewell concert for Alison Cox.
Sunday 5th July
Drove to Vaso’s to pick up Niko and Stelia to take them for a little stroll at Alexandra Palace and then at Trent Park for a coffee & hot chocolate.
In the afternoon I took part in a multi faith panel discussion: Ancient Roots, Digital wings with AJ at the Quaker House in Watford.
Sat 4th July:
Fri 3rd July
Thu 2nd July
Wed 1st July
Tue 30th June
Mon 29th June
Sun 28th June
Sat 27th Jun: in the evening I went to see a ballet & dance show at Wyndham Ramada holiday resort outside Loutraki.
Thu 25th, Rally Acropolis cars arrived in Kórinthos and boarded a Superfast IV for the next stage!
Wed 24th, Visited Nikos to plan returning to London together with him and Stelia.
Tue 23rdJune: Huge thunderstorms in the early hours after a few hot days! Drove to Luton to take a flight to Athens & Kórinthos.
Sat 20th June: Went to Art in Herts for the monthly Watford Humanists get-together with Alex Williams and others reading poetry.
Fri 19th: Went to the Pump House where I met the organisers of the Watford Fringe as well some other organisers of events.
Tuesday 16th: Went for a short run and then did some gardening at Purcell. Went to the lunchtime concert (percussion mainly) and in the evening attended the Benefactors Concert at the Purcell.
Monday 15th June: A very early breakfast at the hotel and then drove out of Bournemouth. We went a few miles NE to Salisbury. We parked at the Park & Ride and walked to the Cathedral.
Sunday 14th: A more leisurely breakfast and a full day of talks at the Festival of humanism. A picture opportunity with the president of Humanists International, Maggie Ardiente!
Saturday 13th: Got up early for early breakfast and then a ParkRun near the Vitality stadium just outside Bournemouth.
Friday 12th: Early rise and drive to Bournemouth for the Festival of Humanism 2026. After a day of workshops on Understanding Humanism we had a really funny Comedy Evening at the main hall.
Wed 10th June: A whole day of humanisms workshops at Tanners Wood primary school. In the afternoon I drove to St Andrew the Apostle school for the Barnet SACRE celebrations!
Tue 9th: In the evening I went to St Demetrios church for the Enfield SACRE meeting. I then popped across the road to see my mum.
Mon 8th June: Visited Dagnall primary school and did activities based on Caring, Love and Humanism. Also did an Assembly for the whole school (only around 60-70 students in total.
In the evening I attended the Bushey Interfaith group in Bushey Heath.
Sun 7th: Up at 3am and drove to Palma for the flight back to Luton. After a couple of hours sleep I attended the Dial Up event which Alex Williams organises. I spoke briefly about the WHAM music event on July 11th.
Sat 6th: Went for a short run and then an early night as we have to set off for the airport at 4am!
Fri 5th: Drove to Palma! What an amazing city with an amazing cathedral and lots of other churches. Beautiful!
Thu 4th June: Today we went for a trail walk along a very rocky path along the coastline of Portocolom. There were caves somewhere there but we didn’t see any.
Wed 3rd June: Got a call in the morning that there was a repair going on at the block and there would be no water for a few hours. Instead we were given complimentary breakfast across the road by the reception! After a lovely large breakfast we drove to Felanitx and then to Cales de Mallorca. After our return to Portocolom we went for a coastal run to the lighthouse and back.
Tuesday 2nd: Went for a run just before midday along the coastal line. Very scenic but hot and with a couple of hills. We then drove up to a steep hill to a statue of San Salvador some 500m above sea level.
We then drove to a coastal town of Cala D’or where we had a massive paella!
Mon 1st June: Walked towards the main town and found a supermarket where we did some shopping. In the evening we had a meal at the Chill Out La playa restaurant.
Sun 31st May: At Luton airport to fly to Mallorca! We had an hour’s delay at the terminal and then another hour’s delay on the plane but once we got off it was a lovely smooth flight to Palma. Once we found the bus stop for our connecting minibus we got our car and drove East to Portocolom, our Whyndam resort.
Sat 23 May: A day at Chesham Fringe Festival. At 11:30 we saw Alex Williams and his Secular Verses poetry! Then I met up with Levi Positive and got him to do some busking in the High Street! His Bob Marley tribute was really well received by the passers by!
At 6 I went to the library to see Alex’s one-man show. Love in Slough! At 8pm I saw Hannah Lou Larsen and at 9:15 it was ClaraTee! An amazing day with very high temperatures and lovely music!
Friday 21 May: one more “last day of teaching”. The 5 students came and took a picture with me and a few minutes later they presented me with a little bunny rabbit present with the photo inside! Lovely present! Anna Mehta gave me two presents which I took straight to the Woodland Area behind Avison.
Mon 18 May: In the evening I attended the Harold Meyer Memorial lecture organised by Watford Interfaith at Watford FC. Main speaker was Temi Fawehinmi, Head of Diversity, Inclusion & Wellbeing at Hertfordshire.
Sun 17 May: In the morning I did some edging at the Peace Garden and then some weeding at the Purcell Woodland. In the afternoon I went to the Vigil at the Peace Garden in support of the Jewish Community.
Thu 7 May: After a couple of lessons at school we drove to just outside Henley to Greys House, a National Trust house. It had a huge wisteria garden!
Tue 5 May: Went to a gathering of faith leaders in Watford where we spoke to the staff of Rennie Grove Hospice. It was organised by David Kelly who was also a member of Watford Joggers.
Mon 4 May: Bank holiday so we went with Stefanos to Cassiobury Park to run the watford Mencap 5k. We saw Kerasia there too.
We then went to Cuffley and took Roula & Pambos for lunch at The Toby at Whitewebbs House.
Sun 3 May: Went to Epping to referee a men’s game. Last minute call up to cover a ref who wasn’t well. It was nice drive through Epping Forest.
Sat 2 May: Went to Harpenden to mentor a young referee and then went to Everett’s to referee two U18 girls matches, one after the other. It was a very hot day! In the evening I went to Luton to pick up Katerina and Vaso,
April
Wed 29 April: In the late afternoon I picked up LucyAnn from Radlett station and have her a lift to Purcell. There was a special Composers Concert in her name with 24 pieces composed by students for her! She was very emotional at the end.
Tue 28 April: In the afternoon I did an AS practical exam again after about 4 years. Straight after I went to Kentish Town to a songwriters event which included Natalie Shay.
Sun 26 Apr: Got up very early and walked to the Essex Arms where we boarded a coach to Blackfriars Bridge where we spent many hours handing out water to the London Marathon runners. It was a hot day but the world record was broken, 1:59:30!
Sat 25 April: I did a park run at Leavesden and then drove to Parmiters to referee an U13 girls game. At 4pm Stefanos came over and we went visiting to my mum and then Roula. We then took some kebab takeaway and went round to Oakleigh Gardens for some watering.
Fri 24 Apr: Went to an event organised by the Sickle Cell society and Imperial. There was information about sickle cell anaemia and also a really strong, powerful play with three actors.
Wed 22 April: Attended the WIFA AGM at the players’ lounge at Watford FC.
Sun 19 Apr: Took Katerina and Vaso to Luton airport for their two week trip to Corinth.
Sat 18th: Went to Samuel Ryder Academy to mentor young George in only his second game as a referee. He did really well.
Wed 15 Apr: One last stroll around Den Haag before the train ride to the (Schiphol) airport for the return flight to Luton.
Tue 14 April: Train ride to Leiden and then a bus ride to Keykenhof where the amazing tulip gardens are! A four hour stroll around the gardens and then a return to Leiden for a little wander around that town.
Mon 13 April: A 50 min train ride north to Amsterdam. It is an amazing city, full of canals! They call it Venice of the north for a reason! Visited the outside of Anne Frank house. Sadly to get inside you have to pre book many weeks in advance. So many amazing buildings in Amsterdam!
Sun 12 April: Train to Rotterdam where we saw some finishers of the marathon there!
We then got the train back to Delft, a lovely town!
In the late afternoon we walked the 2 miles to the seafront of The Hague. It would be amazing in the summer months!
Sat 11 April: Got up early and jogged to Zuiderpark where we ran the Parkrun, getting a Z and a new flag!
Fri 10 Apr: Off to Amsterdam for a few days.
Thu 9 April. Efi and Niovi Kerkidou at the Larnaca launch of the book for the unaccompanied children from 1974.
Wed 8 April: Helped to set up the start & finish funnel and then ran the first ever Colin Taylor Mile! Missed out on goal standard by 9 seconds, 7:15.
Tue 7 April: The published book of photos about the children that were sent to Greece in 1974 arrived from Cyprus. My cousin Christakis went to the Nicosia launch and sent a copy to me.
Fri 3 April: Bank Holiday Friday. Went to my Purcell Allotment in the morning and then Stefanos came over. We went to Crews Hill where I bought a small olive tree for the allotment. We then went to visit my sister Nitsa before returning home.
Fri 27 Mar: Purcell had InSeT so I didn’t need to go in. Instead I drove to an MLD school in Ickenham, Pentland Field School and spoke to a group of around 25 students about humanism and answered some of the questions they had sent me via their teachers in advance.
Tue 24th Mar: In the evening we went to a Jazz concert at The Palace Theatre in Watford to see students of the Purcell School on stage! With guest musicians they played the music of Tubby Hayes.
Sun 22nd Mar: Refereed an U14 cup quarterfinal at Maccabi FC and then went to The Stables at M. Keynes for a Cheilidh dancing event.
Sat 21st: I went to The Met Club in the morning to mentor a young 15yr old referee. The first such mentoring session.
Sun 15th Mar: Flew back to a sunny but cold Luton in the morning. Then celebrated Mother’s Day with Stefanos round our place and lots of pizza!
Sat 14th Mar: Went round to cousin Ellitsa’s house where Pambos cooked some fish! Saw little Eliana playing on the piano and then Charalambos who plays the violin and their dad came round (Maria’s family).
Fri 13th Mar: Shopping for souvenirs and then drove to Nicosia where we met Kosma and Christaki, my cousins. We then drove up to Kykkos and Throni. Amazing places!
Thu 12th Mar: After a short run towards the salt lakes we drove to Visakia where we managed to find a man who fixed the cross on my Nounnas grave. We then drove up to Pedoulas where we found the old school where I went as a child for a summer camp.
Wed 11th Mar: On the return from Páfos we stopped at Limassol and met Yiannis for a brief chat. We then met Niovi Kerkidou for a chat about her book and the unaccompanied children group. Back in Larnaca we went to the theatre in the evening where we saw a play on important women through the years which included Elena Hadjiafxendi.
Tue 10th Mar: Got the TUI bus up to the village of Letymvou and ran the Wine Run 5Km. It was a hilly run but it was fun. After the run there was wine tasting and nibbles and a guy playing Cypriot music on the laouto. As well as a medal we were also given a bottle of wine!
Mon 9th Mar: A relaxing day. Walking around gingerly. In the afternoon we went to the Mall and met up with Skevi.
Sun 8th Mar: Early rise to catch the 5:30am coach to the start line. At 7am we set off for the Marathon with a finish at the castle. In the evening we went for a lovely meal at The Windmill restaurant.
Sat 7th Mar: Drove to Páfos for tomorrow’s Marathon! In the evening we ran the Sunset 5k run.
Fri 6th Mar: Short jog along to Mackenzy beach and back, then walked around Larnaca some more. In the evening we went to see a ΘΟΚ production. Serious stuff, but I enjoyed it.
Wed 4th Mar: Drove to Nicosia and had a coffee and a long chat with journalist and historian Mihalis Michail. We then went to Astromeritis and saw my auntie Sofoula and my sister Nitsa who happened to also be visiting. We then went to see the graves of my godparents at Visakia and my dad & brother at Astromeritis. On our return towards Nicosia we stopped at Peristerona and saw my aunty Maroula uncle Zinoni and cousins Petro, Elli, Anthi & Hristalla. Then onto the Zodia club/restaurant. The choir was practicing and got to hear a bit of their singing! Then our get together with Efi, Mihalis, Maria, Demetris, their two kids, Louis, Athos and the solicitor who helped me with ID and passport, Harilaos Velaris.
Tue 3rd Mar: We went for a morning jog to the airport and back and then discovered a lovely shopping area with a bakery and a fruit stall! Then walked to Mackenzy area for a lovely ice-cream. In the evening we went back to the theatre to see the play “Edo leme SOS”!
Mon 2nd Mar: Another early rise! Drove to Nicosia to the Harilaos Velaris solicitor offices on the 7th floor. He wrote a document to be my signed statement to make my Cypriot ID under the name Panos Fellas. After going to the “judge centre” to get it officially signed we went to the office for issuing IDs and passports. All done in under two hours! They should be arriving by DHL in London soon after the 18th! In the evening we went to the municipal theatre, met with Efi and Michali and watched the film “Christi”!
Sun 1st Mar: Drove to Luton nice and early and flew to Larnaca in Cyprus. A few hours later, a drone hit a runway at Acrotiri Base and got everyone in a panic.
Thu 26 Feb: Drove to the Roxeth project organised by Dot Withers which provides science tuition to students that can’t afford to pay. Met four of the students and helped in a lesson on radioactivity.
Fri 20th We had the annual Watford Area Humanists meal at Toni’s Greek Tavern.
Tue 17th Feb: Went back to the Purcell for more work on the back of Avison.
Mon 16th: Went to Purcell and continued the clearing of the corner of the school behind Avison. I made a start yesterday. Then went for a run and then late lunch at Harvester before going to Hatfield Odeon to see “Hamnet”.
Sat: 14th: After a short run I drove to Yhe Purcell and started doing some clearing work at the “corner”. An evening at The Palace Theatre watching the amazing Queenz!
Fri 13th Feb, Half term begins at Purcell. Completed 3 weeks back teaching A Level and GCSE. After school I went for a run with the two Emmas from Purcell admin dpt. In the evening I went to Moeen’s where we had a mini reunion of ex KFA students, and it was because of the sad occasion of Moeen’s mother’s death, we enjoyed catching up.
Wed 11th Feb: Went to the Seb de Krom evening concert at The Purcell school. Two groups of 5 musicians playing 5 jazz numbers. And of course Seb days after his 55th birthday on the drums.
Sat 7th Feb: Went to Barnet FC where I was one of four referees at the Qatari students football tournament. I did the final.
Wed, 4th Feb: Went to the Theatro Technis to see “The Ophiolite”, a play about mixed marriages, mixed cultures and traditions between England & Cyprus. Very powerful!
Mon, 2nd Feb; Went for brunch with Stefanos at the Toby Carvery. Couldn’t eat much for the rest of the day!
Sunday, 1st Feb: Run the Watford Half marathon in 2:00:16. As always a very hilly race. Dot Withers ran her first ever Half Marathon today!
JANUARY
Fri 30th Jan: Awards night at Watford Joggers. I got one more Motiv-8 and another Gold standard Beechnut.
Mon 26th: First day back teaching at Purcell for a few years! Strange but enjoyable.
Sun 25th: Early start to the day as we went to Bedford for the 10 mile race. It went quite well, finished in 1:25:37, average pace around 8:30 min per mile.
Wed 21 Jan
Went into Purcell for the lunchtime concert and popped in to take a look at the resources in the system. Getting ready to go back to school on Monday to teach for three weeks to cover for Jim.
ln the evening went to watch the Watford v Portsmouth game. A poor game, ended 1-1.
Tue 20th Jan: Drove early to Chater Junior School and gave an assembly to around 240 pupils. Then I went to the lunchtime concert. Just before that I got an email from Purcell. I was asked to cover for 3 weeks of Physics teaching. Then I went to visit my mum and sorted out her free tv license.
Mon 19th Jan: Drove to Leighton Buzzard and have an assembly to a group of around 120 year 5s. I gave them an introduction to humanism and tried a couple of activities/games. They enjoyed it!
Sun 18th : My expected Sunday morning game was called off because of the overnight rain. I picked up this other game at Future Academies, an U16 boys cup game. It was very eventful. 5 yellows, 3 reds a coach sent off, and when he came back to the touch line to give me more abuse, I abandoned the game.
Tue 13th: Drove to Welwyn Garden City to an Interfaith meeting where the speaker outlined the Christian Science church. Met a couple of interesting people and a possible invitation to go there in the future and give a talk on humanism.
Mon 12th:
A gentle jog followed by lunch at La Iguana’s. First time there and it was nice!
Sun 4th:
Very cold and frosty morning. Did a gentle 10 mile jog to King George and back. Then went to the Dial up at the old Garden Rooms to see Alex and the other performers.
I took part in Alex’s impromptu podcast at the end.
In the evening I did the first Greek & English hour shows on Koubebi Radio.
Sat 3rd
Went to South Oxhey for their 500th ParkRun. It was a frozen solid path most of the way round!
Fri 2nd
Drove to Ellington to visit Kia and her family and of course our godson Dimitris.
Thu 1st
Jogged to Cassiobury Park and run the Park Run. We then went to Barnet, picked up Vaso and went for a meal at the Potters Bar Harvester.
We then went back to Vaso’s for cake!