December 15^th 2006    To our very precious friends in Great Britain, 

This has been a very busy year for me and it isn’t over by a long way!. I couldn’t let the year go past without sending you all our Christmas greetings.  This year Hugh and I decided to give a donation to the Wheelchair Foundation instead of spending money on Christmas cards and postage so this is the reason for the E mail and I am afraid it will not give you the same thrill as going to the door and picking the mail up off the floor! 

We have been to Copenhagen this past year and it was wonderful to see some of you there although disappointing not to meet up with Bas . We tried so hard too didn’t we Bas?.The weather was wonderful, the convention and the scenery too. It was a great experience all round.Hugh and I stayed another day after the convention and did some more touring and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

Now we are looking forward to Salt Lake City this coming year. Well, in 43 days we will be boarding the plane at 6.00 a.m to fly to San Diego for the last lap of my DG training. I am looking forward to this and also looking forward to connecting with the Governor from District 9260 in Australia where we will be exchanging GSE teams.I was fortunate to link up over the internet and so I got my first choice. After we finish at the International Assembly we take our luggage and walk across the road to the harbour where there is a cruise liner (holland America) waiting to sail to Mexico. It has our names on it and we are going to do some R&R on board as this will probably be my last chance before really getting  on the “road”. In March we have PETS and in April we have the District Assemblies.We hold 6 Assmeblies! 

Just a note of interest for you. The size of my district 5550 is as follows:-The distance between the clubs east to the clubs west is approximately 1400 kms and north to south it is 1300 kms.If one considers the actual district boundaries, the distance is much further.The total area of the district is just under 2 million square kms.In the district there are 47 clubs with a membership of approximately 1850.This gives you some idea of the travelling that is involved during the year. Then after that the District has its Conference at the end of May and then it is only a matter of time before that date of July 1^st comes around!How incredible. I still remember the evening when we were over with the GSE girls and we were having a meal at the Chinese Restaurant and I was wearing the DG jacket that belonged to your current Governor John Anslow. My comment then was “well this is the closest that I will ever be to becoming a district governor!”.Who would have known. 

Changing the subject we are deep into the winter months and have lots and lots of snow!.It wouldn’t be Saskatchewan without it though. Hugh traded his snowblower in for a new one and is he ever pleased as this year he has been outside blowing the snow away most days. We had a record snowfall in November. We are both most fortunate as our health is good. We have our regular aches and pains but have nothing to complain of at all. 

We are looking forward to the Christmas Season and spending it with the Girls and their families. Chris my son is in Victoria and he cannot make it home for the holidays this year, however I was out to see him only last month and that was a real treat for me.Chris and his wife have only dogs in their family (2 to be exact) and they are our grand-dogs! I think that I have rambled on for long enough .Just wanted to touch base with you all and wish you a very Happy Christmas and a healthy and happy New Year Love to hear from anyone if you ever get the urge to e mail. 

God bless and keep  smiling Your Canadian friends form snowy Saskatoon    

June and Hugh Cathcart