This is tree number 15 in our ever growing Celebration Grove, This is a very special tree as it celebrates the day of our Handfasting, a very special day for both of us, and a day I know we will both remember until the day we die. The planning and preparation was very stressful to say the least, with many ups and downs but the end product was more than worth it. The day was filled with love, joy, happiness and laughter that was shared with the special people who attended, the setting was lovely, the ceremony was magical from beginning to end, our celebrant, Jemma was amazing and the gods ensured the sun shine down upon us all as we celebrated, and the butterfly release was a magical end to a magical ceremony. I honestly think this was the best day of my entire life so far, and I doubt if anything will beat it, and I am so glad we did what we wanted and didn't do things to please others, and here we are a whole year later and it's still as fresh in my memory as if it was yesterday, also still no argument between us, this must be some kind of record lol. Seriously though it may not have seemed it at the time but our Handfasting day was the happiest day ever and you looked amazing, plus we got to have our first dance together EVER !.......?? Happy 1st Handfasting Anniversary sweetie pie, I love you to the moon and back xxx

This is tree number 14 to be planted in our Celebration Grove, its a very special tree as it celebrates 5 very special occasions, the 5 anniversarys of our first meeting from 2015 up until 2019, I clump them all together as I really cannot remember what we did to celebrate any particular one of these anniversarys, but I do know we would have celebrated in some small way, even if it's just a nice meal cooked by me or a takeaway. I would like to thank you for those 5 years of love we spent together and raise a glass to many many more together ? ??? xxx

This is tree number 13 to be planted in our Celebration Grove, it celebrates our engagement on 16th December 2014. After years of telling myself never again as far as getting married was concerned, I knew that what we had was special and I wanted to make that extra commitment to our relationship, so although I gave you an engagement ring it was more of a commitment ring, as I think we were both happy with things the way they were. A few years have passed and you almost got me down the Isle lol, but in the eyes of the gods we are a couple joined in love for eternity, more of that later.... xxx

Tree number 12 planted in our Celebration Grove is to celebrate that little bundle of fur Dottie entering our lives - after 5 months or so of Dasie over bonding with me, and after much discussion and weighing up the pros and cons, we decided it would be a good idea to get a companion for Dasie, again we searched and searched, we didn't want another little puppy, we wanted something of a similar age, then we found Dottie, she was 5 months old and in all honesty hadn't had a great start in life, the house she lived in was terrible, she had never really been outside, had not had her jabs but she was lovely, such a sweet little girl, so we paid a deposit and arranged to collect her a week or so later as we were going away. The day arrived to collect Dottie and boy what a performance that was, we bought a little carry crate for her and placed her inside, she immediately started screaming the place down, then she started throwing up everywhere, she really was a frightened little girl. Once we got her home and cleaned up she took some time to settle in, Dasie was and is still not too fussed on Dottie, or so she would have us believe, but at times she gets a bit panicky if she can't find her, she loves her really lol. The main reason for getting Dottie was to stop Dasie's over bonding and boy what a failure that was as we now have 2 dogs that are over bonded and scream the place down if I dare to leave them, even for just a few minutes. I know in the early days you had reservations as to whether we had done the right thing, but soon everything settled down, we still got the odd bout of snarling and snot but it ends as soon as its started, I for one know that I couldn't imagine life without either of them now, they are like our children and our lives revolve around them...

Tree number 11 in our Celebration Grove is to celebrate your Cancer treatment finally coming to an end, not a great end as it entailed 4 weeks of daily radiotherapy sessions that started on 17th July 2014 and ended on 13th August 2014. This was particularly hard going for you and really did take its toll on you, especially after the chemo and then surgery but the end was in sight, you really were a true cancer warrior, never complained, never felt sorry for yourself and always positive in your outlook, we now just had to wait and see if everything they had thrown at the cancer had worked, our patience was repaid when you got the all clear from Mr Gomez, this was the happiest day of my life, and I guess you were pretty pleased too....

Tree number 10 in our Celebration Grove is to celebrate the pitter patter of tiny paws, its to celebrate that little madam Dasie coming into our lives, after much searching I saw the advert for her and knew she was the one for us, I went straight away and paid the deposit and a few weeks later we were picking her up, she was so small, and although we set out with good intentions of how we were going to raise her, she had completely different ideas, we decided she could sleep by the bed in a clothes basket, that didn't even last one night as she climbed into bed during the night and made her bed on your head... From that day on she ruled the house, but she was a pleasure to have around and such good company for me when I had to wait outside the hospital while you had radiotherapy etc.. There have been so many great memories of Dasie's antics over the years, including when she tried to top herself, when she pooped in the bed and her constant grumpy attitude, the unusual spelling for her name was down to me as I wanted to keep old Sadie dogs name going, so just rearranged the letters. I think or at least hope that, the little white bundle of fun came into your life when you needed her the most.

Tree number 9 in our Celebration Grove is to celebrate your 50th birthday, a great time to celebrate, with your treatment coming to an end, and we did it in style, a nice meal at the Mousetrap I think it was called, with a lovely birthday cake, then I made you a lady by getting you a title, which did make me popular with the ladies but not with the men as I was accused of setting the bar too high lol. Then to top it all off Kathy and John, with a little help from me managed to throw a surprise 50th birthday party complete with an amazing purple Dr Marten boot cake. These are supposed to be memorable birthdays and I hope we all did our best to make sure you always remember your big 50... Happy Birthday Sweetypie xxx

Tree number 8 in our Celebration Grove is planted to celebrate our 4th anniversary of our first meeting, wow a whole four years - but given the circumstances we probably just took things easy for this anniversary, maybe I cooked a nice meal or we had a takeaway, but no matter what we did, the main emphasis during this year was to get you through the chemotherapy treatment, and to deal with whatever else they threw at us in order to beat this demon. Our first 4 years together has been fun and most definitely boozy lol and I'm so happy that I had someone like you to share this time with. Happy 4th Anniversary Sweetypie xxx

Tree number 7 in our Grove is planted to honour the memory of our beloved Sadie Dog. Sadie sadly passed away in February of 2014, and sadly I only had the pleasure of her company for a few years and usually just on the weekend, but she was a lovely old lady with not one bad bone in her body, she was always happy to see people, and even to go off with them like she did at Cosmeston Lakes that day... You gave Sadie a chance when others gave up on her and she repaid you with years of love and devotion, and to honour her memory not only does she have a star named after her and Dasie named in her honour but she also has this tree planted in her name, a memorial that will last for many many years to come, she may be gone but she will never be forgotten. X

This is tree number 6 planted in our ever growing Celebration Grove, unfortunately tree number 6 isn't a tree of celebration but more an event marker, it marks the devastating time late in 2013 when you found that lump while we were away for the weekend, and later got the diagnosis of Bi-lateral breast cancer, the following month just before Christmas you started chemotherapy and a journey that would change both our lives forever and bring us even closer as a couple. From the day you were diagnosed you stood up to it, you didn't go and throw yourself a pity party, which you were more than entitled to do, instead you looked it full in the face and decided you were going to kick its arse, through all the treatments, operations and emotional stress you never once complained, you were a true cancer warrior and together we beat it. Everybody needs a hero in their lives and you are my superhero, I love you now, forever and always xxx.

This is the 5th tree planted in our Celebration Grove, it is planted to celebrate our 3rd year together as a couple in March 2013 I really wish I could remember what we did for this anniversary but we probably did something nice.... any ideas ?

27th January 2013......... This fourth tree planted in our Celebration Grove is to honour Mikey's 50th year on this planet, if I remember correctly I had a huge birthday party planned with a live band, disco and buffet all sorted for the big day, I was going to hold it at Barry Dock Con's as that's where I was working, planning was going well and invites were being designed by myself until I stupidly decided on a life change and was determined to lose weight and run a half marathon for the teenage cancer Trust, the party was cancelled and rescheduled for after the half marathon, so a double or even triple celebration, 50th Birthday, weight loss target achieved and half marathon run - I was so determined to reach these goals that I went onto the Cambridge Plan to lose weight, I did this after seeing how well Mitch from the Communicators had done on it, I contacted him and he became my consultant, which meant weekly train rides down to Burnham on Sea to pick up supplies and get weighed. I find it unbelievable to think I was surviving on just under 500 calories a day, but I did lose weight, a whole lot of weight and at one point I lost just under 1 stone in a week, and the preparations for the half marathon were well and truly underway, that was until I was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia and CFS and my life changed forever - one thing that never changed was you sweety, you were and have always been by my side, supporting and comforting me through this very difficult of times. We never did celebrate my 50th with a huge party and I never did get to run the half marathon and I put all the weight back on and some more, but the Teenage Cancer Trust did get a whack of sponsorship money out of it, so there was something positive to come out of all this. Happy 50th Birthday to me xxx

10th March 2012..... This tree is planted to celebrate another great year of us being together and the 2nd anniversary of us meeting for the first time at Barry Island, back then our next time together was very precious as we basically only had weekends due to work, but we did enjoy ourselves and probably got very drunk to celebrate, as was our thing back then, I also remember buying you some bulbs for your garden one year to celebrate either a birthday or anniversary. Anyway we most definitely raised a glass to being together for 2 years and not a single cross word between us. Happy Anniversary Sweety Pie XXX.

The first tree to be planted in our Celebration Grove was planted for the first time we met, which was on the 10th of March 2010 at Barry Island, you brought Sadie dog for protection, we had a cuppa at the World famous Marcos Cafe and went for a walk, finally we shared some Hobnobs, the King of dunking biscuits sat on the wall of the promenade. This second tree will be to celebrate our first anniversary of the start of our life journey together on 10th of March 2011, we probably got totally wasted lol. Happy Anniversary Sweety Pie xxx