Last Thursday afternoon, Bernice and I went to Cheltenham hospital with Matt to find out the result of his full body PET scan. Although we were confident that everything would be fine, there were still some back of the mind doubts. Matt's consultant, Dr. Sean Elyan met us in a small room in the radiotherapy department. As soon as I found out we had to go there, a feeling of dread overcame me. However, it turned out that this was just because that was where Dr. Elyan happened to be working that day.

The result of the scan showed that after two operations and eight months of chemotherapy, Matt has no active cancer remaining. Although Matt himself just took it in his stride as usual, the relief to the rest of us was just unreal.

After telling us the result, Dr. Elyan asked Matt, 'Are you going out to celebrate tonight?'
'Dunno - might do,' he replied, indifferently.

Matt will have continue to see the specialist every three months for the next two years for a check-up and every year for the rest of his life but the cancer is in remission. If it stays that way for the next five years, chances are it will not come back.

We did celebrate! As a family, with a meal at the Prince of Wales on Saturday evening. And very nice it was too! Eleven months ago, deep down we all took in the possibility that we might lose Matt. Now we have him back and that's just unbelievable to all of us!

The photo below shows my whole family, happy together in one place. This is a most unusual occurrence these days as we all grow older. Left to right in the picture are Matt, myself, Bernice, Sarah, Chris' girlfriend - Ali, Chris and Tina.

Local soprano Clementine Lovell, Baritone Alexander Baker together with their accompanist Anna Channon on the piano gave a brilliant performance of classical songs on Sunday afternoon of the recent holiday weekend.

Alex opened with a recital of A Shropshire Lad by George Butterworth. Clementine followed with a recital of Benjamin Britten's Folksongs. After the interval, Clementine and Alex performed a number of duets by Pergolesi, Mozart, Offenbach, and Lehar.

Well over 100 enthusiasts packed the barn at Broome Farm, an unusual setting for a classical concert. Despite fears, the acoustics were excellent. The barn was decorated with apple blossom, may, lilac and other hedgerow flowers.

At the end of the concert, Clementine and Anna were presented with a bouquet of flowers and Alex was given a bottle of the farm cider.

Clementine thanked John and Hilary Draper for giving their services to provide lunches and teas and to Mike Johnson for the loan of the barn and to everyone who helped prepare the venue.

Phil Long of Broome Farm later said, 'Given the success of this concert, we hope that Clementine will arrange another concert in the future.'

As a free additional benefit to those local businesses supporting Wyenot.com, every week Wyenot News chooses one local business at random to feature in the current issue of the weekly on-line news magazine.

Paul and Denise Chicken would like to welcome you to the Cross Keys Inn, which is situated near to the picturesque village of Goodrich, just four miles from the market town of Ross-on-Wye.

Located just off the A40, the Cross Keys is an ideal stop over for travellers or those on cycling or walking holidays and is perfect to use as a base if sightseeing in the local area. For instance, Goodrich Castle is approximately one mile away and you don't have to travel too far to reach the town of Monmouth or the cities of Hereford or Gloucester. . . .

For further information, click here to go to the Cross Keys page on Wyenot.com.

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