The pendulum has swung again, and another 12 months have flown past faster than Chat GPT writing a 500 word essay on ‘how fast time flies’.

So, what has 2025 thrown at the ever-resilient Gascoyne’s of Hagley I hear you saying – well strap in yet again for the story you didn’t want, told in a way you don’t enjoy, about people you can hardly remember! Let us begin with the youngest of the group, the ‘chadult’ of Merion Lodge, Mr Samuel Fraser Gascoyne and his exploits. Sam is now in the second year of his quantity surveying apprenticeship and going great guns with a couple pay rises, strong end of year feedback and a genuine enjoyment of his chosen profession. He, and the wonderfully patient Juliette, continue to flourish in their relationship and despite her relocation to the city where royalty is dug up in carparks and all the best people go to university, they fan the flames of their romance at a long(ish) distance. As a consequence of Juliette’s absence, we have seen a little more of Sammykins and noticed the following things:

Xboxitis is incurable
Sam has contracted a debilitating illness called Fucalarmclocitis, a condition where you are able to ignore, turn off or sleep through multiple alarms. Fortunately for suffers this is never your fault – either the problem is the alarms or other people, so you can never be held responsible for being late for work or missing university classes. Phew.
Sam would rather wear his father’s clothes than wash his own.
When the apolocalypse comes, Sam will survive having spent the last year prepping by living in a harsh, filthy, inhospitable environment. I guess he could just wash his clothes and tidy his room, but where’s the fun in that?

On a more positive, serious note, Sam is clearly a fun, intelligent, successful man. Pulling up trees at work, enjoying a healthy mature relationship, contributing through rent to the household, spending time with a great bunch of mates, playing badminton, yearning after Cole Palmer and spending regular quality time with Grandad and wider family. We are super proud of him and look forward to seeing him grow more in 2026. I will also mention the week that Sam and I spent in Riga earlier this year, centred around the England vs Latvia international, but with many other highlights (mostly based on walking, eating and drinking). Sam was great company and just up for a fun time. It was genuinely a privilege for me to get 6 days of 1:1 time with my son and get to know him even more – Thanks Sam for a wonderful few days.

Next on the Chrimbo hitlist is eldest child and trainee paramedic Rebecca Ella Gascoyne. What a year 2025 has been for Bex – she started the year serving drunks in a pub and is now saving them in an ambulance. If Deb and I thought her time in Oz had changed her, that was nothing compared to the second half of the year where she has grown up before our eyes as she becomes a first responder through an incredibly demanding period of learning and exams. Academically, she has literally smashed it, pouring in hour after hour of classroom learning, revision and additional development on her way to exceeding target grades in every test and exam she did. Of course this is impressive, but the confidence she took from this deserved success and the way she channelled that back into her work was amazing to watch. After a shakier start to the ambulance driving she has found her mojo behind the wheel and aced her blue-light test – she can now be found regularly weaving through midlands traffic with the air of an F1 driver – well done Bex. As I write this, she has just started the second of two consecutive night shifts. The first included heart attack, suspected stroke, chronic alcohol consumption and a big pile of dogshit – that’s how nervous Deb and I were (ba bom om bom – I’m here all week).

Bex has also become a regular netballer (apples and trees), continues to bake with aplomb, solo travelled to Edinburgh, Glasgow, Cambridge and Manchester and just like her little bro contributes to the household through rent and chore delivery. Also just like her little bro her bedroom resembles a midden heap in 19^th century Birmingham (which in fairness resembles any street in Birmingham today following a 2-year bin strike and a bankrupt local authority) so don’t think its perfect here cos it ain’t!

It is now time to unveil 2025 through the eyes of Deb R Gascoyne. Let’s get the more serious stuff out of the way first and comment on Debs health. At the start of the year Debs myeloma started to get the better of the treatment she was on and as a result the excellent team at QE recommended a change and she started on an alternative treatment as part of another clinical trial. Unfortunately, soon after she started to feel unwell and as her temperature rose, I packed an overnight bag (just to be prepared) and drove her to hospital. The nurses said we had probably done the right thing and did a couple tests, including blood oxygen levels – at which point the gear change was clear and a couple hours later Deb was in a hospital bed permanently sporting an oxygen mask. And there she stayed for 8 days. They never found out what the cause, and I learned that the medical term ‘atypical chest infection’ comes from the Greek ‘Chesti antitypicus infectori’ which translates literally to ‘She cor breath and we haven’t got a f@#king clue why!’

Amazingly, 8 days later she was well enough to be home and go on with her treatment which continues to hold the cancer at bay – but with some nefarious side effects that deplete her energy levels and leave her more open to infections. She has decided to stop working so she can make the most of her healthy time. Despite this Deb continues to inspire which I will illustrate through the globally accepted method of 2 truths and a lie:

Deb is the current CIPD National Volunteer Fundraiser of the Year – receiving the award in a glitzy ceremony in London earlier this year.
Deb is the current player of the year at Belbroughton Cricket Club
After 3 consecutive wins Deb has been able to permanently retain the National Gurner of the Year lifetime achievement award. At the award ceremony held in Monaco she managed to beat Old Stinky Donald Higginbotham with a Gurn that put 2 judges in hospital and made the cameraman lose his sight for 48 hours. Stunning performance.

Have you worked it out? Of course you have (Deb is shit at cricket!). The National Fundraiser title was an outstanding performance and is just reward for 15 years of effort and (yet to be confirmed), over £250k raised – simply amazing.

So, the final note is on yours truly. Work, whisky, cycling, house, holidays.

2025 has been a tough year for a number reasons, but we have faced it with resilience and as always some fabulous support from wonderful friends and family. Thanks to all of you who have raised money (with silent discos, sausage rolls, auctions and more), raised spirits and raised glasses – you make a big difference to us. It was wonderful in the Summer to celebrate with lots of you at our joint 50^th and Bex 21^st house party – great food, great drink (introducing Pete Fraser to Negronis and his subsequent mild speech impediment a personal highlight) and amazing people all brought together by the Midlands’ premier entertainer DJ Jazzy Jay. What a night (and we are expecting Moley to wake up any time soon!). If you know, you know.

2026 will bring its own challenges with Deb’s treatment likely to change again, but some highlights too. These include the family affair that is May’s London2Paris cycle ride with Myeloma UK. De...

Debs' Journey with Myeloma

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