More patience

I started playing the games of patience which Grandpa wrote about in 2008. I asked him to tell me what proportion of games he won. He replied that he had already done that for Jim and he would give me a copy of the report.  Click here to see it. The typeface is a bit small.

In summary he won 33% of the 100 games. 26% of Aunty Allis, 29% of Seven and Six, 42% of Senior Wrangler, 55% of Uncle Remus and 11% of Kings.

If you can beat Grandpa, you are doing very very well.

Click here if you want to see the full rules of each game.

Jacob's Farm Country Club, nearly ready to re-open

A brief history of Close Brothers

The story of Close Brothers (“CB”) as far as Dad was concerned began with Ken Woodward-Fisher ...
Close Brothers

Comments
Dad wrote to me that the original name of the company was Safeguard, (formed by our Grandfather in 1952 the year that I was born), and it was changed to Close brothers that Dad then became chairman of. [From David's story it looks like Safeguard was an investor in Close Brothers]
Rob by email  Jan 3 2018

From Wikipedia:
'Management and leveraged buy-outs became phenomena of the 1980s. MBOs originated in US and traversed the Atlantic, spreading first to the U.K. and then throughout Europe. The venture capital industry has played a crucial role in the development of buy-outs in Europe, especially in smaller deals in the U.K., the Netherlands, and France.'
How near was Dad, in 1976, to being the originator of such moves?
Posted by: Paul K | June 01, 2016 at 02:03 PM

How interesting to read the inside the story of the bank's origin.
Posted by: Tom | June 01, 2016 at 09:54 AM

Edward returns

I have just arrived back from my ski season and obviously did nothing silly throughout the whole 5 months so here is a video of me doing something silly...

sorry about the poor quality and the video becomes exciting from about 0.57 second in
Edward x

Comments

sorry, very vague of me. I am the one who goes bigger and crashes in yellow salopettes, and a friend of mine does the mislanded backflip

Posted by: Edward Keeling | May 03, 2016 at 06:25 PM

Well done Edward, but which was you, the first or the second? after 0:57. David

Posted by: david keeling | April 21, 2016 at 02:00 PM

Permanent Memorial

Mum has taken delivery of her headstone; some of you will have had the chance to visit, but thought the rest might like to see it.  The sun was directly behind it, but I think this works well enough to give you the idea.  For what it's worth I think Dad has done very well.  Happy New Year all of you. xxP&V

Comments
Hi Keeling family, sorry this was the only way I seemed to be able to find you. My mother in law who recently passed left a whole collection of letters and correspondence. Amoung the collection is an invite from Mrs Arthur Gibbs to the wedding of Jenifer Barbara to Michael Keeling on Friday April 20th 1951 at St James Spanish Place together with the order of service. Is this your Michael & Jenifer, I would love for someone to have these items.
Posted by: Kate Meager | June 30, 2016 at 01:20 PM

A very smart headstone. Excellent that it has been put into place a couple of months earlier than forecast. xx Tom
Posted by: Tom | January 01, 2016 at 02:00 PM

a great improvement on the wooden cross!

Posted by: george | January 01, 2016 at 12:11 PM

Temporary Memorial

I stayed with Grandpa last weekend and visited Granny's grave. It was almost impossible to see where it was and somebody (no names mentioned) had dug in a bottle of Chablis about where her left shoulder would be. It contained two dead chrysanthemums. I tidied it up and reported to Buddha who instructed that a temporary memorial should be erected. The proper one may not go in until March.

Comments
Went to see granny + grave with tom and co today. Her cross looks great (as a temporary solution), excellent work George.
Posted by: Archie | November 08, 2015 at 12:16 AM

I forgot to mention that it says "Jenny Keeling 1927-2015" on the cross.
Posted by: george | October 28, 2015 at 11:21 AM

Thank you for the update and the picture. I am glad that we will not need to feel unsure of where Mum's grave is now. Is there something written on the cross that you have put at Mum's head? It looked as though there is some red writing on it. Tom

Posted by: Tom the older | October 28, 2015 at 11:05 AM

Graves

I visited Mum's grave a few times while staying at Jacobs 18-25 July. It is still a body sized mound covered in turf as it was immediately after the funeral on May 2. Bouquets from the funeral are still at both ends looking rather like tangled hair. On my second visit I tried to plant some flowers from the garden on the mound. Martin gave me some instructions which included dead heading. They are also rather hairy looking ones with a few small pink flowers. They come from the circular flowerbed between the house and the dell. A gravestone will soon be added but that has to wait until the grave has settled or it will fall over.

While I was there I also updated the graveyard map.

(Sir) John Henry Keeling & Dorothy May Keeling
Walk down the path on the left of the church, continue straight on after it turns right over some grass and continue between some very old graves. The gravestone is just after the next path you come to. The gravestone is lying down and could do with a scraping. Modestly, the knighthood is not mentioned on the grave.

Mum and Dad *
From there you would turn left and walk straight along the path at the back of the cemetery until it meets the path from the Lychgate. Then walk the same distance again and Mum and Dad's grave is just before a little tree.

Johnny and Jocelyn *
Johnny was my uncle and his grave is at the back of the churchyard, three rows behind Mum's and with a very smart standing gravestone which does mention that he had a DFC (Distinguished Flying Cross). Jocelyn was his wife.

I have walked in 40 minutes from Jacobs via the park field, Hurst lane, Churchland lane, then right after Killingan wood across some fields. You can enter the cemetery by Jacobs gate, apparently so called because the people from Jacobs always walked that way to church.

George
* Updated 19 Sep 2019

Comments
It was a particular wish of Uncle Johnnie to have the DFC on his gravestone. Although a remarkably modest man, he was very proud of his medal.
Somewhere in the graveyard my other grandmother, Mary Wenham's, ashes were buried. I think i could find it and must look on my next visit.
Posted by: Nick Crean | June 01, 2016 at 11:35 AM

George, great map etc. When I was at Jacobs in early June with Arthur he led an expedition to Mum's grave and I took an edging iron from the potting shed and cut back the grass and earth from Granny and Grandpa's gravestone. The Petri brothers had brought its overgrown condition to my attention after Mum's burial. When I was doing the cutting back I noticed that after Grandpa's name there is Kt (I think) so perhaps that is the nod to his title? I agree that the inscriptions on the stone needed a bit of sharpening up. Maybe a job for my next visit?? Tom

Posted by: Tom | July 26, 2015 at 12:24 PM

Updates 19 Sep 2019

There is a rather morbid graves website where photos of the grave stones may also be seen.

Hello Viv

Meet Viv who was born to Alice on June 25 on the information I have from her grandfather. This photo was taken the next day, so I suppose she must be at home now. Also, according to my informant Vivian was either 7lbs 8oz or 8lbs 7oz. Both weights are good. Well done Alice! More stuff at https://www.facebook.com/alice.keeling1

George, with apologies for the delay.

Comment
Brilliant! xox

Posted by: Jim | June 30, 2015 at 10:03 AM

Trevor and Louise

Trevor and Louise came to visit me in Berlin last weekend and they had some great news.

Three cheers. Such good news. Lots of love from Jacquie and Trevor
Posted by: Trevor Keelng | June 08, 2015 at 11:15 AM

Massive congrats Trev and Louise! Wonderful news.
Posted by: Archie | June 06, 2015 at 05:37 PM

Lots of congratulations and love from Rob xxx
Posted by: rob k | June 06, 2015 at 04:23 PM

We're very far from setting a date. thanks for the messages. Certainly next year, I think
Posted by: Trevor | June 06, 2015 at 11:09 AM

Absolutely brilliant and fantastic. Congratulations and look forward to hearing the date. With lots of love from Tom,Siobhan,Arthur,Edward, Imo and Flora
Posted by: Tom | June 06, 2015 at 10:02 AM

oh WOW - congratulations Trevor and Louise - that is the best news - lots of love Paul and Van xxx
Posted by: Van Keeling | June 06, 2015 at 08:53 AM

Grandpa, Michael Keeling uses the 'f' word

Grandpa, Michael Keeling swears in front of granny. She laughs. Co-starring Jacquie, Trevor, George and Jim who I left off the credits, by accident.

Jacobs wind farm and Sir Michael?

At the beginning of the month, just before budha's 89th, birthday I had one of my stupid 'brainwaves' and I wondered why people don't build windfarms in forests and jungles. I put it on that silly website georgekeeling.com, saying "In Germany they sprout up in every farm, generating energy and income for the locals. To me they seem majestic as they slowly rotate above the fields, while cows graze or corn grows beneath them". In forests and jungles, "Forest walkers would occasionally come across a man-made tree trunk disappearing into the canopy, the sensitive English would barely be offended, indigenous jungle dwellers could earn a bit more from their jungle. The environmental impact would be minimal or positive."

We could start a revolution at Jacobs and put up a few there -- see my picture. The big ones are huge and have a little cockpit at the top (100m up) for mainenance. You could probably sleep up there in the sky. According to the Global Wind Energy Council, "An onshore wind turbine with a capacity of 2.5–3 MW can produce more than 6 million kWh in a year – enough to supply 1,500 average EU households with electricity." Jacobs wind farm could power Hastings. Budha might get knighted!

Here's a project worthy of some of the grandchildren. Arthur, it would be an excellent 'case study' on your business studies course. And then I haven't even mentioned the zip wire possibilities.....

Comment
Air slows down and becomes turbulent upon contact with the ground. The rougher the ground the higher you have to go up to get out of this slow and turbulent region. Trees increase the roughness of the ground so you would need an extra long mast for the turbine. Probably the mast would be so long it would become too expensive a thing to do.

Also you need to be able to construct and maintain the wind turbines. This would require roads for access and a large cleared area adjacent to the turbine where you could set it out before you erected it.

So, all in all, I think its best if we concentrate efforts in construction of wind turbines in unwooded areas to begin with.

Posted by: Trevor the younger | January 23, 2015 at 04:51 PM

World's first bunjee jump

Earlier this week Arthur sent me an email with a link to a TV show he had seen in Bristol http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-29819029
which was fun to see. A blast from the past maybe but I did think that Simon looked as a cool as a cucumber.....he might as well have been climbing over the fence into the Park Field rather than taking a leap into the unknown! Tom

George added: I can't view the viseo in Germany. This may be the same one from Youtube:

Part Time Work??

Does anyone out there want to, or know someone that would like to, earn some money for pretty simple (read boring) part time work?  The work can be done in your own time, evenings, weekend, whenever suits (but it does have to get done!).  At an estimate, there is currently 200 hours’ work a year.  There are currently 50 projects per year and each project takes around 4 hours(ish) to complete.  It would be best (but not vital) if the person was able to spend ½ day in our office to get some initial training. We will pay £7.00 an hour.

You will need to:

1. Have a computer with Microsoft Office
2. Be able to connect to the net to transfer files from time to time
3. Be comfortable using Microsoft excel
4. Invoice us for your time
5. Be able to turn around the projects in 1 week

Get hold of me if you or someone you know might be interested in this. xP

Comment
I need part time workers too! I tried Amazon's Mechanical Turk but you need US residence etc. which I cannot do. I will be looking for Euro equivalent.

Posted by: george keeling | October 22, 2014 at 10:23 AM

Keelings v's Sedlescombe 31st August 2014

We all met at the Brickwall (George’s favourite hostelry) for lunch, generously supplied by Mum & Dad and the whole team was present!  Nine Keelings and 2 ringers supplied by Kate Keeling (Will Crompton & Steve Watkins).  The weather was fine, barometer climbing  and all set fair.

The match started promptly following the loss of the toss by Paul, we were put into bat.  It all started well enough with an opening stand of 69.  Only ending with the loss of Josh’s wick for 40 (top Keeling score).  Will Cromption then came in and the score continued to 96 until he fell for 15.  From here things turned rather grave and the only highlights of what followed (a middle order collapse tailgated by a tail end capitulation?) were Harry’s 12 and Luke’s unbeaten 19. Long and the short of it saw us coming in early for tea, all out for 137.

We had batted for 38 overs, quite a lot for not many runs?  The general view though was that this was a little thin!

And so it proved.  In their 31st over Sedlescombe went past our score and secured victory.  In almost all areas of the game I feel we probably have to admit defeat, EXCEPT in that most important of areas ‘Esprit de Corps’.  In this area, with our never say die attitude and bulldog spirit, we aced ‘em.  So Hussar for the Keelings and heads up for next year.

And now for some history -  Having checked with the archivist I can report the following (slightly uncertain) ‘facts’:

The first fixture of this match was post war and a one off, happened sometime between 1947 and 1950.  Grandpa, Jack Keeling, was captain and the pitch at that time was down where the A21 is now.

The next match was not played until (we think) 1966, Dad was captain and Trevor Keeling and Howard Palmer played aged 12?.  It has been a pretty constant fixture since then.

So, we are either nearing the 50th anniversary or (at a stretch) on the 67th!! Nearing the 50th is what I’d go for.
Comments
I've read today you've got 11 Keelings and it's a world record, is the story on-line somewhere?
Posted by: Dave Thompson | August 26, 2016 at 06:57 PM

Harumph. See what happens when you go the Brickwall. It's under the curse of Keeling.
Posted by: george keeling | September 08, 2014 at 06:24 AM

Paul is the mostest! Long live Paul !
Love Mum...
Posted by: Jenifer Keeling | September 07, 2014 at 04:54 PM

Rallying news

Some news from Somerset. Edward and his seven friends have completed their 1,000 mile bike ride from Trafalgar Square to Casino Square in Monaco, arriving after thirteen days on the road and camping all the way through France en route. Ironically they had to push their bikes for the very last bit because it is illegal to ride a bike in Casino Square and there are masses of police who patrol the streets there. I drove their support vehicle all the way and I was very impressed by the strength of all of them completing their daily ride, coping with mechanical breakdowns and camping each night. Four of the lads have their father serving in the navy, army or air force and they have raised nearly £15,000 sponsorship for SSAFA which is a charity that supports injured servicemen and their families. Many thanks to everyone who supported that.

Arthur is pushing on from Almaty in Khazakstan now, after staying with Alice for a night or two. He is aiming to cross into Russia briefly and then drop down into Mongolia and head for Ulaan Battoor which is the destination for him and his buddy in their Nissan Micra and that will put about 10,000 miles under their belts. Then they are aiming to drive home, mostly through Russia before hitting western Europe again. Alice, thank you for harbouring them and also your very kind message since their departure. Tom

The Battle - Jacobs car rally

Mum and Dad always taught their children never to waste time: Every Sunday there would be a cry, "The cars are ready". Up to eight small boys would run to get in a car. Mum drove hers, Dad his, with us packed in. They raced each other to church, overtaking, fast and safely, in the narrow Sussex lanes. We cheered them on: "Come on Mum, you can overtake  here!". We arrived, breathless with excitement, about a minute before the priest came out of the sacristy. The return journey was similar. Eight boys ran out of church, Mum and Dad leading the charge. It was very important to be first out of the car park because there were not many overtaking places. One Sunday Dad, who was the less ruthless of the pair, picked up a tardy boy and left the car park second. To be fair, Mum's car was not so powerful, so she needed every trick in the book. Driving like Stirling Moss, Dad caught up with Mum at the junction of Stream Lane, Riccars Lane and the A21. The photo shows the approach. Cars are whizzing by at high speed. The approach is very steep so hand brake skills are needed. You can barely see the cars coming in from each side, so you must get the front wheels just over the line and usually stop. Sly Dad had seen the opportunity. Mum was stopped for traffic and he drove up beside her at the line. There were shrieks of delight. A gap came, tyres squealed and Dad got away in front. From there, it was an easy run home with well known blocking techniques deployed.

Deadly junction: http://goo.gl/maps/vkJyC#

My mother did not meekly submit to this display of male prowess. The next week she and team were again first out of the car par. We came to the A21 line with Dad hot on our heels. Mum in the middle of the left of the road, front wheels on the line. As ever the traffic was heavy and Dad was incoming. Mum shouted, "Open the doors!" Four doors swung open to more shrieks. There was no way for another car to get safely to the line. They were blocked. Mum and her team were victorious. The roast beef and Yorkshire pud tasted better than ever that day. From that day on, childish overtaking at that junction was not fair play.*

Being the son of this crazy pair, I took the lesson to heart and thought. Surprise and cunning go a long way. When, at the age of 13, in my childish opinion, god seemed about as likely as Father Christmas, I played the anti-race. When the cry, "The cars are ready", came, I stayed on the sofa reading the Sunday Times. One of the drivers came back for me and said, "Are you coming?" I said, "No". There was no time, they gracefully accepted defeat. The race was on.

Comment

Laughed out loud reading this! Good tale and brought the memories flooding back. I scent a challenge, perhaps each of the brothers should try to come up with a similar tale of the lunacy involved in growing up in a family of 8 boys with such forgiving parents and the amazing freedom we enjoyed?

Posted by: Paul | July 23, 2014 at 08:06 AM

Mons duplex: Golia and Aco

TWO TRIPS
On Sunday Arthur headed off on the Mongol Rally, at the beginning of his 10,000 mile drive from London to Ulaanbaatur the capital of Mongolia. He is travelling with Will James, a friend from school and they are travelling in a Nissan Micra (a bit smaller than Mum and Dad's cars and it is packed to the roof with rations and spare parts). From the pictures of the launch on the Mongol Rally website it is evident that silly, crazy and very crazy cars are definitely the order of the day for this trip. Their route will take them through the landscapes of Europe to Istanbul and then through Turkey. From there to Georgia, Azerbaijan and across the Caspian Sea. Then they start their trek across the plains and mountains of Asia, through most of the 'stans including Kazakhstan where they hope to see Alice. I hope we will hear from them as they go, facebook, postcard or a message on The Blog please! All being well Siobhan and I expect Arthur back on 7th September, in time for university!

On Friday Edward will leave on his bike ride from London to Monaco. This will be a 1,000 mile ride with seven of his school friends, taking thirteen days. They will be zipping along in their lycra suits, sweating under the blazing french sun (hopefully). I think David Petri used to refer to a group of riders on racing bikes as an 'arse' of cyclists and certainly their position with heads down and bums up will still bear testament to this. I will be driving the support vehicle all the way and another dad will do the first six days with me. One of the dads has lent us a long wheel based landrover, so we will be chugging along at an agricultural speed, hoping for not too many emergency phone calls. We have booked into campsites for most of the nights and will arrive in Monaco on 6th August.

Many thanks to Rob for tips and advice and a mechanical guide to the Nissan Micra. I hope they will be able to use the maintenance manual as a comfort blanket and not need to make use of it too often. Also thanks to George providing a satellite phone for Arthur. In one of those quirks of life the phone did not work, so unfortunately it has stayed in England. Also I hear that Alice managed to meet Arthur in London (handy or what) before his departure and give him a few pieces of regional advice. Real thanks to all of you.

Keeling vs Mongolia and everywhere inbetween

Hi Arthur
That's great. I just remembered that you can post to 8-brothers.net by sending an email to a secret email address. There it is. You can attach pictures to the email and they should go up to. I tried it with this one of another mongolia maniac. Dont forget to resize pictures so that they are sensible for the web. Use Microsoft Paint or something.

Hi everyone
Arthur is going on the the Mongol rally. Expect a few photos and stories from strange places in the next few weeks ....

Woo Hoo!
George

On 11 July 2014 19:53, Arthur Keeling wrote:

Hi George,

Brilliant....the sat phone arrived this afternoon. Thank you SO MUCH.
I have got it charging at the moment and will have a 'play' tomorrow. If I have any questions, I'll be in touch, probably I'll call you.

In the final hectic stages of our trip and might need to change our route to go through Azerbijan instead of Iran. Hey ho.
Love Arthur

Comment
I'm glad big uncle is keeping an eye out.....Granny.

Posted by: Jenifer Keeling | July 13, 2014 at 06:22 PM

Bin's away

Yesterday I returned home from my busy retired morning to put our 2 wheelie bins away. You can imagine my surprise to find that our brown one was missing. It is as solidly constructed and almost as tall as me. I looked everywhere but could not find it and even wondered if the neighbours had taken a fancy to it. Later in the afternoon I saw a card on the doormat. It was from the council. It read "We apologise that your bin was accidentally lost in the back of our collection vehicle today. We will deliver another bin to you as soon as possible !!!" Love 'em

Comment
love it!

Posted by: david | June 18, 2014 at 12:47 PM

I think Trevor had a letter published in the times about this. Ed.

Archie in Africa II

I'm indulging myself a bit and writing a sequel to my earlier blog entry on recent medical work in Africa.

I've now been here for 10 weeks and have finished working at the Shree Hindu Mandal Hospital (SHMH), Dar es Salaam. The SHMH is a private hospital and in theory is very good with lots of clever gadgets, an intensive care unit (ICU) and other magic. The reality is that no one knows how to work the gadgets and the ICU is just an air-conditioned room with a working door. If you find yourself in Tanzania - and sadly probably a lot Africa - I would suggest that if you're a bit ill (e.g. malaria, manflu, hangover) you will probably be ok, but if you are actually quite poorly you will need to keep your unwell wits about you constantly. If you need surgery, just get back home any way you can. Is this a little racist? Am I being bit of a tit? Certainly not. Here's why.

I'm sure there are some great Tanzanian doctors - I don't want to condemn them all - but here is a story of the most spectacular surgical cock-up. It's more of a 'balls-up' actually:

I was on duty looking after the post-surgery patients, on this occasion a 50 yr old gent post-prostatectomy, I should add that this procedure has nothing to do with testicles (for the docs: in tanz they do an open lower abdo procedure not turp). Patient was doing well but on examination had a rather mysterious bandage over his balls. So I had a look and I found just the one testis (for the docs: men normally have two). So this was not expected. I had a thoughtful scratch of my chin - after carefully removing my gloves, of course - and looked to see if his notes could shed any light on this unusual finding, before cautiously questioning the patient... He too clearly expected his full package intact but had no idea this was not the case (!!!). So I re-examined him. Again. And again....until he was as confused as I was. I then went to see the surgeon.

This unforgivably incompetent surgeon had done the wrong operation. The poor patient was not only left with his original problem but had a crown jewel removed for fun. I don't know what will become of this but I know the surgeon is trying very hard to wash his hands of the affair and I very much doubt the unfortunate, paying patient will ever feel satisfactorily compensated. Nightmare!

So we should all be grateful for our health system in England that, at least, attempts to be just and ethically run, with fewer scalpel wielding maniacs. For anyone that has had or will have an op in England, you should be reassured by the impeccably high standards of our surgeons. They do a great job and I'm grateful for that. If I was my Uncle Paul Keeling I'd call the whole thing "marrrrrrrrvelous."

I'll be back in Blighty on Saturday. Hurrah! What an adventure it's been. While being here I've seen near-extinct rhinos in Ngorongoro Crater and witnessed lions devouring an elephant in the Serengeti. On a $10 snorkelling trip in Zanzibar (thanks for the tip Kate!) we had a snorkel and the way back intercepted some impressively leaping dolphins. Not content with watching, I promptly leapt in front of their sine-wave trajectory and had a splash with this rather intimidatingly curious and numerous pod of monsters. 38 in total. Surely there are only a few places where such fantastically wild opportunities present themselves?

Thanks for all the support and kind words over the past 10 weeks, it's been a blast but I'll be glad to be back (just in time for the World Cup), and start the long adjustment to normality.

THE END

Comment
Hey Archie, Great story and poor old chap with one ball. Yes, thank mankind (the European variety), for the wonderful world we live in.

Posted by: george | June 06, 2014 at 07:50 PM