A Birthday Trip to the Boneyard

Wednesday was the first time my parents had been in St Andrew's Church at Clevedon. Not so me ... though I'd always been too busy reading the Hallam family monuments to study these rather cheery choughs on the opposite wall properly. 

I showed my father the memorial to Arthur Henry Hallam - 'snatched away by sudden death' - but decided against pointing out the sheela-na-gig. 

My parents have not been snatched away by sudden death. They are 95 and 89 respectively - in fact, we were in Clevedon because it was my mother's birthday. We'd had hot drinks in a pub on the front with sea views. Now we were up in the cliff-top boneyard. 

Which might seem a strange place to bring such elderly people to, but it was beautiful up there and surprisingly sheltered. Plus there were ravens too - always a bonus. 

If the church and churchyard look familiar, it's because they have a second career as extras in Broadchurch. 

Here is a rare sighting of a pair of walking sticks, pride and falls being off the agenda.  

And my mother, still proving there's puff in the old girl yet.