BRENDA MARKS ( Neale )

We are in the middle of a huge extension to the house, have been for 2 years, hope it might be finished by xmas and we can finally have people to stay and get the building dust out of our clothes. It was intended for some of Andy's elderly relatives to live with us but we had 2 deaths in last 12 months & our plans changed considerably. Children are Robin (16) & Abby (14 going on 24); Rob is quiet & studious, did well at GCSE but now finding A levels harder, wants to be aeronautical engineer & pilot. Abby is a butterfly, in one ear out the other, popular and very artistic - also horse mad and suddenly becoming boy mad. Needs prodding to get off MSN & do homework!
Married Tim (was with me in Port Erin) but split amicably after 7 years, still in touch at xmas.

Husband Andy was UK Sales Manager for an engineering company when we met but just about to give up and set sail for the Med. He is a keen sailor & was a dive instructor. Soon after, we bought a 36ft yacht to set up a skippered charter business in the Med. Took crash course in yachting and off we went. Only lasted one long season (but great fun!) as Greeks & Turks changed laws so we had to sell boat. (During all the time in the Med, I didn't swim off the boat more than once - my shark phobia got the better of me :-) He is a natural inventor and always designing things and coming up with crazy ideas... like flying balloons for a living! We bought a tethered balloon which we used for aerial photography since 1984.

See www.skyscan.co.uk

We still run our aerial photography business, representing 40+ aerial photographers supplying images to advertising, the media & corporate clients. Also search out historic aerial photos for boundary disputes for the public. I have found a natural ability to learn computing, work with databases & images and love it. I can't take photos myself but can see how best to use them and manipulate them in Photoshop at a high level for use in books etc. I enjoy it, just hate all the accounts, vat etc of running a small business.

We live near Tewkesbury in Cotswolds if anyone is in area, do get in touch we have some great pubs!