Dear Francesca and Liam,

Once upon a time, there was a witch and she was a good witch and she said to an old Grandma and Grandad, “I’ve been down the road to see your two lovely Grandchildren but, you know what? They’re not there any more.”

And Grandma said, “No, we’ve not seen them for two hundred and sixty three days. They went away with their Mummy and Daddy and we don’t know where they are.”

And the witch said, “Oh, my goodness, you must be so sad.”

And Grandad said to the witch, “Yes we are very sad. We think about them all the time. We have four lovely Grandchildren and we love all of them. We see two of them lots and lots but we never see Francesca and Liam”

And Grandma said, “We wonder all the time about Francesca and Liam, how they are, what they’re doing, how they’re getting on at school, all sorts of things. We love them but would really like to see them again.”

And the witch said, “Tonight, I will make you all dream nice dreams. I will make you and Grandad dream lovely dreams about Liam and Francesca and I will make them remember all the happy times they have spent with you. I have asked my Magic Fairies to find them and keep an eye on them for you and to keep them safe and happy.”

And Grandma and Grandad said, “Thank you kind witch, we feel better now knowing that you and your fairies will look after them and keep them safe.

And they all lived happily ever after,
Bye, my loves,
Grandma and Grandad xxxx

Dear Liam and Francesca,

There’s the weekend left of your half term, hope you’ve got something exciting planned. I’m playing tomorrow night at a Halloween gig. It looks like it will be quite a wild night! I guess I won’t still be playing when you’re both old enough to come to these gigs but I’ll try!

Today, we went to see the film ‘Up’ and we all really enjoyed it. have you seen it? If you have, I hope that it reminded you of us, although we haven’t fastened balloons to the house yet. Thomas enjoyed it and afterwards, we went to Ikea for dinner although it was three o’clock by then. Auntie Juliet was wondering how you are, just as we do. Uncle Joachim was still at work.

Well, we all miss you and we were thinking about you today and will tomorrow and the next day and the next..
And we’ll keep writing, next letter tomorrow, till then,
Bye, and our love to you both,
Grandma and Grandad xxxx

Dear Francesca and Liam,

It’s been another great day for the half-term holiday. Hope it’s been nice where you live. Have you been out a lot this half term. I hope so.

Tomorrow Grandma and I are going to the pictures with Thomas to see Up. Have you seen this yet? I’m told it’s a bit sad at the beginning but that the rest is happy. I’ll tell you what Thomas thought tomorrow.

Talk to you then,
Lots of Love from,
Grandma and Grandad xxxx

Dear Liam and Francesca,

What a lovely day it was today! Hope it was as lovely where you are. It’s great when the weather’s like this for half term, isn’t it. It means that you can get out a bit to visit places or just to play outside. It’s hard to believe that it’s nearly November when it could actually be snowing! Your tomatoes are loving the weather, they’re still producing flowers but they might get a bit of a shock when the weather turns chilly.

I’ve just come back from Barnet Band and, because it was half term, I had to play trumpet – Mary is away in Wales. I find it quite hard work now, playing trumpet for a couple of hours but I still love doing it!

Well, let’s see what the weather is like tomorrow. Hope it’s still nice, talk to you then,
Love,
Grandma and Grandad xxxx

Hello Francesca and Liam

Today it’s Grandma writing for a change. I hope you are both well and enjoying your half term holiday. There must be lots of places to explore when you live in new and different surroundings, although they may not feel so new to you both any more. I keep thinking of you both wondering what you might be up to at this moment and I also wonder what you might be thinking and feeling. I know, I feel a great love for you both and I just hope that I can hold on to all this love until one day we meet again. I miss you both soooo much! I know that grandad is feeling the same too.

I hope you can feel some of this love and kisses floating towards you both, wherever you are!
Keep well and be happy!
Grandma and Grandad xxxxxx

Dear Francesca and Liam,

Hope half term’s good! I went down to Kingston today on the tube and train and there were lots of Grandmas and Grandads out with the Grandchildren. It made me think of you. I hope that you’re getting out to make the most of half term.

I’ve just got back from a Trans-Siberian March band gig and we’re getting ready for our Halloween gig. I’ve got to find a crazy costume before Saturday. I’ll have to ask Grandma to help me out. I’ve got a mad green wig to wear but it could be a bit chilly if that’s all I’ve got for Saturday so we’ll have to start looking seriously. We wonder if you’re doing anything for Halloween.

There’s a few days left so, see what happens, eh?
We’ll keep you informed,
Sleep tight and have pleasant dreams,
Lots and lots and lots of love from,
Grandma and Grandad xxxx

Hello, Liam and Francesca,

It’s about your going-to bed time now so I hope that you’ve had a nice weekend. I wonder if you went out today. It’s quite hard for us now, not knowing where you go or what you do but we do wonder. We just hope that you’re settled in wherever you’re living and that you’re enjoying life.

Grandma read my novel and gave me quite a lot of notes about things which needed looking at so I’ve been doing that today. Also Auntie Janet has read it and gave me some comments so I am dealing with those too. It’s quite a lot of work but if it will improve the novel then it is worthwhile doing.

Sleep well and we’ll talk tomorrow,
Night, night,
Grandma and Grandad xxxx

Hello, Hello, Hello, Francesca and Liam,

It’s not that long since I wrote my earlier letter but, as this is our 250th letter to you, I just had to start doing it early. Yes, Grandma and I have written 250 letters now. That means we haven’t seen you for over 250 days.

You know, we thought that we couldn’t miss you any more than when you first left us but we find that we can. We just keep missing you more and more.

What are you doing this 250th weekend? Hope it’s something really special. You’ll be on half term, Francesca, won’t you? That’s when we used to have a chance to go out together.

Well, hope you have a really good day,
All our love,
Grandma and Grandad xxxx

Hi there, you two. It’s really really late tonight and I’ve just got in from a gig. It was over in Brixton and it’s quite a long way. It was only in a small pub but we did it because we feel that we have to keep doing gigs to keep us in practice and we haven’t done a lot of gigs since the tour.

As it was late, and there is no congestion charge late at night, I was able to come back the quick way, right through London, over Westminster Bridge, past Big Ben and through Trafalgar Square. It was also nice because I had Omer with me, he lives in Edgware at the moment, he plays tuba in the band. It was good to have someone to chat to on the way home.

I’m off to bed now, Grandma is fast asleep so I hope that you two are,
We’ll write tomorrow, it’s a special letter tomorrow,
See you then,
Love Grandma and Grandad xxxx

Dear Liam and Francesca,

Are you on half-term holiday now? Perhaps you don’t have a half-term, Liam. Maybe you’ll get to go out a bit with Francesca on her half term.

Are you getting ready for Hallowe’en? Grandma had a book about Hallowe’en from your cousin Thomas today. He’d written a story about a witch who made a broth and scared people. It was really nice. Grandma went to fetch him from school today and played with him quite a bit. Thomas misses you both and asks when he will see you again. We all hope that it won’t be too long.

Hope you’re not dreaming about witches and things – unless they’re nice, kind witches, so,
night night my dears,
talk to you tomorrow,
Love, Grandma and Grandad xxxx