Hello, my name is Daphne and I am Alex Doyle’s Grandmother! I have been following her progress on the Home’s Facebook page and the Blog she is writing about her time at RAF Halton where she is undertaking training. I am also a resident of The Royal Star & Garter Home in Richmond where I have been living for two years.

I am extremely proud of Alex and what she is doing. She worked so hard to be accepted onto the Nursing degree course with the Royal Air Force. There were only 12 places available nationally this year, which proves a point… she did so well to achieve one of these places.

I am also proud that she has just completed a Bachelor’s Degree in History at Roehampton University and yesterday, Thursday, she had her graduation ceremony at Guildford Cathedral where her degree was conferred. I know that in order to be granted leave from RAF Halton to attend this ceremony she had to pass all tests, drills and key inspections.

I haven’t seen Alex since she joined the Royal Air Force around 6 weeks ago, and hope that she has a weekend leave soon so that she can come to visit me in the Home! However, as a resident at the Home there is access to a computer which is great and I have been able to check on her progress on the internet and send her emails. As well as the computer there is an excellent selection of activities which one can choose to join in. I enjoy skittles, bowls, scrabble and bingo for a laugh. Added to that, we have the most wonderful entertainers, including the amazing Band of the Brigade of Ghurkas who were here a few weeks ago, to use a recent example.

I’ll leave the next blog posting to Alex, but I just wanted everyone to know what a proud Grandmother I am.

Best wishes from Daphne.