Walking Sam around Little Paxton Gravel Pits
Walking Sam around Little Paxton Gravel Pits

After walking Sam around Little Paxton Gravel Pits and noting the re-routing of footpaths, into St Neots for a meeting with my Trustees and Professional Advisers; agreeing measures to invest further in my children’s’ trusts and into a large property portfolio.

Then meeting up with Steve Bloom who joined me for a dummy retrieving session with Sam on Mill Meadow. I called Nigel this evening to discuss investments and then an old farming friend, Jack Taylor of Warboys, about the chances of getting permission to shoot some wood pigeons

The normal morning routine, managing to get to the bus stop with Sam again and then to take him around the gravel pits. By taking a new route, I realised how the new management plan (for its use as a nature reserve) had re-routed the footpaths so that the path I always used to take on a favourite walk had been blocked off. Home in time to get ready for my meeting and there to load up a deal of files and information that I would need. I was early to the Whitmarsh Sterland offices and we started our meeting pretty much on time yet still had difficulty in getting finished in time for me to be back for Steven.

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I had files of vouchers and receipts to pass over to my accountant Roger Brittain and then we went through the tax affairs of myself, Diana, Daniel and then the trusts, dealing with certain aspects of tax saving for the end of the tax year and then considering the investment policy to take for the very different financial and economic circumstances. The main decision we came to was to invest from £20-40,000 of each of the children’s' trusts £200,000's in property, choosing as the vehicle cheap residential properties at the lower end of the scale that could be easily disposed of at a later date. With the continued level of building society repossessions and people no longer being able to buy their own homes on the one hand, and the shortage of houses for rent on the other, the income and capital returns now make sense. Even for Diana and I, the return would be better than the low interest we are earning on our cash and building society deposits.

A quick bar lunch with Roger and Gerard and then a rush home nearly twenty minutes late to meet Steve which was a pity. I got him a coffee and sat him down with my album of Harnser photos whilst I got quickly changed and fed the dog. The we took him over to Mill Meadow with the dummy launcher and, with Steven launching the dummy downwind and me handling Sam, we successfully acclimatised him to more gunfire. We even let him retrieve the launcher dummy which he did in fine style by quartering and scenting it, having marked the line but underestimated the distance. Steven got on well with the dog and Sam behaved himself very well and gets better every day. A long chat with Steve back home afterwards. He is depressed at the moment, having just lost another chance of a job. He is also having health problems with his left knee and will soon have to have an operation.

I talked over with him a number of possible employment and self-employment ideas; advising him that he should try to get a "resident engineer" job with a boatyard which would suite his talents and interests. He was interested in my property ideas and later got Mary to call me as she has property as a hobby. She will now help me by scouting around the local property market and getting together a short-list and I will compensate her for her time. I called Nigel this evening on the same topic and then an old farming friend, Jack Taylor of Warboys, about the chances of getting permission to shoot some wood pigeons on Saturday, being the N.F.U. pigeon day but without success. Another chillier but fine day.