My message for Charlotte.

I was on the TCH fam trip to Canada in 1999 with Charlotte and Anne Holmes and remember what great fun we had, especially the white water rafting, kayaking and horse riding. Driving along a very narrow, steep wiggly road on the way to our overnight stop at a ranch, I realised that I had almost run out of petrol, so Anne and I went to find a petrol station and told the rest of the group to head on to the ranch but unfortunately sent them in the wrong direction where they got lost. Anne and I went racing through the wilderness looking for them but failed and then had to raise a search party to find everyone. We were eventually reunited and set off in the right direction, arriving at the ranch in the dark. The highlight of the evening was sitting in an open air hot tub under the stars, drinking hot chocolate and laughing ourselves silly.

Sadly I got made redundant from TCH in 2003 and after 30 years in travel I made a big career change and moved into vocational training. When I was 60 I retired and now spend most of my time in Germany with a lovely German man, whom I have known for over 30 years. We still spend lots of time in England and I keep in touch with a few old friends from TCH, remembering the good times and the many adventures we enjoyed together.

Thinking of you,
Carrie

Stories Of Charlotte.

Photos 1 and 2
These are from our trip to Paris in 2009 – oh what fun. Charlotte was amazing as ever coordinating everything to perfection even with a little baby- Seb.
The photo no 1 is from the top of the Eiffel Tower . We had a good giggle from the start of the trip – white wine in St pancreas, when we met at the St Pancras train station in London and of course the giggle did not stop till we got back to the train station in London.
We ate in beautiful restaurants next to the Arc De Triumph and went to see the Moulin Rouge show – which was fantastic. A special memory for us all.

Photo 3
Now this was a fun time. Oh and yes a hen night to for Amanda Bett.
The ridiculous dresses are because of the theme of bad brides maids outfits! I believe Charlotte got hers in the charity shop! The lovely lilac colour and the boufont sleeves were enough to make her the winner!
She won the blow up doll ;-))
We had to eat dinner in those outfits in Chez Joules in Birmingham.

How I met Charlotte.
I met Amanda Bett through ante natal class 2005 and instantly we became the best of friends. It was obvious really that Amanda would have other such wonderful people in her life – one of whom was Charlotte.
I went into see Amanda in the Art lounge one day and was immediately drawn to a painting. I said how I loved it and Amanda told me the Artist was her friend Charlotte Latham and that she was coming to town!
It was years ago and am sorry to say I can’t remember the exacts!- (I also was pregnant and had a toddler too!) But I recall being drawn to such a beautiful person (Charlotte)and after dinner was introduced to such equal beautiful otis cat at the house in Moseley. The artwork on the walls was amazing and for someone not arty I have to say they took my breath away.
Conversations progressed as did pregnancies and Charlotte and I found ourselves pregnant and discussing the same Baby boys name – Sebastian!

Time passes quickly – all to quickly and the boys (Mine called Oliver in the end!) grew fast.

I remember a lovely birthday Party in the garden for Seb in the Bristol house just after moving down there and a very special visit from Charlotte back in Birmingham where Amanda and I got to meet the gorgeous Olivia.

Charlotte – you brought elegance and class, fun and laughter to all our girlie outings, the last being Dinner in Miller and Carter before Christmas 2012. Your’re so beautiful.

I guess I will shared with Jenny ensure the organization of our girls trip to Saunton Sands. A place I know you’ve recently enjoyed.

Lots of love, always to whoever reads this.

My name is Luella Cayless.

If you want to contact me you can do so through this website.

Please always feel free to come and talk – as one of Charlotte’s friends. Always welcome.

I’m not very good with words so will keep it simple.

Years ago in Peterborough I’d gone through a hard time and Charlotte was good to me. She introduced me to the Art Centre and took me down there a few times. May not sound much but people giving me their time was so important. As they say in Peterborough ‘thanks mate’.

Some time after we shared an adventure trip to Canada with a great bunch of people. Whale watching, a ranch, float plane, whitewater rafting and various other idiotic activities. Charlotte did the lot and I remember it with a smile every time I think about it. I’ve been back many times since but that trip and group of people will always be one of the best!

Big hug to you all. xx

Truly amazing lady who we’ve always admired and look up to, your such an inspiration and we’re honoured to have you not just as our friend but a sister. You’ll always be our extended family and your memory will live on in us and Chris, Seb and Olivia.
Thank you for being in our life and allowing us to be part of your family it truly is an honour to have you as a friend, one that is unique.
Love you always xx

Charlotte and Di

Charlotte’s Peterborough gang

Hello again,

I just read Sylvia’s message and had to go and find my photos of the night when Charlotte won the prize for the best worst-dressed bridesmaid at Amanda’s hen do. As soon as I saw them I started laughing and thought it only right that I share those happy memories.

I’m sure most of us wanted to throttle Amanda Ogden (as she then was) when she announced her hen night in summer 2007 was going to consist of dinner and a ‘male dance show’ (Seb and Liv, we’ll talk about it when you’re older), and the best bit – we had to be dressed as bad bridesmaids. It was quite a walk from the restaurant to the club and it was the height of summer, so we were faced with the prospect of walking around the centre of Birmingham dressed like drag queens, without even darkness to hide under. Luckily there was quite a group of us so there was safety in numbers.

Most of us had dug out something old or begged, borrowed or stolen a dress and thrown it together with some mismatched accessories. Not Charlotte though- thorough as ever, she had gone out and rented the foulest looking bridesmaid dress she could find. I went and picked her and Sylvia up and I knew there was no chance I was going to be winning the best costume prize that night (see the 1st photo, the ‘before’ shot, and yes, I know we look awful but we were supposed to).

We managed to get dropped off as close to the restaurant as possible and hurried in where we met the group. It wasn’t long before Amanda had awarded her prize for the best costume and Charlotte had been crowned the best bad bridesmaid (see 2nd photo of how pleased she looks with herself).

Halfway through the meal Charlotte had a bad headache coming on and started asking around to see if anyone had any painkillers. Of course nobody did so she said she was going to have to pop and buy some to try and see off the headache before it set in and ruined her evening. The Tesco Express in the middle of New Street in Birmingham was the only place we could think of that would be open at that time on a Saturday night. Again Charlotte asked around, this time for a partner in crime to go with her to the shop – she obviously hadn’t had enough wine at that point to not care how she looked. It seemed nobody else had either as nobody was taking her up on her offer. Eventually, as I could see she was getting desperate I agreed to go with her (she was going to owe me for this one), and as we didn’t have a sign to hold up saying ‘we are on a hen night, this is a costume, we don’t usually look like this’ we decided the next best approach was to strut through the middle of town and act nonchalant, if people stared at our interesting fashion statement, so what? I think in the end we probably scurried and giggled rather than strutted, but mission accomplished, we got the painkillers in record time and returned to the party.

After the meal we walked down to the club. By this point in the evening we didn’t care and anyway, as we were in a big group with Amanda all done up in her bride-to-be gear, I think the passers-by got the joke. We even stopped and posed for photos on the way, following the Mailbox Floral Trail (see 3rd photo).

We finally made it to the club, which was an experience to say the least. Charlotte had never been to such a performance before and neither had I and none of us knew where to look. We laughed so much, the poor dancers must have found it a bit disconcerting. However, they did manage to get our attention eventually (see 4th photo).

All in all a completely hilarious night. Well done Charlotte, you were a worthy winner of the prize that evening.

Love you xxx

In Michigan, they Celebrate Charlotte.
Not ours, on Saunton Sands.
Not ours, the friend,
the mother, the partner,
the sister and all.

I read the posts, I smile.
Sometimes I even laugh,
as it’s good to see
the way they write
of memories.

And the overwhelming feeling is,
that behind it all,
a heartfelt celebration
is being had
and being planned.

And the promises are made here,
to keep those memories alive.
To see with your eyes,
to hear with your ears,
to fly on your wings.

To Charlotte, Chris, Seb and Olivia,

I am so grateful to have a friend in Charlotte. Before she was my friend she was my boss. Thinking she was way too cool to be my friend , I was more concerned with thinking she might sack me for being a drunken student bum!  She called me into the office one day  and asked me if I liked working at the gallery. I thought “that’s it, I am finished” but not so, from there we actually ended up working together for a number of years. Charlotte always pushed me to progress and guided me forward. We became good friends that day and it remains a pivotal day in my life. I am thankful I have Charlotte in my life – everyone needs a Charlotte!

The best way i remember our fun times is by random memories: scooby do costumes, negotiating our way around a mountain goat in Wales, pissing off the neighbours in reddings road with our good friends Kirsty and Oli, being flashed in Paris, seeing scary performance artists do wierd things to themselves at the custard factory, eating cake whilst working late at the gallery, chatting and drinking tea whilst you stretched your canvases and a murder mystery night where we all got too drunk to be bothered who done it! The day Charlotte and Chris got engaged, the day they were married, Charlotte always lamenting the fact that she struggles to get Chris’s jeans off to wash them, the way she is so madly in love with her Chris and always has been (an example to all), me always nagging her to switch sport mode on the BMW (sorry Chris), our trip to Bristol Zoo with little Seb, Rhythm is a Dancer by Snap, Eminem – I still don’t get that Charlotte!! Wriggling out of your dares on your hen do and getting your gullible mates Lucie and Sylvia to literally bare all (still never been back to that place)! So many hilarious moments, I am sure more will come to mind….

But seriously, we have shared some of the  brightest and darkest moments together and i am so glad we are friends to each other. Charlotte, you always cut through the crap and give the bare and honest truth. Thats a rare and brave thing and  i love you for that.

All my love, always…Sylvia xxxxxxxxx

Charlotte is classiest girl I know but she has also been known to win awards for the worst dressed, trouncing everyone on Amanda’s hen night.

Barcelona – fab girlie weekend – friends art and culture – wonderful times.

Its taken a little while to find but this snowman picture immediately comes to mind when I think of all our fun times in Moseley.

The big snow that brought Birmingham to gridlock was stressful but all was forgotten once we got out into the snow and had a Reddings Road Snowball fight just for the fun of it! We are never too old to go out and play like fools and I particularly love the snow so the opportunity to build a proper snowman in England must be seized upon! One of my favourite times in the snow where we all got soaked and frozen. xx

I cant remember which pub this picture was taken in, was it in the country after a canal walk with baby Seb?… but its a fab picture anyway!!

Love to everyone, Phil x