{"id":468,"date":"2023-01-03T21:38:16","date_gmt":"2023-01-03T21:38:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oliverneedham.co.uk\/blog\/?p=468"},"modified":"2023-01-03T21:38:18","modified_gmt":"2023-01-03T21:38:18","slug":"looking-back-at-2022","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oliverneedham.co.uk\/blog\/2023\/01\/looking-back-at-2022\/","title":{"rendered":"Looking back at 2022"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

2022 was a jam-packed year, full of memories, and I thought it was worth collating some of them here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In February, I left Tearfund as a PR & Media Officer for Storm Events. Since then I’ve specialised in virtual events, learnt vMix, operated a tonne of Zoom calls and even dabbled in lighting!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of my childhood friends got married over the Easter weekend, and I was honoured to be his best man. This led to his stag weekend in London in February, where we ate at London’s highest restaurant, travelled on London’s hidden underground ‘rail mail’ and battled on the life-size Monopoly board.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
The stag-do team at Monopoly Lifesized, London.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The Easter wedding led to one of our two trips to Cornwall this year, both for weddings and general pleasure! Having never been there before, it’s safe to say that core memories with friends and the wife have been created there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Our friends got married at the Eden Project!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Visiting Tintagel Castle<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Kathleen feeding ravens at Stonehenge<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
The hidden Nanjizal Beach<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Snaps of our time in Cornwall this year<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Throughout the year, Kathleen and I have gotten more involved with our church, with Kathleen leading a Life Group focused on refugees. Little did we know that this would be preparing us for international events which led to us hosting a family of Ukrainian refugees from May.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the next six months were blessed and challenged in so many ways. From learning to open our house up again and discovering cultural differences, to creating memories together around the dinner table and our day trips. We were supported by our friends, family and church, and even received a prize from a national radio station for a weekend away at Centre Parcs!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As part of Kathleen and I being asked to be Peterborough Heroes <\/em>by our MP, we had the privilege of taking one of our guests and their aunt to London and the Houses of Parliament.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Visiting Audley End House<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Boating on the lake at Centre Parcs<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Looking over London on the London Eye<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Time with our Ukrainian refugee guests<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

We celebrating our 30th birthdays and 5th wedding anniversary with a trip to Paris, with lots of good food and sight-seeing. A surprise party organised by Kathleen was put on hold, as in addition to memories from France, I also brought back COVID.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
In front of the Sacr\u00e9 Coeur<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Through the Arc de Triomphe<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Celebrating our 30th birthdays in Paris<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Time with family was precious in August and September, as Kathleen’s parents visited and we headed up to Edinburgh to catch the end of the Fringe Festival. One night in particular was memorable for me, as I headed to gigs on my own and was part of a podcast recording! A weekend in Norfolk with both sets of parents was much needed, including Lumi’s first (and probably last) visit to the beach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Mischief Movie Night at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Lumi visited her first pub whilst in Norfolk<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Time in Edinburgh and with our family in Norfolk<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Throughout the year, I’ve also had the pleasure of being part of Peterborough City Praise, taking place in Peterborough Cathedral each month. Sometimes it wasn’t easy, with some technical difficulties, however I know the team served those that attended well, worship God in an amazing space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Adding some extra lighting at the gathering in November 2022<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
My view during a Peterborough City Praise event<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Peterborough City Praise in Peterborough Cathedral<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It was a welcome return to a regular community radio show, starting online in September and graduating to PCR FM in November. The Today Show<\/em> was a format I’d developed at home and I’m proud that I’m now able to bring it to a wider audience and support the local radio scene.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Obligatory radio studio photo, complete with headphones<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I ended the year with some annual events which I’m proud to be a part of; the Community Radio Awards visited Bedford and I lit up carol services for Westminster Chapel and Life Church Peterborough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
The awards team at the Community Radio Awards in Bedford<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Lighting the Thomas Deacon Academy auditoriums for Life Church’s Carols service<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Westminster Chapel’s annual Carols service<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Ending the year with some snazzy events<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As we roll into 2023, I am very excited for what’s to come and if it’s anything like this past 12 months, there will be some surprises!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

2022 was a jam-packed year, full of memories, and I thought it was worth collating some of them here. In February, I left Tearfund as a PR & Media Officer for Storm Events. Since then I’ve specialised in virtual events, learnt vMix, operated a tonne of Zoom calls and even dabbled in lighting! One of… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":506,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[34,39],"class_list":["post-468","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-personal","tag-church","tag-work"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/oliverneedham.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/4C300E72-BD44-4084-A155-A1580C76564E-1.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/oliverneedham.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/oliverneedham.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/oliverneedham.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oliverneedham.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oliverneedham.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=468"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/oliverneedham.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":509,"href":"https:\/\/oliverneedham.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468\/revisions\/509"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oliverneedham.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/506"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/oliverneedham.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=468"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oliverneedham.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=468"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oliverneedham.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=468"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}