For many months my wife Jenny has been "encouraging" me to tidy the attic so that we can use the space, find things we have put there, and throw out unwanted items as we may wish to "downsize" in the not too distant future as all of our children have now left home. Our youngest son, Toby, was married and finally left home at the end of last year. They live in a tiny flat and so half of the attic contains some of his stuff.

I decided to mark out one day in my diary and invite Toby to come up and help so that between us we could make a huge difference to the attic. He can't take his stuff out, but he can throw out unwanted boxes etc and leave it tidy for when he can take it.

I need to do the same, mainly clear out 67 years of "stuff" and sort everything into 3 categories: keep because we will use it; archive because it is part of our history; and thirdly chuck it. This is how we got on ....

These first three pictures are the "before" ones.

Everything had been just dumped in the attic over several years. I had made efforts to tidy up, but it always seemed a losing battle.

The big table in the middelof the attic - shown below and hidden by stuff, was specially made to take the model train set for the grandchildren to play with. Clearly something had to be done.

Toby (pictured above on the right) was able to tidy up his stuff, which also meant throwing out loads of college and school papers. We took all the rubbish to the dump, although a lot still clogs up the hall as we wait for the charity shop to take the useful things. Above all we had a good day of fellowship, talking over lunch, and then all going out for a Chinese meal in the evening. Toby's wife, Kim, had a day out with my wife, Jenny, looking at Nurseries and shops! It turned into both a fun and significant day for relationships.

Relationships were improved with Toby as we had time for a good heart to heart. They were also improved with Jenny who really wants to get the house tidied up.