Separation Announcement - January 2023

Dear family and friends,

After many adventures around the world, in our leisure and working lives from London to New Zealand to Bristol, the French Alps, beautiful Annecy and now Switzerland, our lives have gone through a lot of change.

We've had times of plenty and times of need. We've abandoned careers to pursue dreams - some of them worked out, some didn't.

We've launched in new directions and reinvented ourselves multiple times.

Like any long-term relationship we've had our ups and downs. Sometimes that needed a lot of effort, work and help to return us to a working team and continue to have a happy, well-functioning family environment.

We've changed, and over the past few years we increasingly find we are two people who just don't gel. We've both tried to find ways to compromise, to make things work between us, but we have recently accepted that we've reached the end of the road as a married couple.

We're fit and young enough to want the rest of our lives to contain a happiness and joy that we no longer feel together, nor see a way to find again.

We want our children to be in happy, positive home environments not affected by the trials and tribulations of parents who no longer love each other in the same way they used to.

Separating isn't a flippant or easy decision to have made. But sometimes you have to admit that something isn't working, that you've done all you can to try to fix it and it's time to move on.

Both of us feel sadness, grief, but also hope for better futures for all of us. We have no doubt in our decision to move forward with our lives independently, yet always together for our children.

At the moment the practicality of separating our household is still something we are working out, and it will take some time. For the moment we will keep the house we have rented in Genolier. We have moved ourselves and our children a lot these past years and are committed to the stability we promised when we chose Genolier as our new home. Other than that, as we said, it will take some time to work things out.

Both of us are committed to establishing a new, strong relationship with love for our children and their needs and best interests at its heart.

We ask that our family and our friends do not take sides, apportion blame, or grill us for details.

We hope that you can find understanding in your hearts, and room for us all in your lives. We value every one of you.

With our love and our commitment to a future filled with peace, joy and success,

James and Naomi