It was T.H. White who recommended learning as an antidote to all the disappointments and griefs of this world. Learning is never wasted and lets you down and, as he pointed out, ‘look what a lot of things there are to learn.’ I try to take at least one course and a workshop every year; in October, I attended Ian Nettleton’s The Threshold of the Novel at the National Centre for Writing. It examined some of the imaginative processes by which people find ideas for a novel, how to introduce the first important ideas and establish your themes. Ian won the Bath Award for his novel Out of Nowhere in 2023 and is a very sympathetic and encouraging teacher. Writing fiction is a huge challenge which I’ve been attempting to get to grips with over the years. Since the spring, I’ve been sampling the Jericho Writers website, online sessions and podcasts. Their approach is very practical and always moving towards a goal of publication. During the Covid lockdown I returned to working on what I hope will be my debut novel Love-Knot at Knollecote Hall, a satirical ghost story, so I am keenly following the Jericho advice. One of the pro bono roles I undertake is helping the Norwich Society Publications Working Group. We have some super academic editors and we produce two illustrated booklets a year, called Aspects of Norwich, each of which presents six articles on a wide range of historical and cultural topics. In the next issue my old friend Natascha Scott-Stokes is contributing an article on Margaret Fountaine – the Norfolk butterfly collector - about whom she has written a biography called Wild and Fearless. For more about Natascha and her own fearless life in Chile see nataschascottstokes.com.  Aspects of Norwich is delivered free with membership of the Norwich Society – which in itself is enough reason to join - thenorwichsociety.org.uk – but the booklets are also available for purchase at City Books on Davy Place. Next time I’ll tell you about the Norwich Society Book Club and our explorations into deep history.
I’m delighted to announce that Poppyland has just published my latest book, Different Drums – One Family Two Wars. Based on family papers and original research, it tells the story of conscientious objection from religious non-conformity to humanitarianism during two wars with particular relation to Norwich. A big thank you to publishers Gareth and Janet Davies for taking it on. I hope it will prove its worth amongst the excellent selection of their new spring books.  The book is available in East Anglian bookshops and online through Poppyland Publishing or order though your local bookshop wherever you are (via Amazon, you will get an edition that is of lower quality paper).
Last Thursday I attended the 2023 East Anglian Book Wards hosted by the National Writing Centre at the Dragon Hall on King Street. It was sponsored by Jarrolds, the Eastern Daily Press and UEA. What a pleasant evening it was. There was a full house and we were treated to chats with the nominated writers from each category in two sets of three. Holly Ainley, Head of Programmes & Creative Engagement, skilfully orchestrated the lively and often humorous conversation. Categories covered Poetry, Fiction, Memoir, Local History, History and Landscape..
 I’ve been watching old films. They’re great for observing historical change. Last week The Blue Lamp (1949) dramatized the message that the decent and brave metropolitan police were fighting against a rise in violent crime levels in post-war London. I love the details – the furnishings of the kitchen at Jack Warner’s home, the bomb sites, constant smoking and punctilious deference to senior officers and CID. Also on The Talking Pictures Channel, I’m becoming a regular fan of a series called Scotland Yard, produced on 35mm for the cinema between 1953 and 1961. They were filmed at Merton Studios and on location in a London – a London you can only just recognize. The streets are wonderfully empty. Traffic is very light, except when needed for a chase, and there’s a refreshing absence of signage, street markings, parking control and street furniture. London looks calm and, even the acting and plots are unhurried – very therapeutic in this post-lock-down period. But it’s quite salutary to see the attitudes of the past so unselfconsciously expressed – especially patriarchy and class relationships.  A Channel 5 programme featured late Victorian black and white film that has been recently colourised. Most were taken by independent photographers so the choice of subjects – from a horse-drawn fire engine hurrying to an emergency to the launching of a ship on the Thames that itself caused a major accident – seemed like straightforward recordings of contemporary activities. More familiar was newsreel footage of the old Queen’s funeral. What an extraordinary amount of pomp and circumstance with all the crowned heads of Europe and the ample figure of Edward VII riding behind. And it’s so much better in colour!
Great news that FILMSuffolk's The Haunted Hotel is launched Easter Weekend on Google Play.  |
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