In 2013, to my great surprise, I got approached by Amberley Publishing to write a book about Basildon. A very high honour indeed! I was previously a contributing researcher to Frances Clamp's book, Basildon, Our Heritage and also to the Basildon Heritage Trail. I thank Vin Harrop for employing me as a researcher back in 2007.

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I wrote Basildon Through Time in 2014 and Lost Basildon in 2019. I could see so much potential for Geraldine Evan's family story about The Barge in Vange that, with Geraldine's consent I wrote an article for the Essex Life magazine in 2020.

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In 2023 I joined the Basildon Writers' Group and wrote a story that featured in their second anthology, It Happened in Essex 2: tall tales from the Basildon Writers' Group. I am in the middle of the photograph above wearing a teal blue coat. I'm with the Basildon Writers' Group and members of Basildon Hospital Radio and we are promoting our book at the Eastgate Shopping Centre, Basildon. All proceeds go to Basildon Hospital Radio (BHR 87.7). I'm very proud that my story based around the great North Sea flood of 1953, the worst natural disaster in modern British history, is in that fund-raising book. My story focuses on the Canvey area.

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At present I have less time than I used to and am writing short stories that I share with the writers group, but I still have writing ambitions to fulfill.

 

 

 

 

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