I am a retired junior school teacher and I like to write.
I have always told stories from an early age. I would spend a great deal of time making up tales for my dolls and teddies. I remember every afternoon sitting down with a cup of hot chocolate by the wireless to listen to the children’s radio programme, “Listen With Mother.” I can still hear her plush, warm and welcoming voice as she asked, “Are you sitting comfortably? Then I’ll begin.”
Then the magic would fill the room and I would be transported to faraway places. I would be an observer or a participant in fantastic adventures. I would cry, laugh and share these exciting experiences from the comfort and safety of my own home; a wonderful memory which inspired me to tell stories.
When my sister was born I use to make up bedtime stories every night. I told her tales about Dougal the dog from the Magic Roundabout; Amelia Jane, a doll who came to life at night and Professor Peabody who lived at the base of an old oak tree. I remember at the age of 11 writing my first play based on the fairy tale Beauty and the Beast. I directed it, made the costumes and starred in it as well! Unfortunately when wearing the papier mache Beast’s head I miscounted the steps up onto the stage and fell flat on my face. My acting career has never been a highlight of my life.
When I was around 12 /13 years old I had a knee operation and had to stay in bed for over 6 weeks as I had a full cast on my leg. I wrote stories; the most memorable were about a spy called Granby Row (the name taken from a street in Manchester) and his sidekick Lancelot. I was a big fan of the TV series Man from Uncle at that time and their exploits inspired me. I’m not sure now how much of my stories were my imagination or how much were their adventures but all I do know was that my Auntie June liked them.
In my teenage years I wrote love stories and this is where I developed my first crush on the tall, dark, handsome hero. (I was also a huge fan of Elvis Presley so that could have clouded my judgement!)
My Mum use to read a magazine called True Romances and I use to sneak a peek at them after I had finished my morning paper round. These were not the kind of stories that had happy endings and my foray into romance wilted somewhat during this time.
However, I continued to write snippets of stories and collect ideas especially for children. I created stories for my daughter when she was small and have still been known to tell her a story now when she is unwell or feeling down. (She is 31!)
In the 1980’s I discovered poetry and became a prolific writer enjoying the mantra, “a new idea - a new line” which has worked well for me and for the children that I have worked with over the years. I have taken part in poetry readings and performances from school halls, to pubs and the accolade and highlight of my performance route was to appear at the Barbican in London. I have also belonged to writing groups and had some of my work published.
As a teacher of 39 years I have written many different genres for my pupils in my classes from poetry, stories, plays, letters and news reports- all of them in a day’s work and now that I have retired my aim is to discover writing again or more accurately to actually finish some of my writing ideas – I’m very good at coming up with the idea, starting the story/poem off but finishing it is another matter! The purpose of this website is to keep a record of my work and to share it with others. I hope that you will look through my website and that you find something that you like, find interesting or something that will be of help. Sue XXX