I have had the pleasure of interviewing Chandler’s Ford writer Allison Symes.
Allison Symes loves reading and writing fairytales.
Novels are her first love, though she also flirts with short stories, occasionally has a fling with poems and now writes radio scripts.
[Read more…] about Interview Chandler’s Ford Writer Allison Symes
I am delighted to see WH Smith at the Fryern Arcade in Chandler’s Ford has started selling books.
Yesterday afternoon I saw a good selection of books at WH Smith. One book relevant to Chandler’s Ford is The Chandler’s Ford Story: From Earliest Times to the 21st Century, by Barbara Hillier and Gerald Ponting. [Read more…] about WH Smith Chandler’s Ford: Good Books In Community
Would you like to encourage your teenage children to read over the half-term holiday?
The fantasy books for Young Adults by Chandler’s Ford writer Richard Hardie are now available in Chandler’s Ford Library and Southampton Civic Center Library, on the Teen / Young Adult shelves.
The two books are: Leap of Faith and Trouble With Swords. [Read more…] about Fantasy Books by Richard Hardie: Now in Chandler’s Ford Library
Everyone who stays in Sri Lanka has to have an extension to their visa at some time and the visa run to the government office in Colombo is one of those things that ex-pats have to do. ^
The train leaves Kandy at dawn before the sun colours the land. [Read more…] about Dawn Train Down The Mountain To Colombo
The dairy puts the milk in the bottle,
My mum puts black jam in her tart,
I put my words down on paper,
But you put the hope in my heart. [Read more…] about I Take You Not For Granted
In the Was Camelot Really In Chandler’s Ford? post, Chandler’s Ford published writer Richard Hardie told us about his new book.
Richard Hardie’s book Trouble With Swords, the second in his fantasy adventure series, has just been published. [Read more…] about Published: Trouble with Swords by Richard Hardie
Although I wasn’t chilly,
I knew my memory had no form,
What on earth was a five minute drop
And how would it make me warm?
[Read more…] about Writing Class? Inviting Class.
I moved to Chandler’s Ford 27 years ago, because at that time it was easy and quick to drive up the M3 to where I was working near London than commute down the M1. How that has changed! But then so has my job and I now spend most of my time at home as an author, or touring bookshops signing books.
Soon after moving here I became a Scout Leader [Read more…] about Was Camelot Really in Chandler’s Ford?
Not as big an event as in Glasgow but Hillwood College Sports Day for the Nursery and Playgroup was great fun.
We knew we were to be invited but when the invitation came it specified us as “special guests” and that, before the prizes were distributed the special guests would make a speech. We thought we had better try to speak in Sinhala. How would you do it? [Read more…] about Commonwealth Games In Kandy
Anuradhapura is about 100 miles from Kandy. On our travels, Bernard, our driver, advised us that we passed through the best area in Sri Lanka for mango.
He sampled a few before advising us which to buy at 12p each. The farmers are keen to sell at the roadside stalls. If they sell wholesale they get only 2.5p each. Six weeks later the season was almost over and the price was 25p each. Never mind, they are still very good. [Read more…] about Life On The Road
Yesterday Niki Jenkins from The Picture Framing Shop in Chandler’s Ford left a beautiful comment on a post I wrote five months ago.
She also sent me pictures of Teddy, their lovely shop dog, who is renowned and well-cuddled in Hiltingbury.
[Read more…] about The Picture Framing Shop: Meet Teddy The Shop Dog
By Brenda Sedgwick
Has anyone else living in the Chandler’s Ford area published an ebook or printed copy?
I’ve just published my first novel, Marriage A Journey And A Dog, and I would love your feedback.
I read how it takes 5 minutes to upload a book onto Kindle Publishing. It does when you have a perfect manuscript and [Read more…] about My Debut Novel: Marriage, a Journey, and a Dog
About half way along the road from Southampton to Winchester were three fords, nearby lived a family named Chaundler. This was the case in the 16th century. Earlier, there is no mention of Chandler’s Ford in the Doomsday Book though Eastleigh, Otterborne, Chilworth and Twyford are there.
Nothing changed in this wooded land until the 19th century when a large brickyard developed [Read more…] about About Chandler’s Ford
Happy Birthday, Bill.
I was never as enthusiastic about Shakespeare as one is supposed to be. I was made to study him at school like most people. We did Merchant of Venice and I thought it a poor show how Shylock was treated. [Read more…] about Happy Birthday Shakespeare!
English spelling at times seems completely random, but it is sometimes systematic, even if there seems no good reason for the system, and if exceptions can still be found!
Take the use of single L and double L at the end of a word for example. [Read more…] about English Spelling
Just a few yards off The Circus in Bath is the Museum of East Asian Art in a beautiful Georgian house on Bennett Street.
The contents were collected by Brian McElney OBE, a British scholar of sinology who worked as a lawyer in Hong Kong. After retirement he tried to present his collection to other museums of Chinese art but eventually set this one up himself. [Read more…] about China In Bath
“Oh, to be in Chandler’s Ford / Now that April’s there.”
(Sorry about that misquote, Mr Browning.)
Recently someone told me that Chandler’s Ford had no soul. He went by the name of Mephistophilis on the chat site. I asked him to define soul but he declined.
The soul must be in the gardens. [Read more…] about “Oh, To Be In Chandler’s Ford / Now That April’s There”
I’d like a tube of mending glue,
For my heart is broken clean in two.
I see you’ve a shelf called: “Mend with precision”;
Do you have a box of peripheral vision?
I’ll take a repair kit for a lost sense of smell;
I’ll take a tin of motivation as well. [Read more…] about Supermarket?
A budgie flying past one day,
Over a garden in Kent,
Did the thing that birds must do,
A little gift he sent. [Read more…] about The Unexpected Gift
If your life feels kind of empty,
And you are looking for good cheer,
Pick yourself up, dust yourself down,
And become a volunteer.
I was severely head injured at 19 years old. My life and my dreams were shattered but my faith was strengthened. [Read more…] about If Your Life Feels Kind Of Empty
