Society of Authors Three Counties meeting

Our summer social meeting was kindly hosted by Marnie and John de Carle in the magnificent setting of Lowicks House in Surrey. The house was originally a hunting lodge for Victorian tea trader and Quaker, Frederick John Horniman, who began trading in 1826 and is credited with the idea of selling tea in packets. At the time, all the tea in the world was traded through London merchants. We authors, however, drank Buck's Fizz with our lunch! The house,approached by a long winding drive through woodland, sits atop a huge lawn that slopes down to a lake containing several small islands. I felt as though I had stepped into an Enid Blyton Famous Five setting! The weather stayed fine and a flock of Canada geese obligingly floated by on the water. Pics of the lake follow in my next blog.

The Af Chapman - Captain's sleeping Quarters

The original cot bed with drawers underneath is still there, opposite a magnificent desk where I wrote some of this blog on my net book. I spent three nights here, spending my days sightseeing in Stockholm. More about this beautiful city in my next blog.

The Af Chapman - inside the Captain's cabin

THE Af CHAPMAN - INSIDE THE CAPTAIN'S CABIN
This second pic shows the reception room where the Captain would have dined with his officers and conducted ship's business. Beyond is his sleeping quarters and the heads, now converted into a smart white-tiled bathroom. My next blog has pics of the Captain's bed where I slept for three nights. He wasn't there at the time!

The Af Chapman, Stockholm, Sweden

THE Af CHAPMAN, STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN

The af Chapman was built in 1888 in the English town of Whitehaven and was then named Dunboyne. She was the last of this particular type of three masted fully rigged ship to be built. The pic shows the stern where the Captain's cabin is situated.

During her first 25 years service, the Dunboyne was a cargo ship, sailing first under an English flag and then a Norwegian one. In 1915, her last year under sail, she was bought by the Transatlantic Line in Gothenburg, rechristened G D Kennedy and converted into a training ship.

The Swedish Navy became her new owners in 1923. She was renamed Af Chapman and was used to train ship’s boys until 1934. She was then laid up in Karlskona until 1947, when she was bought by the City of Stockholm, and the Swedish Youth Hostels Association (STF) was invited to run the ship as a youth hostel. The hostel, sleeping 136, was opened in 1949. She has recently undergone extensive renovations to provide comfortable accommodation with a bar and restaurant on deck. The deck of the Af Chapman is moored opposite the Royal Palace in old Stockholm and commands stunning views.

Cheam Village

I was pleased to be invited to contribute to IMAGINE, the London Borough of Sutton's Festival of Arts, this year. Last Saturday I delivered a workshop on Creating Romantic Heroes at Cheam Library, a little way along the road from Sutton. Before the weekend my only knowledge of Cheam was Railway Sidings, East Cheam, made famous by the late Tony Hancock, one of the best original comic talents of my formative years. 'Would you believe it?' from Hancock's Half Hour Tony was as funny to me as 'I don't belieeeeeve it! from Richard Wilson's later comic creation.

I chose to drive to Cheam because, according to my satnav, it was only three streets away: the M27, the A3 and the A2043. The journey was surprisingly easy including negotiating the much-dreaded traffic queue at the Hindhead Tunnel roadworks. The tunnel opens next month and I can't wait! I planned to arrive early for my workshop so I could take a look at Cheam and get a feel for the area. I wish I had allowed more time. Cheam is wonderful! I drove through Sutton, which has a thriving busy shopping centre, and out of the other side knowing I was nearly at my destination. I could not believe it when I arrived at this beautiful historic village, clearly with its own distinctive identity, called Cheam. I wandered around centuries-old, white-painted, timber-framed houses, one of which was a museum, until I found an expanse of well-kept public parkland that had once been a private estate. It sounds a cliche but it was, truly, an oasis of quiet calm a few steps away from a busy London route. I wished I had brought a picnic!

I could not linger too long as I was there to work, but noted a Waitrose to sample later, after my class. I really enjoyed my workshop. Some of the participants were acquainted from prior creative writing courses they had attended at the Festival. We had a lively discussion on who our male and female heroes were, and why we thought of them as heroic, then I asked participants to create and write about their own fictional hero. At that point I knew that everyone in the class was a writer. The room went quite and they were away, inventing characters suitable for books and stories. It was pleasing for me that all participants created memorable protagonists and were confident enough to read their work to the group. We could have gone on but time ran out and we had to say our goodbyes.

I have happy memories of my visit to Cheam, not least of which is that parking was easy and the charges were very reaonable. I hope I have an opportunity to return one day.

With best regards

Catherine

Every woman needs a Wendy House

Hello, I hope you and yours are well.

Since my last post I have discovered that the town where I live has urban deer. People out and about at night report seeing them walking along the deserted roads.

I'm a writer, as you know, and I need 'space' to do my writing. This is not just physical space but mental space too. Virginia Wolfe identified it as a Room of One's Own and I concur that it is essential to any writer. However, I believe it is important to any woman if she wishes to develop her creative ability to the full. Men may need this too but I cannot (and wouldn't dare!) speak for them.

Historically, women have had 'The Home' as their domain and I recall as a young housewife being very possessive and controlling about what went on in my kitchen. That's okay as long as your man doesn't cook, but lots of them do nowadays. The living room, too, is shared and if you have children, the spare bedroom disappears as well! So what is a woman to do?

When I was a little girl in nursery school we had some wonderful toys including a make believe cardboard house painted in bright colours with a door and windows (no glass). It was big enough for tots to play 'house' inside and was known as a Wendy House after, I believe, Wendy from Peter Pan. I adored it.

As I grew older, life became more complicated and busier and there were times when I thought nostalgically of a play house where I could escape to my own space. Even my office in the house isn't totally my space because paperwork for running my home and lifestyle is in there, and isn't that complicated these days!

I wanted a Wendy House and why not? Men have their sheds or garages or boats for their escape so I decided I would have my hut; just for me, for my personal space, for my personal survival. Visitors are only allowed in by express invitation. My hut is a beach hut and I have to take the car to get there, but it is worth it. At the moment it is known by its number but I am thinking of calling it Wendy. 'Just going off to Wendy for the afternoon' sounds hugely liberating. I recommend it and as the weather gets warmer I shall blog more about it.

Next week I am in London for a few days and I'll Tweet about the fun. If you're interested, follow me on Twitter @cathkingauthor.
Enjoy your reading
Kindest regards
Catherine

Bambi in my garden 1 May 2011

You have to look closely but there is a young deer in the shade under my old apple tree. He stayed in the garden all day and had gone by the following morning. I hope he found his mother. He must have negotiated a few urban roads to reach my garden. I suppose the pickings are good - apple, hazel and beech leaves with wild violets for pudding. My garden is about 400 metres from busy shopping centre!

The lovely weather continues but my lawn needs some rain.
Best regards
Catherine