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The children that people forgot: Britain's sea evacuees

30/3/2014

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Britain’s Sea evacuees: “The child, the best immigrant”

Because children were young and malleable they were seen as the best category of immigrant - easy to assimilate, more adaptable and with a long working life ahead of them.  The British Dominions loved them.

Something that only came to light a few years ago was the fact that thousands of children had been sent as child migrants to countries such as Australia and Canada from Britain and never knew their own parents.  A social worker called Margaret Humphreys stumbled on this by accident in 1986, when a former child migrant asked her for assistance in locating her relatives.  She has since formed the Child Migrant Trust and subsequently helped many people to be reunited with their families.

Throughout the late 19th century thousands of children were routinely sent out to the overseas British Dominions to start new lives, and this continued during the 20th century until as late as the 1960s.  They were taken from orphanages run by religious and charitable institutions and despatched to Canada, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand.  Some were as young as four and five; others were teenagers.  Most of the children came from deprived backgrounds and it was considered to be for their own good that they were plucked from poverty and sent to a country where there was good food and new opportunities for them.  The receiving countries welcomed them - they needed people and children were so much easier to mould into their way of life than adults.

So when World War II broke out in 1939 there was already a precedent for sending children abroad to start new lives.  June 1940 saw the start of heavy bombing raids across London and, with the threat of an enemy invasion becoming more and more real, it was then that the British government decided to set up the Children’s Overseas Reception Board to send children, whose parents could not afford to send them to safety, to the Dominions.  They enlisted help from charities with experience of child migration, such as the Barnado’s Homes, Fairbridge Farm Schools, the Salvation Army and the Catholic Church.  However the plan was not warmly received by everyone - Winston Churchil thought it was a defeatist move and others warned of the disruption it would cause to families.  Nevertheless within two weeks CORB had received over 200,000 applications from parents who wanted to send their children to safety.  Parents often volunteered the names of relatives or friends who would look after the children in their new country and homes were found for the others by CORB representatives or the charities.

In the first few months CORB despatched over three thousand children to the Dominions.  Then tragedy struck.  All shipping traffic was subject to attacks from German U-boats and on 17th September 1940, the City of Benares, sailing from Liverpool for Canada with 197 passengers on board, was torpedoed and sunk in the Atlantic.  Ninety of the passengers were children.  It was a dreadful night, with gale-force winds and driving rain; 131 of the crew and 134 passengers were killed, among them seventy CORB children.  The reaction in Britain was one of horror and recrimination.  It had already been suggested that it was too risky to send children overseas during the war now the sceptics had been proved correct.  It was decided that no more children were to be sent to the Domninions unless their ship was in a protective convoy.  As there were not enough ships to use in the convoys that meant the end of the Sea Evacuee scheme.  The children had to take their chance in Britain.  Unlike other child migrants, most of the sea evacuees returned to Britain once the war was over.  But child migration continued until 1967 when the last nine children were sent to Australia by the Barnado’s Homes charity.

In my novel ‘The Only Blue Door’, the three children are sent to Australia under the CORB scheme in one of the last ships to take sea evacuees to the Dominions.  Unlike the other CORB children they are sent from an orphanage which had taken them in, believing them to be orphans.

If you want to read more about this topic I can recommend “New Lives for Old” by Roger Kershaw and Janet Sacks, “Innocents Abroad” by Edward Stokes and Margaret Humphreys’ book “Empty Cradles”.

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Authors' Corner talks to crime thriller writer Paul Anthony

25/3/2014

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This week Authors' Corner chats to the crime thriller writer, Paul Anthony.  


Good morning Paul, welcome to Authors’ Corner.

Thank you for the invitation, Joan.

You have a lot of successful novels, a collection of poetry, screen plays and film scripts to your credit.  Why and when did you decide to become a writer?

I believe many of us are shaped as writers as we grow up. Work, and the environment in which we live, probably help define why we all become writers of some kind. I’ve written poetry since my early teens but moved into writing novels in 1994 when I finished 6 years of study with the Open University. One Sunday morning I woke up with no assignment to work on as I’d finally accomplished my degree. My wife suggested I should start work on the novel I’d been threatening to write all my life. So, like the down-trodden disciplined husband I am, I complied and sat down to write ‘The Fragile Peace’. It was published two years later and I’ve been scribing away ever since. 

I see that you used to be a detective with the Cumbria Police Department.  In BELL, BOOK & CANDLE is the detective, Boyd, based on your personal experiences?

I was a police officer for 33 years.  I began walking the beat before becoming a police motor cyclist and then a motorway patrol officer in the Lake District. Eventually I moved into the finer arts of criminal investigation at local level and began climbing the career ladder. As time went by I worked with a regional perspective in mind before specialising in counter espionage and counter terrorism at the national and international level. I was always a Cumbrian officer but I worked with numerous police forces and agencies including the Metropolitan police anti-terrorist branch, the Security Service, and others. My stories are not based on true personal experiences as I am still subject to the Official Secrets Act and I am very well aware of the often fine line between truth and fiction. I’m afraid I have no secrets to divulge in the fiction that I write so the spies out there are going to be awfully disappointed. That said, when a doctor or surgeon writes a medical thriller they might use their background and knowledge to populate their story. Similarly, when a lawyer, barrister, teacher or scientist writes fiction then they too often use their experiences and professional knowledge to give authenticity to a tale. It’s completely correct to state that I use my background to give credence to the stories I write and you will find that is quite common amongst writers of my ilk.

Does this same detective reappear in other books?  Or do you invent a new detective for each story?

The Boyd series is a stand-alone quadrilogy about a detective based in Cumbria who joins the police as a young man and works his way into the nation’s Special Crime Unit. Here, he works with various intelligence agencies and counter terrorist organisations.  Boyd doesn’t always win – he’s a realist – but followers of the series will also be familiar with Boyd’s wife (Meg) and his elderly boss (Commander Herbert). The books are not just about a lone stereotypical male detective who always wins. They also bring to bear his second in command, Anthea, and an MI5 officer of equal standing called Antonia, as well as an ever-changing group of characters that populate the stories. So, the main characters are omnipresent, the supporting characters are constantly evolving, and each tale has a totally different background. The series is defined more adequately on my blogsite at http://paulanthonys.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/the-boyd-series.html

But I also feature a trilogy – soon to be a quadrilogy – about a south coast detective called Davies King. Davies works between Southampton and Brighton from a place called Crillsea. He is head of detectives in the area. A widower, Davies is also a chess-master who shuns his office and runs his police operation from the Anchor pub down at the harbor.  He runs a network of criminal informants and professional contacts that range from the head of MI6, to the head of the Flying Squad via a market trader who has a finger in every pie ever baked. Again, the main character – Davies King – is surrounded by a selection of interesting characters. His best friends include a bomb disposal officer, a time-served detective from the RUC, and a female detective inspector, the chief constable, an elderly female administration officer, and a bunch of locals in the Anchor – some of whom have dubious backgrounds. Davies flies by the seat of his pants and gets involved in all manner of occurrences – from plain and simple murder to attacks on the nation’s infrastructure to international chases involving megalomaniacs. This series is much newer than the Boyd series and represents my current workload. I’d class this series as ‘thrillers’. The series is explained here.
http://paulanthonys.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/the-davies-king-series.html

How would you categorise your books - crime fiction or thrillers?

That’s probably one of the best questions I’ve been asked over the years. Your unspoken observations are spot on. I certainly don’t write ‘True Crime’ for reasons previously explained – and the fact that the administration of justice, practice, procedure and technology relative to ‘criminal investigation’ changes so often that it makes ‘True Crime’ a difficult genre to constantly master if you are planning to write multiple novels in that area. 

Neither do I write ‘crime fiction’ in the strict genre of ‘murder/mystery’. I’ve been described on a number of occasions as a ‘multi genre’ writer in that I blend a mixture of history, crime, and adventure – sometimes a twist of romance – into the same work to deliver something unique to the reader. I would argue that much of my police work involved delving into the history of events. Murders usually involve a personal history of some kind. Terrorism and espionage have historic bases that can be quite complex and deeply rooted. For me, the most important part of the work is the characters and the relationships between them. They make the plot work. All I do is provide a unique realistic background to each book. I’d probably suggest my novels are more ‘thriller’ than ‘crime fiction’ and would plump for ‘crime thriller’ if I really had to choose a genre slot.

A lot of your work has a historical background.  Which appeals to you most, writing about history or writing detective fiction?

I enjoy reading and researching history but take much more enjoyment from crafting and writing fiction.

Tell us about your working day?  Does your schedule vary when you are writing or do you keep to a strict routine?

I don’t really have a schedule as far as writing goes. For example, I usually have a mug of coffee in the morning when I’m promoting my work on social media. Then I do the same again in the afternoon or early evening. I have accounts across multiple social media platforms and websites and tend to service them on a regular basis for between one and two hours a day depending on the day of the week and what else is going on in my life.  Two days a week I don’t use social media at all. I write something every day – usually an article, poem or short story for one of my website partners (it’s part of my promotional activity) but when I’m writing a book or script I go into lockdown. By that I mean I write for as long as it takes – whatever it takes. I often write well into the night but my main writing is always done whilst on holiday. Beside the pool you’ll find me crafting stories, creating, destroying, recreating, carving out characters and describing their various traits as we build the story around them. The work is completed when we return to England. I’m very lucky in that my wife is an avid reader across many different genres and an editor of substantial experience. She is my sounding board but I also have two other editors who dissect the work for me. If the plot doesn’t work, we don’t use it. This philosophy works for me and proves the team.

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You are obviously a very active blogger, Paul - does the time spent on social networking detract from your time to write?

I particularly use twitter, linkedin and facebook to promote my work every day and regularly service other social media accounts across the internet. I write articles for broowaha and the linkedin pulse magazine, as well as a few more online sites. I’ll also occasionally deliver a blog about a specific subject that interests me and I enjoy hosting other authors on my site just like you do. Delivering such writing achieves two things – one, it keeps my mind and writing skills honed, and two, it allows those reading my work to decide whether or not they are interested in the content and whether they might try one of my books. I believe in using my writing abilities to promote myself as a writer and author so I don’t really have a problem with working on social media. For me, it’s part of the writing challenge. I enjoy facebook particularly because it works very well for me and I can mix business with pleasure. Indeed, I decided long ago to be a truly independent publisher and author so I write when it suits me and market in a manner I enjoy. Securing a work-life balance is important even in retirement.

In the present climate, an author has to spend as much time marketing their books as writing them.  It sounds as though you have found a balance that works for you.

I use my writing style and abilities as a promotional marketing tool by writing across multiple social media platforms and websites. I don’t have a problem with either element. Over the years I’ve noticed how numerous sites have moved from being ‘book recommendation’ sites to ‘event notification’ sites. I’ve retired from many such groups because they no longer function correctly for semi-professional committed writers like myself and are more useful for those seeking short term marketing opportunities. It is far too easy to get bogged down in such groups and forget what your real objective is. A long term commitment – over many years – relative to writing and consistent marketing is my preferred and proven strategy.   

Which particular marketing tools have you found the most useful for your books?

I’ve tried many website providers over the years but prefer ‘blogger’. It’s easy to use and allows me to share my work with numerous other social media platforms – and the work of all my fellow authors on the site – to a wide audience that enjoys reading.  Being able to ‘share’ content with multiple social media sites in an efficient and speedy manner is crucial in marketing in the digital age.

What are you working on at the moment?

I crafted and plotted ‘Breakwater’ at the end of last year. I bedded it down as is my usual practice – for a couple of months – and will very shortly bring it out of mothballs, dust it down, and write it from start to finish with a fresh mind before handing it to my editors. The work is #4 in the Davies King series and is set on the south coast of England. Ironically, the work begins near Barcelona in Spain just before the Second World War and unravels through time before exploding into a murder or two on the desk of Davies King – and there’s quite a bit of mysterious political intrigue in this one. I enjoyed crafting it and developing the plot but I shall shortly treat myself by writing it properly. 

So where can readers find out more about you and your books, Paul? 


My blogsite and a list of my books can be found at http://paulanthonys.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/the-paul-anthony-book-shop.html

I’m on twitter @paulanthonyspen and on facebook at 
https://www.facebook.com/PaulAnthonysPen 


I can see that you are a very busy man, Paul, so thank you very much for taking time out to talk to us.  I'm sure there are many fans eagerly waiting for the publication of the latest Davies King novel.  Good luck with it.

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Authors' Corner talks to Ann Victoria Roberts

18/3/2014

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AUTHORS’ CORNER talks to best selling historical novelist Ann Victoria Roberts

Good morning Ann.  Welcome to Authors’ Corner.  You’ve been a successful novelist for many years now, tell us how you came to become a writer.

At the moment I’m completing a memoir, Life & Luck, which answers this question in full. But briefly, as a teenager I discovered a family diary written in 1916 by a young Australian soldier. I was so caught up by the detail – and the tragedy of his death a year later – I went home and immediately started my first attempt at research into WW1. I also started writing a story about him – all this while I should have been studying for exams! 

It was never finished, but twenty years later, when I was married with children and my husband was away at sea, I started writing and researching in earnest. My original idea was diverted by details of the soldier’s background, and it eventually became two novels – Louisa Elliott, his mother’s story set in 1890s York, and Liam’s Story, which takes up the Elliott saga in modern times, while the past comes to life through old photos, letters, and a diary…  A recent reviewer describes the book as, ‘a contemporary love story wrapped around an historical novel’ – such an apt phrase, I wish I’d thought of it!

What is it about writing historical fiction that you enjoy most?

History has always fascinated me – as a child I spent a lot of time in York, where history stands on every street corner, and even road-works become archaeological digs. My reading matter then was largely classic fiction, so you might say I was absorbing history without being aware of it. Nowadays I enjoy discovering what was going on in the world at the time, and how it might impact on my characters and the plot I’m constructing. I feel comfortable ‘in the past’, and my writing style is quite formal, so historical fiction suits me best.

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I see that some of your characters are real people - the master of the Titanic for example.  Does that present any problems when you insert them into a work of fiction?

Well, you do need to be sure of your facts. Having started out with real people – my forebears – I found that facts form a skeleton, around which the novelist can build the flesh of possibility. But their lives – and the facts – must be respected. The public figures I’ve written about – Captain EJ Smith in The Master’s Tale, and Bram Stoker in Moon Rising – are fascinating people simply because not a great deal is known about them. Researching their lives was a lengthy process – but I like to think that in reconstructing real events in fiction – and interpreting their actions – I’ve cast a revealing light on them as human beings.

I notice on Facebook that you are republishing some of your books as ebooks.  How has this worked out?

My first two novels are now available as ebooks and will be in print again this year. As I’m now my own publisher, everything is down to me – and I must say it’s far harder work than simply being a writer! The ebooks are selling steadily, and making Liam’s Story free for a few days in January generated about 1500 downloads, mostly from the UK. The reviews are coming in now and I’m hoping that this will generate more purchases of the ebooks, and also the print books to follow. And of course my upcoming memoir, Life & Luck.

In the present climate, an author has to spend as much time marketing their books as writing them.  How do you feel about that?

Marketing is the bugbear! It takes up a lot of time and I’m aware that I’m not good at it. A traditional publisher employs at least half a dozen people to get a book into the marketplace – including editor, cover designer, publicity people, sales team, and marketing experts. And we indie writers/publishers are trying to do the whole lot ourselves!  I employ a cover designer and technical expert already – and feel I should consider employing a marketing person too. But I know nothing about marketing, so it’s impossible to judge quality v cost. Hence still doing it myself – badly!

Which marketing tool have you found the most useful for your books? 

Hard to say, Joan. After many years I’ve just started giving talks again – and I’m sure this is the way forward. It’s getting the word out there in a very personal way. 

Most useful so far, have been blogs on the website – https://www.annvictoriaroberts.co.uk  Currently I’m blogging extracts from Life & Luck, and some traveller’s tales which haven’t made it into the memoir. When the children were young, we spent a lot of time at sea with my husband, and these stories are proving popular. I promote them on Twitter and Facebook, and it’s a good way of interesting people in my writing, rather than just shouting, ‘Buy my Book!’ 

I use Linkedin too, although to be honest, Linkedin feels like a black hole to me. As does Goodreads – I find it a difficult site to navigate. As for joining ‘groups’, I’ve tried that on Linkedin, and am not sure how useful it is. I read and contribute when I have time. Much prefer Facebook to all the media groups – I find it sociable and entertaining. Whether it sells books is another matter!

I can agree with you there.  So where is the best place for readers to look for you?

You can find me on Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/AnnVictoriaRoberts# 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Ann_V_Roberts# 

So, tell me Ann, what are you working on now?

I’m completing Life & Luck, which I thought was ‘ready to go’ a month ago. But having sent it to reader friends for their responses, I find they want me to include a ‘bad luck’ episode to counterbalance the ‘good luck’ which came with the publication of my first two novels. That’s been a surprise – and a difficult one to address – but I’m including it anyway. Currently re-writing and looking for knock-on effects.


Once the memoir is on its way, I’ll be able to get back to the novel I started over a year ago. It’s an English Civil War novel, set during the Siege of York in 1644. A completely different period for me, so I hope it works out. 

Both books sound fascinating and we can't wait to get a chance to read them.  Thank you for taking the time to talk to us, Ann and good luck with your new books.




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INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY FAYRE

10/3/2014

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Being an ex-pat living on Spain's Costa del Sol, it's nice from time to time to get together with other ex-pats and the Costa Women's group is great for that.  It's an opportunity to meet women from all walks of life and of a wide range of nationalities - Brits, Scandinavians, Finns, Germans and, of course, Spanish.  Last Saturday was International Women's Day and Costa Women helped to organise a charity fair at the Tamisa Hotel in Mijas.  It was to raise money for the Mijas Women's Refuge - a worthy cause.  It was well attended by both visitors and participants.  What a wealth of talent there is along this coast - there were women who painted, who made beautiful knitwear and others who made jewellery, beside those that baked cakes and made wonderful jams and chutneys.  The cake stalls were my favourite and I couldn't resist buying a few delicious cup cakes to take home for tea - each one different and a work of art.  
I had gone along to the fair as a participant, with two other local authors, Jane Harlond and Lorraine Mace, to display my books in Authors' Corner, as we nicknamed it.  We had plenty of interest in our work and chatted to a lot of nice people; we got rid of quite a few bookmarks and business cards but actually made few sales.  Chatting later we came up with two observations - most people like to buy ebooks these days; they find them more convenient and cheaper to buy.  The other observation was more surprising - at least half the women that we spoke to did not read.  Yes they read a book if they were on holiday but most had neither the time nor the inclination to pick up a book, never mind buy one.  It left us both surprised and depressed.  Lifelong readers of the written word, we found it hard to understand that not everyone felt the same as we did.
The first book I ever published was Daughters of Spain, a true account of what life was like for women in Spain during the Franco years.  As I chatted to the women who stopped at our Authors' Corner, I felt how appropriate it was to be there on International Women's Day and how far we women had travelled since then.


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    Author

    Joan Fallon is a writer and novelist living in Spain.

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