Saturday 25 June 2016

A Royal Visit to Liverpool

Liverpool had a visit from our queen and the Duke of Edinburgh this week and although I wasn't in the city to see them, there was a great special edition in the Liverpool ECHO and the visit was shown on NW television. I mightn't have been there but there were thousands of others present to get a glimpse of them as they visited the Town Hall and Alder Hey's children's hospital.http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/all about the queen
Despite being situated in the North West of England, so a good few miles from London. Liverpool has done well when it comes to visits from royalty. I remember my sister and I being taken by Mam and Dad into the hub of Liverpool after WW2. My sister and I took turns of being hoisted onto Dad's shoulders and we were fortunate enough to see King George V1 and Queen Elizabeth and the king's mother, Queen Mary of Teck drive by in an open top shiny black car.


Our present queen has attended the Grand National several times as has the late Queen Mother. One never to be forgotten occasional was when the queen's horse Devon Loch, ridden by Dick Francis, collapsed a short distance from the finish. Who'd have thought he would have gone on to become a best selling crime author when he retired from racing? The queen's grandfather, George V was in Liverpool to open the first Mersey tunnel, the Queensway in the Thirties. Our queen was to open the second tunnel in the Seventies, known by most as the Wallasey tunnel, although it's proper name is the Kingsway.




I remember when I worked in town coming out of Lewis's just as Princess Margaret was passing. I was unaware that she was in Liverpool so it was quite a surprise. My husband has never forgotten the Duke of Edinburgh arriving by helicopter at the Borrowdale Fell Race, Lake District, in which John was participating and His Royal Highness saying they were all mad as he awarded the prizes. I am in utter agreement with HRH as are many people. John was made up that HRH had made the journey because fell racing doesn't get much press, although in the last few years some fell runners have brought the sport to the notice of more people. Fell runners such as Joss Naylor and the like. The Three Peaks and the Munroes are gaining fame as mountains to be run and conquered.


But getting back to royalty I was doing some research for one of my books a while back when I came across a mention of a visit from Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. The queen opened St George's Hall in 1854 and Prince Albert opened the Albert Dock, which is now one of the most popular tourists sites in the country. In 2007 Prince Charles reopened St George's Hall after a major renovation. My father has a connection with the hall, he was a plasterer and after WW2, he was employed in repairing some of the internal plaster work at the top of some of the pillars that had suffered damage during the Blitz.





http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/all-about/the-queen

Sunday 5 June 2016

more about last post and other things:66

This week the news came that writer Carla Lane had died. How could I have forgotten her?
Creator of The Liver Birds and Bread which provided me with a lorra lorra laughs.


One of my nephews' wife who hails from Windsor, reminded me that I had also forgotten to pay tribute to Liverpool City of Culture 2008 and the Echo reminded me of Phil Redmond and all he had done to promote our fair city.


I am preparing to get out the bubbly because I have finished the book I have been writing - the first since my stroke. Fittingly it is called Walking Back to Happiness and is set at the beginning of the Sixties. The title is that of the Helen Shapiro song which was a hit towards the end of 1961. I am just waiting for my agent's comments and then hopefully the publisher's.


In July I do have a paperback and Ebook out called A SISTER'S DUTY by Ebury, which is a reprint of my FOR THE SAKE OF THE CHILDREN.  LILY'S WAR is out in paperback and has just been released as a Ebook and audiobook as well.


I am now planning to write a series of faction sagas centred on my ancestry  starting in the 1830s up to modern times. It is a big challenge and entails a lot of research and the first book will be titled AND THEY CAME TO LIVERPOOL.  So wish me luck, please?