In the Words Of

It’s the halfway point of the year, and isn’t life still a challenge, but thankfully, bars and the like have now opened and not just outdoors! So do support them, please do. As most of you will know, I had to take an Asda delivery job during Lockdown, but last week I stopped my shifts, going on a seasonal role (if needed), just in case things go back to where they were. I cannot thank Asda enough and all the staff I have met and will keep friends with. In times of need, Asda really did help me out. Thank you! I am now back to doing my swimming lessons, and to say I have had about 80 enquiries without advertising, well, I am not kidding! All fitness is vital, but swimming is a life skill. So if you can’t get in with me, do try and sort with your local swim schools for your children’s sake. www.swimheroes. co.uk

Anyways, back to entertainment!

TV/Films

Brabham - Blu-ray, DVD & Digital from 14th June I enjoy anything to do with the motor industry, and this film has so many famous faces from the world of Formula One to talk about the life of Jack Brabham. It’s a documentary film, a bit like the “Senna” movie. Sir Jack Brabham is always called ‘the forgotten godfather of modern Formula One racing’, but he’s forgotten no more thanks to this film. Any fan of this sport or anything that moves on wheels (basically) will get sucked into watching this.

Books

by Carl Marsh

Holding Her Breath by Eimear Ryan - Sandycove - 12th June 2021 - £12.99

Compared to Sally Rooney, Naoise Dolan and Anna Hope, that will be a done deal for most book readers. This book is about a girl who is ‘shadowed by the ghost of her potential as a competitive swimmer’ - and you all know I like swimming stuff! Yet, it’s not just a swimming adoration book. It’s a book about complicated love stories and a young female growing up in this world dealing with both that ambition and the elements of grief, and all the time when she starts university. A talented author to watch is this Eimear Ryan.

Interviews

I had planned on two interviews for you this month, but one with Dr Hilary Jones, and yes, he is the guy on our TV screens on a certain channel in the mornings. For some reason, it did not happen; perhaps my sent over questions were a bit too post-watershed, who knows. Or he might have gone on holiday. I will keep chasing that one. My interview for you this month is with a writer who uses the pseudonym “Monica Lavers”. The reason being is that she worked in Hereford, at the SAS base. She has a book out called: Geezers. It’s not all gung-ho; it’s quite a personal experience of somebody who spent a few years there working hard but getting to know many of the characters. Please read the interview, and then hopefully read the book. I rate the book FIVE STARS, as it kept me up reading to 1 am most nights! That is all!

I will see you next month; enjoy your June! Viva la Book!

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Carl Marsh:

What gave you the drive to seek out a job in the Civil Service wing of the SAS?

Monica Lavers:

I didn’t necessarily want or seek out that sort of thing. And in fact, what spurred me on to do it was that I was very happy at the stage I was in in my life after 2012 when I bought my house here in Hereford. I’ve done a lot of voluntary work in my life, as I like doing that as you don’t have to worry too much if you can’t do it on a particular day, as it’s voluntary. But on the whole, I was brought up that way in that you have to be useful. You can’t sit around if you haven’t got any work; you cannot just go to the gym or be buying clothes. You have to be useful, and I believe that.

Carl Marsh:

And this drive in you not being workshy must have driven you crazy not being able to do something?

Monica Lavers:

I was also a blood donor. And I noticed that all the nurses were clearing up after the teas and coffees. So I said, you know: “I could do this. I could do this wherever you are. I could travel around and do all your teas and coffees. You nurses should be taking blood”. They said that sounds great. I then wrote to “this person”, then tried to ring someone, but I never heard back. And you know what? And truly Carl, in all of my life where I failed in things or not whatever. I never felt such rejection as I did when I could give my services for nothing. I was so upset. It upset me dreadfully. And then, after a month, I saw this thing come up. And I thought, well, I’m going to give it a try. I didn’t know it was SAS. That’s entirely true.

Carl Marsh:

It sounds like that job offer came at the right time for you to apply to be working at the SAS Headquarters?

Monica Lavers:

I went to the interview, and the guy (interviewing) said, “everyone’s worked here in our kitchen for years and years

and years, (yet) now three are retiring at once! And we’re desperate”. And they’re retiring, not because of all old age, but they were broken. Their backs needed treatment! And, it’s when he said, “we were desperate”. And to me, somebody saying ‘they’re desperate’ means I’ve got to step in. If they’d said there’s ‘no pay’, I would have done it. I didn’t like to think that they were desperate. So that’s how I got the job in the kitchen. It was more that I stumbled into it. I was not looking for a job. And I wasn’t looking for anything. But I knew that my (day-to-day) life could not go on as it was.

Carl Marsh:

In the book, do you know that I can relate to everything you talk about - apart from the location. The stores, the cookhouse, the way people are in the military, the whole lot. You’ve done a grand job of allowing me to reminisce!

Monica Lavers:

I have a lot in my mind about how it worked there, the military way of doing things. And if I may digress to give you an example, somebody, he doesn’t appear in the book, but he’s become a great friend of mine. And he was very senior with students. But a few months ago, he kind of walked out, and he gave them his notice. I asked him: “What’s happened to you?” and he said, “I’m not coming back, I’m not doing ‘this and that!’” He is this very senior guy, but he just said he’d outlived that place, and it’s true. So, anyway, I said, “What are your plans now?” as he flies for them. He said, “I went for a job with the police”. It was something to do with aircraft as a pilot. He’d been in the Air Corps before. Then he joined the SAS, then, this, that and the other. And they started asking him questions, and he said, “Well, it’s all down there on paper, you can see what my qualifications are!” “They then said they didn’t want me”. So we talked a bit more; I said, “You know that when people interview you, they do not just see what qualifications you’ve got; they want to know if this person will be a nice person to see every day”. I then said something like, “Is he going to walk in, and we think, ‘Oh, my God, are we going to start a meeting, and he is going to argue?’”. Honestly, with (name withheld), with you, I told him, “you’re going to argue about everything”. Yeah. So I said to him, that’s what you want to work on. And that’s what the SAS does not get, not any of them. They don’t know how to be outside of the military, none of them!

Carl Marsh