SWWJ Journal – Summer Issue 2020

J OUR NA L Issue 98 • SUMMER 2020

our next chapter 125 years on...

SPECIAL FEATURE: pp32-34 Helen Balkwill talks about BOY FROM THE MOOR – her father and their life in Yemen

THE SOCIETY OF WOMEN WRITERS AND JOURNALISTS

W ho’s w ho

JOURNAL

SUMMER 2020

Issue 98

Editor/Communications Coordinator: Barbara Field-Holmes BIGG-in Words Ltd 68 Sunningvale Avenue Biggin Hill, Westerham, Kent TN16 3BY Tel: 01959 575936 Mob: 07814 738894 swwj@bigginwords.co.uk

Vivien Brown Tel: 01895 254453 vivienhampshire@btinternet.com

Chairman: Rebecca Harding Highfield, 46 Park Avenue North Northampton NN3 2JE Tel: 07966 450080 rebecca@saltwhistle.com

Book Reviews/ Chawton House Liaison: Pamela Birley Tel: 020 7351 6377 bra33@btinternet.com

Vice Chairman/ Speakers: Pamela Payne Tel: 01730 892413 pamela@thebeach.com Hon. Treasurer: Benita Cullingford Tel: 01727 857388 b.cullingford@btinternet.com Hon. Secretary/ Events: Janice Grande Tel: 01268 451547 Mob: 07951 671498 grandewords@yahoo.com International/Features: Doreen Friend Tel: 020 8505 2476 doreen.friend@swwj.co.uk Membership Secretary: Carol Cannavan Tel: 01708 459376 Mob: 07947 133509 carol@aspire-editorial.co.uk

The JOURNAL

Competitions/Social Media/Manuscript Appraisal:

Archivist: Sylvia Kent Tel: 01277 651062 kentsylvia5@gmail.com

Marketing Coordinator: Michelle Harriman Tel: 07894 703717 michelle@dotiprojects.co.uk Council Support: Katherine Bolton Tel: 07834 954993 katherineindevon@gmail.com

Patrons:

President:

Vice Presidents:

Welfare/Benevolent Fund

Consultants: Martin Cort (Drama) Tel: 020 7582 582 5839 mcort1@talktalk.net Patrick Forsyth (Marketing) patrick@touchstone28.com Vivien Brown (Proofreader) Doris Corti (Poetry) Dorothy Pope (Poetry) Website:

by Andrew Nicholson andrew@kulea.ma Printed by: Thinkpad Group Biggin Hill, Westerham, Kent TN16 3JP www.thinkpad-group.co.uk

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Co nt en ts 4

From the Chair

By Rebecca Harding.

5

Letters Members’ views and comments.

7

Membership matters

By Carol Cannavan.

8-12

Society news Including new members and obituaries for Jean Morris, Patricia Jones and Ann Ladbury, followed by Happy Memories of Ann by Pamela Payne.

13-15

Members’ news A round-up of news & successes.

16

Members’s news special Online interviews a great success

by Laura Burkin..

17-20

Members’ news special Members tell us how they have coped with lockdown..

20-22 23

International members Doreen Friend shares the news..

Fro m t he E dito r Hello everyone!

Welcome to the Summer issue of the SWWJ L. I hope you are all surviving lockdown – 2020 will certainly go down in history as a year to remember, the year the ‘virus’ almost brought us all to a standstill. We have all been affected in different ways – some more positive than others, and we are all trying to adapt our lives to a new ‘normal’. As you can imagine, lockdown is a strong theme throughout this issue and I am sure we will continue to see, hear and read a lot more things inspired by the past few months. For many, young and old, it has brought out creative talents we didn’t know we had.

However, as we start to ease out of lockdown, I urge you all to be very careful and stay safe I sincerely hope that the Summer issue has been worth the wait and gives you plenty to read. .

Best wishes

Barbara

SWWJ Competition 2020 Another chance to enter the John Walter Salver Competition 2020, plus meet the Judge, Jonathan Ungoed-Thomas..

35-36

24

Poetry

By Dorothy Pope.

When I was not upon this page...

By Doreen Friend..

36

SWWJ Competition Rules

25- 26

From the archives

By Sylvia Kent.

37

Marketing

27

Around the regions News from Moonraker by Dee La Vardera..

28-29

Fiction focus

By Vivien Brown

29-30

Special feature The ‘Queen’ moment by Pamela Payne

30-31

SWWJ Competition 2021 Meet our Poetry Competition Judge, Jacqueline Saphra plus The Elizabeth Longford Poetry Competition 2021.

32-34

Special feature How I accidentally became a self-published author by Helen Balkwill

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By Patrick Forsyth..

38-39

Markets and Competitions

By Carol Cannavan..

40-42

Book reviews

43

Dates for your diary

Front cover picture: JOURNAL Issue 98 • SUMMER 2020

our next chapter 125 years on...

SPECIAL FEATURE: pp32-34 Helen Balkwill talks about BOY FROM THE MOOR – her father and their life in Yemen

THE SOCIETY OF WOMEN WRITERS AND JOURNALISTS

3

Fr om the Cha ir Chair types...

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Le tter s Online success...

Loving the Journal...

Wri te to us Come on members, let’s hear from you. This is your chance to have your say, so write, send an email or a text message. There is a lot going on at the moment – despite Covid19 and lockdown. Send your letters/ emails/texts to the Editor .

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Le tte rs Writing – a great way to cope

Choosing exactly the right word...

Change of address

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M em be rsh ip matter s From Carol Cannavan

IMPORTANT NOTICE

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S ociet y n ew s SWWJ welcomes new

Obituary:

members

Jean Morris

Send us your news Have you done anything interesting lately, had something accepted for publication, a book published or organised a book signing? Write to the Editor and share your experiences and successes.

The deadline for the next issue of the SWWJ JOURNAL is 15th September 2020.

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S oc iet y ne ws Obituary: Patricia Jones

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Society ne ws Obituary: Ann Ladbury

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Soc ie ty news

Happy M emo ri e s of Ann Ladbury

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11

S ociet y n ew s SC RIPT OR A

MANUSCRIPT APPRAISAL SERVICE

N O T E T O M EM B E R S: Until further notice, Council meetings will be held online via Zoom – similar to Skype.

If there are any issues you would like to raise for discussion, please contact the Chairman, Rebecca Harding, or any Council member. See page 2 for contact details.

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Me mb er s’ news Figure of Speech No 2 – Official gossip Reprint gets 5-star review

Follow the SWWJ on

Multiple successes

FACEBOOK Members are invited to ‘socialise’ on the Society FACEBOOK page. Check out swwj.facebook and ask everyone to ‘like’ the page.

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13

M e mb ers’ ne ws

Yearning for happiness

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Me mb er s’ new s Feelgood stories

UP C LOS E A ND PER SON AL A member’s view...

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Mem ber s’ n ew s s pe cial UP CL OS E AND PE RSON A L

Online interviews a great success

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Me mbe r s’ ne ws spe cia l

Members tell us how they have COPED WITH LOCKDOWN

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Mem ber s’s new s s pec ia l H AND S

First Day of Freedom

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Mem be rs ’ n ews s pecial

The Novel Coronavirus COVID-19: a comment

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Mem ber s’ n ew s s pe cial / In t er n ati on al mem bers Living the dream

LIV IN G TH E D R EA M

International isolation

I !

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Int er n ati o n al m e mbers

!

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International members

!

! !

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SW W J C om pe t i ti o n 2 0 20

SWWJ John Walter Salver Competition 2020

Theme: WOMEN

Judge: Jonathan Ungoed-Thomas, Chief Reporter, The Sunday Times First prize: £100; Second prize: £50; Third prize: £25

Closing date: 30th September 2020

Meet our Judge: Jon Ungoed-Thomas

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Poetr y

Poems of Crisis

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‘Their operations that autumn took on outlandish overtones at the behest of Bomber Command…’

Max Hastings Dodging searchlight, light and heavy flak, phosphorus and fighter (fear unnumbed by crewing an unheated geodetic coffin two miles up), they dropped teabags on occupied Holland to show the sun would never set on an English elevenses; then groped home by stars and sextant, low enough to taste salt spray in the bomb bay, landing at Leeming for a rain-percussed kip until strawberries and cream.

Rotterdammers emerged to find Ceylon blends (Greetings from Great Britain: Keep a Good Heart!) among the brittle leaves of the streets, schoolyards and towpaths, and queued to hand them in on pain of death.

Only the early morning thief quietly shovelling sand, a midnight cheat home from long drive, med student and nurse not volunteering in the otherwise street but the self-risked gifts of food in the porch, the faithful deliveries of newspapers and fish sustaining numbers of phone calls, emails and post – different play, same characters.

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Fr om t he a rc hive s

DANGER! Don’t ask – carry your mask!

C

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From t he a rc h iv e s

S TOP PR ESS: PRIZE DRAW – EXTENSION OF CLOSING DATE

t! e g r o f t ’ n Do the

for py date o c e h T e 20 issu 0 2 n m Autu of the AL JOURN SWWJ 2020. r e b m e Sept is 15th

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A round t he region s News from Moonraker Country – in Lockdown in May 2020

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Cooking Tuna Empanada during lockdown...

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Mickey trying to escape during lockdown.

Fictio n f o c us

Writers in lockdown

B

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Spe cia l f eature That ‘Queen’ moment

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S peci al f ea t ur e

Meet our Poetry Competition Judge: Jacqueline Saphra

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SW WJ C o mp et iti on 20 2 1

The Elizabeth Longford Rose Bowl Poetry Competition 2021

First prize £100 Second prize £50; Third prize £25

Competition judge: Jacqueline Saphra Closing date Friday 8th January 2021

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Sp ecial fea tur e

How I accidentally became

A SELF-PUBLISHED AUTHOR

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Helen Balkwill at the launch of her book, Boy from the Moor.

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Sp e ci al f ea ture

~~~~~~~~

“Living with these difficult peronal circumstances, as a young woman I set out to investigate what happened to my dad.� ~~~~~~~~

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S peci al f ea t ur e

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Wh en I wa s not u pon th is p age .. .

I was a... how can I say this? I was on the stage

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W hen I w as n ot u p o n t his p ag e. ..

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M ark eting Different times, different view

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M arkets an d c omp e t iti o n s Writing opportunities

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Ma rk ets & C ompe titio ns

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Book revi e ws Boy from the Moor

The Oxford Trinity

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Book re views

No Sister of Mine

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Book revie w s Wedding Bells for Woolworths

A word about book reviews:

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Di ar y da te s

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY 2020/2021

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