Books & Poetry

AMONG GIANTS

From a small child Pamela Sumner was animal-mad. Now the former zoo keeper has collected her experiences into a memoir and, at the age of 79, is enjoying her fi rst foray into publishing

Da s, Chimps and Giant Dogs is as intriguing a read as you would expect from its curious title – and its author is just as fascinating. Pamela Sumner has travelled and worked all over the place and encountered plenty of adventures along the way, more often than not involving animals.

Her love for all creatures is a thread woven through the witty anecdotes in this gentle book, as is the infl uence of a mother she clearly adored and siblings who shaped her life after the loss of her father at the age of six.

Her family came from the Welsh village of Sychdyn, where her older sister and brother grew up roaming the woods, fi shing in streams and helping with haymaking and the harvest. The rural idyll changed when Pamela’s father found a new job and the family moved to St Helens, bursting into tears at the sight of their two-bedroomed terraced house. It was here that Pamela was born – almost immediately wishing for the life in the wilds her siblings recreated in stories.

She said: “As a small child I was besotted with animals, and the more exotic the better. But the nearest I got in St Helens was a moth-eaten stu ed tiger in the small museum in Victoria Park! When I was a little older, I realised my dream of striding through the jungle in jodhpurs and a pith helmet tracking wild beasts was just a fantasy. So I decided to get a job as a keeper at Chester Zoo when I left school.” “Having a wacky sense of humour has helped”

Tails and tales

Da s, Chimps and Giant Dogs describes the career that followed and Pamela’s lifelong devotion to animals. At 79, she still runs a busy boarding kennels.

She said: “I have many clear memories starting from when I was quite small. After years of regaling family and friends with tales of my childhood and life, they kept insisting, ‘You must write a book!’ I hope they can stop nagging me now! But I am proud to have done it.

“I have been extremely lucky to have had a such a happy life. Of course, having a wacky sense of humour sense of humour has helped tremendously!” Da s, Chimps and Giant Dogs is published by Ballyphelan Press, price £17.99.

LOCAL BOOKS

Through the Gate of Horns by VR Wilson VR Wilson is an author based in Gwynedd, Wales, and this is a tale of mystery woven through time and place. Having picked up her friend Josie at the station, Lorne hopes for an uneventful drive to Waydon, where they will link up with fi ve friends for a reunion weekend. But during a stop on their journey, a chance meeting with a smart young woman makes Josie almost collapse from shock.

The stranger introduces herself as Arina Aubel, and Josie tells Lorne she is identical to the face of a woman she has been seeing in a recurring dream, though the setting of the dream is centuries old. Could the dream be a prophecy and, if so, is Arina in danger? Published by Austin Macauley, £9.99 (ebook £3.50) To Regain a Legacy by TC Sutton TC Sutton has just released the historical fi ction To Regain a Legacy, written from the author’s home in Wrexham. Set during France’s preRevolutionary Ancien Régime it follows one man’s journey to win back his father’s legacy.

Gambler, socialite and swordsman Napier Gerrard enjoys a life of leisure and luxury. However, his comfortable lifestyle is blighted by the memory of a double murder when, as a teenager, he lived in England with his father, a fencing master to a royal duke. Knowing that he will never have peace of mind until he has done the right thing by his father’s memory, Napier decides to return to England in search of his father’s resting place. Patrick’s Story by Patrick Carroll Patrick Carroll has had a long and adventurous life before settling with his wife, son and family in a converted barn in Wales. This is his life story, and it is inspirational, recounting the journey that led to that move. Patrick’s Story shares the joys and trials of a special person who has touched the lives of many for good.

Patrick’s mother was sent to Scotland to give birth to her son in the land of his father. His future adventures took him to Birmingham – apart from a brief return to Scotland when his mother had tuberculosis. He has had many adventures and lays claim to more than nine lives!

Calling local authors…

If you’re living in the Shire area or have written about a local person or place, we’d love to feature you on these pages. Email editorial@ shiremagazine.co.uk.

In their regular column, the bookworms from Linghams Bookshop in Heswall suggest a couple of gripping reads perfect for taking on holiday

Falling by TJ Newman

Falling is a stunningly exciting book and one you won’t be able to put down. Airline pilot Bill Hoffman is flying a planeload of passengers from Los Angeles when his world is turned upside down by a phone call he never in his wildest dreams thought possible – one that chills him to the core.

The caller, calm and in complete control, says: “If you tell anyone, your family dies. If you send anyone to the house, your family dies. It’s simple. Crash your plane or I will kill your family. The choice is yours.”

Who can he trust? Where can he turn? Is he as completely alone as he feels? And what would you do in the same position? A book so chilling it will turn your blood to ice. stunningly exciting book and one you won’t be able to put down. Airline pilot Bill Hoffman is flying a spectre is wearing a mask and Daniel cannot escape… old hospital is now a spectacular modern hotel – but has the past been laid to rest or is the creeping

The Sanatorium by Sarah Pearse

Another gripping thriller, this time set in a derelict sanatorium in the Swiss Alps. Architect Daniel has been tasked with transforming the former tuberculosis hospital into a luxury hotel. As he wanders the corridors, taking stock, remnants of the building’s past life echo from the empty rooms. It feels strange, eerie, almost dying.

Daniel has a vision of how his beautiful hotel will rise up from the decades of decay. As he walks to his car for the journey home, he thinks of his partner Lucas and their bright future together. He spots a bracelet on the ground and, as he picks it up, he sees a phantom figure standing between him and his car. The spectre is wearing a mask and Daniel cannot escape… Years later, the old hospital is now a spectacular modern hotel – but has the past been laid to rest or is the creeping horror still at large?

ONCE, THERE WAS AN EMPIRE… by Norman Marshall

Once, there was an empire Spread across arid land. Now one will look and perspire At what lies in sand. They fought with spear and sword –No philosophy needed. Treasures collected, forgotten in a hoard; Never fertilising what should have been seeded. Empires rise then fallThat is in their nature – And what exhibited in a gilded hall Perishes for want of stature. They had their dictator, their emperor, Amassing his personal treasure, But without a guiding mentor All erodes into an inconsequential measure. I see a laconic people, Proud, resolute in their traditions; But the calling man from his steeple Cannot prevent any natural attrition. For all must have a reason: Freedom to be an artist and expression Or blended into one will be every season, Under the cloud of cultural depression.

THE END by Sheila Crozier

The shards of glass make my skin tingle It feels like pin pricks But it’s merely the shingle Now teasing wavelets reach my head Cover me over Now, I am dead

WALES by Judith Dickinson

Her hair cascades, glistening, like the tumbling spring melts of Snowdonia. Her eyes, grey, mystical, as the pools left stranded by the ebbing tide. Her skin as soft as the dew-blushed petals of a newly blooming da odil. Her hands, strong, long-fi ngered, fi ne and delicate as the strings of any harp. Her breath is like the gentle breeze beneath the gossamer wings of a butterfl y. She is as tall as the ancient oak that stands guard over wizard Merlin’s grave. Her grace and beauty hide a heart as fi erce as any dragon, Waiting to be roused from sleep to once more fi ght the foe. She looks, and is, our hope, our pride, our passion.

WALKING THE TOWPATH by Anne Harding

walking the towpath on a sunny day in

June absorbing all the sights and sounds two wandering mallard chicks, warned by mother of danger returning quickly to her side, swim in the reeds to hide coots and waterhens dive for snails in the weeds pink campion and cow parsley fl owering, draw bees small tortoiseshells and speckled woods to nectar robin salutes, fl ies into the hawthorn and bursts into song through the arch of the bridge a family of swans pen, cob and twelve cygnets secluded in the backwater as we move closer to admire them, the pen climbs out of the water and stretching her neck heads towards us with fury in her eyes message understood we turn round and head homewards.

We want your poems!

Share your creativity – we print our favourite poems every issue. Send them to Poetry Page, Shire, PO Box 276, Oswestry, Shropshire SY10 1FR or email editorial@shiremagazine.co.uk

PUZZLE TIME

Rearrange the highlighted letters to fi nd the name of a village in Cheshire

Sudoku

Di culty: medium

Sudoku rules

1. Every square has to contain a single number. 2. Only numbers 1 to 9 can be used. 3. Each 3×3 box can only contain each number from 1 to 9 once. 4. Each row and column can only contain each number from 1 to 9 once.

ANSWERS

TARPORLEY rearranged spell letters when The highlighted

26 Oche 24 Aruba 22 Gelert 21 Cadfael 19 Leasowe 17 Shoebill 16 Cheapside 13 Desai

Across

1 Cain’s brother in Genesis (4) 4 Site of a Grade I listed abbey that was home to 21 Down (10) 9 Ancient city in modern-day Tunisia that fought Rome in the Punic Wars (8) 10 The study of birds’ eggs (6) 11 A naval rank, or a type of butterfl y (7) 12 The ____ Jungle, a 1950 American heist fi lm (7) 14 Italian physicist who gives his name to a paradox about the lack of evidence for alien life (5) 15 Vegetable also known as celery root (8) 18 Irish Sea port on Anglesey (8) 20 A mass of loose stones on the slope of a mountain (5) 23 Leoš ____, Czech composer of The Cunning Little Vixen (7) 25 Range of limestone hills in Somerset (7) 27 Bela ____, actor who portrayed Dracula in the 1931 fi lm (6) 28 A genus of fl owering vines known as the queen of climbers (8) 29 Body of water between Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (4,6) 30 Type of German song (4)

Down

2 Gyles ____, MP for Chester from 1992 to 1997 (9) 3 Alkali metal used in batteries (7) 4 German camp for prisoners of war (6) 5 Lively Scottish or Irish folk dance (4) 6 Where Aunt Ada saw something nasty in Cold Comfort Farm (8) 7 Mystical island sung about in South Pacifi c (4,3) 8 The brightest star in the constellation Orion (5) 13 Morarji ____, Prime Minister of India from 1977 to 1979 (5) 16 London street, historically a produce market, where St Maryle-Bow is situated (9) 17 Large stork-like bird found in swampy regions in Africa (8) 19 Site of the UK’s oldest brick lighthouse, found on the north coast of the Wirral Peninsula (7) 21 Medieval mysterysolving monk in books by Ellis Peters (7) 22 Llywelyn the Great’s faithful hound whose grave can be found in a village in Snowdonia (6) 24 Dutch island in the Caribbean (5) 26 Line that darts players must stand behind when throwing (4)

8 Rigel 7 Bali Ha’i 6 Woodshed 5 Reel 4 Stalag 3 Lithium 2 Brandreth

Down

25 Mendips 23 Janáček 20 Scree 18 Holyhead 15 Celeriac 14 Fermi 12 Asphalt 11 Admiral 10 Oology 9 Carthage 4 Shrewsbury 1 Abel

Across

Alice Leetham is a writer and puzzle maker from Cheshire. She works in the fi ntech industry and also enjoys creating quizzes and cryptic crosswords. Contact: alice@downstream.co.uk