We dedicated Dandelions Growing Up in Cumbria to the memory of our grandparents William and Emma Martin who brightened their own little corner and taught the eleven of their twelve children who made it to adulthood to do likewise. How did Grandma do it on a coalminer's wage in poor circumstances in those days? We (well, the women) still marvel. My aunt said to me once: 'We wuz poor but we wuz 'appy.' Maybe it is St Bega's legacy (see yesterday's blog) expressed lyrically in these lines the Cumbrian poet Wordsworth composed a few miles above Tintern Abbey in 1798 (three of many we had to plough through for O level Eng Lit): '...that best portion of a good man's life, his little, nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and of love.' The newspaper cutting is from The Whitehaven News of March 15 1945 on the occasion of their Golden Wedding at the Kells Miners' Welfare Centre, Whitehaven
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AuthorIt's almost two years since I published In Our Fathers' Footsteps (see under BOOKS). My latest book, One Dog and His Cop, about my cousin's police dog,was published 30 November this year (see under BOOKS). Archives
September 2021
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