Finding stories in old places - tips from author Jeannie Waudby

For as long as I can remember, old buildings have filled me with a longing to know who lived there before. Very often, there is no way of knowing, and for me this meant trying to think up their story for myself.

I grew up on a little island in Hong Kong. It had been taken to be a leprosy treatment centre and most of the buildings were built in the 1950s. But the old ones, from hundreds of years ago, always fascinated me. As a child, I thought that the people had left long ago – whereas in fact they had to leave not long before the hospital was built.

Jetty valley

One of the oldest buildings was a little temple. It’s the tiniest building at the bottom of this picture in the middle, near the steps.

Then there were the graves. These were beautiful white tombs, shaped like the moon, always on a hillside. I wondered whose graves they were, and what their lives had been like on this island that was home to us now. The tombs made a deep impression on me so that years later, when I was studying art, they slipped into my pictures.

Moon grave

This woodcut shows a tomb with some burial pots. Most of the tombs were in the emptier part of the island where it was wild and grassy.

And in this watercolour the tomb is on the left, looking over the sea towards a neighbouring island.

Hillside tomb

Although we lived in Hong Kong, every few years we visited the UK, which to me was a huge exciting foreign land. On my first visit we travelled by ocean liner because planes were still very expensive. I remember the journey well even though I was little. It took one month, and one of the places we visited was Pompei. I recall arches, painted walls and the fact that life had stopped suddenly and tragically here because of a volcano.

When we went to the Highlands, where my mother came from, I felt at home straight away. To me, the mountains and sea felt just like the ones back home in Hong Kong. Even the rocks on the shore had the same yellow lichen and green seaweed, like hair. But I did get to see something I had never seen before: castles.

Eilean Donan

This aquatint shows Eilean Donan Castle and the Five Sisters of Kintail, with my impression of the light beaming onto the loch. A house where we often stayed had a cannon ball in the fireplace, from a battle long ago that left the castle in ruins.

Later, when I was older, my dad, who was English, would take us to visit famous historical places in England: the Tower of London, a Roman villa, the Victory warship and the wonderful Roman baths which you could still have a warm dip in if it was allowed. Inside the Victory, I smelt for the first time the sharp tang of centuries-old wood. To me it felt as if stories were humming just below the surface of the walls.

 

I started writing novels when I was a child, although I didn’t ever finish them. This is the first page of one I started when I was 11. It was set in England in the nineteenth century because we had just come back from the UK and while we were there, we stayed in a flat in a Victorian house.

For me, old places have always been doorways to stories.

Ickworth

Writing Prompt

When I am somewhere old, I can never shake off the possibility that it might turn out to be a time machine… and where would it take me? Think of an old building or place that you know. If it was a time machine, where would it take you? Who would you be? What would you be doing there? Would there be a hidden danger? 

 

One Of Us by Jeannie Waudby is a YA thriller/love story, published by Chicken House. It was shortlisted for the Bolton Children's Fiction Award and the Lancashire Book of the Year 2016 and has been adapted by Mike Kenny as a play in the Oxford Playscripts series.
One Of Us is published by Chicken House
The Oxford Playscripts play is published by Oxford University Press

 

For more information about Jeannie and her books visit her website.

 

How the Blackpool Illuminations proved a lightbulb moment for author Susan Brownrigg

  

Last Friday was the annual Blackpool Illuminations Switch-On. This year they event took place in the Blackpool Tower Ballroom, with Strictly Come Dancing judge, Shirley Ballas turning on the ‘Lights.’

As a proud Lancastrian, I have happy memories of visiting the world-famous Illuminations. But I didn’t realise what a long and fascinating history they had!

When I discovered that in 1935, a fifteen-year-old girl had been invited to switch on the lights, I knew I had the spark for my debut children’s book, Gracie Fairshaw and the Mysterious Guest. 

Postcard (1930) showing Blackpool Illuminations and the Tower with light beam.

 

Nowadays, the Illuminations are spread over six miles of lights and stay on for four months rather than the traditional six weeks.

But they had a more humble beginning. Back in 1879 the corporation (council) paid the equivalent of £5000 for eight arc lamps along the seafront. These electric lights were so astounding that people christened the effect ‘artificial sunshine.’ Imagine how striking the lights must have been compared to the candlelight and oil lamps in people’s homes!

Electric light was then used to mark two special royal events in Blackpool - in 1897 they were added to five tram cars to mark Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee. Then, in 1912, 10,000 lights were strung around the promenade to celebrate the town’s first ever royal visit when Queen Victoria's daughter, Princess Louise, opened Princess Parade – a new section of the promenade. The attraction was so popular it was repeated the following September and would likely have been repeated annually but for the outbreak of World War 1.

The Illuminations returned in 1925, bigger and better than ever. As well as the traditional festoon, there were now ‘animated tableaux’ – pictures created out of lightbulbs (known as lamps) that when turned on and off in sequence gave the illusion of movement.

Blackpool Illuminations postcard, showing North Shore Gardens

 with festoon and fluted pylons.

The idea of a special guest turning on the Lights, didn’t happen until 1934. Lord Derby performed the honour in that year. But then, looking down the list of later hosts, which included many famous names, I saw a name I did not recognise: Audrey Mosson.

My research revealed that Audrey, was a 15-year-old girl from Blackpool. How had she come to turn on the lights, I wondered?

Blackpool's History Centre, in Central Library, provided the answer. They have back copies of the Lancashire Gazette on microfiche and I was able to use these old fashioned machines to turn back time to 1935!

Microfiche reader at The History Centre, Blackpool (author's photo)

The Gazette explained that the Mayor of Blackpool – Alderman George Whittaker – had been all set to perform the honour that year. But an appointment in his diary changed history.

Just days before the Switch-on he met the newly crowned Railway Queen - Miss Elsie 'Audrey' Mosson.

Alderman Whittaker told the Gazette: "Miss Mosson is a charming girl, with a frank and vivacious disposition - and I thought it would be very appropriate for this to be her first official duty as Queen."

Further research revealed that Audrey had recently been crowned Railway Queen in front of a crowd of thousands at Belle Vue, Manchester. She was a ‘Queen of Industry’ attending functions across the country (and even Russia!)

Inspired by May Queens, the first Railway Queen was chosen in 1925. Other industries followed suit – among them Cotton, Coal, Wool and Silk Queens being crowned.

I was curious as to what Audrey had looked like. But the Gazette only featured this cartoon image.

Audrey Mosson cartoon (Blackpool Gazette)

Fortunately I was able to track down a photograph of Audrey at the Switch-on online. When I saw her wonderful tiara - I knew my mystery plot would include a plan to try and steal this beautiful piece of jewellery. My main character - Gracie Fairshaw - would thave to foil the plot - and would call upon Audrey to help!

And I was even more thrilled when I learned that a Yorkshire museum was holding an exhibition about Queens of Industry. Imagine my delight when I was able to see Audrey's beautiful blue velvet gown with trail and gold tassels along with her chain of office and tiara in person!

 Audrey Mosson's gown and tiara at the Queens of Industry 

exhibition (author's photo.)

There is one extra nice fact I found out about Audrey and the Illuminations - she has actually been a Switch-on host twice! The only person to have that honour.

She was invited back in 1985, 50 years after her original duty, with actress Joanna Lumley.

 

Audrey Mosson (right) with Joanna Lumley at the Illuminations 

Switch-on in 1985. Her second time turning on the 

world-famous lights. (Blackpool Gazette)

 

Discussion points for teachers/parents :

 

Blackpool became especially popular with the creation of Wakes Weeks - unpaid holiday given to workers in industrial towns, especially in the north. Each town would have a different week, with the mills and factories in the town all closing at the same time. Many families chose to visit the seaside, and Blackpool was incredibly popular. 

 

Why do you think families wanted to get away to the coast, and what attractions could they look forward to? 

 

Do any of the attractions from the 1930s still exist in Blackpool today? Why are they still popular?

 

There have been 74 Switch-on hosts (there was no Switch-on during WW2) including politicians, ambassadors, royals, sporting stars, TV presenters, TV and film stars, comedians, disc jockeys, singers and bands.

Those invited to perform the Switch-on duty often reflects the times, for example in 1976 Miss United Kingdom, 1982 the Royal Navy Rear Admiral Sandy Woodward who played a leading role in the Falklands War and in 2020 a group of NHS heroes performed the duty.

Among the more unusual hosts were puppets - Kermit the Frog and the Muppets in 1979 and a horse – the triple Grand National Winning Red Rum in 1977.

Who would you choose to switch on the Illuminations in 2022? Why? What might go wrong and how could they save the day?

 

Gracie Fairshaw and the Mysterious Guest by Susan Brownrigg is an historical novel for 9-12 year olds set in Blackpool, 1935. A sequel, Gracie Fairshaw and the Trouble at the Tower (also featuring Audrey Mosson) is published October, 2021.

Susan's books are published by Uclan Publishing. They are available from bookshops and online retailers.

 

Susan Brownrigg (author's photo)

For more information about Susan's books visit susanbrownrigg.com

Follow Susan at @suebmuseum

How the Great Fire of London sparked my debut book! - Catherine Randall reveals the inspiration behind The White Phoenix

355 years ago today, on 2 September 1666, Londoners woke to the news that a fire was raging in the southeast of the City and spreading rapidly. In an early draft of my children’s novel, The White Phoenix, set in a London bookshop in 1666, I had my characters living by St Paul’s Cathedral, and finding out about the fire when hordes of people started streaming past them through the narrow streets, pushing handcarts piled high with children and furniture.

Londoners flee the burning City in September 1666

Then I realised that it would be far more exciting to put my characters slap bang in the middle of the action, so in the final version, 13-year-old Lizzie Hopper and her family are staying with their uncle in Pudding Lane when the fire breaks out. They witness first-hand the efforts of the firefighters to put out the flames, becoming part of the human chain passing leather buckets up and down the lane from where someone had pierced the water pipes running below the streets. They hear the bells of St Magnus’s church ringing backwards – the equivalent of an emergency siren sounding today - and experience the fierce heat and falling embers blowing around in the wind. They also witness the failure of the one person who might possibly have been able to stop the fire at this early stage and prevent it becoming the Great Fire of London – the Lord Mayor, Sir Thomas Bludworth.

Seventeenth-century firefighters using buckets and firehooks to fight a fire in Tiverton, Devon

The firefighters wanted Bludworth’s permission to use firehooks to pull down some of the unburnt houses nearest the blaze, creating a firebreak. The Lord Mayor said that he couldn’t do this without the permission of the owners, but as most of the houses were rented, the owners were not around to ask. Bludworth then famously declared that the fire wasn’t that bad anyway: ‘A woman could piss it out,’ he said and went home. Later that day, he did start to pull down houses but by then the fire was burning out of control. Who knows what would have happened if he had been more decisive?

In The White Phoenix, my character Lizzie experiences what actually happened next. Like thousands of other Londoners, she and her family flee east to Tower Hill, then an open green space near the Tower of London, on the outskirts of the City. Many others fled north to Moorfields, another wide open field. Remarkably, according to contemporary accounts, all the refugees had gone within four days – some leaving the City for good, others returning to see what they could salvage from their burnt homes, or moving to stay with family and friends in untouched neighbourhoods.

Nevertheless, the Great Fire was a deeply traumatic experience for Londoners. Samuel Pepys records in his diary on 2 September how he wept to see the City burn. In my book, Lizzie and her brother Ralph have tears streaming down their faces as they watch St Paul’s Cathedral engulfed in flames.

Near the end of my story, Lizzie goes back into the burnt City. She finds it almost impossible to work out where the streets had been because there is so much rubble and fallen timber everywhere. The ground was too hot to walk on for several days after the fire died out.

Of course today barely anything remains of the City that Lizzie knew - many of the buildings rebuilt after the Fire were destroyed in the Blitz during World War II. The exception is some of the City churches, many of which were rebuilt after 1666 by Sir Christopher Wren, and rebuilt again after the Blitz. You can still visit St Magnus, for instance, at the south end of Pudding Lane, where the bells first rang out to warn of the Fire. The street names and the line of the streets also remain broadly the same, so it is possible to trace Lizzie’s footsteps through the City, both during and after the Fire. The sketch map below shows the extent of the Fire, as well as Tower Hill and Moorfields where Lizzie and the real refugees fled. It also shows the fictional site of the White Phoenix, the bookshop that Lizzie Hopper fights so hard to save in my novel.

Discussion points for teachers/parents :

The people who lost their homes in the Great Fire of London often did not travel far from the City, but they were still refugees, relying on the goodwill of others to feed and house them. What places can you think of in the world today where people have been forced to become refugees in their own countries because of natural disasters?

For what other reasons, besides natural disasters, might people have to flee their homes?

In 1666, lots of towns across England sent money to Londoners to help them rebuild their homes. Often, money was collected at Sunday church services. Other people opened their homes to the refugees while they rebuilt their homes and businesses. In what ways can we help refugees today?

What possessions would you save if you had to leave your home very quickly? Do you think they would be the same sort of things that fleeing Londoners took with them in 1666?

The White Phoenix by Catherine Randall is an historical novel for 9-12 year olds set in London in 1666, and is shortlisted for the Historical Association’s Young Quills Award 2021.

Published by the Book Guild, it is available from bookshops and online retailers.

For more information, see www.catherinerandall.com.