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Writing Stories

I started writing stories to tell in 1997 when I began storytelling in a old pub in Dorset, England, called the Square & Compass.  It is a fine place with a long history and connection with the local quarries.  In the winter we told tales in front of a roaring fire accompanied by beer that is still served from a hatch.

Most of the adult stories were told there between 1997 and 2001 at storytelling evenings led by local storyteller and ex-Punch and Judy puppeteer Wendy Wharam and myself..though a great feature of the evenings was the delight of hearing a panoply of stories from other people.

Children's Book

I wrote my own stories because, although I liked the old traditional tales, I thought that they were new once, and I wanted to tell stories that reflected our times, my life....that maybe would be told by others in the future.

I suffer from Myalgic Encephalomyletis (ME), (sometimes included in the generic phrase Chronic Fatigue Syndrome) and had to give up public storytelling in 2001/2.  I put the ebooks on this site as a way of continuing to share my stories, and my paperback children's books The Probblehem & The Windycutts are now available here as well.

Chickens

I live in a small village called Lulworth, on the South West coast of England, but I grew up and spent most of my adult life in a vibrant, cosmopolitan Brighton.  You will see influences of both habitations in my stories.

I share a home with my partner Wendy, a family of sparrows who nest all year round in the eaves, and three chickens called 001, 002 and 004.  (It doesn't pay to get too attached!  We don't know what happened to 003, but she did leave us a pile of feathers to remember her by).

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