I was sorry to hear of the death of (Winfred) Shirley Hughes at the age of 94 on 25th February 2022. She was born on 16th July 1927 and grew up on the Wirral at West Kirby, a town I know well.. Shirley was the youngest of three daughters born to bargain store magnate TJ Hughes. She won many awards including the Kate Greenaway twice, in 1977 and 2003 and is probably most fondly remembered for her character ‘Alfie’ I have only found seven PAN/Piccolo titles with a connection to Shirley but I am still looking, I have put these on a page HERE
While looking for something completely different I got a reference to Companies House and a link to the ‘Certificate of Incorporation’ for PAN Books. I thought that might be interesting but if you click on the link to the document HERE you’ll see why I was disappointed!
It was good to see the pop up bookshop back in Wolverhampton again last week,. I nearly missed it but managed the last day and came away with half a dozen books plus some first day covers with stamps by Brian Sanders for only a couple of pounds.. It is good to have it back after quite a long break and hoping for many more ‘pop ups’ this year. Speaking to the organisers they say the shopping centre are very pleased to have them there as they bring in customers that might not normally visit, me incliuded! Another plus side is we now have the direct bus to Wolverhampton reinstated even though the timetable is a bit erratic.
Not PAN but I couldn’t let the news of a near neighbour (does 7 houses between us count as near neighbiour?) Daniel Wiles pass without congratulating him on his new book. He has been included in the 10 best debut novelists of 2022 for his book ‘Mercia’s Take’ I have a oopy and hopefully can bump into Daniel to get him to sign it after I have read it. Just wondering if my wife taught him at primary school?