Anita Burgh was born on the 9th June 1937 in Gillingham, Kent and now lives in France. I’m not sure how many books she has written, I’ve seen 62 mentioned although PAN only published her first five titles. These included her ‘Daughters of a Granite Land’ trilogy. They have covers by an assortment of artists but one I was surprised to see was Simon Bartram. Why you may ask? Well read below.
When I asked my Grandson William what he would like for Christmas he named four books by Simon Bartram. Simon was a name I thought was new to me but then I remembered seeing him in a list of artists represented by Alison Eldred. I email Alison to ask if Simon would be willing to sign the books he wrote and illustrated. By return I go a message saying he would love to do it and so William is now not only the proud owner of four of Simon’s books signed and embellished by him but also of sheets of stickers, books marks and, not that I’m jealous, his own personal alien! My sister in law is a teacher and Simon’s books featured in class lessons last term so now the signed copies and William’s alien have been view by several classes at the school in Maidstone.
I picked up a book while in Kent, namely ‘Lovely She Goes!’ by William Mitford. It was the Sphere edition from 1981 which reminded me of the PAN edition from 1971. Not having the PAN to hand I bought the Sphere anyway to comparing them both. Neither copy appears to have been read and I’m wondering which has the most accurate representation of the trawler involved in the story as there are certainly differences?
One of my other interest I have mentioned occasionally is the maintenance of a disused railway track as a walking/cycling greenway called the ‘McClean Way’ We have wanted it to be properly surfaced since this option was first mentioned in 2000. Now, at last, the first phase of the multi million pound upgrade is taking, place converting six inches of water and mud in to something suitable for all year round use. When this section is finished in a couple of weeks there will be a delay before phase two as we are entering the nesting season from March to August. It looks a bit stark at the moment but nature will soon reclaim the verges.
