ALL WRITERS ARE WELCOME AS VISITORS TO OUR SWWJ CHRISTMAS GATHERING

I love all aspects of the National Liberal Club, Whitehall (particularly this beautiful staircase).   Do join us on 6 December for the Society of Women Writers & Journalists' Christmas tea and a chance to catch up on all our writing news. 

We will have the well known writer, Ginny Vere Nicholl from Feel Good Books as our guest speaker and I know that she is a brilliant narrator with some great ideas for marketing our literary efforts. Do check out ticket availability at Enquiries@SWWJ.co.uk

Another attraction will be a special 'book table' for our new titles that have been published by members over the last year or two. Looking forward to meeting some of our new members who have joined us this year; and maybe a few of our overseas friends who are arriving in London for Christmas will take the opportunity of coming along. A warm welcome awaits!  

CATER MUSEUM'S NEW BOOK ON SALE TOMORROW 12 NOVEMBER 2016

Literally hot off the press! 

The Cater Museum will have stocks of their new presentation of BILLERICAY'S  ZEPPELIN. This new little book gives the background to the momentous event that  took place during the night of 23/24 September 1916. Second Lieutenant Frederick Sowrey  based at Suttons Farm aerodrome, Hornchurch, was on patrol in his tiny biplane, when he attacked the huge 650 ft Zeppelin L32 as it flew over East London  in the direction of our town of Billericay.

Unfortunately, the entire crew of this airship lost their lives in the conflagration that followed.  Jim Devlin, Leader of  Billericay Town Council and his Councillors marked the centenary by erecting a commemoration stone (courtesy of Jane Bennett Funerals) close to the spot in Greens Farm Lane in memory of those twenty two German airship members. 

Air Marshal Sir Freddie Sowrey, son of Royal Flying Corps Second Lieutenant Frederick Sowrey, visited our town on 24 September 2016 and unveiled the commemoration stone. He and his family were entertained by Graham Jeffrey at his Billericay Brewing company at 54 Chapel Street. Sir Freddie later attended the Zeppelin display at the Reading Rooms in Billericay High Street.  This was organised by Karen Dennis and the Western Front Association members, together with Katie Wilkie, Curator at the Cater Museum, Billericay.

To order this book, please telephone 01277 622023 or curator@thecatermuseum.plus.com

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VISIT BILLERICAY LIBRARY AND MEET THE AUTHORS - SATURDAY 12 NOVEMBER 2-4 PM

Brentwood Writers' Circle members invite you to come to our MEET THE AUTHORS book event at BILLERICAY LIBRARY on SATURDAY 12 NOVEMBER from 2 - 4pm.

We are delighted that novelists Frances Clamp, Maggie Ford, Dawn Knox, Jim Reeve and yours truly who will be signing books (and selling at reduced price) and talking about our books which all have a World War One theme. 

This is also an opportunity to  launch the Cater Museum's new title BILLERICAY'S ZEPPELIN which traces the sad story of how 23-year-old Second Lieutenant Frederick Sowrey in his tiny biplane, shot down the mighty German L32 Zeppelin. Exactly one hundred years later, on 24 September 2016, a commemoration stone was erected by Billericay Town Council as near to the crash site as possible in Greens Farm Lane, Billericay.

Among those invited to attend the unveiling of the stone were Air Marshal Sir Freddie Sowrey  son of the Royal Flying Corps Second Lieutenant Frederick Sowrey and his family, the Lord Petre, Lord Lieutenant of Essex, Air Commodore Dean Andrew, Stephen Horncastle RAF VR (T) who, with his ATC cadets from 2393 (Billericay), provided a very smart Colour Party and numerous other guests. 

Jim Devlin Billericay Town Council Chairman and his councillors also welcomed Dan Pierce of St John the Divine Church, Billericay, who gave the unveiling address. The Town Council were pleased to receive the visit of Ralf Borttscheller, nephew of Karl Borttscheller, wireless operator of the Zeppelin L32 crew.

Second Lieutenant Frederick Sowrey with his colleagues at Sutton's Farm Hornchurch 1916  © Sowrey Private Collection

LEARN MORE ABOUT LOCAL HISTORY AND THE LIFE AND LORDS OF THE MANOR IN DODDINGHURST

FROM SAXONS TO STONLEY

This is to let Essex folk know about a rather special gathering coming up on Sunday 6 November 2.30pm. The sub-title of the one-hour talk is "Turmoil and Intrigue" - the opportunism and back-stabbing of our politicians these days pales into insignificance when you learn about the Earls of Oxford who owned so much of Essex, including the pretty little village of Doddinghurst from 1100 to 1580. 

There will be a Powerpoint presentation to illustrate the talk, some of the slides will show just how ruthless these times were.  Nothing changes!  Don't buy tickets in advance - just come to All Saints' Church in Doddinghurst on Sunday November 6 between 2pm-2.30pm.  Cost of entry £4 - super tea and home-made cake in the Priest House after. Profits from the event will go towards the cost of the conservation of the 16th century processional cross which is adorned with beautiful paintings by a Renaissance artist. A warm welcome awaits.    

LATEST EDITION OF HOME FARMER BRITAIN'S FAVOURITE MAGAZINE ON ALL ASPECTS OF SELF SUFFICIENCY

Of all the dozens of magazines and newspapers to which I've contributed over two decades, I  do enjoy writing features for this magazine  - the splendid HOME FARMER.  My current offering to the November issue is published on pages 34/35/36 and no - it's not all about geese (front page) , although I do love these cheeky birds (not the brash green geese used on the web by our cyber aficionados) more the farmyard cacklers. We used to keep one called Jacko down the end of the garden - a most effective guard-dog!  

My current article is about the French wine Beaujolais Nouveau which years ago, the French winemakers used to release on 15 November from the vaults of Les Sarmentelles in the Beaujeu region.  Some amateur winemakers try to emulate this wine, but it's rather a difficult task in our UK climate.