Ailsa Osborne

By Dorothy Gibbons

Ailsa was born in the mid fifties in Liverpool. She spent much of her spare time reading Enid Blyton, turning familiar fairy stories into plays and acting them out with friends before the rest of the school. She would spend hours reading in her room and writing book reports to display in the local library.

Her teen years changed when she became involved with the Salvation Army developing a desire to care for the outcasts of her town. She read books by William Booth the founder of the Salvation Army. These books described the dark side of Victorian London. She engaged with drunks and homeless people having an interest in their life stories.

“The first homeless man I spoke to in Blackpool was a former bricklayer who had fallen at work and broken his leg. This meant a long period with no wages. As a result he got behind with the mortgage and the bank foreclosed on his house. His wife and children went to live with her family in Manchester. He was sleeping rough.”

She saw the homeless in a different way and enjoyed chatting to many over a sandwich listening to their tales. She has only recently shown an interest in writing following some adult education where she was encouraged to attend classes run by Ashley Lister, himself a published author.

 

As a disabled person suffering from fibromyalgia she is unable to work. Spending much of her time reading the likes of Lynne Andrews, stories of war time Liverpool about life for the working class of that era. Her favourite title of those series is Tuppence to cross the Mersey.

As yet Ailsa hasn't made any attempt to get her work published. She says she writes simply for the joy of it, escaping from the mundane life she feels faces her.