Alan Wilkinson

 by Linda Greenall

Alan has lived in Blackpool since he was five years old, his family moved here from Ticknall Derbyshire. His parents opened a boarding house in Kent Road in the town.

Alan met his wife in East London. His wife is a retired teacher and she retired due to ill health.

They have three sons, all have recently completed university. Alex, who spent a year recently working in Australia,  has joined Alan on a creative writing course for journalism. David went to university in Aberdeen and lives there now. Ben is going to China in February to teach English as a foreign language.

Alan went to Blackpool Grammar School but he was unhappy there and ended up at Tyldesley School. His best subjects there were writing essays and drawing.

Alan did A levels by correspondence course with a view to maybe going to university, but never got there.

Twenty years ago Alan qualified as a Specialist Teaching Assistant, which didn’t come to much.

Alan has mainly worked in the Civil Service and other admin jobs.

His favourite place is Aberdeen which he describes as, "A very nice civilised part of the world."

Alan and his wife got to know the place well. Their middle son David went to university there and now works in Aberdeen. "We have friends just outside Aberdeen," Alan explained, "and David and their daughter went out together for a few years."

Alan also has fond memories of Majorca. He had a holiday there with his girlfriend who later became his wife.

"It was around this time of year. We hired a car and spent a week exploring the island, away from the touristy parts. It is a beautiful island." They came across out of the way villages that were like going back in time.

When Alan was young he was in bed for almost a year with one thing after another, He read practically everything Conan Doyle had written. He found that Rider Haggard and PC Wren were great escapist story tellers. Later he read all Kingley Amis and Tom Sharpe, and of course Stephen King, he says he has read all but one of Stephen King's thriller/ horror stories, but hasn’t read any of the Gunslinger stories because he could not get into them.

Alan says he thinks Under The Dome is one of Stephen King's best books. Recently Alan has read some of Jo Nesbo’s books, another talented Scandinavian writer. He has also read and enjoyed the Hunger Games trilogy.

Alan’s interests and pastimes are running and cycling. Running has always been his favourite exercise. These days he balances the running with cycling and trips to the gym so that he doesn’t get too many niggles and strains.

When Alan and his wife bought their first house they didn’t have much money so he did a lot of DIY and he still does a lot of DIY now and has begun to question how much time he spends on his DIY jobs.

I asked Alan if something in the world makes him angry. He says, "Politicians taking us for fools." He also mentioned cruelty and injustice, saying, "They are unacceptable but continuous fact of life somewhere in the world everyday."

Alan writes an hour or two most days: maybe ten to twelve hours a week.

Alan’s writing tip is that it is better to do a little everyday than to leave it all to do in one big effort.

Alan would like to write scripts for radio, comedy possibly, dialogue preferably, and also short stories and articles.

Alan wrote a book about twenty years ago but unfortunately it was turned down when submitted to a publisher. I asked where he preferred to write he said at his computer in his lounge. He has to make time for his writing, unless he keeps on with writing he loses the thread of what he was writing.

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Alex Wilkinson

 by Ashley Lister

Alex J Wilkinson is a writer who has reviewed video games including Natural Selection 2 and Faster Than Light. Familiar with a broad range of games, including MMOs, MOBAs and RPGs; Alex is a writer who plays games and a gamer who writes.

Away from the PC games Alex enjoys science fiction and creative non-fiction.

Alex says: “My main goal with writing is to build up more of a portfolio of work which will hopefully allow me to take my writing further afield. I also hope to eventually get around to writing more fiction and generally writing more.”

Discussing his personal philosophy of writing, Alex advises:

“When writing news articles, or articles based in fact, your number one priority should be to inform the read and not mislead them. When possible write about areas that interest you personally. As writing is a very personal experience it often becomes very transparent when you write about areas in which you have little interest.”

Alex adds: “To get writing into the public domain these days is easier than ever before. If you enjoy writing you can setup your own site for free or for rather low over heads and get your writing out there. The more you write the better you get so often times if you can write, write!”

Alex is currently reading Bill Bryson’s Down Under and says it compares well to his own thoughts about Australia.

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Linda Greenall

by Alan Wilkinson

Linda Greenall lives in Blackpool, where she was born and raised. At a young age she found she had a gift for expressing herself in words. At primary school this showed itself in an aptitude for poetry.

She left school at 16 and married. She has four grown-up sons.

Linda was a barmaid for over twenty years and loved this work. She met many memorable people doing this job, who are now potential inspiration for her writing.

When she was thirty-two, on a trip to Egypt she caught a virus, this turned out to be the start of rheumatoid arthritis. She has suffered with it ever since and had to retire from work at forty.

Linda decided if her body wouldn't work properly she would go to college and use her brain; she studied A levels in Archaeology and History & Totalitarian regime. She also studied the subjects of Ancient Egyptian archaeology; Criminology, Sociology and Spanish

She loves her garden which she has made into a wildlife garden.

She hates cruelty, in any form; it makes her angry, and she is horrified what men do for profit.

Her favourite place in Britain is the New Forest.

On writing:

Her favourite author is Stephen King who was her main inspiration to write.

She tries to get some writing done every day, but, it’s not always possible. One day she would like to go on a writers’ retreat, to one of the Italian lakes.

Linda’s writing tip is to make time for writing, practice makes perfect.

She is currently writing a scary thriller, the idea arrived in the shape of an’ ideas ball’ thrown by her teacher and mentor, the writer Ashley Lister in a creative writing class - to write a story of 2500 words “A Stranger comes to town”. Linda has since developed this into a novel.

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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.

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Dorothy Gibbons

by Ailsa Osborne

Dorothy Gibbons was born in Falkirk, Central Scotland just in time for the ‘swinging sixties.’ As a child she loved reading Enid Blyton books and acting out the adventures with friends. Her uncle Ian was known for his ability to write poems about local people and events. He encouraged her to write by making it into a competition between them.

After leaving school she worked in a bookshop where she loved to read the work of such diverse writers as Scottish poet Robert Burns, American mystery writer Edgar Alan Poe and poet Emily Dickinson. These stories excited her and formed an interest for the written work which lay dormant for many years.

During a period of depression, following her divorce, Dorothy started writing poems as a way of escaping from her unhappy reality and instead creating her own imaginary world.

She finds being outdoors motivates her to write her poetry which often has a Scottish influence. Whilst living in Yorkshire she made many trips to Haworth, home of the Brontë sisters, and was stirred by the beauty of the moors which encouraged her to read Wuthering Heights which still remains a firm favourite story.

In 2011 Gibbons had a poem in a ‘Secrets of the heart’ anthology by United Press. The last verse is printed below.

The world's your oyster, you can go so far

No more living in the shadows of fear

Fantasy will be gone, welcome reality true

All the world will embrace you.

More recently she has concentrated on writing for young adults and older children.

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Aliens in Blackpool

 by Ailsa Osborne

Next on BBC North we have our nightly News report at Ten.
Here with the latest update on the strange happenings that are being spoken off in Blackpool tonight is Jennifer Dove.

“More residents are maintaining sightings of laser beams which appear to be coming from the top of the famous Tower,” she reported. “Many say that the lights are green but some earlier sightings are said to be yellow.” She turned and smiled reassuringly at the camera. “I have been unable to get an update on the number of admissions to the Victoria Hospital tonight, but an inside member of staff, who does not wish to be named,  has said that there are far more than usual for a Saturday night.” In her opinion Jennifer felt that most of the people sat in the triage waiting room where simply drunk and were scrounging a bed for the night.
“Over next” said the presenter hurriedly, “to our Technical news reporter Rupert McCleod. . . .”

Nothing happened, the screens remained blue and no sound was forthcoming.
“A slight, erm, technical hitch I think there” the presenter stuttered, desperately wanting to sound professional and composed.

“We shall go instead over to Detective Chief Inspector Bernard Briggs, who is based at the Bonnie Street Police station in the shadow of the Tower.
“DCI Briggs, what can you tell us about events over the last few hours?”
“My officers’ report over forty people in the area have been into the station with conflicting information. It would appear that additional laser beams are being noticed above the Tower where usually white beams shoot up into the sky but tonight green and yellow ones have been sighted.”  The Officer looked a little bewildered and confused.
“These beams are instead apparently shining down onto the promenade between Church street and the North pier. Also some residents have mentioned beams on Central Drive, but that has not been substantiated as yet” he hurriedly added, averting his eyes from the camera.

Rupert McCleod added quickly, ”We have spoken to Fred Harvey who co-ordinates the famous Blackpool Illuminations and he has stated that to the best of his knowledge there should only be white lasers going upward into the sky, lighting the darkness above the Tower.”

“Councillor Simon Blackburn, leader of the Council, refused an interview at first but read out this statement a few minutes ago.” Rupert continued.
“It is my considered opinion that the people who have made these reports have all been visiting the many hostelries along Talbot Road and the Promenade. I feel that large quantities of alcohol have been consumed during the time leading to these allegations which may have contributed to these alleged ‘sightings’ tonight”
Rupert interrupted him quickly, “Each person interviewed maintains having seen either green or yellow sparkly lights Councillor, could you be mistaken perhaps?”
“No, not at all, Rupert. Blackpool is a safe place for families to come” the Councillor maintained, “Now I must go, goodnight, sleep well. There is nothing to worry about at all.”

Hundreds of feet above them they were unaware of the Aliens as they compared notes.

“I think planet Earth is not a good place for us to visit this summer” claimed the Captain to his Head Office.  “Everyone is drunk and wearing inappropriate clothes which they tend to lose as they walk along. The weather there was very cold compared to Mars and yet we saw both males and females wandering around topless! We also saw males dressed as females, and vice versa .The language was very limited, most words began with ‘F’

“I think you may well be right, get yourselves back home quickly in case you get contaminated!”

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Anne Ward

by Pamela Winning

Anne Ward is a published writer in the enviable situation of having the freedom to write whenever and wherever she pleases. Weather permitting, she prefers to be outside and a notebook and pen on Blackpool Promenade or Stanley Park would be ideal.

She writes fiction, with a lean towards the historical; and poetry, finding inspiration everywhere. For her, writing is escapism with a desire to entertain and amuse others. Some of her work was included in the 2012 Haunted Blackpool feature in the illuminations and published in the anthology. She is a regular contributor at the Blackpool Dead Good Poets’ open mic events and always manages to write about the chosen topic. She has a blog and includes snippets about her cat, Raffles.

Her reading interests include historical fiction, gothic horror and some non-fiction.

Anne is well-travelled and combining her love of history, has flown over ancient Egypt in a hot-air balloon.

As we chatted, I was interested to learn about Anne’s years spent involved as a volunteer with the Red Cross and how her First Aid skills had contributed to saving someone’s life. She has worked with the Scouts and still has an active role within the worship group of her church.

Anne has a wealth of experience to bring to the page and the imagination to do what she most desires, to achieve success with continued publication.

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