Town Travel - an exciting journey around the World

#PBTownTravel

Hello and welcome to my exciting Town Travel feature where over the coming weeks and months we will packing an overnight case and heading to some fabulous places.

Featured on Town Travel are Chill Awardee Authors who talk about their favourite place or maybe not such a favourite, but somewhere special.

You don't need to miss any of the adventures simply click on the links below and away you go...



Leiden, the Netherlands with me
Barnstable, UK with Helen Hollick
Lectoure, France with Michael Reidy
Somerset, UK with Dizzy Greenfield

Las Vegas, USA with Barbara Gaskill-Denvil – 29^th Jan
Hexham, UK with Annie Whitehead – 5^th Feb
Assos, Greece with Gilli Allan – 12^th Feb
York, UK with Ann Victloria Roberts – 19^th Feb


Find out where Town Travels is taking you by clicking HERE

Town Travel - Somerset, UK

Town Travel - My favourite town by Dizzy Greenfield

I’ve never been one to stay at home - always happy to get on a flight to anywhere – so I thought it would be difficult to choose where to write about. I started jotting down snippets about the far-away places that I’d visited and then I stopped. I realised that I’d never spent long enough in any to really know them.

So, my place isn’t in a town or a city, and not on the other side of the world – it’s in a tiny hamlet, hardly on the map. But this is the place I have loved for twenty four years, and forever.

The farmhouse nestles in front of a wood, protected by trees on three sides and sited on a remote country estate on the Somerset/Wiltshire border. I remember every inch of it, from each room of the house, to the fields and hills which lay beyond our tiny windows. From the warmth of the kitchen, my back against the Rayburn, I watched the season’s change.

Overlooked by the site of an ancient hill fort, way up where the ground rises above the farm, the oak tree had been a natural playground for our daughter. The sheep and lambs used its branches as a shade from the sun, and sheltered from storms and snow in its hollowed-out middle.

Although the woods weren’t an original plantation (new beech tree’s had been planted after the Second World War), it always felt as if the landscape had changed little.

Frequent power cuts and winter cold made it easy for me to imagine the history of this place: the people and animals that resided there long ago. The ground floor of the house had once housed cows, and I could picture the people who’d lived upstairs and benefitted from the warm of the beasts as central heating. The back house, that used to be the milking parlour, still smelled of the past -  the brick floor worn to a channel down the middle, where the spilled milk and water of generations had washed the red brick’s to nearly pink – reminding me of the days of labour that had gone on there. Gradually, through the house, I absorbed a strong sense of those who had gone before me. A continuity that felt vital.

My partner’s family had lived and worked this farm since 1947. Even as a naive twenty-one year old, new to the landscape, I soon realised - along with the growing love I felt for the place – that we were living in a house which future inhabitants would probably decide was quirky and outdated. People now prefer central heating, clean lines, a reliable stove, and no lurking ghosts from a former age - but my blacksmith partner and I liked things to be freer. The farm suited our personalities.  Maybe the ancestors welcomed this - they only twice threw a tin off the larder shelf to remind us that we weren’t the first there. But even though it had a history of several hundred years, circa something or other, the farm didn’t feel troubled.

We moved there in 1989, with just a handful of donated furniture. We had a somewhat unreliable Rayburn called Daphne for company, no heating, a small flock of sheep, and hope.

This was the place where we brought home and raised our child. Kittens and lambs arrived – plus two greyhounds that brought joy to our walks. Between them all, they filled our lives to bursting.

Shortly after the foot and mouth outbreak, though, we stopped farming. The decision was already out of our hands. We diversified, started a blacksmith’s forge and clung onto our dreams and tiny farm.  We did all these things. We gained wrinkles, a bit of wisdom, but mainly an overdraft.

Steady and unchanging, our beloved home housed us while we went through twenty-four years’ and three and a half months worth of events – there were celebrations, deaths, births, and  even an entirely new clan of people to get to know, when my birth family made contact with me.

 When we got the news that we could no longer secure a permanent lease, the blow was devastating. Reluctantly, we began to search for another forest dwelling.

Although we are now settled again, with two enthusiastic whippets rushing about our heels, our much¬-loved greyhounds are buried in the garden of the old farm, in unmarked graves that we are unable to visit. The girl that played in the hollow tree is grown up and living her own version of a country life, with sheep and forty-three hens.

Although we can never return, my daughter captured the memory of my favourite place in a drawing that sits above the fireplace in our new cottage. The trees show a winter’s day, their branches stark against a colourless sky. I look at the picture and am transported back again. The snow will be here soon.

         

Book: Strays and Relations, Dizzy Greenfield

Website: http://www.dizzygreenfield.co.uk/

 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/39290813-strays-and-relations?from_search=true

 https://www.troubador.co.uk/bookshop/contemporary/strays-and-relations/

http://silvercrowbooks.co.uk/

Email: dizzygreenfield@gmail.com

Twitter:  @DizzyGreenfield

Other Town Travel to visit...

Leiden, the Netherlands with Pauline Barclay
Barnstable, UK with Helen Hollick
Lectoure, France with Michael Reidy


Next Town Travel is Wednesday with ... Barbara Gaskel- Denvill to Las Vegas

Town Travel - Lectoure, France

Town Travel - Favourite Places by Michael Reidy

I never understood the fuss about a room of one’s own as I can write just about anywhere. Station platforms, airport terminals, inside, outside; but sitting in the sun in a French café with a suitable drink is hard to beat.

Asking for a favourite place is like asking which is your favourite child; so many places are loved equally. Having had the good fortune to see much of the United States and Europe only makes the task more difficult. It’s easy to wax eloquent about London’s history, Paris’s glamour or Barcelona’s eccentricity, and one’s hometown, no matter how unappealing to others, is still home.

However, to come to the point and choose, I’m going to plump for Lectoure, France.

Lectoure is in the department of the Gers in what was known as the Aquitaine. The region is also known as Midi-Pyrénées, and Nouvelle Aquitaine, Gascony and the local area La Lomagne. While Lectoure has few literary claims, D’Artagnan hailed from nearby Auch.

I came to know Lectoure about 25 years ago while on gîte holidays. Technically, with a population under 5,000, it’s a village, but Lectoure was once a city of 20,000 with its own massive cathedral, fine public buildings and stunning setting.

Lectoure is on the same latitude as Cannes and Nice so the summers are very hot. However, its proximity to the Pyrénées gives the area more rainfall. It’s possible to reach both the Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts in under three hours, and in the winter, skiing is only two hours away.

Lectoure has a history reaching back to Roman times and some evidence remains. There are thermal springs (unusual on a hilltop), and the town has commanding views of the surrounding countryside and fortified walls. Essentially, there are four streets that run more or less parallel until they meet at opposite ends of the town. These are linked by streets and alleys of varying steepness.

At one end is the grand – though not enormous – former residence of the Ducs d’Armagnac, and at the other is a park with a grid pattern of chestnut trees under which old men play pétanque (boulles). There is a bandstand, a bar and views to the south across a vast, fertile plain to the Pyrénées.

I had been visiting Lectoure for about 10 years before I saw the Pyrénées, for in the summer a heat haze and the angle of the light make seeing them impossible except for very early in the morning. However, in the winter months, they are right there in front of you with a size and clarity that makes you wonder how they could possibly be invisible at other times of year.

In the mid-1990s, Lectoure looked like a village still in the 1950s. While there was a lively weekly market filled with wonderful local produce, there were many vacant shops and houses, and the roads were full of potholes. The market features local foie gras and other duck and goose products; delicious Lectoure melons that look like a honeydew on the outside and a cantaloupe on the inside; Agen plums, local and Pyrénéan cheeses, and garlic. The region is known for garlic and it is featured in  dishes that one could not imagine elsewhere. Garlic soup is one of them, and is delicious and warming on a chill autumn or winter’s day.

The market has rotisserie chickens and potatoes cooked in schmaltz, giant paellas, and churros that fill the street with wonderful smells.

Today, while Lectoure retains all its previous qualities, it has been the recipient of vast amounts of EU money which have repaved the roads, built attractive areas for parks and parking, invested in the thermal spa and raised the overall ambience of the village. It is now far busier in the summer and while the same local produce can be found in the market, there are now the fake Ray-Bans and carved African figures that mark the coming of chic in French holiday resorts.

Lectoure’s character, however, has not been spoiled and the post-tourist season sees a return to the close, friendly small-town feeling with many of the new restaurants and antique shops closed until spring.

For a writer, the appearance of new cafés and wine bars not only provides local colour but also a place for undisturbed writing with a good coffee or glass of Arton red, or Colombelle. The French still make good paper which is a joy for dinosaurs who like fountain pens. A local tabac has an excellent supply of stationery and I stock up on thick Clairefontaine bound notebooks to write in.

No one bothers a writer except to see if more wine is required.

Michael Reidy

www.pmichaelreidy.com

The Rock Pool

Lost Lady

Undivulged Crimes (short stories) (winner of a Reader’s Award)

Entrusted in Confidence

On the Edge of Dreams and Nightmares (winner of a Premier Award)

The Countess Comes Home

Portland Place

The Camels of the Qur’an

Wachusett

Nantucket Summer

Other places to visit...

Leiden, the Netherlands with Pauline Barclay
Barnstable, UK with Helen Hollick


Next Town Travel is Wednesday with ... Dizzy Greefield, Somerset, UK

When Stars Will Shine - Help For Heroes

I am honoured to be featuring When Stars Will Shine. This is not any ordinary post, it is a post about many authors who have come together to create this wonderful collection of short stories to help raise money for Help for Heroes so every copy sold will go to this wonderful charity.

With true war tales that will break your heart, gritty Christmas crimes that will shake you to your core, and heart-warming tales of love lost and found, this anthology has something for everyone. And, with every penny made being sent to support our troops, you can rest assured that you’re helping our heroes, one page at a time.

From authors such as Louise Jensen, Graham Smith, Malcolm Hollingdrake, Lucy Cameron, Val Portelli, and Alex Kane, you are in for one heck of a ride!

When Stars Will Shine is the perfect gift for the bookworms in your life!

A Note from Emma Mitchell:

As the blurb tells us, When Stars Will Shine is a multi-genre collection of Christmas-themed short stories compiled to raise money for our armed forces and every penny made from the sales of both the digital and paperback copies will be donated to the charity.

Working closely with Kate Noble at Noble Owl Proofreading and Amanda Ni Odhrain from Let’s Get Booked, I’ve been able to pick the best of the submissions to bring you a thrilling book which is perfect for dipping into at lunchtime or snuggling up with on a cold winter’s night. I have been completely blown away by the support we’ve received from the writing and blogging community, especially the authors who submitted stories and Shell Baker from Baker’s Not So Secret Blog, who has organised the cover reveal and blog tour.

There isn’t a person in the country who hasn’t benefited from the sacrifices our troops, past and present, have made for us and they all deserve our thanks.

It has been an honour working on these stories, and I hope you enjoy reading them as much as I have.

Full contents:

Fredrick Snellgrove, Private 23208 by Rob Ashman

Four Seasons by Robert Scragg

The Close Encounter by Gordon Bickerstaff

Believe by Mark Brownless

What Can Possibly Go Wrong? by Lucy Cameron

Mountain Dew by Paul T. Campbell

The Art of War and Peace by John Carson

A Gift for Christmas by Kris Egleton

Free Time by Stewart Giles

Died of Wounds by Malcolm Hollingdrake

The Christmas Killer by Louise Jensen

The Village Hotel by Alex Kane

A Present of Presence by HR Kemp

The Invitation by Billy McLaughlin

Brothers Forever by Paul Moore

Girl in a Red Shirt by Owen Mullen

Pivotal Moments by Anna Franklin Osborne

Uncle Christmas by Val Portelli

Time for a Barbeque by Carmen Radtke

Christmas Present by Lexi Rees

Inside Out by KA Richardson

Penance by Jane Risdon

New Year’s Resolution by Robert Scragg

Family Time by Graham Smith

When Stars Will Shine is available in digital and paperback formats.

For more information, please contact Emma Mitchell: emmamitchellfpr@gmail.com

Emma Mitchell

Freelance Editor

 www.edmcreatingperfection.com

Town Travel - Barnstable, UK

Town Travel - My favourite town by Helen Hollick

Until 2013 I would have said that York was my favourite town, because it has quaint alleyways and is steeped in history (it has some very interesting ghosts as well – if ever you go there, do join in one of the York Ghost Walks!)

However, when I moved to North Devon I fell in love with several of our towns. Exeter is our County Capitol, but it is my local South Molton I prefer, and above that, North Devon’s biggest town – Barnstaple.

(For Americans – say it Barnst’ple not Barn Stayple.)

 Situated on the River Taw, a few miles upriver from the coast, Barnstaple is a quaint old town, mostly Georgian, but with the remains of a Norman Motte and Bailey castle. Some of the alleyways (‘drangs’ and ‘opes’ as they are called in Devon) are narrow and cobbled, with a distinct air of the past about them. Until the river silted up, Barnstaple was a busy trade port, with many a tall ship sailing upriver with goods from the American Colonies, France and Spain. Thanks to exporting wool, by the 14th century it was the third richest town in Devon behind Exeter and Plymouth.

Our eighteenth century farmhouse, situated quite high on a ridge above Umberleigh, overlooks a section of the Taw – our own little piece of the  beautiful Taw Valley.

eighteenth century Barnstaple

Eighteenth century view of Barnstaple (right) and Pilton (left), divided by the small River Yeo, flowing into the broad River Taw (foreground). Right: St Peter's Church, Barnstaple, with spire; Barnstaple Long Bridge (un-widened) over River Taw. Left: St Mary's Church, Pilton; Pilton Bridge over the River Yeo. 18th century (?) oil painting now in the Museum of Barnstaple and North Devon. The original oil painting is now in Barnstaple Museum.

Queen Anne's Square 

attribution: Dietmar Rabich / Wikimedia Commons / “Barnstaple (Devon, UK), Queen Anne's Walk -- 2013 -- 0994” / CC BY-SA 4.0

The name ‘Barnstaple’ comes from 10^th century Anglo Saxon and is thought to mean

‘battle-axe’ (bearde) and pillar (stapol) a term to mark a religious or meeting place. Shakespeare mentions it as ‘Barum’, a Latin contraction of Barnastapolitum, and in Victorian times, Barum was mentioned in several novels.

Officially, Barnstaple dates back to a circa 917  Saxon settlement, but I am convinced that the Romans were in the area. It doesn’t make sense that the Romans would not ensure they had adequate defences along the River Taw within a few miles of the estuary and the Bristol Channel – especially as the Taw rises down in South Devon on Dartmoor. Would Rome really leave almost all North Devon undefended? There has been no Roman foundations or artefacts found but most of present day Barnstaple is early Georgian – who knows what is underneath! Also if you are a believer in the Akashic Records (spiritual research) then yes – the Romans were there!

Barnstaple might have been attacked by Vikings circa 893, and it had its own mint well before 1066. King Harold II (Harold Godwineson) had a connection with North Devon (and therefore probably Barnstaple) through his mother, Gytha, who held land here  in her own right. In fact my daughter was married at Northcote Manor which was, originally, a monastery built on land given to the monks by Lady Gytha.

It is also thought that Harold’s sons fought a battle with the Normans in a rebellion attempt in 1067 or ’68 at the confluence of the rivers Taw and Torridge, about seven miles downriver of Barnstaple. (Alas, the English lost.)

Passing through several notable families, (Geoffrey de Montbray, who is recorded as its holder in Domesday Book and the de Braose family among others, ending up in the ownership of Margaret Beaufort (died 1509), mother of Henry VII.

In 1588 five ships from Barnstaple joined the fleet sent to fight the Spanish Armada. Although the Taw had started to silt up by the mid-1600s, so that the larger ships could no longer sail upriver, trade importance had shifted from wool and Virginia tobacco to lace, glove making, sail-cloth, fishing-nets, tanneries, shipbuilding and pottery.

Pannier Market

Barnstaple Pannier Market 1907 - apart from the clothes very little has changed!

Today, it is still very much a thriving, rural market town with a  ‘farmers’ market’ on Tuesdays and Fridays. The High Street carries some of the ‘big’ stores (Marks & Spencer, for instance,) but also has what I call ‘old fashioned’ shops – which I enjoy  browsing.

Barnstaple Bridge 

In Ripples In The Sand, Jesamiah would have moored his boat alongside this bridge (attribution: Dietmar Rabich / Wikimedia Commons / “Barnstaple (Devon, UK), Long Bridge -- 2013 -- 3” / CC BY-SA 4.0

I have several scenes set in Barnstaple in the fourth Sea Witch Voyage, Ripples In The Sand, where my ex-pirate, Jesamiah Acorne, takes a few men of his crew up-river to Barnstaple in order to break some men out of gaol.

River Taw 

The River Taw at Umberleigh, North Devon

Attribution: Forester2009

I love walking by the river Taw at Queen Anne’s Square, looking towards the old Barnstaple Bridge and seeing, in my mind’s eye that scene where Jesamiah steals ashore in the dead of night and sends his second-in-command, Claude de la Rue, off to create a diversion of blowing up the doors to a bank, while he himself gets ready to blow a hole in the gaol wall. Of course, they all make a clean getaway!

© Helen Hollick

Website: www.helenhollick.net

Newsletter Subscription: http://tinyletter.com/HelenHollick

Main Blog: www.ofhistoryandkings.blogspot.com

Amazon Author Page (Universal Link) http://viewauthor.at/HelenHollick

Twitter: @HelenHollick

Discovering Diamonds Historical Fiction Review Blog (submissions welcome) : https://discoveringdiamonds.blogspot.co.uk/

Other places to visit...

Leiden, the Netherlands with Pauline Barclay

Next Town Travel is Wednesday with ... Michael Reidy in Lectoure, France

Town Travel - Leiden, the Netherlands

What better way to start a new year than to go globe-trotting!  This month I am starting a new and, I hope, exciting new feature on my Blog: Town Travel.

Throughout the coming weeks, award winning authors will be talking about their favourite town and what makes it special for them. It could be any were in the world and even some of the places will surprise you. I say this, as I admit to taking a peek at a few posts ahead of the launch. Oh yes we are in for some wonderful treats. So dust of your laptop passport and let’s go on a special journey and please come back on a regular basis to see which part of the world we are visiting.

I am kick starting our globe-trotting journey with a trip to Leiden in the Netherlands. Leiden is in the Dutch province of South Holland and lies between Amsterdam and The Hague (Den Haag) We lived and worked there for a number of years; the office we worked in is just outside the Oude Singel and our home overlooked one of the many canals.

Leiden is a city with a rich cultural heritage, not only in science, but also in the arts. One of the world's most famous painters, Rembrandt, was born and educated in Leiden. Other famous Leiden painters include Lucas van Leyden, Jan van Goyen and Jan Steen.

Leiden is also known for its centuries-old architecture and for Leiden University, the country’s oldest, dating from 1575. The university houses the Hortus botanicus Leiden Botanical Garden, founded in 1590, where the tulip was introduced to Western Europe.

Museums are a plenty in Leiden where you can soak up culture and history…

The National Museum of Antiquities is housed in an old monumental building and ‘Begijnhof’. It is the Dutch centre for archaeology. Naturalis Biodiversity Centre has a large natural history collection of over 37 million objects. The National Museum of Ethnology is housed in the monumental, former academic hospital. It owns more than 240,000 objects and 500,000 audio-visual sources from around the world. Stedelijk Molenmuseum De Valk, a mill from 1743. The museum features the only preserved mill house in the Netherlands, from 1900. Hortus Botanicus Leiden, of the Leiden University is the oldest botanical garden in the Netherlands, from 1590. Museum De Lakenhal is the municipality museum of Leiden and is housed in Leiden’s old cloth hall. Rijksmuseum Boerhaave is the Netherlands’ treasure chamber of science and medicine. You can find out all abut these museums and more by visiting this web site - The Best Museums in Leiden.

Like many Dutch villages, towns and cities, windmills are part of the landscape. Both of these windmills were on our daily travels to and from work.

During the middle ages, Leiden had eight city gates, today only two survive, Morspoort and Zijlpoort. The photo is of Morspoort, we cycled through this magnificent arch each day on our way to work – everyone cycles in Holland, well almost everyone!

Leiden has a wonderful selection of restaurant serving local and international dishes. It is a wonderful place to eat out in. As Leiden has so many canals, during the summer months many of the restaurants organise flatbed barges to be moored up to the front of their building and throughout the long warm days of summer you can sit out to eat and drink. We spent many hours sitting on these summer day barges, with friends, enjoying al fresco dinning.

Visiting / living in Holland means you cannot miss the magnificent bulb fields. The colours and fragrances from acres of brightly coloured flowers is a sight not to be missed. During our years there we cycled and rollerblading round the many of these wonderful sights and never ceased to be in awe. And a visit in March / May to the famous, Keukenhof Gardens is an absolute must.  You can find out more these fabulous garden by clicking on the Keukenhof Gardens.

One event I must include and that is Sinterklaas (Saint Nicolass) on December 5^th. Dutch children put out their shoes by the fireplace so that Sinterklaas and his helpers, Zwarte Piet, deliver presents. The tradition is strictly kept in the Netherlands with parades in towns and cities. The office we worked in also celebrated Sintaklaas and each year a member of staff dressed up as Sinterklaas and other volunteers played the part of Zwarte Piet. One year I was a Zwarte Piet! Special makeup is plastered on your face, smink, and with traditional outfits we walked around the office delivering sweet to the rest of our colleagues. The picture is of me as Zwarte Piet. I did not recognised myself in the mirror and OH had no idea it was me. The makeup was amazing and took me forever to remove it!

I hope you enjoyed your visit to Leiden. It is a wonderful city and we loved our time living there. Please come back as there are many more fabulous places to visit…

Next Town Travel  take us to Barnstable, UK with Helen Hollick

Difficult to Write, Heart breaking to Read

Whilst, The Wendy House is fiction it covers a real and frightening event that continues to happen today. Even the soaps on TV are running story lines to help highlight and bring to our attention the nightmares that haunt children who have and are being abused.

Writing, The Wendy House, was extremely difficult and harrowing. And whilst all my characters and the events are fiction the reality is that much of the information about abuse was told to me by a person whose life is crippled with the memories of the abuse she had to live through.

I don’t argue that, The Wendy House is an easy book to read. It isn’t.

 It is about a beautiful family who trusted and loved.

It is about lies, fear and secrets.

It is about surviving against all the odds.

Turning each page will have you hesitating and wondering if you can carry on.

It will make you angry.

It will make you scream out.

It will make you weep.

Yet despite all of this, I do hope you will find the courage to read, The Wendy House. I know you will feel all the pain my character feels, but please would you give a kind thought to the brave person who told me so much about what had happened to her.

The Wendy House is dedicated to this very brave young lady.

The Wendy House is available in

Kindle

Paperback

From ALL Amazon sites.

Simply the Best!

“You know every time I hear this song from Tina Turner, I cringe, not because it's weird or anything like that, but it reminds me of our old neighbour’s birthday. Not that I was there, lordy, lordy, no! But my Mama was and believe you me you would cringe if you knew what she got up to, but let’s not go there for now. It’s not good for my street cred! Erasing that scene from my brain, I’ve been thinking more about the words and have decided that this song is my Mama and sums her up perfectly.

“You can easily recognise her, or maybe I should say, you would hear her long before you spotted her. Not that she shouts or anything, she just giggles… a lot!

“When it comes to clothes, these days she has lots, but in the past her wardrobe would have fitted into a draw, which it did. But no amount of coat hangers she now has can change what she loves and that is anything that glitters; the more bling the better. I’m sure if she could wear one of those twiddling dance room balls, she would.  Before our World turned upside down, and believe you me it catapulted us out of the universe, Mama bought a dress from a charity shop. It was almost given to her because no one would buy it. The lady who worked in the shop said it was hideous, but my Mama thought it was the best thing she’d seen in years. I almost freaked out when she cavorted into the lounge, flinging her arms in the air, and crying out, “Da daaaaa…” Stunned, I stared. The dress was short and covered in purple sequins. I was speechless! The next day she wore it to a meeting at a posh bank we had to attend after everything had kicked off… (Sorry, I’ve been told not say any more about this, though I’m allowed to say, it’s all in The Birthday Card).

As well as giggling, my Mama smokes way too much, believe you me I wonder how my lungs still work with all the fog that fills our lives. I swear she’s kept Mr Greedy, (the corner shop) in tobacco business over the years.

During my Mama’s short life, she’s in her mid-thirties, a lot has happened, some ordinary stuff and some blow your mind stuff, but whilst she is a crazy, giggling scary Mama, she is my Mama and I love her to the moon and back, but don’t tell her as she’ll go all weird and want to cuddle and kiss me…. Gross! I’m seventeen for goodness sake!

She sang this song, using an empty beer bottle for a microphone after leaping onto the neighbour’s coffee table and belting it out at Jack’s birthday party. Thankfully I wasn’t there. So this is for you Mama because to me you are simply the best.

Simply the Best by Tina Turner

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1ZzNKVJs0M

You can read all about, Doreen Wilkinson and her daughter, Trisha, in

The Birthday Card and Sometimes It Happens…

Available from all Amazon sites…

Amazon co uk

Amazon com

*Warning* You might find yourself laughing out loud or worse giggling far too often.