WRITER
Cornwall
Prince Chula of Siam
My dad Donald, and his brother and sister Sidney and Joan, grew up in the Portland Arms Hotel, in Cambridge. Their parents Rue and Maud took it over in about 1924, when Donald was five, Joan six and Sidney eight. Donald always had so many stories to tell us about the pub and his life there, wonderful stories […]
MoreStrange names… they’re all around you
Once you have a fascination for strange names, they’re everywhere, they spring of parish notice boards, they jump out of obituaries, they are of the children and grandchildren of people you meet. This was a plaque in Launceston, Cornwall, the only Cornish name is the builder, Sampson Trehane! The second part of ‘Loving Judah’ is set […]
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The great debate
When I was teaching as part of the English syllabus, students had to debate and discuss. I tried to choose topics which they would find interesting and engaging and have some opinion on. I tried all the usual topics, capital punishment, abortion, student grants, religion… I tried local issues, what should happen to the Tropicana, should Weston have a skate-park, should they build the Severn barrage… I tried […]
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Lois Elsden 