Penny Legg's 'Southampton Then and Now'

Well, I had a nice surprise today. I knew that my publisher (The History Press) had been working on the front cover for my next book, Southampton Then and Now and today the first draft of it came through by email. It is not quite what we both want, as it does look a little bare in places, but it is nice to see the mock-up and my name on it. I think we will be looking at this again next week.

I will shortly be launching a blog for each of Folklore of Hampshire and Southampton Then and Now, so watch this space!

Southampton Then and Now

So far February is proving quite interesting. I have been busy working on my next book, which has had a name change from Southampton Past and Present, to Southampton Then and Now, although it is still on Amazon in its former name. The book is a photographic history of the city, using archive images and up to date colour photographs to chart the changes over time.

I met a super motorcycle policeman at Southampton City Police Station, who was very happy to wheel out his BMW 1200 cc bike and pose in front of the station building for me, while I took photographs of him looking off into the distance. My thanks to PC Holland, who entered into the spirit of the occasion with gusto.

I was driving past the Old Farm House public house the other day and noticed its extreme age, so pulled up and popped in. The building dates from 1611 and the present landlords, Barrie and Jo, were happy to help me with archive images. They and their staff also posed for 21st century shots, so I was a very happy Penny and my thanks go to them too.

Over the weekend I was to be spotted at several locations in the city peering over walls or looking up from the depths with a camera, ably assisted by my long suffering husband. I have a little way to go yet, the book is not going to be ready for the publisher for another seven or so weeks, but it is coming together nicely. It is due for publication at the beginning of October.

A funny old world

It's a funny old world. I was gaily thinking that I had got away with catching any of the nasty bugs going around at this time of year, when I woke up one morning a few days ago and found I had a cold of epic proportions and I was disgusting to live with. Ho hum...

So, apart from feeling sorry for myself, what have I been up to? Well, not a great deal. Sneezing and sleeping have comprised the majority of this week but I did go into Southampton and meet up with a brave young man on Tuesday. He is brave on two fronts: first to put up with my sneezing, which got steadily worse as our meeting wore on, and, secondly, for the fact that his job is ghost hunting. Yes, that is right, he hunts ghost for a living. Andrew House is a paranormal investigator and he knows his stuff. He agreed to talk to me for my forthcoming book, Haunted Southampton, due out in 2011. I know now about the different stages to a haunting and the difference between some of the sensationalism seen in the media and a proper scientific investigation. Andrew was a fountain of information and I thank him very much for talking to me.

I have heard from Sylvia Kent recently. Readers of this blog will know that Sylvia published The Woman Writer, the history of The Society of Women Writers and Journalists (SWWJ), in November. This fascinating story recounts tales of some of the great names in English literature over the past 116 years. Sylvia was kind enough to mention me as editor, in the section on the Society's magazine, The Woman Writer, which celebrates its 100th anniversary this year. Since its publication, Sylvia has been a busy lady and much in demand for television and radio interviews. Her well written and entertaining book has done much to increase the profile of the SWWJ.

Talking of radio interviews, my writing buddy, Rob Innis will be on the radio in Spain on Saturday. He will be talking about football, his great passion. Good luck Rob!

Today I heard officially that I passed my PTLLS course (Preparing to Teach in the Lifelong Learning Sector). I was verbally told I had passed in December but today received the news in writing. Another couple of weeks and I will have the Certificate too. Now all I need is somewhere to practice my new found skills. I have given tutorials and one to one sessions on several subjects over a long period of time, but, as with everything these days, I needed the piece of paper to prove I could teach! Now it would be really nice if there was a learning establishment out there in reader land who would like my services. On my website there is a list of workshops and talks which I give and I am always open to suggestions for further sessions. If anyone out there reading this is interested, please contact me.

OK that is enough from me for now. I am now going to find the vapour rub!

Writing Buddies at The Art House, Southampton

Writing Buddies has a new home. This is an announcement I am really pleased to be able to make. The Art House in Southampton, 178 Above Bar Street, has opened its doors to us and when we held our first meeting there it proved to be a hit with all concerned, not least because the coffee is excellent and the staff are very pleasant.

The next meeting is tomorrow, Friday 29th January, at 2pm. Everyone is welcome. Wendy Hughes will be our guest.

A New Year ...

Another January and another birthday approaching. Time flies, doesn't it? I thought, before the fateful day actually arrives, I would take some time out and look back over 2009 and forward to what I know is coming along in 2010.

2009 was not an easy year for anyone, I think. For me it saw my efforts to establish myself back in the UK for the first time in nearly eight years. I tried to do so during the worst recession in living memory, which was, perhaps, not the best of timing. To say I found this a challenge is an understatement.

The first thing I noticed was that editors wanted a lot for their money, or were not prepared to pay anything at all for honest work. I joined the National Union of Journalists and have found this to be useful in terms of asking for advice, but if an editor ignores you, refuses to reply to messages, and runs your work without byline or payment, I find that there is not a lot of help at all. I have learnt a valuable lesson from this and will not approach a certain editor again as he is untrustworthy. My list of publications to avoid, which, thankfully, is small, has lengthened in 2009.

On a positive note, I have found that publishers are interested in writers who would like to write non-fiction books, and who know one end of a camera from another. Thus I signed four book contracts in 2009, and have been busy with the very interesting job of researching folklore, taking photographs out and about in Hampshire and finding out more about the county. Folklore of Hampshire is now with the publisher and should be in the shops in July. Southampton Past and Present is now available for pre-order on Amazon and will be in the shops in October. Haunted Southampton and Winchester: History You Can See will both be available on Amazon soon, and will be published in early 2011.

I have missed the warmth of Bangladesh and Anguilla since I came back to Blighty. I lived in thermal socks for most of the first five months of 2009 and think the inventor of these most useful items of footwear should receive some kind of accolade, if he has not already done so!

During the year I successfully studied to improve my mathematics qualifications, took another course with the wonderful Open University, this time in creative writing, and also took a PTLLS course (Preparing to Teach in the Lifelong Learning Sector) to enable me to teach at night school and to offer workshops etcetera to adults. I also began tutoring on the non-fiction and the proofreading and copy editing courses for The Writers Bureau. In terms of personal development, 2009 was a good year!

I have edited The Woman Writer for The Society of Women Writers and Journalists for a year now and have learnt a lot along the way. I have found that I cannot please everyone all the time and so, to save my sanity, I have decided to please the majority and not to worry about the minority, who will always find something to complain about. I realised the other day, with something of a shock I have to say, that I have edited magazines in four different countries for more than fourteen years. This experience has stood me in good stead with The Woman Writer, which is now celebrating its 100th anniversary.

I went out and about in 2009. I love meeting people and talking to them about their lives, hobbies and careers. Two trips stand out in my mind. The visit to Swanage, in Dorset, I made in May to cover the Veterans Day events there, and to St Agnes in deepest Cornwall, to meet a couple whose home is a living museum of wartime memorabilia. Super!

It was not all work though. I was surprised by the amount of interest shown when I blogged about the new kitchen we had installed in our home, with several emails sent in protest when I dared to suggest that perhaps readers were getting bored with a blow by blow daily account of the work in progress! Later in the year the Legg household acquired Phyllis, an ancient, and very tiny, Suzuki campervan, which I bought on ebay as a project to do up, and which I hope will be fun to travel around in next summer. This was after a disastrous camping trip, which saw a storm ruin our tent and made us vow not to camp again!

In May I started Writing Buddies, the group for writers in Southampton. This was a venture begun to bring together professional and aspiring writers for coffee and writing related chat, and has proved highly successful. We met in Borders bookshop in the city until the shop closed and then moved to the central library for the last meeting of the year. We will meet again at the end of January, at a venue to be decided.

I was pleased to be presented with the Scroll Award for Writing, by the Southampton Writers' Circle, for my piece on the Master of the Queen Mary II, which I wrote for Hampshire Life magazine. This was a very pleasant surprise.

I was interviewed by Express FM radio at the end of the year, which was great fun and I looked forward to hearing the broadcast, but this was not to be. I have now heard that the broadcast tape has been 'lost' and so you can imagine what I think of this radio station now ...

So, looking forward, I will expand my series of talks and workshops, about aspects of writing, my life, photography and folklore. I am speaking to the Southampton Writers' Circle in February, talking and co-hosting a workshop at the Festival of Writing in York in April and speaking at the July meeting of the Writers In Southampton (WiS) group. I am also open to new challenges, so am actively looking for these.

I am also looking forward to the launch of the two books coming out this year. My mother keeps saying that she never thought she would have an author for a daughter! I wonder why she says this, as I have been writing since I was a small child. It was only a matter of time.

So, on that note, I will sign off. Happy New Year everyone!

Penny Legg, December 2009

Crumbs it has been a long time since the last post! My new year resolution will have to be to blog more. I wish there were a few extra hours in the day though. That would be handy.

Well, what have I been up to?

Working really. I wish I could say it was something more exotic!

Finishing the editing, proofreading and printing of my book, Folklore of Hampshire, so it can go off to the publisher, took quite a long time. I am just sorting out the final photographs for the book and then off it will go and I will move on to completing the next book, Southampton Past and Present.

The next edition of The Woman Writer has to be with the sub-editor soon, so I have been busy with that too. This is always time consuming, particularly when dates or venues for future events change at the last moment. The increase in size of the magazine, from 24 to 32 pages, means I have a lot more to do. The next edition, out in January, will be the first of five 100th Anniversary editions published in 2010 to celebrate the centenary of the magazine.

I have started tutoring on another course for The Writers Bureau. This is interesting. Proofreading and copy editing are useful skills and the new course from The Writers Bureau covers everything you need to know about the subject, with lots of hands on practice. As a tutor it is interesting to gain an insight into my students' minds. Sometimes their logic takes me unawares and I have to really stop and think! Great fun. If any of my Writers Bureau students are reading this, I have to say, it is a joy to read your work, whether it be non-fiction assignments or proofreading. You might want to look at the Writers Bureau blog pages too, I have been asked to be a guest blogger and my first blog should be up on the site soon.

I now have a copy of The Woman Writer, the history of the Society of Women Writers and Journalists by Sylvia Kent. This has been written to commemorate the centenary of

the birth of Joyce Grenfell, the Society's President of 22 years, and covers the SWWJ in all its glory. For those

interested check out page 34, where I am mentioned.

I have been sent a review copy of Courting the Bull, an anthology of expatriate literature in Spain, which features a short story by my writing buddy, Rob Innis. This book is a mixture of the best of the fiction, verse and memoir written by expats in Spain and reflects their efforts to come to terms with the new culture they have entered. It's a super read.

My story, on the Veterans events in the summer, complete with numerous photos, are in the Winter edition of This England magazine. Another story, on the Living Collection of WW2 memorabilia in Cornwall, will be published in January's edition of Cornwall Today soon.

I have also been recently to see that great country tradition, the Mummers Play. Otterbourne

Mummers perform their play on one day a year and this year they braved the snow and ice to bring this traditional entertainment to the considerable crowd who had braved the freezing

temperatures. We watched as King George and the Turkish Knight battled it out with swords and I felt very sorry for the Knight when he had to lay on the ice in the road for some time until the doctor arrived with his magic potion to bring him to life once more. Great fun and it is wonderful that this centuries old tradition is alive and well and residing in Hampshire.

I do not know if I will have time to blog again before Christmas and so wish all my readers a very Happy Christmas and a peaceful New Year.

Penny Legg - back again!

It has been much too long since I last blogged, so I am going to make up for lost time now.

What have I been up to? Well, working really. I am the editor of The Woman Writer, the almost 100 year old magazine published by the Society of Women Writers and Journalists. I have spent time working on that and it was published once again this month. I was pleased to see that it was in the December edition of Writers' News, along with a piece written by my colleague, Sylvia Kent, about the history of the Society. She kindly mentioned me as the magazine editor, which was good of her and I, who luckily had just finished the front cover when the magazine called for the article, supplied the image.

Sylvia has just launched her latest baby on the world. A complete history of the Society of Women Writers and Journalists, The Woman Writer, published by The History Press, features a super shot of Joyce Grenfell, our President for many years, on the front cover. This book is so new I have not seen a copy yet. I am reliably informed that I have a small place in it. I will get a copy from Sylvia shortly, so will then see for myself.

Last Wednesday I gave a talk at the Southampton Writer's Circle on the history of the Society. I stood in for Jean Morris, the Society's chair, who could not make the date at the last moment. As I am a Circle member, I was asked to give the talk and to present the prizes for the Greensleeves competition, which Jean had adjudicated. I was very pleased to present the trophy to Elizabeth Streatfield, a worthy winner.

I am coming to the end of my work for my book, Folklore of Hampshire, which needs to be with the publisher soon. This has been a major labour and, although I think I will miss researching some of the interesting facts for the book, it will be nice to move on to finish work on my next publication, Southampton Past and Present, which has to be ready by March 2010.

In the meantime, I am kept on my toes by my students! I mark scripts for the non-fiction section of the Writers Bureau Comprehensive Writing Course and great fun it is too. The students are from all walks of life, different ages and from many countries of the world. They are all united in a will to write, that drives them on to create prose which is, sometimes, a real joy to read. This is a new venture for me, having started tutoring for the Writers Bureau only in August and it is a thrill to watch my students develop and blossom.

If you are listening to the radio tomorrow, Wednesday 18th November, at 7 pm UK time, you might want to tune in to Express FM and listen to the Write On programme hosted by Rob Richardson. Readers of this blog may remember that I devoted a piece to Express FM a short while ago, when the programme was temporarily taken off the air. I am pleased to say that it is now back on again and I am the guest tomorrow. It is the first time I have been interviewed on radio, so apologies now for any nervousness you might hear on air!

Looking slightly further into the future, on Friday 20th November, Peter Lovesey, the charming crime writer and Daggar Award winner, will be a guest at my group for writers, Writing Buddies. If you fancy a cuppa and a chat, you will find the Writing Buddies in Borders, Southampton, from 2pm onwards. It is free, just pull up a chair and join in.

Well, I think that is all for now. More in my next blog!