Early learning
Learning began early, for I was born into a family where most of the men were farmers and most of the women graduated. Education was considered their ‘share’ of any inheritance. For several generations the women became scholars or adventurers (except for boys called to war) or entered the professions.
Publishing
Raised in rural NE Scotland, I graduated from Aberdeen University before starting work at the O.U.P.’s Children’s Books Department. The London office was then in Amen House near St Paul’s. The basement backed on to the Old Bailey where a remnant of the old Roman Wall around Londinium still survives. It housed the OUP’s famed Bible Repository displaying Bibles of all sizes, ages and languages. These varied from mediaeval illuminated manuscripts to the finest modern encased volumes on delicate China paper and I discovered that I could read even 4 point print easily, provided that the lines were well spaced.
This was also where I met, if briefly, some famous children’s writers and illustrators and came to understand what made their work great. Rosemary Sutcliff, Ian Serralier and an elderly Eleanor Farjeon were among the magical story-tellers. Papas, Victor Ambrus and Barbara Leonie-Picard were just three of of the publisher’s brilliant illustrators during a golden era of awards. I was fortunate to be there at that time, handling their original manuscripts and drawings, learning about in the entire process of the production of fine books and also reading French and German material for translation.
Learning from Life
After leaving publishing, I taught at all levels from A-level English through to pre-school and adult postal tuition. While following a scientific civil servant husband around the country I raised a family. In schools and through clubs I tried many crafts and occasionally sold a water colour or pencil drawing. Music, dancing, gardening and bee-keeping – see Beckstone – filled in spare moments. We built two houses, each with a large, new garden, one involving the planting of a five acre wood.
After a long trip around the world as a belated ‘gap year’ I returned with too many words to count. My voluntary work for the National Trust for Scotland involved guiding in a castle stuffed with fine art, ceramics and contrasting architectural features. It also had 18th and 19th century estate gardens containing the national collection of daffodils. I prepared extensive material for education programmes and wrote publicity articles for local and international markets, including web sites. Floral arrangements for the castle made use of flowers from the castle gardens and our own. Puppy walking for Guide Dogs for the Blind (www.guidedogs.org.uk) overlapped the castle’s education visits, leading to the puppies visiting schools, leading in turn to giving talks about Guide Dogs in addition to those on aspects of the NTS’s research and conservation work.
Through all of this, my writing mill ground steadily and sometimes successfully alongside a very busy life. Both in England and in Scotland I have been involved in writing clubs and associations, developing my own skills and supporting others. I write in both English and Doric (NE Scottish dialect), for adults and children, fact, fiction (especially historical) and drama.