NEED A SPEAKER FOR YOUR GROUP? LOOK NO FURTHER
My Powerpoint Presentations are a great success with audiences, also great fun to design and present, being both entertaining and informative
TALKS WITH POWERPOINT SHOWS:
"THE
LADY FARMER OF SANDRINGHAM"
-- Louisa Mary Cresswell, 1830-1916
— Louise Cresswell was a Victorian widow who farmed on Sandringham Estate and became a thorn in the side of the erratic Bertie, Prince of Wales (later to be Edward VII). Louise wrote her own story of those years, blaming the Prince for driving her to bankruptcy and exile, but recent research into original sources (including the Royal Archive at Windsor Castle) has uncovered startling evidence that she was not entirely truthful! My book on the subject is THE PRINCE’S THORN (Pegasus 2009)
"HE TOOK A LITTLE CUSTARD" -- History of RAF Nurses from 1918 to present (title is a quote from one of the stories)
— amazing, moving and often hilarious extracts from personal stories of RAF nurses, spanning eight decades, two world wars and other conflicts (1918-2000). In 1998, Air Commodore Bob Williams (then Matron-in-Chief) invited Mary Mackie to write the first official history of the Princess Mary’s Royal Air Force Nursing Service (PMRAFNS). The resulting book is SKY WARDS (Hale, 2001)
"COBWEBS AND CREAM TEAS" -- Life and laughter inside a National Trust mansion
- stories from the seven years when Mary and her husband lived and worked at Felbrigg Hall, near Cromer, north Norfolk. The talk retells some of the fascinating and funny stories which may be found in Mary’s best-selling trilogy of books, titled COBWEBS AND CREAM TEAS, DRY ROT AND DAFFODILS, and FROGSPAWN AND FLOOR POLISH.
"A Nice Little Job"
— some of the highs and lows of the life of a writer of sixty-eight published books including romantic fiction (both sweet and hot), mystery, history, and non-fiction. Answering all your questions and some you never even thought of. May be illustrated by a few brief extracts (probably not the steamier bits!).
"PLAYING DETECTIVE" (No slides available as yet)
–- the delights of doing research, gleaning factual details from local libraries, museums and record offices, and from people. Exploring the National Archive at Kew, the British Library and the Palace of Westminster, plus two amazing days spent studying a collection of documents from the Royal Archive, in a room high up in the Round Tower at Windsor Castle.
"ARE YOU SITTING COMFORTABLY?"
-- on a lighter note, Mary reads extracts from her books and short stories, maybe a few poems (verse or worse) and tells a few anecdotes. This is an entertainment, just for fun.
CONTACT ME FOR DETAILS OF FEES, ETC
BELOW, Photos from book signings (before losing two and a half stone!)
At the Holt Bookshop, in the Appleyard at Holt, Norfolk, with many thanks to David Makinson and his staff for a great convivial evening with old friends and new. Chris is in two of these pictures, taken by our son Kevin:
Wine, nibbles, and a happy chat...
and, below, at Waterstone's book store in King's Lynn, Norfolk, with thanks to store managers Val and Kate.
Two pics taken with some members of what one husband calls our writers' coven (he reckons Chris is chief warlock!):
If you want to get ahead, get a hat!
so many books!!
The new book was also featured in the Eastern Daily Press 'Sunday' supplement, Saturday 24 January 2009
and I was on air for half an hour on Radio Norfolk's 'Maggie's Brew', talking about my new book:
THE PRINCE'S THORN
Edward VII and the Lady Farmer of
Sandringham
Over three decades of the nineteenth century, she caused problems for HRH Albert Edward, Prince of Wales. But who exactly was Mrs Louisa Mary Cresswell, this fractious royal tenant who rejoiced in her sobriquet of ‘The Lady Farmer’? Her book, Eighteen Years on Sandringham Estate, published in 1887, was laced with criticism of the Prince and of the minions who conspired with him to ruin a defenceless widow and drive her out of her beloved Appleton Farm and into penury and exile in America’s Wild West. But was it the truth? What really motivated her bitter hatred of Queen Victoria's oldest son? The answers emerged during a four-year-long detective journey which culminated in the Royal Archive at Windsor Castle, where startling revelations awaited, changing the whole story.
ISBN: 9781903490334
Pub: Pegasus, Cambridge, 302
pages,
Illustrated, full Bibliography and Index
Paperback £9.99
For an extract, go via Read
☼ ☼ ☼
Talks, etc.
Booked for 2012, so far:
Jan 11th - Phoenix Ladies, Burnham Market 'Lady Farmer'
Jan 12th -- North Wootton WI, King's Lynn, 'Cobwebs and Cream Teas'
February 1st -- Inner Wheel Dinner, Le Strange Arms Hotel 'Lady Farmer'
Feb 12th -- National Trust Association, King's Lynn 'He Took a Little Custard' (PMRAFNS)
Feb 29th -- Rotary Dinner, Le Strange Arms, Hunstanton 'PMRAFNS'
March 21st -- Gaywood Wives, Lynn, Subject TBC
April 16th -- U3A Lynn 'Lady Farmer'
April 17th -- Bircham Friends, Bircham Newton 'Cobwebs'
April 26th -- Old Hunstanton WI 'Cobwebs'
May 9th -- Sedgeford Friendship Club 'PMRAFNS'
July 2nd -- Wisbech Ladies 'Weakest Link' (a one-off so far!)
September 19th -- Downham Market WI 'Lady Farmer'
Plus, with my Theatre Club hat on, I'll be leading Poetry Mornings every two months, now based at the Town Hall, Hunstanton. 21st March 'Memories'; 16th May 'Childhood'; 18th July 'Summer Songs' (titles are suggestions only, to get your brain going).
2011 Some highlights
3 April, 'Spitfire Salute' -- concert by massed VBs of the RAF. I wrote and edited the script and much of the programme.
18 Feb: Judged a poetry- speaking competition at Glebe House (Private) School. 6-13 year olds. Wonderful.
14 Feb: Ten-minute chat on Radio Lincolnshire to do with Valentine's Day. Don't ask why they chose me!!
2010
Leading another Poetry Morning on 27 October.
Taking part in Theatre Club Music Hall in late November.
Ten talks in all this year, some now with PowerPoint Slide-shows which I've designed and animated. Great fun. The slides are proving a great success.
2009...
14 October: once again in the chair for 'Poetry at the Princess' (for the Theatre Club, details on website www.princesstheatreclub.co.uk )
1 October: talk to Trefoil Guild, Heacham
3 September: 'Lady Farmer' talk for King's Lynn Friends United (M & S retirees)
29 July: Talk to Hunstanton Rotary Club, 'Lady Farmer' after dinner at the Le Strange Arms, Hunstanton
16 July: Talk to Heacham Gardeners in a marquee in a garden, readings from my oeuvre of short stories and verse ('A Pot-Pourri of Prose and Pomes').
24 June: talk to the Dereham Society in Dereham Library (my third visit there!), on the PMRAFNS. Great turnout and response.
23 June: 'Poetry at the Princess' event for the Hunstanton festival of Arts and Drama, chaired by MM.
2 June: 'Lady Farmer' talk in Dersingham, organized by 'The Village Voice' (nearly 100 people attended).
From February to May, I was mainly occupied with directing the spring production of Alan Ayckbourn's 'Comic Potential'. It was on stage 14, 15 and 16 May. Great fun.
An appearance on 'The Weakest Link' (recorded February, aired in April. I was voted off in the fifth round by a couple of dumbos who were colluding to get rid of the better players. I only got one question wrong. Ann was really quite kind. She even asked me about my new book (Prince's Thorn') but naturally they cut that bit out!)
26 March, talk to Clenchwarton Ladies
Another marvellous morning of 'Poetry at the Princess' on 11 March 2009.
2008
November 28: was Guest Speaker at the 90th Anniversary of the PMRAFNS, did a brief spot to preface the evening and then introduced a new video on the Service's history. The event was a Cocktail Party held in the Bomber Command Hall at the RAF Museum, Hendon, London. We met and chatted with the current Patron, HRH the Princess Alexandra, who asked me to be sure to send her a copy of my new book on Louise Cresswell and Sandringham. Have done so. Hope she likes it and will persuade the rest of the family to buy one!!
November: Talk for Terrington St Clement Women's Club (again), this time with: 'The Lady Farmer of Sandringham'.
September: Talk to Heacham Gardeners' Association again, this time with: 'He took a little custard' PMRAFNS'
June 18th: Talk to New Leaf group of readers at Aylsham Library: 'Cobwebs and Cream Teas' (National Trust always a popular subject)
June 4th: Talk to Masterfood Club at Sandboy Pub near Lynn, Norfolk: 'He took a little custard...' (history of the RAF Nursing Service [see Non-fiction ])
May: Involved with play at Princess Theatre, Hunstanton. Playing 'Stella' in Rattigan's 'Cause Celebre'.
April: We were in America with our oldest son and family
March 26th: Talk for Harnser Group of WIs in Hemsby near Yarmouth: 'The Lady Farmer of Sandringham' (subject of my latest book); meant an overnight trip to far side of Norfolk.
March 12th (yes, same day, what a busy bee!): Talk for Sedgeford women's Friendship Group: 'Cobwebs and Cream Teas' (life with the National Trust)
March 12th: Host 'Poetry at the Princess' a morning session of poetry reading by and for everyone, in aid of Princess Theatre Club funds. Held in the friendly sea-view bar at the Princess Theatre, Hunstanton, Norfolk.
2008, Feb: Invited to be a judge for the King's Lynn Soroptimists' Public Speaking Competition for local schools