by Maggie B Dickinson Based on a true story. I had a similar version published in Northern Life When it comes to secrets, the tiny village of Sunderland Point leads the field. Growing out of a peat bog, lashed by westerly gales, cut off by the tide twice a day – and with its only…
Category: Famous People
Brief Encounter Revisited
by Maggie B Dickinson The daddy of all time pieces, in film-going terms, is probably the gem on Virgin’s West Coast Line at Carnforth in Lancashire, UK. The clock (as The Clock) supported the main characters Celia Johnson (as Laura Jesson) and Trevor Howard (as Dr Alec Harvey), as they headed dangerously and deliciously towards…
For Valour
JAMES HEWITSON VC OF CONISTON 1892 – 1963 Originally published by Cumbria magazine November 2018 On November 11th 2018 Remembrance Sunday falls exactly one hundred years to the day since the Great War officially ended with the signing of an armistice between the Allies and Germany, at Compiégne in France. For four years thousands of men had…
On the trail of Shawn Williamson
Reprinted with kind permission of Cumbria magazine, originally published September 2018 If anyone is leaving their mark for posterity on Cumbria, and other points of the compass, it is Shawn Williamson. At the moment he is creating an amazing trail of rock sculptures around the Low Wood Bay Resort and Spa. Shawn was a seaman on the Great…
William Wordsworth’s little-known marriage venue
William Wordsworth’s little-known marriage venue Published as The perfect village? October 2017 Republished here by kind permission of Dalesman magazine ‘I could stand it no longer and threw myself on the bed, neither hearing nor seeing anything…’ On Monday October 4th, two hundred and fifteen years ago, this emotional drama was played out at a…
Lakeland’s Last Box Standing – The AA in Cumbria
Lakeland’s Last Box Standing – The AA in Cumbria Originally published in Cumbria magazine July 2015 Braving the elements on Dunmail Raise, an exposed mountain pass between Grasmere and Thirlmere, is the yellow and black Automobile Association ‘sentry’ box number 487 that has stood its ground for eighty three years. If only the box could…
New Forest Snake Catcher
New Forest Snake Catcher Published Countryman magazine June 2011 The old man had a huge forked beard and wore a large hat with an upturned brim. In one hand was a tall pronged stick and dangling from the other were some kind of metal traps. The shabby attire included a substantial long jacket and leg…
‘We’ve gone on holiday by mistake’
‘We’ve gone on holiday by mistake’ WITHNAIL & I In the thirty years since it hit cinema screens Withnail & I has achieved major cult status. It is recognised as one of the best black comedies the British film industry has ever produced. A word of warning: it is definitely not for those with a…
Professor of Adventure
Professor of Adventure Millican Dalton 1867 – 1947 Maggie B Dickinson – Published in Cumbria magazine December 2017 Despite its diminutive height, the pretty wooded conicular eminence of Castle Crag stands its ground within the dramatic “Jaws of Borrowdale” that dominate the skyline and restrict passage through this narrow part of the valley. During November especially…
The Sage of Chelsea
The Sage of Chelsea A smoke and a talk with Thomas Carlyle by Maggie B Dickinson Published in The London Magazine 2014 The only known surviving diaries of a Victorian regional newspaper editor were penned by my great great uncle Anthony Hewitson who owned the Preston Chronicle in Lancashire. There are seventeen in number which span…
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