WW2 Literary Evening on Blood and Bandages with Jane's SG Tours

     Excuse the breity of this blog. I'm in the middle of tweaking tomorrow's talk on Blood and Bandages - fighting for life in the RAMC Field Ambulance 1940-1946, and time's running out.

Blood and Bandages was launched in England in April 2017 in front of family, friends, and representatives from the Museum of Military Medicine, Italy Star Association and the Queen's Royal Surrey regiment. 

     Tomorrow's talk will be slightly different from the one I gave at the American Club earlier this year. This time, I'll be setting the talk in the context of WW2 in Europe and the Mediterranean so it's easier to place William Earl's unique story as a nursing orderly in the Royal Army Medical Corps, in the global conflict. I'll also be showing extracts of William's interviews. There is nothing more powerful than hearing what it was like from someone who was there. I am always moved by his words.

Pte William Earl, 214th Field Ambulance RAMC.

Italy, 1943

William (back row - far right) with his great friend, Frank Allen (back row - far left)  Frank was captured after a disasterous night mission into No Man's Land which affected William badly.

North Africa, April 1943.

William, traumatised and alone after surviving the blood-bath at Anzio.

 Egypt, March 1944

Peace is declared. William (back row - far right) and his comrades in the 214th Field Ambulance in St Mark's Square. 

Venice, May 1945

Mary Earl. William returned to his beloved wife, Mary, after three years service abroad.

London, July 1945.

 
      William is now 103 but on 12th May will turn 104. Happy Birthday dearest Bill.

William at War and Peace Revival. He's never lost his eye for a pretty girl. 

  Kent, England, July 2018

     Finally, thanks to ANZA for their great article on Blood and Bandages in this month's ANZA magazine.
If you would like to attend tomorrow's talk, please purchase tickets here.
Thanks for dropping by and see you next week.

Time to Write

This week, I've been updating the course notes for Time to Write.
     Time to Write is a creative writing course designed for new, aspiring or rusty writers. It's intense and fun and starts on Tuesday 30th April at the American Association of Singapore.
   Over the course of three weeks, students will reacquaint themselves with their creative side and develop ideas in a supportive and helpful environment.
     I've met so many people who have said, "I'd love to write, but can't."
   What they really mean is, "I can't write a best-seller," or, "I don't have the confidence," or worse still, "I'm talentless and unimaginative."  What has caused their passion to be crushed? It's only a pigeon step from that corrosive attitude, to the admonishment of desire and abandonment of ambition.
     Do other creatives do this? Are there thousands of amateur singers, actors, musicians or artists who have disenfranchised themselves because they will never reach professional status? The plethora of amateur dramatic societies, art classes and choirs answers that. So why do amateur writers do it?
     Is it because at school we can fail in creative writing?
     Is it because we assume that every book, play or poem is a first draft, not the 10th, 20th or 30th?
     Is it because writing is private, so few understand the motivation and process?
     Is it because success is not rated in our ability to touch, but our ability to earn?
     Is it because we have crushed our passion with the weight of an endless 'to do' list?
Whatever the reason, this self-harm should cease.
     Everyone with a passion to write, needs to be:-

• encouraged,  
• taken seriously, 
• given permission to write,
• the tools to improve,
• the right to try, and fail, repeatedly. 

     This is the raison d'etre for courses like Time to Write. Indeed, on day one, I will tell my students that we are all creative beings and everyone has an immense imagination. That will be followed by four hours of creating story ideas and characters. Having experienced the intense power and originality of their own imaginations, the students can only advance. Advance towards a more confident and less self-critical future where they don't have to prove they're a Shakespeare before allowing themselves time to write.
     Turning to sometime completely different, thank you for all the wonderful comments on last week's blog.  For those who missed it, it was the story of how our garden changed from this...

 January 2018

to this.  

April 2019

I'll be back again next week when I'll update you on the course and tell you about the forthcoming book talk.

Thanks for dropping by.

Ta-ra.

Latest news from Singapore

I've been gone too long!  The rate of blog posts has nose-dived because it's taking longer to adapt to expat life than I'd hoped. However, I've taken myself in hand and that's all changing so today, I want to share some news.
     I've been asked to teach creative writing for the American Association of Singapore. The course is called Time to Write and starts on 30th April.
    Its been written with aspiring and lapsed writers in mind and over three weeks, I'll be touching on how to write fiction, how to approach non-fiction and teaching workshopping skills. It's an intensely practical, low-tech course and the students will have to shed their inhibitions and dive straight in. I'm just adding the finishing touches to the course material and will let you know how it's going next week. In the meantime, if you fancy joining up, book here. I guarantee you won't regret it.
     The second bit of news is that Blood and Bandages is doing well over here despite its focus on the war in Europe. I had feared that a story set against one of WW2's most neglected campaigns, the Italian Campaign, would sink without trace in SE Asia. Not so. It's being bought by English, Australians, Canadians, Dutch and Singaporeans. Popular glossy magazine, ExPat Living wants to sell them and I'm collaborating with Jane's Tours SG, an award-winning travel company, to present a literary evening on Blood and Bandages on 10th May. If you would like to hear about the extraordinary work of the Royal Army Medical Corps during WW2 book here.
     The event is being held at our home so thank goodness our garden project is almost done.
     You may remember the photos I posted when we first moved in. If not, they showed a pretty colonial bungalow in the middle of a field.

 Not a plant in sight.

      We felt the absence of a garden keenly, so when Richard received his annual bonus, a portion was set aside for landscaping. 

     The remit was to create a pretty garden which gave us privacy, shade, points of interest and colour. Our hard-working and imaginative garden guru, Benson Ang from Chwee Nursery commenced work in January. 

     Stage one focused on creating privacy. 

A Eugenia hedge screened us from the road.

Yellow palms disrupted the view from the path to the bedrooms.  

Sadly, I have forgotten the name of these trees but they provided privacy on our other boundary which bordered a public footpath.

A line of Heliconia Bihai was added behind the trees to add more screening and colour.

 

The piece de resistance was the tree lined path which added a delicate oriental feel. Their branches will eventually join to form a shady green corridor.

      With the privacy almost in place, we moved onto stage two.

Yellow palms were added in front of the study window to create symmetry. I love looking onto these when I'm working.  

A patio was laid in the back garden so we had a firm base upon which to put our dining table and chairs. 

At the same time, we treated ourselves to some new outdoor furniture, of which Richard is obviously thrilled.

Finally, a range of colourful plants and tree orchids framed the path, the path upon which I hope to welcome 20 guests from Jane's Tour's on 10th May.  

     Stage two is now finished so it's time to move onto the final section, the construction 

of a water feature and the addition of wind chimes. I can't wait to see it come together. 

     Well it's time to go now but I've enjoyed this catch-up.

     I'll be blogging more regularly from now on because I have to start following the advice I'll be giving my students on Time to Write. To be a good writer you have to read and write constantly.  

Thanks for dropping by. Ta-ra. 

Thoughts on expat life in Singapore and an update on Blood and Bandages.

     Life as an expat is mixed. 

     You have the excitement of sights that broaden your mind...

Interactive space exhibit at the ArtScience Museum

Supertrees Grove at Gardens by the Bay

challenge your faith...

Devotees in the Thaipusam procession, a Hindu festival in honour of Lord Subramaniam

An altar at Singapore's oldest Chinese temple, Thian Hock Keng, dedicated to Mazu, the Goddess of the Sea

transfix...

A scene from the Vessantra Jataka, a Buddist tale of perfect generosity on a Burmese silver offering bowl

a fish stall at the Tekka Centre in Little India

shame...

Second World War graves at Kranji War Cemetery

Punggol beach, one of the sites used by the Japanese army to massacre Chinese males during Operation Sook Ching (Feb 1942)

and surprise.

Graffiti wall art in Haji Lane, Kampong Glam

     Upon arrival, we were embraced by the English speaking expat community and automatically included by dint of being there. It's a community which includes, English, American, Australian and Dutch, all of whom make up part of a tiny minority (1-3%) of the population of Singapore. Whilst the welcome was warm and generous, membership of such a group has its drawbacks. Most of the clothes shops don't cater for our size and we have to be wise to the view that expats are made of money and charged accordingly. 
     The expat community is also a transitory one as many postholders are on two or three-year fixed term contracts. Even a permanent job doesn't equate to greater security as it's entirely dependant upon maintaining the vital Employment Pass. If you fall out with your boss, suffer a long-term sickness or are daft enough to abuse the police, it can be removed. If it's removed, so are you, no matter how settled you are or how critical the school year. Worse still, if the Employment Pass holder dies, the remaining dependants are given a month to leave the country.
     Such a precarious existance is uncomfortable. You become acutely aware of the need to keep healthy and to follow the rules. Perhaps that's the reason why expats don't tend to jaywalk.

     On a deeper level, being in the minority forces you to confront some national traits, one of which is the Britain class system. From an early age, we are made aware that a person's class, and therefore his rightful place in society, is defined by, amongst other things, accent, education, wealth and family. As we get older, we can also detect if someone has moved between classes, fallen on hard times or has illusions of grandeur. Such behaviour will invite comment and, most likely, condemnation.
     The British class system does not matter a fig if you are jostling for space within a tiny minority. If you try to hold onto it you are likely to become irrelevant or even considered an oddity. In an expat community where everyone is struggling to adapt, you are seldom judged. If you are, it'll be on the basis of how friendly, supportive, generous and open-minded you are. Hence, as a British expat, we  do well to abandon our innate instinct to judge and classify people. New country, new rules.  

     And now for something completely different, Blood and Bandages, the tour.

     Our first outing was to the Imperial War Museum London where we spent the afternoon signing books and chatting to visitors. 

      William and I at the Meet the Author event at IWM-London

William's energy never flagged as he shared his WW2 experiences with overseas visitors

A week later saw us at the War and Peace Revival. 
     We were in the Author's Pavilion alongside writers and celebrities like Rusty Firmin, Professor Andrew Robertshaw and Elaine Everest. The camaraderie was wonderful but what I found most touching was the respect shown to William particularly by ex-army veterans, like Alan Barry, ex-Grenadier Guard and Rusty Firmin ex-SAS Parachute Regiment and Commando RA, whose role in the Iranian Embassy siege was made into the film, 6 Days.

Alan Barry thanking William for the role the 214th Field Ambulance played at Mount Camino, Italy, Nov 1943

     

Rusty and William chatting at the end of a long day

     There were so many memorable moments but one I shall never forget was when William wheeled himself over to meet the other WW2 veterans and greeted them with a heartfelt, "My comrades."

William greets Jeff Haward MM and his fellow WW2 comrades.

But it was not all about chatting. There were books to sell and talks to present.  

Flying solo at the Friday talk on Blood and Bandages

with Penny Legg and William on Saturday

     On the Saturday, it was Jeff Haward's 99th birthday. For a veteran of Dunkirk, El-Alamein and D-Day, the War and Peace team pulled out all the stops. First, a piped band marched into the Pavilion and played a medley of tunes culminating in a rendition of Happy Birthday. 

It was a bit of a shock when they came marching in

Next a birthday cake appeared accompanied by a glamorous 1940s duo who sang a sultry reprise of Happy Birthday. 

     William, never one to ignore a pretty face, nabbed a cuddle on the girl's way out.

At 103 years-old, William has still not lost his eye for a pretty face. Marvellous.

It was a super two days and, God willing, William and I will return next year.
     It has been a very full summer and we loved the three weeks we spent in England catching up with family and friends. The moment we emerged from the Southwick tunnel and saw Shoreham by-Sea glistening below, it felt like home and it was hard to leave. However, there are more exciting times ahead here in Singapore. I have been asked to deliver a screenwriting course to a group of teenagers and I can't wait to get started. However, Blood and Bandages will still keep me busy because I have a series of interviews and a lecture to deliver in the autumn and once I've finished teaching, I'll start on adaptating it for TV or film. How's that for a new challenge?
     Thanks for dropping by and I'll see you again soon.

A week of celebrations

     Well, my resolve to write a fortnightly blog has failed miserably and I apologise for going AWOL. How many times have you heard that?!
     This week is one of celebrations.
     On Saturday 12th May, it was William Earl's 103rd Birthday.
     In case you have not met William before, he is the hero of Blood and Bandages and we became close friends during the seven long years it took to research and write the book.

Happy Birthday dear William.

        William celebrated at home with a glass or two of champagne in the company of his wife Judith, family and friends. I called from Singapore and treated him to my best operatic rendition of Happy Birthday. He listened patiently.  We're looking forward to meeting up again when Richard, Tom and I return home in July. William and I will definately squeeze in a belated birthday trip to our favourite fish and chip shop but then we'll return to the serious business of promoting our book.

We still try to combine play with work while we're at it.  

      God willing, William will join me for a book signing at the Imperial War Museum in London on 20th July and in the Author's Pavilion at the War and Peace Revival in Paddock Wood on 27th-28th July. War and Peace is a huge five day celebration of military history and WW2 lifestyle. Imagine Goodwood Revival with tanks and trenches.
     I went on my own last year.

Me with fellow author, Penny Legg in the Author's Pavilion at War and Peace 2017.

     It was fun and instructive to meet fellow authors like Penny Legg but something is always missing when William's not around. 

We're better as a double-act. 

     Talking of double acts, we've dressed the house in readiness for this Saturday's wedding of Prince Harry to Megan Markle. 

Flying the flag for the pending royal wedding.

     Some of our neighbours are a tad mystified by the sudden appearence of Union Jacks but I cried shy of installing a lifesize image of Harry and Megan. They'd go soggy in the rain.  

     Next time, I'll share some thoughts on life as an expat in Singapore and tell you what I've been getting up to. In the meantime, enjoy this week's celebrations, particularly the residents of Falcon Close in Shoreham-by-Sea, UK. I'll be with you in spirit. 

     Thank you so much for dropping by and see you soon.

Settling into life in Singapore. D-Day plus three months

      We have been in Singapore for exactly three months now and have spent the last two in our new home.

Our new home, a rented bungalow on the former RAF Camp at Seletar

       We took possession half an hour before the container turned up from the docks.

Last time I saw this, it was on Shoreham Beach

       I had mixed feelings when it rolled up and remembered the day it drew into our drive at home. I'd spent most of the previous night packing but the study was still untouched when the removal men arrived. My great friend Mandy and I spent the morning frantically sorting it out whilst the Sante Fe team packed up around us. The Singapore team were in a similar hurry at this end.

Moving in day plus one

     I could understand their haste because we'd learned that from 9.30am onwards the heat gets uncomfortable and just keeps rising until it hits 32-33 degrees. The humidity can reach over 90% so not ideal working conditions. We experienced how exhausting that could be from 29th December to 5th January when we shuttled between our new home and our serviced apartment. Our intention was to unpack and complete all DIY jobs before we moved in on the 5th but intention was no match for the tropical heat and dehydration, no matter how hard we tried.

     In fact, adapting to the weather has been one of the most challenging things we've had to do. 

My new shiny informal look.

     You quickly learn to embrace the discomfort of sweat soaked clothing but if you don't talc your feet blisters can appear within 20 steps. You understand why showers don't come with water heaters. Unlike Richard and Tom, I love the momentary chill when stepping under a cold shower. You yearn for the coolness between 4am - 7am for the moment the sun comes up at 7.15am the heat starts to build. We've started to study the locals and take our cue from them. For instance, we've learned to stand in the shade when waiting for the green man at road crossings. We don't pack cold drinks anymore because condensation forms quickly and soaks everything. We constantly carry an umbrella to protect ourselves from the sun and rain. 

     

Within minutes tropical rain floods our back garden.

     It never rains gently. It comes hard and fast and usually with a heavenly accompaniment of ear splitting thunderclaps and lightening overhead. Our electricity was knocked out by lightening during the storm photographed above. 

       Another thing that we've had to adapt to is our size.  We are like Gulliver in Lilliput and in an island crammed with 5.6 million people our bulk occupies far more than our fair share. 

We're often at least a foot taller than everyone else.

     In some shops the aisle is almost too narrow to turn around, leaving me with the choice of walking backwards or to the end of the aisle and turning around. Forget about sucking in your stomach, some eight-year old girls back home are bigger than women out here. You just have to get used to feeling big and awkward and accept that most shops sell neither shoes nor clothes that fit. To be honest, that is understandable because we are in the minority. 74% of the population are chinese, 13% Malay, 9% Indian and 4% others. That's us, an international hotchpodge of skilled ex-pats and their dependants. 

     Despite being in the minority, the Singaporeans could not be more inclusive, welcoming and generous. They bend over backwards to help and whenever we are asked where we come from, (we're generally thought to be Australian, unfathomable), the response is always, "welcome to Singapore." 

     Our Singaporean neighbours have become close friends and they are trying to educate us in Singaporean culture and language. Food is usually involved because there are two things that this nation loves, food and shopping. 

Richard and I studying the module on Singaporean food.

       The ex-pat community is equally welcoming both here on the camp and in town. There is no waiting period for people to assess you, you are invited simply because you are here and you automatically belong. So far I have joined the yoga and pilates groups here on the camp and attend a weekly museum lecture with ex-pat friends in town. There are lots of one off events like last Sunday, when we went to see an ex-pat friend, Jassy Husk, perform in Gardens by the Bay. She is Australian and I don't sound anything like her. 

Jassy Husk performing in the Flower Dome at Gardens by the Bay.

       Majong, tennis, coffee mornings, volunteering, book and film clubs, night outs are all laid on by the British Association and you chose when you want to join in. 

     There is so much to do, mainly because a fair number of 'trailing spouses' are highly educated, cultured career women who cannot get work permits in Singapore and need something to do. I am one of the lucky ones. I am employed by our company in the UK so can continue to work as a writer wherever I am. In fact, I recently unveiled Blood and Bandages at Tom's school fete and have joined the feature writer's team for the British Association's magazine. Being here frees me up to write much more and I have already started looking for ideas for my next book. 

     Talking of writing, I will also be producing a fortnightly blog from now on so look out for the next post on 19th March when I'll be sharing some more of life as an ex-pat in Asia. 

       Thanks for dropping by and I'll see you on the 19th March. Stay warm.