McEvoy Williams
  • About Me
  • History Stuff
  • The Ceramic Cottage
  • Paul's Blog
  • Nostalgia...
  • Books Blog
  • STORIES

A Creepy photo from 1965 (and a look at the ageing process!)

22/11/2015

 
Picture
So what's this bizarre picture all about?
It was taken at the end of August 1965. A party was being held in the church hall of Our Lady of Good Counsel, Stoke Newington, to mark my sister's departure to be a nun and I would also soon be going to school in Bournemouth. My friends and I were fourteen so sat together because everyone else was older than us. The cleric in the middle was Fr John Mills, the Catholic Parish Priest. Immediately behind Fr Mills is Ernie Smart, the local boy molester. My three friends here were (from left to right) Les Leszczynski, Tony Oliva and Derek Franklin. My Dad is pouring the drink, looking as though he is thinking about what it's all costing him. I think I'm in the picture behind Derek but you can't really see me.

Fast forward to 2012 and Les, Tony and me are together (among others) in a photo again, this time in Buckhurst Hill. Les is second from left, Tony in the middle (in the dark shirt) and me on the right of those standing. (Les's wife, Lykke, is the furthest left of the seated women.) As you can see, we are all as slim as in 1965.  

Picture

Problems of a polite novelist...

5/11/2015

0 Comments

 
Picture
Well, The Ceramic Cottage will finally be available for purchase on Amazon Kindle on 3rd November. (Price £1.99/US$2.99) A paper version will follow in due course, though I've yet to decide the route to take on that.
  One of the biggest problems for me has not been the plot or the writing: they came, if not easily, at least naturally. No, my worry has more to do with giving offence. A character's views, or in this case several characters' views, are not necessarily those of the writer, indeed that would be difficult when the characters have opposing standpoints. Nevertheless, I suspect some readers are more likely to home in on the  opinions of those with whom they disagree.
  Of course, it is easy for a writer to be disingenuous about balancing different standpoints. Those with one view can be depicted as bigoted fools while those who reflect the writer's view are all heroes or heroines. This is particularly evident where an author is pushing an ideology, and I have read several novels where this is the case. Unfortunately there are no heroes or heroines in this novel, as they reflect my own circle of friends and myself. That's why most of my characters are insecure twits, albeit ones who have their moments of charm when not being totally irritating. The only hero here is the ceramic cottage itself, the only ideology a warning about accepting received opinion from any direction.

 
 
     

0 Comments

    Author

    Paul Williams's (McEvoy Williams) Blog.  General stuff about History, Literature, family and Ipswich.

    Archives

    July 2018
    April 2018
    January 2018
    November 2017
    October 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    February 2017
    November 2016
    October 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly