Well its over half way through january so best try and do some blogging!

Didn’t do much writing on blog last year as busy with lots of nice things, though it was an up and down time. I worked on some new books for various people and lots of talks too. A walk I did for International Womens’ Day in March was enjoyable, talked about suffrgattes etc and met some great women on the walk itself. Weather was rainy but most people stayed the course. we had a glass of bubbly at the end too.

 here we are outside Sheffield town hall at the end of the International  Womens Day walk

One project was a book about the Snake turnpike road. Took part in the Off The Shelf Festival again too which was fun. Two tours I worked on went well and people seemed to enjoy them. One was full of lovely National Trust properties (pictured is Calke Abbey)  and one was visiting lots of beautiful churches, including seeing the fabulous carvings at Melbourne. (below are the wonderful saxon capital carvings there)

Fitted in a few breaks too. Really enjoyed Budapest- stayed near to where Houdini was born.  The architecture and art is exquisite- art nouveau bars, fairytale castle turrets, amazing .

Had a magical time in the Outer Hebrides too. I always feel I could live there but probably would find the reality a bit too harsh in winter.

I sold some more books, including some Randini ones to magicians in USA, so pleased with that. Lately the projects I have been working on have been for Dronfield Hall Barn, a lovely medieval building in Derbyshire.These included three books, one of which was about a quilt making group- it was a joy to do as it gave lots of design scope, with fab pictures. Another lovely old building is Bishops’ House, Sheffield and I have just finished a guide book for them.

also did a few outings with the uke band, one was in winter gardens and one was kelham island museum xmas market.

I am working on some food labels for a company in Finland at the moment which is an interesting new venture. So it was a good year workwise, 2015 and this year is too so far, hopefully lots more to come!

Well another year is here. Good workwise so far. Got plenty of talks booked to keep me busy and some new book design projects in the pipeline. E mail is amazing.. I spent the day doing one job a mile from home and another one in Cleveland Ohio…and all from the same room. Bless those pdfs!
I have done some nice walks in between the rain, for pleasure and for research for talks and tours. Derbyshire is so beautiful and so varied – and what a heritage.  Finding some fab churches and stained glass I had overlooked so far and looking forward to going off to see those.
Having fun playing the ukulele and also seeing some wonderful music…one evening was with City Musique and involving the local carols from villages around here. Another was Gentle Men- a folk music suite about WW1.
I also saw The Illusionists last year. It is a slick magic show. The escapologist Basso from the show has a copy of my Randini book which is great. Basso did the Houdini water torture escape and the upside down straitjacket one too, so nice to know he now knows about his forerunner Randini!

Basso pictured with my book.

Well have not done too many posts have I? intended to do more….but it has been an interesting few months.

After the magic talk in Buxton did more talks on Randolph and some on my other books. It is always good to do talks and meet people as something new often turns up or you find some new information. I met a lady who had the handcuffs Houdini is said to have worn when he did a show at the Sheffield Empire and also some more people who remember Randolph and Hettie with fondness as they used to live in Castleton near the Douglas museum.

Another nice event of the year was taking part in The Off The Shelf Literature Festival again- this time with Dr Dave Clarke- on our book about Sheffield Ghosts – ‘Scared to Death.’ It was a full house and some people came in fancy dress which was fab. We had a nice chat with the White Lady and Spring-Heeled Jack!

I did a lino print day workshop with James Green which was good fun, and the other hobby taking off well is playing my ukulele- we did a few folk club gigs and also a ‘ukulele carol strum’ which 80 people came to, so it was very enjoyable.

I did a lead on a stained glass course again and am busy writing some other tours for Derbyshire. There are such wonderful things around it is hard to narrow them down to fit in a tour. It is an enjoyable pastime on a wet and windy dark December afternoon sending your mind’s eye over all the Derbyshire Delights, whist indulging in a glass of mulled wine! Talk about armchair tourist…but will be out wandering soon doing a few fact finding trips.