Eventispress has made my second novel:
ANCASTA GUIDE ME SWIFTLY HOME
FROM 12TH TO 16TH NOVEMBER
The novel is a family saga set in Woolston, Southampton between 1910 and 1920, taking each member of the family through The Great War.
For more information:
CELEBRATING AUTHOR DIANA JACKSON’S WORK WITH A GIVEAWAY
THINKING OF ARMISTICE DAY ~ 11th hour, 11th day, 11th month.
Isn’t it heart warming looking at photos of parents when they were young or when they were married!
Following on with my series of blog posts on my family history and how it has influenced my writing, we have reached Mum and Dad.
They were both brought up in the Southampton area and were married at Weston Road Church, Woolston. As a family we made regular visits to see Grandma Green there while growing up, and so the whole area was extremely familiar to me. Being a family of walkers, you get to know a place far better that way. Thus, it wasn’t difficult to make it the main setting for my second novel Ancasta ~ Guide me Swiftly Home.
Over the years my parents have shared many memories of their childhood and adolescent days and I’m sure all of this has coloured my writing too.
Arthur Jackson (my dad) didn’t work at Supermarine, like his father (Arthur Walter Jackson) and sister. He joined the RAF right at the end of WW2, but he did remember seeing the prototype Spitfire fly overhead, before he was evacuated to Bournemouth.
Mum and Dad also shared my Great Grandmother Harriet’s love of dancing and, legend has it, that she could turn on a sixpence.
On this trip here, we shared my parents’ last voyage on their favourite P&O ship the Oriana, chosen because it had a good dance floor; our last port of call was (fittingly) Guernsey.
Here are Mum and Dad on deck waving their flags, just as we passed Sark and Herm, two of the smaller Channel Islands.
…and so The Channel Islands, particularly Guernsey and Alderney are in my blood and my family heritage and childhood memories are also of holidays in Wooston, Southampton.
As it happens, when I began writing the first draft of Riduna, my parents decided that they would have a go at writing too. There’s was a sort of prequel to Riduna, set at the time of Elizabeth Quesnel and John Taylor.
I started working on their little book with Dad when they were both showing signs of dementia. He had been frustrated that he couldn’t write conversation. In the end he did not have the patience anymore to focus on it and so, since they passed away, I have spent some time working on their story. It is now at proof readers, but then I hope to work with someone from Alderney Museum to check it for historical authenticity. I won’t say accuracy because, although inspired by our family history, it remains fiction. I’ll keep you posted.
Filed under Ancasta, Channel Islands, Family History, Inspiration, Southampton, Supermarine, Woolston
My grandpa Arthur Jackson was born on 30th November 1896 on the island of Guernsey.
Here he is on the 1901 Guernsey census at the age of four, just before the family moved to Wooston Southampton.
The reason for the move was that work had literally dried up for his father, who was a painter of gold leaf at the various military establishments on Guernsey, because by this time the buildings were complete.
Arthur Walter married Daisy Colmer in Woolston 1925.
I remember Grandpa singing ‘Daisy Daisy’ many times when I was growing up.
Here’s Nat King Cole’s version. What memories it evokes hearing in sung once more!
Below is the family tree Dad drew up, with Grandpa and Grandma Jackson at its heart.
Grandpa was in the Navy during WW1 and visited Port Said once, where his brother was in hospital and subsequently died. He was later in the Battle of Jutland.
He worked at Supermarine in Southampton after WW1 in the drawing office/ library, where he looked after all of the drawings and worked alongside RJ Mitchel.
A family story goes that Grandpa was walking home for lunch during WW2 and his friend pushed him to the ground just as Supermarine was bombed. If he hadn’t been saved, then I wouldn’t be here now.
Another story was the everything was recycled and reused in those days. The drawings of prototypes of aeroplanes (eg the Spitfire) were drawn on starched linen. Grandpa used to rescue those thrown in the bin, take them home and Grandma J washed them. I’m told that our mum then used them for my sister Christine as nappies!
This is how I remember Grandma and Grandpa Jackson, living at Whilestone Way, Swindon, where they settled after the war with the move of Supermarine after it was bombed.
It is the story of the birth of Supermarine that I tell in my second novel, Ancasta, Guide me Swiftly Home, the sequel to Riduna.
Filed under Author Diana Jackson, Early Flight, Family History, Southampton, Supermarine, Woolston
MISSING Past and Present
Diana Jackson 