February is one of those months: dry- January is over, February is promising longer days, but it’s still winter. So time for a night out.

The Moor is coming up at the  Old Red Lion Theatre. So first a drink at the bar, then the play.

418 St John Street, London EC1V 4NJ

Jill McAusland (Call the Midwife, BBC1…), Oliver Britten (Walrus…) and Jonny Magnanti (Three Winters…)will form the cast for the world premiere of Catherine Lucie’s The Moor, a tense psychological thriller set in a place where nothing is as it seems.

Bronagh has lived at the heart of the moor for as long as she can remember, but recently she has started having the same troubling dream. Are the voices trying to tell her something? When a boy vanishes, Bronagh has to tell someone what she suspects, entangling herself and her boyfriend in a murder investigation.

The Moor pits Bronagh against her own past and present, dragging her, her baby daughter and those closest to them into something deeper than the marsh on the moor.

In a play that presents a meaty female character who is emotionally and intelligently charged, playwright Catherine Lucie explores what people are capable of when isolated and under pressure.

Director Blythe Stewart comments, I am delighted to be bringing Catherine Lucie’s thrilling and unnerving play to life – it’s an ambitious and bold work. At the heart of this play is a woman trying to make a difference in her life. I’m thrilled people will have the chance to see more than just a ‘strong female character’. Bronagh is nuanced: acute, reserved, ordinary, distinct, and changeable, and her fight is for herself. We are passionate about making work that gives a space for people usually on the edge of society and of our stories.

The Moor: Performance Dates  Tuesday 6th February – Saturday 3rd March 2018 Tuesday – Saturday, 7:30pm Saturday – Sunday, 3pm

Twitter @ORLTheatre, @riveproductions, #TheMoor

Box Office Old Red Lion Theatre Box Office and www.oldredliontheatre.co.uk or 0844 412 4307.

Tickets £18 (£14 concessions). Preview tickets are available at £12.

Don’t judge a book by its cover—good advice maybe, but, as authors, we experience this unfair and superficial adjudication of our grandes oeuvres every minute of every day.  Whether potential readers are flicking through books in the local bookstore, or library, or scrolling down hundreds of thumbnail-sized cover images on Amazon, the book cover has a far greater influence on buying decisions than we would wish.

So the cover has to be compelling, even when viewed as a myopia-challenging image on an i-phone screen. A good cover design can catch the eye, at least long enough for the viewer to flick to the blurb, but a competition award sticker can bestow instant credibility.  When anyone with a computer can publish—independent endorsement is invaluable. See the unadorned jacket below, and how much more eye-catching the post-award version is.

As a doctor and ex-breast cancer patient, my book guides fellow-sufferers through diagnosis, treatment, and life beyond cancer. However sometimes I struggle to convey to people how much the book can help them. Due to its genre, it is hardly an impulse buy, and a promotion doesn’t usually trigger a scrum in Waterstones, in the same way that a holiday read may.

So when I heard about the Words for the Wounded Book Competition I decided to enter.

I was aware that Words for the Wounded is a very special charity, started and administered by three ‘writing grannies’, including the Margaret Graham – best-selling author with Random House. Raising money by literary-based activities, their charity finds practical ways to help service personnel who have been damaged by war—either physically or through post-traumatic stress syndrome. I was pleased to support such a good cause, whilst taking the opportunity to have my book assessed by experienced literary professionals, in this case, Felicity Trew, of the Caroline Sheldon Literary Agency.

I was astounded and thrilled when my book won first place. Besides my pride that it had been judged best out of hundreds of entries, the new award sticker on my book cover and updated book description, together with social media announcements, resulted in a pleasant upturn in sales statistics.

Fired by my success I entered the same book for the ‘Janey Loves …’ (Radio 2’s Jayney Lee Grace) Platinum awards, and once again won. My book now has two award stickers of which I am very proud.

So, yes, if you believe in your book, enter book competitions – they really help.

Talking of which … The Words for the Wounded Competition is currently taking entries for The Georgina Hawtrey-Woore Award for independent authors in 4 categories: Fiction, Non-Fiction, Fiction for young adults, & Picture Books for Children. See  http://www.wordsforthewounded.co.uk for details.

The charity is also hosting a Lit Fest (details available on the same link) on 21^st April, which is an excellent day of talks for writers and literary enthusiasts alike, held in High Wycombe, just thirty minutes from London. Consider treating yourself – you will not regret it.

And if you are interested in my book …

From Both Ends of the Stethoscope – Getting Through Breast Cancer by a Doctor Who Knows – please feel free to buy a copy http://amzn.to/20Y09pK

www.wordsforthewounded.co.uk

Playing with Fire by Paul Heiney

I was going to call this a quirky book, and then stopped myself.

Perhaps it’s a sign of the times, what with central heating, and small gardens, that a book that explores the art of chopping and burning wood is considered any such thing.

Paul Heiney, the author,  reminds us of the Zen proverb:

Before enlightenment, chop wood, carry water.

After enlightenment, chop wood, carry water.

Indeed.

Playing with Fire is actually a fascinating history of wood, and fires, and an illustration of the magic of fire and flame. It is a hands on exploration of the care of woodland, the most suitable woods for burning, and the tinder for getting things going in the first place. And once the tinder is lit, how best to make the fire draw – inside the house, and out. It is a wood lover’s book, or for someone who wants at least one foot in the real world, and to smell the woodsmoke, and watch woodland flourish – the illustrations are superb.

Being of a certain age, I thought it the simplest thing to make a fire burn, having been taught by Mum and Dad. Clean out the fireplace, put the ash on the garden, and lay the fire again. And how best to make it draw, and then moving on from the open fireplace to the wood burner, and how to manage that. Though aren’t those soon to be politically incorrect. There are so many things added to the list now, one loses count.

And how to build a bonfire, and even put some spuds in the ash to eat when the day is done. Probably outlawed too.

I happened to hear of a friend who didn’t know how to get her log burner to work. First a bit of paper, then throw on a log. Er, no. She needs this book.

But actually we all need books like this. Wonderfully illustrated and written with love – about one of our most precious and sustainable commodities. Trees have leaves that produce oxygen. Careful husbanding of woodland not only provides a better environment, but heat. There’s a synchronicity

Read this. It is wholesome, healing, evocative, and fascinating. A gem.

Playing with Fire – The art of chopping and burning wood by Paul Heiney.

Pub The History Press hb £20

‘With brains, heart and guts it still hits home’

I ventured to trendy North London to watch an iconic play about gritty East London. Something ironic in that.

East arrived in 1975, from the Edinburgh Festival premiere, transferring to The King’s Head and launching Steven Berkoff’s raucous style. This revival shouldn’t work. Theatre – and audiences – should have moved on. But it – and we – haven’t. I wanted to write about the play’s unworthiness in the modern age, how it has dated and seems lacklustre. So out of touch. But the play still shocks, no-holds-barred; it is funny as some things never change; it is tragically brutal in a way that smacks so many new plays across the jaw and shouts into their faces ‘Wake up! Do your bloody job! Say something worthy…’

Director Jessica Lazar has assembled an amazing cast, who throw themselves into the style. Physical theatre is not everyone’s cup of tea, mime makes many run for the hills – but this is for adults, it is not cutesy. It sidles in alongside the prose: Berkoff’s quasi-Shakespearean text testing the audience, stretching plausibility as East End thugs and lovers fight verbally and physically in battle.

Boadicea Ricketts – (c) Alex Brenner @ King’s Head

I think the star of the show is debutant Boadicea Ricketts, playing an angry, sleazy and sexy Sylv. She shines and shows no fear. Aided by Jack Condon, another making a professional debut, as Les.

Jack Condon – (c) Alex Brenner @ King’s Head

Condon’s presence is assured and confident. Throwing himself around the stage with ease – it is somewhere he belongs. His counterpoint is James Craze, playing Mike.

(c) Alex Brenner @ King’s Head

Together, they live the best life can give them, albeit tough and frustrating. The parents are no better – exaggerating about their own youth, constantly comparing and bigging themselves up into more grotesque creatures than their offspring. Debra Penny and Russell Barnett play Mum and Dad – always on the verge of murder or enlightenment, neither of which arrives. Instead, they dream.

Debra Penny and Russell Barnett (c) Alex Brenner @ King’s Head

There is live piano accompaniment courtesy of Carol Arnopp, supplying a Cockney pub atmosphere as well as a soundtrack to the story.

What’s not to like? Well, the dancing’s a bit fuzzy and could be neater. At times, there is roaring where a whisper would suffice, but this is in-yer-face theatre. The East London that Berkoff knew may have changed – it’s probably trendier than the North of London now – but the memories linger and their relevance still reverberates. With brains, heart and guts it still hits home.

Paul Vates.

Producers     Atticist

Photography Alex Brenner

Design           David Doyle

Venue           The King’s Head Theatre, 115 Upper Street, Islington, London N1 1QN

Performing    until February 3rd 2018

Tuesday to Saturday at 7pm (no performances on Mondays)

Sunday Matinees at 3pm

(additional Matinee on Saturday February 3rd at 3pm)

Length           2 hours, plus an interval

Box Office     website www.kingsheadtheatre.com and telephone 020 7226 8561

Tickets          £19.50 (concessions £15/£18)

Premium are available priced at £25

Twitter                      @theAtticist, @KingsHeadThtr, #BerkoffEast

Words for the Wounded is run by three grannies, all writers and reviewers, all conscious that we need to help our unwell and disabled veterans. So what better way than by creating opportunities for aspiring writers, something of great importance to all three grannies..

This is why they launched their International Words for the Wounded Award five years ago. It has proved, with help from Frost Magazine, to be one of the most popular Awards ‘on the block’. This is because Frost Magazine sponsors the Award by providing publicity and opportunity to the winning authors of this self-published competition.

Not only do the two winners of all four categories receive a review and biography published in the magazine, they are offered the opportunity of writing A Day in the Life for Frost which will further bring them to the notice of all the readers out there.

This year  WforW have re-named the award  in honour of the founder’s editor, Georgina Hawtrey-Woore, who so sadly died last year. Founder Margaret Graham adored Georgina who was an editor supreme. Not only the doyen of Saga writers but someone who understood writers and their work.

So, here we have it:

Words for the Wounded’s Georgina Hawtrey-Woore Award for self-published authors
(physical, pdf of paperback and hardback and e-book accepted) and it  is now open for entries. It closes on 11th
March and winners will be announced on 6th June 2018. Cost of entry is £12.50.

Previous winners have been taken by literary agents, or gone on to review books for Frost Magazine,or to win other awards, all of which raises their profile, and improves sales.

WforW have altered the make up of the Award too, and have four categories this year. Fiction, Non-Fiction, Young Adults
and finally – Children’s Picture book.

The two winners in each category will receive a review and profile in Frost Magazine, and the opportunity to write A Day in the Life for the magazine at a time of their choice.

There will be commended and highly commended.

Do remember that Words for the Wounded raises money for physically and emotionally wounded veterans, and every penny raised goes to this endeavour,as the three grannies absorb all the expenses of the charity.

Milly Adams, bestselling Arrow author will head the team of judges.

Please go to www.wordsforthewounded.co.uk for details of the charity and The Georgina Hawtrey-Woore Award.

And a  reminder that the WforW LitFest takes place on April 21st at The Community Hall at Downley, It is a Hall which is  central to the arts of the area,

Details are available on www.wordsforthewounded.co.uk

How come? The White Rose Book Café have arranged for Ann be at The Old Courthouse, Rural Arts, Thirsk, YO7 1QS on 30^th January. What a treat.

The doors open at 6.30 and the evening starts at 7 pm not 7.30 as previous stated.

Frost Magazine loves and adores Ann Cleeves’ unique detective DCI Vera Stanhope and another series has started on our TV screens this week.

As a North Country girl myself, the whole series resonates for me, but so it does for people who have never set foot north of London. Starring Brenda Blethyn at whose feet I have worshipped ever since I saw her in the magical series Outside Edge, the first episode of the 8th series was on 7^th January on ITV called Blood and Bone. Totally up to scratch it was mesmerising. But then with the combination of the cast, and Ann Cleeves, how could it not be.

I have no intention of telling you the plot, because you have recorded it, if you weren’t around to actually watch it. And it’s also on catch-up, so go on, enjoy yourselves.

But don’t restrict yourselves to the screen, Ann Cleeves latest mystery is now published simultaneously in the US (by Pan MacMillan) and in the US (by Minotaur Books). Written with her usual elan, Cleeves takes Vera Stanhope on a visit to her local prison, wherein resides an old enemy: former detective superintendent, and now inmate, John Brace.

Brace was a close friend of Hector, her father; then he was convicted of corruption and involvement in the death of a gamekeeper – and Vera played a part in his downfall. Brace promises Vera a deal: information about the disappearance of Robbie Marshall, a notorious wheeler-dealer, if she will look out for his daughter and grandchildren.

He tells her that Marshall is dead, his body is buried close to St Mary’s Island in Whitley Bay. However, when a search team investigates, officers find not one skeleton, but two…

The White Rose Book Café have arranged for Ann Cleeves to tell us more of her life and ‘whodunnits’ on 30^th January at The Old Courthouse, Rural Arts, Thirsk, YO7 1QS.

The doors open at 6.30 and the evening starts at 7 pm not 7.30 as previous stated.

Ticket tickets are £10 but going fast, which is hardly surprising as this crime writer is the recipient of the Crime Writers’ Association Diamond Dagger Award, the highest honour in British crime writing.

This is not a chance to be missed.

The price includes a copy of The Seagull. (ask Ann if she will sign it, eh?)

Contact White Rose Book Café for tickets. Tel 01845 524353

Research by Ultra Chloraseptic, the anaesthetic throat spray which relieves pain in seconds, reveals that sore throats have a big impact on our work, social and family lives.

I should say so.

Having felt very sorry for myself over the last week, the only thing that actually helped, and helps, is an anaesthetic throat spray and so I’m all for this product.

Cough cough, sneeze sneeze.

Apparently I’m not alone, because a survey of 1,000 people aged 18 to 65 found that nearly half said the pain of a sore throat felt like they were swallowing razor blades. More than a third said they felt something scratchy at the back of their throat, a quarter said they had no energy and more than one in five said it felt like their throat was wrapped in barbed wire.

The new research by Ultra Chloraseptic reported how throat sprays could be a useful aid in treatment.

Mr Alasdair Mace, an ear, nose and throat surgeon says consumers are right to be concerned. He says: “Most cold germs are breathed in, so the first battle-front for our immune system is often the mucosal tissue lining our throat. Although sore throats are a relatively minor problem, and will eventually clear of their own accord, these infections cause considerable discomfort. Healthcare professionals should not dismiss the importance of fast symptom relief that targets the sore throat directly.”

GP Dr Paul Stillman explains: “Ultra Chloraseptic is an anaesthetic throat spray using the fast-acting ingredient, benzocaine, creating targeted pain relief within seconds, and helping to relieve discomfort when swallowing. Benzocaine works by blocking sodium and potassium from entering nerve cells and activating the pain pathway. As it is rapidly absorbed by mucosal membranes in the throat — the tissues which become painful and inflamed when we have a sore throat — benzocaine provides almost instant pain relief. However, absorption beyond the mucosal membranes is poor, so hardly any benzocaine reaches the bloodstream so overdosing is not an issue.

“Unlike many anaesthetic throat lozenges, which also numb the mouth, this spray provides targeted relief. It is also sugar-free — an important consideration for anyone with diabetes or those minimising sugar intake for general good health and in line with recent guidance that we should halve our intakes.”

Of course, tea and sympathy also has its place, but perhaps cold and easy to eat foods such as ice cream (forget the diet) jelly or why not  slurp some soup. Leave the spicy foods for another time.

As for work, most of us feel we must stiffen that upper lip and carry on, but best not to get too close to chums or colleagues. You will not be thanked for causing the whole department to be sent home sick.

Remember you can also gargle with warm salty water, but keep the throat spray with you at all times. Have a quick squirt when things get tough, and then you can keep going.

Children over 6 will be fine with it..