Author Archives: janelark

Part one ~ Inspirations behind The Great Western Railway (GWR) Girls ~ People, Places & Pictures

Three of the things that lead me to ideas for books are people, places and pictures. Today, I thought I would tell you about some of the people that inspired the GWR Girls series. 

Most of my books contain elements of a story that someone, somewhere, has lived. That story will be fictionalised, exaggerated and twisted, frequently to a point it barely resembles the real-life story. But the idea is sparked from a true story I have heard or read. Often, more than one story moulds a book, as snippets of people’s life stories merge into a collage that becomes a good plot idea. So, here are three of the life stories in my inspirational collage for this series. But as I say, please remember my characters are not at all representative of these real people, other than the idea was stimulated because of something they said, or something that was written about them. 

Firstly, let me introduce you to, Peggy Thompson, a lady who began working for Swindon’s Great Western Railway factory in 1940. In the late 1980s she recorded her story for Swindon Borough Council to use in the newly created ‘STEAM’ – the Museum of the Great Western Railway. She even met Prince, later King, Charles, when he opened the museum. The Evening Advertiser article on the event is here, which quotes Peggy’s words. I have visited STEAM many times over the years. However, it was only when I began thinking about writing a saga series, that I stopped and listened to Peggy’s story that played in one of the museum’s video stands. Peggy talks about working in the Bomb Gang, as she called it, making 25-pounder bombshells during World War II. There we go, right there. What a great premise for a story about women in WWII. She also shared a cheeky little story about meeting up with her boyfriend for a kiss while they were working and rushing back so they didn’t get into trouble! Such a character incentive.

Image © STEAM Museum of the GWR

Next, there’s a young Jewish teenager in The Great Western Railway Girls. It is important to me to include diverse characters in my stories, to represent more of the breadth of our society. In this series, I particularly wanted to include a Jewish family. I looked up lots of information about the Jewish community in Swindon and discovered that there was no recognisable Jewish community in Swindon until the refugees arrived during in WWII. Then I came across a story about a German, Jewish, teenager who came to England in the Kindertransport. He was one of about one thousand of the older children who were separated out and interned in an ‘Enemy Alien’ camp, either on the Isle Wight or in Cumbria. This was done just in case the teenagers supported the Nazi cause. 

A Swindon family fought with the authorities to free him, and of course, right there is another great back story for characters, for the family who took him in as much as for a teenage character. 

Last of all, I’ll tell you about my grandma. Catherine May Howell, nee Smith. Yes, my character Catherine is named for her. I have the letters that she received from my grandfather during the war years. He was a pilot. She didn’t live in Swindon in the war years but she had lived in Lagos Street in Swindon in the mid 1930s. So, when I moved into Swindon in the 1990s, she shared lots of stories of the town. Including telling me about a butcher that used to serve the nicest faggots. That butcher shop was still there then. I think it was in Market St, or Havelock St. It’s not there now. It’s the family stories that are passed down from her and my other grandparents, that have helped to add the day-to-day picture of life for my girls.

So, that is just a taster, a quick view, of some of the stories of people who helped me come up with the ideas for my characters, because, lots more people have created the collage that makes up my railway girls. Of course, there are a lot more stories to come through in later books in the series.

The pictures at the top of the post are of a letter my grandmother wrote to my grandfather in 1942…

Preorder the first book in The Great Western Railway Girls series here… https://amzn.to/3WoM3ig

Anne Hathaway’s Cottage is another fascinating place…

You can walk from the centre of Stratford on Avon out to Anne Hathaway’s cottage, in what was once the Hamlet of Shottery. It is a nice thing to do if you can, as it makes you realise how far William Shakespeare would have walked to court the woman who was much older than him. He had scarcely finished his schooling days in the guildhall, or perhaps they began their affair when he was still at the school. But he definitely made an effort to meet up with Anne, it was not a casual endeavour, and you can mull over of his potential feelings and intent as you walk. While most of the walk is now through housing estates the cottage itself still feels as though it’s in a village location.

The cottage, Anne’s family home, where she was born and raised until she left when she married William, is preserved in the state it first became a tourist destination in the 18th Century. This home for sheep farmers was originally called Hewlands Farm. Its first phase was built in the 1400s, a simple long hall like dwelling that was leased to farmers by the land owner (very much like the house I live in). Unlike the guildhall in the town, this humble dwelling did not survive with many of its original features. As someone’s home it would have been updated with new fashions, and was extended as ways of living changed over the centuries. However in the 1700s they were far from modern ways of living, which means many very old structures and furniture has survived in situ.

You’ll see on these boards how the cottage changed over time to look as it does now …

What I loved most about the cottage, though, was the stories the guides told, and the best story, was why this property is so well preserved.

When Stratford on Avon became a place of pilgrimage for the famous, wealthy and other literary tourists, as I explained in my blog about why we remember and celebrate William Shakespeare’s birthplace, Anne Hathaway’s descendants had fallen on hard times financially. With these travellers coming to see and touch anything that had anything to do with Shakespeare, they saw on opportunity to earn money from their deceased relative’s good fortune and opened the door of the cottage to tourists. Visitors were told tales about the love affair between Shakespeare and his then future wife Anne.

A letter from Samuel Ireland, the 18th Century author, to his friend John Jordan, explains how Susanna Taylor, nee Hathaway, had sold him the exact chair that Shakespeare had sat in to court Anne. Who knows if that ‘courting chair’ was really in the house at the time of Shakespeare. Perhaps even Susanna didn’t know if that was true or not… There were records in the house that recorded visits from many of the renowned Regency poets too. Lord Byron, Shelley, and great actors like George and David Garrick, spent hours at the cottage, visiting regularly because the setting gave them inspiration. Even though at the time it was still a simple small farm. The family were making so little the house was split into three properties so they could rent the two ends of it to others.

Then came a more wily woman. Mary Baker, Susanna’s great grand-daughter, was definitely what we would call an entrepreneur today.

Mary saw the numbers of people visiting the buildings connected to Shakespeare’s life in the town grow, and in comparison hardly anyone would walk out to Hewlands Farm in Shottery. So she had a genius money spinner of an idea, she renamed the farm Ann Hathaway’s Cottage to make sure people would know the connection. It worked, it brought an increase in visitors. She gave them tours of her home, and told tales of William’s and Anne’s love affair, even talking through where they would have made love before their wedding.

She charged for everything – for her time, to serve tea and a ‘Shakespearean pork-pie’ in the very sport where William would have made love to his Anne, and for people to drink from the well that he would have drunk from. She gave people a gift from the garden too, picking single flowers to give to visitors to keep as a memory or send to others, again supporting the sense of romantic living.

She kept a visitors book, and even Charles Dickens and Mark Twain are recorded as visiting.

Her best story/hustle that I discovered, though, were the pieces of wood she allowed her visitors to chisel off an old oak two seater settle where she claimed William Shakespeare sat beside Anne during they’re courtship. The current managers of the property, The Shakespeare Trust, know that the settle is no where near that old. It was complete nonsense and Mary Baker knew it.

It makes me wonder what other tales she made up to con these gullible visitors. Ha! Ha!

So, what is original to William Shakespeare’s days in the cottage? …

The floor! the flagstones on some of the floors, polished by so many feet, and the door frames Anne and he would have walked through.

As you can tell, this is another place I would definitely recommend you visit if you go to Stratford on Avon.