I
lived in Bletchley Park for three years. NO, I was not a spy and my
mathematical ability could not break even the most simple of codes. From
September 1971 to July 1974 I attended teacher training college, a satellite
establishment within Oxford University’s Delegacy for Education. The park still
had semi-secret areas housing the Diplomatic Wireless Service into which we
students were not allowed. It’s wartime activities as Churchill’s Ultra Secret
were still classified. I believe that even today there are happenings from
World War Two which remain covered by The Official Secrets Act.
Bletchley
Park creeps into many areas of my writing including THE MURDER TREE and my
present project MY KA IN A BRAVE NEW WORLD.
I
was accepted as an author to join the Amazon Team in 2016 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BILLYHARDCASTLE was one of my early works accepted by Amazon. Published on 28th
February 2017 it is available in e-back format at £1.99 and in paperback at
£3,99. Bletchley Park is right at its centre.
Here
is a photograph of the area of Bletchley Park which was at the centre of my
life there in
those early days of the 1970’s. No I wasn’t a spy. Sometimes I
smile and say that my Dad was !He had
some slight connection with the park then ended up as an RAF signaller in Palestine
at the time the state of Israel was being founded.
Billy
Hardcastle who is fiction, at least as I tell his story, is part of Bletchley Park’s
secret that has never been told. To his family he was always known as ENIGMA
GRANDDAD, when he passed on he left a diary which blows wide open his enigma.
Much
to the frustration of Amazon I have never tried to promote my writing. My Dad
was always telling me I needed to make money from my writing but money is not
something I am all that bothered about. The few pennies I do make from my
writing I use to help the SIMILE project which each month send SMILE cards to
families with a child sick in hospital, families, children and staff in eleven
different locations around the world.
Like I say I do not worry about money but
I guess I spend about £250 a month helping people
to SMILE. Amazon’s top one
hundred selling writers earn round about £250,000 a month in bonuses alone.
With royalties they probably bank around half a million. I am not one of Amazon’s
top one hundred authors, I am at number one hundred in its bottom one hundred
writers ! I have decided I am going to TRY to promote my books with a DAILY
READ so, while not making six million a year, earning just a few bob more to help
people SMILE.
What has L S Lowy got to do with Bletchley Park ? He is my favourite
artist and so I just have
to bring him into Bletchley Park and Billy Hardcastle’s
Diary. In the summer house at the bottom of my garden there hangs a print of
one of his works. Although I do not use it very much for the reason I built it
the summer house was intended to be my writing den and as I was working on
Billy Hardcastle’s Diary at the time I just had to have L S Lowry there with me.
It is no secret that I am not a fan of present-day Bletchley Park
which has become a stuffy old museum. It will cost you £24.50 to
visit the museum ! It will only cost you
£1.99 or £3.99 to buy Billy Hardcastle’s Diary and help families around the
world who have a child sick in hospital to SMILE.
Wales
is a beautiful land but that beauty is not merely to be found within its
mountains, valleys and lakes as we saw with His Majesty King Charles III and
Queen Consort visiting Wales is a land of beautiful people.
Watching
the service in Llandaff Cathedral I found myself singing the National Anthem of
Wales along with those in the Cathedral. I was singing in Welsh !
Mae hen wlad fy nhadau yn
annwyl i mi,
Gwlad beirdd a chantorion, enwogion o fri;
Ei gwrol ryfelwyr, gwladgarwyr tra mâd,
Tros ryddid gollasant eu gwaed.
Hen Gymru fynyddig, paradwys
y bardd;
Pob dyffryn, pob clogwyn, i'm golwg sydd hardd,
Trwy deimlad gwladgarol, mor swynol yw si,
Ei nentydd, afonydd, i mi.
Gwlad, Gwlad, pleidiol wyf
i'm gwlad, Tra môr yn fur i'r bur hoff
bau, O bydded i'r heniaith barhau.
Os treisiodd y gelyn fy
ngwlad dan ei droed,
Mae hen iaith y Cymry mor fyw ag erioed,
Ni luddiwyd yr awen gan erchyll law brad,
Na thelyn berseiniol fy ngwlad.
Gwlad, Gwlad, pleidiol wyf i'm gwlad, Tra môr yn fur i'r bur hoff
bau, O bydded i'r heniaith barhau.
When
I was nine years old, attending Junior School, our class was taught the anthem.
I do not
remember why but I remember every word all these years later.The deputy headmaster was so impressed he
took the school’s now ancient but then state of the art wheel to wheel tape
record to preserve our singing.
I
am listening to this wonderful anthem on YouTube as I write these words and
tears are filling my eyes. Tears celebrating my memory and tear honouring the
time His Majesty has spent today in this special place.
I
would have been nine years old when I learned to sing Mae
hen wlad fy nhadau yn annwyl i mi, seven years into the reign of Queen
Elizabeth II. Seven years, one tenth of her glorious reign.
But
the music from Llandaff and the memories it generated for me did not stop
there.
Leaving
junior school I attended Boldmere High School for Boys in The Royal Borough of
Sutton Coldfield. It’s royal charter had been granted by King Henry VIII. I did
not like school, that is an understatement ! However, every morning school
started with assembly which was a bit of fun. Never mind the headmaster’s
announcements and nobody ever listened to the scripture reading but we all
loved singing the two morning hymns. On joining the school every boy was issued
with a hymn book but very soon they were merely a side line as every boy knew
every word of every hymn.
At
the front of the assembly hall was a board upon which the two morning hymns
were displayed. When the number 508 appeared there was always and air of
excitement as we teenagers entered the hall.
Five-O-Eight.
Officially Cwm Rhondda but we loved it as 508.
Guide
me, O though great Jehovah,
Pilgrim
through this barren land;
I
am weak, but though are mighty,
hold
me with your powerful hand.
Bread
of Heaven, bread of Heaven,
Feed
me now and evermore,
feed
me now and evermore.
Open
now the crystal fountain,
Where
the healing stream doth flow.
Let
the fire and cloudy pillar
lead
me all my journey through,
Strong
Deliverer, strong Deliverer,
ever
be my strength and shield,
ever
be my strength and shield.
When
I tread the verge of Jordan,
Bid
my anxious fears subside.
Death
of death, and hell’s destruction,
land
me safe on Canaan’s side,
Songs
pf praises, songs of praises
I
will ever give to thee,
I
will ever give to thee.
It
was joked, a joke is half of the truth is it not, that only the Welsh and
Boldmere High School For Boys in The Royal Borough of Sutton Coldfield could
sing Guide me O though Great Jehovah properly. My old school closed years ago
but as we saw in Llandaff Cathedral now only the Welsh can sing this hymn.
We
are witnessing something the like of which has never before happened anywhere
in the world. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland together
with the Commonwealth having the arms of the world wrapped around it is celebrating
the live of Queen Elizabeth. There is sadness but celebration is its way of
mourning.
The
queue to pass by Her Majesty laying in state it is said can be seen from space,
so long it is. Thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands are passing
by. All generations, backgrounds and beliefs are lining up for anything approaching
twenty-four hours to pay their respects. It is a queue of happiness, celebration,
friendship and dignity.
That
laying in state saw Her Majesty’s children honour their mother and tomorrow it
will be the turn of her grandchildren to do the same. I
I
have not made the journey to London to be part of this celebration. I am simply
not well enough to undertake the task. I am no friend of the BBC but I have to
praise not only its high standard of coverage but also the twenty-four hour
non-stop coverage of the laying instate.
Our
nation has come together in such strength and unity. Queen Elizabeth II, I hope
she goes down in history as Queen Elizabeth the Great.
Back
to the 1950’s and my time at Junior School. Every week we little kids took
either a one shilling coin (5p) or half a crown (12 ½ p) to school to buy a
Post Office saving stamp. The shilling stamp had the picture of Princess Anne
on it and the half crown had the picture of Prince Charles. We stuck these stamps
into a special savings book which when full were exchanged for saving
certificates. Through these stamps we learned of these royal children and their
roles in our country.
King
Charles and Princess Anne are older than me. The Queen Consort is older than both.
I have said how, as an old man, I simply do not have the strength to queue for
a day in order to pass through Westminster Hall. This task, however, is small
beside the physical side of everything this royal trio are currently undertaking.
Beyond
the physical side of their duties just look at the way they and all members of
our Royal Family are carrying out such. Up close and personal !After seventy years of service the death of
Her Majesty has brought an era to an end. But just look at the special times we
are now witnessing being born in the reign of our New King.
Yes
it is a once popular make of car – spelt C-A-R but the Ford Motor Company
within its marketing strategy failed to explain its meaning. The meaning of KA - K-A.
KA
is a word from Ancient Egypt which means SPIRIT. Each and every one of us has within our
existence such a spirit which is part of our waking life. When the body is
asleep the Ka does not slumber but moves to partake in adventures on the astral
plane. These adventures we know of as dreams. If we are placed into an
artificial deep sleep, as in a medical operation, the Ka again moves to take up
temporary residence on the astral plane. When a person dies their body ends its
life but not so the Ka which moves to take up permanent residence on the astral
plane.
So
now you know what a Ka is.
Dennis
Wheatley, famed for his books The Devil Rides Out and To The Devil a Daughter
also wrote a gripping tale the Ka of Giffard Hillary.
Have
you checked out my Write-In where I am doing my little bit using my books to
support children who are sick in Milton Keynes Hospital, o send love to their
families and thank our NHS staff who are caring for them ?CHECK IT OUT.
My
book THE HANGMN’S GRANDSON, which actually is my 120th book on my
Amazon Bookshelf, began the Write-In. I am now about to begin work on MY KA IN
A BRAVE NEW WORLD.
This
is an idea I have had for a little while. Here’s the introduction:
Where am I ?My mind asked itself the
obvious question but with no clues to help it with the enquiry it added a
second subject on which to ponder: When
am I ?
Time and place were not enabling comprehension so within this
enigmatic apparent dream a third thought suggested itself, perhaps its
resolution would bring the three elements into a single place and shine a light
into their darkness. But there was no darkness, not a physical darkness anyway.
That third area of consideration for my thinking was: Who am I ?
We ? Us ? Plural but the
stranger welcoming me was alone. Who was her ? Another question seeking an
answer.
Where was I ?When was I
?Who was I ?
“We are so pleased you are able to join us.”
I used my mind’s question
around which to respond to the welcome. “I am pleased to be here,” I lied,
“butwhere exactly am I ?”
“It is more of a case of when rather than where.”
We
have recently experienced the highest temperatures ever in England. Across the
world there have been wild fires and flooding. CLIMATE CHANGE. How long has our
planet left to live ?
I
grew up in the Cold War when it was not a case of if there is World War Three
and nuclear
annihilation but when will it happen ? I shed a tear when the Berlin
Wall came down and regarded Mikhail
Gorbachev who recently died as a hero of humanity. I wonder what his Ka
is doing right now. We may have been spared nuclear annihilation in the Cold War
but what Vladimir Putin is doing here and now is far from cold, will he press
the atomic button ?
Actually
we are in World War Three already. It is not a traditional war with traditional
weapons but one where technology is destroying the mentality of the human race.
So
with the extinction of our planet an assured event when will that happen in the
future and how will it come about ?
In
this story MY KA IN A BRAVE NEW WORLD the central character’s spirit, I am
writing in the first person, is invited into the post apolitical world to help
it tiny population understand what happened and decide if there is any way to
undo the folly of history.
It
took me twenty-three days to write THE HANGMN’S GRANDSON. Let’s see how long
this new Write-In project will take.
I
am not the first Ashford to be a writer. My ancestor Daisy Ashford was born on Tuesday
7th April 1881. She left us on Saturday 15th January 1972.
Following on from my blog post PAPERBACK WRITER let me tell you of something I have been working on across the month of August which will soon be finished and be my first work within Dave's Wrtite In
Daisy was an English writer
who is most famous for writing The Young
Visiters, a novella concerning the upper class society of late 19th century
England, when she was just nine years old. The novella was published in 1919,
preserving her juvenile spelling and punctuation.
When I was writing my book THE BRIDGE HOUSE between 2016 and 2018
I felt I had Daisy looking over my shoulder.
The Bridge House is a love story spanning
ninety years beginning in the year of the death of Queen Victoria. The two
central characters come from working class and landed gentry but love has no
recognition of class as existed in the late Victorian and Edwardian ages.
Daisy later wrote a book The Hangman’s Daughter which she claimed was her best work. I found
a copy on e-bay and splashed out a few pounds to
add it to my collection of
family items. I never did get round to reading it and now as I am working in my current prohect I am deliberately not opening its cover.
Over many years I have studied cases where
lives were ended with the hangman’s rope. I am old enough to remember when
capital punishment was in use in our country. I met someone my father knew who
was a high court judge, it was he who had pronounced the death sentence on many
a convicted murderer, including John Reginald Christie the 10 Rillington Place
killer. I discuss the rights and wrongs of capital punishment in my bookBEHIND THE NOOSE OR KNOT.(It features in my collection THE ENID FACTOR)Daisy is now tapping me on the shoulder
telling me to write a book drawing from her title.
On Thursday 11th August I began writing my own story THE HANGMAN'S GRANDSON. On that first day I tapped out 463 words, At the start of today, Tuesday 30th August 2022 the word total stands at 38,799 words. Another two or three days and I will be submitting it to Amazon for publication. It will then become the first in my Dave's Write In project supporting children who are sick in hospital, sending love to their
families and thanking our NHS staff who are caring for them.
When it is published will you read my story ? It's a slightly eccentric time travel adventure, I am not sure that adventure is the right word, taking people out of celebrated criminal cases and turning them into real people.
As a teenager I was not a great fan of the Beatles. I went to an all-boys school, it was the girls who screamed and pulled their hair out at the Fab Four, for we lads that was not cool.
I
was fifteen years old when The Beatles had a hit with Paperback Writer. At the
age of fifteen that song inspired me to become a paperback writer and launched
me on an addiction for story writing which today, now approaching my
seventy-second birthday, sees me as one of, if not the, most prolific writers
on Amazon. If you go to my Amazon Bookshelf – www.maxrobinsonwriter.com
you will find I have 114 publications available.
I AM A PAPERBACK WRITER
I often say this but I did indeed begin writing as a teenager. I had many an article published in my local newspaper which back then was The Sutton Coldfield News. In the 1980;s I had my own weekly feature page in The Milton Keynes Citizen for which I was quite generously paid. Sadly, technology, rolling twenty-four hour news and the dumbo stupid smart-phone have destroyed such media.
It was in 1992 that my very first book was published. Then in 2016 Amazon accepted me as
one of its authors. Technology has harmed our society but not so Amazon technology which has completely revolutionised writing.
Barbra Cartland officially holds the world record for publishing the greatest number of books in a single year. Unoficcially I hold that record.
In 2021 with the pandemic and lock down having given us 2020 THE YEAR THAT NEVER
WAS I spent so much of my time writing. Amazon accepted 15 books, essays, short stories and e-books from me in 2020 but that number exploded to SIXTY FIVE. I did not seek to claim the title Barbra Cartland had, I could not cope with the media attention but belive at that point I became the most prolific Amazon author.
If
you go to my Amazon Bookshelf – www.maxrobinsonwriter.com you
will find I have, as of 26th August 2021, 114 publications available.
From
1st September 2022 every time Amazon accepts a new work from me I
will personally donate £10 to University Hospital Milton Keynes to support
children who are sick in its wards, to send love to their families and to thank
our NHS staff who are caring for them. YOU can encourage me and inspire me to
write more and more by adding your donation at: https://mkhcharity.enthuse.com/donate#!/Will you become part of my Write-In ?
I
promise to publish a minimum of one book a month. 2022 for me has been a bad
year medically as I have stumbled from one illness to another, twice I have
been to A & E, once in Milton Keynes and once in York. Within this old age
illness I have received such love from our NHS, our NHS does NOT treat patients
but cares for them, cares with love. At times I have wondered if I will
actually make it to my seventy-second birthday but my family has a long history
across the generations of longevity so I probably have around twenty, perhaps
twenty-five years of writing yet to go. Do the Maths: 25 years x a minimum of
12 books X £10 minimum for each = £3,000 + your supporting donations.
Prolific
yes, best-selling no. The top one hundred Amazon Authors receive a monthly
bonus of £250,000 !That is on top of
royalties. I am not a best selling writer, I am probably at position 100 in the
bottom selling 1000 authors !
ALL
of the royalties I receive, every penny, is spent on our SMILE card project. Support does not always mean money but it does always mean love.
Every month personalised SMILE
cards are sent to:
RONALD MCDONALD
HOUSES ATTACHED TO CHILDRENS HOSPITALS IN:
CALGARY – Canada DUBLIN – Ireland MUMBAI – India
NASHVILLE
– USA AUCKLAND
– New Zealand
LOS
ANGELES – USA NEW
YORK – USA
BIRMINGHAM
– England CANBERRA
– Australia
CARDIFF - Wales JOHANNESESBURG
– South Africa
UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL MILTON KEYNES: A & E Unit Childrens A & E Unit Renal Ward and Clinic Fracture Clinic Wards 21a & 21b
STOKE MANDERVILLE
HOSPITAL: AMU Department
CHILTERN KIDNEY UNIT WHALLEY DRIVE
CLINIC
Personalised SMILE cards to patients and to staff who are caring for
them, caring with LOVE
Every
three months SMILE cards are sent to:
Blood Donor Team – Christ The Cornerstone Central Milton Keynes
The hospital receiving my donated blood
I
am an old man living on a pension, my Amazon royalties fall well short of the
costs sending 2,000+ SMILE cards a month to special people around the world.
Just imagine what could be achieved supporting these beautiful people: patients,
families and staff caring for them if I could sell more copies of my writing.
I
am NOT some here today, forgotten all about it tomorrow happy-clappy media
puppet the like of which we saw during the pandemic. I have been a supporter of
our NHS for almost four decades and with this Write-In am here promising
support for the rest of my life.
I LOVE
people but what is the point of loving people if we are destroying the planet
on which these people live ?
In
1973 to replace trees lost to Dutch Elm Disease the government launched a
project PLANT A TREE ‘TIL 73 and then followed this with PLANT SOME MORE IN ’74.
In
November 2021 I made a promise to support our National Trust (Of which I have
been a member for 40 years) Tree Planting Ambition to plant twenty million new
saplings by the year 2030. Every week I
fund a tree to be planted and dedicate each tree to someone within the SMILE
project.
I am
saying that I will plant a tree every week until my seventy-third birthday and
then more to my seventy-fourth birthday,indeed all the way until the National Trust’s
tree planting ambition is complete. And then some.
So that’s my plan. Do you think it will work ? Will you help me make it work ?
I
am hoping friends from as wide an area of our community as possible will be
able to drop by. I have deliberately widely set timings from 10am to 4pm so we
can have a constant flow of friends and not be overcrowded. THAT SAID PLEASE
SPREAD THE WORD AND INVITE AS MANY PEOPLE AS POSSIBLE TO JOIN US. I have a big
garden
9 Humber WayBletchleyMK3 7PH
When
you arrive you will be met by a pathway of SMILES leading you through the front
garden, down the side of my home and into the garden at the rear. When you
arrive you will
be met with a stack of gifts made by Jollyes staff and
customers for PETS IN NEED. Please pick up a tin and take it through to where
you will be met by a box of SMILE stickers, take one and put it on the tin.
Wrap the tin in your love than add it to the TOWER OF TINS for Milton Keynes
Foodbank. In these terrible times of austerity let’s give our amazing Foodbank
LOVE and support as the even more now vital work they do is undertaken.
Time
goes by very quickly when you are old !It is now three weeks since I became ill. I ended up being sent to A
& E where I was given prompt, loving care then discharged to a clinic.
There the loving care of our NHS continued. I am now almost better, the garden
party for me will be a personal celebration and THANK YOU to our NHS.
I
deliberately set a modest target of £200 so I could honour any shortfall
myself. ALL costs for running the party are coming from my own pocket and NOT
taken out of donations. The JustGiving
site right now has received £95 and I have £40 in cash lovely people have given
to me to start off the collection buckets.
There
will be 50 copies of my books which visitors are free to take in exchange for a
donation thrown into one of the buckets. We are seeking to:
SUPPORT
children who are sick in hospital.
SEND
LOVE to their families.
THANK
our NHS staff who are caring for them.
Within
our SMILE programme it is so important to send love to families who are going
through
such a hard and emotional time with their child is sick in hospital. We
are seeing in the media reports of the passing of young Archie. The media has
failed to wrap love into its reports. I remember so well, we are talking late
1980’s, how Beck made friends with the little girl in the bed adjacent to hers
in Guys Hospital. I took a photograph of hem both. That little girl died and
her family was devastated beyond words I can use to describe their situation. Beck
took the photograph and over the little girl she wrote died. Over her own image she wrote liver.
At
the garden party you will be able to sign SMILE cards of love for families who
have a child sick in hospital. As well as University Hospital Milton Keynes
cards will be sent to the eleven hospitals around the world we support with our
project.
You
can also sign cards wishing patients in a number of Milton Keynes and Stoke
Manderville
wards a speedyrecovery. Each
month we send cards to patients in the Chiltern Kidney Unit. These lovely
people are unable to come to the party as they are all going out on a coach
trip for the day. I have already sent them SMILE cards wishing them a super
trip. You can sign cards THANKING our NHS staff in numerous locations. NHS
staff who every minute of every day go the extra mile.
NHS
= National Happy Smile.
I
have taken a series of stories written over the years, including a couple I
wrote while sitting at Beck’s childhood bedside in Guys Hospital London, and
published them in a book STORIES FOR YOUR CHILDREN. At the party I want you to
sign messages of love in a book, one each for the eleven locations around the
world we support: CALGARY – CanadaDUBLIN
– IrelandMUMBAI – IndiaNASHVILLE – USA AUCKLAND – New Zealand LOS
ANGELES – USA NEW YORK – USA BIRMINGHAM – England CANBERRA – Australia JOHANNESESBURG – South Africa CARDIFF - Wales
I
am going to keep you very busy so there will be lots of refreshments to help
you SMILE.
I
also want to share with you some ideas for future support, support for our NHS
and for our
Foodbank. I want to gauge how much support there is before
launching anything.
So…..
Sunday 14th August 10am to 4pm 9 Humber Way Bletchley MK3 7PH drop
by any time, tell you friends to come by. EVERYONE bring your love and SMILE.
A
SMILE is the vaccination for sadness. Come and help with our vaccination
programme.
