RESEARCH AND WRITING LOCAL HISTORY PANEL DISCUSSION AT BRIXHAM HERITAGE MUSEUM

Date: 2 March 2018

As part of 'Sharing Stories' a festival celebrating Storytelling and Writing on the English Riviera.

To celebrate 'World Book Day', Torbay Museums (Brixham Heritage Museum, Torre Abbey Museum and Torquay Museum) will be hosting a weekend of events, tours, talks and presentations with the theme of 'Sharing Stories'

Friday 2nd March, 1pm to 3pm

At Brixham Heritage Museum

Research and Writing Local History Panel Discussion

Join celebrated local historians and published authors, Samantha Little, Fiona Freer, Rolf Söderlind, Mike Holgate and Chairman of Brixham Heritage Museum, John Scotney as they discuss their creative thoughts and processes in researching and writing about local stories.

Fiona Freer:

As Assistant Headteacher at Abbey School in St. Marychurch, Fiona started to research the history of this fine, Georgian mansion. The story she discovered over five years was so compelling that she wrote a novel entitled "A Long Time Dying - the story of the Tayleurs of Torquay."
Fiona has also published "A Yorkshire Memsahib", using her mother's diaries and letters from her time in India in 1945 and 1946.She is now researching the history of her home in rural Brittany, which was built in 1690.

Rolf Söderlind:

Rolf reported world news from 20 countries mainly for Reuters before retiring to become an author. His latest book, An Unsound Mind, is loosely based on a tragedy that took place in 1933 in the house in Torquay where he now lives. It is available on Amazon online and in Waterstones in Torquay.

Mike Holgate:

Mike is the author of twenty history books including offbeat accounts of famous figures Agatha Christie, Napoleon Bonaparte, John 'Babbacombe' Lee and Jack the Ripper. For several years he was a feature writer for Devon Life and his research has been used in programmes produced by BBC Radio Devon and Granada Television.

Samantha Little:

Samantha is Writer in Residence at Brixham Heritage Museum. She has written five local history books based on material held in the Museum. A member of the Society of Authors, she has provided research for BBC programmes commemorating the Great War, and contributed to Farming, Fishing and Food Supply in the First World War (an Exeter University publication), The Devon Historian and the Torbay Local History Series.
She is a patron of the arts in healthcare charity Poems in the Waiting Room and contributes book reviews to Signposts for Carers, a local NHS magazine. Her new book will be published next month.

John Tucker:

Although his reputation is more as an historian of heavy rock music, with six books and countless reviews to his name, John is the Head of Local Studies for Torbay Libraries. The department responds to approximately twenty enquiries a month from all over the world and John and his team's work has been used in numerous books and TV programmes, the latest being Julie Walter's 'Coastal Railways'. In John's view, it doesn't matter what the topic is, the most important thing is to research everything with great care and attention: once it's in the public domain it's there for good, so get it right first time.

This event is FREE of charge. No need to book, just turn up on the day.

Space is limited so come early to avoid disappointment

For enquiries regarding this event please email enquiries@torquaymuseum.org