I am a retired company director, coach and former town councillor. Before that had a lengthy career in professional theatre. I have several talks and many of them feature, women. entertainment and history. I am also the author of four novels featuring women born in the West Country and living throughout the five long years of WW2. Writing the novels led to extensive research, much of which I used in my writing. The four main characters in the novels could not be more different from each other, although all firm friends.

Lucie, a half-French ballet dancer, swept from the safety of London stages into the perilous world of espionage in Nazi-occupied France, becoming entangled in Resistance efforts after witnessing the brutal realities of war firsthand. Phoebe, a born and bred Devon girl, daughter of a farmer who returns to save the family farm from failure when her father becomes seriously ill. Her life takes a surprising turn when she is attracted to a dashing Italian POW. Edith is a doctor, one of the few women serving with the RAMC in North Africa, Palestine, Italy and eventually France. She joins up after being horrified by the Manchester and the Plymouth Blitzes. Last but certainly not least, there is Harriet, a pilot with the Air Transport Auxiliary service. Her role was to deliver aircraft like Spitfires straight from the factory floor to RAF bases. All before the aircraft had been fitted with neither guns nor wireless.

Writing the novels was a tremendous learning curve as I discovered the extraordinary and courageous work undertaken by women in WW2.