My novels inspire booktrail holidays in Ryhope

This week I received an amazing email from the lady who runs an AirBnB in Ryhope at the Old Library on Stockton Road.

Some of her recent guests had stayed there specially to do a walking tour of Ryhope because of my books! 

She's asked for leaflets about my books to put in the Old Library for future guests. I've sent her leaflets and bookmarks and a set of books as a thank you. 

Pinching myself.

And here is the AirBnB https://www.airbnb.co.uk/rooms/46596358

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Glenda Young
Author of Sagas & Cosy Crime novels, published by Headline



Twitter: @Flaming_Nora
Facebook: GlendaYoungAuthor

Writing historic fiction set in old Ryhope - an online talk by Glenda Young

As I haven't been able to get out and about over the last year to give talks on my books, I've created an online talk instead.

It's packed full of fantastic pictures of old Ryhope, the village where my sagas are set, in 1919. 

It's also the village where I was born and bred and it's  a joy and a privilege to bring the village to life and explain how it inspires each of my books.

The talk is narrated by me and lasts for 20 minutes. You can watch it below or on YouTube.

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Glenda Young
Author of Sagas & Cosy Crime novels, published by Headline


Twitter: @Flaming_Nora
Facebook: GlendaYoungAuthor

An audio-visual tour of Ryhope, the village where my novels are set

I was asked last week by a reader for a pictorial tour of Ryhope to show fans where the locations in my novels are. Well, there's already a map in the front of all of my books, historically accurate too. But a pictorial tour? I have to admit it's something I'd love to do, but I simply don't have the time, which is unfortunate. However, it's because I'm too busy writing, which is great!

However, I do often post old pictures of Ryhope here on this blog and if you scroll back through old posts you'll find many, many posts of pictures of old Ryhope and new Ryhope, and of locations I use in my books.

But there are also more ways you can find out about old Ryhope.

There's a fantastic TV documentary on Ryhope pitmen and pigeons. Two old friends and rival pigeon racers are preparing for the big race of the season. Set in Ryhope where Maurice's allotment is home to the world's only listed pigeon cree, the ageing miners embark on what could be their last season together. Jackie and Maurice face the challenges of old age, ill health and a continuing battle with land developers as they prepare for the most prestigious race of the year, where their pigeons will fly five hundred and sixty miles from Bourges in France. The film follows the men's emotional journey as things don't work out quite as expected. 

There's a book called Ryhope and Silksworth with lots of old photos.

And if you'd like an audio tour of Ryhope where I talk to podcasters Speak up Sunderland about the locations used in my book, it's below.   I start speaking at 5 minutes in.

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Glenda Young
Author of historical novels with Headline
Twitter: @Flaming_Nora
Facebook: GlendaYoungAuthor

A walk around Ryhope researching my new book

This week I went for a walk around Ryhope village and colliery as I near the end of my research for my next book set there in 1924.  Walking around Ryhope is something I always do when I've finished my research and almost ready to begin planning out my books. I like to walk the streets and try to see Ryhope through the eyes of my heroine who I'll bring to life in the pages of the book.

Whilst I was out walking and researching, I couldn't resist posing for a photograph with my new book The Girl with the Scarlet Ribbon which has just come out in paperback. I'm pictured in front of a house in the village that I used as inspiration for The Uplands in the book. 

Walking around Ryhope with my 'writing head' on, I see things I usually miss, and I tune into sights and sounds in a way that I don't normally do. I try to think if my lead character would have walked over these cobbled stones - pictured above, the last remaining cobbled street in Ryhope.  Would the cobbles have hurt her feet in her thin-soled boots? Could she even afford boots? Probably not.  

I also think about the shops she might have gone into.

This picture shows the remains of an old advertising sign painted on the back of what is now a grocery shop. It says, I think, R. W. Chapman, Stylish Millinery.  I wish I had a picture of the original shop, but even with the hundreds of images I've collected researching Ryhope history, I can't find this one. In a way, that's a good thing, because it means I have to start creating and fictionalising shops and shopkeepers and wondering what kind of stylish millinery the shop sold, and what kind of women shopped there. Oh, I can just imagine the type of secrets and gossip that were whispered in that shop!  It's that kind of thing that I love bringing to life.  

And as I walked the colliery bank, I came across this old wall. It's always been there and I must have walked past it a million and one times in my life. Well, hundreds of times anyway!  This stone wall is marked clearly on maps and old pictures from hundreds of years ago. There are lots of old bits of Ryhope still standing, if you only know where to look. And that's the beauty of going for a walk with my writer's head on, seeing things differently, through my heroine's eyes, trying to feel what she might have felt as she walked the same streets.

And now I've walked around Ryhope, spent a day at Beamish museum researching and the last three weeks researching at home. I've used books, online resources and bought old books from eBay (what joy!) to find out as much as I can about life in the early 1920s in the northeast pit villages. 

You might wonder why I research every book when they're all set in Ryhope at - more or less - the same time. Well, it's because each book is different, they're all stand-alone and can be read in any order. And each heroine is different, she has different challenges to overcome, different stories to tell and a different life to lead from any of the other heroines in my books. 

I like to focus on the main problems in her life that I'm going to chuck at her, research more about them and then build an imaginary life for her set firmly in Ryhope, as historically correct as I can possibly make it - while having fun at the same time.

Next week I'll be planning out my novel with all the highs and lows before I begin writing. This novel hasn't yet got a title but it's got a cracking storyline and brings back a couple of my favourite characters from past novels to make a reappearance. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I know I'm going to enjoy writing every single word.

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Glenda Young
Author of historical novels with Headline
Twitter: @Flaming_Nora
Facebook: GlendaYoungAuthor

Pink slices, football and books

Absolutely over the moon to be included in a list curated by journalist Katy Wheeler for The Sunderland Echo.

Katy's put a list together of 12 of the most Mackem things to do while you're in self-isolation. And my Ryhope-set novels are included!

You can read the full list here.

Bloomin' brilliant!
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Glenda Young
Author of historical novels with Headline
Twitter: @Flaming_Nora
Facebook: GlendaYoungAuthor

Writing about old Ryhope - and light at the end of the tunnel

The old pathway to Ryhope beach

It's a strange and worrying time. I'm veering between a state of panic and tears to being very calm and resigned. My heart flutters with worry and my eyes fill with tears when I watch the news. I'm lucky, I know that - so far. I work from home as a writer and I have a glorious, wide open beach on my doorstep for walking, a coastline for cycling, a garden for pottering. I miss my family, though. We've decided to stay apart, keep in touch online. My mam who suffers from Alzheimer's Disease, lives in a carehome and visitors are banned. I don't know when, or if, I'll see her again.

My writing life is at a good point, and for that I am grateful. I'd always planned to start researching my next novel the week beginning March 23rd. I was going to allow four weeks of research with visits to libraries, museums, archives, records office, antiquarian societies, local studies  and chats with historians over long lunches where I ply them with chips in exchange for information. None of that will happen now. Which is something of a blow when I'm researching life in 1919.

But fear not. Thanks to some wonderful books I've already read, I've been able to seek out more of the same, real-life accounts of life in 1919, especially of women's lives, which I write so well about. I've ordered dusty old books from ebay and can't wait to get stuck into them. I have research notes from my previous five novels that I'l re-read and take heart from. A friend has given me access to the British Newspaper Archive online. I have DVDs of old pictures from Ryhope Heritage Society, enough to keep me going for now. But the Ryhope pub I was hoping to visit and tour before writing about it in my book has now closed. I'll have to use my imagination ... and let it fly instead.  I'll walk around Ryhope one day with my writing head on, peering over fences, trailing my hand along ancient stone walls, putting myself into the mind of my characters as much as I can.

So it's not all bad news.

My research that I'd planned to do over four weeks will now be over in one, possible two. I'll start planning the novel and writing the week after. My manuscript is due into the publisher by the end of October this year. With nowhere to go and nothing else to do but write, I'll have it finished much sooner, with the luxury of empty time and space to do nothing more than create. And what a joy that will be.

I'm looking on the bright side to stop the tears, shakes, heart palpitations and worry. I have a plan and things will be fine. Some days I will write, some days I will cycle, other days I will walk on the beach. And I will breathe in the sea air, turn my face to the sun and be grateful that my family, so far, are all well.
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Glenda Young
Author of historical novels with Headline
Twitter: @Flaming_Nora
Facebook: GlendaYoungAuthor

A walk around Ryhope Village

My six novels published by Headline are all set in the northeast coal mining village of Ryhope, in 1919. 

Ryhope is where I grew up and what's amazed me more than anything else while I've been researching the village before writing my novels, is how much I don't know about the village where I was born and bred.

With the help of Brian Ibinson and Peter Hedley of Ryhope Heritage Society, of which I'm now a member, I've been trying to fill the gaps in my knowledge of Ryhope's coalmining and farming past. 

 I took a walk around Ryhope's old pit, saw the remains of Cauld Knuckles School and Leechmere Hall. You can read all about that walk here, and see some pictures.

Brian and Peter took me on a walk that took in the site where Ryhope Asylum once stood. It was also known as Cherry Knowle hospital. 

It's now been demolished and in the same proximity stands a new purpose-built NHS mental health hopsital.  One hundred years ago, those who were given over to the asylum included single, pregnant girls; those with epilepsy; 'unmanageable women'; and more. These days, thank goodness, much more is understood about mental health and how to manage those who suffer from illness of the mind.

From the site of the Asylum, we walked around the village green and Brian was very generous with his time and his memories, showing me where the old farms were and where the farmers lived. We were even called into one house (not an original farmhouse, but on the site of one) to take a look in the back yard. Ryhope folk are very friendly!

From the village we then walked to St. Paul's church, which is featured in all of my books. The vicar at the time I write my novels in 1919 was called Canon Knight. And in his honour, I call my fictional vicar Reverend Daye. 

Knight - Daye. See what I did there?

In the stone wall that runs along the pavement in front of St, Paul's church, are these peculiar coping stones with holes at the top. Brian explained to me that  the coping stones of the churchyard wall (shown below) are salvaged stone ‘chairs’ taken from the Ryhope Colliery railway. Many of them still show the holes where the iron spikes were secured. These are my pictures I took on the walk today.

After visiting St. Paul's, we passed the site of the old police station and saw the Grand Cinema, which is awaiting its fate after decades boarded up. It'll soon be making its way to Beamish museum, brick by brick. This makes me feel very proud. You can read more on that on the Beamish website.

Then the plan was to continue our walk to where the Co-op once stood in all its glory on the colliery bank. My dad used to work at the Co-op as an insurance collector, it was his first job after leaving school. Here it is in its hey-day.

And here's what is in its spot now. 

This bland, uninspiring building was built as the "new" Co-op when the old one was demolished in the 1970s. I know which one I prefer and it's not the second one. 

The "new" Co-op, above, is now a bathroom and kitchen showroom, and it's currently up for sale. You can't see it in the photo above but it has the logo...

CO

OP

...built in brick relief at the front.  If I won the lottery, I'd buy the land, demolish it and build some affordable, family apartments with a communal garden and I'd call the development The Old Store.

However, we never made it to the site of the Co-op on our walk today. It was hot. We'd walked for two hours and we'd chatted all the way. To say we were in need of a sit down and a cold drink was something of an understatement and so we called it a day. 

I am indebted to Brian Ibinson and Peter Hedley of Ryhope Heritage Society for their help.

(Note, walks and talks below were held in 2019)

I'm giving a free guided walk around Ryhope on Saturday 14 September as part of Heritage Open Days. The walk will take in the locations used in my novels set in 1919 and booking is required. 

I'm also giving a talk as part of Heritage Open Days about the farming and mining communities of old Ryhope. This takes place on Friday 13 September. No booking needed, just turn up!

You can find out all about Heritage Open Days at their website here.
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Glenda Young

Author of historical novels with Headline

Twitter: @Flaming_Nora

Facebook: GlendaYoungAuthor

A walk on Ryhope's wild side

My three novels - Belle of the Back Streets, The Tuppenny Child & Pearl of Pit Lane are all set in the northeast coal mining village of Ryhope, in 1919. Ryhope is where I grew up and what's amazed me more than anything else while I've been researching the village before writing my novels, is how much I don't know about the village where I was born and bred.

With the help of Ryhope Heritage Society, of which I'm now a member, I've been trying to fill the gaps in my knowledge of Ryhope's coalmining and farming past. And today, I went on a wonderful walk with two of the historians from Ryhope Heritage Society. I saw things I'd never seen before. It's been an incredible day and I'd like to share some of it with you.  I'll be going back to Ryhope same time next week to walk the length of the colliery bank and around the village green so there'll be even more photos next week.

Today, I was shown the location for the oddly named Cauld Knuckles School. I also walked the area where Irish immigrants settled, an area called Vinegar Hall.  Some of Cauld Knuckles School remains, a stone wall from the 1800s, you can see in the picture above.

In the picture below, is a track which was originally the pathway to the school entrance. At the end of the track, in between the houses, is a gap where the school gates originally stood.

Here is the entrance to what was the rather grand Leechmere Hall. Only the entrance and a wall remains. Leechmere Hall was where Mr Tom Hall, one of the chiefs of the Ryhope Coal Company lived. When Ryhope Coal Company closed down in the 1960s, Leechmere Hall was turned into a convalescent home for miners.  It is now a housing estate.

But what Ryhope was best known for was its coal mine. It was heavy industry on a large scale, making Ryhope Coal Company one of the most productive coal mines in the north east. It ran for over a hundred years. And now it's landscaped, nothing there. 

Just a memorial to the past.

I'm giving a free guided walk around Ryhope on Saturday 14 September as part of Heritage Open Days. The walk will take in the locations used in my novels set in 1919 and booking is required.

I'm also giving a talk as part of Heritage Open Days about the farming and mining communities of old Ryhope. This takes place on Friday 13 September. No booking needed, just turn up!

You can find out all about Heritage Open Days at their website here.
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Glenda Young

Author of historical novels with Headline

Twitter: @Flaming_Nora

Facebook: GlendaYoungAuthor

A talk on Old Ryhope, Sunday 28th April

Along with Norman Kirtlan from Sunderland Antiquarian Society, I'll be giving a talk about "Old Ryhope" this weekend.

The talk is part of the Community chat-in series at Fulwell Community Centre in Sunderland. It takes place on Sunday 28th April at 3pm.

The Sunderland Echo have full details of the talk and an interview with Norman Kirtlan here.

I'll be chatting about the research for my novels set in Ryhope and will be offering copies of my debut novel Belle of the Back Streets (set in Ryhope in 1919) for sale too.

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Find out all about my gritty saga novels,
published by Headline

Farewell to the Ryhope Electric Grand Cinema

To Ryhope today, to the village I grew up in and spent most of my adult life. It's where many of my family still live too.  In the village itself is the Ryhope Electric Grand cinema.  I've only ever known it as a bingo hall as it stopped its working life as a cinema in the early 1960s. But I remember mam and dad saying they used to go to the Grand in their courting days.   Since it closed as a bingo hall it's stood empty, boarded up.

The Grand was built in 1912 and had its heyday in the 1950s.  That's why Beamish Museum are now offering tours of the building before they dismantle it brick by brick and move it to their new 1950s village.  It'll take 2-3 years before it's demolished and rebuilt a Beamish.  Let's hope they can keep as much of the original decoration as possible too.

At Beamish it'll be a working cinema, with films and advertising shown from the 1950s.

Find out more about me and my books. Click on the image below:



I'm on twitter @flaming_nora

Save the Ryhope pigeon cree

It's not often that the north-east village I come from makes local news, never mind international and headline news. But that's what's been happening as the fight to save Ryhope pigeon crees rages on - and rightly so. I remember walking past the pigeon crees on my way to and from school. I know some of the men who still have their crees on the land. Like most other Ryhope people, I also know who is behind Worktalent, the company who want to shift the crees off the site and develop it for profit.

Even Robbie Coltrane and a telly crew called to Ryhope to see what is now one of Britain's strangest listed buildings.

The pigeon men's case is being heard in Parliament again today, let's hope local MP Fraser Kemp can work his magic once again.