The Poppy Garden, Me and The Brylcream Boy
I'm a writer - but what does that really mean? I tell stories, but where do they come from?
I've always been obsessed by stories, ever since I was a
child. If I wasn't reading them I was writing them or acting them out. If there wasn't a story in my collection I
wanted to read then I made it up and told it to myself. As I got older I started writing ideas down
and then slowly they evolved in to books or screenplays.
The book I'm publishing next month is something different
for me. I think it's the first time in
my life I've told a story with out some kind of twist or mythic/adventure
element. It's the first drama I've ever
written and it's probably going to be one of the most personally important
books I'll ever write.
I started this project two years ago - I know that's a long
time to be working on one book. But I
had to get it right, because its for someone very special.
I spent a great deal of my childhood with my Granddad. While my parents both worked on a Saturday my
Granddad used to wake me at six and take me to the beach. We'd park the car and walk along the pier and
the sand and I'd think nothing of it. It
was something my Granddad did with me. I always thought it was just something he did
to get out of the house while my nan did the house work or baked. It wasn't until after he died that I found
out the beach was the first place he came when he returned home from World War
2. It was a special place for him, a place to remember and draw strength from, because he had made it home.
My grandfather, Joseph Robinson was around nineteen when he
joined the RAF in 1940. He was a Brylcream boy and remained one his whole life. He rose to the
rank of sergeant, the tail gunner of LM471 in 576 Squadron Bomber Command. He married my nan in February 1944 and on the
night of the 24 March 1944 he was part of a bombing raid over Berlin. His plane like many that night was blown off
course in to a field of flack and shrapnel which tore at the plane crippling
it. He fought as long as he could until
he was left with two other members of the crew, the others having parachuted
out. He was directed by the pilot, to take the last parachute and jump from the
bomb doors as they main door was damaged. The Pilot and Flight Engineer went down with
the plane and were killed.
Landing in France behind enemy lines my grandfather was
taken in by a farmer, initially they became good friends until one day the
farmer handed him over to the Gestapo and he was entered as a POW.
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| The Wedding of Sgt. J Robinson |
As many prisoners did my granddad wanted to escape and took
part in the digging of tunnels as others had in the Great Escape. Before he
could leave he was marched out of camp as the Russian Army approached. He became part of what is known as the Long
Walk; a death march from which he escaped.
He returned home to his wife and raised a daughter and then
two grandchildren. He was a strong man,
I never heard him swear or loose his temper and he never told me the whole
story of his time as a POW.
As a child you don't really question the stories you are
told, now I wish I had because his is a story I would love to read
completely.
If every life is a book, a story to be told some of the
pages of his are blank to me and I so wish I knew the hidden stories.
I tried for a long time to find a way to tell his story, the
lack of information was always my stumbling block, until one day while digging
in my garden it struck me how I had spent many an hour watching him work in
his. It was then that I realised this
was his way of coping with the horrors he had lived, just like going to the
beach. He took the bad and made it
beautiful, he turned the horror of war in to the beauty of a rose.
His story isn't a recounting of history but more a story of
hope, of coming to terms with the experiences of his life and finding a way to
live and thrive. So I started writing
The Poppy Garden, a story of an injured soldier coming to terms with his
experience and the family that support and fight for him. I only hope this story honours his memory
and brings beauty from darkness the way he brought beauty to his garden.
My grandfather was a great support of the Royal BritishLegion and I would ask if you can please
wear a Poppy with pride this Remembrance day or support my fundraising at JUSTGIVING
The Poppy Garden will be released for Kindle on 11 November 2016 - Pre order your copy Now
