A Christmas Selection Box

Some festive treats specially for you!

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Hello friends,

How did it get to this time of the year already?! I am currently struggling again with my health. I’m hoping for a much brighter 2026. However, nothing was going to stop me attending Amy I Beeson 🐝’s fantastic Christmas reading event WriteUP. I was fortunate enough to judge the submissions alongside Emma Simpson and Amy herself. I joked at the event that we’d all ‘slugged it out and remained friends’. It’s true the judging process was rigorous, and we definitely each brought a different skillset to the process, but there were no fisticuffs – just a lot of laughter. It was a pleasure to read such a diverse range of work from a huge cross-section of writers. Plus, being in the audience for the event – listening to each piece being read by its author – was the icing on the (Christmas) cake.

The audience certainly loved the pieces and I was amazed not only by the confidence of the readers which was in each case impressive, but also the range of pieces we had chosen. I admit this may sound silly - or perhaps bizarre - but judging a piece against other pieces is a peculiarly different reading experience to hearing them read aloud across a whole evening. It was wonderful to hear their subtleties and nuances, and the event was a superb reminder of how important it is for writers to be in community – and a wonderful excuse to wear my (much praised and highly garish) Christmas jumper! (Husband groans!)

I was delighted to contribute in a small way to the evening by reading Maureen Susannah’s beautiful piece Danny – as she is recovering from surgery and sadly couldn’t join us. Maureen has kindly agreed to let me share her moving poem with you here at the end of this newsletter.

I will be back in the New Year with more thought-provoking and hopefully humorous pieces, but for now here are a specially curated selection of special treats for you to enjoy.

Now, where’s the Quality Street?

A Ghost of Christmas Past

My Great Aunt’s handwritten Christmas present list

My post about my Great Aunt’s diaries had such a warm response I couldn’t resist sharing the above. It’s AJ’s Christmas present list from 1939. Isn’t it amazing to see Identification Discs and a PO Box as Christmas presents? Nice to see ‘chocs’ were still a much wanted Christmas gift. I haven’t yet come across any other of her Christmas lists but finding this felt like a tiny gift from the past.

I’m glad to say since I wrote about what to do with her diaries, I have found a couple of possible homes for the collection thanks to messages and comments from readers. However, I have a lot of scanning and transcription to do before then. It’s quite a project – and I will endeavour to keep you updated.

Phones and Falls

I thought I’d share three of the posts I’m most proud of this year, but I’m delighted with the response to all my newsletters – and I’m looking forward to writing lots more for you in the new year.

Reading at WriteUP in the summer Photo credit: @takbirUddin

Love It When You Call

I wanted to re-share this piece, which was as special to write as it was to perform at the first WriteUP.

7 Falls (One and Two)

I was really pleased with the response both these posts got - I thought they were worth a repost here. Falling is still a big part of my life but I’d like to spend less time ‘minding the gap’ in 2026.

Three Writers Who Brought Me Joy This Year

You don’t have to be a dog fan to enjoy this charming read!

Onwards and Sideways – Sophia Money-Coutts
This is always a Tuesday treat. Funny and charming columns with a good dollop of Nonsense thrown in. (Nonsense is Sophia’s word not mine.) Well worth a read – or, indeed, listen. I especially enjoy the interruptions of her dog Dennis! Plus, do buy Sophia’s book The Year of the Dog - a delightfully funny and unexpectedly moving diary. I was nervous, as while I like dogs, I wasn’t sure about a whole book about them. Of course, it’s so much more than a ‘dog book’ in Sophia’s witty hands. (If hands can be witty… oh, you know what I mean!) It’s definitely on a par with my book of 2024 Nina Stibbe’s Went To London, Took The Dog. I cannot give it higher praise! I listened on audio while confined to bed - Sophia and Dennis were perfect companions.

Wendy’s World – Wendy Varley
Delightful pieces from Wendy’s World about family history, life working in teen magazines – and even plumbing. It’s like a mini magazine; always full of excellent pictures and written with consistent verve. I always look forward to a slice of Wendy’s life on Wednesday, particularly her pieces around family memorabilia.

A Year of Undoing – Salima Saxton
Actress and writer Salima Saxton is becoming a firm favourite with me. Her posts about being a ‘bad patient’ have resonated hard with me. Every sentence bounces off the screen. I’m so looking forward to her memoir, due for publication in 2027. Salima is proving herself a rare voice – biting, funny and totally original. I’m hooked!

Some Audio Treats

Are the family driving you mad over the festive period? Perhaps you need to retreat to a dark room with a pair of headphones and dive into a good book or audio drama.

Murder on Mars
Tim Foley’s excellent 5-part BBC Radio series about a murderer loose on…well, Mars. Don’t be put off if sci-fi isn’t your thing – this crime drama uses its out of this world location to really drive the crime narrative with a terrific sound design. The series is skilfully directed, beautifully cast and will keep you guessing right until the end.

Gentleman and Ladies
A sparking adaptation of Susan Hill’s 1968 novel about a group of women in a Midlands town. You could say this has me written all over it. First broadcast in 1993, the cast includes Stephanie Cole, Sian Phillips and Patricia Hayes. Available on BBC Sounds for just under a month (so be quick!) - finding this was such a treat! I’m going to seek the novel out now. This is a great reminder that Susan Hill is much more than simply the writer of The Woman In Black.

Rogers and Hart and Hammerstein
Wonderful dramatist Sarah Wooley tells the story of how Rogers and Hart became Rogers and Hammerstein. This is a delightful listen, but it has a dark side too. A fascinating look at one of the most famous creative partnerships in musical theatre history. It would make PERFECT Christmas listening – and it’s a terrific example of the much-missed Drama on 3 slot which was cut earlier this year. Where else will we get regular feature length treats such as this?

Shameless plug alert!

And if you want more of me, you can always listen to my own audio drama When I Fall which went out earlier this year…

Something To Read

Good jumper, eh? Photo credit: Takbir Uddin

It was my absolute privilege to read Maureen Susannah’s beautiful poem Danny at Write UP. I think you’ll agree it’s a very moving portrait of life on a hospital ward. It certainly reminded me very much of the time I spent Christmas on a Children’s Ward as a teenager.

Danny

We were both Nineteen.
With no family by your side,
You tried so hard to survive.
My life was just beginning,
Yours would soon be ending.

For as long as you could,
You filled the ward with humour.
You always made me smile,
I hope you never saw me crying
Deep inside.

Many patients stopped by your bed.
“Mind nobody keels over on top of me”
You might say,
Then wink, delighted, the laughter
Easing everyone’s day.

You were so full of life,
A life much older than your years.
And sometimes you cursed it,
For the unfairness of it all.

December was fast approaching,
Your favourite time of year.
“I want to see another Christmas”
You said.
I said a silent prayer.

As you neared the end of your time,
You spent many hours in my care.
You should have lived long and strong,
Instead you helped create the nurse
I would become.

On your final day, you asked for me.
I hurried across the hospital grounds
And up the stairs.
“You took your time, nurse”
And then you squeezed my hand.

I was with you when you died,
Later that Christmas night,
Surrounded by so much love,
From a ward in mourning.

If you want to give me a gift this Christmas then subscribe, share or like this newsletter – or any of the others . Every like and comment really helps other people find my writing, and gives me a little bit of light in these dark months.

Until next year - have a very happy festive season! Happy Christmas and New Year!