I’m still here and writing – more to come soon!

Hello, I just wanted to let my readership know that I am alive and well and writing copiously. It’s been ages since my last blog but rest assured I am still working on new lines of enquiry. My latest trip in a time machine is on the Second Fleet of Transportees to Australia – a work that has been in my head since about 1981! I thought I might never write it but have decided to give it my undivided attention for the last six months.

In the mean time if you would like to read something about what I have been up to, please take a look at this blog on my son’s website: Anthracite Fields – A Mum and Son “Road” Trip. We went on a recent trip to Manchester Bridgewater Hall to hear the Pulitzer Prize winning oratorio Anthracite Fields by Julia Wolfe. It’s all about mining in the Pennsylvania coal fields but of course the tale is universal. The first section of teh work is very much akin to my Killed in a Coalpit books listing names of colliers injured or killed. One of the names is Skidmore showing that miners have always emigrated and plied their trde in far flung places. Indeed, my ancestor Jacob Pillinger was one member of several from my extended Pillinger clan who bravely took their families across the sea to the Pennsylvania mines ‘in search of a better life.’ He suffered life-changing injuries in the mines there. Kevin bought me the CD back in 2018 and we have been hoping to see it played live ever since. It was a fantastic Brutus Tour of a weekend. I needed a week’s holiday to recover!

As you’ll hopefully see Kevin is a chip off the old writing block!

Back soon, DP x