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The Fairy Tale of Vale

There’s magic afoot in New Brighton on The Wirral, England.  Something strange and wonderful is happening in Vale Park.  The fairies are moving in!

It all started less than two months ago when Major Mace and his wife Sue began constructing a cluster of delightful homes in Vale Park for the fairies. 

Major – that’s his real first name, not a military title – found inspiration in the Irish town of Buncrana in Donegal where there’s a popular fairy walk by the river.  Having already overseen the construction of new Brighton’s famous  driftwood pirate ship, The Black Pearl, (along with the rest of the Pirates at Art crew, Frank Lund, Norman and Alison Ord and John Paul), Major was no stranger to getting creative with upcycled bits and pieces. 

Alongside Major, Alison paints doorknobs to resemble fairy toadstools and John Paul creates Tree People, whilst Sue glues together tiny pieces of furniture to decorate houses fit for any Fairy King or Queen.

Now children from across the Wirral and beyond are making trips to visit the charming – and growing – fairy village.  Some of these children make multiple visits to the Driftwood Fairies of Vale Park.  One little girl even insists on coming to see her fairy friends every day. 

Smiling proudly, Major said, ‘Seeing the kids so happy gives me real pleasure.  They know the names of all the fairies.’

His next project is to construct a chimney for the fairy factory.  This is where they make the Fairy Dust so the pirate ship can fly at night. 

I asked Major if he really believes in fairies.  Having visited Ireland and the Fairy Bridge on the Isle of Man, both places where the belief in fairies is strong, Major found no difficulty in saying that he does.

As someone who’s written about fairies in my book, The Last Changeling, I find the subject fascinating.  I recently spent a day searching for fairies with BBC Radio Wales, and many people have written to me saying that they have seen fairies for real.  I was sent this photograph that seems to show a blue fairy atop a classic toadstool. Trick of the light?

Maybe, but it’s a good one. 

Just last summer, artist John Hyatt took startling pictures of fairies near Rossendale and the story went viral. 

This Christmas, I counted no less than five major companies who were using fairies to promote their seasonal products.   The truth is that fairies are big news – but then, they always have been.  When Charles Isham first imported gnomes to England from Bavaria in the 1840’s, they weren’t just for ornaments.  They were made to lure real gnomes into peoples’ gardens!

Perhaps the most famous encounter with fairies was when Elsie Wright and Frances Griffiths found fairies at Cottingley Beck in 1917 and photographed them. 

The pictures fooled experts at Kodak and the creator of Sherlock Holmes, Sir Arthur Conan-Doyle.  Many years later Frances and Elsie admitted the pictures had been cardboard cut-outs, but even in old age they still insisted they had seen real fairies at Cottingley and had only created the fake ones when the grown-ups had laughed at their claims.

So, next time you go to Vale Park, remember to take your camera… who knows what magic you might snap?

If you have had a fairy encounter, I would like to hear from you.  Please contact me via the form at www.thelastchangeling.com

The above article appears in the next issue of Waiting magazine. 

Hunting for Fairies

Today was 'one of those days...' 
....not bad, but unbelievably brilliant! 

BBC Radio Wales has a new programme, 'The Unbelievers,' and for one episode I was asked to lead a fairy hunt.   
Yes, really.  

I suggested a quiet spot, but time was against that, so it was decided that Castell Dinas Bran would be a great place to look for fairies - even though it's bristling with walkers. 
When I told the team that actively looking for fairies meant they were unlikely to let themselves be found, faces fell, but presenters, (John and Mike), and crew, (Rhys and Nathan),persisted, so eventually the hunt got under way and the delightful lunacy began.

I should explain that John is also known as Eggsy from Welsh rappers Goldie Lookin' Chain and Mike is a stand-up comedian, (tonight he's onstage with Jack Dee in Hay on Wye), so this was never going to be a scientifically serious expedition... even though they ended the day vowing to find a scientist who could explain the multi-dimensional universe to them... good luck with that one, Mr.Scientist!

A few hours in the company of Mike and John, BBC Radio Wales' answer to Mulder and Scully saw us scampering, (well, in Mike's case, hobbling because of his poorly knee), up to Castell Dinas Bran in search of fairies.

The pair of them took opposing views. John believes in fairies, Mike is a sceptic and I spent the afternoon trying not to laugh as they squabbled like naughty little kids. John's varying descriptions of Dinas Bran, from 'stone erection' to '... a grey skull...like Castle Greyskull which would eat me if it had a mouth...' had us all in fits, even Mike. 

Thanks guys for today's utterly splendid bit of craziness!

The first programme will be broadcast here on Saturday 30th. May:
 http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05xbxb0

No Such Thing As Coincidence...

A couple of days ago, Mo a friend and fan of The Last Changeling asked me if I'd been in Leominster recently.
I hadn't, but she had seen my double and more magical yet, this doppelganger was talking to a group of people about a book launch!
On Friday I was visiting a friend who appears under the guise of archaeologist Claire Melin in The Last Changeling.  I'm writing book two, and the Titanic appears as part of a subplot.
I told Claire I wasn't sure about this section.
I wondered if I should take Titanic out?
On Saturday this old bottle opener came into my life.  Made in Chicago, it's quite rare as they were never on sale to the general public, such bottle openers were given to staff only.
Here it is:

I found the inscription inspiring - Cunard & White Star.  I'm sure anyone reading this already understands the significance, but in case you don't, Titanic was  a ship of the White Star line.

I've taken it as a sign.

The Titanic stays in!

Oh, I do like to be beside the Seaside...

          'For as long as I can remember, I have had dreams about the sea.  
         On stormy nights when the winds roared through the oaks and the rain lashed the windows of the old house, I dreamt I was aboard a stately galleon.  Those were the times when the shadows of the storm tossed boughs upon the walls of my bedroom, became the very waves beneath my keel.  Invariably, in every dream, I would fall into that roaring surf, to twirl and turn, like a helpless leaf in the gale, until I surrendered to the calm benthos of a deeper sleep.

Even now I cannot remember a single night without sea dreams.  Which is remarkable given that I was born about as far inland as it is possible to get and that my father had the strongest aversion to merely visiting anywhere near the coast.

Perhaps my inquisitive nature was piqued by his attitude?  I now recognise he had what modern psychologists would call a phobia, but as a child, all I saw was his unreasonable and unbending attitude to my enduring fascination and interest in all things marine.  I soon learnt to stop expressing this facet of my young mind under the heavy hand and dark looks of his disapproval.  An innocent request for a jolly trip to the seaside brought me a beating.  I could not see the harm in it, but I learnt to still my tongue and not speak of it.  I hid my childish paintings of ships in emerald seas and pirates and treasure islands beneath my bed, I smuggled books about marine life into my room - all the time aware I was going against Pater’s wishes.  

Perhaps if he had not been so stern upon the subject, it would never have held such a grip over me?  But I say again, where was the harm?  After all, two of my young playmates from school had been to the seaside in the holidays and the way they spoke of the churning green-grey water thrilled me!     

You must understand, this was back in 1918 and I was but five years old then, and completely without any understanding of tides or the moon’s influence, so it struck me as particularly magical that there could be places upon this earth where the order of the well-ploughed field gave way to a seemingly unending chaos of wind-swept water.  I could not imagine it, but, even without sight of it, somehow my mind created such scenes for me, night after night in those strangely prophetic dreams.

Thought I knew not from whence it came, somehow the sea was in my blood.

Thus begins my new horror novella 'Seaside.' Out next month, it's the third in the Horror in a Hurry Series.  My homage to H.P.Lovecraft's 'The Shadow Over Innsmouth,' it also nods towards The Wicker Man...'

Gethsemane Gardens

For the second novella in my new Horror in a Hurry series, I've chosen the classic setting of the decrepit old house.  It's the perfect, chilling backdrop for an urban tale of terror but this time the twist is the inhabitants willingly lock themselves in.  In fact they barricade the world out, unaware of just what they have trapped inside the house with them...

Gethsemane Gardens... read it if you dare!  Out later today on Amazon...