Ditchling Common author launches his Lockdown Letters To My Mum

Guy, aged 62, explains: “St Clare’s Care Home on Ditchling Common was poised to enter lockdown, and unable to visit my elderly mum Peggy (91) any longer I decided to write her letters.

“The staff at St Clare’s were all for it and we teamed up. I would write the letters and they would print them out and read them to mum.

“The last time I regularly wrote to Peggy was from my boarding school in Sussex whilst the family home was in Nigeria.

“I decided to return to my schooldays and take Peggy along with me and talk about times long gone.

“A considerable number of the stories that I tell feature Seaford College at Petworth during the period I was there, in the early 70s.

“My letters reflect my fondness for my schooldays, although, frequently, I came unstuck with my antics.

“And these were not peculiar to the UK as I would visit my family in Nigeria when on school breaks.

“As a child in Nigeria I learnt to speak Nigerian Pidgin Language.

“This is a language that features throughout my lockdown letters.

“With the help of her dedicated carers, my letters were read aloud to Peggy.

“As the weeks rolled by, I adjusted what I wrote to provide entertainment for the staff at the care home too.

“I took this audience on a voyage through boarding school life in Sussex in the early 1970s and my African school holidays, touching upon my transition to adulthood and my initial experiences whilst working in Nigeria.”

Guy added: “Cautiously venturing out on Thursday evenings, for a socially distanced clap in front of St Clare’s, my wife Jane and I thanked the marvellous care home staff.”

Now he is publishing the first 50 of his Lockdown Letters To My Mum.

“This book came about as a surprise to me but now I have completed it I have developed an appetite and so I plan to return to working on my novel that I hope to publish in 2021.

“I am currently working on the audiobook so these letters may be enjoyed by those unable to read for themselves.

“This is my first sole authorship.”