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November 2024 From the author’s desk…

12 November, 2024 in From the author's desk

THE JOY OF TRAIN TRAVEL AND PORT TALBOT AT NIGHT 60 YEARS AGO…

It seemed a dream. Yesterday was just another day in the filing room, and now, he was sitting on the night Pullman to Swansea, with all his living expenses paid for four weeks.

He had never seen, or been on a train like it. You could actually have a meal while travelling. After a ‘Good evening, sir’ the uniformed conductor had picked up Ian’s small case and shown him to seat Ten F at a table with a little brass lamp topped by a pink lampshade. Laid for five courses, the silver plated cutlery jingled as the train picked up speed leaving Paddington.

 

Ian was the only passenger to get off the train at Port Talbot. The rain was tipping down as he walked along the deserted and bleak platform and stared at the flames reaching up to the heavens from a series of towers about five hundred yards away. Guarded by Cerebos he mused, as he headed down the exit tunnel, under a sign welcoming him to ‘THE HOME OF THE STEEL COMPANY OF WALES’; the smell of the sulphur was augmented by the stink of urine. Skirting around the closed booking hall, he found himself in a cul-de-sac flanked by goods yards; not a soul in sight.

Notts had telephoned  him earlier that day.

“Sorry I can’t meet you, we are signing the deal off with dinner afterwards. You’re booked into the Berni Inn, best place in town and only two minutes from the station.

He turned into a road of mean Victorian terraced houses with pale lights showing in some of the upper rooms. Further along on his right, illuminated red letters three feet high announcing ‘ERNI INN’ had been fixed to iron bars spanning the first floor of three adjoining houses.

 

 

 

 

An extract from chapter forty five of – ‘ Go Swift and Far – a Tale of Bath’ The first book of The Westcott Chronicles

 

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October 2025 From the author’s desk…

2 October, 2025 in From the author's desk

THE THEATRE ROYAL, BATH ‘Welcome, most welcome,’ the man started with a flamboyant flourish of hands. ‘Theatrical life has always been precarious in Bath. Over 250 years ago, 257 to…

September 2025 From the author’s desk…

4 September, 2025 in From the author's desk

THEATRE IS SO IMPORTANT The large brown envelope was awaiting him when he arrived home just after six, and made him feel even more sorry for himself. It contained the…

Reviews

“Douglas Westcott’s ability to take history and make it interesting, dynamic and personal makes An Unfolding Soul the most enjoyable of reads!”

Steve Travis – Mercer Island, Washington USA

‘As a Bathonian born and bred, I enjoyed reading these clever novels, particularly the historical detail of Bath – so successfully and accurately portrayed.’

Linda Turner

“Just finished reading your second book An Unfolding Soul which I have enjoyed as much as your first. As a Bathonian of 77 years I find it so scary and truthful as we currently experience The Third Destruction of Bath.”

Malcolm Mitchell

“Hard on the heels of ‘Go Swift and Far’ comes this hugely enjoyable sequel and another success for Westcott”

Jack Jenkins

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