The short series of stories about the shipping forecast were originally written for the monthly competition on the Word Cloud writing community. There are three so far, but another is on its way. The first, ‘German Bight’ is based around the Battle of Heligoland Bight, one of a series of clashes between German and British…
Month: May 2013
Matt Willis story shortlisted in Retreat West competition
Matt Willis’ story The End of The Road was shortlisted for the Retreat West website’s April competition on the theme of ‘A Walk’. The story didn’t win one of the main slots, but has now been rewritten and entered for another competition. Retreat West is run by writer Amanda Saint. It offers retreats for writers…
The inspiration for Blue Skies
Blue Skies was written as a tribute to a pilot who died during an airshow in 2007. I was present at the event, and watched the crash taking place. The climax of the airshow was a re-enactment of the Battle of Britain, on a beautiful day that would have been similar to the summer of…
Blue Skies – a story of flight
The pilot knew exactly what was wrong, and that there was nothing he could do about it. But he felt no fear, possibly because everything was happening so quickly, or perhaps because he was busy in his final seconds considering options he already knew were futile. He realised he was about to die, but that…
Dogger – a story of the rising sea
The ceremonial site had, for years, flooded when it rained hard. The ring of massive oak posts planted in the earth smelt faintly of damp and rot. It had been that way for as long as anyone living remembered. This year, as his extended family approached the site for the gathering, Shrimper detected a new…
FitzRoy – a story of the weather
The black clouds had returned. They swirled around Robert Fitzroy, battering him. He struggled to breathe, assailed by rage and confusion. Somewhere, crystals were forming, delicate, feathery, in the storm glass that bore his name. The reports which would enable his office to produce the forecast would be ready by now, sitting on his desk….
German Bight – a story of WW1 at sea
“Dogger – Cyclonic four or five. Moderate. Fog banks. Poor or very poor. German Bight…” “It’s not the German Bight! Because we kicked them out of it!” The only time I saw my Grandfather angry was in 1956 when someone accidentally left the wireless on long enough for him to hear the shipping forecast. I…
Air and Sea Stories 