Suzy Henderson

Writing is fantastic. It's also filled with flaws and turbulence. Anything can upset the balance and I have endured my own tidal wave of 'events' over the last five months. You could say that my writing has been little and not very often which is incredibly frustrating. However, as an avid reader I have recently received some fresh inspiration. I read Hilary Mantel's biography recently and she said that she always knew she was capable of writing and of being a good writer but she did not know how to write fiction. Ta da! My first snippet of inspiration courtesy of Hilary. When I first began my writing journey, I was anything but an accomplished fiction writer.  I began out in the same camp as Hilary in that I always knew that I could write fairly well but I had never attempted to write fiction - not since my school days and that was some time ago. So, the fact that Hilary Mantel had to learn her trade is certainly inspirational and gives me hope. My next jewel of i

Sir Alan Smith was hand picked by Douglas Bader to be his wingman during the fierce Battle of Britain. Alan Smith was born on the 17th March 1917, in South Shields in north-east England. Sadly he would never  know his own father, Captain Alfred Smith, who was tragically lost at sea during World War One. He grew up in South Shields, working in his mother's ironmongery store. He joined the Royal Airforce Volunteer Reserve along with many other young men and was called up to serve his country in 1939. Alan Smith He joined 610 Squadron as a Sergeant at Acklington in October 1940. At the beginning of 1941 he was posted to 616 Squadron which would become part of the Tangmere Wing, led by none other than the infamous Douglas Bader. One day as Smith came in to the dispersal hut, Bader turned to him and said, 'What's your name?' 'Smith, Sir,' Alan replied. 'Right, you'll do. Fly as my number two and God help you if you let any Hun get on my tail,'