Lisa Horner Writer & Artist

It's nice to see when a post does well and gets a lot of visits, and sometimes I can help it along by posting it on a relevant site, for example the top visited post on this blog, and I have a lot of posts now, is Yardley London Celebrates its 250th Anniversary as we Remember Yardley's in Basildon .  This has reached the grand total of 1557 views.  I have shared this on the Basildon Memories Facebook page and it got a lovely reception.  So below are the top twenty visited posts of this blog.  You can click on them and view the post if you so wish. 1  Yardley London Celebrates its 250th Anniversary as we Remember Yardley's in Basildon - 1557 views 2  Pete's Place is Packed! - 1022 views 3  Noting the Changes to East Walk and East Square - 799 views 4  Article in Essex Life Magazine January 2020 - 526 views 5   Irie Perera - Poet & Avid Charity Fundraiser S1 E10 (podcast) - 502 views 6   Sylvia Kent - A Prestigious Lady - 283 views 7  Sylvia Kent's Top Ten

Once again Ingatestone Musical and Operetta Group aced it!  Lets call them IMOG for short.  This group who started in 1970 in the village of Ingatestone have metamorphosised over the years as times have changed.  Recently they have won not one but two NODA Regional  Awards for best panto, one for Aladdin in 2019 and one for Sleeping Beauty in 2022, that is quite an achievement and well deserved. I have been in a few productions since October 2017 with them,  Sister Act and Nine to Five , Aladdin and Betty Blue Eyes .  The group are friendly and welcoming and when you're involved in the rehearsals, there are often lots of laughs to be had.  But I will say, although they are classified as an amateur dramatic group they are very serious about getting brilliant, memorable results.   In Spamalot there were several notable actors who did their parts brilliantly.  King Arthur played by Mark Walker was excellent, he was also the king in Sleeping Beauty , a natural king.  Patsy was pl

Doctor Chowdhary's house and surgery, Laindon High Road Doctor Chowdhary's amazing life has been such an inspiration to me that I was inspired to write a story which was based on him and how he affected those who knew and loved him, which was pretty much the whole community of Laindon at one time.  I've got information from people who were his patients, his daughter who has written on Laindon & District Community Archive and other local history books.  I asked his daughter if I could write about him in this way and send it up to a women's magazine to be published, and would she fact check it.  She did and was honoured in fact.  Sadly my story didn't get into the magazine but it is here for you to see. FOG "Doctor Chowdhary will be so terribly missed!  Yesterday, when his funeral procession went through Laindon High Street there were so many people weren't there Polly?  Crowds of us standing on the pavement, hardly a dry eye amongst us."  Pa said

On the 22nd of May from 1pm onwards I will be at Vange Library with the amazing Geraldine Evans who will be giving a talk.   I will introduce Geraldine, who's family ran The Barge public house in Vange for 70 years.  Geraldine, who was RADA trained and spent some time as a Redcoat at Butlins before she joined her father to run the pub also became a Justice of the Peace later in her life.   It was said today that I will be Author in Residence at Vange Library, as I will be there for quite a few Mondays over the next few months.  I will try not to let it get to my head!