Lisa Horner Writer & Artist

  At the moment I am reading Tom King's Thames Estuary Trail , the original version and peeking into Sylvia Kent's Folklore of Essex, that will be my next read.  I've also got Jim Reeves book, Memories of Basildon lined up for after Sylvia's book.  As well as this, whenever I get the chance I am listening to A Life on Our Planet by David Attenborough on Audible.  He narrates it, which makes it very real and sometimes it really gets to me how our planet has gone downhill in his lifetime.  I think reading Tom King's witty, laugh-out-loud book that has inspired the Estuary Festival creates a good balance and stops me getting too down.  The second edition can be purchased here .  By the way I noticed that fellow history author, Sylvia Kent has reached her 400,000th viewer of her blog that has been going since 2005/6 which is amazing!  She wrote a post about it, I would too!  If you're wondering, this blog has had 15,569 viewers and has been goin...

Sylvia Kent has written an article about a gentleman who has been very helpful to me when I was researching both of my books, Ken Porter.  In particular Basildon Through Time .  I virtually became researcher in residence on a Monday and Wednesday at the Green Centre at Wat Tyler Country Park in 2014.  He is by far the leading expert on Laindon and Langdon Hills history at present.  You can see Sylvia's article here .  You could also visit Basildon Heritage's website , Ken is the chairman and treasurer of the group.

In her previous career Sylvia Kent had worked on typing the parliamentary debates for both Hansard offices (Lords and Commons) in Westminster for 26 years. In 1992 Sylvia helped start the Brentwood University of the Third Age (U3A).  She was asked to start a gardening group which she organised for several years from her Brentwood home.  This was followed by running a home-made wine group then a memoir-writing course.  Sylvia explains, "When I joined the U3A I met a former journalist who had worked for The Times who ran a group to get members writing professionally.  She suggested we should "write what we know" which sounds like a cliché.  I was then making wine so I sent an article to The Lady magazine which described the basics of how to make a simple gallon of apple wine.  This was published and led to other freelance work for other journals." Sylvia is currently a vice-president and archivist for the Society of Women Writers and Journalists (SWWJ) and w...

Sylvia in a bookshop with her books 19/12/19 Sylvia broadcasting on Phoenix FM in 2017 IF you want something done ask a busy person!  This certainly applies to Sylvia Kent, a freelance writer and author with 12 published books, including her latest one ‘Brentwood in 50 Buildings’.  She has also contributed to seven anthologies and has had more than 4,000 features published, many as part of her columns for Essex Life, and other magazines and newspapers, specialising in history, gardening, winemaking and folklore. As well as being vice-president for the Brentwood Writers' Circle she is a founding member of the Billericay Reading Group and has a monthly Book Club spot on Michelle Ward's 'Eat My Brunch' at Phoenix FM. Sylvia is patron for the Essex Book Festival and a Trustee of the John Baron Fun Walk which raises money for local charities. Sylvia is on of five sisters and was brought up in Dagenham.  When she left school it was assumed that she would go...

It was really nice to meet Sylvia and have a chat with her about her long career in writing, as a journalist and author.  She also had a very interesting former career at Westminster.  Being the kind lady she is she gave me lots of tips on journalism and writing, telling me about websites to look at etc. I first came across Sylvia when she wrote me an email inviting me to go on her Book Club on Michelle Ward's show 'Eat My Brunch' on Phoenix FM after my second book had come out (Lost Basildon).  I've met her since at the Society of Women Writers and Journalists Christmas Tea and the Brentwood Writers Circle and think she is an all round good egg, a goodun'.  Someone who has done well in life and likes to help others achieve success. Read one of Sylvia's historic articles on the website of 'Enjoy Brentwood More' here . https://lisajanehorner.wixsite.com/lisahornerauthor

I felt very privileged to be accepted as a full member of the SWWJ .  The society was founded by Joseph Snell Wood in 1894 and it celebrated its 125th anniversary this year.  I went to my first event, a Christmas Tea and it was held in the beautiful, historic National Liberal Club in Westminster. I attended with my good friend Julie and this wouldn't be at all possible if it wasn't for author Sylvia Kent who mentioned that I could join the society on Phoenix FM, she had invited me onto the Book Club which is part of Michelle Ward's 'Eat My Brunch' weekday show.  I finally took the bull by the horns and applied to become a member and Sylvia kindly sponsored me and got somebody else to sponsor me too. I was thrilled to find out that Baroness Floella Benjamin is the President of the society and hope that one day I will meet her.  We had a lovely tea and we chatted to a few other authors which was really interesting.  I didn't take any pictures of the day but y...

I had the privilege of being on the Book Club at Phoenix 98FM last week, I was invited by Sylvia Kent, a prolific author who's been writing for a long time, she was also on the show with me talking about her latest book  'Brentwood in 50 Buildings.'   The host of the show was Michelle Ward and it was part of her  Eat My Brunch  weekday show. http://sylviakent.blogspot.com/2019/10/another-phoenix-book-club-with-new.html#links You can hear the recorded radio interview  here. Earlier, on 19th September 2019 Tom King, Roy Davis, Geraldine Evans and myself were on with Ros on Gateway 97.8 from 16:00 pm.  If you wanted to hear our lively show you have to go back to that time and date on Gateway 97.8fm's Listen Again page. Tom is a journalist and former chief feature writer for the Echo and still writes for them on a freelance basis.  He has a new joke book out this year too.  Geraldine Evan's family ran The Barge, Vange for seventy years and sh...