Lisa Horner Writer & Artist

I have been posting pictures and the stories behind them that have been featured in both of my books Basildon Through Time and Lost Basildon .  I thought to myself what could I give in these hard times of coronavirus lockdown and this is what I have come up with.  To view the daily posts you can look at my Facebook page and like it if you want to keep up to date with the posts-  https://www.facebook.com/lisahornerauthor2020/ I have been doing this since 25th March 2020. https://lisajanehorner.wixsite.com/lisahornerauthor

My dear mother has moved nearer to me and is living at a beautiful assisted living residence in Billericay.  I've been sorting things out for her back at her flat and I came across a letter she wrote back in 1994, she's approaching 78 this year so she must have been 52 when she wrote this.  It just brought back memories of what she used to say to me and the stories that my Nan used to share.  She has allowed me to share it with you. 1st November 1994 Dear Sir, There was once, at about the beginning of this century, a part of London that was alive with Italian and Irish emigrants.  It was known as 'Little Italy' and was largely in Clerkenwell, slap bang in the middle of the city.  It must have lasted about 50 years before they all moved out. It was poor but there was a colourful and vigorous rapport between the people, the like of which I don't think this country will ever see again.  If it was skillfully investigated and made into a series, it woul...

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...

I thought I would share a few photos of Basildon town from the past particularly around the East Walk and East Square region where a lot of changes are happening right now.  The last photographs are my own shots of the demolition of the old post office in East Square.  These can be clicked on to be enlarged. The Mother and Child Statue with East Square seen behind.   Date unspecified.  From Basildon  Through Time. Basildon Town Square 1960s.  Keay House can be seen on the  right  and the part of it that overhung the square was demolished  in  1996.   From Basildon Through Time . East Square before the head post office was built and opened in 1963.  From  Lost Basildon. A photograph that seemingly didn't appear in either book.   East Square. You can see Stylo (Barratt) and Austin the Tailor in East Walk, Basildon, in the 1970s.  From Lost Basildon. New...

It was very nice of the Echo newspaper to plug my book last year, not once but twice!  When it first came out in August and a really lovely review later in October.  I had four radio interviews too so I definitely can't complain.  I have also been invited onto The Arts Programme on Phoenix FM which I'm looking forward to.  Will keep you updated when that will be, meanwhile you could have a listen to some of their previous shows here . https://lisajanehorner.wixsite.com/lisahornerauthor

Pete White took over the management of what was Hall + Co and then Jemm's Coffee Shop in Ramsden Heath in December 2019.  He approached it with great dedication and enthusiasm and has good plans for the place. Through word of mouth and social media people have noticed!  It was crazily busy over the Christmas period and is still busy now.  When you walk into the coffee shop, that does an excellent range of cold and cooked food, it is alive with chatter and happy customers.  It is a multi-cuisine café and serves breakfast, lunch, drinks and coffee.  Bookings and walk-ins are welcome, it is very child-friendly and welcomes group bookings and parties.  It does a takeaway service and as Pete used to be a private chef catering is definitely his forte.  But it's not all about Pete, the rest of the staff are excellent too, Aimée, Louise, Mandy, Keeley, Susan and Violeta to name a few.  You usually get a friendly welcome when you enter the café a...

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

YARDLEY London, that legendary purveyor of perfumes, soaps and toiletries will celebrate its 250 th anniversary this year.    The company which was once called Yardley of London is one of the oldest brands in the history of perfume, toiletries and cosmetics.   It has been awarded ‘Royal Warrant of Appointment’ six times, starting with Edward, Prince of Wales in 1921 then including the Queen and the late Queen Mother and most recently, in 1995, Charles, Prince of Wales. At the end of January 2020 it will be 21 years since Yardley of London closed its doors at its site in Basildon.   The last man to leave was security guard Roy Davis.   He locked everything up and put the key through the door in January 1999.   Unfortunately the company had got into financial problems in the mid-1990s and it went into receivership in 1998 after a year of marketing attempts to try and turn around its then old-fashioned image even though it had swapped Hele...

The article I wrote about Geraldine Evans and her family and their time running The Barge, Vange can be found on page 102 of the Essex Life Magazine, January 2020 edition.  It is an extension to the four pages I dedicated to Geraldine's association with The Barge within my last book, 'Lost Basildon'.  I'm pleased with the way it's been presented.  I have found out the article is also available to read online  here . https://www.lisajhorner.com/

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...

In 1989 the dramatic history of 'New Town' Basildon was portrayed in Arnold Wesker's play 'Beorhtel's Hill' at the Towngate Theatre to celebrate it's 40th anniversary. He went beyond this actually and the pioneering plotlanders were portrayed by a group of very effective amateur actors.  The community play incorporated locals who had acted before or wanted to try their hand at it and the Thalian Theatre Group.  Somebody who was very involved in the music scene of the 1980's was Rob Marlow and he did a great job of portraying the narrator of the play.  I have a close at hand experience of this as I was in the play, I played several small parts and was in the chorus.  This occupies a few pages of this book but it is so much more than that. I was fortunate enough to meet Tim Williams who was the first photographer of Depeche Mode.   I learnt a great deal doing this book such as the fact that Joan Sims was born at Laindon Station and that...

Did you know that there was a W. H. Smith at Langdon Hills in the 1920's?  Well it's not what you think, there was a William Hutton Smith who had a small shop on the High Road and it was unrelated to the high street retail giant.  There was even a dolls hospital in the same area around the same time. Find out a bit more about the family who ran a historic public house in Vange for seventy years and what happened to several other public houses.  Follow the dairy business that got passed down three generations. Basildon had a large impact on the music business in the eighties but in the swinging sixties things were really lively.  Mecca Dancing entertained the young of the era and bands would do the Mecca circuit travelling all over as Mecca Leisure Group ran numerous nightclubs in major towns and cities throughout the UK.  The bands would sometimes become a resident band at one of the Mecca venues, one band was Sadie's Expression and another w...

If you have bought my book, 'Lost Basildon', you may have read a personal anecdote of mine on the last page.  I have done a tribute to my Nan, Amelia.  She certainly contributed to my interest in history, I remember so well her telling me stories of our family.  She had two sisters and six brothers, and worshipped Polly her mother.  She admired how she coped with all her children, somehow always getting a meal on the table.  She had a very colourful life in London and loved to tell us about it, bringing the past to life passionately and articulately.  She was brought up in Clerkenwell by a half-English half-Irish mother and an Italian father, most of her siblings looked Italian. Family was her main concern.  Nanny Milly, as I called her, was a listening ear and a loving heart to all of our family.  She was naturally an entertainer and comedienne, and when her and Grandad got together they could be a comedy duo and I needed them in my life as I wa...

You can see the online version of this article here . https://www.lisajhorner.com/

Vin Harrop has been the biggest inspiration in my local history author career (after this Arnold Wesker with his community play Beorhtel's Hill and Frances Clamp and also the Basildon Borough Heritage team).  He welcomed me to The Basildon Heritage Project Team with his usual enthusiasm and warmth and although I was sort of going along with his campaign at the time he planted a seed that has stayed in my mind.  This seed is the idea of a museum for Basildon. Take a look at this newspaper article about Vin and The Arts Centre and then you might appreciate why this man is such an inspiration: - https://www.echo-news.co.uk/news/16891794.the-rise-and-fall-of-basildons-groundbreaking-arts-centre/ My ideal museum would appeal to all ages and would be highly immersive, it would include virtual reality experiences where you could walk down Laindon High Road in the 1940's or 1950's, go into Parkinson' s for example and ask for something, it would be much like the fork ha...

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...