Fifty Years On

Firstly, apologies that this blog post is so late. I’m going to blame my birthday which I’ll tell

you more about on my next blog otherwise this one will be more of a novella!

It probably seems as though Chris and I are always away on holiday, and I can’t deny that

we have had three ‘breaks’ away already this year but there is a reason we’ve felt the need

to ‘escape’ which I’ll tell you about when the time feels right!

Life really is a rollercoaster, but I’m going to focus on the positives today. Having reached

the conclusion that we needed a few days away, Chris and I were wondering where to go

when I realised that it is exactly fifty years since I started my career in ‘show business’ as a

dancer in a summer show in Guernsey. I’ve often thought about going back to see how it had

changed and this felt like the perfect timing. We found a three-night hotel deal, booked our

flights and off we went.

Most planes we fly on these days are jets without propellors, but Aurigny operate these

little beauties. It brought back memories of the sea planes that perform the island transfers

in the Maldives, but obviously without the floats and the weather conditions were a bit

different too. Although May didn’t enjoy the high temperatures we are currently

experiencing, we left the mainland with a promise of 20 degree temperatures where I live

and landed in Guernsey to a less than balmy 12 degrees! It’s a good job we took our coats.

Here’s a funny thing. We were chatting to the chap who was doing the paperwork for our

hire car telling him that I had worked in Guernsey fifty years previously and also that I had

returned in the summer of 1977 when I worked on the hire cars. It does make me laugh that

they still display the giant H to make sure that you are marked out as a visitor… we used to

refer to them as ‘horror’ cars back in the day. Anyway, he commented that I looked familiar

but that he wasn’t working the hire cars then, so I asked if he watched TV, and more

specifically QVC. I’m just surprised he recognised me without my make-up on!

One of the first things I wanted to do was show Chris where the Sally Ashworth Dancers had

stayed while we were in summer season. Yes, that is me top left! I look about twelve and so

innocent. I was actually sixteen, about to turn seventeen although the venue I was working

at, The Carlton Hotel had been told I was seventeen about to turn eighteen.

At the time, it was the top venue on Guernsey and our show, Champagne Showtime

featured a little known double act called Cannon and Ball… they weren’t even top of the bill!

We went in search of the Carlton Hotel on one of the days we were in Guernsey – it is no

longer a hotel and looks a little less pristine than I remember it.

I’ll digress for a moment to tell you about my birthday in 1973. After the show that night, I

was asked by the management to join them in the hotel bar area ‘for a birthday drink’.

Imagine my horror when I pushed the doors open and they had laid on a full-on 18 th

Birthday Party. I don’t think I ever owned up.

So back to the house we dancers had lived in for the summer of 1973. I couldn’t remember

the exact address but knew it was on a corner on the sea front heading out of St Peterport

and was opposite a carpark. Even without the address, it wasn’t difficult to find.

The intention was just to pose for a photo by the front door and head off but in a moment

of madness, I knocked on the door and a lady answered. I’m pretty sure that in London if

you were confronted by two strangers telling you that one of them had lived in the house

fifty years previously you would just assume it was some kind of scam to gain entry and

would close the door on them. But this was Guernsey and we were invited in by John and Sue, the couple

who now own the house, who were keen to know how the property had changed since I’d

lived there.

We had a lovely chat with them during the course of which we discovered that she was a

former dancing teacher and they’d recently returned from a holiday in Antigua – it turns out

they were there at the same time as us! What an amazing coincidence. I have to say the

house is in a much better state than when we lived there, and you no longer need to climb

out of my old bedroom window to access the garden after the addition of a door in the

room they now use as an office. Even the sun put in an appearance while we stood chatting

in the garden.

The following day, we were planning a trip to Herm, a small island near Guernsey which can

only be accessed by boat but the weather was grey and overcast all day, so we thought

better of it. This photo was taken on Herm and is of me and my best friend from school,

Annie who came to visit for a couple of weeks. We’ve recently reconnected through

Facebook but have yet to meet up – something else on my extensive ‘to do’ list.

Annie was also staying when my parents visited – this is us with my dad.

So, we didn’t get to Herm (maybe that calls for another trip) but we did find a sheltered spot

on Port Soif beach the following day when it was bright and sunny, if a little blowy.

It was lovely to feel the sun my skin and I made good use of my time by spelling out The Woman

on the Beach in shells – I wonder if it is still there? It was above the tide line so it’s possible,

I guess. You could always check it out for me if you live in Guernsey – the end of the beach

nearest the café.

Speaking of living in Guernsey, we met up with Jannine (pictured) and her husband Paul

who we know through Rotary International and their work to End Polio Now. To say they

have the perfect view from their home is not an understatement. We didn’t stay until

sunset as we had dinner planned but I imagine it is glorious watching the sun dip into the

sea at the end of the day – my dream view.

So, before this does turn into the aforementioned novella, just time to say congratulations

to Angela, the winner of the May competition which was a copy of The Dilemma signed by

both me and the audiobook narrator – the only copy in existence signed by us both.

There is no competition this month, but you can still be a winner as Little Girl Missing is

currently completely free to download. This promotion has been organised by my publisher,

Bookouture so I don’t know how long it will last for, but I know lots of people have already

downloaded as she was in the number 1 slot on the Amazon Kindle free chart for the whole

of my birthday and is still in the top 10 as I write this – take advantage while you can.

Again, apologies this is so late – I’ll try and get July’s blog up on time and organise a nice

competition prize as well.

Much love

Julia xx