Cycling challenge set the wheels in motion for author’s new book

From belfasttelegraph.co.uk

Writer completed 1,000-mile coastal ride in just 21 days 

A Northern Ireland author has released a book he decided to pen over lockdown about an epic cycling challenge he undertook 20 years ago.

Cecil Lowry, who is originally from Downpatrick but has been living in Stockport for many years, has released The Diary of an Irish Pedaller with the help of Belfast-based publisher Shanway Press.

It details his 1,000-mile cycle around the coast of Ireland, which took 21 days.

Cecil travelled through 17 counties on two wheels at the age of 54 in June 2002. He cycled around the Aran Islands, the lakes of Killarney and even passed the Giant’s Causeway.

He said that after cycling for enjoyment as a child, he took up the sport again after retiring as a PE teacher in his fifties.

Now, at the age of 74, Cecil still enjoys cycling every day and wanted to share his epic challenge with others.

“Cycling is good because it clears my head. I really enjoy it,” he said.

“I decided to take myself off on this challenge, initially to raise money for Marie Curie after my parents had passed away. I ended up raising £3,400 at the time.”

While on holiday in Spain prior to the cycle, Cecil took a book with him to read, Around Ireland With A Fridge by Tony Hawks, which inspired him to undertake the challenge to raise as much money as he could for a charity close to his heart.

“I ended up keeping a diary during my travels of where I went to and what happened, including drinking pints on the north coast and hitching a lift on a mussel fishing boat across Carlingford Lough, as well as getting a buckle in my back wheel coming through the mountains of Mourne.

“I thought, ‘Why not turn my adventures into a book?’

When he set out to map his route, Cecil realised it would be more than 3,000 miles to cycle the entire coastline, so to keep it manageable, he worked out a route of 1,000 miles.

“My wife left me off at the boat at Holyhead with nothing but my bike and two panniers and I set off for Dublin,” he said.

“I reckoned I could cycle 50 to 60 miles a day, but even though I had a rough plan worked out, I didn’t book anywhere to stay because I wasn’t sure what was going to be too much, so I just rolled up at B&Bs and hotels when I decided I had done enough for the day.

“On a typical day I would set off at around 9.30am and finish at 4.30pm.”

                                                      Cecil in Ballycastle

Cecil carried all his own gear for the entire cycle and received no support throughout the trip, other than a phone in case of emergencies. “Some of the most memorable milestones was when I hitched a lift across Carlingford Lough with a mussel fishing boat, and when I stayed at Strandhill on the West Coast I enjoyed a seaweed bath to wind down the day,” he said.

“When I cycled through the Mournes and was on my way to Newcastle I hit my first hurdle and got a buckle in my back wheel on my way into the town. I stopped at a bike shop and they fixed it right away.

“I met some really lovely people and it’s a time of my life I’ll treasure forever, so it is nice that my stories are being turned into a book to inspire others.”

His latest book is a little bit more light-hearted than his previous works, which focused primarily on Japanese prisoners of war during the Second World War, like his father.

Released last year, Frank Pantridge MC: Japanese Prisoner of War And Inventor of the Portable Defibrillator was a huge success in UK bookstores.

It was officially launched in Northern Ireland by Dame Mary Peters along with a statue of Frank Pantridge, which was unveiled outside Lisburn Conference Centre.

The Diary of an Irish Pedaller (£10, Shanway Press) and can be purchased at shanway.com

https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/sunday-life/news/cycling-challenge-set-the-wheels-in-motion-for-authors-new-book-41845133.html

A Voice from the Past – Hattie’s diary entry from Hong Kong

From pressherald.com

The Brick Store Museum holds over 30,000 pieces of archival material written by historic Kennebunkers. A Voice from the Past shares from the museum’s collection. This week’s column is from a local woman named Hattie, who travelled with her husband, a ship captain, around the world in 1884. In this diary, she is writing from Hong Kong. Her diary is currently on view in the museum’s exhibition “Sea of Stories.”

Tuesday, January 1st 1884

It is now more than two years since my last attempt at keeping a diary. The year of ’82 (Aug. 10th) brought us another baby boy, and the year ’83 (Sept. 25th) took from us our darling Bennie, our first born, given, or rather lent to us Oct. 5th, 1880 in Hong Kong, and taken from us in the same place, on our third voyage to that port; within two days of his third birthday, it is useless to attempt to describe in words the bitterness of our grief – God alone knows it. He alone can help us.

My room was finished today, recess painted and carpet put down one room after another is being garnished and put in order — the three after cabin staterooms are done, also the bathroom and after vestibule. We are bound to New York with cargo of fire crackers, cassia, matting, etc. from Hong Kong and if our darling boy were only with us, this homeward passage would be a very happy one.

Wednesday Jan. 2nd, ’84 – Fine all day, until towards evening when heavy banks of clouds rising up brought a strong wind – calm, with heavy swell, all the afternoon. Captain has worked very hard today in the cabin and on deck; he does all the varnishing in the cabin, and oversees the work generally. Tom paints and steward and cabin boy do the scrubbing. We are not making very rapid progress toward our destined port having had head winds and calms for several days past. We are nearing the cape of Good Hope very slowly – hope the wind will not last much longer in this direction, as am anxious to get home – though why, I can hardly tell, as I can never be happy or contented there or elsewhere without my darling boy. When God took him, he took all earthly happiness from me at the same time. I shall never see another happy day as long as I live and I feel sometimes that I do not want to live any longer – still I know that I am not ready to die. 

Well, if I cannot be happy myself, I can endeavour to make others happy, and must and will try, to live a good life – one that shall be acceptable in the sight of God – so that when this earthly life is done, I may be reunited to my angel boy in that world where sorrow and partings are unknown and where God shall wipe away all tears.” Little Ralph is growing very fast, and is a dear little boy, but he can never take little Bennie’s place in my heart.

https://www.pressherald.com/2022/07/13/a-voice-from-the-past-hatties-diary-entry-from-hong-kong/ 

The secret Pacific war diaries of Walter J. Hinkle

From faribaultcountyregister.com

Jim Pollard’s new book reveals POW Hinkle’s concealed Pacific War diaries

Imprisonment, a world at war, parted lovers and a mysterious wooden leg…

This is the story of Lieutenant Walter J. Hinkle, which was nearly lost to the ravages of time.

When Blue Earth resident Jim Pollard obtained Hinkle’s diary in 2017, he recognized he had stumbled upon a treasure. Now, that treasure is revealed to the public in The Secret POW Diary of Walter J. Hinkle, a book researched and edited by Pollard.

The diaries, which are presented, unedited, in Pollard’s book, detail Hinkle’s experience as a prisoner of war at the Daveo Penal Colony in Japan.

Hinkle was stationed in the Philippines in the spring of 1941. His leg was severely injured that December, leaving him an invalid when the Philippines fell to Japan in May of 1942.

Bedridden and imprisoned by the Japanese army, Hinkle pieced together a diary on scraps of paper and cigarette wrappers.

According to Pollard, it is very lucky that he did so.

“It’s extremely rare to have a Pacific War diary,” Pollard says. “There were fewer soldiers fighting in the Pacific, and keeping a diary was very low on your list.” 

Unusual circumstances enabled Hinkle to keep his 136,000-word diary safely hidden from the scrutiny of the prison guards.

When Hinkle’s injured leg was amputated, it was replaced with a wooden leg containing a false compartment – perfect for concealing a contraband document.

Walter J. Hinkle, above, left, shows his diaries, and their secret compartment in his wooden leg, to Pfc. Russ Simon

The carefully-kept diary details one of the longest periods of Japanese military captivity experienced by any American during the Second World War.

Hinkle updated his diary faithfully, sometimes bartering food for paper. Pollard believes Hinkle hoped to craft an accurate portrayal of his experiences for the benefit of the outside world.

Unfortunately, Hinkle was often unable to document specific details for fear of implicating the people around him. Instead, he reported important bits of news as ‘camp rumors.’

Hinkle’s experiences themselves were also limited.

“The problem with Hinkle’s diary is that he spends the entire war in a (prisoner of war) hospital bed,” Pollard notes. “Part of camp life was missing from the story.”

Pollard wanted to flesh out Hinkle’s experiences with additional perspectives in his book. So, he supplemented Hinkle’s diary entries with the diaries of other individuals with whom Hinkle crossed paths.

“He (Hinkle) is the hubbub of the wheel around which the story turns,” Pollard explains. “The other five stories have completed the wheel.” 

Pollard wove five supplemental perspectives throughout the book. They include the diaries of a Japanese soldier, a Filipino local, a Bataan Death March survivor and a Davao Penal Colony escapee. Pollard identified them as the best stories to compliment Hinkle’s after two years of painstaking research.

The endeavor required a combination of dedication and serendipity, as do many aspects of Pollard’s hobby.

“In a way, discovering things is a form of adventure,” he considers. “(When doing research) you have to be sort of dogged and obsessive. It’s a trail, and it leads you where it leads you.” 

Pollard’s book, for example, is a product of chance and relentless patience. It is luck, after all, that led Pollard to Hinkle’s diary in the first place.

The diary traveled between four owners before landing in Pollard’s possession.

Eileen Hinkle initially owned the diary after her husband’s death. However, when Eileen died, she willed the Hinkle estate, and the diary along with it, to the family lawyer, Camilla Broderick. Broderick sold the diary to her hairdresser, who had an interest in antiques, and the hairdresser listed Hinkle’s diary for sale on eBay.

Eventually, the artifact was purchased by Rob Morgan, a friend of Pollard’s and a big-time collector of diaries.

It just so happened that Pollard was on the lookout for a new research project when Morgan acquired the diary. Morgan suggested the unusual document might be just what Pollard was searching for.

“That began a five-year odyssey that concluded, this week, with Schiffer Publishing’s release of my book, The Secret POW Diary of Walter J. Hinkle,” Pollard says.

The book’s publication was nearly as complicated as its research.

Pollard considered offers from three different publishers before settling with Schiffer Publishing, who agreed to publish the book using Pollard’s own design.

Pollard wanted an atypical layout for the book: two columns to a page, with a smattering of supplemental diary entries throughout and a variety of photographs.

“I wanted that because of the types of photographs I had,” Pollard says, adding, “I wanted the book to be small: diary-size.” 

Pollard also insisted that Hinkle’s diaries be published unedited.

“The way I like to read history is through a first-hand account,” Pollard explains. “I insisted the book be printed as-is. My voice is not in there.”

As such, Hinkle’s original diary entries are now available on Amazon, Schiffer Publishing’s website, and at Barnes & Noble. The book will also be available through booksellers in Germany and England.

You might say Pollard’s long journey to authorship ended just as satisfactorily as Walter J. Hinkle’s journey to freedom.

During his imprisonment, Hinkle found solace in memories of the Minnesota Boundary Waters, where he had once traveled with his dad on a fishing trip.

“At his worst moment, that place was magical,” Pollard says.

Hinkle returned to the Boundary Waters after he was liberated in 1945, an experience which was captured in a photograph appearing on the last page of Pollard’s book.

In the photograph, honeymooners Hinkle and Eileen grin from a small, white fishing boat, the Boundary Waters and distant woods at their backs.

“The story is essentially a love story,” Pollard says. “They met before the war on a cruise ship. They kept in touch, married after the war and had their honeymoon in the place he dreamed of.”

Pollard compares the story’s poetic symmetry to that of a Hollywood screenplay.

And yet, Hinkle’s story was very nearly lost to history, as are the words of so many people when nobody takes the time to read them.

“What’s curious about diaries is if you see them at auctions, they sell for almost nothing,” Pollard says. “Diaries are more ephemeral. They just sit in the drawer. You have to be the type of person who can enjoy seeing the experience vicariously through the words of other people.” 

https://www.faribaultcountyregister.com/news/local-news/2022/07/03/the-secret-diaries-of-walter-j-hinkle/

 

80 years ago Anne Frank started her diary, a landmark of world literature

From france24.com

Thirteen-year-old Anne Frank began keeping her now-famous diary on June 12, 1942. She would spend a little more than two years confiding in its pages, sharing stories from daily life, observations, and hopes for the future from the cramped annex in Amsterdam she occupied with her family and several other Jews in hiding. The last entry in her diary is dated August 1, 1944, after which she was arrested and deported. 

“I hope I will be able to confide everything to you, as I have never been able to confide in anyone, and I hope you will be a great source of comfort and support.” Anne Frank's diary begins with these now-famous words. Her book, published by her father in 1947, has become a landmark of world literature in its singular account of innocence in the face of barbarism.

Born in Frankfurt in 1929, Anne Frank emigrated with her family to the Netherlands in 1933, when Adolf Hitler became chancellor of a crisis-ridden Germany. In 1942, as the authorities tracked down Jews in the Nazi-occupied Netherlands, the Frank family moved into the 'annex', a flat hidden behind a false bookcase, to escape the Gestapo.

In August 1944, the family was betrayed by an unknown individual, and the inhabitants of the annex were deported to Auschwitz. Afterwards, Anne and her sister were transferred to Bergen-Belsen. Anne died of typhus in February or March 1945, shortly after the death of her older sister Margot.

Only 38,000 of the 140,000 Jews living in the Netherlands survived the Nazi occupation, one of the highest Holocaust death tolls in Europe. Dutch professor Johannes Houwink ten Cate, from the Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies (NIOD) in Amsterdam, reflects on the significance of this literary work.

Photo of Anne Frank's passport on top of the diary she kept while confined to the 'secret annex' in Amsterdam, where she hid with her family from the Nazis between June 1942 and August 1944. AFP - DESK

FRANCE 24: When Anne Frank started writing her diary in June 1942, what was her life like?

Johannes Houwink ten Cate: She led the ordinary life of a middle-class Jewish teenage girl living in Amsterdam. Her family was relatively modest – her father was a businessman, but not a very successful one. She lived in the Rivierenbuurt ('river district'), while the wealthier German Jews lived in the south of Amsterdam.

Anne Frank did not have a religious upbringing. She came from a liberal German-Jewish background whose liberal and humanist ideals deeply influenced her. This is part of the appeal of her diary – even in moments of crisis in the secret annex, she holds firm to her beliefs.

She was well-assimilated into society and not a very orthodox Jew. For instance, she writes about her dream of going to Hollywood and becoming a movie star. In many ways, she was a normal adolescent girl: she experimented with kissing a female friend and fought a lot with her mom.

However, when her diary was first published in 1947, these passages were edited out by her father Otto Frank. They were only made public in 1986, when the Dutch State Institute for War Documentation published the “scientific” version of the diary – a response to legal questions in Western Germany, where some denied the diary’s authenticity.

Why do you think she decided to write about her daily life in this diary?

During the Nazi occupation, many people in both Western and Eastern Europe started writing diaries to document their experiences – and to regain some form of control over their lives, which they had lost under the Nazis. This was also the case with Anne Frank. In her diary, she created an imaginary friend, Kitty, who was also her alter ego. I think that through her diary, she fought her feelings of isolation and loneliness. In the beginning, she wrote only for herself. Later on, she decided that her diary ought to be published and started rewriting it. In this way, she turned it into a work of literature and a coming-of-age story.

How do you explain the success of Anne Frank’s diary and its continuing appeal to younger generations?

Anne Frank was an innocent child, an adolescent girl. My guess is that young girls will always be able to identify with her. As long as there are 13-year-olds, her diary will be read all around the world. Since 2011, there is even a Chinese translation.

Also, she is non-religious and therefore appeals to a non-Jewish audience. She never loses faith in humanity. The Holocaust is not mentioned in her story – there is no murder and no camps. At the same time, the diary is all about the Holocaust, because the modern reader knows for a fact what Anne herself could not have known at the time she was writing – that she, too, would be murdered in Bergen-Belsen as one of the six million Jews who died under the Nazi regime.

The book "Who betrayed Anne Frank?" by Canadian author Rosemary Sullivan argued that the Jewish notary Arnold van den Bergh revealed the Franks’ hiding place in 1944 in Amsterdam. You have said that there are too many errors in this book. Can you explain the controversy? 

One of most important errors that the writers of this book made was believing that the notary, as an alleged “collaborator”, had close relations with the Nazis. They also insufficiently took into account the fact that Van den Bergh had gone into hiding himself six months before the Franks were arrested. Big allegations such as this one require substantial proof, and that proof was not presented in the book. 

In the United States, the most recent books about Anne Frank, such as the biographies by Melissa Müller and Carole Anne, reveal new “betrayers”. During my career as a Holocaust researcher, I have heard of seven different betrayers. Americans (and not only Americans) love these kinds of detective stories, but they are not really scientific investigations.

This article is a translation of the original in French by Diana Liu 

https://www.france24.com/en/europe/20220612-80-years-ago-anne-frank-started-her-diary-a-landmark-of-world-literature

Creativity And Self-Development: Why We Need To Keep A Diary And 5 Creative Ways To Do It

From kdrtv.co.ke

Although everyone has a smartphone that stores all the notes, keeping a diary is still helpful. There are many reasons why paper notebooks are superior to electronic ones. But most importantly, a day planner is more reliable and interesting, it develops a person creatively and gives emotional peace of mind. Here’s how you can get creative with a day planner and why it’s worth keeping it in the first place.

Bullet Journal

Designer Ryder Carroll created this planning system almost 10 years ago. Thanks to it, you can keep all your most important notes in one place and not get confused. It’s a mix of a day planner, to-do list, and personal diary. Not only is it handy to take notes but also to draw and even to sketch. Here’s how to design Bullet Journal better. 

The first pages are the place for the table of contents. The spread after it contains a six-month plan of the main things to do. Divide the page into three sectors with the names of the months. Then, the planning for the month’s events comes. On the left, write the numbers and days of the week in columns, events, and appointments. On the next page, write goals and plans for which you don’t know the exact dates yet. 

Next, add your daily activities. Under each date, write your important tasks, using a special notation system:

• A black dot is a current task.
• A blank circle is an event or meeting.
• A long dash is a note.
• An asterisk is an urgent task.
• An exclamation mark is something important you should remember. 

In Bullet Journal, you can create collections (for example, interesting books or articles you would like to read), keep track of your expenses or track your habits. You can jot down anything you want in here, you can draw and sketch. Just be sure to number the pages and put each section in the table of contents.

The “Autofocus” System

This technique will help you to cope with the chaos in the notes, with it, you will never lose important events and ideas. Any notebook will do for such a diary. Write down all the tasks that first came to your mind. If some are tied to dates, indicate them. Once all the urgent tasks are done, open the notebook and look for the items on the list that you feel most passionate about. Cross off what has already been done. 

You can use this technique to write down your plans, dreams, interesting ideas, and so on. Keeping a diary doesn’t require much time, you don’t have to divide something into categories or memorize different designations. The “autofocus” methodology is suitable for chaotic people whose moods change rapidly, and planning isn’t their best trait.

Diary for Freelancers

This system is designed for freelancers and creative people. Each hour is divided into blocks: 45 minutes for creative work, and the rest of the time is allotted for chores, like washing dishes, cleaning, and laundry. If you work in an office, sort papers or make copies of important documents in these 15 minutes. 

Many tasks are subject to planning, then no extra time will be spent thinking. Mark not just “become a pro in a particular betting strategy”, but as follows: “Monday – gather general information about live betting in Tanzania, Tuesday – pick a particular strategy, Wednesday – watch how experts use it, Thursday – try implementing it yourself in a demo mode”. You should write down the activities that you should devote time to each day. The entries can be supplemented with drawings, colourful strips, or plant ornaments.

List of Things Not to Do

This method will help not to be dispersed on a lot of small ideas and choose only the most important ones. Divide tasks into three lists: important to-do’s, completed, and “not to-do’s.” Include no more than three items in the first section, less important items go to the “not-to-do” list. Write the completed tasks from the first section into the second one. This psychologically increases your productivity. You will see how your tasks are completed. 

This system allows you to figure out which tasks are important and which can be done later. This simple and convenient method is suitable even for beginners. But for those who like to structure everything, this methodology may seem chaotic. The diary can also be supplemented with stickers and pictures.

The 1-3-5 System

In such a diary, you can plan for the day a total of nine things. In the first place, there is the main task of the day (a mandatory one). The next three tasks are placed in order of importance. The remaining five tasks are small tasks to begin with, but only if there is some free time. What is not done is carried over to the next day. 

The advantage of this system is that it is convenient, as such a diary is quick to keep and easy to arrange in any notebook. So you learn to prioritise, even if you have never kept a diary before. This methodology will not suit too busy people. The limit of nine tasks will be too small, they will have to choose for themselves another system.

Why Keep a Diary

Keeping a diary is useful, it calms, and adjusts in a creative way. With it, a person has no fear that all the information will suddenly disappear. After all, gadgets can break, hang up, run out of power, and the information on paper remains unchanged. Knowing this, a person stops being nervous. He knows that important notes are always available to him. 

Affairs, dreams, plans, and even passwords are safer to record on paper. They are kept that way for decades, you can find everything you need even after a long time. It also calms you down and relieves your brain considerably. There’s no overabundance of information, you can easily focus on what’s important. It has been proven that people absorb handwritten information better. 

But one of the main pros of a paper diary is creative development, and room for imagination. In the electronic version, you can’t put a sticker, draw a funny picture or make thematic spreads. In a written diary, you can create and relax.

https://www.kdrtv.co.ke/entertainment/creativity-and-self-development-why-we-need-to-keep-a-diary-and-5-creative-ways-to-do-it/ 

I’m a gardening expert – here are ten easy steps to take right now to prep for summer

From thescottishsun.co.uk 

By Anita Markoff

GETTING your garden ready for summer might seem like a daunting task.

But it doesn't have to be, according to an expert.

There are some easy steps you can take right now to make sure your plants are blooming by the time the warmer weather arrives.

And May is the month to make that happen.

Chris Bonnett, founder of GardeningExpress.co.uk, said: "May is the ideal time to begin planting vegetables and mulch your existing plants for their longevity. You can also start to plant the last of your summer bulbs, carry on deadheading and create some natural pest deterrents.

"By aiming to get this prep done now, you can make sure your garden is ready for you to enjoy throughout the summer."

Here are 10 tricks which will make sure your green space is looking in the pink.

Keep a gardening diary

Write down what seeds you are sowing and planting this summer, so you are prepared when autumn rolls around.

Summer is a busy month for jobs around the garden, so keeping notes on what new plants you are growing will help you keep track.

Collect rainwater

Take advantage of any late spring showers by placing a large bucket or water barrel in your garden.

This way you will be able to water your garden easily during the hot months, even if a hosepipe ban gets put in place.

Tidy plant beds

Make sure to deadhead your spring flowers and keep them well watered.

This will mean your flower beds look fresh and have the longest possible life span.

Pansies, for example, can last until midsummer if they are properly maintained.

3

The expert says it's good to keep a diary of the seeds you're showing

Grow some tomatoes

Keep some young tomato plants in the sunniest corners of your house before planting them in your garden at the end of May.

They will ripen just in time for the first barbecue of summer.

Quirky looking ones like the Costoluto Fiorentino can add some variety to your views.

Mow the lawn

If you have not started taking care of the grass yet, May is a good opportunity to tackle it before the hotter months.

Patience is key though, and it is best to gradually lower your blades of grass over the summer to give the garden a smooth finish.

If you attempt to cut it all in one go, it may turn out uneven.

Plant hanging baskets

If you want to add a spot of colour to your garden in time for summer, May is an ideal time to pick out types of flowers to compliment your space.

This is also a good solution if you have a limited amount of space to grow your blooms.

Open your greenhouse on warm days

Let some fresh air in to your crops to prevent them from suffocating on days when the sun is shining and greenhouse temperatures start to rise.

Make natural deterrents for pests

If you want pest deterrent that is poison free, there are two good natural solutions which will protect your growing plants.

You can scoop the flesh out of a melon or grapefruit, and leave it near your buds.

Slugs will be more attracted to the fruit than the flora, and you will be able to spot them munching the next day and remove them from your garden.

You can also buy natural wool pellets and place them around your plants as a barrier.

After they are watered they will expand and become an itchy deterrent insects will not want to go near.

Plant bulbs

May is the last chance to plant any bulbs, with warmer weather so close by.

If you want to have summer flowering plants in your garden, like gladioli, then prioritise planting these at the start of the month so they bloom in time.

Plant vegetables

May is a perfect month for sowing.

The expert suggests planting radish, cabbage, broad beans, beetroots, or swedes.

This should produce some excellent salads that you can enjoy in your little paradise in the sun.

3

It's the last chance to get bulbs planted

https://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/fabulous/8826190/ten-tips-garden-before-summer/