Mentors!

I know what you're thinking! Strange title for the photos! Am I right?

Well to be honest they haven't got anything to do with todays few words but I thought the blog needed sprucing up a little ...!

Today I met up with someone special who I hadn't seen for 12 years. 12 years!

I met Val when I had almost given up my dream of being a writer. I'd been writing for myself, sending off my scribblings to agents and publishers and getting rejection after rejection. I was so despondent that I decided enough was enough and I would train to be a teacher. I went in to help Val in the reception class at Cottenham Park Primary School as it then was - and Val was one of the most inspiring people I'd ever met. She's fun, she's kind, she's encouraging and unfailingly supportive and she is a brilliant brilliant teacher.

Around that time, when I was sending off application forms for PGCE courses, Stephen Thraves came into the picture and that of course is another story. My writing took off and I can't honestly say that I'm much of a loss to the teaching profession.

I always say that Stephen is my mentor. But Val is pretty special in that way too.

Today when we met again, she hadn't changed at all - seriously. Her daughter Emily who in my head was still 5 is a beautiful, confident 17-year old who is bright and fun like her parents.

We inevitably talked about writing and the importance of stories and Val told me stories which took me back to her classroom - all the children spell-bound with eyes like saucers. She is a perfect story-teller, a rare thing indeed these days. I told her how lucky all the children she has taught over the years have been to have someone as inspirational as her as their first teacher. I meant it. I hope she believed me.