Welcome to the world of Ghosts and Other Tales. This blog is where you’ll find articles, photos, artwork, facts and fake facts about anything and everything to do with Ghosts and Other Tales.
So, first up, a little about these books. About four years ago I wrote a few ghost stories. They grew out of an art/poetry project that I was commissioned to create for The Grassington Festival (click for link to this year’s festival), in the heart of the wonderful Yorkshire Dales. That piece was a series of poems I wrote in response to an art work in Leeds City Gallery’s Picture Library – the piece being “Minotaur”, a print by the Australian artist Sidney Nolan. I wrote the poems on lead slates, attached to the railings of the churchyard in Grassington.
In researching for these poems, I came across the incredible moorland landscape that is the lead mining area above Grassington. The place was so evocative, so rich in stories, that it became impossible to tell those stories in one poem, one series of poems, or for that matter one book. I had to return.
A few years later I was commissioned by the Yorkshire Dales National Park to write some content for an app they were producing to accompany the Tour de France’s visit to our region. This was the spur I needed – and the Ghosts Tales project began. For that app, I wrote The Knitting Party (which you’ll find in the first pamphlet, Abandon Hope). It is one of the stories set in and around the lead mines, and about lead mining.
As this is the first post, I’d like to thank all the people and groups who’ve, wittingly or not, helped with these books. In particular: Jake Richard for hosting this site; Karen Griffiths at Yorkshire Dales National Park; Garner and Jones for images; Norma and everyone at The Gargrave Heritage Group; Alexis Wilson and everyone at The Skipton Press; and Maria, Joe the pets and the rest of the family.