The Lincolnshire Sons Who Changed the World

I do not consider myself a naturally lucky person; one of those people for whom everything comes up smelling of roses. Are they naturally blessed I wonder?

I am just not one of those people. If I fall in a pile of manure I get up smelling of.... well, manure and there isn't a whiff of rose fragrance anywhere. However. I still consider myself to be very blessed in life. I am surrounded by family and friends who love me and who know me well enough to always to give me books or knitting yarn as birthday gifts. What more could I ask? 

That said, I am still the kind of person for whom when there are 10 tickets left in the tombola barrel, nine of which are winners, you can guarantee that I will pick out the tenth losing ticket.

So, I recently entered a competition with The Omnivore Magazine which offered a choice of prizes – either a book of short stories by Margaret Atwood or a pair of two day passes to the Lincoln Book Festival including accommodation. Well, no offence intended to the lovely Ms. Atwood but there was no contest. If I were lucky enough to win this completion (yeah right) the opportunity to listen to wonderful writers coupled with the opportunity to stay in beautiful Lincoln….. well, there just was no contest which prize I was going to pick!

I am absolutely thrilled to say that I won. Yes, ME, who never wins anything and I can assure you that my excitement currently knows no bounds.

The Lincoln Book Festival runs from today through to Saturday and we will be attending at the weekend. They have some wonderful speakers attending this event which celebrates history within a literary context. The list of events covers the Lincolnshire lads who changed the world to the flowers that had a similar impact, the men who signed a Royal death warrant and the story of Parliament, the Americans who transformed our great English Houses and the story of the Sixties from a woman at the very heart of the decade’s pop culture.

If you are attending this event do give me a little wave if you see me. You’ll recognize me as I’ll be the woman with the huge happy smile on her face. Then again, if this event is as good as the line up suggests it will be then that will probably be everyone there.

Details of the event can be found at: Lincoln Book Festival 2014