: About Me

I'm John Welford, part-time librarian and nearly full-time Heliumite! As well as writing articles for Helium I also seed new titles, scan and edit articles by other writers, and act as manager for the Poets and Poetry sub-channel.

I was born in Scotland in 1952 but adopted when very young and brought up in Poole on the south coast of England. I have lived in my current home in a Leicestershire village since 1989.

I've spent most of my working life dealing with other people's writings rather than my own. In 1976 I qualified as a professional librarian, and for 26 years I helped students and others find their way to the information they needed. I still do on one evening a week at De Montfort University Library, Leicester, UK.

I have also done proofreading and editing for students and other writers, and have compiled several back-of-the-book indexes. In 2010 the Dickens Fellowship published the index I had compiled to 30 years' issues of "The Dickensian" magazine - for which I had to analyse some 2,000 pages of material!

During the summer I play bowls (flat green) for the Barlestone Bowls Club, and I have recently begun the practice of walking for an hour or so through the Leicestershire countryside before sitting down to work.

I have always enjoyed listening to classical music, which is nearly always playing while I am at the computer.

I have been married to Sue since 1986 and we have one son, David.

My passion is ...

Bowls

I know too much about ...

Nothing - I know far too little about almost everything!

My parents always told me ...

No they didn't! They were far too sensible to "always" do or say anything.

My childhood ambition ...

I didn't have one, and still don't!

My favorite memory ...

Childhood holidays

Why I write ...

I enjoy it - what better reason could there be?

What I am reading/watching/listening to ...

The New Oxford Book of English Verse - and making lots of chance happy discoveries!

My first job ...

Temporary postman - for a week before Christmas when still at school

My best moment ...

Knowing that wife and son would both be fine when the latter first joined us!

My inspiration ...

The world of books

Travel > United Kingdom Destinations Best day trips from Yeovil, Somerset

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The important thing about making day trips (assuming that one has access to four wheels, or two with an engine) is that the time on the road is kept as short as possible and a reasonably high proportion of the day is spent at the places one wants to go to. From that perspective, a visitor to England’s West Country could do a lot worse than make Yeovil their base. Yeovil is in south Somerset and very close to that county’s border with Dorset. It is a “crossroads” town, where the east-west A30 crosses the north-south A37, although visitors are more likely to use the m...

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Writing:

Rating:

• Marketplace Premier Writer
• 2Writing Contest Winner
• Editorial Advisory Board
• Marketplace Approved Writer
• Helium Charter Member
• Channel Manager Poets & Poetry