Shropshire Star

Allan's book link up sparked by childhood chat

For Shropshire author and historian Allan Frost, a childhood conversation with a boy from a local blind school in the 1950s left a lasting impression.

Published
Overley Hall in Wellington. Picture: Allan Frost.

If something read to them was outside their experience, the boy explained, they did the same as sighted people – and used their imagination.

"It's a comment that has stayed with me," said Allan, from Priorslee in Telford, who has now forged a link-up with national charity Calibre Audio, which provides free audio books for people who through disability find it hard to read.

As a result two of Allan's novels, The Stracyl of Unity, and Wrekin Wraiths, Rebels and Romans, have been issued free as audio books to the charity's subscribers.

Allan explained: "Every time I pass Overley Hall on the outskirts of Wellington, I’m reminded of the 1950s when the Royal National Institute for the Blind bought and ran it as a ‘Sunshine Home’ Nursery School for Blind Children. It operated from 1950 until 1979.

"In the mid to late-1950s, when my father was Superintendent of New Street Methodist Sunday School, Wellington, children from Overley occasionally visited the Sunday School as a special treat, and to learn to mix with sighted people. They were a lively and cheerful bunch.

"While it seemed strange to meet children with little or no sight, it impressed me how they had learned to cope with their condition. However, there was one thing they couldn’t do – read. And when our teachers narrated stories from The Bible, they sat silently, enthralled, hanging on every word.

"There were, of course, some phrases and objects which were not within their experience. I mentioned this once to one of the boys who said it must be the same for folk who were able to see – you made up things you didn’t know by using your own imagination."

Allan says that memory had been at the forefront of his mind when he was interviewed by someone from East Shropshire Talking Newspapers.

"ESTN broadcast episodes from one of my books several years ago, so I looked into the possibility that a charity, rather than a commercial enterprise, might be interested in producing audio recordings of one or two of my novels to make available to their sight-challenged customers.

"Calibre Audio chose two novels which have now been issued as audio books to their subscribers.

"Naturally, all I’ve done is given free access at no charge and without commission but it’s reassuring to know that The Stracyl of Unity and Wrekin Wraiths, Rebels and Romans are now available for enjoyment by ‘readers’ who are unable to read for themselves."

Sorry, we are not accepting comments on this article.