About

Carolyn is a writer and teacher with a special interest in English and Outdoor Learning. She began teaching creative writing 30 years ago, has taught in universities and schools, and has worked on projects with the Field Studies Council, The Wildlife Trusts, Torchlight Heritage and EU Erasmus+. She grew up in Aldershot, listening to relatives describe the area's transformation from rural to urban.

Blog posts on this site are written for Naturewrights, an online community of nature writers, found at: https://naturewrights.wordpress.com

Current Project

‘Aldershot and All About It’

Street theatre exploring the impact of urbanisation on a small rural community in the 19th Century. Based on the work of Marianne Young, ‘Aldershot and All About It, with Gossip, Literary, Military, and Pictorial’ (1857):

https://torchlighttours.com/events/detail/torchlight-tour-aldershot-and-all-about-it

https://www.rushmoor.gov.uk/community-parks-and-leisure/arts-and-events/rushmoor-heritage-festival/shows-and-performances-at-the-rushmoor-heritage-festival/#

When: Sunday 15 September 2024, 11am and 1.15pm

Where: Municipal Gardens, Aldershot

Working with: Rushmoor Borough Council and Torchlight Heritage https://torchlightheritage.com.

'To be sure, we have somewhere down in the hollow a little village of that name, with a church, and an orignal ''Brown Bear'', or some such sign.' Marianne Young, 1857

Why I wrote the play:

I grew up in Aldershot and spent a lot of time with relatives in the villages nearby. Ash, Tongham and Seale were as familiar to me as the town itself.

Early in childhood I sensed a mysterious rural resentment towards Aldershot. It had been a military base for more than a hundred years by then, so it seemed strange that local poeple had not got used to it yet.

Solastalgia, the emotional distress caused by environmental change, probably explains some of the feelings I picked up on. There was a strong sense of loss, sadness and anger at open fields being replaced by dense urban development.

In 'Aldershot and All About It', Marianne Young explains exactly how this change took place; she was there in the 1850s at the birth of Aldershot, the 'home' of the British Army.

I wrote the play partly as a way to understand where I come from, but also to promote awareness of Marianne Young - her work gives us an insight into events that transformed the surrounding areas and impacted many generations to come.

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