Don Balkwell – Speaker

Don will be joining us at Penpergwm to talk about his life:

“Although I won a place to Tavistock Grammar School, and later Plympton Grammar School, I left school at sixteen with no qualifications because I wanted money in my pocket. After serving in the Royal Air Force I tried a number of occupations, including running my own business. I made a lot of money and lost a lot of money.
I started writing in my late forties, albeit these were pantomimes, plays and murder mystery scripts for the stage. My first book, “Memories of Childhood”, which, as the title suggests, was about my early life, was published in 2006. This proved so popular that it was followed in 2008 by “The Book of Shaugh Parish”, an anthology of stories provided by the people who had lived in the area. My latest book, “101 Forgotten Gadgets” published in 2016 evolved from my regular articles “Grandma’s Gadgets” which, as I’ve already said, have appeared in my local newspaper for the last 6 years. The book features over a hundred objects featured in those articles.”