Personal
Edith Betty Ridge: Our Mum
This is the eulogy my sister Alison gave for our mother at her funeral today. It is a word-perfect honoring of Mum’s long life. You can watch the video of the slideshow I made for the service on YouTube. Edith Betty Ridge, nee Dykes, was born on May 8th 1928 in Enfield. She was the…
Read MoreDad’s eulogy
My father, Barry John Ridge, died in the early hours of 9 August 2017. He was 89 years old, and had been living with Lewy Body dementia for around seven years. This is the eulogy I gave at his funeral. Growing up, the four of us kids were what’s known in the trade—the church trade,…
Read MoreDr Maurice Saxby AM: In Memoriam
Maurice Saxby, 26 December 1924—2 December 2014 I met Maurice Saxby the first time I attended a meeting of the NSW Branch of the Children’s Book Council. I was in my mid-20s, and I had not long since decided that I wanted to make children’s books my life’s work. I had met Ros Bastian, who…
Read MoreThrilled Me, Silenced Me, Stilled Me
Sinead O’Connor has been in the press again today (October 2013), kicking up a stink, alienating people left, right and centre, as she is wont to do. It put me in mind of this piece I wrote back when I saw her in concert in Sydney in 2008. I’m not ashamed to say I wept…
Read MoreIn a related world…
Somewhere filed away are the first drafts—rough, meagre things that they are—of my first attempt at writing a thesis for my Masters degree. I was in my late 20s, newly married (though not for long), and desperately in love with the books I was writing about, and the field that I had entered into with…
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