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Technically, I suppose, I’m a DFL. After all, I’ve only been here forty years. But it’s my town. As the eldest son said only the other day, this was the first time our family had felt like part of the community. Not that he was particularly aware of that, as he was still at Whitstable Junior School and not taking much notice of “community”.
We came here as a result of meeting the Clements family on holiday – Marion, Barry, Alex and Stuart. When we came home from Majorca, we came down to visit them, decided we liked it – and stayed. It was a working fishing town – not glamorous, but comfortable and welcoming. I joined The Lindley Players at The Playhouse, and soon, the entire family belonged and I became used to people coming up to me and thinking they knew me because they’d seen me in something, usually pantomime. Fame at last.
And so, we grew into the town. The children went to – variously – Whitstable County Junior, Simon Langton Girls, Simon Langton Boys, Queen Elizabeth’s Grammar and Frank Montgomery. My husband, Brian, began to play the odd gig in the town, as did our children – Miles, the afore-mentioned eldest son, being a founder member of Rubber Biscuit, with which band two of the others, Louise and Leo, also played occasionally. Then Brian started The Seagull School of T’ai Chi. His grateful students even had a memorial bench placed on the beach after he died. You can go and sit on it, if you like.
musicians
Now, life has changed. All four children are musicians, both girls, Louise and Phillipa, are professional singers and teachers and will come and sing at you, or teach you how to, if requested. Miles is a well known part of our local music scene, with the Miles Cookman Band, Kelly’s Heros (no “e”) with Ian Harris and very occasionally Bona Tunes with Martin Towner. Leo doesn’t play in public very often these days, but still records and has turned into a writer like his mum. Miles is also well known for his expertise in the building, gardening and decorating business, and is open to offers. He might even sing at you while he works.
My grandchildren, Gus and Kitty, live here, too. Their dad, Jarrod, has been a huge help to us all over the years, not least because if I happened to need any sort of help in the past, I could mention his name and be assured of immediate and top class service. Everyone knew Jarrod. These days, all of us are used to people saying “Cookman? Are you related to – insert name here – ?” In fact, when Phillipa recently went to live in a house in London, the landlady asked “Are you from Regent Street in Whitstable? Related to Miles Cookman?”
Nobody would believe it in a book. But I write books, and Whitstable’s sense of community has imbued my fake landscape, and a lot of what happens in our town finds its way into them. There is a wealth of experience and knowledge to be tapped here, especially in the pubs, and I’ve lost count of the plot ideas I’ve been given over the years. This, I’m sure, is the same in many small towns and villages, but you’d be surprised at how many readers don’t believe it.
Aside from all this, the view from Cookman Corner is of an attractive town, with a (fairly) unspoiled beach, surrounded by countryside – don’t just drive down the main roads, go off and explore – and blessed with one of the finest GP practices in the country. Oh – and us. And I can just hear the mutterings: “Those bloody Cookmans. Who do they think they are?”
About
Lesley Cookman is the author of the best selling Libby Sarjeant Mystery Series, and the new Edwardian Murder Mystery Series, The Alexandrians.
A Facebook reader group can be found at ‘Lesley Cookman’s Libby Loonies‘
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