A stab in the dark but are you Flea who went to St Felix School. If so I just want to say I can’t listen to 10cc’s One Night in Paris without remembering your Clough House production which Moke walked out of!
I was in Clough but Lower IV at the time so you won’t remember me. Trying to think who else was in your year – Lydia Booth? Or Gerry Deller?
I think Sue Perry was the French murderer wearing a stripey top, pushing a bicycle with the necessary bell and onions? Also recall strobe lighting during “Go to hell, to hell, to hell, to hell?
Anyways I heard the song recently and thought I would try and let you know what a memorable event it was for me – pop video on stage – ground breaking!
I have just received a copy of your book Exodus Burma which was a gift from my niece, Michelle Rodda, daughter of Yolande who you interviewed for your book. Thank you for the message.
If you ever do want to find out more about this subject then I have a lot of additional information and records including the diary that our father kept throughout the trek. I would be very happy to share this with you .
This being sent by my daughter Shani Davies as I do not have a computer.
Her email is shani.davies@btinternet.com
I have just listened to you on radio 4, talking about your travels in Burma. My father, a tea planter, was a civilian quartermaster in a camp on the Ledo Road during the evacuation of civilians out of Burma. He had volunteered for this as he was unable to join up as tea production was a considered vital for the nation’s morale. He was there as a Hindi speaker to see to the needs of the native soldiers. My father didn’t talk much about his experiences so I shall buy your book for myself and my sons and a copy for my brother, who was born in India after the war. My father was given advice if he saw Japanese soldiers entering the camp – leave promptly by the other exit! I admire your spirit for visiting Burma given the current political situation there. Good luck in your future travels.
Dear Felicity Goodall
My father was in the RAF and also escaped back to India from Burma after the fall of Rangoon. Your book only made a small number of references to the RAF, I wondered whether your researches had turned up more material than you were able to include.
Hi
Just heard your radio play, Change of Heart. I’m keen to learn more of the life of Mea Allan but a quick google search seems to suggest that there is little published material available. Are you able to recommend any resources?
Thanks
Jean
I have had a copy of your book “A Question of Conscience” for many years but have only just read it properly!
I was prompted by some family history research which led me to discover an ancestor, Catherine Marshall, who, with Clifford Allen and Bertrand Russell, was evidently one of the central figures in the No Conscription Fellowship in WW1. I recently met with her biographer Jo Vellacott, a (British born) Canadian Quaker academic now nearly 90. I recorded a short interview mainly to help tell my children (and other relations who had never heard of her) about Catherine Marshall and Concientious Objection in WW1. In case it is of interest you can see my (very lo-tech) interview with Jo Vellacott via this link:
What particularly interested me about Catherine Marshall is that she is quite untypical among my recent ancestors who were almost all staunch Conservatives with the men (including my father) being career soldiers in the Royal Engineers. My maternal uncle is a retired brigadier – Royal Engineers – and lives in Stow-on-the-Wold…. so your own biographical precis was strangely coincidental!
A further connection I have is that of having known Howard Marten, one of the COs featured in your book. He was a member of the Quaker Meeting I first attended at the age of ten, my dad having abandoned the army and the CofE for teaching and Quakerism (the latter fairly temporarily en route to atheism). Howard died in his 90s when I was about 20 but he was a truly inspirational model for me as a confused but idealistic teenager and I probably owe it to him as much as anyone, that I came ‘home’ to Quakers in my 30s having had nothing to do with them for many years. Like many boys in the 1960s I was hooked on war comics/books/films and Airfix models so his personal story and conviction was a revealation and an antidote.
Anyway this is all a roundabout way of saying I greatly enjoyed your book! Not only because it has a personal relevance for me but because it tells the COs experience powerfully in their own words. From reading in the archive of Catherine Marshall’s papers (at the Cumbria Records Office in Carlisle) I have learned a lot about her role with the organisation, personalities and politics of the NCF but the collection is vast and I may never get around to reading much of her correspondence with and on behalf of individual COs.
I am now quite involved with my local Quaker Meeting in Watford and with Quaker youthwork at area and national level so your book is also very helpful as a resource for Quaker history and peace witness.
You are such a wonderful writer, I enjoyed your last book Exodus Burma.
I know a Mexican lady.who has had such a interesting life, full of sadness, happiness, and excitement. Born in a small town in Mexico, came here as an illegal, worked in New York in the garment factory, then switched to caregiving, was told over a d over she would never make it as her English language was very poor. Flew to CA to pay off a smuggler with $5000.0 in her pocket.
Would you be interested in writing a book on her life?
I have just read Lost Devon,and I felt obliged to let you know how much I enjoyed the book.I have lived in Devon for thirty years,and have always been interested in the local history,particularly of Dartmoor ,and of Dunsland House.I was surprised,and delighted to have learnt so much tat I didn’t know before. Thank you.
Felicity Goodall 
Hi Felicity
A stab in the dark but are you Flea who went to St Felix School. If so I just want to say I can’t listen to 10cc’s One Night in Paris without remembering your Clough House production which Moke walked out of!
I was in Clough but Lower IV at the time so you won’t remember me. Trying to think who else was in your year – Lydia Booth? Or Gerry Deller?
I think Sue Perry was the French murderer wearing a stripey top, pushing a bicycle with the necessary bell and onions? Also recall strobe lighting during “Go to hell, to hell, to hell, to hell?
Anyways I heard the song recently and thought I would try and let you know what a memorable event it was for me – pop video on stage – ground breaking!
Best wishes
Kate (nee Kemball)
By: Kate Rogers on September 16, 2011
at 6:20 pm
Hello Felicity
I have just received a copy of your book Exodus Burma which was a gift from my niece, Michelle Rodda, daughter of Yolande who you interviewed for your book. Thank you for the message.
If you ever do want to find out more about this subject then I have a lot of additional information and records including the diary that our father kept throughout the trek. I would be very happy to share this with you .
This being sent by my daughter Shani Davies as I do not have a computer.
Her email is shani.davies@btinternet.com
Regards
Evan Edwardes
By: Evan Edwardes on December 18, 2011
at 8:06 pm
I have just listened to you on radio 4, talking about your travels in Burma. My father, a tea planter, was a civilian quartermaster in a camp on the Ledo Road during the evacuation of civilians out of Burma. He had volunteered for this as he was unable to join up as tea production was a considered vital for the nation’s morale. He was there as a Hindi speaker to see to the needs of the native soldiers. My father didn’t talk much about his experiences so I shall buy your book for myself and my sons and a copy for my brother, who was born in India after the war. My father was given advice if he saw Japanese soldiers entering the camp – leave promptly by the other exit! I admire your spirit for visiting Burma given the current political situation there. Good luck in your future travels.
By: Ann Cooper on January 7, 2012
at 10:50 am
Dear Felicity Goodall
My father was in the RAF and also escaped back to India from Burma after the fall of Rangoon. Your book only made a small number of references to the RAF, I wondered whether your researches had turned up more material than you were able to include.
By: Paul Jennings on January 16, 2012
at 5:46 pm
if you are the writer that was responsible for the mae allen program on radio 4 extra
would love to talk it was so inspirational
many thanks
By: sue sanders on March 29, 2012
at 4:40 am
Hi
Just heard your radio play, Change of Heart. I’m keen to learn more of the life of Mea Allan but a quick google search seems to suggest that there is little published material available. Are you able to recommend any resources?
Thanks
Jean
By: Jean on March 29, 2012
at 6:36 am
Hi Felicity
I have had a copy of your book “A Question of Conscience” for many years but have only just read it properly!
I was prompted by some family history research which led me to discover an ancestor, Catherine Marshall, who, with Clifford Allen and Bertrand Russell, was evidently one of the central figures in the No Conscription Fellowship in WW1. I recently met with her biographer Jo Vellacott, a (British born) Canadian Quaker academic now nearly 90. I recorded a short interview mainly to help tell my children (and other relations who had never heard of her) about Catherine Marshall and Concientious Objection in WW1. In case it is of interest you can see my (very lo-tech) interview with Jo Vellacott via this link:
https://picasaweb.google.com/112518466753482077680/JoVellacottAtHertford?authkey=Gv1sRgCO6-x-6o5pSGlwE
What particularly interested me about Catherine Marshall is that she is quite untypical among my recent ancestors who were almost all staunch Conservatives with the men (including my father) being career soldiers in the Royal Engineers. My maternal uncle is a retired brigadier – Royal Engineers – and lives in Stow-on-the-Wold…. so your own biographical precis was strangely coincidental!
A further connection I have is that of having known Howard Marten, one of the COs featured in your book. He was a member of the Quaker Meeting I first attended at the age of ten, my dad having abandoned the army and the CofE for teaching and Quakerism (the latter fairly temporarily en route to atheism). Howard died in his 90s when I was about 20 but he was a truly inspirational model for me as a confused but idealistic teenager and I probably owe it to him as much as anyone, that I came ‘home’ to Quakers in my 30s having had nothing to do with them for many years. Like many boys in the 1960s I was hooked on war comics/books/films and Airfix models so his personal story and conviction was a revealation and an antidote.
Anyway this is all a roundabout way of saying I greatly enjoyed your book! Not only because it has a personal relevance for me but because it tells the COs experience powerfully in their own words. From reading in the archive of Catherine Marshall’s papers (at the Cumbria Records Office in Carlisle) I have learned a lot about her role with the organisation, personalities and politics of the NCF but the collection is vast and I may never get around to reading much of her correspondence with and on behalf of individual COs.
I am now quite involved with my local Quaker Meeting in Watford and with Quaker youthwork at area and national level so your book is also very helpful as a resource for Quaker history and peace witness.
Thank you!
By: Simon Colbeck on March 30, 2012
at 3:41 pm
You are such a wonderful writer, I enjoyed your last book Exodus Burma.
I know a Mexican lady.who has had such a interesting life, full of sadness, happiness, and excitement. Born in a small town in Mexico, came here as an illegal, worked in New York in the garment factory, then switched to caregiving, was told over a d over she would never make it as her English language was very poor. Flew to CA to pay off a smuggler with $5000.0 in her pocket.
Would you be interested in writing a book on her life?
By: Tony Soord on April 14, 2012
at 1:00 am
I have just read Lost Devon,and I felt obliged to let you know how much I enjoyed the book.I have lived in Devon for thirty years,and have always been interested in the local history,particularly of Dartmoor ,and of Dunsland House.I was surprised,and delighted to have learnt so much tat I didn’t know before. Thank you.
By: Peter Shields on January 8, 2015
at 8:08 pm