Dorchester Literary Festival

Hi, it’s Kerry here, talking Dorchester Literary Festival last week. First, I saw Sir Graham Brady, Chairman of the 1992 Committee under 5 Conservative Leaders. It was fascinating to hear him describe the different personalities and challenges of those Prime Ministers – Cameron, May, Johnson, Truss and Sunak – and how important strong leaders are, especially in difficult times. When someone asked him about Nigel Farage, he replied ‘ok as deputy Prime Minster but not an ideal leader’.  

The second talk was Jeremy Vine, as I quite like him on the radio, and was good to see him in person. He talked about his first fiction book, Murder on the Line, set in Devon. It was good to see Jeremy being interviewed by Steve Harris from BBC Dorset, who is a brilliant presenter (he interviewed us about Not Lost - our book on Susie the cat).

I was sorry to miss Gyles Brandreth’s talk as it sounded fun and entertaining. Laura (who helps us edit this column and is part of the festival team), shared a lovely story Gyles told, about a meeting he had with A.A. Milne’s son, Christopher Robin – whose daughter has celebral palsy, like I do. Christopher asked Gyles if he wanted to meet Clare, or someone with cerebral palsy. I love that someone like Gyles understands how it might feel, when I meet people, if they see ‘me’ or my ‘disability’. So I appreciate him sharing that, and was sorry to miss his talk.

Overall, I can’t believe how many good books and talks there were last week; and how welcoming and friendly the volunteers were, working hard to make everything run smoothly. Even if, like me, you don’t read, you can learn so much in the wide range of thought provoking bite size talks at this fab festival!

The writers of the Our View column are supported in their editing by People First Dorset - a charity led and run by people with learning disabilities with support from staff