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Children’s Book Launch

 

The Adventures of Rolly

Book Release

by Ray Ironside

I has always believed in the old “three R’s” adage, Reading, ‘Riting and ‘Rithmatic .

Of course, when settling into my long-term career as a real estate agent, way back in 1984, the adage gained an ‘R’, and became Reading, ‘Riting, ‘Rithmatic and Real estate!

I have not always been a real estate agent, having owned the Mowbray Newsagency in the late 1970’s and before that was a professional musician and entertainer traveling the world.

On a cruise from Melbourne to the UK in 1972, I met my Tasmanian wife, Wendy, and migrated to Tasmania. I had received an offer of a great job at the Hobart Casino, looking after the stars that came to perform at the casino and to compare the shows.

The job fell over. Well, not just the job. A headline in the Sunday Examiner Express on Saturday, October 25th 1975 (Strange that the Sunday paper had a Saturday date?), on page 14 read ‘RAY’S JOB FELL WITH THE BRIDGE.’

The headline referred to the ship, The Lake Illawarra, hitting and knocking over the Tasman bridge I received a phone call from the hotel manager telling me that I was out of a job, before I started, due to the accident.

Falling back on my management training at W H Smith, the UK newsagency chain, I purchased the Mowbray Newsagency and ran that until 1984, when I went into real estate sales.

After 34 years in the real estate business, I retired in 2018. Covid sneaked in a couple of years later and laid travel plans to rest.

In my home office I have a small bench press, and sitting on the bench press is a blue exercise ball. Sitting in my office and lost in thought one day, my mind wandered, and I came up with a strange thought. I wondered what the exercise ball would say if it could talk. (Probably the first thing that it would say would be, “Is anyone ever going to use me?”)

That amused me, so I turned on my computer and started to type. The evidence is now found in my first children’s book, ‘The Adventures of Rolly’.

Now, I needed an illustrator for the book. Fortunately, I found an illustrator soon after starting the book.

Every week I talk to an old school friend of mine, who lives in England, Richard Pearce, on Messenger. I noticed a painting hanging on his wall. The painting featured interesting cartoon-like characters, which Richard had painted, and he immediately agreed to provide the cartoon-like illustrations for the book.

Printed locally at Foot and Playsted, the book will be launched at Petrarch’s Book Shop on Friday 8th December from 10.30 am – 12.00 noon.

Also available on Amazon.

‘The Adventures of Rolly’ will be a series of three books, with the second book launching in early 2024.

 

Ray Ironside

 

03/12/2023;

 

 

 

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Date

Dec 08 2023
Expired!

Time

10:30 am - 12:00 pm
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