Ronald Mackay 

In 1976, Ronald emigrated from Mexico where he’d been working, to Canada, to take up a post at Concordia University in Montreal. He bought an abandoned farm in Glengarry Township close to the Quebec border and commuted to Montreal by train. He brought the farm back into production and managed the woodlot. In the process, he made friendships with many unusual people. This true story features the ageing MacDonald brothers, Ronald’s “first neighbours”.

Ronald Mackay has written period memoirs of time spent in Tenerife in the ‘60s and in Romania under Nicolau Ceaucescu’s communist dictatorship. He writes short stories, many about true events like the one here.

Viviana and Ronald, Voorburg, June 2025
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The contribution we are featuring today is the first this year from Mary Mae Lewis. She has been a regular supporter of Fred's Blog over the years and her stories have been included in most of our anthologies.

You can read Mary Mae's latest story Tit for Tat here.

Mary Mae Lewis 
 
Mary Mae is author of the novel Where There’s a Will, There’s a Woman and the memoir Don’t Stop the Fiesta and has had success with short stories; she came runner-up in North Staffordshire’s TOO WRITE adult fiction competition in 2017 and was highly commended in THE POTTERIES PRIZE for flash fiction in 2018.
 
She has contributed to many of Robert Fear’s anthologies: Travel Stories and Highlights 2019, 40 Memorable Life Experiences 2020, 40 Inspirational True Stories 2021, 40 Life Changing Events 2022, 50 Intriguing Personal Insights 2023, 30 Evocative Recollections 2024 and 25 Treasured Memories 2025. 
 
She’s also been published in the Telegraph and is a published poet.
 
A retired teacher, Mary came late to becoming a writer, and her work is based on true life experiences.
 
She has been married for over 55 years and has 3 sons and 4 grandchildren. The eldest grandson is now a doctor living and working in a hospital on the Gold Coast of Australia.
 
She has travelled extensively, including living in Grand Cayman for four years and Malawi for five.
 
She now spends half the year in Spain, where she does most of her writing, and half in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, UK.
 
 She blogs on her personal Facebook page and also on Where There’s a Will, There’s a Woman.
 
Besides reading and writing, Mary Mae enjoys buying and selling antiques, local history, gardening and swimming.
 
www. author-marymaelewis.co.uk
[email protected]

Our latest contribution to the Writers Open House is the sixth this year from our loyal supporter and respected author, Ronald Mackay. It is an inspiring piece of memoir entitled Triumph! and you can read it here.

Normally, at this time of year we would be closing our writing feature to entries, but as you may have noticed from the guidelines, this year we are remaining open to contributions until further notice. I therefore look forward to reading stories from those of you that have not been able to get involved before (and more from those that already have).

Ronald Mackay 

To escape the European winter, Ronald and Viviana return to the village in Tenerife where he spent his 18th year in 1960-1961. In Buenavista del Norte, they enjoy friendships old and new. Many are the children, grandchildren and even great-grandchildren of Ronald’s original friends. Ronald is always alert to stories. Villagers sometimes provide him with new ideas.

Currently, he’s writing several stories about people and incidents in and around the village. All have a local flavor but share broad implications for people and lives lived anywhere in the world.
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Viviana and Ronald, Voorburg, June 2025
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It is a privilege today to welcome back well-known author, Jackie Lambert, to Fred's Blog with her first contribution to the Writers Open House. In the past we have had the pleasure of including many of her stories on the blog and in our annual anthologies.

This submission is a modified excerpt of a chapter from Jacqueline’s upcoming book, More Manchester Than Mongolia: An Unexpected Road Trip Through Back Road Britain, due for publication towards the end of 2025.

You can read Jackie's story, Malmesbury: A Flying Monk, A Fallen Spire, & England’s Forgotten Capital here.

Jacqueline (Jackie) Lambert is an award-winning travel writer, full-time nomad, and dogmother, who loves history and curious facts.

B.C. (Before Canines) she hurtled, slid, submerged and threw herself off bits of every continent except Antarctica. Even though she was single at the time, she asked for – and was granted – 'maternity leave' to backpack around Fiji, Australia, and New Zealand.

A.D. (After Dog), with husband Mark, she gave up work to become an Adventure Caravanner. With The Fab Four, their four pups in tow, their stated aim is: To Boldly Go Where No Van Has Gone Before.

Jackie has published six light-hearted memoirs about her travels since quitting work: Fur Babies in France, Dog on the Rhine, Dogs ‘n’ Dracula, It Never Rains But It Paws, To Hel In A Hound Cart, and Pups on Piste.

Her seventh book, Building The Beast, is the first in her Wayward Truck series. It chronicles her Brexit-busting plan to convert a 24.5-tonne 6x4-wheel drive army truck into an off-grid home-on-wheels fit to drive to Mongolia. Subsequent books will follow The Beast’s adventures.

A keen off piste skier and windsurfer, Jackie is the wordsmith behind her own travel blog, and author website. She has contributed to several anthologies, and also writes guest articles and posts for various magazines and international blogs.

Connect with her via the links below:
Amazon: author.to/JacquelineLambert
Blog: www.WorldWideWalkies.com
Author Website: www.JacquelineLambert.co.uk

Author Jacqueline Lambert - with her award winning book & medal
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The next contribution to the Writers Open House is the first this year from a regular contributor to this blog and our anthologies, Susan Mellsopp.

You can read Susan's story Mirrors to Windows and Words here.

Susan Mellsopp is happily retired and lives in Hamilton New Zealand. She has recently received her fourth guide dog, Gypsy, who is a large golden labrador. Much of her life has been spent on dairy farms, also working as a librarian, archivist, and accessible transport researcher. She runs a writers group and attends workshops by well-known New Zealand authors. Susan has published two school histories, written for an alumni magazine, and now writes for a national magazine for the over 50’s which is published monthly. She is a voracious reader, loves to listen to classical music and attend concerts, cook, spend time with friends, use modern technology and grow roses.   

It is a pleasure to welcome back Kath Delgado with her second published story in the Writers Open House.

You can read We never really know do we? here.

Kath Delgado was born in north east Nigeria, raised in the rugged Scottish Borders, went to university in beautiful Edinburgh and equally beautiful Dundee. She trained and had the immense fortune to work in her chosen career of physiotherapy for many years after which she ventured into management roles. She loves people and their backstories. Having never written anything except on Facebook, ‘Home’ was her first ever submission and this story ‘We never really know do we?’ is her second.
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The latest contribution to the Writers Open House is the fifth this year from talented author and loyal supporter of this blog, Ronald Mackay.

You can read Ronald's story What's in a job? here.

Ronald Mackay

During summer, Christmas, and Easter vacations from university in the ’60s, Ronald Mackay never failed to find interesting and well-paying jobs. During two Easter vacations, he was a porter at the Hudson’s Bay Company’s fur auctions in the City of London. He enjoyed the work at Beaver House so much, that he responded to a later invitation to work intensively for 30 days with their expert skin graders to help classify a large shipment of Afghanistan lamb skins.
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Ronald enjoys contributing to Fred’s Blog. He is the author of “The Kilt Behind the Curtain”, “Fortunate Isle, a Memoir of Tenerife” and “Windows On My Worlds”. In Spanish, he has published “A Tenerife con Cariño” and is completing a second book of stories from Latin America, the Iberian Peninsula and Tenerife. Ronald and Viviana, his Peruvian wife, use Spanish as their home language.

Viviana and Ronald, Voorburg, June 2025
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It is always fantastic to feature new contributors to Fred's Blog, but even more so when it is their first published story. That is the case with our featured author today, Kath Delgado, and I am grateful to Ronald Mackay for persuading her to get involved.

I am certain you will enjoy reading Kath's memoir piece titled Home as much as I have. You can access it here. 

Kath Delgado was born in north east Nigeria, raised in the rugged Scottish Borders, went to university in beautiful Edinburgh and equally beautiful Dundee. She trained and had the immense fortune to work in her chosen career of physiotherapy for many years after which she ventured into management roles. She loves people and their backstories. Having never written anything except on Facebook, ‘Home’ is her first ever submission.

For our next submission in the Writers Open House, it is a pleasure to welcome back well-known author Sue Bavey.

You can read Sue's memoir story Termtime Transgressions here.

Sue Bavey is a British-born mother of two, now living in Franklin, Massachusetts, having moved to the US in 2003. Writing as S. Bavey, her book Lucky Jack (1894-2000) won the Readers’ Favorite Gold Award for Biography in 2023 and she followed up with her next book: Kookaburras, Cuppas & Kangaroos which tells the story of her mother’s three-year-long adventures in Australia and New Zealand in the 1960s. She also wrote a prequel to this book: A Yorkshire Lass, The Early Years which can be downloaded for free from her website: www.suebavey.com. In 2024, following a vacation to Iceland, Sue wrote a short travel memoir: An Icelandic Adventure: One Family’s Mostly Successful Quest for Puffins, Pleasure and Perfect Pizza.
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The latest contribution to the Writers Open House is the fourth this year from accomplished author and loyal supporter of this blog, Ronald Mackay.

You can read Ronald's story Christmas Postie here.

Ronald Mackay
 
Originally from Coupar Angus, Scotland, Ronald Mackay studied at Aberdeen University in the early ’60s. He paid for his studies by working Easter, summer and Christmas vacations at a variety of interesting jobs in London and in parts of Scotland.

He and his wife, Viviana, now reside in the Netherlands and spend winter months in Buenavista del Norte on Tenerife’s north coast.

Ronald enjoys contributing to Fred’s Blog and is author of “Fortunate Isle, a Memoir of Tenerife”, “The Kilt Behind the Curtain”, and “Windows On My Worlds: A Collection of 31 Short Stories” as well as a memoir in Spanish, “A Tenerife con Cariño”.
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Viviana and Ronald at Elzendreef, Voorburg, 29 June 2025