Richard Hawking Publishes Second Volume Of ‘A Countryman’s Notebook’

This week, Mr Richard Hawking, Teacher of English and Head of Year Nine, celebrates the publication of  A Countryman’s Spring Notebook.

This book is the second volume of finely-crafted essays by the writer Adrian Bell that Mr Hawking has worked on: selecting, arranging and introducing them from the author’s archives. The majority of these pieces have never been republished since they first appeared as a weekly newspaper column over 60 years ago. This selection forms the second of a quartet of Bell’s writings on the seasons, and is beautifully illustrated by the artist, Beth Knight.

Adrian Bell was best known for his ‘Rural Trilogy’, and for composing the first-ever crossword to appear in Britain! He was a writer whose poetic prose reflected the significant cultural and environmental changes that took place in the British countryside, and within its communities, in the twentieth century.

This publication follows Mr Hawkins previous volume of ‘A Countryman’s Winter notebook’, published In October 2021. Mr Hawking’s interest stems from his own time growing up on a small, 70-acre farm in Somerset. Like Adrian Bell, his family ran small mixed-method farms during the Agricultural Revolution. Having set up The Adrian Bell Society website, Mr Hawking was contacted by the Commissioning Editor of The Crowood Press to produce a Critical Monograph of Adrian Bell’s poetry.

Richard said: “It has once again been a privilege to work with Bell’s archives and with the publishers Slightly Foxed to bring these little-known essays to new generations of readers”.

Mr Hawking is currently working on compiling the Summer and Autumn volumes – these will be published over the next couple of years to complete the seasonal collection.

Congratulations to Mr Hawking for his publication!