Louise SearlLouise Searl has four adult children, lives in Essex and is divorced. She was born a week before the outbreak of the second world war. She was brought up in Shropshire, where; at the age of ten, she went to boarding school. She disliked it and learntvery little, but she does appreciate that the school's habit of entering every girl for verse-speaking exams may well have fostered her love of poetry. Much time was spent listening to poems being recited, over and over again, a strangely soothing experience. On leaving school she went to live in London, working as a library assistant in a public library. Later she went to Library School and in 1963 qualified as a Chartered Librarian, a qualification which no longer exists. In 1964 she was appointed an Assistant Librarian at the Commonwealth Institute Library, where she wrote book reviews and produced a series of annotated bibliographies on Commonwealth countries. In 1965 the Institute chartered a ship for an educational cruise to West Africa for sixth formers and college of education students, and Louise went as the ship's librarian. On the birth of her first child in 1969 she stopped work for fourteen years. When the youngest child started school she found a job as School Librarian in a boys' secondary school. She also worked for eighteen months as a market research interviewer. In 1991 she returned to public libraries and became children's librarian in a branch library in east Lonoon. She also completed a short stint as School Librarian in the borough's central library. Louise retired nearly twenty years ago and joined a u3a where she took on the role of secretary. She has attended a number of writing classes over the years, including some at the City Lit in London. She led a writing group at her u3a and the material in 'To the Point' is mainly her contributions to the monthly meetings of the group. She has attempted various writing projects and in 1997 had an article published in the Times Educational Supplement. Over the years Louise has enjoyed writing poems, usually those of a light-hearted nature. Her writing is brief and to the point. Read More Read Less