Author set to help older people with donations from sales of new book
Published on 01 October 2023 09:00 AM
An author who has made it her mission to give voices to marginalised groups is pledging to help older people across the region – by giving away the profits from her latest book.
Helen Aitchison will donate the money raised from selling copies of Ramblings – a collection of poetry – to Age UK North Tyneside.
Helen is releasing the book on Sunday, 1st October, a date she has specifically chosen as it coincides with International Day for Older Persons.
The charity plans to use the money to help fund its growing range of health and wellbeing groups that take place across North Tyneside.
These groups form part of the charity’s wider offering which, every month, helps more than 1,500 people aged 50 and over to stay happy and healthy.
Helen, who worked for 20 years in health and social care before picking up her pen to write, said: “I have always worked with older people in some way, so they are a very important group to me.
“I have a personal experience of Age UK North Tyneside too, with my grandma spending the last six months of her life in one of their supported living schemes. It really is an incredible charity doing such important work.
“And now, by donating the profits of my latest book to Age UK North Tyneside, I hope I can make a bit of a difference to the people I am passionate about helping.
“I am also dedicated to giving those in marginalised groups a chance to be heard, and I hope that this book of poetry will inspire older people across the North East to begin writing for themselves.”
On Wednesday 18th October Helen will attend the charity’s Book Club, at North Shields Customer First Centre, to meet her fans and hand out free copies of her new book.
She has already provided the group with copies of two of her previous books: debut novel The Dinner Club and a chronicle of local stories, In the Footsteps of Walker Women.
She has also written a second novel, The Life and Love (Attempts) of Kitty Cook, which was released in March 2023. Her third novel, 31 Days of May, is due for release in April 2024.
Helen has her own publishing house, ‘Write on the Tyne’, which she is using to publish local stories, giving voices to people from all backgrounds across the North East.
With ‘Ramblings’, Helen is going back to her roots, and is her way of finding another way of inspiring people to get reading and writing.
Helen, from Hadrian Park, added: “I have always written poetry. It has a reputation for being tricky to do, but with poetry there are no rules – it can be absolutely anything you want it to be.
“The first thing I ever got published was a poem, which went into a book that was collated by a mental health charity, so it feels like I have now come full circle!
“In Ramblings I write about anything and everything, from birth to death and everything in between.
“I hope this book can inspire those who have never read or written poetry to give it a go, whether its just reading a few verses or picking up a pen themselves!”
Sonya Roe, Head of Charity Services at Age UK North Tyneside, said: “We’d like to say a huge thank you to Helen for kindly donating the proceeds of her new poetry book to us.
“Every donation we receive enables us to help older people in North Tyneside make more of later life. We’re delighted that Helen is also gifting some copies of Ramblings to our Book Club.
“Our readers are always on the hunt for something new and they can’t wait to get together and read Helen’s poems.
“This is the third book that Helen has donated to our Book Club, and each one of them has been a hit with our members. It’s our hope that Helen’s generosity will help us attract other local authors to the group, and help us give a voice to the area’s older people.”
To buy a signed copy of the book with a bookmark, visit https://write-on-the-tyne.sumupstore.com/product/ramblings.
To find out more about Age UK North Tyneside, head to www.ageuk.org.uk/northtyneside.
For more information on Helen, head to www.writeonthetyne.com.