Lost in the Snow - the latest work by Leftwich author Mike Beddard

By Cheshire Life on December 20th 2011

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As the winter snows fall, where better for a chilly field mouse to find shelter and warmth than a cosy and quiet theatre lighting room. There the mouse can curl up and rest, away from the harsh wind and plunging temperatures – and he might even find he becomes the inspiration for a budding writer.

In the mid-1990s Mike Beddard was working on the sound and lighting for the Davenham Players’ production of An Inspector Calls when he had a caller of his own.

‘A field mouse used to come in and visit us,’ he said. ‘I remember thinking what a lovely story it would make. We named him Percy and I wrote a story about him for my god-daughter Rachel.’

Mike, who worked for Cheshire libraries and museums trust at the time, would visit schools and often thought he could make a better job of writing a children’s book.

He sent his mouse tale to several publishers and although it received encouraging responses, it remained unpublished but with the advent of the electronic book, Mike dug the manuscript out of a drawer at his Leftwich home and updated the story.

The book – Lost in the Snow – is now available on Kindle. Mike, 53, added: ‘When this new age reading device came along I thought it might give me an opportunity to update the story.

‘The Kindle is only just taking off, I suspect there will be a lot unwrapped at Christmas. Personally, I like a real book and if there is sufficient demand for the story to be printed then I will look into that.’

The story is set in the Davenham Theatre in Church Street and two of the main characters are named Rachel, after his god-daughter, and Jack, after his eldest nephew.

Mike, who is now working on creating a series of books about the mice under the title Tales From Beauty Bank, has also written a short story for Christmas.

o download Lost in the Snow to devices running the Kindle application, for £2.29, log onto www.amazon.co.uk/Michael-Beddard/e/B005JTUQIS.

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