The fourth meeting of our season took place at the Panmure Arms hotel in Edzell on 10 December 2024 when our speaker was Anne Maryse Churchill, known to us as Annie, who spoke about her much-loved book character, Pearl Pavlova.
Annie is well known in the area, and beyond, for her love of the arts and has in the past arranged two fund raising concerts in Laurencekirk, both of which offered excellent musical entertainment.
She spoke about her first love of dancing and, as a child, remembers having a vivid imagination making up stories and entertaining family members. Her love of ballet began at the age of two and by the age of sixteen, Annie was a full-time member of a dance and drama school in Edinburgh. The main character in Annie’s book, Pearl Pavlova, is named after the famous Russian ballerina, Anna Pavlova. The books are beautifully illustrated by another local lass, Lizzie Birnie. Annie and Lizzie make a formidable team, and work is proceeding well on more stories about Pearl and her adventures. A further three books are in the pipeline with these being set in the 1930-40’s. Annie’s aim in writing children’s books is to teach companionship, compassion and the benefits of community involvement. As well as writing children’s books, Annie recently penned a book of short stories, ‘Railways and Waterways’, under the name Annie Day Fernie.
Due to an injury in her twenties necessitating a career change, Annie studied law at Aberdeen University before working as a solicitor in Aberdeen. She was able to keep up her interest in dancing and branched into teaching both adults and children. Annie juggled a busy law practice and dance tutoring until retirement when she moved to Laurencekirk.
After Secret Santa, we ended the evening with a musical Christmas quiz which ensured much hilarity.
We are always looking for new members and should you be interested in joining us, please contact innerwheeldistrict1@outlook.com
Denise Donald
Club correspondent
