Introduction

The main purpose of this website is to promote my books and particularly my lyrics and poems, a selection of which can be read via the links on the left of this page. Given that the Internet is notorious for plagiarism and copyright theft, I have included here only published works in which my intellectual ownership can be demonstrated in print. However, I hope that these samples may encourage you to consider buying my two collections, Now and Then (2003) and Light and Shade (2008). Many of my poems are traditional in form since, when it works well (i.e. when rhyme and metre are not forced or contrived), the effect can be memorable. At a time when some modern poetry seems obscure and difficult, I must declare my belief that poetry should be intelligible and connect with people.

My work has been published in various books and magazines, including The Spectator and Candelabrum, the latter being responsible for five of my poems now having a place in the National Poetry Library on the South Bank. I also won The Paddon Award at the University of Exeter in 2005 with 'Fifty Years On', which can be found in the Poems section.

This year, my four Railway Walks books are being re-published by The History Press, and details of these will be added as they become available. At the time of writing (Spring 2009), only Railway Walks: Wales is back in print, but the other three titles (GWR & SR, LNER and LMS) will follow in June. These books have been described as 'very models of their kind', and Railway Walks: Wales is selling well already. The first review on Amazon gave the book five out of five stars and had this to say (I have supplied the punctuation):

'Sad but Good. A fascinating book, so good for people who like to see something of our past and get some exercise. So sad that these railway lines closed; some of them will have to open in the future. Old railway lines are so good to walk along, as they are devoid of steep hills ... Well worth buying.'

Copyright Notice

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright holder. To put it plainly, if you want to use this material in any way, please ask – just click on Contact Me, which appears at the bottom of the menu on every page. I will not normally withhold my consent. After all, any author wants his work to circulate and be read – but I am very nervous about being ripped off and hope that I will not come to regret publishing samples of my work in this way. © Jeff Vinter, 2008-2009.

Technical Stuff

This website is designed to be viewed with the screen resolution set to 1024 x 768 pixels. The only fonts that I have used are Arial and Times New Roman. While a dull choice, this combination means that you will see each page as I designed it, rather than having the appearance altered by the font substitution that would occur had I used any rare fonts.

Biography

I was born in Lambeth in 1953 and moved to Sussex with my parents in 1959. I was educated at various establishments in south London, Bognor Regis, Chichester, Exeter and Winchester, the best by far being the University of Exeter (which God preserve). I trained initially as a teacher of History and English, but, despite my leanings towards the Humanities and Arts, have worked extensively as a computer programmer. Nowadays, I am Head of ICT at The Weald School in Billingshurst, and heavily involved in the work of its charity, Classrooms for Kenya.

My great-grandfather, Charlie Blake, worked on the Metropolitan Railway and is responsible for the love of railways which has passed down through generations of my family; some of this is reflected in my poems. It came as an unpleasant surprise when, in 1963, the infamous Beeching Report was published. As I moved into my teens, I had the gloomy experience of seeing its recommendations implemented. In practice, this meant watching a Conservative and then a Labour government close thousands of miles of railways but fail to do anything constructive with them, even though they were a national asset. This has encouraged me, since 1980, to help Railway Ramblers in promoting the re-use of some of these 'lost lines' as traffic-free walks and cycle trails.

Turning to beer, I am mindful of A.E. Houseman's famous lines from 'Terence, This is Stupid Stuff':

'Ale, man, ale's the stuff to drink
For fellows whom it hurts to think:
Look into the pewter pot
To see the world as the world's not.'

Unfortunately, given the way the world is going, a glass or two of ale seems like an increasingly good idea. I serve the cause of beer by looking after the website of the excellent Arundel Brewery.

Apart from my poetry, I also write prose, mostly to do with transport history – railways predictably, and canals rather less so. From 1990 onwards, Alan Sutton published my Railway Walks series in four volumes, together with The Taff Trail Official Guidebook, which was sponsored by Esso, amongst others. In 2007, I contributed a chapter to The Book of Carhampton and Blue Anchor, published by Halsgrove, the names in the title being the two Somerset villages where I spend a lot of my spare time. More recently, I have just finished preparing my four Railway Walks books for new editions to be published by The History Press between April and October 2009. Click on the book title to view the press release for Railway Walks: Wales, Railway Walks: GWR & SR, Railway Walks: LNER or Railway Walks: LMS. The updates on this occasion are not comprehensive due to my other commitments, but the appendices have been updated, especially those which list old lines that are now officially open to the public. On that subject, the collective length of 'rail trails' in the UK has doubled, and possibly even trebled, since the books were first published in 1990. To judge from my work on the appendices, I estimate that the routes come to over over 3,000 miles now. (One of these days when I have nothing better to do, I might add them all up ...)

In January 2009, I was asked to write a book to support the BBC's 'Railway Walks' series (see below), but had to decline due to the very short timescale involved; the task would have been impossible on top of a full-time job. However, I have two other writing projects pencilled in for The History Press in 2010 and 2011, and will update this page when the respective publication dates are closer.

In 2007, I assisted Platform 14 Ltd. in making the series 'Along These Lines' for Meridian Television, while, in 2008, I assisted Skyworks Ltd. in making the series 'Railway Walks' for the BBC. These series consisted of eight and six half hour episodes respectively, all being broadcast during the course of 2008. Having appeared initially on BBC4, 'Railway Walks' was repeated on BBC2 in March and April 2009. As for future television projects, who knows? The viewing figures for 'Railway Walks' on both BBC4 and BBC2 were excellent, so it is possible that a second series will be commissioned. If this happens, then I am likely to be involved again.

If you missed 'Railway Walks' completely, the link here provides an outline of the series, together with access to the BBC iPlayer when the programmes are available to watch online.

Both 'Along These Lines' and 'Railway Walks' looked at the legacy of old railways both in the south of England, and across the UK as a whole. They also examined local landscapes, and social and economic history, as well as telling the story of each railway's construction and subsequent loss.

Bringing things right up to date (September 2009), I have just finished helping out with an episode in the next series of James May's 'Toy Stories', to be broadcast – provisionally – on the BBC on Thursdays at 8 p.m. from October. This episode involved an attempt to seize the record for the world's longest model railway from the Germans, whose record (unfortunately!) still stands at 8½ miles. James and his team laid 10 miles of track between Barnstaple and Bideford in North Devon, but had to put up with some theft and mindless vandalism on the day, which some of the daily newspapers seized upon with relish. Notwithstanding these difficulties, it was a technical problem that ultimately defeated James and his team, for the electric motor in their OO gauge Japanese bullet train finally expired at Instow, 8 miles along the track. This may still be enough to set a new record for the world's longest point-to-point model railway. For further details on this story, click here and here or, for my photographs, click here and here.

Student Websites

I teach Year 13 students how to develop websites as part of my duties at The Weald School. The links below are examples of sites developed in the academic year 2008-2009. With the exception of The Lively Lady, all of these sites are now live. Further examples may be added over the coming months if the clients are happy with them and decide to use them.

• Chichester Voices – An impressive local choir which has performed across England from the South Coast to the Midlands, and raised over £100,000 for charity in the process.
• The Four Chesnuts - A local community pub in Chichester.
• Hockleyfords – A gentlemen's hairdresser in Chichester (my exemplar project).
• The Lively Lady – A family pub at Bracklesham Bay, nr. Chichester.