Springtime at Hope Hall by Pam Rhodes
Paperback published by Lion Hudson 22nd February 2020
Hope Hall buzzes with life and Kath, the hall Administration, can’t help but smile as the Brownies run in circles, and the knit and Natter Club chat away. Kath assesses all the new clubs who want to use the hall, and when the can’t Sing Singers come along, she has her hands full!
Kath has a wonderful team but she knows they are struggling. Their caretaker, Trevor has a terminal ill wife, and Maggie, their unflappable cook, has been left by her husband. As the Easter Monday Fayre approaches, Kath realises reinforcements are needed. Brash and inexperienced though she may be, Kath has a feeling Shirley might be just the ticket!
The Fayre is a triumph, but when Kate’s old flame comes back on the scene, Kath suddenly has some tough choices to make.
MY REVIEW
To everyone who has a favourite local hall in which they’ve danced, sung, played, learned, or just had fun, you will be able to adapt to this story.
This story is quiet like real-life. Every character I could relate to in some way.
Ray’s wife has cancer that is a heartbreaking subject that we all have faced. I personally know a man who is loosing his wife to cancer.
My mother belongs to a club, that have lunches, where she often tells me of things people say or do, some are widowed, some joke around and then there are a few with a few stories to tell. And some are deaf like Blanche in Springtime atHope Hall from the Grown-ups Lunch Club,who has be shouted into her hearing aid do you want a sandwich and chocolate cake or just the cake? This is what I mean by everyone can relate to the characters. I remember my nan being very deaf and having to shout at her to make her hear.
I used to work in a play group centre and know with a room full of little children toys are scattered everywhere among the mess. My mother’s meetings with friends at her club and where I used to work were in two different places.
What made Springtime at Hope Hall so special is everything takes place in one hall.
What I adored reading about was the characters in Springtime at Hope Hall, its one if those uplifting story that’s full of characters that will make you laugh or cry.
Please don’t Worry about the long list of characters, there is not a chance of you being confused as the characters are set in their own chapter.
Here’s a brief list of the many wonderful characters that build up the life surrounding Who’s Who at Hope Hall.
Hope Hall staff and their familes
Kath Sutton Manager of Hope Hall
Dr Jack Sawyer Katy’s former partner
Maggie Stapleton Catering Manager at the Call-in-Cafe
Dave Stapleton Maggie’s ex-husband
Mandy, Marlin and Belle Dave’s new partner and her children
Steph, Dale, and BobbieMaggies daughter and her family
Darren and Sonia MGgies son and girlfriend
Liz Assistant Catering Manager at the Call-in-Cafe
Ray and Sara Hope Hall Caretaker and his wife who is ill with cancer
Shirley and Mick Wells temporary assistant to Ray
Trevor and Mary Barrett accountant at Hope Hall and his wife
Work experience pupils at the Call-in-Cafe
Jess, and Kevin Marley
Dance classes
Della Lucas
Barbara LucasRonnie Andrews
Grown-up’s Luch Club members
Percy Wilson cheeky character, great story teller
Connie
John
Robert
Ida
Betty
Doris
Flora
Gerald
Can’t Sing Singers
Pauline Owen organizer
Peter and Olive Spencer couple in their eighties
Mary and Elizabeth Brownlow singer sisters in choir since their Sunday school days
Bruce Edison former rock group singer
Keith Turner
St Mark’s Church
James vicar at the church for two years
Ellie vicar’s wife
Gregory and Fiona Palmer new Musical Director at the church and his wife
Playgroup
Jen and Rob organizer and her garage mechanic husband
Carol, Phil and little Joe senior helper and her husband and toddler friend of Jen
Beavers
Andy
Gary, Karen, Toby and Max Knights
Clare, Nigel, son Josh Hughes
Knit and Natter Club
Elaine Clarke organizer
Down Memory Lane Club
Jean dementia care therapist
Bill Cartwright, Ruby and Celia members
Women’s Institute
Barbara Longstone formidable Chair of the WI
My thanks to
I would like to thank Lion Hudson for sending me Springtime at at Hope Hall to read and review. I now have a very special author to adore and follow.
I’m looking forward to Pam Rhodes next book Summer’s out at Hope Hall that is being pushed April 2021. Yes I know it’s another year to wait but im a patient person, waiting to catch up with Kath and the rest of her Hope Hall friends as summer comes to Hope Hall.
I’m please to announce that Springtime at Hope Hall is the first book in a new heart-warming trilogy by the familiar face of BBC Songs of Praise and successful author, Pam Rhodes.
Inspired by the local halls that are the glue for so many communities in Britain, Springtime at Hope Hall brings together a series of endearing stories and colourful characters who all congregate under one roof.
It’s rooms and filled the air gossipy grandmas, body popping teenagers, dance groups, a choir without one decent singer to their nam, knitters who natter, caterers who bake glorious cakes,slimmer nibbling chocolate, and a nursery group where it’s the grown-ups who are near to tears.
About Author Pam Rhodes
For more than three decades, Pam Rhodes has been the familiar face of BBC’s Songs Of Praise, where she is known for her sensitive interviews with hundreds of people who face huge life challenges. Pam never forgets a story, and that rich tapestry of life experiences has been wonderful inspiration for her down-to-earth , heart-warming books which now number more than twenty. Pam’s wide experience of Christian church life both in Britain and around the world has provided a backdrop for most of her novels, although her books always have a wide mainstream appeal. Pam is a mum and a grandmother, and she and her husband Richard run a boarding cattery at their Bedfordshire home where they care for RSPCA cats who are looking for new owners.
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