This Christmas, Teddington's Landmark Arts Centre is delighted to be selling copies of a very special children's story, called The Christmas Fairy, which was published during lockdown by Christine Collingwood, an 81-year-old local author and grandmother.

The magical story is centred on the heart-warming tale of a Christmas fairy, handsome toy solider and all the other toys who come alive on Christmas night and focuses on kindness, magic, vulnerability and love.

The book has been beautifully illustrated by Kate Cadbury and perfectly captures the joy and magic of the festive season.

"The idea for The Christmas Fairy, grew from a poem I wrote one Christmas for the Hampton Writer's Group which I developed into a story for my grand-daughter", said Christine.

She added: "With the help of other members of the Writer's Group, we finally decided to get it out into the world and now as an 81-year-old grandmother I've published my first book - I hope that people enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it."

The story of Christine's love of writing also makes for fascinating reading.

As a retired translator, her lifelong interest in language grew from the age of 6 when an uncle returned from a German prisoner of war camp in 1946.

After teaching her a few basic words of German, Christine became fascinated to learn the differences in language.

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This led her to becoming an Associate Member of the Chartered Institute of Linguists when she also trained to teach English to Foreign Language students.

"As a child, I was an avid bookworm and taking up creative writing has kept me in touch with my love of language and words." Said Christine.

The Christmas Fairy is available to buy online at The Landmark's Christmas Emporium and is the perfect gift for all ages from 0 to 100!

The book costs £6.99 and delivery is via Royal Mail standard 1st class postage or click and collect service from Landmark Arts Centre available on Fridays 10am to 4pm.