Waiting in the Wings: Letters of a Pilot in World War II (Paperback or Softback)

Manwaring, Gaye

ISBN 10: 1999696271 / ISBN 13: 9781999696276

Published by Extremis Publishing Ltd. 4/30/2021, 2021

About this Item

Waiting in the Wings: Letters of a Pilot in World War II.

Seller Inventory # BBS-9781999696276

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Waiting in the Wings: Letters of a Pilot in World War II (Paperback or Softback)
• Publisher: Extremis Publishing Ltd. 4/30/2021
• Publication Date: 2021
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1999696271
• ISBN 13: 9781999696276
• Binding: Paperback or Softback
• Condition: New
• Weight: 0.61 pounds
• Book Type: Book

About this title

Synopsis

The Second World War left no corner of Europe unaffected, and was to touch lives in every country. Young British librarian Len Manwaring was no exception; answering his country's call to arms, he would soon discover a life turned upside down when he enlisted in the Royal Air Force and saw a tour of duty which involved time serving in North America and South Africa as well as closer to home in a United Kingdom that was fighting the constant threat of invasion. Yet just as difficult for Len was the prospect of leaving behind Joan, the girl he loved, with whom he would correspond throughout the entirety of the war.

Now, in this special anthology of letters, airgraphs and other authentic materials from the time, Gaye Manwaring presents the remarkable story of her parents' extraordinary romance, set against the backdrop of an era-defining global conflict. Illustrated with many photographs from the 1940s, "Waiting in the Wings" is the story of how true love can endure in the most challenging of circumstances - even a war which saw Len and Joan separated not just by their duties in the armed services, but by the distance which lay between whole continents.

Presented with social and personal commentary from the author throughout, "Waiting in the Wings" is a unique account of a love affair that stood the trials of war and the test of time; a timely reminder that light can shine in even the darkest days.

About the Author

Dr Gaye Manwaring has recently retired from the University of Dundee where she was a Senior Lecturer in Education. She worked in higher education for fifty years and was awarded the MBE. Her academic interests were educational technology, curriculum development, evaluation, distance learning, mentoring and wellbeing. She is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (now Advance HE) and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. She has published 29 chapters and articles, acted as consultant on 6 other publications, created 18 educational packages, as well as numerous learning units and online modules as part of her normal teaching responsibilities. She took an honours degree in zoology at the University of Exeter followed by a PhD in biochemical genetics at the University of Edinburgh. She had a joint appointment in Zoology and Education at the University of Glasgow, designing self-study audio-visual learning materials for students. Twenty-five instructional packages on biology were published by Longmans. She moved to Dundee and taught many undergraduate and postgraduate courses, and supervised and examined doctoral students. Initially in the 1970s, Gaye ran the Postgraduate Diploma in Educational Technology for an international audience. Later this developed into a distance learning programme using a variety of media. In the 1980s and 90s Gaye was heavily involved in nationally funded staff development programmes for schoolteachers, social workers, doctors and community dentists. She was joint leader of a five-year project on Staff Development and Appraisal in which a team of thirty tutors designed training materials and delivered them to staff from every school in Scotland. As Director of the Open Learning Service for the Scottish Council for Postgraduate Medical and Dental Education she produced in-service packages that were sent to every general practice in Scotland. She designed training materials using print, audiotape, slides, CD-ROMs, video, websites and virtual learning modules. The topics included professional development, staff appraisal, health education, evaluation methods, teaching and learning, mentoring, Children's Panel, open, distance and work-based learning. She has worked extensively with international students and her academic career has taken her to Canada, USA, Poland, Eire, The Netherlands, Croatia, Thailand, Malaysia, Australia and Eritrea. She ran staff development courses for lecturers at the Universiti Sains in Penang in Malaysia, and took leave of absence to work for six months at Murdoch University in Australia. She taught for many years on the Teaching Qualification for Further Education Lecturers and on Dundee's courses for new university teachers. She joined a Continuing Education class on Creative Writing at the University of Dundee (the Nethergate Writers) and contributed short stories to their published anthologies, including one story about a WAAF stationed at Montrose during WW2. She is currently writing an educational autobiography provisionally entitled "Learning My Living" and a novel "Tadpoles and Fireworks". Her voluntary work has included CRUSE bereavement counselling, Victim Support, audio describing theatre performances in Perth and Dundee, and running wellbeing courses for Arthritis Care. During the coronavirus pandemic lockdown she delivered online courses on wellbeing for students. In the future she would like to spend more time motorhoming with her husband as well as continuing with voluntary work on wellbeing.