
"It is an inescapable truth, that wisdom begins in wonder. Once a child learns to believe in themselves, they develop the confidence to challenge their curiosity by bringing it into play, and by so doing, they discover a world where everything is possible, so long as they imagine it so. Only the thoughts and feelings of an awestruck child can ever fully experience the wonder of Christmas, and fuse into a single purpose, the sky above and the earth below, and the sandwich of nuture and nature in-between.
Adults frequently think of Father Christmas as being some old bearded bloke from a mythical place who rides the sky every Christmas Eve to deliver presents to children in every household of the land, but to the mind of a child, Santa is much more.
To the innocent child who refuses to advance to an older world until it is absolutely necessary, Santa represents the magic and mystery .of Christmas.They know that in his large sack, he just doesn't carry their special toy, but the sack contains other presents, far more precious for the child to have into the New Year: presents like hope and imagination wrapped in bubbles of adventure.
When I first started to write books for children and the late Dame Catherine Cookson and her husband, Tom, wanted to give the children of the nation a gift on one of their wedding anniversaries, the then 'Schools' Inspector for Ofsted', the late Chris Woodhead, directed them towards my work. Chris had read two of my books to school assemblies and he once described my writing in a press interview as being of 'high-quality literature'.
The upshot was that Catherine Cookson phoned me and asked if she and her husband Tom, could pay for a limited publication of a children's book of mine and allow the sale proceeds to go to charity. Dame Catherine liked my twelve 'Action Annie' stories so much (which Brigid Forsyth; Thelma of 'The Likely Lads' television fame) had broadcasted for school radio transmission, that she and her husband decided to go ahead with the project. The 'Action Annie' stories deal with seasonal topics in the life of a child, and Annie is a young girl who never gives up whenever she wants something.
Before I published the 'Action Annie Omnibus' of twelve seasonal stories (suitable for the 5-9 year old reader), I introduced the project to the public by having the first story in the book published on its own at Christmas time. That storybook was 'Annie's Christmas Surprise'. One unanswered question which had puzzled me since childhood and which has puzzled every child since time began was, 'If Father Christmas loves all children equally, why does he always give the biggest, best and most expensive presents to the children of the wealthiest parents and the smallest and cheapest presents to the children of poorer households?'
After discovering the answer, I made it the theme for 'Annie's Christmas Surprise' which can be found in the 'Action Annie Omnibus'. This book can be purchased from www.lulu.com and www.amazon.com It can also be obtained in e-book format 'for free' from www.smashwords.com. The free e-book version of the first story in the omnibus is my way of thanking my dear friend Catherine and her husband Tom, whom I was in contact with three weeks before her death. " William Forde: December 22nd, 2016.