“If you have something critical to say, say it and it can be forgotten later, but if you have something good to say, write it, and it can be kept forever.”
Canon Markham kept a diary for much of his life, volumes and volumes making a wonderful hand-written record of fascinating experiences – but a daunting challenge for anyone wanting to read them let alone wanting to publish them! In the period leading up to the Canon’s death, his family asked him to make a abridgement of those volumes and to supplement this with reminiscences of events that he had not previously committed to paper.
Perhaps inevitably, what began as a series of notes highlighting specific recorded events ended up becoming a much more comprehensive project. Canon Markham recalls events from every era of his life including his entrance to Winchester and Cambridge, his experiences in Palestine in the 1930s, service as a Padre in the second World War, meeting his wife Barbara Banks, the foundation of schools in Grimsby and Morland and, of course, the founding of the Morland Choristers Camp.
Freddy Markham, with his sister Frances and much valuable assistance from Laura Sutherland (a member of the Camp staff and a former chorister at the Camp), has turned the Canon’s manuscripts into a published book titled ‘Something Good To Say’, after one of the Canon’s well-known sayings.
Copies may be ordered from Freddy Markham at Greengill House, Morland, Penrith, Cumbria CA10 3AX, for £11.00 including Postage & Packing (cheques payable to Morland Choristers’ Camp). The costs of printing the book have already been covered and the Canon’s family are now kindly arranging for all proceeds to be donated to the Camp.
A gallery of photographs relating to different periods of Canon Markham’s life (some of which appear in the book) may be viewed here.