After several months, Nigel called the affair off, unable to deal with the guilt of infidelity. It was this that sparked Mary to populate the village with mementos of their relationship, something which unfortunately affected the outcome of the Best Village competition. Still, for Nigel it was the sign that she truly loved him. When his wife left him last week to move in with an  insurance salesman from Crawley he knew what he had to do.

This reporter's eyes misted over when Nigel, hair carefully parted, came into the pub with a bunch of flowers and dropped to one knee in front of the emotional Mary. The couple were later seen sitting in the corner holding hands, sharing a bag of cheese and onion crisps and poring over past classifieds - together. --Lumpy Gaites

Guild Gathers to Honour O'Rall

Miss Dowley traced the history of the book’s success, noting that whilst originally dismissed by critics as "just another romance novelist," O’Rall has come to be recognized as a pioneer in feminist literature. Her heroine, the young heiress Loretta Princeton, denied her heart’s wish, Sussex farmer Arthur Kingsley, to answer the call of God and country as an RAF nurse. "Through her young lovers, O’Rall profoundly influenced a generation’s understanding of the complexity of women’s experience during that troubled but triumphant period of our nation’s history," concluded Dowley. "Loretta Princeton became a guiding light for later feminist authors."

After a half century, the identity of the author who adopted the pen name of Helena O’Rall remains a mystery. Her most famous novel, set in wartime Britain, reveals the author’s deep understanding of the West Sussex way of life. Indeed, much of the story unfolds during Loretta’s fortnight with her aunt in Puckering, and features local shops and businesses, as well as scenes set at the Upper Puckering Parish Church and in the surrounding countryside. Following the success of Taxi, O’Rall authored three additional novels, the last published in 1963.

"Based on the overwhelming success of our program tonight, we’d like to host other events honouring authors who write about local themes," said Miss Crowder-Switts. "We’re in the planning stages for an afternoon program highlighting Miss Betsy Winches’ Ten Cups a Day: A Tea Drinker’s Guide to Health, and have begun discussions on an evening built around Nigel Rockmorton’s Horses, Hounds and Hedges: Rides through Puckering and the South Downs.—Lumpy Gaites

"I’ve really enjoyed my time here," he notes, "but I’ve always wanted to concentrate on my fiction. I have a bit of a romantic streak in me, you see, and it can’t be expressed by covering the Irregulars. Not that they’re not a fine group of lads."

Between stories of valiant efforts on the pitch and the steady rise of local crime, Lumpy found time to write his first novel, an historical work set in pre-war Germany. "Daybreak in Dresden," the first of a series, has been accepted by a major London publishing house, and is expected out next year. The receipt of an advance for the second book, "Noon in Nimes," has provided the budding author with the financial freedom to pursue his passion full time.

Fittingly, his love of the historical romance genre began when, as a young lad, he began reading the work of Helena O’Rall, the novelist who penned such classics as "Adrift at Sea" and "Last Taxi to Kensington." Long rumoured to be a resident of Puckering, her identity has remained a mystery.

"I’ll never forget the last scene in Taxi," sighs Gaites. "It can still bring a tear to my eye. If I could write like that, I would."

Gaites has outlined two additional books, "Sunset in Sargosa" and "Midnight in Milan" to round off his fledgling series. "The books will give me a chance to do some travelling, to see the world. I’ve always wanted to go to Spain, and the missus is a pasta fanatic. Write something about Italy, she keeps pleading. I think I will." --Nigel Twicks