Susie Gutch
Born in 1948, Susie read English/Drama and History of Art at the University of Bristol followed by a PGCE at Bretton Hall, University of Leeds.
She then taught English for many years, first in Sheffield and then in west London.
Susie has studied poetry writing (with the late Michael Donaghy) and taken courses on writing short fiction and family stories, with Amy Prior at Birkbeck as well as various weeks at Lumb Bank with the Arvon foundation.
Susie is married, with two sons and two young granddaughters. She is currently writing about her mother’s life and family stories.
Susie’s Story
In A Lock of Boney’s Hair traces the curious history of a relic of the Emperor Napoleon and its connections with her own family and Sir John Soane. The piece is part of a larger collection of stories connected with the life of Susie’s mother.
To learn about the other stories on this site, visit Authors.
Please could you contact me with regards,to your knowledge of the avory family as the judge sir Horace is,related to myself thanks Dawn
The Avory’s were close family friends of my grandfather’s as he had been at Cambridge with Sir Horace’s son in the early 1900s.
I would be interested to know how you are related to the family.
Apologies for the delay – I’ve only just seen your response to my earlier piece.
Susie Gutch
My husband’s GG Grandmother, Elizabeth Cole Pike, was the sister of Frederick William Pike & therefore the aunt of Hugh William Pike & G aunt of John Alexander Pike. This makes my husband and John Alexander Pike 2nd cousins twice removed.
Nothing spectacular in the line that I can remember, but if you are interested in any info. about the Pike branch or want to compare notes, give me a shout. One interesting thing is that the son of William Dale & Elizabeth Cole Pike, Frederick John Dale was a Professor of Music & was married [1896 – 1916] to Edith Serpell, who was a singer & some kind soul has emailed me a bit of her voice singing. This continues the music theme in the Pike line.
Susie please email me, as since you have moved, I have not been able to reach you. Your Canadian cousin, Betty Jean
Hello Susie, I was researching Totland Pier because a previous owner/piermaster, the artist Derek Barran – a close friend – has just died. Both my father and grand-father were piermasters of Totland Pier in the 1960s/1970s when it was still owned by The Totland Chalet Hotel then at the top pf the cliff overlooking the pier. Steamers from Bournmouth were still regular visitors, mooring at the pier to offload visitors.. I think it was owned then by the Priest (or Preece) family – I went to to school with one of his sons at Carisbrooke Grammar – and when I was 15 (in 1960) we used to be regulars at the amusement arcade on the pier where the Island’s first juke-box played loud on summer nights – hits from Buddy Holly and Eddie Cochran, the Everly Brothers. It was a magical liminal place, relatively un-supervised by adults. Derek Barran bought it as a ruin in the late 1990s, and used the amusement arcade on the pier as a studio.