Histories

Just how large a part is played by heredity in the creation of a person who is not only a gifted artist, but also a poet, playwright, author and journalist?
Gloria's maternal forebears were Italian. Her grandfather came from Emilia, a craftsman who worked with the great Malatesta on the mosaics of Westminster Cathedral. Her English father was a well-known graphic artist and illustrator. Spurred on by his example, Gloria trained at St Martin's School of Art in London and later at the University of Florence. She graduated with honours and later became a lecturer on historic costume and an instructor in costume drawing at the Polytechnic in Regent St.
As a teenager, she enjoyed writing, but it was when she married and moved to Brussels with her husband that the editor of the Brussels Times asked her for some pieces with a British flavour. A successful painter by that time, she had already won the Medaille d'Argent in Paris and the Italian Medaille d'Or. Much of her work is in permanent collections in Belgium in oils, watercolour, pastel, ink and gouache.
Her portrait of Princess Paola of Liege had captured all the sweetness of her young subject and a painting of Margaret Thatcher was said to be a favourite of that lady's husband.
Even so, an opportunity to work in another creative field was too good to miss. Gloria began to write short pieces for the Brussels Times and The Beacon (British Community News). She started with art and theatre reviews and reports on events of Belgo-British interest. Markets in Brussels and Walks in Brussels followed and tongue in cheek, a Look at Local Loos.
This was a surprising choice for a resident painter at Old England, a department store as exclusive as Fortnum and Mason, whose painting of the Frost Fair on the Thames had been exhibited at the Royal Academy and now hung beside a Rubens in a private collection. but Gloria is a surprising person. Quiet voiced and modest, she has a wicked sense of humour, sharp powers of observation, and a sparkling wit reserved for the most part for her closest friends.
Encouraged by the success of her early writing, she went on to produce short pieces which were broadcast on BBC Radio 4 and the World Service. Her work also appeared in annual exhibitions of manuscripts of L'Association Royal des Ecrivains Wallons. She then became a member of the Union Mondiale de la Presse Feminine.
On her return to England, Gloria settled in Canterbury. She was still painting, but a change of eyesight in middle age caused difficulties. She turned more and more to writing. In 1991. she joined SWWJ. She became Chairman of the Canterbury Writers' Group, taking part in their annual performances of original poetry and prose at the Canterbury Festival. One of her poems, Rose in the Martyrdom, appeared in Tributes in Verse anthology published in Poetry Now. For four years in succession, her work was read at the London Drama Festival in the Goodrich Theatre in Putney.
Gloria's interest in history has never flagged and a project dear to her heart is acting as guide at Canterbury Cathedral, where she makes full use of her fluent French and Italian, when showing groups of tourists round the historic site.
The BBC has accepted one of her plays for radio, but at present, family history is her major concern. In years to come, this carefully researched work may prove invaluable to social historians, tracing the life of the paternal family of English yeomen back to medieval times. The exotic flavour of Italian blood adds mystery to the story.
Many of us would like to trace our ancestry, yet few have the patience to search through ancient documents, picking up snippets of information from wills and parish registers. Gloria has done so, and the book (or books) when finished, should provide a fascinating insight into the making of a writer.