A DUDLEY resident has put pen to paper and written her memoirs of her friendship with one of the country’s most popular children’s authors.

Viv Turner, aged 67, first wrote to Malcolm Saville as a young girl to say how much she loved his books.

Mr Saville, who was a popular author of a children’s fiction series at the time, writing adventure stories similar to Enid Blyton’s Famous Five series, wrote back and their friendship continued for over three decades, until his death in 1982.

Viv, from Gervase Drive, said: “I remember being very excited when I got a letter back from him for the first time and from then on we kept swapping letters.

“When I grew up our friendship changed. I used to visit him at his home and he used to write to me about his books and his life.

“I also began to unofficially run his fan club and at his request began compiling quizzes for young members of his Lone Pine club and a Lone Pine Index and my husband and I began visiting locations featured in the Lone Pine books, including Shropshire, Yorkshire and Dartmoor.”

And 20 years on from his death, Viv began thinking of writing her own book about their friendship, which has since been published by Girls Gone By.

The book, called ‘Malcolm Saville – A Friendship Remembered’ is available from The Black Country Living Museum and Ashwood Nurseries, as well as online and is Viv’s personal reminiscence of the author and contains extracts from their letters and phone conversations.

Mrs Turner, said: “He was so exciting and charismatic that I wanted to write the book as a repayment of a debt . I owed it to his memory and hoped it would give an insight into what a remarkable man he was.”