Maggie Ballinger

Maggie was born in Crewe in 1951, grew up in South London and, via Norfolk and Leeds, finally discovered, (in 1979), that her true home was Sheffield. From then, until retiring in 2004, she worked in almost all the city’s hospitals, ending up as General Manager of the Jessop Hospital for Women. Both her daughters, and all four of her young grandchildren, were born – and still live − in Sheffield. The enormous privilege of childcare is therefore a regular feature of her weekly agenda.
After several post-retirement years spent renovating the house in Nether Green, which she shares with her husband, Maggie’s attention turned back to her lifelong passion for writing.
She has completed several novels, but has never pursued the possibility of publishing any of them. Please follow the above link to Maggie's blog of humorous verses.

Remaining items on her bucket list include learning how to tap dance, and to play the violin, not necessarily with a view to doing both at the same time. (Though we do so look forward to seeing that, Maggie!)

In 2012, principally to protect the idea, she self-published Baa Baa Pink Sheep. The penning and illustrating of this was prompted by her first granddaughter who, then aged two,demanded differently coloured sheep asking questions about something other than “boring wool”.

Also in 2012, work began on Britannia’s Glory − a Maritime Story. This followed her entry into the Shipwrecked Mariners’ Society’s inaugural limerick competition, and was originally intended as a short fund-raiser pamphlet in humorous verse. A fascination for the subject matter quickly took hold, and the aim then became the production of the most comprehensive maritime history ever.

In 1936, the Duke of York unexpectedly became King George VI, and his ten-year-old daughter, Princess Elizabeth, became heir presumptive. However, she was never heir apparent, because a male sibling would automatically assume her place in the line of succession. So what would have happened upon the late arrival of a baby brother for the grown-up Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret? After King George VI’s death in 1952, the United Kingdom’s next sovereign would have been a very young boy, and one in need of a regent.
This novel tells seeks to tell that "what if" story. How would the House of Windsor have worked out? .