A BUDDING author returned to her old school to inspire young writers in their creative endeavours

Vicky Garlick told students in Northallerton a long day at work reattaching a wing to a stuffed seabird damaged in the Cumbrian floods did little to dampen her true passion for creative writing.

When she is not conserving artefacts at Durham University she is hard at work writing her fantasy novels, the latest of which has just come to print thanks to an Australian publisher.

Forgotten Magic is the first of a series of books she is writing as she transfers her childhood fantasy worlds to paper.

Now 28, she returned to Northallerton School and Sixth Form College, where she studied and her late father Graham taught, to talk to and inspire the book club.

“Right from primary school I remember being upset when I had to stop writing creatively,” she said.

“Now I get in from work about 6.30pm and am writing by 7pm until about 10pm.”

She attended the school when the family lived at Thornton Watlass, near Bedale, not far from where she now resides in Thirn.

At school her love of the written word saw her study English literature and language in the sixth form and English language and linguistics at Lancaster University.

A job at the Armouries Museum in Leeds saw her join a sword fighting and knife-throwing club, a pastime she still enjoys and finds useful for her writing.

Her current day job is as an objects conservator at Durham University, restoring ancient artefacts of metal, wood and bone, as well as more modern but still historical teapots.