Reaching for the moon

I live quite lightly, but I do have some archive boxes where I keep special mementoes, and some things that I have treasured for so long that I can’t throw out. One of these ‘can’t throw out’ items is the first edition of a magazine that I made for my school in February 1966.

It was only ever a single copy, because it was handwritten, glued, and stapled, but it was shared around the classes and, at the principal’s request, I went on to produce similarly handcrafted issues every month for that year. I engaged the help of the other students, asking them to contribute articles, puzzles, jokes, and drawings. I was eleven-years-old, and my magazine would look an extremely poor production to any five-year-old child today, let alone a 21st century eleven-year-old.

The magazine started as a soft punishment, though I only realise this looking back.

The teacher caught me writing a story on my lap instead of paying attention to the lesson that I had found slow and boring. She suggested I write a magazine so everyone could benefit, so I did, in my own time at home. The flip side of her soft punishment was her gentle encouragement, pushing me to reach further.

I mention this now because of the recent Moon landing celebrations.

When it came to finding a cover for my first issue, I chose one of the first photos taken from the lunar surface after the landing of the Soviet Union’s Luna 9 spacecraft. The Luna 9 was the first successful unmanned landing on the moon, and the photos it beamed back were the first ever taken from the moon’s surface. I cut out the picture on the front page of the newspaper and glued it to my magazine. And there it is still, rather tattered and torn and edged with sellotape browning and brittle with age, recently returned to the archive box after my granddaughter asked to see it when I told her the story.

Looking back, my interest in both dreams and writing were with me from a young age, as were the people – like that teacher and principal, and many more before and since – who took a moment in time to generously encourage me reach for the moon.  I am very grateful to you all.

 

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