By Margaret Crosby

Last updated at 12:09, Thursday, 06 August 2009

CANADIAN author and ex-pat Don Hunter’s latest novel may be set in the fictional location of Willow Creek but he drew on his childhood memories of the prisoner of war camp at Distington to help him write it.

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Don, 71, who was brought up in Distington, emigrated to Canada in 1961 and, though he went out there as a schoolteacher, changed career to journalism and worked on The Province, Vancouver’s daily newspaper.

In his latest work entitled Incident at Willow Creek, published in June by NeWest Press (£9.59) he tells the story of Liz Thomas, who after her mother’s death, inherits the key to a bank deposit box which contains the official government documents of Camp 10, a prisoner of war camp in Canada during World War II. As Liz desperately attempts to piece together reports on a life she never knew her mother had, she discovers a family secret so tragic that it was kept under lock-and-key for over 60 years of Canadian history.

Our recent article about the ‘secret’ real-life wartime camp at Distington has been cut out and despatched to Fort Langley, British Columbia, where Don now lives, by his cousin Edna Branthwaite of Egremont.

“It was a surprise and a coincidence to see the article about the Distington camp just weeks after Don had published his book,’’ said Edna, 70, who lives at Bridge End Park, Egremont. “I have sent it to him, I’m sure he’ll be very interested.’’

Don, the son of Sid and Mary Hunter, lived as a child at Bank End, Distington. His mother and Edna’s mother were sisters.

When he went to Canada in the 60s, Don worked as a teacher before turning to writing. Based on his memories of Distington, he wrote a short story entitled David’s Friend about a friendship between a German prisoner of war and a young boy from a nearby village and the consequences of that friendship. He sent it to magazines but it was rejected and put aside for several years.

He was inspired to resurrect it for use in Incident at Willow Creek after Don learned there had been several PoW internment camps in Canada. He subsequently visited Lethbridge in Alberta, a 14-hour journey from his home, to discover more.

Don, who is married to June and has two daughters, was just a boy of seven living in Distington in 1945 when he and his pals would see the Germans working in the fields and on road mending jobs. A couple of times they went up to the camp but were chased away by the Home Guard.

He says: “We were fascinated by the prisoners. They were the enemy in a war that had just ended. Young men from the village had been killed by men such as these and here they were amongst us, working alongside our relatives and playing football with local teams.’’

In 1972, Don co-wrote a book on research into the Sasquatch/Bigfoot phenomen and later a work about life in a Gulf Islands community, Spinner’s Inlet, shortlisted for the Leacock Medal for Humour. He also wrote the script for a 1986 CBC television movie and mini-series.

He did his national service with the British Army’s 16th Independent Parachute Brigade, and taught in England and in British Columbia before joining The Province newspaper, in Vancouver, as a reporter and feature writer and eventually senior columnist.

He has contributed to dozens of magazines including Reader’s Digest.

The writing bug must be genetic as Edna herself has had magazine articles published too, in This England and The People’s Friend.

During her working life, she was at Whitehaven library, went into the police, served with the Lancashire force for four years, was branch librarian at Walney Island, trained as a teacher and though not actually teaching, worked in the education service for a number of years.

Her sister, Freda Trohear, who lives at Frizington, has also written a piece for a local history publication.

The family hails from Asby, where Don was born.

First published at 15:46, Wednesday, 05 August 2009
Published by http://www.whitehavennews.co.uk