Alice Taylor: 'A community keeps a village alive; you have to be prepared to get involved'

Alice Taylor made a splash with To School Through the Fields in 1988, and has been writing ever since. Her latest book urges people to take time to reflect and enjoy life in these busy times 
Alice Taylor: 'A community keeps a village alive; you have to be prepared to get involved'

Alice Taylor at the spot where she has breakfast in her at Innishannon Co. Cork . Picture; Eddie O'Hare

As the saying goes, if you want something done, ask a busy woman. When I chat to the writer Alice Taylor, she has spent the morning posting out copies of Innishannon Candlelight, an annual festive publication celebrating the Co Cork village where she has lived most of her adult life. The magazine, which she has been involved in producing for 40 years, is just one of the many activities that keep the 85-year-old busy, from gardening to the Tidy Towns, and of course the books which she produces at a prolific rate.

“I am retired and I am supposed to have nothing to do but I am very involved in everything that goes on here. This morning, I spent my time wrapping up copies of Candlelight for a lady in America who has a travel agency. She was driving through Innishannon a good couple of years ago and she was intrigued by Candlelight. She brought back a copy to America and since then, every Christmas, I post out 14 copies for her friends," says Taylor. 

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