PUPILS AT a Tameside secondary school were given a message in how to make it by one of their own, who is now an accomplished author.
Monique Turner took a trip down memory lane as she went back to Mossley Hollins, where she attended from 2003-2008, for a special visit on World Book Day on Thursday, March 5.
With Island and Influencers and Sweet and Sour published, her third work is on the way.
But school life still plays a big part in Monique’s work, as the memories came flooding back.
The self-confessed quiet kid, who attended when Mossley Hollins was across Huddersfield Road at its old site, said: “When I was at school, life was very chaotic, but in the best way. I had the most adventurous, strange friend group.
“We were like the kids that didn’t fit in anywhere, so we kind of formed our own little group together.
“I loved drama, I loved art, I loved anything to do with being creative.
“Mr West, Simon West, was my form tutor. He was an absolute darling and in my leaving book he wrote, ‘Well done on not speaking until year nine,’ because I was this quiet little kid in the corner that didn’t want to say anything, didn’t want to put my hand up.
“Mossley Hollins was a really small, intimate school. It just felt homely and definitely influenced my work.
“In Sweet and Sour, Mikah the protagonist is a really quiet, self-conscious guy. He’s based on my insecurities when I was younger. I didn’t like the way I looked. I was scared that no-one liked me, because I was part of the group of misfits.
“So I did base him on me from that time at Mosley Hollins. These books are based on teenagers in that setting, so I was definitely inspired by the people that were around me – the popular kids, the nerds, the artistic ones, just all the people that I was around in school.
“Mikah was me in the middle, that didn’t really feel like he belonged anywhere but made a home for himself.”
Monqiue still remembers many of the teachers at Mossley Hollins when he was there – and they remember her.
She also remembers things she got away with at the time, and things she was made to pay for later.
Although, one thing is very different than when she left – Mossley Hollins’ location.
She added: “When I came back up, suddenly I was like, ‘Oh, I miss this place. This is home, it feels like home.’
“When I first heard the old school was going to get demolished, my heart broke, because I can remember walking through the corridors, like the one-way corridor, and the part where all the vending machines were.
“I can remember the classroom my friends and I used to try and get into on break time, then would get kicked out of straight away.
“It feels weird seeing it. Knowing that I have the memories of it, but the place doesn’t exist anymore.
“And when I was driving up, I was thinking about doing orientation.
“We did it around the canal, and I remember cheating doing it. I was one of the first to arrive, I thought it was really slick cheating.
“But then they put me in a race against a load of other schools and I was terrible, I think I came like third to last. I was terrible at running, but I cheated and thought I’d got away with it.
“That was karma coming to get me back. I also remember my friend, Emma. We were doing our GCSE drama, her partner cropped out, and so I stayed back with her and taught her my drama piece, and I ended up doing it twice.
“I did it with Michael, then I did it again with Emma. Even though it wasn’t a huge thing, that sticks with me.
“And an old friend got in touch as her son now goes to Mossley Hollins and she got the newsletter saying that I was coming.
“She was like, ‘What on earth is going on? This is like a strange loop. You’re now going back into Mossley Hollins.’
“We reconnected over that, which was really, really nice.”
Monique did not pull any punches as she spoke to year eight pupils before holding book signing sessions and creative writing workshops.
Getting to where she is now has been a long journey and bumps will come along the road.
And if one of the pupils she spoke to is inspired, that is ‘job done.’
“It just takes one person to walk away and think, ‘You know what, if you did it, I can do it or I’ve seen how you got there, and that actually has helped me think about how I’m going to get there, because I’ve got this dream and this goal,” she continued.
“I took a few different routes. I never wanted to be a writer, I always wanted to be an actor, and yet I’ve come to writing through lots of trial and error.
“But it was Mosley Hollins that sparked that initial love of acting and creativity and storytelling.”
And being back made her realise there is nothing like ‘home’ – as some stereotypical differences do ring true.
She told The Correspondent: “I’ve said, ‘If anyone’s going to come up here, I’d have to come up with them,’ just to be around here again.
“I have so many memories and there’s such a part of me that I’ve left here.
“I was quite removed from Mossley because I lived in Springhead, but it always struck me as people with ambition, regardless of what it was.
“There was always someone who was striving for something. That helped me want to strive for something as well, even if it was different than what I wanted.
“And when I walk down the pavement here and say, ‘Morning.,’ everyone’s going, ‘Morning.’
“I’ve had conversations in the Boots line, with people telling me their whole life story. I’d tell them mine and it’s just friendly and welcoming.
“When I first moved down south and I was doing that, people would look at me like, ‘Are you insane? Why are you looking at me? Why are you speaking to me?’
“A lot of people here have started off in quite difficult situations and to see them rise, break through and achieve their goals makes me so proud.”