Diary of a Tramp

Children of Another Time: Cornish Childhood Memories From Truro in World War II

Childhood memories from the early years of the Second World War are bound together in a unique way within Children of Another Time, as Neville Harcourt Paddy takes us back to Hendra, an area in Truro, Cornwall, nestled beneath the city’s iconic viaduct.

With the arrival of war, everything changed, and the people of Truro took on work to help the war effort, whilst opening their already cramped homes to the evacuees.

Against the backdrop of blackouts, rationing and air raid sirens, for the children, life found its way into the cracks of war’s shadow. The woods and countryside surrounding the city became their magical battleground, where they waged their own fight against the despised Nazi regime, echoing the whispers of their parents’ fears overheard at home.

For these children, the war wasn’t just something happening abroad – it was etched into the fabric of their growing up, a strange blend of fear, resilience, and the unyielding spark of childhood imagination.

Through a distinctive blend of ongoing narratives and standalone stories, Neville intertwines the resilience of childhood innocence with the history and beauty of Hendra. Children of Another Time is a nostalgic tribute to a generation who grew up in the midst of war, finding light in the darkest of times.

ISBN: 9781852002169

Size: 217x140mm

Binding: hardback

Length: 298

Saving Lives in Scilly: The Doctor, the Lighthouse Keeper and their Families

This is the story of the author’s two paternal great-great-grandfathers, both of whom spent over forty years helping to save lives on the Isles of Scilly: Edwin Lewis Davis as the keeper of St Agnes Lighthouse and John Grenfell Moyle as the islands’ only doctor. It also follows the mariners, miners, preachers and teachers of the Moyle and Davis families as they become part of the great Cornish diaspora. We accompany them over the seven seas aboard speedy clippers, to the Antipodes during the gold rush, to the industrial north of England, to lighthouses along rugged coastlines and to the war zones of the Crimea peninsula and the Western Front. With them we enter Victorian classrooms, workhouses, prisons and lunatic asylums.

The book is richly illustrated with images of people, places and mementoes, including the paintings of John Grenfell Moyle, who became a renowned West Country artist. Quotations from contemporary writers such as Charles Dickens, George Eliot, Wilkie Collins and Mrs Gaskell help to transport readers into the world inhabited by the author’s forebears and their own. She pays particular attention to the lives of great-grandmothers and great-aunts, which have so often been hidden from history.

Saving Lives in Scilly will appeal to readers with an interest in the sea, the West Country, lighthouses, medicine, the lives of women and in social history. In addition, those keen to explore their family’s past will find inspiration in the author’s journey of discovery.

ISBN: 9781852002176

Size: 217x140mm

Binding: hardback

123 Photos

Length: 284pp

Sir Lewis Hamilton’s Final Lap With Mercedes: 2024 - An Unofficial Account

This is a definitive unofficial account of seven-time world champion Sir Lewis Hamilton and his final year with the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team before his move to Ferrari.

Carol M. Creasey is already well known by fans of Sir Lewis, following four years writing on the SilverArrows.net website, which is the main unofficial site covering Mercedes F1. In this book she starts with a brief history of Sir Lewis’s career and life, and then records all his races with Mercedes throughout 2024, including his iconic win at the British Grand Prix.

There are details of events within the Formula One paddock and Sir Lewis’s team mates, and Carol shares her support and enthusiasm for the man himself. She intends to give some of the proceeds from this book to Mission 44, the charity Sir Lewis founded, which is set up to build a more inclusive future for young people around the world.

ISBN: 9781852002183

Size: 212×135mm

Binding: paperback

Length: approx 110pp with colour photos

From his early childhood days in St. Ives, Eric had always known he was destined for a life at sea, and he has already told the story of his Merchant Navy cadet training on HMS Worcester in his book Yes, Dad I Want to Go to Sea!

After his training with HMS Worcester, Eric worked as an apprentice with the Ellerman and Bucknall Steamship Company, where he gained his Chief Officer’s Certificate. Following this he joined the Palm Line as a Second Officer.

Here he remembers his five years with the Palm Line from 1960 to 1965. During this time he served in fourteen of the company’s ships, ranging from the ageing Ashanti Palm to the more modern Ikeja Palm. These ships crossed the oceans to West Africa and back, with voyages spread between Dakar in the north to Luanda and Lobito in the south, often with sixteen hour working days in the intense tropical heat.

At this time countries such as Ghana, Nigeria and Sierra Leone were becoming independent and this often added considerably to the stress and difficulties when loading and off-loading goods in the port docks, and it was Eric’s job to oversee that these operations ran smoothly.

Eric recounts the highs and lows he faced in an honest and engaging way, whether it was facing a ship plagued with rats, establishing a friendly relationship with dock workers, all of whom he always treated as equals regardless of hierarchy, or dealing with captains that bullied and made life difficult and occasionally dangerous.

During his time with the Palm Line Eric married Jill and his first son Ian was born, and Eric recounts how he was always happiest on his return to his hometown of St. Ives in Cornwall to be with his family. So, after a sadly rather fractious experience with the company, and having by then gained his Master Mariner’s Certificate, he left the Palm Line. He then went on to have his second son Jeremy and become captain of the Isles of Scilly ship RMS Queen of the Isles.

ISBN: 9781852002107

Size: 217x140mm

Binding: hardback

Photos: TBC

Length: TBC

A Third Dose of Witty Reflections on Modern Life from a Grumpy Old Westcountry Man

Whether considering great issues related to the state of the world or simply the choice between a bath or shower, we can be sure that Ted Sherrell’s unique observations on life always include a good deal of common sense and plenty of humour.

Although being a self-confessed grumpy old cynic, he is not one to believe everything from the past is better; far from it, he revels in the comforts of modern life – so long as he can list them with a Biro and not a keyboard!

Easy to dip into at anytime, these 60 articles are chosen from Ted’s original columns published in newspapers across Devon and East Cornwall.

ISBN: 9781852002077

Size: 212x135m

Illustrated with cartoons

Binding: Paperback

Length: 221pp

Growing up and being educated in Kenya between World War II and Independence might not have been that unusual, but Edwina’s experiences are considerably enlivened by her parents whose unpredictable tactics undoubtedly make this a humorous and engaging account.

Edwina’s parents, Chippy and Jean, never saw any obstacle to their adventures, thereby ensuring that Edwina’s two older sisters witnessed and endured the fall of Hong Kong during the war. The rest of them, three more girls, were in Kenya in time to live through the Mau Mau uprising. But they all survived, in every sense of the word, despite taking part in some truly incredible enterprises, that hardly ever worked, sprung on them by their ever enthusiastic father.

Following military life, the family went on to a canning factory, a fertilizer factory, farming, a country club and a school, with improbable exploits arising from each move and every job taken by their father.

It was a make do and mend way of life that, regardless of the hardships and uncertainties, was often hilarious and served as an education in itself.

ISBN: 9781852002060

Size: 217x140mm

Binding: hardback

35 photos

Length: 339pp

From childhood days growing up on a tough Cornish council estate during the 1960s and ’70s, through to establishing a bespoke Multiple Sclerosis therapy centre in Surrey, John Hambly’s life has been quite a roller-coaster. 

He discovered the strength of teamwork early on by becoming mentally and physically fit playing rugby at senior school, whilst also realising that this was a good way to dispel bullies.  

A career in surveying led him to London; quite a change for a boy from the west country. There were some hilarious and mad escapades as he learnt ‘on the job’, but he was successful in his chosen profession and also in sport, becoming Captain of an aspiring junior London rugby club. Marriage and four daughters also followed along the way.

It is when participating in the London Marathon that the first alarming signs of his physical problems appeared, but only later that Multiple Sclerosis was diagnosed. 

Following two years where his condition seemed to be in free-fall, and realising the great lack of specialist resources in the NHS, John became determined to improve the situation. Over the next 17 years, with help from his ex-teammates, charity trustees, family and friends, millions of pounds were raised to enable the construction and development of the Samson Centre in Guildford; eventually treating up to 200 people a week and offering 10,000 therapy sessions each year.

It is John Hambly’s indomitable spirit and great belief in teamwork that built this charitable foundation – and this is his story. 

ISBN: 9781852001971

Size: 217x140mm 

Binding: hardback 

100+ colour plates and illustrations

Length: 323pp

From her 1940s childhood through to the present time, author Carol Creasey reflects on a life which has thrown some truly tough moments her way, but where she overcomes these problems and is always ready to share her enjoyment of family and living.

Born in Coney Hall, Kent, Carol admits to being very outward and loud in her youth, and remembers those days of the 1950s when rock’n’roll and boyfriends were the backdrop to her coming of age.

Marrying in her late teens, it was following the birth of her third child that she faced a major trauma. She writes very frankly about learning that her son had autism and coming to terms with this. Nevertheless, this situation finally led to the end of her first marriage. 

Bravely leaving her husband and moving into a flat above a shop that she ran herself, she met John, with whom she had her fourth child. 

Carol describes how she often had to deal with the conflicting disapproval of others against her life choices and partners. John was also married with children, and in the 1960s and 70s there was still considerable condemnation of couples living together in this way. However, they thrived and had a good family life together.

When faced with two major tragedies within her family, it is Carol’s care for others and a consistently indomitable spirit that pull her through the heartache and on to a new inspiring chapter in her life.

Often finding solace in writing, she has become well-established as an author, so it is apt that she now offers this spellbinding account of her own life to readers.

ISBN: 9781852001933

Size: 217x140mm 

Binding: Hardback

32 Colour & B&W photos

Length: 322pp

When Simone set off from New Zealand in the early 1990s, eager to experience what the world had to offer, she couldn’t have imagined how things would develop. The Iron Curtain was falling and the world seemed to be opening up to nations previously cut off from the western world.

Against this backdrop of change, she was one of a group of Kiwi friends who would embark on the journey of a lifetime called ‘The Serious Road Trip’. Initially sparked off by the plight of the orphans in Romania, they planned to travel by red double-decker bus from London to New Zealand working with underprivileged children en route. The one-year itinerary was mapped out, but fate would intervene and the Bosnian war broke out in 1992 as they started their journey.

Compelled by circumstance, the bus joined a Peace Convoy into Sarajevo in the hope of stopping the war. They became the first British-based group to break this infamous siege in June 1992. With compassionate hearts and living day by day, they endeavoured to meet some of the needs of orphans and refugees in many of the most remote and dangerous war-torn regions. They captured hearts and imaginations as they ‘juggled’ their way across borders and checkpoints in Bosnia-H, Croatia, Romania and elsewhere. Travelling in colourful trucks or by red London bus they developed their own unique and maverick form of humanitarian relief where keeping your sense of humour became a matter of survival.

Simone’s personal journey is interwoven with the ups and downs of fund-raising in the London head-office, leading teams of clowns alongside convoy projects and across frontlines or journeying to forgotten corners of Romania. Simone details how she and her fellow volunteer humanitarian Road Trippers offered tangible help and hope in the darkest of times and places.

This factual account is told by a woman following her path and searching for love in the most unlikely places. She finds more than she bargained for. This tells of a journey of courage and self-discovery, where extreme circumstances reveal all sorts of strengths and a pioneering spirit within. It shows what the bonds of friendship and love can surmount when kindred spirits unite, show compassion and dare to dream.

ISBN: 9781852001926

Size: 217x140mm 

Binding: hardback 

100 Colour photos and 2 map illustrations

Length: 321pp

This often heartbreaking account by Carol, whose son, Paul, was born with many difficulties, including autism, is told with the honesty and sincerity necessary to portray the conflicting emotions faced by any family, and particularly a mother, in such circumstances. The overbearing feelings of guilt, failure and inadequacy have to be resolved to enable a happy life with her family. 

When multiple disabilities gradually begin to manifest themselves in Paul, Carol learns how to deal with each trauma individually; discovering that a sense of humour, along with the loyalty and care of her family, is essential, as children with severe difficulties react very differently to others in everyday situations. 

Despite everything, there is light at the end of the tunnel, as Paul’s bravery and courage to fight through illness and adversity, and become a happy young man despite all his disabilities, make everything else seem to pale into insignificance. If he could speak, he would surely say: “My life is worth living!”

ISBN: 9781852001896 

Size: 212x135mm 

Binding: Paperback 

Length: 162pp

Totally Ted! More witty Reflections on Modern Life from a Grumpy Old Westcountry Man

Well-known Devon author and self-confessed grumpy old cynic Ted Sherrell shares even more of his many and varied opinions and conclusions about modern life in Totally Ted! 2

As a complete technophobe, anything from using a pressure-washer to fixing the toilet seat can become a major incident, and the ever increasing amount of junk mail, or the vexed complications of buying a new broom, are likely to drive Ted to the edge of despair. However, once again Ted’s columns, which first appeared in newspapers across West Devon and East Cornwall, are also imbued with excellent humour and increasingly more wisdom.

ISBN: 9781852001889 

Size: 212x135m 

Illustrated with cartoons 

Binding: Paperback

Length: 212pp

By focusing on the first 23 years of his life living at New Cross, S.E. London, author Valentine Barnes, now in his 90th year, has managed to encompass a wealth of social history from the period leading up to and just beyond the Second World War. 

The housing block of the title is that of Dennett’s Road and its surrounds, and Valentine Barnes remembers the families and businesses that used to reside and ply their trades within this area in the 1920s and 30s. These include the local greengrocers owned by his grandparents, the local cinema, newsagents, ice cream sellers, the barber, bakers and others, all of whom made up a close community that, together with a strictly disciplined schooling, produced a cohesive and caring neighbourhood. 

Valentine remembers his first day at school and reflects on pre-war education, he recollects trips to Southend, Ramsgate, Margate and Clacton with his grandmother on pre-war paddle steamers, and recalls experiences in the Second World War when, still well under age, he donned his Light Rescue uniform with his companions to pull the dead and injured from the wreckage and carnage of German bombings. 

From the simple joys of collecting cigarette cards or playing on 1930s streets that were mainly devoid of motor vehicles, through to the terror of the air raid sirens during the Blitz and the social changes caused by World War II, Valentine shares his experiences and understanding of those far-off days from a perspective that can only be gained by having lived through them. 

ISBN: 9781852001858 

Size: 217x140mm 

Binding: Hardback 

68 colour and b&w photos 

Length: 283pp

Totally Ted! Witty Reflections on Modern Life from a Grumpy Old Westcountry Man

The Totally Ted! columns are written by well-known Devon author Ted Sherrell. First appearing in newspapers across West Devon and East Cornwall, they give voice to Ted’s many thoughts about modern life. 

Whether Ted is writing about his phobia of technology, his idea for a ‘colander’ list instead of a ‘bucket’ list, the perils of shopping, or his dislike of television reality shows, the one thing guaranteed is that he is always a self-confessed grumpy old cynic. Nevertheless, these contemplations on day-to-day life contain a large dose of humour and a great deal of wisdom.

Sunflowers and Silver Birch: A Memoir

Renowned Lancashire poet, author and journalist Phoebe Hesketh writes her life story in colourful detail. 

Born in 1909, she describes her early life against the backdrop of the First World War, revealing an innate love of nature and an introduction to social awareness from her well-known suffragette aunt Edith Rigby. Spartan boarding schools in her adolescent years culminate with attendance at Cheltenham Ladies' College, and she quotes with a wry smile: 'hard beds, hard chairs and scant rations were good for the soul.'

Once out of college, Phoebe remembers her life as she meets the responsibilities of adulthood. From the loss of her parents, to her own marriage and children, and all the enjoyment and sadness that lies therein, she always writes in a forthright manner, sharing everything with her readers. There is no doubt it is from these emotional and often life-changing experiences that she becomes able to write so inspirationally; leaving an amazing legacy of both poetry and prose.

Her writing career is interwoven alongside her personal experiences. Her first poetry anthology was published in 1939 and she also became the Women's Page Editor for a local newspaper. She wrote scripts for BBC radio and television, became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and was awarded the Greenwood Prize by the Poetry Society on two occasions. In 1990 she was awarded an Honorary Fellowship by the University of Central Lancashire.

Phoebe lived to the age of 96, and her compelling life-story has been edited posthumously by her daughter Catherine Robinson, with the inclusion of photographs showing some of the characters that pass through the pages.

ISBN: 9781852001841 

Size: 217x140mm 

Binding: hardback 

Length: 220pp 

19 b&w & col. photos

The author Valentine Barnes invites you to accompany him on a ‘Return Journey’. It is a journey spanning over 70 years and a period of time in which he recalls, in both prose and poetry, the many and varied experiences he has undergone. Throughout the pages of this book we are transported to his inner world of elation, joy, humour, loss and extreme sadness. 

Within Return Journey Valentine travels back to the grief and humour on the day of his grandmother’s funeral; he remembers the sadness of the family who lost their parents during WWII, and he reminisces under a big tree on the site that had once been his home. He also remembers helping with the Daily Mail Channel Swim, amusing school camp incidents, some stories behind photographs, and experiences in Cornwall. 

At the beginning of each piece of writing Valentine has included a short descriptive explanation of the material so that the reader can fully comprehend each piece of prose or poetry and understand how it fits into Valentine’s particular journey through life. He has also included some of his own drawings and photographs of people, events and places that feature within this book.

ISBN: 9781852001827 

Size: 217x140mm 

Binding: Hardback 

Length: 180pp

The Narrative of a Tour in the Splendid Summer of 1842: Traversing Fifteen Southern Counties of England

The text in this book is taken entirely from the 1842 hand-written travelogue of James Barnes, who, with his wife Mary, set off from Peckham in Surrey to travel in a pony and chaise around some fifteen counties of Southern England. 

In following the couple's experiences while travelling in the mid-19th century, we are able to view the people and places exactly as they were 174 years ago: a time when Queen Victoria reigned; the first photograph appeared in The Times; Charles Dickens' American Notes were published and Isambard Kingdom Brunel's great ship, the SS Great Britain, was under construction.

The accounts of places visited include Lyme Regis, where just three years previously the famous landslip had occurred; their encounter with a floating bridge at the River Itchen; a visit to Mr Fish's Marine Villa and to the Goodwood races, as well as the house and grounds of Earl Powlett in Somerset. There's also a disturbing encounter with bed bugs in an inn, and the Irishman who lived with his family and animals in a cave about 200 feet from the beach at Hastings: all diligently documented under candlelight at the end of their journey by James himself.

We learn about the social customs of the day, and the changes in society that were still in upheaval from the 'Great Revolution caused by the introduction of Machinery and Steam power'. Here we are able to 'live' history.

Along with the text there are around 50 black and white illustrations from the period and also notes at the end by the author's great-great-grandson, Valentine Barnes, who fortunately unearthed this rare narrative for all to enjoy.

ISBN: 9781852001803 

Size: 217x140mm 

Binding: Hardback 

50 b&w illustrations 

Length: 171pp

Driven Crazy My Life With Cars & Other Vehicles

Sometimes it’s easy to imagine cars are just for getting from ‘a’ to ‘b’ – but we all know deep down that each vehicle has a character of its own. In this humorously offbeat and unusual book we share in Leslie Scrase’s life through his automotive experiences, where Jaguars and VW camper vans are viewed with equal affection. 

Having always loved cars from his very earliest days, the 1950s found Leslie with his first purchase of a 1934 Austin 7, which became known as Aubrey – and Aubrey was to prove a valuable early lesson in the art of car ownership and driving in general! 

Leslie amusingly describes events in his life in relation to the vehicles he has encountered; at one point even finding himself in South India where the transport was an ancient Ford Anglia. 

There are cars, minibuses and camper vans, and a Vauxhall Victor, which together with a Pemberton caravan come truly to life in one chapter as Vera and Charlie, causing considerable trouble for their owner Leslie! 

Eventually love of cars and driving led Leslie to start a chauffeur driven car hire company in Surrey. The cars were all Daimlers and Jaguars, and the clientele were largely leading businessmen, politicians and stars of stage and screen, some of whom provide an interesting lesson on the affect money and power can have on human nature.

ISBN: 9781852001797 

Size: 217x140mm 

Binding: hardback 

17 b&w photographs 

Length: 163pp

Singing My Way to Somewhere Land: A Journey from Shipyard Apprentice to Opera Singer

Born into a typical 1929 working class family in Barrow-in-Furness, Lancashire, Alan Workman remembers his early life in detail, including being evacuated to the countryside during the war. 

His first job was for the Co-op Dairy when he was still 13 years old, but it wasn't long before he started work as an apprentice at the Vickers Armstrongs' shipyard. It was during this time that he heard the wonderful tenor voice of Enrico Caruso on his father's radio and from that moment he strived for a career in singing.

Following his National Service with the Royal Electrical & Mechanical Engineers he made the decision to move down to London to further his singing ambition. He took hotel, garage, brewery, hospital and shop work while continuing his voice training with coaches and tutors, and it was now that he met and married Barbara.

His singing career became full-time when he was accepted as one of the George Mitchell Singers, singing in the Hylda Baker Show. This was the show-business side of singing though, and it was opera he really loved, so he soon auditioned and was accepted into the Sadler's Wells Opera Company, where he remained for seven years. As this involved touring, he and Barbara decided to purchase a dormobile and for three years had their home wherever the tour led them. At this time too, he started to write children's novels, two of which have been published so far.

On leaving Sadler's Wells he became a successful solo club singer under the name of Alan Morrell, regularly sharing the bill with artists such as Marti Caine, Little and Large, Paul Shane and Paul Daniels. His success grew through to his retirement from singing, since when he has continued to be busy writing his children's books.

ISBN: 9781852001759 

Size: 217x140mm 

Binding: hardback 

41 b&w photographs 

Length: 393pp

Crying in the Linen Cupboard... and Laughing in the Sluice: Trials and Triumphs of Trainee Nurses in the 1950s

1948, and in austerity Britain, food, clothing and fuel are still tightly rationed. The country is tired, shabby and bankrupt. 

Against this background comes Aneurin Bevan's new National Health Service. The service that, free of charge, is going to look after us all 'from cradle to grave' or, as one wit has put it 'from lying in to laying out'.

Eleven young women, from a variety of backgrounds, start on their chosen career paths to become State Registered Nurses in this newly conceived service.

The difficulties and challenges that they meet, each in their own way, and the limitations they experience living in a regimented and highly hierarchical society, are all faithfully recorded through the authentic experiences of the author herself as the character of Margery Harvey, along with the fun, the humour and the camaraderie of her colleagues.

At this provincial northern hospital change is taking place, both in the health service itself and society in general. Meals are provided free for the first time and bed curtains introduced to give patients some privacy; the first black doctor appears and the first male nurse, but the nurses would still lose their jobs if they married!

Here is a slice of life from the fledgling beginnings of the National Health Service, and a reminder just how far it has now improved and advanced for staff and patients alike.

ISBN: 9781852001735 

Size: 217x140mm 

Binding: hardback 

Length: 193pp

Following his book Yes Dad, I Want to Go to Sea!, Eric Kemp continues his story with his career change from lengthy deep-sea voyages, to a more family friendly lifestyle working from Penzance for the Trinity House Steam Vessel Service. It was while relieving crews and servicing lighthouses and lightships on board THV Stella, that Eric witnessed the notorious Torrey Canyon oil-tanker disaster near Land's End.

By now well established in his hometown of St. Ives, Eric was elected onto the Borough Council, where he helped win public access to previously secret committee meetings, but soon realised he was considered a bit of a maverick within the system. He also now became Captain of the Queen of the Isles, one of the two ships running between Penzance and the Isles of Scilly, a post he held until the ship was sold.

At this point Eric became a self-employed Trinity House Pilot for the port of Penzance; purchasing his own boats and employing crew members to help. His expertise in handling shipping within and around Mount's Bay is reflected through his own experiences and those of the characters on board the ships and boats arriving at the port.

Also appointed the Managing Secretary of the St. Ives Lifeboat Station, he recounts in well-remembered detail a number of the amazing rescues and sad tragedies that took place with both the inshore and offshore lifeboats during the period of the 1970s and 80s, including occasions that were commended with royal approval.

Now retired, Captain Eric Kemp can look back at a long and fulfilling sea-going career where, whether working with captains, coastguards and harbour masters, or rubbing shoulders with royalty, he has always responded to those around him with good grace and humour.

ISBN: 9781852001728

Size: 217x140mm

42 b/w photographs

Binding: hardback

Length: 181pp

Even during his childhood days in the Cornish fishing town of St. Ives, Eric Kemp knew he was bound for a life at sea. While his mother was cooking pasties in `the slab', better known as a Cornish range, young Eric would be upstairs watching the comings and goings of the ships as they were piloted into the nearby port of Hayle.

Being the son of a captain in the Merchant Navy left Eric's upbringing mainly to his mother, but he remembers well the days when he was able to travel on ships with his father on short voyages, and particularly the time when he finally told his father that he wanted to go to sea himself. After trying in vein to dissuade him from doing so, both his parents finally gave their blessing.

So, after finishing his education at Truro School, he set out to become a cadet on HMS Worcester, then moored on the Thames. His training included work on the famous Cutty Sark and also brief spells of work experience on larger ships such as the MV Singularity.

Following training, Eric became a Merchant Navy apprentice in the shipping company Ellerman Lines. He remembers both tough times and amusing incidents; often involving the many characters of the seamen who made up the crews.

During these years Eric was to travel all around the world, with regular visits to ports in India, Africa, Canada and the USA. However, on marrying a local St. Ives girl he realised that he needed more time at home and this prompted him to join the Palm Line on shorter voyages.
Steeped within this account is the importance of the Merchant Navy in the postwar era through to the mid-1960s; a time when ships were still responsible for nearly all our imports and exports and a time before containers changed the face of shipping forever.

ISBN: 9781852001537

Size: 217x140mm

Binding: hardback

Length: 136pp

48 b&w photographs

Nancy Vlasto has led an extraordinary life. Born to a famous surgeon in the roaring '20s, she began life in a comfortable Bayswater home complete with servants. By age nine, she was starring in a Pathé newsreel as a young tennis star. But by the outbreak of WWII, the feisty young Nancy had chosen to swap a world of privilege for `a life well lived'. As Nazi bombs rained down on London, she worked in a children's hospital, bravely staying above ground with little ones too sick to take to the shelters. Later, she worked as a midwife and district nurse amid the postwar poverty of the East End. 

But the irrepressible Nancy always found time for fun - from wartime parties to going naked in the Turkish baths at Paddington. And by the '50s she had discovered a taste for performing. She made TV appearances before heading to Canada in search of fresh adventures - ending up running her own hugely popular radio programme for children. Back home, Nancy turned her talents to a career as a health visitor before she eventually became the deputy headteacher of a special school. Now - well into her 80s - she continues a lifetime of fundraising dressed as `Blossom' the panto-style horse. She's taken tea with The Queen, enjoyed many honours from grateful colleagues and organisations and nurtured a lifelong love of music and singing. 

Here Nancy shares a wealth of memorable stories from every exciting 

episode of her life, bringing each era vividly to life. She shares the sometimes moving, often funny and always illuminating characters and scrapes she has enjoyed along the way. This hugely enjoyable memoir brings Nancy's adventures to life - showing what life was like for an indefatigable working woman across more than seven decades. Nancy has never lost the thrill of wondering what life can offer her. She celebrated her 80th birthday by swimming with dolphins and is still asking. . . what's next?

ISBN: 9781852001490 

Size: 217x140mm 

Binding: hardback 

Length: 296pp 

32pp photos

An inspiring biographical account of a young boy's chaotic life in a remote, wild, corner of East Africa.

Born in Africa, James's childhood is spent on an isolated gold-mine near Lake Victoria, Tanganyika, with just his sister and mother; his father tragically dying through injuries sustained from World War II. His upbringing is mainly left to a tribal ayah called Amina and an elderly Swahili man, and he learns to speak Swahili before English.

In this unusual setting he soon discovers some stark facts about life through tragedy and danger, but it is the local watu, imbued with kindness and irrepressible humour, that save him from despair, and with whom he learns to fish with home-made lines, eat insects and famously abuse the European hierarchy in real Swahili!

Known as `Jimu' to his friends, he marks out his own country with a Sukuma boy named Lutoli, falls deeply in love with the beautiful, but older, German girl Gretchen and throws himself out of the back of a bus to avoid being sent away to school.

Once at school, in Arusha, James tends to mix with other non-conformers and presents a dilemma to teachers - he is a white boy with a `black spirit'. His gang gets up to nefarious enterprises, bringing them into a state of permanent conflict with the system.

James is fascinated with the history of Tanganyika back to the time when it was a German Colony until 1918. The unparalleled courage of the German leader Paul von Lettow Vorbeck against the British is a beacon to the young boy of what can be accomplished against adversity.

Above all James discovers the world, and life, a little by education, a lot by accident, but overwhelmingly by fate and happenstance, in circumstances few people in the developed world have experienced.

ISBN: 9781852001483 

Size: 217x140mm 

Binding: hardback 

Length: 382pp

Bronwen Owen, just retired at the age of 60, is considering a proposal of marriage from Ben, and this leads her to remember his first proposal more than forty years earlier. 

At that time, during the exciting years of the 1930s, an invitation to a party in London by her friend Madelaine leads to her meeting the type of person she had never encountered before, thus prompting her to reflect that Ben might be a bit dull by comparison. On top of this she is plunged into another world away from home when she is sent to Devon at the beginning of World War II.

Joining the Women’s Land Army, Bronwen’s experiences with the different farms and families for which she works are quite an education and also expand her possible relationships with men. But although there are times when she meets men she likes, it seems she always draws back at the last minute. These circumstances lead to a landlady in Devon pointing out that if she went round and round the orchard too many times she would find only windfalls left. A statement which will haunt Bronwen many times over the years. 

This mainly wartime story draws considerably from the author’s own experiences in the Women’s Land Army, giving it an authentic and captivating appeal.

ISBN: 9781852001476 

Size: 217x140mm 

Binding: hardback 

Length: 204pp

Jack Davidson’s account of his years in the RAF during World War II is told with an honest approach that also reflects his great sense of irony.

Coming from a working class area he joined the RAF on 19th July 1940, aged 18, specifically because he thought he would otherwise have been conscripted into the army where he considered that there was more chance of being shot. In this he was proved to be wrong, for after his primary training he was instructed to be a machine-gunner and put on anti-aircraft gun posts at 12 Group Fighter Command during the Battle of Britain.

Following this he retrained as a ground observer, thinking that he would be safely tucked away waiting for German aeroplanes coming to bomb Great Britain. Here he was wrong again, as he was sent overseas and ended up travelling and observing across twelve countries including Africa, India, Iraq, Kuwait, Iran, Russia and Egypt. He was in Tunisia with the victorious eighth army observing for the RAF and the Royal Artillery.

Recounted in a candid narrative, this author does not pull his punches. His travels, active service and sexual activities are laid bare before us but, directly because of this straightforwardness, there are also moments of extreme poignancy.

ISBN: 9781852001452 

Size: 217x140mm 

Binding: hardback 

Length: 184pp

This is a truly moving account of Daran, a little boy diagnosed not to live beyond the age of two due to a particularly severe form of spinal muscular atrophy known as Werdnig-Hoffman disease. 

Ian and his wife June were determined to challenge the prognosis and fight to extend their son’s life regardless of the odds stacked against them. How they were able to do this and enable Daran to live life to the full is the basis of Legcapped: a title taken from Daran’s own thoughts that he was ‘legcapped’ not ‘handicapped’. 

Told with honesty and frankness, which often leads to exceptional depths of emotion, the account of how this family remained strong and faced the challenges involved in Daran’s education and upbringing is actually exceptionally uplifting. By following their own determined path to care for Daran, Ian and June are rewarded with a huge amount of happiness and an intelligent son who combined a real lust for life with a great sense of humour. 

From beginning to end, this is a book which will leave readers both moved and inspired by the resilience of Daran and his parents.

Travelling through every state in the USA is something few people will ever achieve, even those residing in that country, and certainly not in the style of Mavis Gore and her husband Jeff.

After Jeff had a quadruple heart bypass, following which most would succumb to a peaceful early retirement, the couple instead decided to repeat a journey across Canada which they had taken in the early years of their marriage; but this time in a hired motor-home. However, they had not anticipated the return trip through the northern states of the USA would start them on a seven-year exploration of all the 48 lower states, together with `Harvi' the second-hand motorhome they purchased. 

Told with good humour and honesty the book recalls their experiences during their travels, vividly capturing the incredible variety of scenery and weather throughout the immense country of America, while also conveying the warmth and friendliness of the American people in every state. 

This is the real America, not the USA via Hollywood and TV. It is an America hidden from most of us, ready to unfold as we travel with Mavis and Jeff on a road-trip which eventually includes visits to the two final states and then the couple travelling in New York State on that fateful day of September 11th 2001, with a poignantly descriptive account of the aftermath following the attack on the World Trade Buildings. 

The personal interaction between Mavis and Jeff on their travels conveys warm humour (with just occasional agitation!) but most importantly and decisively it reflects a great upbeat and defiant attitude to life in general.

ISBN: 9781852001377 

Size: 217x140mm 

Binding: hardback 

Length: 306pp 

Illus: 50 colour photos

In her third diary we follow Ingrid Jacoby's life through the first half of the 1950s from the age of 23 to 26 years. 

Still in Oxford and now working for Rosenthals' Antiquarian Booksellers, she records relationships between all her work colleagues whilst finding a particularly deep attachment to Erica Spender, a worldly woman who sees in Ingrid something of her own spirit.

The intimacies and eccentricities of a number of boyfriends are brought to life throughout the entries and the names of Markus, WB, Alan, Jonathan, Antony, Peter and Michael weave in and out, coming and going, as either good or bad sexual encounters ensue or promises of more stable relationships occur.

At times Ingrid is sent into depression, will nothing work for her? She remembers, at the age of 12, being transported via Kindertransport from Vienna to Falmouth with her sister Lieselotte, discovering that her mother was lost forever after dying in a German concentration camp and subsequently being unable to properly find a close relationship with her father and his new wife. Holidays back to Austria and Falmouth help to build awareness and understanding, although still leave a sense of estrangement.

Finally though, there is a relationship that brings stability and reason to Ingrid. She meets and falls deeply in love with Stan, and as the pages of this third diary come to a close we know that her heart and life have become secure.

ISBN: 9781852001360 

Size: 217x140mm 

Binding: hardback 

Length: 372pp 

Illus: 26 b/w within text

Sometimes it is the very simplicity of the tale which makes the reading worthwhile, and this is such a case.

Jean Cooper's Mam, Violet May Coulton, lived to be 100 years of age and the story spanning those years from 1905 to 2006 is told here via memories and photographs. She was one of seven children and the challenges she faced, along with so many women of her generation, would seem extraordinary to most younger women in Britain today. Life was often hard and cruel, with true poverty and little love.

At the age of twelve Violet went to work during the First World War. Then followed several different jobs including being a scullery maid at Egerton Lodge, Melton Mowbray, where very many years later she would return as an esteemed guest, finally able to see what was upstairs! This in itself shows how considerably times changed during one lifetime. Nevertheless, all those years of poverty and hard work at a young age, then the Depression and no work and living through two world wars, never truly dampened the spirit of this indomitable woman.

The stories remembered in this book by the author and her two sisters, Audrey and Nancy, reflect the history of one life which itself reflects the history of Britain over those hundred years, and they will be an inspiration to all who read them.

ISBN: 9781852001315 

Size: 217x140mm 

Binding: hardback 

Length: 80pp 

Photos: 58

My Darling Diary : Volume Two - The Girl in and Out of Love - Oxford 1944-1950

Following Ingrid Jacoby’s first published diary, which dealt with her wartime arrival in Britain under the Kindertransport movement at the age of 12 and subsequent life through to 1944, Ingrid Jacoby’s second My Darling Diary records her life from late in 1944 through to 1950. 

During these years Ingrid lives in Oxford, where she works at the Central Library for a while and then at Parker ’s Bookshop. Throughout her encounters with those in charge and with various colleagues and friends, her diary reflects the deep thoughts and feelings of a girl ’s coming of age in Britain during the 1940s. 

It is the honesty and frankness of Ingrid’s diary that entices the reader to read on; whether it is her unprovoked lecherous encounter with the famed singer Richard Tauber or her own feelings of love for various men who wend in and out of her life, we know that the sentiments are real, being told directly to us as the diary takes on a persona of its own.

There are times of loneliness, times of desire, sexual experiences with ‘WB’ her married boss at the bookshop and with boyfriends, all interwoven with feelings of inadequacy, doubt, and the myriad of emotions attached to any young woman from any age. However, this is Ingrid ’s story, and in so being is also completely original, enticing and compelling to read. 

ISBN: 9781852001230 

Size: 217x140mm 

Binding: hardback 

Length: 412pp