In the spring of 2016, recovering from burn-out and depression after many years in the NHS, Dianne Carrington was ready for a new challenge.
So when the phone rang and an old friend asked if she was ready to row the Atlantic in the Talisker Whisky Challenge, how could she say no?
She had always had an interest in outdoor activities and a big project like this was just what she needed to get back on track. Or was it? To row the Atlantic at any age is an undertaking beyond most of us but for a team of women in their sixties, and that was the idea that her friend was suggesting, it seemed almost impossible.
After all, the Talisker Whisky Challenge is one of the most demanding competitions on this planet.
At twenty-one I was in the Olympic squad for white-water slalom canoeing but left to take up my career. I taught outdoor pursuits for ten years by the sea. I've always loved the sea and canoed on it almost daily, challenging my limits. Then learnt that I couldn't have children and I trained as a nurse, working my way up the career ladder in the NHS. At fifty-five I had to end my career prematurely after I burnt out, having given more than 100%. I lost confidence and my body was racked with pain; I was in a bad place.
A team of wonderful people helped me get well again and I wanted to give something back. What better way than to raise money for charity and go back to the oceans that I love? Life is too short to not live it to the full.
I set out to gather a lovely team of ladies as close to my age as possible who would be passionate about rowing across the Atlantic with me. I wanted to inspire women and show them that we are never too old to do what we want to do. I wanted to help them embrace the courage to leave sight of the shore and to accomplish great things.”
Reading University Wives’ and Women’s Club 1948–2018
The journey travelled by the University of Reading Women’s Club has mirrored the individual paths taken by very many women between the late 1940s and today.
This book brings to life the archives of seventy years and through them it is possible to note the changes in women’s lives and attitudes. Tales from the Archive is invaluable for the social historian as well as a memento for all Club members old and new.
Step into a decade where political correctness was frowned upon, when parental guidance was almost non-existent, where Social Media only existed in the mind of an incarcerated lunatic and where 18” wide flares were considered the height of fashion.
Welcome to the 1970’s.
Join Steve on his fascinating journey during a time where his taste for adventure and mischief were allowed to flourish – and very often, allowed to grow totally out of control.
From working on a fairground at the age of 11, to following his beloved Man United around the country by the age of 14 – this is an eye-opening exposé of a young man who stumbled in and out of court during his teenage years.
Set amidst the backdrop of the miner’s strike, the fall of a government,dubious glamour, charming innocence and a touch of brutality – take a step back into a time when colour TV was considered new technology, where many a fashion crime was committed and when violence on the football terraces was considered a national past time.
Born in 1960 in Kingstanding, Birmingham (in the same council house, his mom was born in) Steve was the second oldest of five children and he was up to mischief from the day he started to walk. His dad was a self-employed builder and his mom did out-work for local factories and did various cleaning jobs. It was hard going in the mid 60’s and during the summer holidays and aged only six, Steve would be given a jam sandwich by his mom and told not to come back until teatime. He would spend most of his days exploring with friends in the near by Sutton Park. Steve moved to Aldridge, Walsall in 1968. Prior to moving to Aldridge, for a full school year, come rain or shine Steve commuted very day (without his parents of course) from Birmingham to Aldridge on the famous Harpers buses. Always a bright and inquisitive child, Steve struggled with school work and to reflect attention away from his academic failures, he was happy to play the class clown. As a teenager Steve started to follow his beloved Manchester United, home and away and made several appearances in front of the magistrates. Still very much struggling to learn his ABC’s Steve officially left school at 15 and immediately got himself ‘A Local’ and a job in the building trade. Steve stayed in the building trade until he was 20, then he moved on to bigger and better things.
With Forwords by Man United Legend Norman Whiteside & star of stage & screen actress Shobna Gulati
NORMAN WHITESIDE - Manchester United & Northern Ireland Legend!
‘I have known Steve for several years mainly through his interest in football memorabilia and of course Man United. The late 1970’s always reminds me of my Doc Martens days and travelling from Belfast to Manchester every weekend to train with Man United schoolboys - great times. Mainly through humour and sometimes heartache, Steve has certainly captured the mood of a teenage boy growing up in the turbulent 1970’s. Anyone who was around in the 70’s will immediately identify with Steve’s book.
I just know the book is going to be a great hit and will sell like cup-final tickets’
SHOBNA GULATI - Actor
‘Steve and I first met back in 2008 in very rowdy bar in Moscow. We were both in the Russian capital to see our beloved Manchester United win the Champions’ League. We have kept in touch ever since.
Steve has been lucky enough to lead a very exciting and well-travelled life and whenever we meet up, Steve has always been wonderful company and has great stories to tell.
I’m not the least bit surprised Steve has decided to put his experiences down on paper and I am in no doubt that Steve’s book will be a great success’
Two young, recently widowed mothers try to find a way to survive in war-scarred Britain. Kirstine and her German friend, Gerdy, lost their husbands at the end of the Second World War. They find themselves penniless, without any extended family support, each with two very young children and with scant prospects of earning a living.
A great deal of determined initiative is needed. The stakes are high with chaos threatening them at every step. The two women find a de-requisitioned building in seaside Devon. They transform it into a family hotel, which eventually becomes renowned for its excellent cuisine.
This enchanting story, told with a lightness of touch, moves from tragedy, to comedy, to triumph and back again.
Kirstine Richards née Rasmussen was born in Edinburgh to a Danish father, Christian Rasmussen, and Hilda Hill-Jones, on 14th March 1912, whose mother was Mary Ann McNair.
She attended Edinburgh School of Art for one year, until her father died and the fees could no longer be paid. Life with her eccentric mother became intolerable. Fortunately an aunt came to the rescue and Kirstine moved to Devon, where she worked as a poorly paid designer at the Honiton Pottery.
Subsequently Kirstine opened a café on Honiton High Street, called the ‘Highland Fling’ and it served excellent coffee and homemade cakes; making it very popular. She met her future husband, Gerald Arthur Richards; a young medical student from St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, at the ‘Highland Fling’.
Their two children, Nicholas and Louanne, were born during the 2nd World War and their father, Gerry, was accidentally wounded in Burma and died at Imphal on the 23rd January 1945.
Kirstine, now a widow with two young children, had to find a way of earning a living. She and Gerdy Ramsay, who was also a widow and mother of two, together established a family hotel; ‘The Seagull’ in Exmouth in South Devon. The hotel opened in 1945.
In 1959 Kirstine moved on from being a hotelier to becoming the case worker at the newly formed Agnostic Adoption Society, which was later to become the Independent Adoption Society.
On retirement, she went to live near her cousin in the South of France, where she rented a small house; paying for her keep by hosting summer guests. A secondary breast cancer made her decide to move back to England, where she found an apartment at Queen Alexandra’s Court in Wimbledon; an attractive establishment for the widows of officers who had served in the forces.
Kirstine died at St. Raphael’s hospice in London on the 25th February 1989.
Reader Reviews...
Review by Richard Moss The Seagull Hotel offers a fascinating, moving and heart-warming first hand account of the struggles of two young mothers widowed during World War II. Told with candour and humour we hear about the conditions at the time and about the characters who worked at the hotel, and those who were guests. How would you turn a semi-derelict building into a thriving business when just getting hold of linen, furniture and food needed a special sort of daring and guile?
Review by Jane Dunbar
A truly inspiring book. A story of perseverance in the face of amazing difficulties., in which the author manages to infuse one disaster after another with humour.
Oh how I enjoyed it.
Amazon review by Mrs Rivers
I have just romped through The Seagull Hotel in 3 sittings- I loved it!
What a very special woman Kirstine was, so full of determination, courage and enthusiasm, undaunted, it seems by anything.
Reading her story, she emerges as a precursor to 60’s feminism; widowed towards the end of WW2, mother of two small children with virtually no money, she navigates a path through what was then very much a man’s world of bankers and builders, discovering en route the thrills and spills of the black market in order to beat the post-war rationing system. With her friend Gerdy, also a young widow with children, she battles to establish The Seagull Hotel not just as a viable business but also as a loving home for the two families. What could have been just another drab seaside hotel on the English coast develops into a truly creative enterprise and becomes widely known for its excellent gourmet food.
This splendid book is a hymn and testament to these two young women who refused to let misfortune, or men, get the better of them but don’t get the idea that it is in any way heavy going or gloomy. It is written with a lightness of touch, masses of humour - I laughed till I cried over the chapter about her mother - and, above all, humanity.
Amazon review by nettiek50
This is a beautifully written memoir
About two young widows struggling in a male dominated post war era.
A very easy and enlightening read. Parts of Exmouth remain the same to this day.
Cynthia Bryan – Cynthia Duncan, Cynthia Ashley Cooper – born in 1920, lived a remarkable life that spanned most of the twentieth century. Brought up to be a ‘deb’, she nursed badly burnt airmen in the Second World War, then during a holiday to South Africa, married the Governor General’s son. He became an anti-apartheid activist, whom she unquestioningly and courageously supported – having four children in the process. After his escape from South Africa, they lived in a tiny remote village in the mountains of Lesotho (then Basutoland). After the British Government banned him from Basutoland, she followed him to Algeria with the family, where they spent the last few years of his life. Newly widowed, she returned to England with her four children, and some years later married a Conservative Member of Parliament with three daughters. She created family homes in Yorkshire and London for the seven children and their burgeoning families; supported her husband's political work, including through an active social life; and in her spare time volunteered in a family planning clinic. She died in 2017 aged 97.
Publication date:
April 15th 2018
UK Price:
£10.00
ISBN:
9-781912-419197
Available from YouCaxton
For UK orders only
£10.00 - (plus £2.00 postage)
Number of copies:
For non-UK orders, please send an email to Enquiries@youcaxton.co.uk
Available soon on Amazon
These vignettes of her life – narrated with wit, enjoyment and self-deprecation – tell of a beautiful woman of adventure, courage and great loyalty; of style, common sense and practicality; and of someone who observed with humour the ups and downs of life. We hear her voice through these pages telling her stories, and are reminded of what an exceptional woman she was -- and what an extraordinary life she led.
John White was a man of vision. He was rector of the town of Dorchester in the English county of Dorset from 1605 until his death in 1648. Under his leadership, after a disastrous fire, the town was transformed into a model caring community, embodying his Puritan ideals. He then sought to export this model across the Atlantic, to what was becoming known as New England. He became the driving force behind the Dorchester Company and then the Massachusetts Bay Company, and he inspired many folk from Dorset and the surrounding area to emigrate and found a new Dorchester in Massachusetts. He also lived to see some of these early settlers go on to found what became known as Windsor in Connecticut. This is his story, and theirs, a story of new worlds at home and abroad.
David Cuckson studied law and theology at the University of Cambridge. He has worked as a Congregational/ United Reformed Church minister and as a solicitor in local government and in private practice. He is now retired and lives in Dorchester.
Boxer Walker was voted the best scrum half in the world in 1980. The incredible story of his life is in part, a social history of a half-forgotten era, when coal mines were the economic bed rock of close-knit communities across the north. He shines a light into what life was like in a claustrophobic Cumbrian pit deep below the Irish Sea and you will join him in the Workington Town dressing room when they beat mighty Wigan to win the Lancashire Cup for the only time in the club’s history.
You will also find out about the great players and coaches who helped to burnish his rugged skills and why he was always a prized target for violent forwards, years before the slick presentation of the Super League by Sky TV with its HD quality pictures and video replays.
Published:
May 2017
Paperback:
356 pages
Price:
£15.00
ISBN:
9-781911-175582
£15.00 (+ £3 postage) Number of copies:
Boxer’s story is full of highs and lows, including the day he was felled so heavily at the Recreation Ground, that a rumour spread around the terraces that the tackle had killed him.
Always exciting, uplifting, poignant, revealing and ultimately triumphant, Boxer: The Life of a Cumbria Great is a towering story of one of Cumbria’s finest-ever home-grown players and of a sporting character almost without compare.
Reader Reviews...
Rugby League Express
In a warts and all account, Gardner doesn't shy away from the fact that Boxer Walker could mix it with the best, almost a prerequisite of a scrum half's armoury in an era when every number seven was a target for enforcers. The award-winning author has written a superb account of a glorious career and this book is a must-read for every rugby league fan.
Adrian Durham, Talksport presenter, journalist and author
Mike Gardner paints a clear and poignant picture of Boxer as he is today, wonderfully written. Overall I enjoyed the description of old school rugby league, as well as the spirit and strength of the game in Cumbria. The photographs are a joy - plenty of them, and capturing an era and an area. The picture of the steps early in the book is awesome! Congratulations, loved it! The author should feel very proud
Rugby League Journal
It is all part of Mike Gardner's skills as a writer in taking us behind the scenes to the 'dark and mysterious' areas of rugby league that the fan doesn't see but only those who played the game can reveal. His descriptive talents and way with words at times present the story in an novel-esque style
Selby Martin was born into a middle-class family in Broadstairs. His father, owner of a successful building company, married a widow who had asked him to build a house for her and they went on to have three children, Selby being the youngest. At the outbreak of war, the family moved to a shooting lodge at Rannoch in Scotland and Selby went to Wellesley House, a Broadstairs preparatory school which had been evacuated there. A chance incident led him to study German and, on gaining a scholarship to Marlborough, he specialised in modem languages. After National Service in the RAF he went to Cambridge University where he became interested in Scandinavia, in particular Finland.
Selby joined the Foreign Office after unsuccessfully applying to join MI6. His postings included Moscow as Private Secretary to the Ambassador and La Paz as Commercial Secretary. After marriage on home-posting in London, he was sent to Rawalpindi but left early on transfer to Sofia. He and his wife Rachel then decided to leave the Diplomatic Service and after a PGCE course at Leeds University he was appointed to Shrewsbury School where he taught for twenty-four years, as well
as campaigning on environmental issues.
Reader Reviews...
Sir Derek Thomas (Foreign Office)
Reading this book has convinced me that few chose a route as challenging, as fulfilling or as rewarding for others as Selby Martin, and we owe him a considerable debt for being willing to share the whole story with us.
When you have produced the final draft of your book, it is always advisable to have the text read and checked by a professional editor or proof reader.
You may have friends that are willing and competent to do this and we can advise you on the type of editing that is required.
We can offer four levels of editing as well as proof-reading.
You choose which, if any, are appropriate in your case: 1. Edit of sample pages and short report (£30)
We will edit a few pages to highlight editorial issues so that you can look for similar problems throughout the book.
This will reduce the amount of further copy-editing required when the book is finished. 2. Broad structural editing and criticism (£5 per thousand words)
A structural review is particularly relevant for works of fiction.
The structural reviewer will address the following main areas and produce a short report for the author ” Read More 3. Copy editing (£10 per thousand words)
A copy-editor takes a close look at your text, line by line, with an eye to grammatical errors, repetition, inconsistency and lack of clarity. The copy editor will make changes to the text, with suggestions for rewriting, grammar, and punctuation. When you receive the edited version, you have the final choice about accepting of rejecting the individual changes. 4. Proof Reading (£8 per thousand words)
Proof reading is a line-by-line check that the book is ready for publication. Proof readers will make small corrections for punctuation, grammar and spelling but they will not make significant changes to the text.
A proof reader will identify any significant issues and add comments to the text so that you can make those corrections yourself. 5. Consistency Scan
If you decide your book doesn’t need a full proof reading, we offer an electronic scan to search for common errors and inconsistencies. This looks at issues such as inconsistent spelling and inconsistencies of hyphenation and capitalisation.
We can also identify inconsistencies in the spelling of proper names. 6. Cover text
The quality of the text on the cover is very important as it indicates the quality of the writing in the book.
The title, sub-title and back-cover blurb are all important elements and we can work with you to make sure that these are correct and effective.
Copy Edit
Copy-editors get the raw material into shape for publication i.e they edit the copy.
When they have finished, the designer can lay out or typeset the book and produce a proof.
It is quite normal for the author to make additional changes after a book has been copy-edited.
Working through the material, the copy-editor may identify errors in spelling, punctuation, grammar, style and usage, but also very long sentences and overuse of italic, bold, capitals and exclamation marks.
They should correct or query doubtful facts, weak arguments, plot holes and gaps in numbering.
In fiction, they should also check that characters haven’t changed their name or hair colour, look for sudden changes from first to third person among other things.
The Copy-editor is not a proof reader and should not be expected to find all of the errors in the text particularly if the text is badly written to start with.
This is the job of the proof reader.
The final proof should be checked by a proof reader or an experienced reader friend before going to print.
It is almost inevitable (and acceptable) to miss a few errors which can be corrected in a later edition.
Proof Reading
Proof reading is a line-by-line check that the book is ready for publication.
Proof readers will make small corrections for punctuation, grammar and spelling but they will not make significant changes to the text.
A proof reader will identify any significant issues and add comments to the text so that you can make those corrections yourself.
If you have decided to complete this stage of the process yourself, we will send a detailed check-list to help you.
We ask you to try and ensure that the book is completely ready before we start the layout.
Once the layout has started, we expect that you might want to to make a small number of amendments but
if there are a significant number, we may need to charge for the extra time it takes to change the layout
so best to discuss this with us first.
Structural Review
In fiction, the main areas that a structural editor will address are:
Plot: Does the plot make sense? Is it believable? Is it satisfying or does it leave the reader frustrated? Themes: Are the themes effectively handled? Are there so many that the book lacks focus? Do they interfere with the plot or complement it?
Characterisation: Are your characters well developed and believable? Are they cast in a role that fits their personality? Do they sometimes behave out of character? Point of view/voice: Is the voice consistent or is it sometimes confused? Is the voice authentic? Are you using too many or too few POVs? Pace: Does the plot move forward at an appropriate pace? Should you cut that preface? Should the action happen sooner or should the tension build more slowly? Dialogue: Do your characters sound real when they speak? Is your dialogue cluttered with adverbs and beats? Do you use clunky dialogue to move the plot forward? Flow: Is the narrative interrupted by dead-ends and tangents? Is there so much back story that the main plot is dwarfed? Are there missing plot points that would give the narrative greater integrity?
In non-fiction, the principle is the same, but the specific issues are slightly different:
Thesis: Is your thesis relevant? Is it clearly defined or is it lost among marginal issues? Exposition: Are your arguments clear and cogent? Are they well researched and properly supported? Do they have a clear relationship with your thesis? Content: Are all the necessary topics sufficiently dealt with? Are the chapters weighted correctly? Is there superfluous content? Organisation: Is the information organised logically? Are tables and illustrations used appropriately? How many levels of subheads do you need and how should they be arranged? Tone: Is the tone appropriate for the audience? Do you need to eliminate jargon? Is the text accessible? Pace: Are there passages that are bogged down in detail? Do you spend too long on detail irrelevant to the main thesis? Are there areas that need further exposition lest they be skipped over?
Cover Text
The quality of the text on the cover is very important as it indicates the quality of the writing in the book.
The title, sub-title and back-cover blurb are all important elements and we work with you to make sure that these are as effective as possible.
Consistency check
If you decide your book doesn’t need a full proof reading, we can run an electronic scan to search for common errors and inconsistencies.
This looks at issues such as inconsistent spelling, hyphenation and capitalisation.
It also checks for consistent formatting of numbers and dates as well as undefined abbreviations.
Full Script Edit
The script that you deliver to us will probably constitute what the industry would classify as the ‘Initial Rough Draft’, i.e. a full screenplay written without any other professional input or advice, and probably without a great deal of rewriting. We work through your draft, line by line, scene by scene, and come back to you with a comprehensive set of notes from which you can then work towards the official ‘1st Draft’. Some of our notes will be broad and general, dealing with such areas as the overall shape and structure, pacing, plot and character development; others will be far more specific, with corrections, clarifications and suggested cuts etc. It is of course entirely up to you whether or not to take these suggestions on board, and to what extent.
Subsequent Script Edit
It is very normal and generally beneficial for the script-editing process to go through at least a couple of cycles
i.e. the rewritten draft to be worked through once again by an experienced script practitioner – though this would be entirely at the discretion and behest of the writer.
Ongoing Support
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