Lives & Times Gets Help From Melanie Bloomfield With Eddie Macdonald & Nigel Twist

In the above photo Melanie Bloomfield is reading her copy of Lives & Times. Whilst putting the book together Melanie gave me some wonderful help for which I credit her in the Acknowledgements section at the beginning of the book. 

In the chapter where I met Eddie Macdonald & Nigel Twist from The Alarm I wanted to get some old photos of the guys when they were part of the band in the 1980s. I wanted to do a now and then theme, with the photos I had taken in London in 2014 set in a chapter alongside the old photos. I never took a camera with me to gigs back in the day so I had no photos at all. I think of all the magical moments I was there to see at the time for which I only have memories. Such as the first time I saw the band at The Marquee in 1983, and then the fantastic gigs at the old London ballroom venues. Wembley supporting Queen in 1986 and then supporting U2 at the Cardiff Arms Park. Too many to name them all.

Melanie responded to my request and emailed me a few photos of Eddie & Nigel, and I was able to use a couple of these in the book. For anyone who has read the chapter you will have already seen Melanie's contribution. Melanie also very kindly added a very generous donation on top of the cost of the book which goes to Beating Bowel Cancer. The fundraising total is now over £1150. All four original members of The Alarm feature in the book along with numerous other celebrities, and there are a number of ways you can buy the book which you can see by clicking here.

My mother is still recovering from her recent cancer operation to remove the lower lob of her left lung. She saw the lung surgeon this week for a follow appointment, and the surgeon was really pleased with her progress. Next week she sees the oncologist, and no doubt attention will turn back to her treatment for the brain cancer. Bowel cancer is the second highest cancer in the UK, and Mum has now been fighting it for four years with the secondary cancers on the lung and brain since her initial bowel cancer surgery in 2012. All proceeds raised from sales of Lives & Times are donated to the Beating Bowel Cancer charity.