Lives & Times Meets Blowers From Test Match Special

Photographing Henry Blowers Blofeld for the book was particularly interesting as I met him in my Mum's road! Blowers was one of the main stays on BBC Test Match Special, commentating on cricket for over 40 years before his retirement after the final summer Test against the West Indies in 2017. His unique style of commentary painting such a wonderful picture of the game will be much missed, and I wish him a long and happy retirement, although I suspect he will remain pretty busy.

Henry was appearing with the former TMS producer Peter Baxter at Norden Farm in Maidenhead, and was very happy to meet me before the performance to be photographed for the book in spite of spending all day travelling to get to the venue. He was terrific, and it was another wonderful experience and a great addition to the book.

My mother is the inspiration behind the Lives & Times book. She was diagnosed with bowel cancer in 2012 and after a successful operation to remove the tumour, she also had four lung operations over the next four and a half years. At the end of 2015 the cancer spread to her brain, and her health slowly deteriorated and she passed away in August 2016.

All proceeds raised from sales of Lives & Times are donated to the Beating Bowel Cancer charity with over £3250 raised so far. The book is also helping to raise awareness about bowel cancer. It is the second highest cancer killer in the UK claiming 16,000 each year. If detected early it can be successfully treated in over 90% of cases.

Lives &Times Meets Dave Sharp From The Alarm

With Dave Sharp in Llandudno 2017

Dave Sharp played at The Gathering in Llandudno earlier this year, so it was really nice to have a quick chat and photo with him, and update him on the book, which has now raised over £3400 for Beating Bowel Cancer.

Dave Sharp at The Railway Inn

I met up with Dave, the original guitarist with The Alarm, at his acoustic gig at The Railway Inn, Winchester in October 2015. I had been on Dave's trail for the book ever since I had photographed Nigel Twist & Eddie Macdonald from the band a year or so before. In fact Eddie had hoped to try and get Dave to be at the meeting with Nigel, which alas didn't happen. Dave proved to be somewhat elusive, and as the publication date drew close I had pretty much given up hope of hearing anything. I was going to his gig in Winchester so I thought it was worth emailing him one final time, and I was delighted when Dave emailed back just a couple of days before the gig and he was very happy to be part of it.

I hadn't seen Dave play live for a few years, and the gig was absolutely brilliant. He is a real master craftsman... It's a great venue and I was lucky enough to see a bit of the soundcheck where Dave went to great lengths to ensure he got the sound absolutely right. This paid dividends for his set as the sound quality was superb. Dave was very enthusiastic about what I was doing and we were able to have a chat in the bar before doing the photo. He was also keen that the photos were as good as we could make them. He certainly has a creative eye and it made my job really easy. The photo I use in the book is a great black and white photo of the man.

So I managed to meet and photograph all four original members of The Alarm for the Lives & Times book. Short of getting them together in the same room this was quite an achievement and one I am really pleased about. Bowel cancer remains the 2nd highest cancer killer in the UK, and yet if caught early it is one of the most treatable cancers. All proceeds raised from sales of the book are donated to Beating Bowel Cancer. My mother was diagnosed with bowel cancer in 2012 and over the course of 4 years following her successful bowel operation, also received treatment for cancer on her left lung and cancer on the brain. Both cancers are secondaries from the original bowel cancer. Sadly Mum passed away in August 2016, but the fundraising continues now in her memory with a new book in the pipeline.

That Feeling You Get When You Publish A Book..

Victoria Derbyshire's book, Dear Cancer, Love Victoria, detailing her account of a breast cancer diagnosis and treatment is published later this month. It's a book I am looking forward to reading, and the above screenshot is taken from a lovely video Victoria posted on her Twitter feed this week when she received the first copy of her book.

It got me thinking back to when Lives & Times was published on November 27th 2015. It was a day that I was naturally looking forward to with much excitement, as its not every day that you have a book come out. A few people had received their copies in advance including Mum, who was reduced to tears (good ones) by it, which took me by surprise and was very moving. It still makes me feel emotional now when I think back. The day of publication itself is one that I will never forget. What should have been one of the happiest and exciting days of my live ended up quite different. I got a phone call in the early hours from my brother, as Mum had been taken into hospital with what turned out to be her first brain seizure. Of course all thoughts about the book and how many copies it might sell on the first day went completely out of the window. Mum was in hospital for a week or so, and came home knowing that she would have to undergo CyberKnife treatment after Christmas. Looking back now this was really when the pendulum began to swing the other way, and Mum's health began to decline. The secondary bowel cancer cancer on the lung had been treated successfully each time it had occurred, but once the cancer went to the brain, and didn't successfully respond to the treatment, options became limited. Mum passed away on August 29th 2016 four and half years after her original  bowel cancer diagnosis.

The Lives & Times book is without doubt one of the finest achievements of my life. It's something I am immensely proud of, and it has successfully raised a significant amount of funds for the Beating Bowel Cancer charity, and hopefully played its part in helping to raise awareness about bowel cancer. This awful disease claims 16,000 lives each year, but if detected early it can be successfully treated in over 90% of cases.

Victoria kindly agreed to be in the new fundraising book I am doing. The Record still has a long way to go before before being published, but it is hopefully shaping up to be every bit as good as Lives & Times.