Local authors: Kirstie Pelling - "The Happiness Project"

 

Kirstie Pelling's second novel, hot off the press: "The Happiness Project" is now available on Amazon, in paperback and Kindle format. Kirstie's first novel was such a good read that we have no hesitation in recommending this one - why not add it to your Christmas present list, or treat a friend to a copy? 

Local authors: Kirstie Pelling - "Life's a Catastrophe"

 

We love reading books and finding new authors to talk about, and when it's someone we know from our village it's even better!  So can we introduce you to Kirstie Pelling's new novel, hot off the press: "Life's a Catastrophe".  It's funny, it's romantic, it has cats, and it's a will they... won't they... sort of tale (or should that be tail?!)  The story is quirky, lots of amusing moments, some "oh gosh" moments when Aly did something that didn't seem like a good idea (we can all be wise from a distance or in hindsight eh?!), and overall it was well-written and an easy comfortable read. I'm looking forward to seeing what Kirstie's next book, due in November, is.

P.S. Villagers with long memories may recall her amusing articles for Burton News too.

Buy now from Amazon

Local Authors: Alan Hubbard - "I'm Alan Hubbard, Who Are You?"

 

 

I've known Alan Hubbard for a long time, he's a near neighbour of ours, so when I heard that he has written his life story, "I'm Alan Hubbard, who are you?" I felt I had to read it. The book is a chunky tome: some 337 pages, and is peppered with an assortment of colour and black and white photographs illustrating Alan's life.

The introduction to the book says, "Growing up during the second world war in Salford, being at the same school as actor Albert Finney and artist Harold Riley, a climbing contemporary of Joe Brown, Don Whillans and Chris Bonington – none of whom knew him, Alan Hubbard tells his own story of a nobody. It spans eight decades and counting of turbulent change. Status, wealth, letters after names, reputations don’t automatically impress him – respect must be earned. Politicians and public school alumni are treated with suspicion but not written off. Authority has its place but not necessarily over him. A free spirit has his say."

That, as anyone who knows Alan will agree, sums him up nicely. He's an opinionated octogenarian who has seen much, done more, and lived a life full of challenge and adventure. From the poignancy of his childhood with a widowed mother and his siblings, to the challenge of scaling Lumpy Ridge in Colorado, via a wartime childhood in the bombsites of Salford and being offered a trial at Darwen FC as a teenager, his life was never dull. He saw from a young age the unfairness caused by wealth and privilege, along with the benefit of hard work and a determined attitude, which helped shape his political views - views which he is never shy of sharing with anyone and everyone.

It's a fascinating book - I picked it up and browsed the first page or so to get a feel for it, and before I realised it I was at the end of the first chapter - each time I had a coffee break I picked it up and read another chapter, immersing myself in a life well-lived and well-remembered. I can highly recommend it as a very good read, regardless of whether or not you agree with him politically.

You can buy direct from Alan via his website I'm Alan Hubbard, Who Are You? or online from Waterstones Books. 

Library van dies, library book drop begins

The nearest library to our village is 5 miles away, so Burton was visited weekly on a Monday for an hour by a mobile library van which parked in the memorial hall car park. It was very well-used, by many people from older people to mums with small kids, for all of whom it saved the hassle, time and expense of a trip on the bus or by car into the nearest library to borrow or order books.

Late last year the library van developed a fault which meant it was withdrawn from service - as a replacement would cost c.£100,000, according to county council, and as they are cutting back due to reduced grants etc. from govt., we faced having no library presence in the village.

For many years on the first Monday of the month a group of volunteers have been running a library coffee morning at the same time as the van visited, and this raised funds to help with the village hall's upkeep. Loss of library van put the coffee morning at risk, so the volunteers got together and decided to approach the county council to ask if there could be a book drop at the hall instead of the library van. 

After several meetings with the county library service to hash out the details there is now a book drop service to replace the library van. A large folding bookcase is stored in the village hall into which the library service will drop off 200 books every so often and take the old batch away, and the volunteers run this village library on the first and third Mondays each month, with the option to increase to every Monday if demand justifies it.

It's still a very new service, but is worth trying to keep access to books going within the village. What would be even better would be if the county council could be persuaded to allow the village hall to be a library link, which would require the use of a computer terminal to access the online services which are only available in libraries and library links, e.g. reference and genealogy resources. But at least for now the books are accessible easily still.