Don't Push Me Out

In the depths of institutional bullying, resilience and fortitude are tested. Across the globe, in myriad professions, individuals face a silent struggle that can shatter confidence, well-being, and personal relationships. Yet, amidst the silent tears and the unspoken pain, there lies a compelling tale of courage and tenacity.

A manager’s duty extends beyond just running the workforce; it’s about leading with dignity, respecting the needs of the business, and valuing every individual under their care. While managers are human and imperfect, prejudice and discrimination have no place in the workplace. Every individual should be assessed based on their worth, integrity, and capabilities, ensuring no room for regret.

As you delve into this narrative, you may find yourself questioning my endurance and wondering how I confronted the adversities thrown my way. I remain eternally grateful for the strength, determination, and blessings that guided me through both personal and professional triumphs. This is my story, unfiltered and real, shedding light on a pervasive issue while offering hope for a brighter tomorrow.

Drawing Breath

A book of memories.

Growing up in the 1950s and 60s, childhood is peppered with untold freedom and strict codes of behaviour. There are fears of not being accepted, not conforming and for those suffering from gender dysphoria, there is nowhere to turn.

A convent education brings Jennifer intense friendships, unrequited love and tussles with belief and disbelief in a higher being. She finds diversion in play acting and searching for adventure in the role of her alter ego.

Emerging from the protective arms of a white middle class family, she confronts the harsh realities of life with a charismatic young man as her cicerone. After four years of teaching bring feelings of inadequacy, of not being up to the job and finding no place in heterosexual British society, Jennifer decides to start afresh and to leave England.

Drivin’ Daughters and Parkinson’s

“I have Parkinson’s Disease…”

The words kept hitting me like a hammer on my forehead.

Parkinson’s Disease… PARKINSON’S DISEASE… PARKINSON’S DISEASE.

When Marco Preshevski was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease, his life fell to pieces. He had just turned 30 years old.

Drivin’ Daughters and Parkinson’s is the remarkable story of Marco’s rollercoaster journey through life before, during and after his diagnosis of Parkinson’s Disease. Beginning on that fateful day in March 2001, Marco tells the fascinating story of how Parkinson’s Disease slipped into his life, how it made its presence known and the unending battle he has fought balancing symptom relief with side effect control, using various medications and cutting-edge surgery.

Marco explains in detail the destructive psychological consequences he experienced at the hands of Parkinson’s and the devastating effect this had on his personal relationships. Often going into deep, intimate detail, Marco tells us how Parkinson’s Disease drove him to the edge of his life, until he discovered the reason for his existence on earth.

Told through the eyes of an ‘ordinary’ man, Drivin’ Daughters and Parkinson’s is a fresh look at personal experience of this difficult-to-handle medical condition. Hilarious, wholly inspirational and at times difficult to believe, this book should be read by anyone whose life has been touched by Parkinson’s, by those who want to understand the disease better and by those who want to appreciate the patient’s point of view.

Exploitation

In Exploitation, readers are taken on a heart-wrenching journey through the mind and experiences of a frontline soldier. Through intense and extreme pressure, the soldier must navigate their way through the challenges of combat and emerge on the other side. With raw and emotional storytelling, this book offers a unique insight into the thoughts and actions of those on the front lines, leaving readers with a deeper understanding of the challenges and sacrifices of military service.

Fastovski's Tales of Hampstead

Imagine that Isaac Babel’s Cossacks wassail together with Runyonesque Liverpool Jews outside the plate-glass window of a Hampstead café where a Klezmer band is playing to a packed and tea-drinking congregation of jazzmen, Hasidic scholars, surrealists, old soldiers, and retired strippers; and you have the tone and temperature of this unique and unclassifiable memoir – no, not memoir, more a stream-of-consciousness novella – no, not a novella but a piece of autobiographical fiction – no, not autobiography but a picaresque drama conquered from the unreliable and fertile brain of the eponymous Fastovski.

And who is Fastovski? Is he real or invented? Is he perhaps the alter-ego of real-life jazz pianist, Klezmer swinger, big band leader and flaneur, Wallace Fields, who stares at us from the book’s frontispiece in shades, Diaghilev coat and moustache, over a cup of strong black coffee? Fastovski’s not telling and anyway, who cares.

This is a book to be devoured, disseminated, denounced, and delighted in. It belongs to all who think art and life are one and that the Arch-Savant of Canterbury, Issy Bonn, Rashid the Manic Berber Chef of NW3, and Mrs Karl Popper, have an equal claim on history. I haven’t had such a good time since I shared Sir Ralph Richardson’s motorbike with a parrot and a striking grandmother clock.

Piers Plowright
August 2008

Fighting for Hanne

Hanne Schafer, 63, had just retired as a psychologist from her position in a mental health clinic. Youthful and energetic, she looked forward to engaging in more travel, socializing, hiking and ballroom dancing with her partner, Daniel Laurin. When Hanne received a devastating diagnosis, she asked Daniel and Mary, her long-time friends, for help in dealing with a grim reality. She asked them for the ‘unthinkable’.

How would you respond? What would help you deal with one obstacle after another?

This memoir, written from Mary’s perspective, is based primarily on Hanne’s emails to Mary over a three-year period. It details how Hanne, Daniel and Mary persisted in pursuing Hanne’s goal of remaining in charge of her life.

Canada passed assisted dying legislation in June 2016, but some obstacles still remain and impede a person’s choice to die with dignity. Further legislation is anticipated. Hanne’s receipt of a court-ordered exemption in February 2016 is one facet of Canada’s history of assisted dying. Telling Hanne’s story reflects our mutual desire to eliminate obstacles that others may encounter.

Fought a Million Battles

This book covers over fifteen years of service as a volunteer with the Royal Green Jackets and Great Britain’s elite Special Air Service. The author was a trained parachutist with the UK, US and French Army. A qualified marksman and a silver standard cross-country skier, he was trained in explosives and was a specialist in long-distance communication.

Free Radical

A fascinating account of life in a period of great social and political change. Gabrielle Walsh discusses her personal experiences of pursuing feminism and gay rights amidst the stigma and tradition of a patriarchal society. Traversing the period from the beginning of the 1950s until the present, it is the story of an activist who also honours those who contributed to the great social and political movements aimed at freeing our world. The discussion of sexual liberation and race relations are equally thought-provoking. The anecdotes and details of family life, set against the backdrop of pivotal historical events, provides an insight into the personal inherent in every political situation. This work shares a progressive political tradition with a cheeky storytelling genre found in Anglo-Irish literature. It is exuberant, lively and amusing. Written with warmth and compassion, this work provides a platform for important conversations still necessary for our society today.

From the Leader's Chair

Kenneth Sillito is internationally recognised as one of Britain's most distinguished musicians. Born in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, he studied with David Martin at the Royal Academy of Music, and in Rome with Remy Principe. His first major appointment was as associate leader of the newly created English Chamber Orchestra in 1960. He was subsequently appointed leader and remained with the orchestra until 1973, during which time he established a worldwide reputation as both director and soloist. In 1967, he founded the Gabrieli String Quartet, which swiftly established itself as one of this country's leading chamber ensembles. With the Academy of St Martin-in-the-Fields, which he joined in l980, Kenneth led and directed innumerable distinguished recordings and performances until his retirement in 2012. He was made a Fellow of the Royal Academy in 1971 and awarded the highly prestigious Cobbett Medal in 2017 by The Worshipful Company of Musicians for his services to chamber music.

Gas Meter Knees

“It wasn’t until I was 13 that I realised pressing 50 pence pieces into Plasticine sheets and filling the impressions with water, freezing overnight and quickly using the ice coins in the electric meter slots wasn’t normal behaviour.” From raiding the bins of London fashion labels, to being asked to bury dead bodies in a flyover, being beaten unconscious twice in one day, to regularly driving my inebriated maths teacher back to school for a fee, finding my boss dead in a mysterious suicide and dragging a teetering motorcyclist to safety on a busy A3 flyover to avoid certain death, the weekly war with the bailiffs doggedly trying to repossess my TV, and finally an attempt to emulate Evel Knievel by jumping a pickup truck in Wimbledon Stadium. I learned the hard way that nobody was going to save me except myself – all this before the age of 16. A real-life rags-to-relative-affluence story which takes us from humble SW17 origins to the bustling streets of Singapore and Tokyo. The story is as diverse and delightfully absurd as it gets. If I hadn’t lived every moment, I wouldn’t believe it either.

Good Luck for You, Good Dreams for Me!

No good story ever started with: “I checked into my five-star hotel and ordered a pina colada.” Mine starts with: “So, I’m dancing around the witch doctor’s coffin in a small village on the Thai/Myanmar border.”

Grab your passport and come with me on a crazy adventure to Thailand, Cambodia, Indonesia, Nepal and many more countries.

You will experience the joy, heartbreak, triumph, exhaustion, calamity, love and exhilaration of volunteering in underdeveloped countries. The feeling of accomplishment is priceless.

You will climb volcanoes, teach incredible kids, bathe elephants, dance in conga lines, fly kites, crash on motorbikes, drink too much, visit medicine men, feed hungry kids, survive earthquakes, visit stunning temples, help families in poverty and see the most beautiful sunsets on the planet!

I have been robbed, crashed from paragliding, been hacked innumerable times, lost my backpack, had all my clothes stolen, had endless illnesses and much more. If that is the price of helping out the underprivileged kids, then I’m all in! If I can inspire people to “go, volunteer, make a difference”, then we all win!

Granddad's Babies

In Granddad’s Babies, readers embark on a heartfelt journey through the life of Peter, a devoted husband, father, and doting grandfather. With unwavering love and boundless joy, Peter cherishes every moment spent with his growing family, especially his beloved grandsons. This touching book takes us on a nostalgic ride, delving into cherished memories that span across the years, each one filled with laughter, love, and the indomitable spirit of family bonds. As we navigate through the pages, we witness Peter’s unwavering presence and support for his children as they navigate the trials and triumphs of life. However, the narrative takes a poignant turn as it leads us to the year 2019, where the inevitable departure of this remarkable man leaves a void that echoes through the hearts of all who knew and loved him.

Granddad’s Babies serves as a poignant tribute, celebrating the enduring legacy of Peter and the profound impact he had on his family’s lives, reminding us of the immeasurable power of love and the timeless connections that transcend even the boundaries of mortality.