Wonderful Britain

A traveller is tortured, before he and his companions are run out of town and their homes set alight. Mikey,a small time criminal is coerced into becoming a drug dealer. Hammer, a psychopathic killer is set loose. A scientist is blackmailed and he and his daughter kidnapped. A journalist who has had contact with the scientist, is also kidnapped and later murdered. All courtesy of Keenyside,a corrupt detective, trying to continue financing the lifestyle to which he has become accustomed.

Jamal, a teenage boy finds a disc made by the journalist and scientist and sees a way to get away from the street life he is enduring. He makes a call for help to a reclusive journalist, but the disc is stolen and he finds himself at the mercy of Father Jack, a drug dealing pimp, who is under the umbrella of a corrupt council.

Donovan, a reclusive journalist, still grieving the loss of his young son, teams up with Maria,a colleague and a duo of security experts, to trace the missing journalist, the teenage boy and the incriminating disc.

Father Jack is captured and turned over to the police, with enough evidence to finally get him off the streets for good. Maria is killed by Hammer. A fake deal is set up with the police to trap Keenyside, but they reckon without Mikey, who has plans of his own.

After Hammer has killed his friend, he vows that he won't be blackmailed by the detective any more, but realises that any action he takes need to be final. He unwittingly bursts in on the fake deal and shoots at Keenyside, killing several innocent people, but allowing the detective to escape.

Donovan tracks Keenyside to where he is still holding the scientist and his daughter, but is captured. Keenyside is about to kill Donovan, when Mikey arrives, shoots the detective, then turns the gun on himself. Donovan realises that his marriage cannot be put back together after his near breakdown over his son,so decides to offer a home to Jamal.

Donovan and the security duo go into business selling information. This book was; fast moving, racey, had just the right amount of violence, and touched on today's issues of drugs, street life for young people, police corruption and the power of investigative journalism. It was a real page turner for me and I was sad when I finished it.
Visit the author at www.martynwaites.com

It is 1936 and Gwen Purdy leaves her comfortable home, family and fiance, to take up a short-term contract as a schoolteacher, in a poor area of Birmingham, against everyone's wishes.
Her first few days are a shocking eye-opener; as she faces a large class of some of the poorest children, from Birmingham's slum areas.
The head master clearly believes in corporal punishment, which he uses to full effect, at every opportunity; sometimes too willingly for Gwen's liking!!
One of the more senior teachers becomes an inspiration to Gwen, as she struggles to understand the appalling hardships endured by her class.
Slowly she is drawn into their lives, particularly Joey Phillips, whose Father has left him, his siblings and their dying Mother, to fend for themselves. He hides all this from Gwen, but when his Mother dies and his siblings are taken off to Barnardos, he runs away.
Meanwhile Gwen has been introduced to Daniel, one of her pupils older brother. He is a union activist from a Welsh mining background and against all odds, Gwen finds herself falling in love with him.
She realises that marriage to the local minister back home, is no longer what she wants, but in ending the relationship, she estranges herself from her family and has to come to terms with the fact that there is no going back.
Daniel finds Joey, whilst he is away from the area on union work and reunites him with Gwen, who together with her landlady and by now friend Ariadne, decide to take him in and care for him.
Gwen decides to stay on at the school, where she nows feels at home, but  Daniel is always on her mind, even when she finds out that he has a shocking secret!
As the International Brigade is mobilized to fight in the Spanish Civil War, Daniel prepares to leave. Gwen has to face the fact that they may never be together, despite her love for him, but realises that she can face things on her own and make her own decisions.
Like her childhood heroine Amy Johnson, she is learning how to fly!!

Read about the author at www.anniemurray.co.uk

In 1920,s Birmingham three girls from very different backgrounds set out with one dream, to dance.
Nell escapes from a home in the slums and from a violent and abusive Father, who believes that any wage that his daughter earns belongs to him.
Kitty has everything material, wealth and a fantastic home, but an uncaring family; no known Father and a Mother who is greatly involved in the suffrage movement and spends little or no time at home.
Gwyneth has both Mother and Father, but her Father is a bigoted preacher, who allows Gwyneth no freedom and her Mother is a defeated woman, too tired to fight for her daughter.
Through a series of coincidences, the three girls meet and an unlikely friendship is formed, fuelled by their common goal: to dance at the Folies-Bergere.
They begin dancing classes and are soon caught up in moment, and although Kitty is not as commited as Gwyneth and Nell, all three realise their dream to dance in Paris.
Gwyneth and Nell are soon caught up in Kitty's society life and their lives begin to change. Gwyneth is attracted to Tomothy, one of Kitty's society friends, but realises that marriage to him is a mistake, because of the difference in their backgrounds and also that she wishes to continue dancing in Paris.
Kitty, from boredom, decides to give up dancing and after a string of wealthy and often married suitors, marries a rich Italian Prince, who is much older than she, then puts a brave face on the mistake she realises she has made.
Nell has always been in love with one of Kitty's acquaintances, Paul a Doctor , and he with her. Nell, however, believes herself not to be good enough and unsuitable as his wife. Instead she is pusued by Tom, someone more from her own class, a social climber, who has come good and risen up the ladder in the union movement. After a series of unfortunate events, when Tom is revealed in his true colours, convinced that he his doing Nell a great honour by wanting to marry her, Paul eventually shows his hand and proposes to Nell.

This book was first published in 1988, but I have only just come across it, buried deep in the shelves of my bookcase. I was pleasantly surprised and enjoyed it immensely. Marina Oliver writes with a great sensitivity about the nature of the times. The fickle nature of many of the wealthy classes, who flit from thing to thing and person to person, generally through boredom, but seemingly without a care to anyone elses feelings. Then the other end of the spectrum, where people live in slums and squalor, often with several children, many of whom did not survive. Violence and abuse is  an accepted scenario and to break free and try to better yourself, almost an impossibility, without taking drastic action, from which there is no going back.

Marina Oliver has written several books and can be found at: www.marina-oliver.net

Stop and think for a few minutes, about all the people around you, who do voluntary work in some capacity, approx 27% of the population apparently!

Hospital Radio, Environmental/Conservation Projects, Lifeboatmen, Mountain Rescue, Air Ambulance, Girl Guide Leader, Hospital ward Volunteer, Pet Rescue Centres, National Trust,Charity Shop Retail Helpers ..... the list is endless.

I have helped in the voluntary sector for over 20 years, in Charity Shop Retail. This has been with a variety of National charities, but for the last 8 years has been with my local Hospice Shop. Being a part of a smaller organisation, has, on the whole, been a much more rewarding experience, that I have enjoyed immensley.

I have always been amazed at the dedication of the people I work with. Many of them are well into their 70's and even 80's and several of them have been helping the charity, since it was started in someone's front room! Today there are 19 shops in a small area of the Southwest, which are very modern and well equipped. Our own shop has a rotating shift of approximately 40 volunteers, who appear come rain or shine to help out in a variety of roles.

The generosity of the public is also amazing, with their volume of donated stock for us to sell, and without which, we would not be able to open our doors. Just remember, when that charity sack lands on you doormat; that the item of clothing that you no longer wear, the ornament you had as a gift and never really liked, or the book you read once and is sat on the shelf, may be a life-line to someone else!

People volunteer for a whole variety of reasons, with many even risking their own lives, but all wanting the same basic outcome, to feel fulfilled, to put something back into society, and help someone else along the way.

Now, think what would happen if all those volunteers disappeared tomorrow!!!