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The Emigrant Who Became a Town Mayor
A long and hard road to acceptance for a child who wasn’t supposed to be born. Against all odds, he fought just to survive, yearning for love and acceptance.
Throughout his life, he has been protected by a Higher Order, guided by faith through trials from Communist oppression to freedom, and into unexpected success.
Through hard work and dedication to his community, he rises to become their Mayor, a testament to his resilience and the unwavering support of his Protector.
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A Womb With a View
This book delves into the life of the Church of England at a near grassroots level during a period of seismic change. It seeks to capture the essence of experimental ministry during a time of national uncertainty. While it doesn’t provide definitive answers, it explores various possibilities with honesty and humour. The narrative shares the joys and challenges of parish ministry in diverse settings: from the heart of a bustling city to the serene depths of rural Wensleydale, from a sprawling inner-city housing estate to the hills and coastlands of Cumbria. It enthusiastically engages with ecumenical matters and approaches interfaith diversity with a certain naivety.
“Here are the workings out of a practical theologian – a priest working across disciplines, and most powerfully working with and alongside communities.”
– The Ven. Chris Burke, Archdeacon of Barking.
“He created a platform to build on of the largest centres for social action and community activity in the country… Malcolm is courageous beyond belief and a true advocate of his faith and belief in human kind.”
– Mark Law MBC. Chief Executive, BARCA, Leeds.
“I found this lovely book quite a nostalgic read, because it reminded me of the church into which I was ordained nearly 40 years ago. I also found it deeply moving, endearingly honest, and at times profoundly inspiring. Malcolm - who is a natural entrepreneur – manages to tackle some very serious subjects without ever taking himself too seriously and he enables some powerful reflection on the meaning of ‘success’ in ordained ministry without trying to provide to many answers. I hope you will enjoy reading it as much as I did.”
– James Newcome, Bishop of Carlisle.
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The Man With Wheels
Tusib Hazari was born in Bangladesh. In his young life his father was charged with false cases, imprisoned, and tortured. His father’s life was under threat so he had to escape the country to save his life.
He soon found refuge in the UK. Tusib moved to the UK with the rest of his family to join his father in London. As soon as he arrived in the UK, he was diagnosed with a serious undisclosed muscle condition.
He has written this memoir to describe his journey in life since arriving in the UK and how he dealt with having this condition. How far will he go in life? Will he be successful? Find out by reading this jaw-dropping, inspirational memoir.
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Reflections from the Top of the World
Mount Kilimanjaro is the highest free-standing mountain in the world. It can be climbed successfully with minimal technical skill, but the physical and mental challenges are huge. The secret to conquering Mount Kilimanjaro is to just keep going, a maxim that applies equally when facing the trials of life, such as bereavement, heartbreak, and loneliness.
Loneliness is perhaps one of the most insidious legacies of the COVID-19 pandemic. People increasingly live alone, work alone and play alone; disconnected from society through the modern cultures of home working, absolute dependence on smartphones and the ability to stream television and cinema into their living rooms on demand. These modern factors conspire to break the connections between fellow human beings, and this can render recovering from bereavement, heartbreak, and other life trials especially hard. The enforced isolation of lockdown served to strengthen and normalize human disconnection, which has arguably led to a disturbing deterioration in the nations’ mental health.
Reflections from the Top of the World presents a powerful alternative philosophy of connection, mutual endeavour, and achievement. A philosophy that does not necessarily require individuals to climb the world’s largest freestanding mountain, but one that encourages reflection on the root causes of sadness and joy. The ultimate conclusion is a convincing belief that whatever life throws you, there will always be new happiness to look forward to if you just keep going.
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Waiting in the Wings
At the age of fifteen, William Hicks joined the 1st Battalion of the 27th Regiment of Foot (the Inniskillings) as a drummer in 1798. Throughout the Napoleonic Wars, they were often in the shadows, waiting for their moment of glory. Their roles varied from holding the fort against the French to acting as a decoy for Wellington in the Peninsula, participating in skirmishes and minor battles.
However, these experiences were leading up to one final triumph. Through William’s story, we gain insight into the everyday life of a foot soldier during this era: his adventures, challenges, and lessons learned as he travels through diverse lands. Each new destination offers a different climate, culture, and scenery to discover.
Join William on his journey to Egypt, Malta, Sicily, Spain, and North America, culminating in their ultimate destination: Waterloo.
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A Piece of the Action
What is it like to spend a lifetime doing research in a wide variety of fields in the physical sciences? Studying distant planets, binary stars, neutron stars, stellar mass black holes and active galaxies using optical and near-infrared ground-based telescopes. Designing and constructing equipment as a member of international teams studying the high-energy X-ray emissions from many of these objects. Flying these detectors on short duration sounding rocket flights, utilising huge balloons to carry experiments to high altitude, or installing them on long duration satellite missions. Being a scientist engaged in fieldwork studying the physical properties of the world’s oceans, or the sea ice and glaciers around the coastline of Antarctica. This lifetime involved living in the UK and Australia for many years, with a four-year interlude in the USA, as well as working in or visiting many other countries. How lucky can you get?
This book describes numerous projects in an unusually diverse range of research areas – the fun and adventure of STEM activities – without getting into excessive technical or specialist detail.
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Living the Dream!
This is the story of my life, from childhood struggles with polio to leaving home at seventeen for an apprenticeship with British Aircraft Corporation, working on the iconic Concorde. My career path took me through Westland Helicopters and British Rail, before a 22-year career at British Airways in London, where I became a Senior Airline Engineer, licensed to maintain a fleet of company aircraft.
After that, I turned to flying for pleasure and eventually became a Chief Flying Instructor, starting my own flying school. Over 36 years of training pilots, I experienced fourteen engine failures, three near misses, and two bird strikes—the most dramatic being a fight with a buzzard that smashed through the windscreen, hitting my student in the face, leaving him with a black eye and a split lip, and ending up draped around his neck like a scarf. I also survived a cockpit fire shortly after takeoff that burned my left leg.
Then there’s the story of a mild-mannered, religious pilot who became a good friend. He once told me about the day his ejection seat failed during a jet spin-out, sending him plummeting toward the ground. Resigned to death, he was saved by a voice in his head that he believed was God, offering the solution just in time.
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Dicing With Death
While there was terrorist-related activity happening somewhere in Northern Ireland daily, Belfast bore the brunt of it, and the two-mile stretch of road between Willie’s home and the school had more than its share. He travelled that corridor of death to and from school every day. In school, he was prepared to put his life on the line protecting the rights of disaffected young people. He tried to keep the older boys out of the arms of the IRA, who would recruit them into the Fianna (Junior IRA), and out of reach of the security forces who would arrest them for petty crimes and then release them on condition that they became informers. He was ready to protect them against all comers. He walked the middle ground, neither on one side nor the other. The police and the soldiers were professionals. They could look after themselves. He did not support the IRA, nor take orders from them, nor allow himself to be used by them. He saw his role as protecting the young people in his care. He was walking on quicksand, knowing that if he put a foot wrong, he could vanish without a trace.
£3.50