Just a Gardener
by
F S (Joe) Winstanley
Something truly to be wondered at is the way in which a seed changes from a hard knobbly little ball into a flower or a vegetable. It is largely taken for granted, or worse still, ignored, by so many people, but for young Edmond Brassington, learning of this miracle of Mother Nature was truly life-changing. It is said that everyone has a special talent if only it can be found, and Just a Gardener tells the story of how, for Edmond, this revelation was the spark that brought his talent to life. It gave him not just a job but an abiding satisfying interest to last him all his days.
Joe Winstanley was born and brought up in Wigan, as he has recounted in one of his earlier books, Growing up in Wigan 1930 – 1950. After National Service in the RAF he re-joined the Civil Service. Much later, he made use of his love of music when he started a successful record business buying and selling rare classical records – LPs and 78s. In his seventies he felt another career move coming on and started to write. Just a Gardener is his fifth book and follows a trilogy, based loosely on the true story his wife’s grandfather, about a lad who ran away to sea in the late nineteenth century (Number Eighteen, Blue Sailing and Stranded). His sixth book is nearly ready. Married, with four children and seven grandchildren, he and his wife Lorna live in The Wirral.
ISBN: 978-1-906302-17-7
Due out in April 2009
PRICE: £9.95 (plus P & P £3.00 UK, £4.00 EU, £6.50 RoW)
Number Eighteen
Blue Sailing
Stranded
A Trilogy by
Joe Winstanley
Adventures from the last days of Sail
At the age of thirteen George Eefamy runs away to sea from his home in Poole, Number Eighteen, in order to escape from a tyrannical Victorian household. His early childhood was happy but after he loses his mother and later on his father, his life is ruled by the family of his father’s second wife; their oppression and neglect become intolerable.
The start of Blue Sailing sees George stow away on a three masted sailing ship. By good fortune the captain and owner of the ship, Mr Penaluna, is sympathetic and adopts him as a regular member of the crew. George has many adventures and soon realises that seafaring is the only life for him.
In Stranded, George becomes involved in the Boer War. Temporarily detached from his ship, he ends up having to make a hazardous journey of hundreds of miles across South Africa in order to rejoin his ship. Even when he is back on board, the war brings more troubles to the ship’s crew.
‘Great Story telling’
June Lancelyn Green
Number Eighteen Price £6.95 (plus P & P £2.50 UK) ISBN 978-0-9552993-0-8
Blue Sailing Price £6.95 (plus P & P £2.50 UK) ISBN 978-0-9552993-1-5
Stranded Price £8.95 (plus P & P £3.00 UK) ISBN 978-0-9552993-3-9
or
All three books Price £19.85 (plus P & P £6.00 UK) At a total saving (incl P & P) of £5
Blenheim Press Ltd
Codicote Innovation Centre, St Albans Road, Codicote, Herts SG4 8WH
Phone: 01438 820281
