Before becoming the Assistant Bishop of Llandaff, David Wilbourne was vicar of Helmsley, a market town nestling on the southern slopes of the North York Moors. For twelve years he wrote a regular diary column in the Church Times, delighting its readers with his quirky tales of ministry in Helmsley. The Helmsley Chronicles collects the best of David s diaries, substantially edited and bolstered with new material. Gently celebrating rural and church life, it is a wonderful foil to all the un...

Shh, new vicar might be listening . . .'As the newly appointed Vicar of Helmsley, David was looking forward to working in this picturesque market town, set in the beautiful Yorkshire countryside. Admittedly the vicarage, which dated back to the twelfth century, was extremely cold and damp. And not all of his parishioners were impressed by his new-fangled ways. But with the help of the irrepressible Father Bert, a retired cleric and one-time Tail End Charlie, David set about winning...

‘Both vintage and fresh David Wilbourne . . . [His] gift is to enable us to see again the face of Jesus delightfully present with us through our Lent journey.’GRAHAM USHER, BISHOP OF NORWICHWhatever our church denomination, we all use the same Sunday Gospel from the Revised Common Lectionary. Year A focuses on Matthew, but during the first five Sundays of Lent, four of the Gospels are curiously from John. By basing each of the five sessions...

‘Both vintage and fresh David Wilbourne . . . [His] gift is to enable us to see again the face of Jesus delightfully present with us through our Lent journey.’GRAHAM USHER, BISHOP OF NORWICHWhatever our church denomination, we all use the same Sunday Gospel from the Revised Common Lectionary. Year A focuses on Matthew, but during the first five Sundays of Lent, four of the Gospels are curiously from John. By basing each of the five sessions...

‘An absolutely beautiful piece of work which well catches Archbishop Habgood, the last Anglican theologian I used to make the walk to the Lords’ chamber to hear speak. Lord Habgood would smile with pleasure and amusement to read it.’ MATTHEW PARRIS‘. . . all the sides of the astonishing man that was John Habgood are brought to life here with wit, poignancy, and affection.’ FERGUS BUTLER-GALLIE**, author of A Field Guide to Engl...

David was excited to be the new Vicar of the picturesque Hemsley. However, not all of his parishioners were impressed by his new-fangled ways. Nonetheless, a determined David set about winning over the colourful townsfolk. There was Lord Feversham, the Henry VIII look-a-like; fiery Ted who had fought with the Polish Free Army; Frank the eighty-year-old singing shepherd, and redoubtable countrywoman Eva. All had stories of hardship and sacrifice, friendship and love.

NOW A MAJOR FILM STARRING DAME MAGGIE SMITH'The first book that ever made me laugh out loud' Adam Kay'Utter genius' Daily MailIn 1974, the homeless Miss Shepherd moved her broken down van into Alan Bennett's garden. Deeply eccentric and stubborn to her bones, Miss Shepherd was not an easy tenant. And Bennett, despite inviting her in the first place, was a reluctant landlord. And yet she lived there for fifte...

Tom Baker, the fourth Doctor Who on British television, brings all his talent as a raconteur to this autobiography, which was first published in 1997 and ranges from his childhood, through his 7 years as Doctor Who to the engraving of his gravestone! Born in 1934, Baker grew up in an Irish Catholic neighbourhood in wartime Liverpool. His stories about his large family, his difficulties at school, his love of collecting war salvage, and his fascination with the church are entertaining, hila...

Have you heard the story of 'Bang Bang' Dudley, who roamed the streets of Dublin shooting anyone who caught his eye? Or of 'Lugs' Brannigan, the city's most famous detective? Do you know who the real Molly Malone was, or the story of Marsh's Library, or how the devil himself came to the Hellfire Club? These and many more accounts of Dubliners and Dublin City fill this book, as told by Brendan Nolan, a professional storyteller who has been recording these tales for decades....

Memoir from the bestselling author of To School Through the Fields who has been described by The Observer as 'Ireland's Laurie Lee...a chronicler of fading village life and rural rituals who sells and sells'.In this collection she takes her readers along the byways of Ireland and into the heart of the country. In stories by turn comic and poignant, she explores the character of family and friends, testing the bonds of concern and kindness which hold people togethe...

Paul Johnson recalls, with warmth and affection, his childhood in the Potteries - and a unique industrial landscape that has now gone for everPaul Johnson, the celebrated historian, grew up in Tunstall, one of the six towns around Stoke-on-Trent that made up `the Potteries'. From an early age he was fascinated by the strange beauty of its volcanic landscape of fiery furnaces belching out heat and smoke. As a child he often accompanied his father - headmaster of the...

"Country Girl is Edna O'Brien's exquisite account of her dashing, barrier-busting, up-and-down life."-National Public RadioWhen Edna O'Brien's first novel, The Country Girls, was published in 1960, it so scandalized the O'Briens' local parish that the book was burned by its priest. O'Brien was undeterred and has since created a body of work that bears comparison with the best writing of the twentieth century. Country Girl brings us face-to-face with a life of high drama and...