John Wetton Loses Bowel Cancer Battle

It was with great sadness today that I learned that musician John Wetton had lost his long battle with bowel cancer. Perhaps best remembered for his time in King Crimson and Asia, John's career spanned 50 years. 

I had hoped that I would be able to get John to take part in the new fundraising book, but I knew his health wasn't good. Although I had no direct contact with John, we followed each other on Twitter and he occasionally supported my efforts especially when Mum was poorly.

Bowel cancer does not discriminate and remains the second highest cancer killer in the UK. Yet if detected early it is one of the most treatable. Much more needs to be done in raising awareness about this awful illness. There are growing calls for the age of bowel cancer screening in England, Wales & N.Ireland to be reduced from 60 to 50, to bring it into line with Scotland.

RIP John Wetton.

Richard and Sarah Haugh Supporting Forthcoming Bowel Cancer Charity Book

Richard and Sarah Haugh will feature in the new fundraising book. Richard has successfully overcome bowel cancer. I am very much looking forward to meeting them both and talking about their involvement with the Beating Bowel Cancer charity, which is the bowel cancer charity I support. They are both actively involved in fundraising and raising awareness about bowel cancer. 

My mother lost her four year battle with bowel cancer last August, so its always nice to embrace good and positive news stories about bowel cancer. All funds raised sales from the new book will be donated to Beating Bowel Cancer.

In fact Richard benefited from the screening age in Scotland, where they live, being 50 as opposed to 60 in the rest of the UK. His bowel cancer was picked up during routine screening which could well have saved his life. Richard and Sarah were both at the Houses of Parliament yesterday where Beating Bowel Cancer held a reception to call on MPs to back reducing the screening age from 60 to 50 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. It is estimated that if the screening age was 50 across the whole of the UK, then 4,000 patients a year might benefit from early detection and have a much better chance of beating this awful illness.

The charity have put up a link for anyone to write to their local MP to ask them to back the age reduction. It's really easy to do and only takes a couple of minutes to complete. Please do this as every letter in support helps. To go to the page click here.

Legendary Guitarist Steve Hackett To Feature in Bowel Cancer Charity Book

More brilliant book news today as I contacted Steve Hackett about being in the book. His wife Jo has come back with a lovely positive response and so I will meet and photograph Steve before his concert at Reading Hexagon in April. He was guitarist with Genesis during the 1970s before embarking on a successful solo career.

My mother lost her 4 year battle with bowel cancer last August, and all proceeds raised from sales of this book will be donated to the Beating Bowel Cancer charity. This new book is the follow up to 2015's Lives & Times book which has so far raised over £3000 for the charity.

This is already turning into a fantastic journey for me, and in a way it helps me with dealing andd coming to terms with losing Mum. It is such a positive focus for me, and I can't thank Steve and the other participants for their support.

Stop The Cavalry - Jona Lewie To Feature in Bowel Cancer Charity Book

More great book news with music legend Jona Lewie agreeing to be part of the forthcoming fundraising book that I am putting together for the Beating Bowel Cancer charity. Best known for his two 1980 hits, You Will Always Find Me In The Kitchen At Parties and Stop The Calvary I am looking forward to finding out a lot more about the man whose career spans 50 years.

The idea behind the book, which is a follow up to my 2015 publication, Lives & Times, is to raise funds for the charity and to help raise awareness about this awful illness, which is claiming 16,000 lives in the UK each year. However if detected early it is treatable in over 90% of cases. My Mum passed away last August following a long and courageous battle with bowel cancer. The new book is being done on her memory.

Paralympic Gold Medallist Jeanette Chippington MBE On Board New Bowel Cancer Fundraising Book

Another great addition to the book today as Paralympic gold medallist Jeanette Chippington MBE agreed to take part. Her Paralympic medal haul of 13 is quite amazing, so it's going to be fascinating finding out a bit more about Jeanette and her career. She is local to me and went to the same secondary school as my Mum and sister did, so the chapter in the book will also have a nice local connection.

All proceeds raised from sales of the book will be donated to the Beating Bowel Cancer charity. My Mum passed away last August after a long, brave and courageous fight with bowel cancer. Bowel cancer is the 2nd biggest cancer killer in the UK, but can be successfully treated in over 90% of cases if detected early. The aim of the book is to raise funds for the charity, but also to raise awareness about this awful illness. This forthcoming book is the follow up to 2015's Lives & Times which has raised over £3000 so far.

Meeting Anne Dickins MBE at Eton Dorney Lake for bowel cancer charity book

This morning I met up with Paralympian canoeist Anne Dickins MBE at Eton Dorney Lake. Last year she won Gold in Rio and was awarded an MBE in the New Year's honours list. Anne was extremely generous with her time and we chatted for about an hour and a half. She was really lovely and it was fascinating learning a little more about her story of battling back from a serious back injury to Olympic glory. We chatted about her training schedule, the sacrifices required to achieve success, and having to balance work, training and her family and friends. She is such a down to earth character and I found her enthusiasm and positive outlook very infectious. It was yet another amazing experience and will make for a great chapter in the forthcoming book.

All proceeds raised from sales of the book will be donated to the Beating Bowel Cancer charity. The book is being done in memory of my Mum who passed away in August following a four year battle with bowel cancer.

Writer & Broadcaster Andrew White On Board Bowel Cancer Charity Book

Writer and broadcaster Andrew White has come on board the forthcoming charity book I am putting together for the Beating Bowel Cancer charity. His interests are the great outdoors, railways and transport, travel, days out, heritage, dogs, film-making, astronomy and technology. I have no idea how we will get to cover this in one chapter. For anyone, like myself, who has Amazon Prime, Andrew's television series Walks Around Britain is available to stream. Andrew wrote, produced and edited the programme himself. I am really looking forward to meeting him and I reckon it's going to make for another fascinating chapter for the book. I might also be able to pick up a few tips in terms of book writing and marketing fingers crossed.

The forthcoming book will be my third fundraising book in support of Beating Bowel Cancer. In 2012 I published Beating Bowel Cancer, which featured a collection of my photos with the stories behind them and has raised over £500. In 2015 I published Lives & Times, which saw me meet and photograph a whole load of famous people. Each chapter has my anecdotal account of the meeting. That book, alongside a wonderful print produced by artist Adam Green, has raised over £3000 so far. The hopes are that the new book will be equally as successful.

My mother passed away last August following a 4 year battle with bowel cancer. Bowel cancer is the second highest cancer killer in the UK, but if detected early it is one of the most treatable in over 90% of cases. Much work is still needed to be done in raising awareness to help improve early detection, and hopefully the books can play a small part helping to do this as well as raising much needed funds for the charity.

Poet Ian McMillan To Feature in the New Bowel Cancer Charity Book

More good book news today as Ian McMillian, broadcaster and poet, has agreed to be in the book. I heard a really interesting and entertaining interview with him on the Radcliffe & Maconie show on BBC 6 Music before Christmas prompting me to make contact. Ian lives in South Yorkshire so it's likely I shall be heading up there in the coming months to meet him and do the photograph.

There are now approaching 40 people on board the new book, and to date I have photographed 3 of them, which means that 2017 is going to be a busy year meeting and photographing people. I would still like to get the amount of people to above 50, and the response to date has been amazing. I am very thankful to Ian and the many others on board the forthcoming book for their support.

The book is supporting the Beating Bowel Cancer charity, with all proceeds raised from sales donated to the charity. My Mum passed away last year following a 4 year brave and courageous battle with this awful illness. My other books and artwork are available to purchase on my www.bowelcancerfundraising.co.uk website and over £3000 has been raised so far.

Broadcaster Colin Murray will feature in forthcoming bowel cancer charity book

The first addition of 2017 to the forthcoming bowel cancer fundraising book is broadcaster Colin Murray. He has an obvious passion for both music and sport making him right up my street, so I'm sure our meeting will make for a great chapter. He came back with a very enthusiastic yes to my request on social media, and he has even suggested a couple of cool ideas for the photo location which will be in London. The plan at the moment is to try and do the photo in March.

So as 2017 gets under way I still need 15-20 more people to come on board the book. Over 30 people have already agreed to take part with 3 of them already photographed at the back end of last year. Work, and now my dog with cancer, means that I am not rushing this book. I am hoping to get most of the photos done during this year, but if it takes longer then so be it. 

All proceeds raised from sales of the book will be donated to the Beating Bowel Cancer charity. The book is being done in memory of my Mum who passed away last August following a 4 year battle with bowel cancer. My previous book, Lives & Times, alongside the limited edition screen prints by Reigate artist Adam Green, has now raised over £3000 for the charity. It would be great if this new book could match that.