‘STONE PILLOW’ – a local refuge for the HOMELESS at Christmas. To this charity I will donate the sum of :- £2 – 50p for every one of my ‘City Streets to Sussex Lanes’ books that I sell…WHY?

 Because, when I was just eight years old my family were homeless – it was a week before Christmas, and we, at the time, slept rough on a south coast beach.

My book – ‘City Streets to Sussex Lanes,’ mentions those difficult times. The following is a short excerpt taken from that book:-

 “ –We slipped down a dozen steps to the gloom of the beach walkway and there found shelter from the icy wind in an arched alcove. Settling down for the night on the stone floor, I snuggled close to the bosom of my parent, a coat shielding my back from the December tempest that whistled through the black gaping entrance.

In those dark hours the cold concrete floor rose up and gnawed into the very bones of my body, while the damp, air cloaked my exposed frame saturating it in freezing beads. I shivered uncontrollably, slept fitfully; the incessant scraping of shingles, the pounding of waves on the shore, ever present in my conscious moments.

The harshness of that night cut deep into my mind and my soul. For in later life, and even now, whenever I see a man of the road, I see a fellow sufferer and dig into my pocket, to pass him a few coins in memory of that dreadful night. – ”

Signed copies of – ‘City Streets to Sussex Lanes,’ costs £8 – 50p direct from my website:- www.davidjohnston.org.uk Free postage in UK only.

BBC Radio & Magazine book reviews, can also be found on my website.