Content in this category can be on various subjects of different types, unrelated to writing, but of interest to Jan.
Silk FM Interview during Foster Care Fortnight
On 24th May I was fortunate enough to be interviewed on our local Cheshire radio station, Silk 106.9. This was not only to promote my book, but more importantly to highlight “Foster care fortnight” which takes place during the last 2 weeks in May.
These two weeks are designed to showcase fostering and to recruit new foster carers, because we need 10,000 more places in this country, in order to give a home to each of our vulnerable children.
In the interview I talked about how I became involved in fostering, how it had enriched my life, and some of the pitfalls. I speak of the rewarding experience and how the book takes you on a journey through sadness, joy, anger and frustration at a system which is overstretched.
Here is a link to the interview
My First Review Is Most Complimentary
I am delighted to announce that I have had my first book review of “Part of the Family”.
John has spent many years teaching special needs children, and therefore has a natural interest in the subject matter. He says:-
“I’m finding Jan Garsden’s book very moving. As someone who hasn’t fostered but through my special education career and subsequent volunteering with families on the cusp of children being removed I have some understanding of the fostering world.
I finished the book last night. I found it captivating. To have a book containing sadness and joy in equal measure makes it very special. Good on you both for your compassion towards those vulnerable youngsters.”
Thank you John very much for your review. I am keen for anyone who has read the book to review it, as I welcome other people’s views.
Books Sell Like Hot Cakes – thank you.
Don’t worry there are more than enough to satisfy your appetites but thank you to all those who have bought “Part of The Family” online on its publication date Friday 16th December.
Apologies to those whom we could not supply free copies to. We wanted to hand out books to those who are mentioned in the book in order to say thank you. Jan, however is willing to sign copies to anyone who wants to buy a copy through Amazon, Waterstones, Barnes & Noble etc. If you send us a message I will let you have our address.
AND THANK YOU AGAIN. Just remember to share on your social media outlets. That is the way to spread the message that we need more foster carers to look after the many children who need care. Things are a lot worse post COVID than beforehand.
Leek Bookshop takes stock
Jan and I are even more delighted that Picture Book, the Leek Bookshop, has agreed to be a stockist for “Part of the Family” by Jan Garsden. Jan is doing a delivery today ready for publication tomorrow.
It is only £8.99, professionally edited by Austin MaCauley, makes you laugh, cry, and angry in equal measure. It has this effect upon me after at least 20 reads, so it would make an ideal stocking filler for you at Christmas time.
You can read an excerpt from the first chapter “Tommy” online to test out my sales boast.
Local Independent Bookshop takes stock
Jan and I are delighted to announce not only our first book sale (even before publication date) but also that a local independent book shop are willing to be an outlet for sales. They are called the High Peak Bookstore. They are an excellent stockist and have won awards. They also have a cafe – so it is a lovely place to visit close to Buxton on the Ashbourne Road.
I just spoke to Louisa who supports local authors. She explained that there are hundreds of locals who publish books (I had no idea) but that if we delivered some stock she would put the book in her “local authors” section.
As we are from Macclesfield we count as local even though we are just over the hill in a different county.
Louisa was so helpful on the phone and very open to any sort of promotion we wanted to do. Such a helpful attitude from an independent retailer. I am sure that we wouldn’t have got the same reception from a large multiple, but there again, I could be wrong.
I did tell her, however, that we knew all about her bookshop and had visited it before. In fact my wife liked it so much that she pointed it out to me once, on the way past.
Even better news – they are planning a local author’s Spring Fair next year, which we are invited to. I am sure we will take part.
Let’s hope that we sell our 2nd copy soon!
“Part of the Family” to be published 16th December 2022
We are incredibly excited that my wife’s new book, “Part of the Family” is due to be published in 5 days. I can do no better than use the summary drafted by our erstwhile publisher Austin MaCauley
An inspiring story of one family’s journey through the British care system, from the point of view of a foster carer. It tells of the funny, challenging, and often harrowing times of living life in an ever-changing household of temporary children.
Steering a course through the muddy waters of the care system has provided many obstacles but has overall proved to be a rewarding and heart-warming experience for the author.
Children who find themselves removed from their birth families are thrust into a system which, although trying its best, is so often lacking in the love and good quality nurturing they deserve.
As a society, we need to look at the way we deal with vulnerable children.
Austin MaCauley Website
Our publishers have also summarised very well my wife, the author:-
Jan Garsden
Although this is Jan’s first book, her story is both powerful and moving. She was first a model and a beauty queen, then an air hostess, and finally an interior designer. She and her family decided to “give something back” and began fostering in 2007. The following 10 years were a rollercoaster of emotions, including anger, frustration, sadness, joy, elation, and humour, but the idea of helping children was at the core of their beliefs. Jan made notes throughout her fostering career in order to remember the individuals who touched her life.
Jan lives on a farm in the beautiful Cheshire countryside.
Need I say more. To buy a copy of the book through Amazon click here, Austin MaCauley click here and Waterstones click here
Fairy rock mother
I didn’t wear a sparkly satin dress, a bejewelled tiara or carry a magic wand , but today I was the “fairy rock mother”.
Let me explain. For many years I’ve spent hours painting rocks, or should I say beautiful, rounded pebbles collected from Sandy beach on Anglesey. In the past, when we’ve had a caravan-full of foster children, interspersed with some of our own kids, we would often while away the time on rainy days collecting pebbles from the beach. Upon our return to the caravan we would break out the acrylic paints and brushes and paint interesting designs on the rocks. Well, not all of them were interesting, some were just smudges of colour, applied in an impatient mess, but it kept us all entertained for a while.
Now that we have retired from fostering children I sometimes paint stones with my two grandchildren, Ellie who is 5 and Phoebe who is 4. I even go solo and paint stones on rainy days at the caravan when there are no children around. I sometimes just enjoy being creative. I have built up quite a store of painted rocks, some are simple hearts, smiley faces or happy “emoji” faces. Others are more intricate designs, such as ladybirds, cats and tortoises. Ellie and Phoebe always want to see the newest stones when they come to visit.
So today I loaded up my rucksack and set off for “Penrhos Park” in Anglesey. It’s a beautiful wooded area with winding paths and tracks, some leading down to a secluded beach. I wore my raincoat and walking shoes and spent about an hour wandering through the trees placing “rock presents” as I went. At one point I had to hurry past a family with young children so that I could get ahead of them and place stones before they saw me. I usually put them in the boughs of trees, on top of fences, in the cracks between dry stone walls and in the exposed roots of trees. Today I could hear the delighted shrieks of kids who’d discovered the newly placed pebbles just behind me. I smiled as I went about my task, knowing that some kids were enjoying the game, nearly as much as me. Usually, when people find the stones they post them on “Facebook” and comment on where and when they found them, there is a group named “Anglesey rocks“. Today I was even lucky enough today to see two red squirrels, a wonderful sight, as one ran directly across my path.
Of course don’t go assuming that I do this activity for the sake of children, no, no, no. I do it because I need to beat my team-mates in my “Fitbit” group. We usually have a “workweek challenge”, and we have to try to accomplish more steps than the rest of the group in order to win. The others in the group are at least 30 years younger than me, and they have busy jobs. I struggle to match their steps every day, so I have to be inventive. Walking around the woods, or on the beach keeps me in the game, even though I usually lose when the results are in at the end of the week.
So, I need to go now, I have a new batch of pebbles to paint, and I need to dust off my tiara. My pink sparkly dress and festooned wand are waiting, and upon saying the magic word I will be transformed, once more, into the “Fairy rock mother’. Bye for now.
- Published in General
Biscuits
Today I spent a nice few hours with my lovely 84 year old mum. I don’t normally visit her on a Sunday but she’s incapacitated at the moment due to a sore ankle. She had a fall at home about a week ago and although there are no broken bones she has been fitted with a special “boot” and has been told to rest the leg for about 6 weeks.
We went out for a nice lunch, just to have a change of scenery, and we then went on to visit mum’s friends Anne in her care home. Mum was concerned that she couldn’t get the bus to visit Anne because she was a bit “wobbly” on her feet.
Upon our return to mum’s house I put the kettle on and we sat down to tea and a chocolate digestive biscuit. Mum reminded me that as a child I always asked for a chocolate biscuit when I wasn’t feeling very well, and it usually worked. I invariably felt better after a couple of chocolate digestives, and my mum has never forgotten the fact. I suggested that maybe the clue was in the biscuit’s name, and the digestive probably settled my tummy.
I then suggested that maybe all ailments were curable with different biscuits, and we began to explore all the names of the biscuits we knew and what problems they might cure. I immediately pointed at her swollen ankle and said “Hob Nobs”, or maybe a “Club”biscuit.
So, here is the list of biscuits we laughed about;
“Garibaldi” – thinning hair.
“Bourbon” – alcoholism.
“Jammie Dodgers” – menopause.
“Choc chip cookies” – personality disorders.
“Nice” – anger management issues.
“Chocolate Fingers” – diarrhoea.
“Jaffa cakes” – false tan issues.
“Custard Creams” – wrinkles.
“Table Water Biscuits” – cystitis.
“Viscount” – posh people.
“Shortbread” – poor people.
“Penguin” – double hip replacement.
“Taxi” – reluctant driver.
“Ginger Nuts” – sunburn.
“Rich Tea” – wealthy people.
I think we did ok with our list, but of course you may be able to think of many more. It was a good day all round, mum fed, watered and cheered up. Job done.
- Published in General
Women’s magazines, poem
Glossy, shiny full of crap
They’re on the shelves, the woman trap
Luring us with shocking tales
Celebrity stories in great detail
“How to”guides- like shedding pounds
Advice on marriage knows no bounds
Recipes for leftover meat
Make curry for a midweek treat
They patronise like we are thick
The smartass comments make me sick
They tell us how to run our lives
By making us be better wives
They teach us how to fake a tan
Put hair up in a messy bun
A bikini body in just 6 weeks
Sun kissed hair not using bleach
How to wear the latest fashion
Your comfy look will take a bashing
Photographs of stupid styles
Your other half would run a mile
Exaggerated killer heels
To us OAP’s they’ve no appeal
Advice they give on keeping fit
Patterns for cardi’s you could knit
Why not make a summer dress?
Ideas to make you bloody stressed
The agony aunts use many pages
About our marriage and how to save it
How to act when he has strayed
If he came back I’d have him spayed
‘Cos castration doesn’t fit this rhyme
But that would be his fate next time
And ‘cos you’re living in a mess
A “how to get the look” , for less
Make jam jars into something cool
And you have a go, you silly fool
Make clever stuff with chicken wire
For friends and Neighbours to admire
Get busy with the pinking shears
Banish all your sewing fears
They tell us we must all de-clutter
And you try, like other nutters
And when it comes to making cakes
You can’t admit you’ve never baked
It won’t look like their spongy trinkets
Yours resembles doggy biscuits
And yet we keep on buying more
Or free ones drop in through your door
But now you know you aren’t alone
It’s all right there in “Woman’s Own”
- Published in General
Sandy Beach
I’ve spent a wonderful day today looking out onto a beautiful Welsh coastline, and I wonder again why any of us bother to travel the world in search of a perfect holiday location.
I’ve been lucky enough to visit beaches in Florida and the Caribbean, Thailand, Bali, Mauritius, Vietnam, The Greek islands, the Middle East and much of the Mediterranean coastline. All of these places are wonderful, often with exquisite beaches of soft, white, sugar-like sand. They also boast azure blue waters, which are clear, warm and calm, and perfect for swimming and diving. Unfortunately they are all quite far away and require much planning in order to visit them.
Yet there is something wholesome about a British beach, with it’s traditions and familiarities that I find alluring, especially on a sunny day, like today. Looking out from the deck of our static caravan in Anglesey, North Wales, I see children digging in the sand, dogs chasing the surf and teenagers riding body boards. There are a variety of boats too, from tiny 2- man dinghys to large RIBs, fishing boats and small sailing boats. Everyone is enjoying the day and I can hear laughter and children shrieking with delight, whilst ice creams are melting, sandwiches are wilting, and dads are banging the posts of reluctant windbreaks into the soft sand.
What is absent however, are the endless lines of sun loungers, regimented and perfectly aligned with the shore. There are often multiple vendors selling all manner of products from fake designer watches to colourful sarongs and jewellery made of shells. Whilst I enjoy buying some of these souvenirs, in the hope of supplementing the local economy, I soon tire of the endless sales patter and intrusions into my relaxation.
I’m also thankful that today I did not need to arrive at an airport at 5 am, stand in long queues of tired and bewildered passengers, haul luggage across vast expanses of tiled flooring and then face the dreaded security line. I never understand why sometimes I’m asked to remove my shoes, belt, sunglasses, coat, cardigan, phone, watch and kindle, and other times I’m not. We stand in the queue, watching the passengers ahead of us and passing on tips to our friends that it’s “shoes and watches off’, or “jackets on”. There seems to be no standard protocol for this area of the airport, it’s feels like a bit of a lottery. Then when I’m finally squashed into a seat fit for a pigmy I have to hope that by the time the food trolley reaches me they still have a vegetarian option to offer. The plane which we were so eager to board earlier has lost it’s shine now and we are desperate to get off. We can’t wait to retrieve our squashed hand luggage and push our way to the luggage carousel and play Russian roulette with our ankles, or someone else’s.
I really do understand that for many of us it’s all about the weather, and I tend to agree. Sunshine is often in short supply and many a British holiday has been ruined by heavy rains and manic winds. I get that, and I’m no stranger to a tropical beach and a strange looking cocktail myself, but some of the time It’s just too much hassle. I like the fact also that everyone speaks to me in English, I’m not likely to catch rabies and I don’t need to re-set my watch, twice. The ice is safe to consume and It’s improbable that I’ll get a dicky tummy, or an ear infection from a dodgy pool.
Having said all of the above my next holiday, booked for next January, is to Singapore, Malaysia, Cambodia and Hong Kong. I do have a bucket list to get through and I want to see the world, however difficult that may be. The first destination on my list however is Belfast, a city which houses the “Titanic museum” and is travelling distance to the “Giant’s Causeway”, two of my must-do places to see before I die. For the rest of this summer though I intend to spend as much time as possible on “Sandy beach” in Anglesey, enjoying the company of my family.
- Published in General
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