David Baddiel in fundraising book for Beating Bowel Cancer

Last night I went to see David Baddiel in his one man show, "My Family Not The Sitcom", at The Playhouse Theatre in London. It was one of the funniest nights out I have had in a very long time. It focuses mainly on David's relationship with his late mother, and his father who suffers from a form on dementia. I would highly recommend it as a fantastic night out. Here I am outside the venue with the Beating Bowel Cancer tie.

Back in March David had very kindly agreed to be in my new bowel cancer fundraising book at very short notice. I met him after his performance of his show at a warm up performance at Norden Farm in Maidenhead. Unfortunately I didn't have a ticket for the show, so I went along afterwards and we met on the stage in the now empty auditorium, which made for a fantastic photo opportunity. As well as doing the photo for the book, David also was happy to have his photo taken with the bowel cancer tie for the Follow The Bowel Cancer Tie Facebook raising awareness page. I can't thank David enough for his support and his generous invitation for me to go and see the show.

Bowel cancer is the second highest cancer killer in the UK taking 16,000 lives each year. If detected early it is one of the most treatable in over 90% of cases. All proceeds from sales of the book will be donated to the Beating Bowel Cancer charity and it's the follow up to 2015's Lives & Times, which has so far raised over £3000... My Mum lost her 4 year battle with this awful illness last August, and the new book is being done in her memory. 

The Record

I can now reveal the title of the forthcoming bowel cancer fundraising book... The Record

Suggested by Graham Lampen - I think it is perfect. I wanted somthing short and to point and it emcompasses the first record aspect of the book as well as a record of the meeting with the person for each chapter. A big thanks to Graham and everyone else who put forward suggestions.

I'm not afraid to ask for help and next up might be a design for the book cover!

Book Title

I have been working on the new book for a few months now, and it's going really well. I am really enjoying meeting and photographing people in support of Beating Bowel Cancer, and it's proving to be very cathartic for my bereavement journey.

The working title of the book is A Moment In Time - The First Song I Bought. I am still undecided whether this really works as a title... So I am after some suggestions please, and if I use yours you will of course get acknowledged in the finished book 😊 I want the title to be short and catchy - reflect the fact I am asking everyone in the book what the first record they bought was, and possibly the snapshot element (moment in time) about the meetings... 

I look forward to getting some suggestions...

Meeting George Dobell at Edgbaston for Bowel Cancer Charity Book

It was rather chilly at Edgbaston in Birmingham at the start of the last English cricket season when I met George Dobell, the Senior Cricket Correspondent at ESPNcricinfo. I was there for the morning session of the Warwickshire vs Yorkshire match in the County Championship, and I think that after I left the heavens opened. You can't beat the English summer! George was fantastic, a really interesting man to talk to and he has a great sense of humour which was never too far away either. I actually was in for a surprise when I got there, as he took me up to the media centre to have our chat. What a fantastic place that is and the journalists have the most amazing view of the ground. We talked for about an hour, so I have plenty of material to include in the chapter in the book. I also discovered that George is a fan of my favourite band The Alarm, with 'Spirit Of 76' being his favourite song by them. I photographed the original members of that band in the last book, and George is actually a very keen music fan as you find out in the book when it comes out.

Those of you who have purchased the Lives & Times bowel cancer fundraising book will recognise Melinda Farrell. It was great seeing her again too today, as she had only just returned from covering cricket in Australia and India during our cold winter months. I couldn't pass up the opportunity of getting a photo of her and George with the bowel cancer tie.

Bowel cancer is the 2nd highest cancer killer in the UK with 16,000 lives lost each year to it. Yet if diagnosed early it is one of the most treatable ones with a survival rate of over 90%. Raising awareness about bowel cancer is one way to help bring down the amount of people losing their lives to it. My Mum passed away in August 2016 after a 4 year brave and dignified battle with this awful illness. All proceeds raised from sales of the new book will be donated to the Beating Bowel Cancer charity.

Television Presenter Sian Lloyd To Feature in Bowel Cancer Fundraising Book

I am really happy to reveal that television presenter Sian Lloyd has agreed to be in the bowel cancer fundraising book. I saw the above photo on the Beating Bowel Cancer twitter feed supporting April Bowel Cancer Awareness Month, so I sent a request which Sian very quickly replied to with a positive answer. These days she travels a lot for her work on American TV, so we are possibly looking at a couple of windows to meet up in a few weeks time.

Raising awareness about bowel cancer is so so important. I remember when I published my first fundraising book, Beating Bowel Cancer, in 2012 and not fully appreciating this. After the initial sales surge dropped off I felt a little disappointed - that was until the charity pointed out the importance of raising awareness and the role the book was playing doing just that. The follow up book Lives & Times has also, not only raised funds for the charity, but helped raise awareness. It is now something that I just keep on going on about trying to get the message spread far and wide. It's still a subject that people don't like talking about, which is something that still needs to improve.

Bowel cancer is the 2nd biggest cancer killer in the UK with 16,000 lives lost each year to it. 41,000 people are diagnosed with it every year. If diagnosed early it can be successfully treated in over 90% of cases. It is predominantly an illness that affects the over 60s, but more and more young people are being diagnosed. This year there is a big focus on getting the screening age in England, Wales and Northern Ireland reduced from 60 to 50. Please sign the petition here.

My Mum passed away last year after a brave and dignified 4 year battle with this awful illness. Please take a look at my www.bowelcancerfundraising.co.uk website to see all the items that I am currently selling to raise funds for the charity.

Skinny Lister On Board Bowel Cancer Fundraising Book

Last year I went to see the sold out Skinny Lister gig at The Garage in Islington. It was the first time I had seen the band play live and it was absolutely terrific. Crowd surfing, lots of drinking and messing around. And that was just the band's behaviour! It really was a lesson in how to put on a live show. The band have just released their 3rd album, The Devil, The Heart & The Fight, which further enhances the band's growing reputation. I am a relative new comer to them, but am probably playing their music more than any other band over the last 12 months or so.

And the good news is that Lorna from the band came back to me last Autumn with a yes from them to being in the new fundraising book I am writing for the Beating Bowel Cancer charity. Six members so that is a lot of first records to find out about! They were about to head off to America on tour and so we agreed to make contact again in the spring. Today contact was made and the band are still uop for being in the book, which is great news. It looks like we will meet up to do the photo before their gig at The Scala in London in May.

Lives & Times, the last fundraising book, had plenty of bands and artists in it. This new book is also already shaping up very nicely too and I am very much looking forward to meeting Skinny Lister as I think they will be a lot of fun.

Bowel cancer is the 2nd highest cancer killer in the UK, and yet is very treatable if detected early with a five year survival rate of over 90%. The new book is being done in memory of my Mum who passed away last August after losing her 4 year courageous battle with bowel cancer.