This intelligently written book examines the social and religious history of St. Anne’s Church, which was located in the heart of Brighton. Maurice Packman, the author, was a choirboy at St. Anne’s in the 1930s and he takes a gently humorous look at the community of his fellow worshippers. The church has been demolished, but memories of the trials and tribulations of its parishioners live on through the eyes of the author.

This book is about a young boy’s experiences during the Second World War. The content is frank and occasionally disturbing and harrowing, even more so because Leslie Wilson was only eighteen years’ old when he made the harsh transition from working as a shop assistant to working in a Welsh coal mine. This is a fascinating biography, co-authored by the protagonist, and describes with poignancy, stories of lost youth and a harsh life spent during a turbulent historical period.

As a fifteen-year-old boy during World War One, George Parker single-mindedly decided to ‘fight for king and country’. This is a truthful and sincere account of life in the trenches, told with a dry sense of humour that kept George and his comrades cheerful, against the odds. George remained remarkably optimistic, despite the hard living conditions that existed at that time and the fact that he was seriously wounded in battle. His courage and determination epitomise the resilience of the human spirit in overcoming adversity and surviving traumatic times.

This anthology presents a child’s-eye view of the year 2000. It includes drawings and words that reflect the perspectives and views of children, aged between five and eleven. The book was compiled from one-week diaries, written over the course of the Millenium Year, by four hundred school children in the Brighton and Hove area. There is a parent and teacher guide included in the book, which will enable the diary concept to be expanded and continued in schools and at home, and which provides points for discussion and for further development. The book is written in a format much like a scrapbook, and it offers an insight into the thoughts, crazes, hobbies, habits and humour of the contemporary young mind.

With wartime Brighton as a backdrop, International Service tells the tale of Kathleen Wilson's naive teenage years, when her domineering father chose the jobs that she took and discouraged her passion for writing. It covers the time she spent working in family-run shops, through to her years at the International Stores in Preston Road and brings to life the atmosphere of the grocery trade in the period up to the 1950s. With her light-hearted and often humorous style, International Service enabled Kathleen to share her life story with the reader, who can follow her progression towards independence.

This work is the culmination of an eight-month creative writing programme that ran at QueenSpark from August 2001 to March 2002 and included two ten-week creative writing courses and four introductory sessions on writing autobiographically. Its aim was to involve new and diverse audiences and writers in the joys of creative writing. It utilised a variety of techniques and methods to explore two central themes; one of which was writing for children and the other was looking at childhood memories. This anthology contains work from the Vallance Memories Group and the Brunswick Older People's Project and as well as being an enjoyable read, it provides a stimulus for reminiscence work, particularly with older members of the community.

This publication is the product of a course, on which participants were encouraged to tell stories of their childhoods. The atmosphere captured in the stories reflects the fun times that can be enjoyed by youngsters in their everyday lives. Some of the topics covered in this book include the important milestones of childhood, such as birthdays, Christmas, Easter and that perennial favourite, the seemingly endless summer holidays! The themes are relevant to children and adults alike, as everybody can derive pleasure from the lively and original tales that are contained in this book, combining fantasy and reality. Overall, this is a celebration of all things childish and fun!

These diverse images of childhood recapture a world that was much bigger and full of the unknown than today; a place where so many territories still lay undiscovered. In brief autobiographies, eight writers share reminiscences of their childhood years of happiness and indulgence. The authors take us on a journey back to times and places where imagination was allowed to run wild and unfettered. Readers can gain insight into those bygone times of fun, fantasy and frolics, but it wasn’t only halcyon days that are remembered. There were times when childhood memories invoke fear and bewilderment, and a wide spectrum of emotions is explored in the stories contained in this collection. It provides a legacy of childhood that can be enjoyed by children as well as adults, who will no doubt find echoes of their own childhood days.

This book contains reminiscences and anecdotes from past pupils who attended St. Luke’s School, in the Queens Park area of Brighton in the years between 1908 - 1983. It contains an eclectic mix of anecdotes that express both fond memories and less happy recollections of pupils’ schoolday experiences and the reality of belonging to a close-knit community. It also provides the reader with valuable first-hand accounts of the changing education system during that period, covering the First form through to the Sixth form.

Traditionally QueenSpark publications have been produced in written format. However, through this 'talking book', we hoped to give more people the opportunity to partake in the pleasure of learning about the history of our city. You can hear three very different life stories, focusing on and featuring the renowoned West Pier in Brighton. One of the books Deckhand, West Pier, was read by the author, Arthur Thickett but the other authors declined to read their books. Therefore, volunteers, Kathleen Wilson read Daphne Wilson's Oh! What a Lovely Pier and John Knight read The Crowd Roars by Ron Cunningham, alias 'The Great Omani'. All three readers did a fantastic job, enabling the listener to feel an intimacy with the story.