Football manager Tony wanted his three sons to know about their grandfather, Clive Mowbray, who died before any of them were born. Clive was a hardworking scaffolder from Middlesbrough’s Cannon Street area who enjoyed a drink and a bet. But more than anything he was a family man who would do anything for sons Tony and Darren and daughter Karen. This was a private project with just 20 hardback copies produced for close family and friends. Although it is primarily about Clive, it was also an opportunity to tell the whole family history.

Ron was my first life-writing client and I’ll always be grateful to him for trusting me with such an important task. I’ve known him for many years but it was purely by chance that I discovered he had a burning ambition to write his own life story. Ron is a natural when it comes to storytelling. I gave him a long list of questions in advance and then was able to get all the information I needed in one four-hour interview at his home.

My close friend Dave Allan took on a huge project when he agreed to write a book about the popular North East radio show The Three Legends. It was the story of how former football stars Bernie Slaven, Malcolm Macdonald and Micky Horswill won a huge audience across the region with their amusing and often controversial weeknight broadcast.

Each year since 1952, thousands of pilgrims have travelled from the Diocese of Middlesbrough to the famous shrine of Lourdes in the foothills of the French Pyrenees. When the pilgrimage celebrated its golden jubilee in 2003, Father Paul Farrer wrote a book to mark the occasion. He turned to me for assistance and I was delighted to play my part in putting together a very successful publication.