Officially today was the day of publication for Convoy and so the book is going out into the world on a tide of good will. It and I have our supporters and cheerleaders and I’m particularly grateful to Jan Fortune of Cinnamon Press who believed in the book from its earliest stages

I am mindful too that although the poems are my work the stories that they tell are those of the men who fought for Malta. I hope that everyone who picks up Convoy and reads it will think of them; most of whom are no longer around to tell the stories themselves.

I took part in my first ever relay race today. I was one of those kids who was no good at sport at school and never picked for anything but this lunchtime at work I was part of a four person running team for my Faculty, each of us doing 1.1 miles. Convoy also feels like part of a link in a chain and I hope that everyone who reads it will remember the men in its pages and will pass their stories on.

Photograph taken by my elder son, Luke