A Woodman's Tale

John's Story

In 2006 , aged just 65, John was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease.

Having been such an active man for all of his working life, both man and boy, this was a devastating blow to both himself and his family.

Within the year he was forced to face facts and hold an auction at his farm of all his beloved machinery and in fact, not just his business, but his life.

It was a fantastic day, and hundreds of people turned out to view and bid. It was very much a family affair with everybody mucking in where they could. His Son and Daughter-In-Law , together with his four grandchildren spent months dragging 'Dad' down the farm to sort through 50 years worth of hoarding..... everything from nuts and bolts , chainsaws and stump grinders, to the big machines he writes about in his book. These included the huge chippers he had imported from America to the British Army 'Mighty Antar' Tank Transporter and Foden.On the day of the Auction his wife Pat, shipped her daughters and her grandchildren in to help out. It was a good day but,  also a very sad one as well. 

Shortly before the day of the auction John decided to submit a short story to the Forest Machine Journal, to whom he had regularly subscribed.

He had a fantastic response and was asked for more stories. Well, that was easier said than done...... He hadn't written any more or even given it a second thought. The only project outside of his working life was a GSD ( German Shephard Dog ) Calender each year, which was sold and in turn the profits donated to the Charity, 'Canine Partners'. This in itself had only been prompted by his love of photography and his two willing GSD Guard Dogs.

He wrote a couple more stories,  some for the Forestry Machine Journal and some which were tossed to one side and forgotten about.

Over the next year the MND started to take hold of  John's Mobility and before long John was unable to go outside of the Farmhouse. Bored and Frustrated he took another look at some of the stories he had placed aside and edited them a bit before showing Friends and Family.

Encouraged by their comments he continued to write......

It seems a distant memory now as to how and when it was agreed that he should collate all these tales and bring them to life with his photographs, both new and old.

Photography had always been a special hobby and his camera was never far away. Nothing and no one was safe from his lense. Always on the lookout for his next willing victim...man or beast. Over the years he has aquired some fantastic shots and these have been published as well as winning prizes. The hard task wasn't so much deciding which ones to use for the book but where on earth the particular picture had been stored !!

The only problem was Jeremy. To keep his identity a secret he was unable to use photos so he enlisted the help of the cartoonist Gordon Songer. A very talented individual, he was able to take on board his tales and capture the very essense that was 'Jeremy'.

Delighted with these cartoons, he also asked Gordon to add to a few of his other adventures.

Before long at the beginning of 2009 he started to put the book into some sort of order.

Page turning was becoming nothing short of a miracle and extremely frustrating at the best of times , so placing and cropping photographs was nigh on impossible at times and very tiring. By now John was in a wheelchair and getting tired very quickly. His breathing problems had only just started, and coupled with bouts of choking, at times life was frightening. The book had become a major distraction from the body that was beginning to fail him to a degree almost unimaginable.

It took about a month before he was ready to look for a publisher, and so began the next phase.

A local book 'publisher' came out within 24 hrs of his phoning, and leaving his son to talk through the 'requirements' ( speech was also an issue by now ) felt assured that it was being left in capable hands.

The initial result was awful and extremely disappointing. The colour was all wrong and this chaps proof reading had left much to be desired. It turned out he was the 'middle man' for a local printing firm who did the publishing itself. So, back on the phone to ask the printing firm directly what they could do.

An amazing lady called Liz did him proud and  after many weeks of altering the files managed to produce a great looking set of proofs.

"Great" he said, "I will order 50".  He had intended to order 1000 but was told it could take up to 10 weeks. In all honesty John didn't think he had that long and wanted to see the finished article so to speak !!.

So 50 was ordered and the delivery date set. A strange feeling was occuring and this time it was nothing to do with the MND. "Give them a ring and chase them up" he told his son. It only took 5 minutes to make the call, and only 5 minutes more to note the impending disaster !!

2009 was not a good year for business and this company was to be no exception. "We've gone into administration as of today" said the very sorry voice on the end of the phone. "You won't be getting your delivery, or your money back !!".

After a little chat with 'Liz' she very kindly put us onto the printing company in Wales who came to the rescue. Not only that but they said they woulds be able to do 1000 copies within two weeks. Fantastic ! They kept their promise and went above and beyond their responsibilities as Publisher, and for that he was extremely grateful.

And here we are. The books arrived by the pallet load the other week and were placed in the trusted hands of John's son, Chris.

 

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It has been quite a busy and hectic couple of months but John not only got to see his book published , he looked forward to hearing comments and critisisms, and the more the merrier.

John  put up the brave fight against this awful disease and we would very much welcome any correspondance with a smile.