Gravesend Northfleet Revisited

During the last 100 years or so Gravesend has grown from a small community with a population of 22,000 in 1881, to the present Borough of Gravesham with a population of more than 90,000. Robert H. Hiscock's book illustrates this development, as a small but busy waterside town, depending on the Thames for much of its wealth, grew into a vast commercial and residential area, with many of its inhabitants commuting to London and elsewhere, providing a shopping center for the now much enlarged Gravesham. The photographs are taken from the area covered by the old Borough of Gravesend from its incorporation in 1672 to 1935. They are divided into four main sections: the Riverside; the Main Road from the Lion Garage; the Old Road; and Watling street. This book provides us with a fascinating collection of old photographs from this interesting and much changed region of Kent.

Eric Harden was the only British army medic to be awarded the nation’s highest honour for battlefield bravery during the Second World War and remains the only rank and file member of the Royal Army Medical Corps to be recognised by the award of the Victoria Cross. As a pre-war member of the St John Ambulance, he saw service during the 1940-41 Blitz and later volunteered for the Commandos, under-going the same rigorous training as the fighting men before being attached to 45 Royal Marine Commando. He landed with his unit on D-Day and was involved in some of the fiercest fighting of the Normandy campaign. During a bitter battle on the Dutch-German border, Harden, known throughout his unit as Doc, was killed saving the lives of wounded men trapped in no-man’s land.Commenting on the posthumous award in a speech to the House of Commons, the Secretary of State for War, the Rt Hon James Grigg was sufficiently moved by his selfless actions to say: “I do not remember ever reading anything more heroic.”

The chronicles of one lapsed football fan's return to life and the game in England after a decade of living in the land of soccer.

A sworn enemy of Hawke has been shot dead and the murder weapon belongs to him. He protests his innocence and goes on the run until evidence is found to clear him. Thus, an unwilling adventure where he sets sail with a vibrant cast of men, casting off for unknown waters and strange islands. And enemies abound in the most unlikely of places.