Solace in Stamps

My memoir traces the many traumatic events I've dealt with in socially changing times from the mid-1950s onwards. I've fought the government's solicitors because of inequality survived a rare type of cancer and sepsis and battled depression too. I've written about the emotions I've felt over several relationships; a cheating fiancé a marriage on the rebound and an affair with a married lover. With little education I tell of my quest to become a surveyor in later life. I've recently had to come to terms with the tragic deaths of both parents. Often when times were difficult especially as a child I found huge comfort in my stamp collection. Yet there are many lighter moments too! <br>I am fortunate to possess transcripts that describe my grandfather's years as a dispatch rider during the Great War. He witnessed horrific sights at the battlefields on the Somme and experienced grief and heartache when a younger brother died in 1914 his older brother died at Ypres in 1915 and his mother died in 1917. <br>There are also intriguing links within my story to my 2nd great-grandfather who was the illegitimate son of a wealthy landowner and an agricultural labourer's daughter. Born in 1854 he trained as a tailor and travelled to where the Industrial Revolution had taken hold and mills were springing up in the Midlands and Far North. <br>In addition I have an amazing connection to my 14th great-grandfather who fought for King Henry VIII and who was knighted as a result.