For those of you who missed yesterday's post, or got bored reading half way down (I don't blame you), I just wanted to let you know that Mark Frankland's book "The Great Foodbank Siege" is now available on Amazon Kindle.
For those unaware of the background to this book, Mark's blog is available here (or in the side bar).
Basically, Mark, as well as being a writer, is an independent food bank manager. He runs "First Base" in the town of Dumfries.
First Base hasn't got the support network of The Trussell Trust food bank, a national group of foodbanks with the rather dubious slogan "Every town should have one". What they do, they do alone, with the help of volunteers and donors.
If you read back through his blog you'll learn about some of the lengths Mark goes to get food to give the people of his town, the contacts he has built and some of the tribulations of his job. It's worth a read.
First Base supplies an amazing 5,000 food parcels a year in a town of around 50,000 people.
Mark tells the background to the book on his blog far better than I can here, so I'll leave you to read it there.
I've bought it and it's a page turner. A ripping good story for the not unreasonable price of £3, which after Amazon's share and VAT will net the charity around £2. Exciting too. I was reading it out loud to Munguin last night and he was hiding under the duvet!
We need to do this folks, or the foodbank won't last beyond January.
So if you have a Kindle, or you can download to your Kindle App, please give it a look HERE, the Amazon page.
And, it would be great if you could tell your friends, tweet it, put it on Facebook or any other media you use, and finally, you might write a wee review on Amazon. These reviews make a difference to sales.
I know Mark, and more importantly, his clients, will be incredibly grateful.
Thank you.
You will doubtless remember the fracas a week or so ago when the altogether hapless Viceroy of Scotland was invited to open the new Trussell Trust food bank (moto: Every town should have one) in Dumfries.
It turned out not to be one of his brighter moves. He had already ignored an invitation from the manager of the existing food bank in the town, First Base, on the basis that he was "one of these yes supporters".
Anyway, the day at Trussell went badly for Muddle.
Not only was he met by protesters outside the food bank (including out own intrepid reporter, Arbroath), but once inside, having said his few works to the assembled dignitaries and just about to sample the generous fare which Trussell had laid on (''food bank feeds cabinet minister!''), one of First Base's volunteers asked him why he hadn't accepted the invitation to visit their food bank. (I wonder if it was because the food THEY have is for the victims of his government, not its ministers, and he'd only have got a cup of tea and a digestive there.)
Anyway, in response he muttered a few words even more incoherently than normal (Aye, well...err...), and did an Iain Gray, but him being a minister of the crown, and there being no Subway in sight, it was oot the door and into a waiting car.
Fluffy's day didn't get any better though when it was discovered that the food bank wasn't in his constituency and he had broken various polite conventions on working in another MPs area.
Anyway, all this is a preamble to my pitch.
Mark's First Base has a funding shortfall of £15,000. Simply put unless it raises that money it will close its doors in January. It doesn't have the national weight of Big Charity Trussell behind it.
However, he's not the kind of guy to let stop him, so, wearing his other hat as writer, Mark sat down and wrote a book based on a Secretary of state's visit to a food bank, and his subsequent kidnap.
It's not available quite yet, but you can hear a preview here, read by Mark.
https://www.spreaker.com/user/franklandmark
Warning: There's a good few sweary words in it. Give it a miss if you're easily offended.
If your not easily offended by that sort of thing, you should give it a listen... I thought it was hilarious.
It will be out in a few weeks, and although I can't guarantee Mark will read the rest of it to you, you will be able to read it for yourself on Kindle for just £3, £1 of which will go to Amazon and £2 of which will go to First Base Food Bank so it can keep going and keep feeding people that this government has let down. With the benefit changes, I suspect that that number will grow and grow in the coming year.
I'll unashamedly plug it here till everyone has bought a copy...:), but I know you won't mind.
