rivers2cross

It’s three years since I met and photographed ex-Alarm guitarist Dave Sharp for the Lives & Times bowel cancer fundraising book. We met at his acoustic gig at The Railway Inn, Winchester. I had been on Dave’s trail for the book ever since I’d photographed Nigel Twist & Eddie Macdonald from the band a year or so before. In fact Eddie had hoped to try and get Dave to be at the meeting with Nigel, which alas didn’t happen. Dave proved to be somewhat elusive, and as the publication date drew close I had pretty much given up hope of hearing anything. I was going to his gig in Winchester so I thought it was worth emailing him one final time, and I was delighted when Dave emailed back just a couple of days before the gig and he was very happy to be part of it.

I hadn’t seen Dave play live for a few years, and the gig was absolutely brilliant. He is a real master craftsman… It’s a great venue and I was lucky enough to see a bit of the soundcheck where Dave went to great lengths to ensure he got the sound absolutely right. This paid dividends for his set as the sound quality was superb. Dave was very enthusiastic about what I was doing and we were able to have a chat in the bar before doing the photo. He was also keen that the photos were as good as we could make them. He certainly has a creative eye, and it made my job really easy. The photo I use in the book is a great black and white photo of the man. So I managed to meet and photograph all four original members of The Alarm for Lives & Times. Short of getting them together in the same room this was still quite an achievement, and one I am really pleased about.

Bowel cancer remains the 2nd highest cancer killer in the UK, and yet if caught early at stage 1 it is one of the most treatable cancers with over 90% of patients living for five years or more. This figure fall dramatically to just 7% when diagnosed at the late stage 4 phase. Improving early detection rates is there key. All proceeds raised from sales of the book are donated to Bowel Cancer UK. My mother was diagnosed with bowel cancer in 2012 and over the course of 4 years following her successful bowel operation, also received treatment for cancer on her left lung and cancer on the brain. Both cancers are secondaries from the original bowel cancer. Sadly Mum died in August 2016, but the fundraising continues now in her memory with my new book, The Record, in its final stages, and due for publication in 2019.