Chasing Happy

Have you ever looked around yourself and thought that there’s just got to be more to life than this? I did. Have you ever wondered why, despite giving your best efforts at life in all its departments, it still always feels like there’s something missing? I did. Ever thought that ‘completely happy’ is really an illusory state of being that only exists and belongs in fairy tales? I did, and so did most of the other people I knew. Well, I’m here to tell you now that if that’s true, you can call me Cinderella!......And we all know what happened to Cinderella, don’t we? She found Happy! You can too!

‘Truly and completely Happy’ is not only possible but also much closer than you may think, and if you haven’t experienced it yet, it’s simply because, so far,  you haven’t looked in the right places.

Brannie takes an informed and humorous approach in looking at how you too, can go about finding ‘Happy’, that bright, shiny place on your horizon; not too far away, but always somehow just out of reach for today...! Until now!

Chasing Happy is written in a practical, easy and friendly style that will have you smiling as it inspires you to dare to make your own dreams come true.

Cherries

The London Borough of North Wick hasn't got anything going for it till the Chief Executive of the Council makes some big plans.

She wants to put it on the map for all time, but her plans go awry with the help of the Urban Farm and the local street girls.

Mix into that a Russian oligarch and his plans for a take-over, and the metamorphosis by her downtrodden PA make this the cure reception of the century.

Cherry Pickers

18-year-old Bobby Kemp got to the ‘60s in time alright, no further than Leeds, and remembered all of it. What a year: school out and passed the 11+. So, being a white-collar worker for the council is his future. A steady job then, set for life. A steady girl, engagement, marriage, kids, house, car, pension. But steady on, is that all? He hasn’t done anything, yet.

His feeble rites of passage – steady as she goes, poop-poop, bleat – are dissed by a passing back-packing Californian, Ben Gaunt, who’s seeking his family roots near York. To Bobby’s ill-content at getting nowhere, slowly he offers, ‘It’s your life, man. Just go...’ And he does: he drops everything and goes on the road into the ‘60s.

Along this passage there are side alleys, little ginnels and dead ends, each with characters and their stories to walk with for a while, until he just goes...

Chewin Air

Dancing between the cosmos and daily life, Phil’s poetry weaves a magical path through the jungle of the modern world to a place of comfort and safety. His experiences have given him a unique perspective into pain, heartbreak, and loss so that he can best show the way out of these toxic environments. At the same time, he shows the beauty in simple things, pride in a good day’s work and joy for the love that shines everywhere. Life is a challenge, and we must be willing to meet it head on and with this book and his healing words, the way becomes clearer.

Many of his inspirations come from dreams, meditations or shamanic journeys and offer solutions generally considered esoteric. Each word is measured for its emotional impact and the stories are engaging because they have a ring of truth.

The poet employs many styles within the pages of this book from traditional forms like rhymes and sonnets as well as new, experimental free-forms. Any lover of language will enjoy this read.

Child Centered Education

Children are the harbingers of the propositions advanced in Child Centered Education with a primordial-connection to the world, with an urge to belong, explore and experiment. Primed to learn, from their first moments, the ensuing adventures could be what will set your child on the road to discovery, happiness and personal well-being. Whether grappling with the mysteries of Language or Mathematics; transfixed at the awesomeness of life; singing to his heart’s content; or immersed in nature, every opportunity must be wholeheartedly embraced. Copper-fastened by a discipline, redolent of expectation, challenge and surprise, teaching, is as variegated, as the imagination is creative. Acquiring those fundamental skills of engagement, in the process, may be what will ultimately enable them to navigate their way between the cognitively demanding, the spiritually uplifting and the social, seamlessly and effortlessly.

Child of a Bygone Era

This book is written with charm and humour by a child who grew up between two worlds – an idyllic childhood in Hong Kong in the 1950s which was shattered by his return to England at the age of seven to a new life as a boarder at a Catholic preparatory school.

From the age of seven to seventeen, he travels between these worlds and comments on all the changes that occur in this dynamic decade. He sees Hong Kong develop from an entrepot to a booming manufacturing powerhouse with the effect this has on the Cantonese and their relationship with Europeans and compares this life to the smog-bound, tired English way of life only just beginning to recover from the devastation of the Second World War.

It is a joy to read and is a fascinating record of two worlds by a child of a bygone age.

Childhood Awaits Every Person

“I didn’t know it was like this,” exclaimed an eight-year-old. This book reveals the depth and extent of childhood yearning for the natural world and their enjoyment and wonder of it. Learn to appreciate this desire and discover the child within yourself so you too can discover your own inner child’s love and care for the planet. Addressing the climate crisis begins with the discovery of our own inner child and that deep yearning, wonder and enjoyment of nature.

You will also delight in the story which ends with the plea: “Please, please can the world not crush this child, his gentle, profound, and astonishing soul. So remember – trees are part of love, and the land is always there, under the concrete. And if there arises in Suffolk a guru, a visionary, a spiritual leader of awesome ability – I won’t be surprised if he’s called Paul, and has freckles, and skips now and then when he walks.

Children's Christmas Rhymes

Mince pies and carrots on the plate

Glass of milk in pride of place

Under the tree is the perfect place

Waiting for Santa with his jolly face

Santa plays the perfect role

Sack in hand, presents placed

Off he goes to another place

Riding high in the sky

I caught a glimpse as reindeer galloped by

Merry Christmas everyone

Chill, Sandman. I'm still busy

Rules are rules but not fun. Sometimes it is more fun to break a rule. Especially if it means that you can stay awake a little longer to do what you really want to do. Who can fall asleep anyway, with a gaming tablet calling you to come and play?

Chloe's Dragons

Two young siblings visit an enchanted dinosaur park, where the beasts come alive. The dinosaurs exist to help mankind in times of danger. They act only under the guidance of special child helpers.

The team performs a heroic rescue when a fire occurs at a children’s hospital.

Some time later, the park is demolished. The children feel compelled to revisit the site. As they do, an offshore disaster looms following an explosion at a gas rig.

The children summon the magic power governing the park. Their call is answered, as an old friend and family of dragons appear to assist them.

Once more, courage and determination is needed.

Can the new team perform this dangerous rescue mission?

Chloe’s Extraordinary Telescope

Chloe Blackthorne is an only child of parents who are rather older than many parents and who are quite strict. One day, she sneaks into the loft which her parents have forbidden her from entering, and discovers a strange telescope hidden away! Chloe quickly discovers that it has extraordinary powers to both see into the future and into the past, becoming her favourite possession as she explores time. One day while using the telescope in her garden, a happy-go-lucky boy named Jack sees her using it and asks to have a look through the telescope himself. Much to her amazement, she discovers that Jack can see exactly the same through it as she does! So begins a series of adventures which get steadily scarier as the two of them look further and further into the future. What exciting and terrifying adventures await Chloe and Jack with their extraordinary magical telescope?

Choosing Life

Have you ever wondered how to escape from depression? Or indeed, how to help someone escape from such a prison? This book finally opens up the doors to a mysterious world that an outsider cannot normally experience. Up until now, there existed an almost unbridgeable gap between the ‘normal’ world and the ‘depressed person’s’ world. Using a personable and honest narrative, the text provides a unique window of experiential understanding, whereby the sufferer can feel truly helped, and no longer alone; by accompanying someone who has really been there too.

Using a unique approach, interweaving three different strategies comprising hard-won personal experience, a practical cognitive tool-kit that works and God’s living word full of wisdom and truth, the author sign-posts for the reader the pathway towards a real and lasting freedom; a freedom which sometimes challenges our worldly notions of life and success that tend to keep us imprisoned and enslaved.

The book is a powerful and inspiring portrayal of upheaval and renewal, demonstrating to the reader that a strong backbone for life can come from an often overlooked source.