A personal book introduction from Harry Riley to 'Painting and Poetry' by Don Brown

‘Painting and Poetry’

(a new lease of life)

by Don Brown 2010

ISBN: 978-0-9563030-3-5 paperback edition

Published by smileawhile-enterprise@hotmail.com

I have travelled the length and breadth of Britain during my work selling printing machinery to industry, large and small, and have met many hundreds of clever people but I can truly say hand on heart that the ones that have really impressed me would be very few. I am proud to say Don Brown is amongst those people, for he is an engineer with a terrific imagination and a love for his fellows creatures.

Don was born in 1925 and is still with us, fit and extremely active, with a wonderful zest for life.

I have only known Don a short time, since I joined the Eastwood Writers Group but in that time I have begun to see what an extraordinary chap he is with his diverse interests. In this true story of his humble beginnings in a Derbyshire village he gives us a glimpse of a time we shall never see again. He writes of Eastwood and Heanor, Langley Mill and surrounding area, of the family of David Herbert Lawrence the world famous Eastwood Writer, of other characters, of local sporting clubs, schools and colleges, of the war years and of Christianity, his own close relatives and of his likes and dislikes, with a frankness rarely seen in these days of clever hype and cynicism.

It is in his poetry and paintings that he bares his soul for all to see and lets us into a world of modest heroes (he was a distinguished fire-fighter) commended for rescuing three residents from a fearsome death in an horrendous house fire. Not once but three times he ran back into the dense, smoke-filled building to bring out the occupants. He has had a very incident packed life as his story so graphically illustrates and has known deep tragedy and severe illness along the way, especially with the sad death of his wife. But to really get to know the man you have to view his paintings and read his poetry. This is a great book and I feel it is the small things that bring it to life, for instance he tells us that apples are his favourite fruit and this strikes a cord with me, as I also am an unashamed apple cruncher.

There is so much more that makes this man tick, far too much for me to include in this brief introduction but if I had to pick out one thing that makes him so memorable I believe it is the infectious grin that rarely leaves his face. Read the book and I defy you too not to raise a smile or two.