In 1925, the author was born, and very much bred in Lincolnshire.

Following the early death of his father, Martin’s story takes him to a clergy orphanage school in Canterbury, later evacuated to Cornwall, and then into wartime service with the Royal Marines in southern England.

Student life at Cambridge University and Ely Theological College was followed by ordination and work as a Curate and Priest in Carlisle Diocese.

Martin met and married Valerie in his next parish, the midlands village of Fillongley, before moving to suburban Coventry and retiring to Sheffield.

This is a chronicle of the life and ministry of a man who saw a century of life in England.

Martin’s life was not momentous but perhaps it was exceptional because of the variety of the characters he knew, and the communities he joined, as well as in his life’s length. His writing here is, like the anecdotes he told in person, well-crafted, often hilarious, and will give everyone something to relate to, and reflect on, as Martin recalls his well-lived life.