Graham Cooke

There wasn't supposed to be a follow up book to the "Three Years Behind the Camera" volume that covered the years 2015 - 2018 at Minety RFC, but with the curtailment of all rugby because of the COVID-19 virus, I suddenly had time on my hands and plenty from the last two seasons to celebrate. As I write this we are all facing a very uncertain and unsettling time. The world is a significantly different place from how it was just a matter of days ago and aspects of our lives that we once took for granted now take on an added importance. When I left the club house at Minety on Saturday 14th March I had no idea that I wouldn't be back for some weeks, months or even ever. It was the end of a supremely successful day, for the 1st XV at least. The record will show that Minety RFC ended their 2019 - 2020 campaign with a 38-0 home win over Frome II and secured 8th place in D&W1N with 36 league points from their 18 matches. This is the story of Minety RFC 2018 - 2020.

2015 was a tumultuous year for all at The Abbey: we had to adapt our pits to the eventual loss of our away pit complex; manage when three members of the seven man squad were injured in our first meeting; enjoy watching "Rider of the Year" Greg Zengota emerge from a good 3rd heat leader into a real star, both on and off the track; welcome Darcy Ward to the team mid-season and then marvel at his amazing skills as he turned the season around for the Robins; cope with the dreadful news that emerged from Poland one Sunday afternoon that Darcy had been terribly injured in a track crash and would not ride again; manage the end of the season and playoff disappointment; resurrect the training track in the centre green and stage a junior championship round during the "Farewell" meeting; and then face up to the fact that delays would almost certainly mean that we would be racing at the old place for at least part of 2016. 330 pages, 1084 photographs and 104,000 words - this is the story of 2015 at Swindon Speedway.

My grandfather fought in both the Boer and 1st World Wars; he never spoke of his experiences. When he died we discovered a box containing letters, photographs, press cuttings and his medals. Since then I have tried to piece together his war time record. When I tried to teach secondary aged children about the poetry of the 1st World War many found it hard to grasp the enormity of it all, until I bought in my grandfather's memorabilia - suddenly it all clicked. I tried to find a book that would combine the history of the Great War with the poetry and the poets, but couldn't find one. So I set about writing this book. Including all of the Great War poems in their context, the book also features a section on the materials my grandfather left and also some research that I have recently done into his family history.