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QueenSpark Books Archive - Free Full Text Books
A unique searchable archive of the books published by QueenSpark Books up until 2010. Free to view and full text this collection features voices that tell the story of Brighton and Hove, across the 20th Century, in their own words. The majority of these titles are now out-of-print.
You can buy those still in-print, and newer titles, with this link.
Shops Book - Shopkeepers and Street Traders in East Brighton 1900-1930
Author(s): Neil Griffiths
Published: 1978
Shopping plays a major part in all our lives: we are all affected by rising prices and the changes that have taken place to shops in our local areas. This book is about shopkeepers and street traders – drawing together their various experiences in East Brighton. Shops have certainly changed greatly in the last hundred years - as large firms, supermarkets and superstores have replaced the small-scale local producers and craftsmen. The reader is better able to understand these changes through reading of first-hand experiences, in this comprehensive study of a bygone era.Jobs for Life
Author(s): Joan Parsons
Published: 1995
Spirited Joan Parsons writes with enthusiasm about her working life in Brighton. She gives a light-hearted view of her employment for many years as a toilet attendant – which may not have been the most glamorous of jobs, but certainly provided Joan with plenty of material for her autobiography. She worked in many different areas of Brighton, including The Steine, Princes Place and the Aquarium, and during the course of her working day she would do many little things over and above the call of duty, such as keeping talcum powder for mothers and babies. Her fascinating story recalls many interesting incidents, including encounters with homeless drunks who had nowhere else to sleep! Overall, it is a book about a hard life, but Joan is a survivor. At the age of seventy, she was still working and still enjoying a good laugh!A Working Man - A Century of Hove Memories
Author(s): Ernie Mason
Published: 1998
One winter in the 1980s, Ernie Mason was at a loose end, so he bought a notebook and began to write his autobiography. This story encapsulates a working-class man's journey through life over the course of the twentieth century, documenting the many changes that took place in the local environment and in social conditions. Born in 1906, Ernie lived all his life in Hove, except for a short period spent in the Navy during the war years. His childhood was spent in a neighbourhood that was full of market gardens, orchards and fields. Ernie recalls vivid memories of growing up, of his working life and finally of retirement after sixty years of work, having begun his working life at the tender age of eleven. The narrative not only provides a unique personal history, but also depicts a largely forgotten way of life in a bygone era.Bangla Brighton - Voices from the Bangladeshi community in Brighton
Author(s): Members of the Bengali community
Published: 2006
Poetic and passionate, lively and lyrical, Bangla Brighton is a series of moving true life accounts of life on the South coast by Brighton and Hove"s Bangladeshi community. At times heartbreaking, but always full of hope, these stories offer the reader a glimpse into a fascinating culture. As intriguing as it is informative, Bangla Brighton gives one of the lesser heard voices in our community a chance to be heard. I have visited many, many areas, many places but finally Brighton gave me a little bit of my village life. In this sense it is my village.The Church round the Corner - St. Anne’s, Kemp Town
Author(s): Maurice Packham
Published: 2000
This intelligently written book examines the social and religious history of St. Anne's Church, which was located in the heart of Brighton. Maurice Packman, the author, was a choirboy at St. Anne's in the 1930s and he takes a gently humorous look at the community of his fellow worshippers. The church has been demolished, but memories of the trials and tribulations of its parishioners live on through the eyes of the author.Poetry - QueenSpark Poetry Anthology 1
Author(s): Joe Benjamin, Danny Birchall, Jackie Blackwell, Carol Brown, Thomas Clark, Beryl Fenton, Louise Hume, Geven Wayne Jones, Elaine Kingett, Fay Layton, Simon Mumford, Nick Osmond, Sam Royce, Tim Shelton-Jones, John Tatum
Published: 1994
However people personally define poetry, this anthology contains something for everyone. The poets all hail from the Brighton area and they reflect a wide range of ages and backgrounds. The poems can read by those who are looking for a pleasant read, by the poetry connoisseur or the serious academic. They include many different themes, ranging from the light-hearted to the serious and fantastical. Their only common feature is their accessibility to the general audience, the high quality of the verse and their readability. This is poetry that reflects ordinary people's experiences with insight and humour and should appeal to all age groups.Back Street Brighton - Photographs and Memories: a sequel to Backyard Brighton
Author(s): Various
Published: 1989(reprinted Nov-07)
Originally produced in collaboration with the Lewis Cohen Urban Studies Centre, this is a sequel to Backyard Brighton incorporating photographs taken by the Environmental Health Department in the late forties and early fifties of houses in Brighton that were scheduled for demolition in the fifties and sixties. Each photograph is accompanied by reminiscences of families who lived in the houses which, unlike the narratives in Backyard Brighton, are generally positive - with many people expressing fond memories of the era and viewing the demolitions as a beneficial experience for the area. The book provides an interesting historical account of "slum" clearance for residents of Brighton and any other readers who might be interested in the architectural and social history of the city.Faded Rainbow - Our married years
Author(s): Daisy Noakes
Published: 1980
This autobiography gives a poignant insight into the life and expectations of a working class Brighton girl, who from the age of fourteen, was in service from 1910 to 1934. It describes her life as a young wife and mother, and the isolation she felt living in the countryside surrounding Gatwick Airfield. Daisy examines the early years of her marriage in 1934 to George Noakes, when she comments that there was 'no honeymoon period for us', as her employers would not allow such a luxury and it was like getting 'blood out of a stone' even to get a day off to get married. In her twilight years Daisy bravely recalls how she coped with her husband's terminal illness, when she was left alone to keep her family going.Alt-History - New Writing from Brighton
Author(s): Michael Acton, Emily Atkinson-Dalton, Ed Bell, John Bourne, Bryony Cleary, Joanne Dearden, Rachel Grant, Jane Hansford, Grace Judge, Andrew Kearsley, Barnaby O'Rorke, Neil Palmer, Rob Paraman, J T Sellers, Stephen Silverwood, Mark Wilkinson, Joe Young, Kjell Yri
Published: 2005
This diverse collection consists of fifteen stories by new writers, including five pieces of work by young authors under the age of twelve. The aim of the publication is to allow people the opportunity to write their own versions of ‘histories' of Brighton and Hove and the material includes fictional accounts of real places and events from Brighton and Hove's past, both distant and more recent. The tales include the humorous, the poignant and the surreal and provide a glimpse into an alternative world, highlighting the eccentric and heroic people from the Brighton area. It is hoped that they will be enjoyed by both a local and a wider audience.Back Row Brighton - Cinema-going in Brighton & Hove
Author(s): Amy Riley, Martin Payne and Frank Flood.
Published: 2009
Back Row Brighton transports us back to the heyday of cinema-going in the company of those who were there. Alongside evocative archive photographs, names such as the Astoria, the Granada, the Continentale and the Regency are recalled in touching and humorous stories of romance, excitement, grandeur and, occasionally, fleas. Some of these recollections are drawn from QueenSpark"s rich archive, others are the recorded reminiscenses of elders of the city asked to recall cinema-going in Brighton and Hove in the 1930s and 1960s.