A FORMER lawyer is dedicating the proceeds from his first novel
to a church's campaign to help the lonely.
Not long after retiring as head of the Leeds office of the legal
firm Pinsent Masons, Nigel McClea and his wife, Eleanor, joined the
congregation at St Peter's, in Harrogate, North Yorkshire.
He said that they were immediately "blown away with the
absolutely brilliant way that St Peter's helps the . . . destitute
and the needy. We thought a nice way of showing our support for
something which we think is really wonderful was by saying that
whatever this book makes we will give to the church."
He explained how they had discovered pockets of isolation while
delivering leaflets for the church. "It took us into bedsit land,
and we became aware of this sterility, a loneliness and a lack of
happiness which existed within a few hundred yards of where we
lived.
His novel A Word Glittering with Spikes is a love
story, set in Leeds and featuring four young people in the legal
business. It was published late last year, and Mr McClea has
promised to give St Peter's the full £10 cover price of each copy
sold.
The Vicar of St Peter's, Canon Tony Shepherd, said: "It's very
generous indeed; we are delighted to accept."