Читать книгу Cautionary Pilgrim - Nick Flint - Страница 6

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Those who walked part of the way with me; Pam and Graham. My imaginary companions are composite characters which reflect aspects of my own personality.

The stories and thoughts which have found their way into this book have their sources in countless conversations with friends over the years and Cautionary Pilgrim is a testimony to friends and family who in one way or another have contributed to the process. In particular it was at the suggestion of Charlie Goring that I used the White Lion pub sign in Lewes as the inspiration for the story of Walter.

Thanks are due for practical help in arranging the walk: to Pam Waugh, Anita Greenwood, Graham Whiting, the Chemin Neuf Community at Storrington, Mother Cynthia and the sisters of the Society of St Margaret at Uckfield. I would also like to thank Gill and Alan Radley, Jim Hanson, Jo Unwin, Gerard from the Belloc Blog, John Dewdney, Annette Lloyd Thomas author of the website johnmadjackfuller.homestead.com, Dick Richardson for relating the radio interview of John Julius Norwich for someone overcome by the weight of Belloc’s cloak. I value the wisdom of another ‘Four Men’: Christopher Winn, John Bird, Malcolm Guite and Dean Nicholas Frayling.

My wife Sarah has supported me in numerous practical ways and shown great patience as this project has unfolded.

I have often felt that the late Peggy O’Byrne has been cheering me on and record my sadness that she did not live to read the book, but my gratitude for our shared love of the county which is home to both of us. This is not a book about Belloc. I have not read extensively enough of his prolific output to offer that nor do I feel the need to place him in a mould of my own making. Nor is this a book on Sussex although it could not be set anywhere else. It is specifically not a book of Sussex saints yet I’m as surprised as anyone how often they seem to pop up in these pages.