A Walk from Providence: Memories of a Yorkshire childhood and how it helped shape one man's imagination

The garden gate opens and a soldier walks down the path towards me. He stops, looks down at my enquiring eyes and asks, "who are you?" Without hesitation I answer "I'm Raymond Aspey. Who are you?"" I'm your father," comes the reply, which somehow doesn't startle me. So, with the war over family life resumes for one working class family in Horsforth, Leeds . A walk from Providence is about a life growing up in Horsforth on the outskirts of Leeds between the wars. Using extracts from unpublished memoirs of his father Ray Aspey, Mark Aspey brings together detailed stories from that time all rooted in the back rooms of a Methodist chapel. Recalled with humour and tenderness we learn about growing up in a small West Yorkshire village through characters from school and chapel and the thoughts and fascinations of a young boy growing up amongst a world going through rapid change Central to the young Raymond's life was his love of music which started with the sounds of the Chapel choir next door and developed through his efforts to play and create music himself. The book also explores the use of Poetry to reflect back over life events and contains poems written by both Mark and Ray Aspey. The book finishes with Raymond as a man following his father's footsteps into another World War having tried to find fame and fortune in 1930's London. The author gives us a brief outline of Ray's life post war including his prodigious musical output for local musical theatre groups.