The deal: if you would like a copy of the stories from the street book then email me – the first 20 emails I receive I will arrange for a copy of the book to be sent to you. So names and addresses please!

If you woudl rather buy one then use Steve’s site

Here are some excerpts from the book:

I had started using cocaine at weekends for fun, just for something to do with my mates. I was working, employed as a ground worker, driving machines and living with my grandma at the time. Weekend drug use quickly became three-times-a-week use, and it wasn’t long before I began selling it. I got it from mates up north and began to earn a lot of money. I spent a lot of money too. It was nothing for me to get through £100 worth over a weekend

For a while I enjoyed what the money could buy; the cars, the clubbing scene, a lot of fun. But soon I was spending every single day seven days a week sniffing cocaine. I still managed to keep down a job, though it was getting dangerous driving machines under the influence of drugs.

I was selling £5000 or £6000 worth of drugs a week and making a lot of money. At first I spent it on other things but towards the end, though I was still selling as much, I was sniffing all the profit up my nose. I was totally addicted. I couldn’t get enough of it and I started getting into a lot of trouble because of the money I owed people. I’d sell drugs, make money, sniff it all away and then borrow to get more and pay off debts. By then, at a conservative estimate I was using around £1500 worth of drugs a week. That’s around an ounce and a half of gear – a lot. I had a couple of mates who would go out and sell for me, meeting people in car parks or wherever to do the deals.

Eventually I owed people many thousands of pounds – around £27000 I think – and many times I found myself in a lot of trouble… (more in the book).

And a story from Sarah:

By the time Sarah was 18 she had already had three children and had experienced more trauma than most people do in a lifetime. This is the story of a courageous and strong-willed young woman who, though she has been knocked down many times, always finds a way to get back up and, amazingly, keep her dreams alive. Though the trials are not over by any means, she continues to rise above them with a passion for her own family and for the families around her who face similar difficulties.

Continue reading →

Steve Lowton has been developing a broad ranging concept / service known as stories from the street. Part of that is to develop a series of books that tell the very ordinary but real stories that are on the streets of towns and cities. (Movements are fuelled by stories.)

At the end of October Stories from the Street are publishing a book on Leatherhead. The stories are amazing – I know a number of the people, and have read all-but-one of the stories in the book. Real, earthy, journeys of integrity. Not all would describe themselves as believers but all are on a journey of integrity and faith. I am not trying to ‘big’ this up, but for me, what has been taking place – at grass roots level, and hidden – has been one of the most exciting things I have touched, or been touched by, in recent years.

Here is the deal!!!! The deal is I will tell you the deal tomorrow in the blog, when I give you a sample of 2 stories (taken from Steve’s blogsite).