‘Doin’ it for the Kids – An Alwyn and Nigel Adventure’ follows the lives of two retired men – Alwyn Pickup and Nigel Ormingroyd – as they try and organise a fundraising walk. Their intention is to raise money so that a local youth club can purchase a computer. The reason for this is their belief that for Accrington to prosper the children in it must be given as much help as possible.

Such, then, is the plot. However, the book also deals with various themes and issues. Central to the book is Accrington itself – as far as we are concerned Accrington is one of the major characters in it. Alwyn and his son Paul have particularly ambivalent relationships with Accrington. For Alwyn, who was born in Accrington and who has lived all his life there, Accrington provides him with everything he knows and loves – from his family and his friends to Accrington Stanley and his local pub. At the same time he wonders what might have happened had he left Accrington as a young man. Paul, on the other hand, went to university in London and still lives there. But Paul finds city life difficult and has applied for a job back in Accrington. He is unsure (as is his father) if this is a sensible thing to do.

Alwyn’s wife Brenda and Nigel’s girlfriend Shelley help them organise the walk. Indeed, without Brenda threatening to arrange her own walk it is unlikely that Alwyn and Nigel’s idea would ever have amounted to anything. At the time of the walk Nigel’s relationship with Shelley is somewhat strained; Shelley is considerably younger than Nigel and is frustrated by the routines they have settled into. Matters are not helped by the antagonism that Nigel’s son Ian feels towards Shelley. Ian is much closer to his mother (Nigel’s ex-wife, Mary) and makes this quite clear.

‘Doin’ it for the Kids’ explores the themes of belonging and friendship. It looks at generational differences and it asks what the future holds for towns such as Accrington. Having said this the book is intended to be funny and any issues raised are not intended to be intrusive. After all the book also features monkeys doing unspeakable things, giant seagulls, Alwyn’s ongoing problems with wind, naked cricketers, pagan celebrations, Eric Tarby and his amazing Voles…

See below for a preview of the book.