Bound Biographies
Recording your past... for the future

  mike@boundbiographies.com     01869 246796

Writing Partners

In addition to Mike, the Bound Biographies team includes six writing partners.

Writing partners do exactly the same as the main Bound Biographies company, but work within reach of their own home, thus replicating the excellent personal service we have become known for.

Sally Gray
Bedford

Before Sally came to Bound Biographies in 1996 she spent 15 years living in East Asia, working with the Christian Church there. Amongst her 50 clients who have completed their books are several who have also lived abroad, and she very much enjoys sharing in their reminiscences. But whether living at home or abroad, Sally has a genuine interest in each writer’s unique life story.

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Wendy Crozier
Haslemere

Wendy Crozier has been part of the Bound Biographies team since 2002. Her background is in human resources journalism and employee communications, which involved a variety of research, interviews, writing and editing. Having moved from Walton on Thames, she now lives with her husband in Haslemere.


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Christine Holmes
South Devon

Christine has always enjoyed listening to people - from the teacher who could be so easily distracted by red-herrings, to the stranger on the train, needing an ear to pass the time. So, along with a degree in English and a number of years’ teaching experience, there is the wealth of interest in people and their stories, and enthusiasm for words.


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Jacky Spear
North Devon

Jacky comes from a teaching background, working initially in mainstream primary education, then moving on to teach children with speech and language difficulties. Wanting to devote more time to her interest in writing, Jacky eventually left teaching and became a Professional Will Writer, then joined the Bound Biographies team 3 years later.


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Mychelle Oke
Oxfordshire

Mychelle has worked for Bound Biographies ever since she and Mike married in 1998. Mychelle runs the office, edits and proofreads manuscripts, as well as being a writing partner in her own right. Mychelle’s background was in administration and training in the head offices of Marks & Spencer and Coca Cola.


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Before Sally came to Bound Biographies in 1996 she spent 15 years living in East Asia, working with the Christian Church there. Amongst her 50 clients who have completed their books are several who have also lived abroad, and she very much enjoys sharing in their reminiscences. But whether living at home or abroad, Sally has a genuine interest in each writer's unique life story.

A music teacher by training, Sally brings to her role as writing partner a variety of skills and attributes: a love of reading; an appreciation of the beauty of language and the way we use it (and of other languages too!); a fascination for the past and how it influences the present and the future; experience in the art of listening; attention to detail; and according to her clients, patience, persistence and a sense of humour!

Sally's authors include the following: a dancer who entertained the troops in France in 1944-45; a DUKW driver during the D-Day landings; a dairy farmer; a headmistress; a Geography teacher; a newspaper editor; a show-business enthusiast; a National Serviceman; a head of Human Resources in a multi-national company; a manufacturer of clothing for Marks & Spencer; an insurance salesman; a cancer surgeon and an orthopaedic surgeon; nurses and a physiotherapist; a Lieutenant-Commander on the Royal Yacht Britannia; senior officials in the Colonial Service; the children of missionaries and other overseas workers; civil servants; clergymen; and several housewives and mothers who have done a variety of jobs whilst looking after their families.

When she is not at her desk, Sally is most likely to be in the garden, or out in the countryside walking, cycling and watching birds. She has recently taken up painting, as she says it slows her down!

Sally lives in Bedfordshire and travels mainly in the East of England, Kent and the home counties north of the Thames.

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Wendy Crozier has been part of the Bound Biographies team since 2002. Her background is in human resources journalism and employee communications, which involved a variety of research, interviews, writing and editing. Having moved from Walton on Thames, she now lives with her husband in Haslemere, handily situated on the borders of Sussex, Surrey and Hampshire.

To date Wendy has worked with around 40 clients on the production of their books. She says;

"Their life stories have been immensely diverse. Some have had tales of heroic exploits, and most have had experiences of coping with adversity as well as achieving success and happy relationships. It has been very inspiring to help people produce a book for their family as a lasting record."

"Often clients will at last succumb to pressure from their children to ‘get writing’ and are delighted at how enthusiastically their memoirs are received. Many have long cherished an ambition to see their memories turned into a book, finding that the encouragement and help of a writing partner provides the impetus they need. In some cases children or grandchildren have commissioned me to work on a book with their parent or grandparent, as a gift to mark a special birthday. Invariably the authors derive great satisfaction and pride from the attractively presented book which is eventually created."

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Christine has always enjoyed listening to people - from the teacher who could be so easily distracted by red-herrings, to the stranger on the train, needing an ear to pass the time. So, along with a degree in English and a number of years’ teaching experience, there is the wealth of interest in people and their stories, and enthusiasm for words.

Since moving to Devon with her husband Lionel and two daughters (book-ish, people-ish, wordy folk) Christine says that more people have commented on her NZ accent, which is perhaps an indication of how much she feels at home in the south west, surrounded by green countryside and living on the edge of Dartmoor’s untamed beauties.

Two of Christine and Lionel’s clients have had requests for their books to be lodged with significant institutions. One, who had written of his childhood experiences living under ‘Doodlebug alley’ has his book in the Imperial War Museum.

The other, a former nurse who trained at the Royal London Hospital, was asked to make a copy of her book available to their archives, containing as it does quite a significant insight into life at ‘The London’ (as it was then known) just after WW2.

Christine and Lionel are delighted at these developments, indicating as they do the books’ importance in preserving aspects of life in an accessible and readable form. They may not be at all unique in this respect, but the team are glad to have played a small part in helping preserve history for posterity.

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Jacky comes from a teaching background, working initially in mainstream primary education, then moving on to teach children with speech and language difficulties.

Wanting to devote more time to her interest in writing, Jacky eventually left teaching and became a Professional Will Writer. An unusual career change perhaps and she would be delighted to tell you about the fascinating chain of circumstances that brought this about.

The most enjoyable aspect of this work was meeting so many new people and having the privilege of working with them in their own homes. Appointments often took far longer than planned, for whilst talking about important issues in their lives, people often began to reveal their life stories, which Jacky never tired of hearing. She says that she has yet to meet someone who doesn’t have an interesting story to tell, no matter how ordinary they feel their life has been, and often felt sad that in most cases it would pass away with them and be lost to future generations. She was also surprised how children often knew so little about their parents’ life.

It was three years after becoming a will writer that Jacky first heard about Bound Biographies and found out that they were looking for new writing partners.

"The information just leapt off the page at me. The idea of using my writing skills to help people get these life stories down on paper and produced in a beautiful book to hand down to their family was the stuff of dreams. I was on the phone to Mike in an instant and he and the team kindly took me on board."

In her spare time Jacky loves the outdoor life and enjoys nothing more than walking in the stunning countryside around her North Devon home with her border collie Finn. She also likes to kayak and has a passion for adventure travel.

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Mychelle has worked for Bound Biographies ever since she and Mike married in 1998. Mychelle runs the office, edits and proofreads manuscripts, as well as being a writing partner in her own right. Mychelle’s background was in administration and training in the head offices of Marks & Spencer and Coca Cola.

Being a true ‘people person’ with a love of the English language, Mychelle derives great satisfaction in seeing a project through to completion and getting to know the fascinating lives of others through her work.

Mychelle and Mike’s two children keep them very busy. Mychelle also sings in a local choir, belongs to a book group and enjoys the family’s active involvement in the local Baptist church.

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Bound Biographies

01869 246796