Falkirk-born pensioner becomes published author aged 79

Falkirk-born David Jarvis spent several years writing ‘Jazzo’s Journeys’ as a way of sharing stories and more about himself with his son.

His own father, Bill – a correspondent for The Falkirk Herald in the 1970s – produced three books of his own, however, David felt he didn’t get to know his dad as well as he might have done.

That desire to ensure his family learned more about his life ultimately led to David publishing his collection of anecdotes.

Many of the tales begin in Falkirk, Denny and Larbert, where he lived prior to moving to Chester 40 years ago.

His career as a professional metallurgist and metals engineer allowed David to travel to some of the world’s most exotic locations.

Hawaii to High Bonnybridge, The Great Wall of China to Antonine’s Wall, Berlin to Stirling and Bangkok to Banknock all jostle for space within the book.

David, who began his career working in a lab in Bonnybridge, said: “I write quite a lot of stuff for technical journals.

“They’re published by an international company in Germany.

“Back in the day when my old buddy was alive, I didn’t know him so well as I might have done and I thought it might be nice for my son to know me better than I knew my old man.

“My old man wrote three books. The first was a football and athletic trainer’s handbook.

“The second was a history of Denny and the third was a commissioned history of Denny Masons.”

Although he has written articles for journals, David conceded putting his own book together represented a totally new challenge.

He said: “Normally I churned out text and the professional sub editors set it into the final format.

“With self-publishing, it’s as it says on the tin and there’s quite a lot to it.

“You’ve got to do everything yourself with graphics, text layout and all the other things sub editors would do.

“The formatting of the book itself was quite hard work.”

‘Jazzo’s Journeys’ is available to buy on Amazon, with an e-book to follow shortly.

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