A BOOK completed while its author recovered from double cancer operations is beginning to generate funds for Cancer Research.

John Elm wrote the memoir "Music to my Years" largely as a cathartic exercise, but when North Yorkshire publisher 2QT expressed an interest, he took the decision to donate any income to charity.

Mr Elm, who now lives in Northallerton, having moved north from Milton Keynes in 1981 to take up the position of senior landscape architect with the former Cleveland County Council, said: "The idea of writing a memoir began as little more than a notion round about my 60th birthday, but only when I was diagnosed, first with bowel cancer and then liver cancer, did I begin to work seriously on the project."

The book takes the reader through the life of a baby-boomer, from post-war austerity, the swinging sixties, men on the moon, Britain at war and a technological revolution – a journey fashioned by dramatic social and cultural changes that delivered huge amounts of creativity in the arts, not least in the evolution of popular music. He uses this to create a soundtrack to the memoir.

"When I began writing, I realised how much we baby-boomers have lived through politically, socially and emotionally, so I hope my book will be an entertaining and moving reminder, especially for any child of the 1950s and 60s," he said.

Adam Hartley, manager at the Northallerton Cancer Research shops said: "I was surprised and delighted when John approached us with the idea of gifting all income from his book to Cancer Research."

"Music to my Years" is available to order through all bookshops and Amazon.