A CARLISLE author is donating proceedings of his new book to charity.

John Mather from Thursby published a graphic novel in March based on his own observations of 2020 and illustrated the 50 page book himself.

Entitled 'Covid-19 in 2020 - a graphic record of a bizarre year' it takes readers on a fun, informative, and reminiscent ride of what will be a well-remembered and heavily discussed year.

Within the book John applauds the work of the NHS and every worker and volunteer's inexhaustible positivity despite the trials and tribulations many faced.

Now, John is giving something back to the NHS and the wider community, he said: "One of the reasons I did the covid book was because I wanted to give back to the NHS with the terrible times they had.

"I thought so much about the late Sir Cpt Tom Moore too and what he achieved.

"It was always my plan to donate £2 of every book sale to their worthy cause.

"Sales are steady, and I plough on pushing the book at every opportunity."

John managed to obtain an agreement with NHS Charities Together. "I explained to them what I was doing and why I was doing it and sent some pages of the book and they bounced back within a couple days saying they were very interested," he said.

John is attending craft fairs up and down the country, most recently in Lytham St Annes in the hopes to produce more sales for the book.

He gave a talk about the creation of his graphic novel to Carlisle Rotarians the other week by Zoom with the hopes to continue this trend with other organisations, groups, and schools.

The 66-year-old has also reached over a thousand sales of his previous book, 'Challenging Waters, The Diary of a Lake District Swimmer,' he said: "I am so pleased. A keen swimmer from Amsterdam even bought a couple books the other week. She had competed in the Great North Swim in 2018."

John plans on cycling and walking the west coast from the Mersey to the Solway, producing a series of drawings on his way which he hopes to turn into a bigger project.