Blown Away: From Drug Dealer to Life Bringer: Foreword by HRH THE PRINCE OF WALES

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I didn’t break any laws – I did my best anyway. The police tried to arrest me once in a car park – I wasn’t brilliant at not hugging people, because the guys I was hugging were dying. On one street where I was delivering food parcels, three men under 40 killed themselves in three weeks. him, a man he had long fantasised about murdering. Instead, he helped the man conquer his alcoholism, never once telling him about their horrific connection. By 17 he was an alcoholic and drug addict and his life spiralled into chaos over the next few decades. He became a coldhearted, muscle-bound drug dealer who operated in Liverpool, Manchester and Glasgow with major crime gangs. Born into a working-class Catholic family in Burnley, Fleming’s life took a terrible turn when he was raped on his way to school, aged just eleven. In an unbelievably tragic twist, his older sister died that very same night. Not knowing how to process his pain led to a lifetime of drug and alcohol abuse, violence and crime.

Sometimes it’s more like running a hospital, but I think that’s what the Church should be. You’ve got Christ in the centre, and you are being “doers of the word” (James 1:22, NKJV). The secular come in, and they end up becoming Christians – not by us preaching at them, but by the work we do.He started his ministry by sitting by a McDonald's restaurant and befriending the homeless and hungry. Now his Church on the Street is a hive of activity, thanks to donations from those who have been inspired by his message of faith and hope. A copy of your data will be held by Loop Publishing Limited (the publishers of Northern Life Magazine) for up to 10 years. He died two years later, because he damaged himself with alcohol and drugs, and I never told him that I knew, right from the moment I first saw him, that he was the man who raped me.

We feed people outside, and we have maybe 2,000 people come through the doors [of our drop-in centre, The Hub] every week. We’re open every day except Saturday. We have nurses, doctors and a mental health team here. It was that simple. Peace flooded in. It transformed me. I used to think that forgiveness was putting my arms around somebody and saying: “Don’t worry about it, it’s fine!” That’s not my understanding now.It would be amazing if he finished his boxing career and came and did this – you never know, he could choose to.” He said: "My life has been a life of impossibilities. The writers have said that at if we told the truth about your life, then and even now, we'd have to tone it down, because they wouldn't believe it. During Covid, everything was shut. Even the churches were furloughing people. But we’re Church on the Street, so that’s where our church was and is – so we found ways to stay open. Often, it is only by sharing our problems and being honest with ourselves that we are able to heal and overcome life’s challenges.

I have been fortunate not to be doing really big long sentences. I call it a blessing but on the other hand I think I have done a life sentence in my head. I had many guns. In the world where I was working it was so easy to get firearms."

In it, the future King said: "It’s impossible to visit Church on the Street and not be deeply moved by the work the organisation does for those in need. When I read this autobiography, therefore, I knew about his work and that he had turned his life around — “from drug dealer to life bringer”. So I looked for some insight into how someone is drawn to criminality in the first place and how they get themselves out of it: critical issues, if we are to reduce crime. It's been a life of extremes, bad and good, so it's been really strange. Very strange indeed. I didn't even have any kind of faith and really kind of self esteem for myself. Very cold character, so I wouldn't have believed my life would turn out like this if you'd have told me 30 years ago." I was in a homeless hostel, and it was the first time in my life that I was not relying on drugs or alcohol. I had these feelings that I didn’t know what to do with. I didn’t know who I was. So l prayed, and I saw a light at the bottom of the bed.

It's impossible to visit Church on the Street and not be deeply moved by the work the organisation does for those in need. It is an extraordinary place ... ' HRH THE PRINCE OF WALES , from the Foreword When I was homeless, on my first night ever sleeping on the street, I went into a church. They had tea and biscuits and stuff. I was shaking, because if I didn’t drink, I could have a fit. They were nice people, but they couldn’t wait to get rid of me. We have our own counsellors, hot food, a food bank, showers, a needle exchange, washing machines, opticians, Citizens Advice. And we have prayer and Bible study, right in the middle of all that. On a Sunday, we have our Sunday services. From 1st July 2021, VAT will be applicable to those EU countries where VAT is applied to books - this additional charge will be collected by Fed Ex (or the Royal Mail) at the time of delivery. Shipments to the USA & Canada:I met a guy in church who had just come out of prison. He said his prison chaplain had told him Jesus died for his sins, but he didn’t understand what that meant. He’d been to loads of churches, but no one had been able to explain it to him. It's impossible to visit Church on the Street and not be deeply moved by the work the organisation does for those in need. It is an extraordinary place ... 'HRH THE PRINCE OF WALES, from the Foreword He told Lancs Live: "You know you can't get your head round these things until they happen to you. It's crazy really that they want to make the TV show." He writes in a colloquial style, no doubt to create a sense of authenticity. You have to get used to such sentences as “I began talking to my new pal the Holy Ghost. . .” Yet he has a degree in theology from Manchester University.