SaltWay Global Ltd

19/02/2026

I'll be heading out to Sierra Leone, with our charity Help Madina, again shortly and along with my other duties will be seven new toilet inspections (I get all the good jobs) which have recently and most generously funded by my dear friends and colleagues Matt Parsons and Nick Hammond, at Bill Bailey Publishers Representatives, and Nick Wells and Frances Bodiam, at Flame Tree. Many thanks to these lovely people for their kindness in providing dignity and greater domestic comfort to the families of Madina (the provision of toilet facilities greatly improves their lives). I'll also be paying special attention to the Clan McLaren latrine (seen being safely guarded here by two of Madina's fine young men). If anyone reading this fancies having their name on a Madina toilet door just let me know and I will sort things!

26/11/2025

SaltWay Stand - Frankfurt Book Fair 2025. Many thanks to our client publishers for another great suite of new titles to display and show to the world!

23/10/2025

Enjoyed a day out in London yesterday with a walk from Lambeth Palace's Garden Museum to Spanish Place for a Palestrina concert by the Sixteen. Routing through Mayfair we walked up Grafton St to visit an old Publishing Shrine. Some Collins diaspora may recognise. And in a massive refurbishment site adjacent could this be a strategic move by Mr McLaren?

22/04/2025

Link below to the LIBF SaltWay Stand Party for Gaza ISpy by Feda Shtia.
This went out on Palestine TV (in Arabic) with starring interviews with Tim Collins and Frank Kelly!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4inu0NYeuE
Supporting cast includes:
Trevor Naylor, Roger Talgholm, Pal-Eik Skramstad, David Farnsworth, Slobodan Crevar, Matt Parsons, Nick Hammond, Peter Couzens, Simon Rigge, Michelle Zappa, Michael Hewitt, Charles Hewitt, Michaela Goff, Rob Wendover and others.

A bonus in that the GRANGE and KEW displays on the stand get a good showing!

Thanks again for supporting this and the very good cause which Feda is spearheading.

على وسائل التواصل الاجتماعيhttps://www.facebook.com/PalestineTv/https://twitter.com/palestinetv95https://www.instagram....

20/03/2025

If there is one good thing about bookfairs it is that you have the opportunity to catch up with so many old friends. It was however a great and suprising delight to catch up with my schoolfriend, Mike Watt, who located to Canada a lifetime ago and who I have sadly not seen for the past twenty years. Great too to catch up with the Export Old Lags, comprising the great and the good from the past 40 odd years of international sales. Pictured here are:
John Beaufoy, Simon Littlewood, Michael Timperley, Brian Davies, Chris Woodhead, Peter Stafford, Diana Jones, Trevor Naylor, Robert Snuggs, John Stachiewicz, MIke Bryan, David King, Gunnar Lie, Chris Owen, Ted Dougherty and little old me. Such fun!

25/02/2025

It was wth great sadness that we heard the news of the recent passing of trade legend Martin Palmer.

Old pals, under the typical leading role played by Tony Mulliken in organising the event, gathered together to celebrate Martin's life and friendship.

Around the table are:
Jeremy Yates Round, Steven Williams, Roger Talgholm, Merric Davidson, Greg Hill, David Young, Patrick Janson Smith, James Garbutt, David North, Alastair Giles, Adrian Cockell, Stephen Williams, Chris McLaren.

Sadly other long-standing mates could not make it and so we naturally toasted them also:
James Horobin, Barry Winkelman, Jon Stachiewicz, John Bond, Andreas Campomar, Tim Davies, David Kent, Nick Wells.

10/02/2025

This is shocking.......Ahmad Muna is a friend and customer. We hope he is released from custody as soon as possible.

Raid on Educational Bookshop branches described by rights groups as attempt to create ‘culture of fear’ among Palestinian intellectuals

24/01/2025

As part of SaltWay's charitable activities and as Trustee of Help Madina, I am delighted to have been given the opportunity to sponsor FC KAFANTA in the HELP MADINA Football League. Here are the lads all kitted out for the new season which starts this month. I will be visiting Sierra Leone again in April and look forward to watching the final play offs. I hope you will join me in cheering on 'The Bee Eaters'!

You can find out more about HELP MADINA here: https://helpmadina.org.uk/
And about FOOTBALL IN MADINA below:
Football is massive in Sierra Leone. It is a healthy distraction
from all the hardships that young people face, and it also brings
communities together. There is a very strong following of the
Premier League in England and all the matches are shown live.
For several years HelpMadina have been distributing football
kit and equipment that has been donated by professional and
amateur football clubs. The list of donors is long, but includes
Cheltenham and Swindon Town, Everton, Watford, Forest Green
Rovers, Fairford and even Arsenal. These donations have helped
many small village teams in the Madina area.
In addition to kit, HelpMadina have assisted with providing
football coaching and the planning of tournaments.
‘Local football’ is based on each of the villages having their own team, very much as was the case here in England up until the 1980s. Each village has a team, and the players are from that village so its very much community based and supported. As you can imagine there is a pride in representing your village, family and community and just about everyone attends the matches.
At the moment there is no organised grassroots league structure in this part of Sierra Leone. Matches are arranged on a ‘friendly’ ad hoc basis. In and around Madina Junction there are over 32 teams – a number in Madina itself and the remainder village teams within a 10 mile circumference of the town. The teams themselves are well organised-coaches, regular training, though only with a couple of footballs as footballs are costly and sometimes difficult to find. Most matches have a referee, whilst the pitches are played in a clearing in the village, red dust surface with the goals made from tree branches, and the pitch markings furrowed with a large stick.
Away teams either walk to the match or are ferried by moped, 3 to a bike. It may take 2 or 3 round trips to get everyone to the venue. Games are generally played late in the afternoon when the temperature begins to drop and the players head back from working the fields. HelpMadina has organised two cup competitions, involving 32 teams in the past 6 years, culminating in the final being played at the Madina Junction stadium. Football wise we have also organised a 6- a- side competition for the teams, which we believe is the first held in Sierra Leone, and also a Women and Girls competition. We believe that we now have the structure, people and desire to form the very first organised football
competition in this region of Sierra Leone and launch the inaugural HelpMadina Premier FootbalLeague season.

16/06/2024

Stuff you keep..?! Here's my David & Charles Sales Conference folder from July 1982. Contents long gone but had a useful re-purposed life that isn't over yet. Memories remain: David St John Thomas demonstrating the fertilisation of melon plants in his back garden obscures all others. I was less than 2 years into my publishing career and it wouldn't be long before I left D&C to return to Angus & Robertson/Times Books with a promotion...

23/04/2024

Thank you all again for your generosity in supporting the HELP MADINA Charity project. I was asked by the founder to write a song to celebrate the trip and the people of Madina and so here is SONG FOR MADINA along with a photo montage of the event. Many of you asked to see pictures from the trip and so I hope you enjoy. For those of my music mates who may wish the audio track only, link here: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/kfq284e3r14oah46b4nd0/SONG-FOR-MADINA.wav?rlkey=v1jhiplsuy43hkpfvmpk4ib8k&st=uy45ob5b&dl=0

12/01/2024

Updated with Just Giving page:
https://www.justgiving.com/page/chris-mclaren-1705505826874?utm_term=8MGbxjzqv

Sierra Leone, in West Africa, is in the bottom 10 of 189 countries listed in the Human Development Index. Despite much natural wealth in the country, it has suffered recent Civil War and viral outbreaks (Ebola), alongside other challenges and is in great need of help from more fortunate nations.
Help Madina is a registered charity (No: 1147700) which is locally led and is helping bring education, health, clean water, solar power, sporting activity and other developmental projects to the communities of Madina which is one of the least well-resourced areas in the country.
You can find out more on Help Madina’s website here: https://helpmadina.org.uk/
As part of a larger UK based initiative, I will be travelling to Sierra Leone (on behalf of my own business, SaltWay Global Ltd), this coming March, to add what efforts I can in developing an Educational Centre and Library (alongside other activities) to Madina.
In this much thanks are due to publishers Real Reads and Classic Comics for their generous donation of books to help stock the library and, in doing so, helping create a much-needed educational resource. Many thanks also to Marston Book Services who are generously providing free shipping here.
If you would be interested in supporting Help Madina please go to my JUST GIVING page here: https://www.justgiving.com/page/chris-mclaren-1705505826874?utm_term=8MGbxjzqv
With thanks for taking the time to read this.
Happy New Year
Chris

09/01/2024

SaltWay Global is proud to be a commerical supporter of the enviornmental charity Mossy Earth. If you are interested to do so, you can view a review of their 2023 activities here:
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/r0v5s826akhian59s16zj/Mossy-Earth-Field-Report-issue-74-1.pdf?rlkey=8w4zs78tws65i45rb5ladllyf&dl=0