Latest Books
The Five Per Cent Club
by Peter Waddington
What happens when you put a schoolboy in charge of a powerful fire hose? A soaking for the headmaster, that’s for sure! Peter Waddington tells the fascinating and often funny story of his years as a pupil at Christ’s Hospital in Sussex. He recalls home life as a child on the downland of Warminster in Wiltshire, where he was born in 1926, and the characters who inhabited a world now changed for ever. Peter also paints a fascinating picture of life as an apprentice engineer in the 1940s at English Electric in Rugby. In 2004 Peter joined what his surgeon called The Five Per Cent Club, the survival rate for a particularly serious illness - just one of several narrow escapes over 83 years!
What Peter Waddington Says:
For many years, I had thought of recording my life experiences but it never happened. Then my wife Brenda died suddenly and it brought home to me that I really must do something about my 80-odd years of memories. After seeing your advert in Dalesman magazine, I gave you a ring, we had a very interesting chat and I was impressed with your enthusiasm. After our initial meeting, we had five two to three hour interview sessions where you showed great interest in my life story. You were also very patient with my many additions (Caroline adds here, Everyone suddenly remembers extra things to put in, it’s part of my job to do that for you). But I was amazed at your research, eliciting many pictures which greatly supported the text. Thanks for a delightful book, which is already proving of great interest to many.
Producing this Book:
Caroline says:
When I was approached by Peter Waddington, he had a fascinating story to tell but few photos of his early life. I contacted his old boarding school who, amazingly, produced a photo of the school fire brigade with young Peter in the middle. I’m not sure who was more stunned at our luck, Peter or me. They also came up with his leaving report and a note signed by his father, as well as contemporary photos showing the school layout. The Dewey Museum in Warminster produced documents about Peter’s father’s auctioneering business and old photos of the town. Rugby Art Gallery and Museum offered period pictures of the factory where Peter had worked. Listening to Peter’s story was fascinating and the illustrations really brought it to life.
A Life Well Lived
By Pamela McMaster-Morgan
Pamela McMaster-Morgan was born into the Fewster family who once owned the North East’s biggest horticultural nursery, Ragworth Nurseries in Stockton. She tells of wandering as a child through the vast greenhouses and of the day a wartime bomb smashed them to pieces.
Pamela, who had a long career as a dentist, also tells the fascinating and often funny story of how she and her husband Alec rescued a vast, decaying mansion in North Yorkshire from demolition and turned it into their home.
This moving story goes on to describe how Pamela was widowed but found happiness again with her second husband, Howell, only to be widowed again. But she picked herself up and got on with life, with the help of her rescue greyhound Sam. As she says in her introduction, “I am not going to live for ever but whilst I am still around, I will not worry about what could have been or what will be. I shall eat pudding every day!”
What Pamela McMaster-Morgan Says:
I thoroughly enjoyed the process of telling my story and now have the book I had intended to write for many years. My granddaughter couldn’t put it down. I don’t think I would have had the time or confidence to tackle it without Caroline. Together we sorted out many photos which make the book come alive. I never dreamed so many people would enjoy reading it. At first I thought 100 copies would be too much but after giving them to family and friends and also selling some to raise money for a greyhound rescue charity, I wonder if that’s enough.
I am astonished by the positive reactions, such as this one from a friend: “I was OVER THE MOON to find a book had landed through my letterbox written by you!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can’t tell you how delighted I am. Thank you so much, it’s a truly inspirational biography and you should be very proud. I can imagine that it was also rather cathartic for you, to have all those wonderful memories committed to print. Well done!”
Producing this Book:
Caroline says:
Pamela’s story was fascinating but complex with many different strands. We spent some time working out the correct structure, which is one of the most difficult things writers face. It was enormous fun discovering the centenary brochure for Ragworth Nurseries, which Pamela had kept since 1939, and the now historic photos of the staff. Much in this book, including the rescue of the derelict mansion and details of dental training in the early years of the NHS, are important stories of social history which would otherwise be lost.
No Time to Stand and Stare:Memories of Childhood and Farming Life in Teesdale from 1918-1945.
By Richard Gill
Richard Gill came to Caroline Brannigan with a handwritten memoir compiled in the 1980s. This was edited and designed into a book for him. Dick, as he was widely known, had left school at 14 and considered himself to have no talent for writing. He was wrong. His descriptions of farm and village life and the characters among whom he grew up are beautiful. There is a strong sense of the farm labourer’s many hours of solitude, watching the natural world around him.
The world in which Richard Gill grew up has now passed into history - the years of the Great Depression, never-ending work, very little ready cash and in which the horse was a more familiar sight than a tractor or car. Yet the strong sense of community and a satisfaction in a job well done brought some contentment.
The story of how during the war he and his brother took on a semi-derelict farm and forced it to produce much needed food is one of astonishing self sacrifice and intense physical toil. And yet there is no self pity, only a sense of a man at one with his world.
What Richard Gill Says:
I wrote these memories some time ago for my family and grandchildren in years to come. Then, from time to time, I wondered if a wider audience would be interested in reading them, but had no idea how this could be accomplished. I then heard about the service that Caroline offers in preparing memoirs and having them printed. The jacket pictures of my former farm taken by Caroline contributed to the success of the finished book. It has been a privilege to work with her on all stages of the book.
Mr Gill’s daughter wrote after his death:
I would like to say a very big thank you for your involvement in publishing his book. I am so pleased that he had it published before he died and held it in his hands. It gave him such pleasure.
Producing this Book:
Caroline says:
I loved doing this book. It came to me as set of neatly hand-written papers which had been seen only by close family. Yet it contained a historic and often heroic tale of farm and village life. It deserved a wider audience. All I did was to shorten the sentences, correct the rare spelling mistakes and explain terms now unfamiliar. I also explained the characters a little more and added a short explanation of what happened next, as the memoir ends in 1945. I for one was desperate to know.
On the one nice day of summer 2009, I climbed high on the moors to take a photograph of one of the farms described and created one of my trademark wraparound dust jackets, where the main photo goes right round the book.
Richard Gill’s family approached me in March 2009 when he was 90. I pride myself on working fast and Richard had his book in his hands by mid-August. He was intensely satisfied and slightly bemused by the clamour from people wanting to buy copies which resulted in a second print run in October. Sadly, he won’t see the second edition as he passed away peacefully early in that month but I have been proud to be associated with it and consider myself fortunate to have my own signed copy.