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Rural Middle England As It Was

Strawberry Bank (Nr Newton Derbyshire/Notts Border)

119 pages - £7.99 Paperback (£14.99 Hardback)

From humble beginnings
"The demarcation between bottom-enders and top enders was very marked and well understood in the late 1940's. The war had made little difference. This was not a proper village. Rather it was a community thrown together, first by the coal mines, later the railways."

Via steam trains
"If the little engines were lovable, the giant eight and nine freights were positively awesome. Their magnificence was not dented by the quietness and stillness of being at rest in the great engine sheds. Nor was their dignity impugned by the ant-like men in boiler suits with strange sounding names who crawled over and inside them."

Via business
How does an ordinary John Smith born to a small tenant farmer of poor coal-riddled soil in unfashionable Derbyshire become a qualified accountant and work as a management consultant for the mighty Price Waterhouse and subsequently at the highest level in other trendsetting companies of the times?

To writing
The world may have moved on, but nothing that's really important has changed. I write now because I enjoy it, and have the time. Derbyshire Born is not only the story of my life, it's also an opportunity to reflect on the sometimes uncomfortable  social  transition between the old world and the unlimited opportunities of the new.

Please contact the author for a talk and reading from his work. These are conducted on a no-fee, reimbursed expenses basis.

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