By Gum, Life Were Sparse!: Memories of the Northern Mill Towns Book

Growing up in the Yorkshire Dales, the author witnessed the last great flourish of the northern textile towns. King cotton ruled, wool barons amassed huge fortunes, and in the shadow of the giant red-brick mills workers eked out a life of grinding poverty, of long hours toiling in conditions that would today be criminal, of cramped quarters in mean houses with too many mouths to feed. Yet shining through the hardship was the dry humour and the spirit of those workers, and in this nostalgic book the author evokes the essence of the times. He tells of the maisters and weyvers, of home and street life, of "divvy days", corner shops, choirs and cricket. And he paints pictures of bath-nights in front of living-room fires, of children dividing their time between school and the mill, of times when rabbit meat was a Christmas treat, and of great dynasties such as the Fosters of Queensbury, who made such a fortune out of wool that they had their own coalmine and made their own gas, grease, soap - and even bricks. The author's many books on Dales and Lakeland life include "It's a Long Way to Muckle Flugga" and "High Dale Country".Read More