SORRY - NO MORE NEW MANUSCRIPTS!

Anne finally decided after her 2006 sabbatical year (during which we still produced three books) that she would "retire" in 2007 - but we nevertheless published two new books that year, too! Therefore, in 2008, she has definitely stopped editing books submitted to us by other people, though we will from time to time commission local history titles in England and France for areas with which we are personally associated. There are several in the pipeline longterm, including at least one of her own about Old Hall Farm, Fradley, Staffordshire. The research she is doing, together with the transcription and analysis of several fascinating farm wages books from 1885-1923, takes up nearly all her time. If you were thinking of sending us a manuscript please see our alternative suggestions. We will, of course, keep in print and continue to sell all the books that we have published - Jack has not stopped running this aspect of the enterprise, which occupies him for about 12 hours a day.

Thursday, 1st January 2008

We wish all our readers, authors and suppliers a very Happy New Year and hope it will be a Healthy, Happy and Prosperous one for you. The latter is looking a bit tricky at the moment but let us hope for the best and try to support our local businesses through the hard times.

Progress on updating the site is slow but if there are books you would like and you would prefer to pay by PayPal rather then sending a sterling cheque drawn on a UK bank we can now deal with this. Just send us an e-mail with the the list of book titles you would like and your physical address and we will e-mail you an invoice via PayPal. This can be quick and easy, we dealt with an enquiry from Finland and had the book in the post within about 3 hours. It has the added advantage that we can charge you the appropriate postage (we only charge postage at cost) rather than guess and return any significant excess.

Times are difficult for the book trade at the moment, especially for the little people, and so we have decided that we will have an area on our site where we will give a web presence to books we feel could do with a helping hand. We have done that for some time where our own authors have published work we could not deal with elsewhere, such as Sheila Wright and Carl Leckey. In most cases we will have copies of the books available if you want to buy them together with others of our books or via PayPal otherwise you can order them directly from the authors using the information provided on the page about the book.

Thursday, 6th November 2008

We have had a very complicated year in 2008 which has meant that the website has not been updated as we intended and, if like a growing number of people you are using Firefox as your browser some parts of it may come up with odd symbols that should not be there. Jack is working his way through it as fast as he can to change the formatting.

Sadly, in February Anne's elderly aunt in Lincolnshire succumbed to senile dementia at the age of 91 and we had to go over there and get her into a home very quickly. The original idea was that she would then come to a home in Cheshire but the place where she is living in Lincolnshire is so good that we couldn't find anywhere comparable in the North West which had any vacancies. We were immediately faced with the task of completely renovating her house so that it could be let out to help pay the care home fees. We thought this would take a couple of months but we had reckoned without Murphy's Law which dictated that the whole project should be a case of "One step forward, two steps back." We ended up moving over to Lincolnshire for four months and we eventually finished the house in mid-August. We then went to France for ten days to take over all the furniture and heirlooms from the house that we could not bear to get rid of.

Saturday, June 14th, 2008

A couple of weeks ago we produced "The Follies of a Victorian Athlete (William Snook 1861-1916)" by Harry Andrews, and old friend and former colleague of Jack's from his ICI days. Harry has been researching on his 68 page booklet for many years and we agreed to publish it for him ages ago, so Anne wasn't really coming out of retirement to undertake the project!

It was due to be launched informally at a Shropshire Family History Society event in early June but unfortunately Harry fell ill and had to be rushed to hospital just before this took place. So, sadly, the work had a lower-key entry into the world than was originally planned.

Anne says: "As fellow family historians we really enjoyed doing 'Follies' and we were thrilled for Harry when he discovered the whereabouts of several of his great-uncle's major athletics trophies not long before he finished writing the manuscript. We were able to use photographs of these cups in the book and on the cover."

As usual with our local history books, "Follies" has been comprehensively indexed by Jack and the index is available to search on the Internet.

Monday, 7th April 2008

Today Royal Mail is implementing its annual rises in postal charges with an 11p rise the price of the weight/size combination applicable to the majority of our books. As we have always charged postage and package at cost we regret we will have to increase our postage and package charges.

Friday, 1st February 2008

When we sent out the invitations to the launch of "Father and Daughter: Two Middle-class Lives" by Emily White this evening, we thought the weather might be bad and asked guests to put their phone numbers on the reply slips so we could contact them in an emergency. Emily lives in the village of Kerridge in the hills just outside Macclesfield, and the launch was to be at Prestbury Golf Club, where she has been a member for a record 75 years! (Her father, an astute businessman, bought her a life membership when she was young for the then large sum of £100 - which turned out to be a tremendous bargain. She is a past Lady President and Lady Captain.) We must have been psychic as today turned out be the subject of severe weather warnings from the Met Office, there was chaos on some roads further north and the golf course was covered in falling snow just as the evening started. However all was well, and the 65 expected guests turned up safely from various parts of the country. They were welcomed by Club Captain Mike Fawkes at the beginning of the formal part of the proceedings.

The attractive clubhouse proved to be an ideal setting for the launch, with lots of comfy chairs, a good public address system and very helpful staff. The guests included local MP, Sir Nicholas Winterton, together with many past and present luminaries from the world of voluntary social work, and the golf club. Emily was thrilled that some of her god-children were also able to attend.

Emily signs a copy of her book for Club President, Tony McGuinness, and his wife Pauline

Emily signing one of her books for a friend. On the the table is the silver tray presented to her father by the golf club in 1945 in recognition of his contribution as President during the War.

A talking point at the event was a recent article in the "Daily Mail" (27/12/2007) about the White family's house at Four Lane Ends which is to be demolished to make way for a "Footballers' Wives" type mock French chateau. Several photos which are also in the book were included, together with a beautiful portrait of Emily looking at her photograph albums.

To read the article click on this link and type "Emily White" in to the search box at the top right hand side of the page. Then select the article entitled "Heartbreak revealed as character-filled family home bulldozed to make way for 'footballers' wives-style chateau'"

Wednesday, 30th January 2008

We have just completed printing Emily White's book "Father and Daughter" and reprinting nine other books. Emily's book will be launched at Prestbury Golf Club on Friday evening. We think that this is the ideal location because of her family's close connections with the club over many years. Emily, now in her eighties, is planning to continue to play golf this year, but not competitively and "only on nice days"...

Monday, 21st January 2008

Anne celebrates her 60th birthday today and officially becomes a pensioner - the prospect of actually having an income excites her after nearly 12 years of not taking any salary out of Anne Loader Publications! From January 18-20 our two sons and their families treated us to an unforgettable weekend away in a beautiful rented house near the Long Mynd in Shropshire, with banners everywhere proclaiming "HAPPY BIRTHDAY MUM!". We went for muddy walks, played silly games and ate delicious food. The families had jointly made a special birthday cake which was a masterpiece. It was a very happy and special time for Anne, who has decided that perhaps, at last, she is a grown-up.

We had muddy walks in lovely countryside...	and Anne was thrilled with her birthday cake...
we had formal and informal meals...	and the girls showed admirable restraint when they beat the boys at Pictionary.

Monday, 10th December 2007

We were very shocked to learn this evening that Peter Marsh, author of one of our early books "Round and Round in Circles" had been drowned some time ago in a sailing accident in a Spanish harbour. We hadn't heard from him for a long time but weren't worried as the last time he came to see us he told us that he was going sailing in the Mediterranean , for an indefinite period and would see us "some time". We extend our sympathy to his family and friends - Pete really was a "one-off" who was a legend in advertising circles and as a sailor. He will be much missed. He had planned that "Round and Round in Circles" would be the first of a trilogy and a few years ago we read the rough draft of the scurrilous sequel. Sadly that will not now see the light of day.

Wednesday, 26th September 2007

We were extremely sorry to learn today that Margaret Dignum died suddenly on 17th August at the age of 76. After an evening out at the British Legion at Davenham - which was where we first met her at the launch of Nellie Osborne's book "Nellie's Story" - she felt unwell on returning home, collapsed and died.

Through her performances of her comic monologues on BBC Radio Stoke, to many local groups and, of course, through her book "A Whiff of Fresh Air" Margaret brought a lot of pleasure to many hundreds of people. We always enjoyed going round to see her and her husband, Howard, and we will miss her very much.

On a happier note, Anne's column on www.pontnoir.com has been declared "a great success". She writes every week about some aspect of the Creuse, where we have our house. At the moment she is doing a series called "Creusois house detective", which people say they have enjoyed very much.

Sunday, 12th August 2007

We are in the process of updating the website to, in addition to other things, reflect the rises in postal costs introduced by Royal Mail in April. We have always charged postage and package at cost which has made it difficult to give p+p costs for an order for several books but the introduction by Royal Mail of a size/thickness charging structure has further complicated things. Reluctantly we have decided that we will have to quote p+p charges based on the books being sent as a packet.

This update will mean for some time there may be inconsistencies in the quoted p+p costs in different places on the site. However the order form (opens a new window) has the definitive p+p price for the UK and Northern Ireland. For Eire, Europe and the rest of the World please e-mail us and we will let you know the appropriate cost.

Sunday, 29th July 2007

WHAT'S HAPPENING IN ST PARADIS?

Fans of Anne's three books about St Paradis ( "A Bull by the Back Door", "The Duck with a Dirty Laugh", and "The Bells of St Paradis") will be pleased to know that they can continue to follow the story of her experiences in the Creuse department of the Limousin region of central France. She now writes a weekly column for www.pontnoir.com - a website that is devoted to all things relating to British people interested in the Creuse, whether as residents, holiday-home owners or dreamers.

Called "Crazy about the Creuse", the column comes out each Thursday in the Features section of the site under the pseudonym of "Annik". Anne's aim is to inform and entertain, and she is greatly enjoying writing for a new medium. We hope that readers of the St Paradis trilogy will be able to use it to continue to get their "fix"! Ideally, the articles should be read in reverse order to make the best chronological sense of them, as the latest is always at the top of the list.

Monday, 23rd July 2007

From July 2-22, Anne's five "French books" were on sale at an exhibition which we organised in our twin town of Mornant, near Lyon, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the signing of the twinning agreement. The exhibition featured Anne's photographs of Cheshire scenes, enlargements of old postcards of Hartford and Northwich (showing the salt industry and the damage caused to Northwich by subsidence, mostly from the collection of John Chesworth), prints of water-colours by Léonie Press artist Patricia Kelsall, and paintings by amateur artists in Hartford.

Anne signing one of her books.

The poster advertising the books, in the Maison de Pays at Mornant

Anne showing our hostess, Chantal Vallet, some of her photos in the exhibition.

A special viewing was held on Sunday, July 15, as a highlight of a weekend of events staged to entertain a delegation from Hartford, and this was combined with a book signing by Anne. Mornant and the twinning have featured in the "St Paradis" trilogy and people were keen to keep their collection of these titles up to date - copies have been winging their way round Mornant as birthday and Christmas presents for years! Other residents who were interested in French social history bought copies of the books of old photographs of St Dizier la Tour, Souvenirs de St Dizier la Tour and Images de St Dizier la Tour

Wednesday, 28th March 2007

Roy Clinging, author of Cheshire Folk Songs & associated traditions has researched and written "A Poor Man's Heritage" - an evening of songs and drama exploring the lives of the poor in Victorian Britain. It will be performed at the Salt Museum, Northwich at 7:30 pm on Wednesday, 18th April 2007. Tickets are priced at ٢ and are available from the Salt Museum or by calling 01606 41331. This is a most appropriate venue as the building which now houses the Salt Museum was originally the Northwich Workhouse. There is more information available about the Salt Museum via this link.

Wednesday, 14th March 2007

Today "Speaking of Palm Trees - Letters from Egypt 1946-1947" by Kathleen Taylor Smith was formally published under our Greenridges press imprint.

At the same time as printing this new book we reprinted ten of our other books so that we have plenty of copies of all our titles available to cover demand in the next few months. The reprints included the updated version of "Souvenirs de St Dizier la Tour"; since the first edition was published we have been given more names to add to the lists identifying villagers in the photographs. The book sold out last year and the second edition is eagerly awaited when we go back to France again this year.

The books were printed and bound on a very complex and expensive new machine recently installed by our local printers, Poplar Services of St Helens - who always do an excellent job for us. We are very pleased with the books and the photographs show a visible improvement over what used to be achieved with the older technology.

Friday, 26th January 2007

The Rotherham Advertiser carried a very nice half page interview and review of Ursula Sherratt's book "Ursula - Pain and prejudice" by their feature writer Howard Poucher. Appropriately it shared the page with an article about the Mayor and Mayoress of Rotherham, Cllr and Mrs Peter Wooton, signing the Rotherham Book of Remembrance for National Holocaust Memorial Day (27th January) and inviting their fellow citizens to join them as a mark of respect and remembrance for all the victims of the Holocaust and Nazi persecution.

Born in Hamburg to a Jewish mother and German father, Ursula was persecuted by the Nazis and branded as "an undesirable, worthless human being". At the age of 15 she was forced to work on a farm where she was badly treated. In 1944 her mother was arrested by the Gestapo and sent to the Stutthof Concentration Camp near Danzig, from which she was liberated by the advancing Russians and made her way to the West, posing as a refugee to avoid re-arrest by the Nazis. She never recovered from the physical and mental trauma of the experience.

Wednesday, 22nd November, 2006

We launched "Ursula - Pain and prejudice" by Ursula Sherratt yesterday afternoon at The High Street Centre in Rawmarsh near Rotherham. The launch was combined with a meeting of the local Leisure Group and was resounding success. It was significant that the event was held there, as it was to her fellow members at the Leisure Group a couple of years ago that Ursula did a reading of the memoirs which eventually became her book.

Ursula Sherratt with her book.

Ursula signing copies of her book with Jack looking on - and taking the money!

It was great to see so many people come along to support her - there must have been well over 100 at the launch. We are very grateful to the members of the Leisure Group who helped to serve the soft drinks and who did the washing up afterwards.

We are also enormously grateful to the Methodist Minister and his wife, Alistair and Susan Sharp, for their help. They are an outstanding, dynamic and warm couple and Rawmarsh must count itself very lucky to have them. Susan, whose German mother also comes from Hamburg, Ursula's home-town, has taken Ursula under her wing and produced the computer typescript from her original handwritten manuscript. She has supported Ursula all along the way during the production of the book and her kindness even extended to giving the Loaders and Ursula lunch before the launch. We had driven over from Cheshire through torrential rain, lightning, sleet and heavy traffic congestion, and it was lovely to have a break before we all went off to set up the room for the event.

Left to right are Stewart Fawthrop - one of our readers who approached us about Ursula after hearing her read from her memories at the local leisure group, Anne, Ursula, Susan Sharp and Jack.

The High Street Centre is a superb public facility which has been created from the town's Methodist church: the lofty church itself has been divided into two floors with a meeting room below and the church-cum-conference centre above. The various rooms downstairs are used by community groups and the whole building is a vital, living organism instead of simply a religious monument. It is run as a business so that the burden of funding does not fall on the Methodist congregation, who pay a small rent to use the "upstairs church". A great deal of thought has gone into the conversion and we congratulate everyone involved.