What's happening around Anne Loader Publications?

This has been a very sad year for Léonie Press, Greenridges Press and the for the Loaders, who have lost a number of very dear friends. We are very sad to report that Yvonne Peters, age 87, author of "Have You Got Your Irons?", died on Friday, 19th November only six weeks after being diagnosed with advanced lung cancer. She was nursed for a month by her family at home in Horley, Surrey, but right at the end she elected to move to St Catherine's Hospice in Crawley, where she passed away. Her funeral will be on December 2nd at The Church of the English Martyrs, Horley.

Yvonne was a delightful character, who wrote her memories of her wartime life as a WAAF in spite of suffering from near-blindness caused by macular degeneration. The book, published under the Greenridges Press imprint in 2004, was well-received by ex-service organisations who described it as "a real find ... a genuine page-turner" and "a little gem". We were very impressed that at the book launch she was determined to sign each copy: unable to see what she had written she relied on remembering the movement of the pen to configure the words. When distracted, she would ask Jack, sitting at her side, to replace her hand in the right place on the flyleaf and tell her what letters remained to be completed.

She followed up the success of her first book by producing another, "North Finchley and Beyond" in 2009. In it she gathered together some of the articles which she and her late brother David J Golton had written over the years for their own pleasure and that of their family. She described it as a joint autobiography.

We send our most sincere condolences to her husband, Pat, and to her family.

We learned today that Jan Green, a friend who was writing the history of the Staffordshire village of Fradley for future publication by Léonie Press, died on October 11. She had been receiving treatment for cancer, and was only 64. Her tragic death is an enormous blow for her partner Brian Asbury and we send him our deepest sympathy.

Our link with Fradley is that it was the birthplace of Anne's mother, whose family had lived there for generations. They were tenant farmers at The Old Hall from 1820 to the mid-1960s. After asking on the Fradley village website for any historical information about the area, some years ago, Anne received a reply from Jan and it transpired that members of her family had worked at The Old Hall - also for generations. Anne and Jan subsequently exchanged regular emails and we enjoyed meeting her whenever we went to Fradley.

She was a very talented writer, actress and poet, and a keen local historian. She had been collecting information about Fradley for a long time with a view to writing a history, and we encouraged her to continue to do this on an official basis, promising to publish the book when it was completed. It was agreed that Anne would do the section on The Old Hall. Jan had really enjoyed going round interviewing local families, tracking down old documents and doing academic research in the Staffordshire archives.

She has left a wealth of material and Brian has said that when he has come to terms with his loss, he would like to produce the book as a tribute to her.

A detailed appreciation of her life and contribution to Fradley as a campaigning champion appeared in the Lichfield Mercury.

We are sad to report the death at the Countess of Chester Hospital, Chester, on October 11 of Joni Colchester, author of "A Life Worth Living - Abilities, interests and travels of a young disabled man". He was 43 years old - a remarkable age for someone with Muscular Dystrophy. We will always remember him with great admiration for his extraordinary talents and determination to get the most out of every moment of his life. We extend our sympathy and condolences to his dedicated parents, family and carers.

His funeral was held at St Bartholomew's Church, Great Barrow, near Chester, on October 18. The church was packed with friends and family wishing to pay a last tribute to him and the narrow village lanes were lined with mourners' cars. Afterwards we were pleased to see that his final resting-place in the adjacent churchyard is in an idyllic rural setting with views over the peaceful valley of the River Dee to the Welsh mountains.

For us, it was a privilege to have known Joni and to have helped him to publish his book. He is at peace now where his cruel physical limitations are no more and his spirit can truly soar like one of the eagles he loved to watch.

Over the past few months Anne has been working hard to finish the research and assemble the exhibits for an exhibition on the Cadastre Napoléonien for St Dizier and La Tour. It was finally staged yesterday (a French public holiday) and today in the Salle Polyvalente at La Tour. There were about 80 visitors and most stayed for between one and three hours.

The Cadastre Napoléonien was the equivalent of our UK tithe map, in which detailed surveys of every parcel of land in the republic were undertaken so that they could be rated for tax purposes and their ownership established. Our Cadastral maps were drawn in 1813 but the project started in 1808 and continued until the middle of the century. An army of surveyors produced thousands of beautiful maps showing the numbered parcels by commune and lots of associated lists and paperwork gave the individual plot-number, place-name, owner, size of land, usage, taxable value and classification. This means that you can look up our field and see that it was Number 900, a first-class meadow known as "De Maison", owned by Antoine Marsallon, covering 80 perches and 20 sq metres, and valued at 68 francs 17 centimes. Our house is No 905, also owned by Antoine Marsallon, a third-class house with five taxable openings (doors and windows) and an annual fiscal value of 12 francs. There were only two third-class houses - regarded as being 'comfortable' - out of 94 in the commune of St Dizier.

All this information can be used to make maps showing the distribution throughout the 10 hamlets in the (then) two communes of the types of land - ploughland, meadow, pasture, woodland used for coppicing, heathland, lakes, gardens and hempfields - and the five different classes of houses, of which the vast majority were primitive stone buildings with only one opening. Agricultural and state-owned buildings were exempt from the tax on windows and doors, but all other dwellings were subject to this "tax on the exterior shows of richness". Of course it didn't bother the really rich and only the poor suffered from the appalling insanitary conditions brought on by blocking up or not constructing vital windows.

Anne hopes to post her results on this website so that they will be available for others studying the agricultural and social history of the Creuse. In the extensive reading that she carried out whilst researching the subject she did not come across any similar work. It will also be used in a forthcoming collaborative book on the history of the commune of St Dizier la Tour in the 19th century, primarily written by our friend Thérèse Mangeret.

This French project complements the work that Anne has been doing on Old Hall Farm at Fradley in Staffordshire, which her mother's family rented from 1820 to the mid 1960s. It originally belonged to the estate of Lord Lichfield but was sold to Marley Tiles in the 1950s, along with the rest of the village, because of the clay deposits in the area. It has a fascinating history going back to medieval times and the Hall building alone is worthy of research and publication. But the family also kept safe three heavy, beautifully-bound wages books which detailed the work that was done on the farm each day from 1885 to 1923, and Anne is in the throes of a detailed analysis of this, using estate and Ordnance Survey maps to show how the land was used and the crops rotated. She also intends to publish this in the fullness of time.

Today Royal Mail has applied its now annual increase in postal charges so as we charge postage and package at cost our prices have had to rise to cover the increases. The Royal Mail increases range from 8.5% for letters and small packets to zero for large parcels, where there is strong competition from the carriers. Unfortunately the letters and packets we send out mainly fall into the 5% to 8.5% price increase bracket.

Also over the last months the cost of the packaging materials has jumped to the point where we will now have to charge more for them too to cover our costs.

We were delighted to read in today's copy of the Northwich Guardian that our author Peter Buckley and his wife Freda will celebrate their golden wedding anniversary on February 28. The night they met, in 1957, they witnessed the Arend-Roland comet in the sky - which turned out to be a portent of 50 happy years of married life.

They were both 19 - Freda was a tailoress at Great Budworth and Peter was an apprentice fitter/turner at Yarwoods shipyward. He described this period of his life in "Mid-Cheshire Memories, Volume 1", which we published in March 2002.

They courted for three years, tied the knot at Great Budworth parish church, and spent a four-day honeymoon at Blackpool. A month later Peter was called up for National Service, and was posted to Singapore with the Royal Corps of Signals. He was away for 18 months, and the young couple exchanged more than 300 letters. When he came back they set up home in Verdin Street, Northwich, where they still live. They have two sons.

After a short spell with Yarwoods on his return from Singapore, Peter worked in the plastics industry until he took early retirement. His hobbies include reading, music, watercolour painting and computing.

Peter and Freda believe that the key to a happy marriage is "to work together and be tolerant of each other's faults".

We wish them a very happy day and send them our sincere congratulations.

We are very sad to report the death from cancer of our author Emily White OBE, whose funeral was held today at Prestbury.

She was born in 1925, the only daughter of Manchester businessman John Stanley White. She recorded both their biographies in her book, "Father and Daughter - Two Middle-class Lives", which we published in February 2008.

Emily went up to Oxford in 1942 where she studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics and represented the university at tennis. She went into housing management in London, Manchester and Chester but needed a bigger challenge and in 1955 turned to the many-faceted voluntary social services scene in Manchester and Salford. In 1976 she was retrospectively awarded the OBE for her work with the Manchester Council for Voluntary Service; by this time she had moved to the Warrington New Town social development department.

Following her retirement in 1982 Emily continued to be involved in many projects and socially-responsible causes, such as the setting-up of Age Concern Cheshire, and became Lady Captain of Prestbury Golf Club. She had been given Life membership of the club as a 21st birthday present by her father and was one of its most long-standing members. After her mother's death she moved to a cottage in the village of Kerridge. She adored dogs and loved being a godmother.

We are sure that our readers will join us in offering our sincere condolences to our artist Patricia Kelsall on the death of her husband, Richard on January 23rd. Richard, age 71, was very well-known locally as an artist, art teacher, lecturer, theatre critic and long-time chairman of Northwich Heritage Society. He had been suffering from leukaemia.

We will always be extremely grateful to Richard and Pat who have been an invaluable help in sending out book orders for us when we are away from home. Without their generous assistance we would have been unable to continue to produce and sell our titles.

A memorial service will be held for Richard at Hartford Parish Church, on Thursday, February 4 at 3pm.

We are sorry to pass on the news that our author, Geoff Morris, age 89, has died in an elderly people's home in Charente-Maritime, France. He wrote "Only fools drink water" and "Two birds and no stones".

Geoff was born in Crewe in 1920 and was a teacher by profession. After volunteering to serve in the Royal Tank Regiment in the Second World War, he left Great Britain with the 50th R.T.R. to join the 8th Army in North Africa. He fought as tank crew from Alamein to Tunis, through Sicily, Italy, Palestine and Greece, was wounded three times and returned to England after four and a half years of absence. Three days later, by special licence, he married Joan, the girl who had waited for him. As a result of his exposure to the sun during the North African campaigns, Geoff later suffered from skin cancer and had a number of operations over the years to remove affected areas of skin.

He taught at Derby, passing through all grades of staffing and retired in 1980 to settle in the seaside town of Charron, France. He and Joan became naturalized French citizens and because of his war record Geoff was usually invited to do the readings at the annual November 11 cenotaph ceremony. The couple were well-known residents of their community and many years ago bought their own plot in the local cemetery.

When he and Joan became too frail to manage on their own, they moved together to a local residential home, and then some years ago they went to a nursing home where more medical aid was available. Joan still lives at the home.

Geoff lived his full life strictly according to the advice he received from an eccentric uncle who had made his fortune in Venezuela: "Cram in everything you can, boy. You've not long to fit it all in. It's not what you've done you'll regret, but all the things you've not done!"