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I MAKE no apology for publicising two books that
were on
sale in the town - simply because I had something to do with them! [Copies are
still available! See below].
I was one of the contributors to the
first of the books and one of
the people involved in the production of them both. I
checked the articles from the other writers in a sub-editing role
(checking for grammatical or spelling mistakes, etc).
Like
myself, the contributors wrote about themselves but from the point of view of
the organisation to which they belonged or their business. In my case it was the
five websites (see the index below) for which I am or was responsible, although I did work in a
mention of the
trilogy of Cheshire videos I made with others. (See here
!)
 All proceeds were for Nantwich Players' Theatre
project. I might have mentioned my connections with the
amateur dramatics group before. At the time, the Players were raising £1.5million to convert their
current theatre building and the former funeral parlour (One Love
Lane next door) into a theatre venue for the townspeople as well as their own
activities.
They appealed to a grant donor
for some (unlikely to be all!) of the money, but the conditions they would have
faced with any donation were not acceptable to the group and so they decided to
make changes piecemeal, rather than as one project, with members and other
supporters providing money for individual projects.
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The book was the brainwave of active
Players' member, Gareth Roberts. He is a retired Crewe fire fighter and is
well-known for his charity work - for which he once received an "Oscar" from the
then Mayor of the former Crewe and Nantwich
Borough.
The 35 contributors to the first book included the Rev
Peter Chantry (then Rector of St Mary's Church, Nantwich), Herbert Rowsell (former
headmaster of Nantwich and Acton Grammar School - now Malbank School), John Dodd
(of Nantwich Camera Club), Harry Corry (retired shoe vendor in the town), Adrian
Lawrence (a
driving force behind the Nantwich and South Cheshire Show), Phyllis Simpson (of Simpson
and Edge, one of the local garages), and youngster Joel Howells who tells of
"The Kamikaze Kids".
A furfther 35 contributors to "Nantwich Life II"
included David T. Greatorex, a "proud Dabber";
Kate Dobson of Nantwich Museum; Gemma
Robertson of
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Nantwich dance group Academy X; John Prince of Nantwich Cricket
Club; Harry Clewlow, a Nantwich butcher; Michael Morgan-Wynne writing about the
airman's grave; Richard Myott, about Churche's Mansion;
Claire Faulkner, on the Queen's Diamond Jubilee; Graham Binningsley on a journey
to Nantwich; Peter Harrington of Nantwich Walled Garden Society; Derek Poppleton
on the Beam Heath Trust; Adam Vernon on Nantwich Young
Farmers' Club, Jeff. Stubbs, of
Nantwich Civic Society; Mark A.Potts on the First World War; Henry Passmore
on education in Nantwich; and Jerry Park, an "Oxfam bibliomaniac".
These named people were chosen at random
from the list and it should not be taken that I don't consider the rest worthy
of mention! Anyone buying the books were in for a treat and would learn a lot about Nantwich organisations and businesses as well as the writers themselves.
Gareth Roberts promised "an insight
into present
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day Nantwich and a taste of the past". There
were
more than 100 pictures in each of the books.
He approached more than the final
authors for a
contribution, but the others were still to produce
their
promised articles. Gareth received a lot of help in
the publication of his book from local author
Mark Potts, perhaps best known for his
work on First and Second World War heroes.
l"Nantwich
Life" and now "Nantwich Life 2" were published by MPire Books of Crewe, price £9.95.These
are no longer available at the theatre or Nantwich Book Shop, the sole
distributors, but Gareth still has some copies. Call him on (01270) 629958 to
obtain one.
o Pictures
Above: The front cover of the first book. Inset: the
self-portrait that illustrates my article. Left: the front cover of the
second book.
Book cover pictures by Gareth Roberts |
