BOOKS

A few years ago I started publishing printed books and more recently I've found out how to create and publish ebooks - most of them are available from : Amazon : Smashwords : and most ebook retailers Some books are available from Blurb.

ST MARGARET'S AT CLIFFE & ST MARGARET'S BAY

An illustrated history of a special east Kent (UK) coastal village written and illustrated by Wendy Fraser, this is an illustrated history of a special east Kent (UK) coastal village that over the years has been an exclusive Edwardian holiday resort for the well-to-do; home to smugglers, writers, actors, entertainers, politicians, aristocracy; and played a strategic role during both World Wars.

Full colour, illustrated, 40 pages, with soft or hard cover.
Printed and ebooks both available from Blurb.

THE ART OF WENDY FRASER

THE ART OF WENDY FRASER
A portfolio of my equestrian and rural drawings and paintings.
40 pages, full colour, with soft or hard cover.
Available from Blurb and from Apple as an ibook for the ipad.

LAKELAND HUNTING SONGS VOL ONE: THE LAKELAND FELL PACKS

Compiled by Ron Black. Edited & illustrated by Wendy Fraser.


Most of the songs in this book have been passed down from generation to generation, each an important part of Lakeland oral history. Hence there is no conventional spelling, punctuation or grammar for these written versions, many containing words of dialect. A glossary of terms & dialect words has been added to help with understanding the characters, events & journeys described within the verses.

Ebook available from : Amazon : Smashwords : and other ebook retailers.

Printed book available from Blurb.

LAKELAND HUNTING SONGS VOL TWO: THE SIX FELL PACKS

Introduced and compiled by Ron Black. Edited by Wendy Fraser.


More traditional Lakeland hunting songs, interspersed with Ron's own personal memories of days out on the fellside.


Ebook available from : Amazon : Smashwords : and other ebook retailers.

LAKELAND HUNTING MEMORIES VOLUME ONE



Recollections of Lakeland hunting in the '50s and '60s written by Ron Black & edited by Wendy Fraser.


This first brief volume is an introduction to further, larger volumes which will be compiled from the popular web site Lakeland Hunting Memories established 2008 by Ron Black and Wendy Fraser. Here are some pages that are soon to be archived.

Ebook available from : Amazon : Smashwords : and other ebook retailers.

LAKELAND HUNTING MEMORIES - VOLUME TWO



By Ron Black & Wendy Fraser.


More recollections of Lakeland hunting in the '50s and '60s from the websiteLakeland Hunting Memories.

Ebook available from : Amazon : Smashwords : and other ebook retailers.

THE ULLSWATER FOXHOUNDS PART ONE

"All the village was roused by the sound of Bowman's horn"
The First 50 Years 1863-1913

By Ron Black. Edited by Wendy Fraser.

The story of the formation and early years of the Ullswater Foxhounds was covered by W G Skelton in his Reminiscences of Joe Bowman written in 1921. Whilst this book does not seek to compete with probably the greatest factual book ever written on foxhunting in the English Lake District it perhaps, with the usage of newspaper and other reports written at the time, adds to the story.

Ebook available from : Amazon : Smashwords : and other ebook retailers.

THE ULLSWATER FOXHOUNDS PART TWO

The Next Fifty Years 1914-1965
by Ron Black with Jean Walton and Jean Gidman.

Part Two of a planned trilogy mapping the history of the Cumbrian (UK) Ullswater Foxhounds using contemporary reports and featuring hunstmen George Salkeld, Joe Bowman, Braithwaite Wilson, Joe Wear and Anthony Barker. This is a collection of contemporary hunting reports and other 'doings', each one unique in its own way and a window through which can be viewed a world now long gone.

Ebook available from : Amazon : Smashwords : and other ebook retailers.

BOWMAN

Joe Bowman, the legendary Lakeland huntsman.

By Ron Black and Wendy Fraser.

Ebook available from : Amazon : Smashwords : and other ebook retailers.

As far as we know this is the first book to be written about Joe Bowman, huntsman to the Ullswater Foxhounds, since W. G. Skelton wrote a biography in 1921.

Review by Sir John Scott, Bt. MFH

Anyone with a love of hunting will find “Bowman”, Ron Black’s fascinating book about Joe Bowman, the legendary Huntsman of the Ullswater Foxhounds, an essential edition to their library. The Ullswater was formed in 1793 from the amalgamation of the Matterdale and Patterdale Hunts and six years later, the then Master, Squire Hasell appointed Joe Bowman as Huntsman and apart from a short break in 1911, he carried the horn for the next forty years.

Illustrated with archive photographs, Ron Black has painstakingly sourced reports in chronological order from the wonderful days when hunting correspondents from the Westmoreland Gazette, Lancashire Evening Post and Yorkshire Daily Post regularly covered meets of Fell Hounds. There are reminiscences of Shepherds Meets, Hunt Balls, Hunting songs, bold foxes, famous hounds, brave terriers and descriptions of days hunting by the likes of “Bay” De Courcy Parry, William Thomas Palmer and W.C.Skelton, who wrote a biography of Bowman in 1921.

The Ullswater have a long association with the Lowther family and when Joe Bowman died in 1940 in his 90th year, the “Yellow” Earl paid him this fitting tribute: “ There is nobody for whom I have a greater respect than Joe Bowman, and the services he has rendered to the fox-hunting community and the Ullswater Hounds on the Lakeland hills are so well known that it is impossible for me to express any views regarding him that are not entirely shared and appreciated by those living in that country.”

Hunting is fundamental to the lives and cultural heritage of Cumbrian people and in “Bowman”, Ron Black has given us an immensely valuable insight to a period of Lakeland history, when the possibility of hunting becoming a political pawn was not just remote, it was unthinkable.

BOBBY TROUGHTON & THE KENDAL OTTER HOUNDS

"And there is no candidate for his mantle."
By Ron Black and George Stewart. Edited by Wendy Fraser.

This collection of records, from court appearances to grand rescues, gives an insight into the character, humour and struggles of Robert “Bobby” Troughton, 1835-1912, a man who left a legacy in the town of Kendal in Cumbria (UK), with his construction work, as well as his passion for otter hunting and establishing one of the foremost hunting packs in the otter hound world.

Ebook available from : Amazon : Smashwords : and other ebook retailers.

"CHAPPIE"

Anthony Chapman, "a Lakeland Hunstman followed by many, respected by all".

By Ron Black. Edited by Wendy Fraser.

Another well researched book using original publications tracing his life and career.

Ebook available from : Amazon : Smashwords : and other ebook retailers.

THE FLYING WHIP

The Story of Braithwaite 'Brait' Wilson & the Ullswater Foxhounds

By Ron Black. Edited by Wendy Fraser.

The story of Braithwaite “Brait” Wilson is incomplete despite considerable research and many emails and phone calls. His war records were bombed by the Luftwaffe in the Second World War and it is impossible to even find out in which of the Liverpool Battalions he served, let alone where he served and what might have happened to him, which may give a clue as to the reason for some of his subsequent behaviour in later years.

This book is the product of much research in libraries, family history sites and hunting reports. Parts of his story are a blank for the simple reason that although most of his hunting activities were recorded, most of the rest of his life was not; but I hope this book will help fill in a few gaps about Brait and the times in which he lived.
Ebook available from : Amazon : Smashwords : and other ebook retailers.

THE LUNESDALE & OXENHOLME STAGHOUNDS - A HISTORY


By Ron Black. Edited by Wendy Fraser.

Today, the Lunesdale and Oxenholme Staghounds are consigned to history and for the most part forgotten. The deer they chased, including Lion and Mabel, have gone to that great rutting ground in the sky. The horses, among them White Wine and Lionel, push up the grass instead of grazing it, and the sound of the horn and halloa has been replaced by the rumble of traffic and the high-speed train.

Ebook available from : Amazon : Smashwords : and other ebook retailers.

THE MARDALE HUNT - A HISTORY

By Ron Black. Edited by Wendy Fraser.

Using material written at the time and original photographs, this book tells the story of the Mardale Hunt and the annual Shepherds' Meet that for centuries took place in the now flooded Mardale valley. A detailed and well researched glimpse of the characters, the customs, the social life, the hunts and hound trails that took place before the valley became a reservoir in the 1930s. The annual Mardale Shepherds’ Meet is probably the best known of all the ‘meets’ of the Lakeland Fell Packs, yet there does not appear to have been a book written about it before. "Older than the memory of man", it carries on, albeit at a different venue, to this day. This book sets out to put the hunt and its impact on the small valley and the occupants into some kind of perspective.

Ebook available from : Amazon : Smashwords : and other ebook retailers.

"SOFTLY FALL THE FEET OF THEM ALONG THE ENGLISH LANES”

The Lathom Remount Depot of World War One

By Ron Black. Edited by Wendy Fraser.


Read a moving account of the huge number of horses and mules that were shipped across the English Channel during World War One to play such an important role in the war. Many of them had already crossed the Atlantic to join their UK cousins in the UK remount depots. Ron has sourced accounts written just a few years after the war describing the care and selection of these equines, along with insights into quotidian life, both military and civilian, in and around the Lathom Remount Depot in Ormskirk, Lancashire (UK).


Free ebook is available from : Smashwords : and other ebook retailers.