Memories of The Moorlands

30 YEARS OF STORIES, SKETCHES AND ANECDOTES AS ONE MAN AND HIS DOGS RECORD THE TRUE BEAUTY OF STAFFORDSHIRE...

STORIES which have developed while a man walked his dogs across the Staffordshire Moorlands have been produced in a book. For more than 30 years Mike Smalldridge has been walking with his different dogs across the district in locations including Wetley Moor, Dimmingsdale near Alton, Dilhorne, the Roaches near Leek and across the Peak District.

Over the years Mike, who was born in Fenton, has made notes and sketches over the incidents he has come across on his walks.

Now after three decades his relatives and friends suggested that he put all his stories together in a book. Mike, who is retired and lives in Werrington, said: “This is my first book. All the stories are true, hopefully humorous and with the illustrations completed by myself. “The stories are about incidents that I have come across on my walks across the Staffordshire Moorlands with my different dogs. There have been many amusing incidents and I managed to make notes and sketches over the years. There are also stories from my backpacking days, on many of the long distance paths within the UK. “Friends and relatives have suggested I do it, over the last few years.

“So during the three months of lockdown I decided to put them all together with the encouragement of my wife and daughter. My uncle, John Mason who is 92, thought of the title and wrote the foreword for the book. “I have already had a great response from friends, relatives and neighbours.” The 90-page book, entitled A Man, His Dogs and His Memories, is now on sale at £7.99.

It is available at Leek Bookshop in Stanley Street; Hanley Museum; JFK shop in Werrington and at Jo Booth Design shop in High Street, Cheadle.