WILTS & DORSET MOTOR SERVICES - Key Persons

A Round Dorset Walk: long distance footpath, the illustrated guide, by Steven Crockford, is a long-distance route of 181 miles, on ancient paths and trackways, on the perimeter of one of the most remarkable counties in England. From the stunning Poole Harbour beneath the Purbeck Hills, the walker sets out towards the peaceful downs of Cranborne Chase, across the rolling hills of Blackmore Vale and Marshwood Vale, finally to return to the dramatic coastal path from which the walk began, there to complete a journey through 250 million years of history. Whether it is achieved in one challenging effort, or in a series of stages, it is a very special journey around a beautiful and often unexplored part of Britain, that will live long in the memory of anyone who completes it. To be published July 2006, 112pp paperback with detailed maps and exquisite line drawings by the author, price £8.95, ISBN 0-946418-49-7 To Partake of Tea: the last ladies of Kingston Lacy, by Geoffrey Brown. This is the story of life in a great country house, Kingston Lacy near Wimborne in Dorset, during the last eighty years that it remained in private ownership, from 1897 to 1981. Times of glamour, bereavement, sadness and benevolence are recalled through the eyes of Henrietta Bankes and her daughter-in-law Hilary, the estate's last influential chatelaines. Geoffrey Brown, a long-term National Trust volunteer at Kingston Lacy, describes life in the house and on the estate, which extended across Dorset to Corfe Castle and the Isle of Purbeck, with great sympathy and understanding, as its owners responded to the social changes of the twentieth century. To Partake of Tea will delight anyone who has enjoyed visiting Kingston Lacy since its acquisition by the National Trust in 1983, and anyone interested in the predicament faced by owners of other large estates as their role has changed and, in some cases, disappeared. To be published July 2006, 100-page illustrated paperback, price £9.95, ISBN 0-946418-50-0 An Exceptional Woman: the writings of Heather Tanner, selected and introduced by Rosemary Devonald. Heather Tanner (1903 - 1993) is best known as the author of four exquisite books about Wiltshire and its countryside, products of the lifelong collaboration with her husband, the etcher and artist Robin Tanner. Throughout her life she wrote poems, letters, essays and dialogues, which reveal the depth of her understanding of rural life, her benign humour and her mastery of language. This selection, made and introduced by her friend Rosemary Devonald, draws on largely unpublished material which she collected after Heather's death. To her many friends, and those to whom her published work is known and appreciated, this collection will be an irresistible memento. To those unfamiliar with the name of Heather Tanner her writing will come as a delightful discovery - the work and life of an exceptional woman. To be published August 2006, 156-page (approx.) hardback, with about 25 illustrations (mostly by Robin Tanner), price £14.50, ISBN 0-946418-47-0 A Hundred Years of Speed with Safety: the inception and progress of the Westinghouse Brake & Signal Company Ltd, 1881-1981, by O S Nock. The company can trace its roots in Chippenham, Worcester and London back to the 1860s. The company was a true railway pioneer using innovative signalling and braking systems to allow the safe and efficient operation of railways worldwide for well over a century. O S Nock, who died in 1994, was an outstanding and prolific railway historian, but he was also a senior executive at Westinghouse, and wrote this company history in 1981. Never previously published, it has now, 25 years on, been revised and augmented by a comprehensive selection of images, complementing this important and authoritative text. Early December 2006, 270-page paperback, fully illustrated, price £12.95, ISBN10 0-946418-51-9; ISBN13 978-0-946418-51-0 The Basingstoke Admiral: a life of James Lancaster, by Michael Franks. Historical biography of Sir James Lancaster, a ‘forgotten' Elizabethan international merchant and naval commander who was celebrated in his own day but has been neglected by historians. Best remembered as the commander of the first fleet of the East India Company (1601-3) Lancaster had a fascinating and varied career, touching many aspects of Elizabethan life, in the country in north Hampshire, in London and overseas. Using new material based on archive research and re-working of the published sources, Franks argues the case for recognising Lancaster as one of the earliest ‘global traders'. Foreword by Andrew Lambert, Laughton Professor of Naval History at King's College, London. November 2006, 244-page paperback, 55 illustrations, price £14.95, ISBN10 0-946418-59-4; ISBN13 978-0-946418-59-6 The Primrose Wood, by June Badeni. Countess Badeni is well-known in Wiltshire and Gloucestershire for two books of local and social history, which describe the villages around her home at Norton near Malmesbury. She is also a very accomplished essayist, as this delightful collection of 36 short pieces about rural life, its people and creatures, demonstrates. Most were published intermittently over many years in Country Life; all are beautifully crafted, finely observed depictions of the countryside, in Wiltshire and much further afield. The text is complemented by woodcuts by Bewick and his school. November 2006, 150-page small-format hardback, 36 illustrations, price £9.95, ISBN10 0-946418-52-7; ISBN13 978-0-946418-52-7

Janet Forsyth. Trying to handle all the tasks associated with running a publishing house (small, but growing) defeats me sometimes, so I am delighted that Janet, who has long experience of bookselling and the book trade, has agreed to take over some of the areas that baffle me most - notably stock control and some aspects of direct and internet selling. This should come as good news to Hobnob authors too, as it should result in more regular and reliable royalty payments. The Pedestrian. Hobnob's anonymous author, the pedestrian on a Tour in search of Chalk, is managing to retain his (or her) anonymity up to a point (although everyone in Salisbury seems to know who he is). Earlier in the year the national magazine British Archaeology named the Tour ‘book of the month', and now the Regional Historian (published by the University of the West of England) has published a flattering review (‘a cunning homage to early nineteenth century domestic travel writing') which ends with the exhortation ‘Buy this book'. Hear, hear.

Mary Pierce was seven in 1938. As a small child in a small Hampshire village she grew up into a big world through a big war. Sensitively told and delicately illustrated, this is her account of coming of age in wartime and coming to terms with a grown-up world. It will strike a chord with everyone of her generation, and offer many insights (for those too young to remember) into ordinary life under extraordinary circumstances. Published May 2004, paperback (157 pages), price £6.95, ISBN 0-946418-23-3.

Rex Sawyer. The qualities of our star author (three titles, and a fourth to come next Spring), and the most genial person one could wish to work with, have been recognized by the British Association for Local History. He is the recipient of their 2006 award for personal achievement, for which many congratulations.