Dear Readers of The Year of Living Englishly,
I am absolutely delighted to announce the publication of the memoir and e-book, A Pennine Childhood, written by my mother, Brenda Wallis Smith!
In this captivating, beautifully written memoir of a childhood spent in Derbyshire’s Peak District, my mother provides a fascinating account of her childhood in the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s when local farmers ploughed with horses, miners walked home in the evenings with faces blackened with coal dust and, during the war, fields and haystacks were strafed by the Luftwaffe on their way home to Germany and the village postman took to announcing, ‘’E’s cummin’ ’ome, me darlin’, ’e’s cummin’ ’ome!’
My mother draws a vivid picture of the Derbyshire countryside and the Derwent Valley, with its rich history that included Sir Richard Arkwright, Florence Nightingale, and Alison Uttley. It is here that her maternal grandfather and uncles worked in Matlock’s spas, on farms, and in local quarries, and her grandmother worked scrubbing the floors of the Royal Bank of Scotland in Matlock. Her paternal grandfather, John Bent Wallis, the son of a gardener, became, against all odds, an accomplished painter and the daily nature columnist for the Sheffield Telegraph. In A Pennine Childhood, the English countryside and its people come vividly to life.
You may notice that the cover of the book is the painting done by my great-grandfather, her grandfather, John Bent Wallis, of the Derwent Valley about which I have written in this blog. (The little figure of a young child is my mother’s father). And, as you will see, she is a far better writer than I, and a wonderful observer of daily life.
As they say in Derbyshire, I’m dead chuffed (really, really proud)! I hope you will read the book, or listen to the e-book!
To order the book in the US: http://www.amazon.com/Pennine-Childhood-Brenda-Wallis-Smith/dp/1484195671/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1386440623&sr=8-1&keywords=a+pennine+childhood
To order the e-book in the US: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00H52GD9I
To order the book in the UK:
If you’re in Derbyshire, go to: Scarthin’s in Cromford, The Loaf Cafe in Crich, Bridge Gifts in Matlock (right by Crown Square and the bridge over the Derwent), Worth Books in Belper (top of King’s Parade), and Cromford Mills Gifts and Bookshop at Cromford Mills, Cromford.
Otherwise in the UK, you can order the book through Amazon UK:http://www.amazon.co.uk/Pennine-Childhood-Brenda-Wallis-Smith/dp/1484195671/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1386443723&sr=8-1&keywords=a+pennine+childhood
To order the e-book in the UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/A-Pennine-Childhood-Brenda-Smith-ebook/dp/B00H52GD9I/ref=tmm_kin_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1386443723&sr=8-1
The Year of Living Englishly 
This is wonderful! I look forward to reading this. Memoirs are a favorite type of reading for me!
Susan, thank you! I think you’ll enjoy this look at English village life in the first half of the last century!
Wonderful!
I found this delightful book in The Loaf at Crich, and love it! May I have copyright permission to read directly from the book onto the local Talking Newspaper for the Blind, serving visually impaired people in the Mansfield area? Of course full credit to your mother would be given.
I’ve just been given this to read, primarily because I am Archivist for the Friends of Cromford Canal, but I read it from cover to cover and was enthralled. We live just around the corner from 5 Matlock Road, on Chase Road next to the canal! I wonder if your mother has any photos of the canal at all? I am always on the lookout! Also, there is a sketch in the book by John Grain showing various aspects of the canal, but it is cropped off at the top. Do you know anything about this person? It would be great to hear from you. Best wishes
Hello, Hugh, how nice that you are an Archivist for Friends of the Cromford Canal. I’m so glad you enjoyed my mother’s book. As it happens, I do have a photo of the canal with my grandfather and his brother and sisters which I will send to you.
Re: John Grain, his drawings were published in the Derbyshire Countryside magazine, and my dad really liked them, so he contacted Mr. Grain and bought probably 20-25 of them, which were split between me and my sister. I don’t have more information on Mr. Grain, but if you were to contact the office/archives of the Derbyshire Countryside about his work probably in the 1980s and 1990s, you might be able to be in contact with him or his family.
I hope this answers your questions! All best, Virginia
I read the book with great interest as I was born in Fritchley and lived my own version of a pennine childhood about 20 years later in time. I have just ordered westward ho from amazon and am looking forward to reading it. Its interesting how many farmers sons became scientists as I followed a similar path but not in the USA.
Hello, John, how nice of you to write. When you were in Fritchley, were you living on a farm? I’d be interested in knowing which one, as I seem to remember a family named Brown living at Barn Close Farm, which is where my dad grew up and did the milking by hand with his father on a little three-legged stool. As a farmer’s lad yourself, where have you landed, and what is your scientific speciality? All best, Virginias