TOBY OF THE WHITE CITY

LIFTING THE LATCH

For eighty years Mont Abbott lived and worked on the land in rural Oxfordshire. In this memoir, related over a period of two years to author Sheila Stewart, he ‘lifts the latch’ and takes us into a forgotten world of roly-poly puddings and street fairs. He also describes the lost skills of carting and shepherding, the joys of singing in the church choir, and the privilege of being part of a loyal rural community.

RAMLIN ROSE

Drawing on recorded interviews with the few boatwomen left who were born and bred on horse-drawn boats, Sheila Stewart has recounted their experiences as seen through the eyes of an illiterate boatwoman, travelling mainly on the Oxford Canal through the Great War, the Depression, the Second World War, and the decline of the canals.