Grit in the Oyster [signed]

Mike Keeble explores the history of a Yorkshire family as characters emerge from Richmond Castle, Lower Wensleydale, Baden Baden, Aberdeenshire and the Celtic fringe of Cornwall and Wales. Ancestors are then followed across a kaleidoscopic backdrop of the Statue of Liberty, the Wild West, Highclere Castle - of Downton Abbey fame, the River Thames, the Western front and Dunkirk to towns and villages of Wensleydale. Ancestors include a long bowman who fought at Agincourt, a Steward of Richmond Castle and Founders of the Swaledale & Wensleydale Bank, the Robinson Memorial Church of England School, Leeds Infirmary and Clapham Women's Hospital. Dyers & Bleachers, Iron Mongers, Mill Owners, Tea & Rubber Merchants, Farmers, Soldiers, Civil & Public Servants, Academics, Doctors, Vicars, Gentlemen Smugglers a Japanese Countess and a Hungarian Baroness, are woven into this family history in a wonderful eclectic mix within the framework of national events. Mike opens a Pandora's Box of bigamy, fatal accidents, greed and law suits with eye watering costs; and considers the 'hope' that is the legacy for the future. As this is real life, there is goodness to balance the record with a look at bankers who served their customers, soldiers who served their country and women who served their communities.