At long last! 'EASTRINGTON, AN EAST RIDING VILLAGE' by Susan Butler will be available from the 3rd December 2009.

LAUNCH, BOOK SIGNING, OLD PHOTO EXHIBITION AND REFRESHMENTS all day from 11am on Thursday 3rd December at Eastringon Chapel Schoolroom. Exhibition & book signing continues 4th/5th December.

Containing 360 pages packed with family stories and over a hundred old photographs of the local area, the book tells the story of the village of Eastrington from Saxon times to present day...click here for more details and to view the cover text, index and contents pages.

Please contact me if you would like to know more and/or order a copy.

Howden, an East Riding market town
by Susan Butler and Ken Powls

Paperback, 140 pages, ISBN 0 9515498 2 0. Published 1994.

Cover Illustration: Highbridge, by Frances Hutchinson

Howden is a town with a long and fascinating history. The story of the development of church and town from Anglo Saxon times until 1900 is told by Susan Butler and Ken Powls, two local historians whose families have long lived in and around Howden.

The people mentioned in Howden's story are many and varied: from 'Saint' John who sat up in his coffin in the church, to Prince John who spent Christmas at Howden; from Thomas Ward, a Howden boy who became a baron, to the girl from Howden Hall who wrote secret letters to her lover next door.

There are chapters on Howden's hermit, on the treatment of the poor, on the town's part in the struggle between Cromwell and King Charles and on stagecoaches and railways.

The history of each of Howden's 28 inns is described in detail and many local families feature in the chapters on Victorian shopkeepers.The story of Howden is that of an ordinary East Riding market town - but one which was owned for centuries by the Bishops of Durham and which once hosted the biggest horse fair in England. Almost 40 maps, drawings and photographs illustrate the text.

Unfortunately this book is currently out of print.

Gilberdyke, a village story
by the Gilberdyke Local History Group, edited by Susan Butler

Paperback, 96 pages, ISBN 0 9515498 0 4. Published 1989.

Cover illustration: Clementhorpe Hall by Graham Butler, from a painting by James Deighton

Gilberdyke is about 20 miles from Hull and has grown in the last 30 years from a small agricultural settlement into a commuter village with several housing estates.

This book was written by a WEA class which met in 1986/7 and covered such topics as Gilberdyke mills, population and occupations in 1851, roads, rivers and railways, schools, local Methodists, Sandholme brickworks, the Staddlethorpe flax mill, Wade's pole yard, the Gracie Fields connection and the village in wartime.

The book proved very popular and sold out within three years.

Gilberdyke, a village remembered
by the Gilberdyke Local History Group, edited by Susan Butler

Paperback, 58 pages, ISBN 0 9515498 1 2. Published 1992.

Cover illustration: Clementhorpe Road looking north, with Mrs Snowden's shop on the left

This book is the companion volume to Gilberdyke, a village story, and again was written by the Gilberdyke WEA group. It incorporates many memories and photographs which were stimulated by people reading the first volume and concentrates mainly on shops and pubs.

Topics include the Cross Keys, the Throup family of butchers, Ward's Hotel, the memorial hall, Gilberdyke feast, Doctor MacKenzie, Claytons' shop, the Railway Hotel, the White Horse and the Rose and Crown.

A few copies are available at £4.50 each, plus £1.25 p&p. Please contact me by email for the postal address.

Goole, a pictorial history Vol. 1
by Susan Butler

Paperback, ISBN 1 900503 00 X. Published 1995.

Cover illustration: 'The Middle Lock, Goole, February 1862' from Views of Goole and Neighbourhood

Goole is a tightly-knit community and many of its present-day inhabitants are descended from families who have lived in the town since the early days of the nineteenth century.

This book tells the story of their Goole - its people and its buildings - by using photographs and memories.

It is the first volume of a series and so concentrates on the time up to the First World War. There are pictures of early Aire Street and Boothferry Road shops; of Goole's first rugby club and Goole Town juniors; of geese grazing in Victoria Street; of sailing ships in the docks, and of the Cape of Good Hope.

Find out why the Riot Act was once read in Goole, what it was like to have your ears pierced in the Theatre Royal and who Montagu Street and Dunhill Road were named after.

You will see, too, a picture of Goole's first doctor, who sailed on a whaling ship before coming to Goole and fighting one of the most severe cholera epidemics in Yorkshire, of Old Goole's first Post Office, and of the fire which destroyed the town's original market hall.

But above all this book will bring back memories - of the Balloon Yeast shop in Aire Street; of Hopleys', Hackforths', Shorts' and Glews'; of the Empress and the Equity and of gathering bluebells in Cobblers' Wood.

Unfortunately this book is currently out of print.

Goole, a pictorial history Vol. 2
by Susan Butler

Paperback, ISBN 1 900503 00 1. Published 1996.

Cover illustration: Goole tug no.3 of the Goole and Hull Steam Towing Company. She was built in 1899 at South Shields and was 75 feet long and 56 tons.

There are not many families in Goole who have not had some connection with the docks, the shipping companies and the waterways. When a Goole ship was lost the whole town mourned.

This second volume of Goole, a pictorial history tells the story id the change from sail to steam. It tells of the rise of the Goole Steam Shipping Company, of Bennetts' Red Cross Line, of the Goole captains and their adventures. There are photographs of many of the ships and of the docks.

But this is not just a book about ships. It concentrates on the time up to the First World War when the coal trade was flourishing and Goole was prosperous. There are pictures of Boothferry Road, of Pasture Road, of Bridge Street and of Greenawn Corner.

It was a time of chapel and church building and there are the stories of Carlisle Terrace, of the United Free Methodists and of St. Paul's.

And there are the people: the schoolchildren, the football teams and the characters of those years such as Goole's grand old man, Benjamin Andrews and C.J. Forth, first headmaster of the Grammar School.

Do you remember Branson Bowles, Crappers and Shipleys' post office - they are all here.

And did you know that 450 Goole men were killed in the First World War? Their names are listed in this book.

To buy, please visit the Goole Times website.

Goole, a pictorial history Vol. 3
by Susan Butler

Paperback, ISBN 1 900503 00 2. Published 1997.

Cover illustration: Market place and the clock tower on a wet afternoon in the 1930s.

This third volume of Goole's history covers the time between the two world wars. Beginning with the dedication of the town's war memorial, the book looks at the celebration of the centenary in 1926 and the visit of Prince George in 1933.

It also describes the three terrible tragedies that hit the town with the losses of the Goole ships - the Merville, the Calder and the Broomfleet.

But a large part of the book is about memories - of life on the docks and life in the kitchen - as well as memories of the shops and the people in the twenties and thirties.

Do you remember Hackforth's and the Bon Marche, Scutt's tripe stall and Icecream Mary? What about Ted Newell's band, the old Steam Packet and the Mariners' Street recreation ground? Or were you in the Goole Town team which won the West Riding County Cup in April 1930?

This is a book about Goole people; their tragedies, their celebrations and their everyday life.

To buy, please visit the Goole Times website.