Description
Author: Brian Oldham
Publisher: Liskeard & District Museum
ISBN 978-1-3999-5327-6
Format: 91 pages, illustrations (some coloured), maps, index.
Price: £9.99
Description: Following the author’s excellent A peek into Liskeard’s past, here is a second very attractively designed book of short items about an immensely rich and varied selection of topics relevant to Liskeard. He has sought to “create a balance between the stories of some better known individuals… with the occupants over the years of particular Liskeard buildings, together with events in the lives of little known Liskeard families” (blurb). As with the first book, most items occupy a couple of pages, and again it’s the sort of book you can read from start to finish or just dip into when you feel like it, but you will not fail to learn something which you never suspected.
Terry Knight –
From Old Cornwall / Kernow Goth, vol 16, no 5, Spring 2024
One of Old Cornwall’s most energetic practicing recorders is also the President and Secretary of a Society – Brian Oldham. Here is the second book in which he shares some of the research he has accumulated about his adopted home town. The first, A Peek into Liskeard’s Past, published in 2022, was extremely successful, selling quickly, and clearly called for a follow-up, which he has accomplished in double-quick time. The format is similar, with variety being a key theme.
The 90-page volume is generously illustrated as well as indexed, and examines the people of interest through Liskeard’s past. That raises a very wide range of topics, related to agriculture, mining, folklore, education, businesses, town development, notable events, crime, local government, sport, art, society, and so very much more, just about anything you could think of. It all reflects that Liskeard has been a typically thriving rural community with numerous strata. The breadth of the author’s delving is commendable, as he displays a curiosity about all of it, and is able to raise that interest in his readers.
In the book’s cover blurb there is the expressed desire to ‘create a balance between stories of some better known individuals with a Liskeard connection, with the occupants over the years of particular Liskeard buildings, together with events in the live of little known Liskeard families.’ I reckon Mr Oldham has succeeded!
The design of the book, with its striking purple cover and clever layout means that it is attractive to handle. Moreover, by its nature, it is one which you can dip into when there are a few spare moments, or read at length. Editor