Millrace Books — A Bit of Grit on Haystacks

A Bit of Grit on Haystacks

cover	hardback
dimensions	170x120mm, 192 pp, c 30 b&w drawings
price	£13.95 (list)	£12.50 (website)
ISBN	1 902173 171

A Celebration of Wainwright

“There has been nothing quite like the Pictorial Guide, and few other creative works concerning the British hills have come close to emulating its success.” Dave Hewitt (Introduction)

The year 2007 has a special significance for Wainwright fans – it is a hundred years since the birth of the creator of A Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells. This series of books by the shy, Blackburn-born civil servant holds a unique place in the affections of the British public. With another anniversary two years earlier (fifty years since the publication of The Eastern Fells) hill writer Dave Hewitt decided that a special tribute was called for. Hewitt, author of Walking the Watershed and editor of The Angry Corrie, invited eight other writers to contribute chapters, and provided beginning, middle and end pieces himself. [Click to read more]

“Hewitt’s idea works beautifully. A Bit of Grit is well ordered, the same size as AW’s ‘magnificent seven’ and the eloquent styles of writing do more than justice to the memory of the northerner who seemed to love both Coronation Street and Blackburn Rovers, as well as his Lakeland fells.” Tom Waghorn, Manchester Evening News

Two of the contributors, A Harry Griffin and Bill Mitchell, knew Wainwright well and each recalls their friendship with him. Mitchell remembers his first, awed glimpse of The Eastern Fells and his attempts to interview the author [Click to read more]. Harry Griffin’s chapter, one of his last pieces of writing, includes an account of Wainwright in action on the hills. [Click to read more]

Val Hamilton tells how The Western Fells rescued a summer job in Wasdale from dreariness. Ronald Turnbull tackles some of Wainwright’s more disagreeable ways up the fells and Graham Wilson contrasts his diverging attitudes to the Pennine Way and the Coast to Coast. Robin N Campbell considers Wainwright’s graphic artistry, David McVey looks at the range of his post-Pictorial Guide writing and, finally, Ann Bowker ushers him into the digital age.

“This book, with nice illustrations by Craig Smillie, is a fine tribute to the master fellwalker.” Jenny Dereham, Footsteps (The Wainwright Society newsletter)