Published privately by the author in 2004, 54 pages. Paperback (N7741)
This book provides a fascinating collection of stories, memories and personal accounts relating to Piel Island, a small island located off the southern tip of Walney and now part of Barrow-in-Furness.
From the first page: To have stood on the terra firma that is Piel Island on a balmy late autumn night and seen the castle resplendent in silhouette against a gigantic Harvest moon is to experience the true meaning of romanticism. You may well feel, as I certainly did, that you had been magically transported back to the 18th century and, for a brief moment in time, believe that modernity had no meaning at all.
I fell in love with Piel Island as a teenager and I have never stopped loving it to this day: My early visits were very few and far between - but I still fell in love with it. I could see it from Barrow Island beach where, as a youngster, I messed about in boats; from the end of the street where I lived and from the Barrow Paper Mills where I worked on shifts for about twelve years. I could step outside in the middle of the night and see it in all its moonlit splendour and I revelled in its beauty: I just knew somehow, even then, that I would, one day, live there.
And so it came to be that, in 1964, the incumbent of the inn, Dan Rooney, well liked and much respected, met his maker and so I subsequently applied for, and against much competition, was granted the tenancy of the Ship Inn. We duly took up residence late in August of 1964... We lived on-Piel for 6 years; all of them very hard but very happy: Living on Piel is a taste that has to be acquired and worked at for it is truly a challenge but whoever accepts the challenge becomes infinitely the better for it. We certainly did! The following 'Tales' will, I hope, give a little flavour of the things that can happen on Piel. They are but a minute taste of the magic that we knew...
The condition of the book is generally very good. The covers have one or two minor scuffs but are clean and bright, the spine is intact, and all pages are clean, intact, unblemished and tightly bound.