BUCKET ON T' STAIRS

Bucket on t'' Stairs is the story of a deaf kid growing up in the poverty of West Yorkshire in the 1950s and 1960s in a one-up, one-down house in industrial Batley. He got his first hearing aid at eight and moved from bottom to top of his class. He was awarded a place at Batley Boys Grammar School without having to take the 11-plus examination. He graduated from Reading University and spent his working life as an Environmental Health Officer. Many of his legislative innovations were adopted nationally by the British Government.

Of the book, Neil says, "I tell my story in Yorkshire dialect. That some may not understand it initially troubled me but my publisher encouraged it because over time proud, broad Yorkshire has become diluted. The book brings it back to life. I have laughed recounting the amusing stories and wiped away tears remembering the sad. It has been an emotional return. The nineteen-fifties and sixties were over half a century ago but I enjoyed every minute re-living them."

Now a retiree Neil travels between Spain and Belgium according to the season. He walks, swims, plays guitar and gigs in folk and rock bands. Writing is his new passion.