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Oliver Broderick, the 27 year old author
of 'Waresley My Birthplace' has performed a remarkable feat.
Not only is this his first book, but he has succeeded in writing
and researching it over a ten year period whilst enduring
dialysis three times a week ( following two unsuccessful kidney
transplants).
'Waresley My Birthplace' is about the
community's long history (founded in 975AD) and what it was
like for Oliver to grow up in the village where he was born.
The book is divided into 24 chapters. Oliver's colour photographs
appear throughout, but the archive pictures will be of particular
interest to many. The text is wide-ranging and includes personal
anecdotes about the author's childhood and family, alongside
for example, extracts from the 1932 sales catalogue of Waresley
Park. Details of Humphry Repton's Red Book of the estate are
here too, so is the last entry of the school's log book before
it closed in 1949 as well as interviews with five senior citizens.
A chapter entitled 'Waresley Titbits'
reveals some interesting information including a millennium
census, and various facts. The old church for example, was
based on the design of Christopher Wren's church for Pembrooke
College and in 1740 a skeleton with a small Roman jug in it's
hand was found near Balls Bridge over Gransden Brook.
Journal Verdict: A refreshing perspective on village life.
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