specialists in local books and authors inc. Hardy & Fowles

EX-EDITOR PENS LOCAL HISTORY OF "HER KIND OF TOWN"

A book charting the last century-and-a-half of Bridport's news has been published by former weekly newspaper editor Margery Hookings.
My Kind of Town, 150 years of Bridport's news, features stories from the past as well as reminiscences by people who worked for the Bridport News.

These include Arthur Townsend, who was a reporter for the News in the 1950s. One of the jobs he disliked the most was gathering the names of mourners at funerals.
Arthur now lives in Australia but Bridport holds a special place in his heart because it was the town where he met his late wife.
Other contributors include photographers Mary Payne and Ron Boshier and former editor David Cozens, whose work in the community at Lyme Regis - where he was key player in the Boys' Club - earned him an MBE.

Said Margery: "The book is aimed at people who are interested in Bridport and its past but are not necessarily looking for a heavy history tome.
"It's been designed like a newspaper so people can dip in and out of it as they wish - the perfect coffee table book or for putting in the loo!"
My Kind of Town, printed by Creeds, costs £9.95 and will be available from The Book Shop, 14 South Street, Bridport where Margery is doing a signing on Saturday December 3, from 10.00a.m. to 3.00p.m.
(It can also be obtained by contacting Margery by e-mail at margeryhookings@yahoo.co.uk. Please add another £2 for postage and packing.)

Margery Hookings is a journalist whose association with the Bridport News spans 23 years. She has worked for the newspaper three times and became its first female editor in 1999. She worked on the Gemma Lawrence abduction story - being the first journalist to find out about it after a tip-off - and the sad case of Jo Ramsden, a young Bridport woman who went missing in 1992.
As editor, she instigated the Terry Collin award - a competition to recognise sporting stalwarts - Find Fido, where readers had to search for local dignitary Fido May whose picture was hidden somewhere in the paper, and the popular News around the World feature, which is still going strong.
As well as writing, Margery has also run a pub and worked in public relations.
She is pictured with her grand daughter, Faye, who was born exactly 150 years after the first Bridport News was printed on June 23, 1855.