Search results for ""Author Dave Joy""

This evocative memoir recalls the long, heady days of Liverpool in the summer of 1969, as seen through the eyes of eleven-year-old Deejay. Infused with a distinctive Scouse sense of humour, this book tells the story of how Deejay filled his summer holiday having adventures – and misadventures – with his mischievous gang of young friends and working at Wellington Dairy, the family-owned, horse-drawn milk business located in the Liverpool suburb of Garston. Deejay intends to be the next in a long line of dairy farmers and sets about learning as much as he can about the family business. Amusing and entertaining, surprising and sometimes moving, Deejay’s account vividly captures one boy’s growing appreciation of the family history that preceded him and a growing understanding of his place in the world. Key to that understanding is the very special relationship that can exist between a boy and his dad.

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The mid-1800s witnessed a mass exodus from the Pennine ‘Dales’ as the then latest generation of farmers and miners sought a new life in the New World. However, many of these found a new life for themselves a bit closer to home – they became Liverpool Cowkeepers, keeping cows in their back yards and selling milk to a rapidly expanding city population with an insatiable need for fresh food. The Liverpool Cowkeepers became part of the life and economy of the city and continued to serve its people for over a hundred years. They overcame many challenges and survived through hard work, good Yorkshire business nous and the ability to adapt. They started out as farmers, adapted to become city cowkeepers and then adapted again to become suburban milkmen – part of the best doorstep food delivery service in the world and a key part of the British way of life. Dave Joy draws on his own family history to tell the story of the lives and times of the Liverpool Cowkeepers. The Joy family came from the upper Wharfedale valley in the beautiful Yorkshire Dales and established cowhouses in the Liverpool districts of Wavertree and Garston. They continued in this way of life for several generations, becoming one of the city’s last cowkeeping families.

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The early nineteenth century witnessed the mass movement of people from Britain's countryside into its burgeoning towns and cities; people came to the city in search of work. This prompted many dairy farmers to follow suit and move themselves, their family and their cows into the country's growing metropolises, where they opened the first generation of city dairies. In the 1830s, transportation in Britain was revolutionised by the coming of the railways, enabling foodstuffs, including milk, to be transported in bulk from countryside to city. Large dairy companies took advantage of this opportunity, opening a new generation of retail dairies. The demand for milk was so great that some cities boasted a dairy at the end of every street. For the next hundred years the cowkeepers fought a rear-guard action against the mighty corporate dairies and their attempts to monopolise the liquid milk market. The cowkeepers continued to produce their own milk, selling it - 'fresh from the cow' - over the dairy counter and out on the milk round. These dairies were kept in the family, handed down through successive generations. Despite surviving two World Wars, the rapid technological, social and economic changes that followed, brought about the demise of the traditional cowkeeper. But the city dairy continued as a family business, working as part of a national distribution network, overseen by the Milk Marketing Board. Out on the round, the family dairyman was almost indistinguishable from the corporate milkman. The sixties and seventies saw the arrival of the Supermarket, a game-changer in retailing. To survive, the city dairy had to change once more. It expanded its offer and seamlessly joined the ranks of those other most British of institutions: the Corner Shop and the Convenience Store.

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