Garry Copeland has been a journalist for almost fifty years. He began at the age of sixteen as a junior reporter in his home town of Stafford, UK, and, except for a brief stint on the Daily Express in the 1960s, his career has been spent entirely working for the English regional press.
These pieces were written for the Express & Star, an evening newspaper published in the West Midlands. The first dozen or so appeared only in the Stafford edition, but from August, 2005 they were published in all editions. The early focus was on home-town nostalgia: local history viewed through a glass lightly. Later, the column developed into a sort of weekly chronicle. Small stuff, up close and personal.