Asby History Group

Speaker:  David Joy.

Synopsis
The mid-1800s witnessed a mass exodus from the Pennine Dales.  Farmers and miners sought a new life – some in the New World, but others closer to home.  Many former farmers became Liverpool Cowkeepers, selling milk to a rapidly expanding population.  The cows kept in Liverpool back yards became part of the life and economy of the city and continued to serve its people for over a hundred years.  The Cowkeepers overcame many challenges, and survived through hard work, good Dales business nous and the ability to adapt.  Later, they became suburban milkmen – part of the best doorstep food delivery service in the world and a key part of the British way of life.

About our speaker
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.

Dave’s first book, “My Family and Other Scousers – A Liverpool Boy’s Summer of Adventure in ’69“, is a memoir of his childhood days spent at Wellington Dairy, the family-owned, horse-drawn milk business in Garston, Liverpool.  His second book, “Liverpool Cowkeepers”, documents the history of the many Dales families who, in the mid-1800s, left their rural existence and rode the wave of the Industrial Revolution to become city cowkeepers in the burgeoning metropolis that was Liverpool. Both books will be on sale at the end of this evening’s illustrated talk.

Further information is available on Dave’s website, just click on “LEARN MORE” below..
For background reading, seek out that second book of Dave’s:
Joy, D Liverpool Cowkeepers, Stroud, 2016; ISBN 9781445663234

All welcome:
AHG members free; non-members £3 (including refreshments).