Ztan Zmith is the pen name of Stan Smith of Brinsley, near Eastwood in Nottinghamshire –Vice President and former Chairman of the Nottingham Writers Club

Writer profile
Ztan Zmith is the pen name of Stan Smith of Brinsley, Chairman of Basford and District Local History Society and Vice President of the Nottingham Writers Club.

Ztan has written many articles, short stories and poems, which have featured on Radio in the e-magazine The Nottinghamshire Times and in a wide variety of other publications.

He writes about fascinating local characters from the past who lived in extraordinary times and this has led to the publication of five books for the Merrill Foundation’s Nottinghamshire Heritage Series, a further ten books based on his home village of Brinsley, five books about nearby Underwood and Bagthorpe, one book on Basford and Cinderhill and a Wedding Book that has proved to be extraordinary popular.

Ztan is also editor of The Basford Bystander a bi-monthly Community Newspaper devoted to nostalgia and local history in and around Basford and District in Nottingham.   This publication is read in quite a few countries around the world.

 

Stan’s virtual clean sweep of trophies at NWC Awards Presentation Night

 

Books by Ztan Zmith

All Stan’s books have been reviewed on Local Radio in the Nottingham Post, the Hucknall and Bulwell Dispatch or the Eastwood Advertiser

 

 

 

 

 

NAN SCOTT by Ztan Zmith

The story of Nottinghamshire’s own Plague Village

 

ISBN O 946404 33X

Price £5.95

 

In 1666 when the Plague came to Holme by Newark in Nottinghamshire, Nan Scott knew exactly what to do, but her safety cost her a terrible price!

    

This reconstruction of the life of Nan Scott sets out to tell the story of how a courageous widow, having lived through the turbulent times of the English Civil War, copes with disaster head on by pitting her wits against the Plague – a disease which at its height, carried off thousands of victims at a time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

BELL TALES by Ztan Zmith

ISBN O 946404 43 7

price £6.95     Second edition

 

This is a collection of 36 fascinating East Midlands stories from Nottinghamshire, Lincolnshire, Derbyshire and Leicestershire linked together by a bell theme

 

·      from a quaint Bulwell Wedding to a weird Nottingham funeral

·      from Radford’s own “Simple Simon” to Hucknall’s Bare Knuckle fighter Ben Caunt.

·      from Basford’s Pancake bell to the Washerwoman’s Legacy

·      from  the Bolsover  bell mould to Little Hugh of Lincoln

·      from the Ghost bell of Girton to Crowland Abbey Bells

·      from the Stilton bell to the Appleby Clock

·      from Stamford’s Toby Norris tothe Swans of Chelmorton     

               They’re all there and many more!

 

 

 

 

 

 

SOME NOTTINGHAMSHIRE INN

AND PUB STORIES

by Ztan Zmith

ISBN I 874754 99 3             price £6.95

 

A collection of ten true Nottinghamshire stories centred around the traditional English Pub. Includes stories o f-

 

·         Joe Haywood’s journey from Hucknall through Hell to Watnall

·         Blue skies at Selston and grim days at the coal face

·         Storm clouds over Papplewick and a miracle

·         Black Thursday and a Bulwell hero

·         The Beeston Mormon and a fatal promise

·         The Woman upstairs - the tragedy of a Lenton Landlady which inspired  Charlotte Bronte to write Jane Eyre

·         The Pear Tree Ghost at Basford

·         Venison Pasty - a retelling of a much loved Mansfield story

They’re all there and more!

 

 

 

 

 

RHYME & REASON by Ztan Zmith

ISBN I 841730 03 3

price £5.95

 

A collection of 15 fascinating Nottinghamshire folk tales told in Rhyme and Reason

·         from Windy Miller Moss of Mansfield to cave Sandmen of Nottingham

·         from Newstead’s White Lady to Arbella of Rufford Abbey

·         from a frozen ship’s Captain of Broxtowe to a Civil War Baker at Newark

·         from  a cobbler at Southwell to Gallows Hill

·         from Robin Hood the Butcher to Gotham’s Wise Men

·         from Rolling Cheeses to two kinds of Christmas

·         from Dead of Night  to Goosey Gander

 

They’re all there and more!

 

 

 

 

 

WHAT A LIFE & OTHER NOTTINGHAMSHIRE TALES

ISBN   978 0 9553691 9 3

Price £6.95

 

This Collection contains the true stories of –

·            Joseph Hooley from Wollaton press ganged three times and marooned on St Helena.

·            Thomas Smith a Nottingham draper who founded a banking empire.

·            Thomas Berdmore – who made an ample fortune as dentist to George III.

·            Charlie Gear famous through a change in the Law.

·            Francis Purdy –“The Beggarlee Bulldog” – a bare knuckle fighter who pre-empted Bendigo

·            William Purdy – son of Francis whose safety lamp should have been more famous than Davy’s.

·            Gilbert Millington – the Regicide from Felley Priory who signed the death warrant of Charles I.

 

 

Village Books Written By  Ztan

Brinsley Books

Proceeds from the sale of Brinsley books written by Ztan Zmith are donated to the Fund for replacing the dilapidated church hall in Brinsley village and the Bagthorpe and Underwood book proceeds benefit the Underwood Church Tower Appeal Fund.

 

 

 

 

BRINSLEY AND ST JAMES THE GREAT

price £1.99

 

The story of a church and also the village of Brinsley near Eastwood in Nottinghamshire – an area where writer D H LAWRENCE’s grandparents lived and where his father, uncles and aunts were brought up.  

His father Arthur and his Uncles worked in Brinsley Pit whilst his grandfather made moleskin clothing for the miners.

 It was the everyday life in and around the mining community of Brinsley and Eastwood that inspired the writer DAVID HERBERT LAWRENCE and colours his early works.  LAWRENCE was very fond of Brinsley and Eastwood - an area he called “The Country of My Heart”.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BRINSLEY SCHOOLDAYS

price £1.99

 

 

This book, in light hearted manner, traces schools in Brinsley from earliest times, through the Dame School, Mission School, Church and Board Schools to the modern village school of today.

 

Very little trace is left of the earlier schools, but we do have pictures and the fascinating memories of elderly residents of the village to tell us what life was like as a scholar in Victorian and Edwardian times and also between the two Great Wars. 

 

At the end of the book there are extracts from the amazing War Time Log Books of the Moor C of E School, which makes for compulsive reading. It’s hard to imagine what life must have been like when it was necessary to hide from air raids beneath school desks on a daily basis. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BRINSLEY PUBS

price £1.99

 

The tiny village of Brinsley had eleven pubs over the years, as coal dust was notorious for developing prodigious thirsts. 

 

“Brinsley Pubs” tells the entertaining and sometimes strange stories of former landlords, landladies and customers of the village pubs over the last 200 years

 

Stories include:  gory goings on in a pub that used to have a doctor’s operating theatre in the basement; pub ghosts; Auntie Polly and her soup kitchen; the miracle doctor; The Company Store; Egg Week; bizarre accidents; Coroner’s Inquests and much more.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BRINSLEY WAY BACK

price £1.99

 

This is a fascinating book about bygone Brinsley Characters.   These include:

·         Granny Smith, midwife and layer out extraordinaire

·         The Old Folk’s Committee and their doings.

·         Sid and his paper collection

·         Tamar and child miner Matthew Wilson.

·         Hospital Parades and Float Judges

·         Golden Slipper men and a tragedy

·         Ida Andrews and the Blacksmith

·         Mrs Dovey and her powders

·         The man who signed a King’s Death Warrant

and much more besides

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BRINSLEY - MEN AND MAYHEM

price £1.99

 

Such goings on in and around Brinsley!  No wonder D H LAWRENCE had so much to write about!

 

There was the time when there were high jinks on the lake at Lamb Close House and the terrible day that Lawrence’s uncle had his accident at the pit.

 

Then there was William Purdy who wrote to the King about unsafe mines and had so much trouble patenting his safety lamp.

 

And how about the tragic Gilbourne family – and the sorrows of poor Kate?

 

 

 

 

 

BRINSLEY – SAINTS & SINNERS

price £1.99

 

Another book about bygone Brinsley and its fascinating Characters.  These include :

 

·         Brinsley Hero – Vincent Gilbourne

·         Early Parish Council days

·         Horace Pryor and a Soldier’s Fate

·         Ganger Edward Flint’s Sad End

·         1926 Strike and the Lighter Side

·         Francis Purdy the Beggarlee Bulldog,  bare knuckle prize fighter and Champion of three Counties.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BRINSLEY – FAITH & FATE

price £1.99

 

More about bygone Brinsley and its fascinating Characters.  

  

These include:

 

·         Revd Starmer in War and Peace - the humour and the sadness.

·         The WW1 casualty without a memorial

·         Stoney Lane brickyard

·         Night soil men and a battling woman

·         Grandy Cosford—a life

·         Paradise refound

·         Brinsley’s old time lamplighters

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BRINSLEY – THROUGH THICK & THIN

price £1.99

 

This book features

 

  • Valentine Yates and the lighter side of being a sanitary inspector – especially during the War.
  • John Ball’s War.
  • Train Journey from Nottingham to Eastwood and Brinsley before 1914.
  • Brinsley’s Ancient Coffin Walk over the fields – an annual event each July.
  • Revd Percival Page and the Pages of History (the Vicar who, thinly disguised, appears in D H Lawrence’s stories)
  • Brinsley Mill and the death of a wind miller

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BRINSLEY –LIVING & LOVING

PRICE £1.99

More stories about Brinsley taken from an almost endless fund of memories, family papers and other materials.

Contents include:

·        The itinerant Rope maker from Broad Lane

·        The journeyings of Brinsley Headstocks

·        A Brinsley Vicar and the Indian Mutiny

·        The Working Man

·        Sheila and her Dad (who wasn’t a blackleg)

·        Joe Smith and letters to the paper

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BRINSLEY – VIRTUE & VILLAINY

Price £1.99

THE SUN INN GIRL GUILTY OF MURDER    Sarah Barber, who at one time had worked at the Sun Inn in Eastwood, was found guilty of the murder of her husband Joseph Barber and was sentenced to death ….

When the church clock struck 9 o’clock on the day of her execution there was a hush in the crowd, but this eventually turned to disappointment and anger when the big doors at the top of the steps remained firmly shut even when the clock sounded a quarter past the hour…

 

This is just one of the incredible stories in “Brinsley – Virtue & Villainy” Others include -

·                   The Man from Canada who came back fifty years later

·                   The girl who died because of her love of fashion

·                   Fire on Cordy Lane

·                   Gerald the Poacher

·                   The Soldier Boy who drew his pension at 18 and walked to Derby Barracks every month for the next fifty years

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BRINSLEY – DOWN TO EARTH

Price £1.99

This book is called "Brinsley - Down to Earth" and is Ztan’s eleventh Brinsley Book (and 23rd book overall) and the title “Brinsley - Down to Earth” says it all.

 

True stories in the book range from inflating cows in the milking parlour to life on Wharf Row beside the canal (illustrated by a rare photo of the Row itself)  

Then there is the tragic story of Becky Lowe and the exploits of an award winning cyclist and champion India Club Swinger.  

Also included in the book is the woman who only wanted a "icckle bit" of cheese and the demon school dentist who operated in the middle of a field so that his patient's screams wouldn't be heard by the headmaster.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SOMETHING OLD – SOMETHING NEW

Price £1.99

AGAIN THE TITLE SAYS IT ALL    This is a collection of stories and customs celebrating marriage over the years.

 

The contents include –

·         The story of Gretna Green

·         A make-do and mend  Forties Wedding

·         An English Dutch/Wedding and a graveyard

·         A War Time Wedding in Brinsley

·         The true story of the Wedding Cake

·         A Society Wedding in Underwood

·         The Country Wedding

·         Story of the Wedding Dress

·         A Mock Wedding (in the best possible taste)

·         Romantic poems by - Lord Byron, Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Robbie Burns etc

·         Origin of Wedding customs  etc etc

 

 

Underwood & Bagthorpe Books

 

 

 

 

 

UNDERWOOD OVERTURE

PRICE £1.99

This is a fascinating book about bygone Underwood village in Nottinghamshire and as the title suggests is the first of a series which will benefit the Tower of St Michael’s church, Underwood.

Contents include:

  • Phyllis Carver- Smith – organiser extraordinaire
  • Easter Day tragedy of Audouin Oakes, former owner of Felley Priory                                                                  
  •  The Organ and the Organ Blower
  •  The colourful life of Tom Higton from charabanc to RAF gunner
  • Sam Chambers and a military funeral
  • After WW2 with the Parochial Church Council
  • Rev John Bernardi and a Vision realised       

Teddy Rayner and his travelling theatre.

 

 

 

 

 

 

UNDERWOOD & BAGTHORPE

REVISITED

Price £1.99 

 

Another Underwood and Bagthorpe book.

 

Contents include:

 

·         Bagthorpe Schooldays were magic

·         Showtime in Underwood

·         Underwood Village Clock & War Memorial

·         Underwood Pit Children

·         Pit Children at Bagthorpe Colliery

·         Old time joiner learns his lessons

·         Blue Skies up Above – a tragedy

·         Joyce and the Flintoffs

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A SPOT OF BOTHER

AT BAGTHORPE & UNDERWOOD

Price £1.99

 

True stories include –

 

  • Trouble Looming and Aaron Smithurst
  • The Revd Richard Woods - the Man from Dry Docking and the building of St Michael’s Church in Underwood.
  • Keeping it Green – old Mr Green a former caretaker at Bagthorpe School
  • Winnie Remembers old time Bagthorpe and Underwood
  • A Spot of Bother and Elias Bramley
  • Bullocks at Work on the rails down to the wharf at Langley Mill - in the bad old days of child miners

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ASSORTED LIVES

IN UNDERWOOD & BAGTHORPE

Price £1.99

 

True stories include –

·               Chalk in the Blood – the life of Ethel Coates

·               Fond Memories of Bagthorpe – before Pit head baths

·               Empire Day pre 1914-18 War

·               Lizzie Smith- memories at 104 years of age

·               Billy Flint – professional footballer and cricketer described by Rachel Heyhoe Flint as “the most talented football to come from Underwood.”

·               Bagthorpe Stack Fire 1908

·               The Price of Best Butter

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TIMES REMEMBERED

in Bagthorpe & Underwood

price £1.99

 

This is Ztan’s 22nd local book, many exploring

 D H Lawrence’s family village of Brinsley and it is his 5th Underwood and Bagthorpe book.

This new book delves into the history and the historic buildings of the villages and includes

 

·         The Smithurst Sagathe

·         The Blands of Bagthorpe Manor Farm;

·         Wartime bombing;

·         The Singing Samaritans and

·         The Dixie's Arms where local folklore suggests

·                 D. H. Lawrence's father drank etc.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Basford,  Cinderhill & Hyson Green

 

 

 

 

GEORGE PALLANT’S

 BASFORD & CINDERHILL

Price £1.99

 

A fascinating account of life in and around Basford & Cinderhill, Nottingham, from late Victorian times until 1988.   Three years after a series of interviews with the author George died aged 91.

 

Chapters include –

 

  • George’s early life from 1899.
  • First World War around Cinderhill.
  • The Second World War when the bombs fell.
  • Dedication at Cinderhill Church by Flying Bishop.
  • Origins of Cinderhill Lecture Hall and the School.
  • The building of Cinderhill Vicarage.
  • The origins of Cinderhill Co-op.

 

 

 

 

 

Out of Print
 

 

 

THE “GREEN” – A journey through Time

Contributing editor – Ztan Zmith.

 

A project researching Hyson Green and its Past

 undertaken by members and friends of Basford & District Local History Society. 

Topics covered include -

·         Early Hyson Green

·         Lenos Picture House

·         Mary Potter

·         R J Pickford’s

·         Smith Brothers & Co (Hyson) Ltd

·         My First Panto

·         Story of the Grand

·         Hyson Green Library

·         The Old General

·         The Boulevard Cinema

·         The Birdman of Randall Street

·         The Airman and the Photograph

·         Shops on the Green

·         Scotholme Schools ert Morrison

·         Newspaper Advert 1900

·         etc etc

·    

 

 

 

 

The Basford Bystander

 

Ztan is also Editor of the Basford Bystander, a Community Newspaper devoted to Nostalgia, Local History and memories of folk (and ex-pats) of Basford, Nottingham and surrounding districts.   The Basford Bystander is published every other month at 35p per copy.

 

An Annual Subscription of £4.20 (6 x 35p plus p&p) sent to Christine Smith, The Circulations Secretary, at the address below will ensure that Basford Bystanders for the year (six issues) will be posted direct to your home address.  

 

Overseas readers can also subscribe to the Basford Bystander.       For a small subscription, pdf copies of each issue of the Basford Bystander can be sent direct to Overseas readers by e-mail.   This represents a huge savings on postal costs, which currently are £1.55 per mailing.   Please e-mail us for details of this service and a sample copy.

 

Stan (Editor) and Christine Smith (Circulations Secretary)

44 Cherry Tree Close, Brinsley, Nottinghamshire  NG16 5BA  

Phone 01773 783009       e-mail   stan@basfordbystander.org.uk

For more information please go to the Basford Bystander Web Site at http://www.basfordbystander.org.uk

 

If difficulty experienced in obtaining any of the books mentioned in these pages please contact the author by e-mail

stan@powercomp.co.uk    or telephone 01773 783009.Books and Bystanders can be posted to your home address if required