The mid-1800s witnessed a mass exodus from the Pennine Dales. Farmer 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.

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 the talk. Further information is available on Dave’s website: www.davejoy-author.com