After many years of saying, “someone should record the way of life and the characters who inhabited ‘Old Scarborough”, Fred began writing in 1992 when Dorothy (his wife) saw an advertisement for ‘The Arvon Foundation’, at Lumb Bank and challenged him to “get on with it.”

In 1998 at Nicholas’s suggestion, Fred submitted a short story, ‘Fishy Tales’ to ‘Neon Lit’, a book of short stories written by unpublished writers. Fred’s contribution was chosen for the 1998 Jack Trevor Story Memorial Prize of £500, awarded by Michael Moorcock for the most humorous contribution.

His first published book, First of the Flood began life as a series of humorous anecdotes, varying in length, telling of the fishermen of his youth and of his own exploits around Scarborough Harbour and at sea. On meeting author Nicholas Royle at a subsequent visit to Lumb Bank, Fred was encouraged to transform the short stories into a book which to date has sold almost 4000 copies. His second book, Slack Water, has so far sold over 2000 and his latest The Tide Turns has already passed the 1500 mark. Book 4 is in progress. Watch this space.

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