The Author - Philip Taylor

I was born in 1954 and spent my early childhood in care, I was also living with the effects of polio that I contracted aged two as a young child. Aged eleven, I attended the Lord Mayor Treloar College in Alton, Hampshire - a college for students with physical disabilities. It was at Treloar's I learned to make orthopaedic boots and shoes, I'm still helping people walk more comfortably today. Despite my disability, I played football, cricket and water polo and was a national champion at archery. Between 1989 and 2020 I sang and played in the Irish folk band Whiskey in the Jar, we played throughout the north of England and toured Ireland on many occasions.

I spend much of my spare time travelling the UK, France and Spain in my VW campervan, especially the western isles of Scotland.

In the last ten years I have found a love for writing about my life experiences, starting of with my life story in From Pillar To Post. The Orthopaedic Shoemaker soon followed, a book about my life's work. The next book, The Air of Freedom tells of the shoemakers strike in my family village of plague village Eyam in Derbyshire. The Treloar Story gives a fascinating insight into the history of my old college, whilst The Alton FC Story relates the history of the football team I watched as a child. My latest project, The McAuliffe Story will be available in 2024, following my Irish family clan through history to the present time.

I hope you enjoy reading my books, and thank you for buying them.