Dear Bill Danby,
Born in Skelton-in-Cleveland, I am an author who hopes that his recently published memoir ‘Whe’ Yu’ From?’ will be of interest to you.
I have certainly found great interest in your remarkable History of Skelton website which I visit from time to time as a welcome break from my work routine here in Brisbane, Australia. It is always a joy to renew my memories of the area around Hobdale Terrace where I was born in 1938, even finding photographs of places like Barber Jack’s, Skelton Green, where I used to have my hair cut. I started school in Boosbeck.
Having spent most of my life outside England, mainly in the Caribbean and Australia where I now live, I have limited opportunities to travel to my native country, but I keep in touch with my Cleveland family. I believe that readers in that area are likely to be interested in my book which describes my childhood years in Cleveland and Kent as well as my later experiences in Ghana, Hong Kong, Jamaica and elsewhere. One chapter traces the history of my Galliford ancestors who came to Guisborough from Devonshire in the nineteenth century, attracted by the job opportunities in the ironstone mines. My grandfather was a miner, and it was in my grandparents’ house, 11 Hobdale Terrace, between Skelton and Boosbeck, that I was born.
Having spent much of my professional life as a university lecturer, I am the published author of several academic books. More recently, I have turned my hand to autobiography, and in 2008 my memoir ‘How I Didn’t Become a Beatle’ was published by The History Press, UK. That is mostly about my student days in Liverpool during the late 1950s and early 1960s when I was involved in the Merseyside music scene. I was a drummer and founder member of the pioneer Liverpool beat group Cass and the Cassanovas. Unable to find a commercial publisher for my second memoir, I have created Garliford Publishing in order to self-publish ‘Whe’ Yu’ From?’. An image of the cover is attached. The book is available in paperback and ebook format.

My name is Katie Clarkson, and my mother's name is Nancy (Trotter) Clarkson. We're descendants from the Trotter family that once presided at Skelton Castle. We just recently found a scrap photo of the rebuilt version of the castle, which allowed us to look more into the History of it. My question is, who is the current owner of the castle ? I found through research that the castle is private, but I would still love to visit it someday. We live in the United States, and actually just traveled to London for the New Year's Day Parade this year (for my marching band) but did not get the chance to head to the Cleveland area. I'm entering college this year, majoring in Anthropology/Archaeology so you can see why this greatly interests me- apparently there's never been any excavations there?
Anyway, I hope you can answer my questions and thank you so much for that fabulous site!
Katie.