Bristol born, I have lived here for most of my life with short spells in both Wales and Scotland and I'm now living in the glorious Somerset countryside. As a former Red Maid I have many memories of the Downs, Henleaze and Westbury on Trym.
After many years in admin, sales and recruitment I decided to enrol at the University of the West of England as a (very) mature student. My degree took me into the world of systems analysis and computing until I became the group auditor in a leading insurance company.
Since retiring from the corporate world, I found myself longing to be creative as well as using my business skills so in 2011 I started Cupcakes à la carte. After eleven successful years I closed my baking business to pursue other channels, so here I am publishing a book of historical importance and local interest.
Oh, and the business name? A combination of my home town and my family name. Simple!
Kerris Harrop
The Ladies' Mile book story
It all started one afternoon over coffee and cake in the little café near the water tower on the Downs, I asked my friends from Redland if they were familiar with Victoria Hughes and her book, Ladies’ Mile. To my surprise, they had never heard of her so off we trotted to visit the subject of the story, the Stoke Road toilets and its blue plaque. I was dismayed to see the very sorry state of the building, particularly the exterior. To overcome my embarrassment I promised to obtain a copy of the book for them. Despite searching on internet book sources and in local second-hand bookstores and charity shops, there was not one copy available for sale. I even contacted the original publishers but without success.
The republication of Ladies' Mile is the result of a complicated process to obtain a licence from the Intellectual Property Office to reprint. The licence and publication costs are significant so I am indebted to those who donated to my Just Giving campaign to raise £6,000 to cover licence and printing costs.
This book is available exclusively from BristolRead Books. All proceeds from its sale will go to refurbishment of the iconic Ladies' Mile loos.
