An unusual double biography, “Father and Daughter - Two Middle-Class Lives” has been written by Emily White of Kerridge. The author and her family are well-known in Cheshire and Manchester, where Emily’s considerable contribution to the voluntary social work scene earned her an OBE and her father was a prominent businessman. She started to write the book after attending courses on local and family history, having found out a lot about her father’s background. Then, as his life overlapped with hers, she says that it seemed natural to carry on with her own story. The book is illustrated with 84 black and white photographs and, in the section on Emily’s life, gives a fascinating glimpse of the evolution of housing management and voluntary social work since the Second World War.

John Stanley White (1885-1954) was typical in many ways of the middle-class provincial businessman of his day. His forebears were North East Cheshire farmers who gradually moved into the new local industries which were developing from the end of the 18th century. His chosen field was in rubber-proofed cloth, a process invented by Charles Mackintosh, whose products soon became a household name. Stan worked his way up to be a director of Mackintosh and then set up his own firm. He was an established and highly-respected business figure in Manchester, commuting from Four Lane Ends, between Macclesfield and Prestbury, where he had built a large house for his family. He was President of Prestbury and Upton Golf Club and a staunch Conservative (with a big and small ‘C’).

His only daughter Emily was born in 1925. She went up to Oxford in 1942 where she studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics and represented the university at tennis. She went into housing management in London, Manchester and Chester but needed a bigger challenge and in 1955 turned to the many-faceted voluntary social services scene in Manchester and Salford. In 1976 she was retrospectively awarded the OBE for her work with the Manchester Council for Voluntary Service; by this time she had moved to the Warrington New Town social development department. Following her retirement in 1982 Emily continued to be involved in many projects and socially-responsible causes, such as the setting-up of Age Concern Cheshire, and became Lady Captain of Prestbury Golf Club. After her mother’s death she moved to a cottage in the village of Kerridge. She adores dogs and loves being a godmother.