Bernard was born just months after the devastation of the Sheffield Blitz that left nearly a tenth of the city homeless.
There’s little left of the working class Walkley of the 1940s and 1950s that he fondly remembers – the characters and landmarks still so vivid in his memory are long gone.

His childhood was often clouded by his father’s cruelty but he also lived through decades when children had freedom today’s youngsters would struggle to believe.

As ‘one o’t’ lads’ young Bernard got up to all kinds of crazy pranks and mischief – an ‘Anderson Shelter sledge’ and classroom high jinks with a stink bomb are just a couple of his favourites.
But it was his drive to explore the world, master new skills and make something of his life, despite his unpromising start, that really sets Bernard’s life apart.

In 1962 he found, in caving, what he had been looking for and it became his passion. The sport, the camaraderie and the thrill of being one of the trio who discovered a whole new series of cave passages at New Oxlow made this a high point of his life.

Though he’d never admit it, Bernard is a great story-teller and in penning ‘If Yer Not Ard Ya Shunt A Come’ his wife Margaret brings his exploits to a wider audience.