John Aitken of Elvan Street believes there is a void in the market for such a publication, as none have been published for years.
Many locals are already familiar with the local history stories that John has posted on Facebook and which have already gained followers over the past five years.
He explained: “After reaching number 21, I decided that was enough, as the total number of pages had increased to 340. I considered publishing the work as a book, but that would have costs too much.” I have however to date printed six books myself and distributed them to Lanarkshire Heritage Centre, Dalziel High School, Braidhurst High School and Our Lady’s High School. I then concluded that the best idea would be to find a way to make my stories easily accessible online. I could then give away ‘my book’ for free. The more people who have a copy, the better. “I’ve created a flyer explaining what I offer and how to download a personal copy, and I’m giving it away to anyone who might be interested. For example, I asked if a leaflet could be placed on the Motherwell Library notice board and in local hotels where guests might be interested in local history during their stay.
A QR code is included, but entering the code tinyurl.com/44wbaj7z in a browser can also secure access to the affected files.
