Anne Loader
Anne Loader is a writer and publisher. She was born in Lincolnshire in 1948 and trained as a journalist with East Midland Allied Press. In 1969 she married Jack Loader (see joint photo) who was doing a PhD at Southampton University. She worked at the Southern Evening Echo until the couple moved to Cheshire in 1970 when Jack started work as a research scientist in the chemical industry.
They had two sons and for the next ten years Anne worked from home as a writer and printer. She edited and contributed to Pregnancy and Parenthood on behalf of The National Childbirth Trust, which was published by Oxford University Press in 1980. The same year she returned to journalism as a feature writer for World Group Newspapers and in 1984 she was founder chief reporter of the group's weekly newspaper covering Crewe, Nantwich and Sandbach, becoming editor in 1985. She was made redundant as editor ten years later and in 1996 she set up as a freelance writer and page designer. Shortly afterwards, she started the Léonie Press, specialising in producing books on local history and autobiography.
In 1994, an unexpected legacy had enabled Anne and Jack to buy a 200-year-old granite farmhouse at "St Paradis" in the Creuse department of the Limousin in Central France. They renovated it to use as a holiday home while they were working, and for longer stays when they retired.
Anne's first book about the family's experiences in France, A Bull by the Back Door, was originally written for her mother who was in the early stages of Alzheimer's. She published it herself because she wanted to retain control of the editing and design. It came out in October 1997, and was widely acclaimed. It was followed in 1998 by The Duck with a Dirty Laugh, which was equally well received. Extracts from both were serialised in Living France magazine.
The third book in the St Paradis trilogy, The Bells of St Paradis, was launched in 2001. By this time various other authors writing about their French homes had contacted Anne with their manuscripts and over the years Léonie Press was to become a well-known publisher in this genre.
Anne has written and produced two books (in French) of old photographs of the people and places in the rural commune where their house is located and organised several historical exhibitions. She and Jack are well integrated into the community and are involved in a number of aspects of its social and cultural life.
She is also a contributor to www.pontnoir.com, a website for English-speaking home-owners in the Creuse, and has written more than 75 in-depth feature articles for it under the pseudonym 'Annik'.
She says: "Having homes in England and France gives us the best of both worlds. Slipping between the two ways of life is as easy as taking off one coat and putting on another."
Her other interests include reading, researching social and family history, and photography.
