Michael Banks, born in Chippenham, Wiltshire on 22nd December 1922, was a member of the Royal Marines, noted explorer and author. Banks joined the Royal Marines in 1942, which he remained a member of until his retirement in 1968. In 1952 he joined the North British Greenland Expedition, a British led 2 year expedition which aimed to explore and carry out a range of scientific studies on the North Greenland Icesheet. A senior member of the expedition, Banks led one of the teams which traversed the ice sheet using Weasel tracked military vehicles.

On returning from the expedition Banks wrote and published High Arctic: the Story of the British North Greenland Expedition which cronicled and critiqued the expedition. Banks was also able to undertake further exploration and climbing exploits during, and after, his military career. This included leading an expedition which made the first summit of the Himilayan mountain Rakaposhi, and in 2000 at the age of 77 became the oldest person to successfully climb the Old Man of Hoy.

Wanda Barford has published five poetry collections with Flambard Press Sweet Wine and Bitter Herbs: Poems on Being a Jew in the Twentieth Century was published in 1996. A Moon at the Door was published in 1999. Losing, Finding was published in 2002. What is the Purpose of Your Visit was published in 2005. Wanted on Voyage was published in 2010.

Leonard Barras wrote a weekly Through My Hat column for the Newcastle-based Sunday Sun. He also wrote for the BBC including the radio programme Wot Cheor, Geordie, the Northern Drift radio programmes and the television comedy series Mother Nature's Bloomers, starring Roy Kinnear. IROn Press published poems from this series in Hailstones on Your Father in 1979.

Barras wrote plays for Tyne Wear Theatre Company and for Live Theatre, Newcastle, as well as a novel entitled The Chocolate Cream Society which was published in 1997.

Bluebottles on my Marmaladeis a collection of short stories which were broadcast on Radio 4.

Up the Tyne in a Flummoxis a collection of short stories which were broadcast on Radio 4 between 1982 and 1986.

Through my Hatis a collection of selected columns from the 1950s Sunday Sun weekly newspaper.