THE LIFE of preacher Robert Collyer will come under the spotlight in Ilkley Manor House's first coffee morning for 2022.

The event will take place on Friday, January 28 and will feature an interview with Mike Dixon: Robert Collyer - the making of a biography.

Spokesman John Cockshott said: "The transformation of Robert Collyer from blacksmith in Ilkley to prominent Chicago preacher is a story that captured Mike's imagination. Collyer’s story has tragedy and adventure. He lost his first wife in childbirth and turned to the Methodist church for solace. From Chicago he took the city’s relief funds to the victims of a tornado in Iowa and a massacre in Kansas; he witnessed the horrors of the Civil War and saw his church and home burnt to the ground in the Great Fire.

"In this interview, Mike will talk about Collyer’s story and how writing his biography and bringing it to publication was something of a saga in itself."

From Anvil to Pulpit: the making of Robert Collyer, is on sale at the Grove Bookshop and from Amazon.co.uk.

Visit https://www.ilkleymanorhouse.org/event/coffee-morning-robert-collyer-the-making-of-a-biography/ to register for the event.