Robert Nicholls

Robert Nicholls has lived in the North-West since 1973, holding various professional positions in local government and subsequently with Manchester Airports Group. Born in 1952 in Sheffield, he was educated at High Storrs Grammar School, has a degree in Estate Management from Reading University and is qualified as a chartered surveyor. In 2000, he gained an MBA from Lancaster University and in 2014, he was awarded, with distinction, the Advanced Diploma in Local History by Oxford University.

He retired in 2013, having served 25 years with the Manchester Airports Group, latterly as Regulation Manager.

He is interested in local and transport history with particular emphasis on related economic development and land use changes. His previous publications include Manchester's Narrow Gauge Railways (1985), Looking Back at Belle Vue (1989), Heyhead Church 1862-1992 (1992), The Belle Vue Story (1992), Trafford Park, the First 100 years (1996), Curiosities of Greater Manchester (2004), Haveley Hey School – Seventy Years of Service to the Community (2005), Curiosities of Merseyside (2005), The Church of the Ascension – a History 1970 – 2006 (2006), St Chad's Church, Ladybarn – the story of a church and its people (2007), Curiosities of Cheshire (2010), Davyhulme Sewage Works and its Railway (2015), 50 Gems of Staffordshire (2017), Secret Stafford (2018), 50 Gems of Lancashire (2019) and A Legacy of love – the Harrison organ at St Chad’s Church, Ladybarn. (2019) . Kindle publications have included ‘Staffordshire Curiosities’, ‘Curiosities of the High Peak’ and ‘The Curious Places of Lancashire’.

As well as contributing articles to magazines, he gives talks to local history societies.