WRITER Susan Siddeley has already launched her new book in Chile and Canada.

But the place where she really wanted to complete the triple was here in Huddersfield, her home town.

Susan did just that, launching her latest book, Home First: A Memoir in Voices at the George Hotel surrounded by family and friends, the latter including many fellow former Greenhead girls.

For many of those who attended, it was not just a chance to hear Susan talk about her book but to catch up with faces from down the years and from across continents.

For though Susan was born and brought up in Huddersfield, as was her sister, Pat, both have long lived away from their home town.

Pat Stocks with her husband Robert in the north-east, Susan and her husband, Gordon much further afield in Chile and Canada.

It was Gordon’s work as a geologist which first took the couple away from their northern roots. Yorkshire (Susan) married Lancashire (Gordon) in the Sixties and a job took them to Canada.

The couple met at university in Swansea but Gordon’s career saw them embark on a roving life.

After the chill of Canada, they headed for the sunnier climes of Jamaica before moving on to Bolivia and, in the early eighties, a post in Chile.

Susan and Gordon bought a vineyard property outside Santiago which saw them forsake the north of England for a very different life.

The couple have three sons, all living in Canada, and a daughter who is settled in Uruguay. Susan splits her time between Toronto and Chile but her roots are firmly embedded in Huddersfield.

“This is my third launch,” she told friends at the George.

“I did one in Chile and one in Canada. I really wanted to do this one back here. My energies come from Huddersfield. I’ve picked up others on the way but this is where I get most of my energies from.”