DAUGHTER of a popular Andover man, who passed away last year, is celebrating the publication of her first book with a launch party in November.

Katrina Townsend’s first book The Anti-Consumerist Druid will be published on November 25 by Moon Books.

Her dad Norman was also an author and Andover’s first independent milkman.

Katrina Townsend is the pen name of Amy Townsend-Blackman, who has lived locally all her life.

READ MORE: Remembering popular Andover man Norman Townsend

The launch party of her book will be held at The Angel Inn in Andover, from 2.30pm onwards on Saturday, November 26.

Copies of the book will be available to purchase at the event.

The Anti-consumerist Druid: How I Overcame My Shopping Addiction Through Connection With Nature, a short memoir, is currently available to pre-order from Amazon.

Katrina said her book has received excellent advance reviews from book bloggers and magazines including Publishers Weekly.

She said: “Many of us are coming to terms with the devastating global effects of overconsumption, and for me the desire to quit shopping has led me to explore Paganism, and then to Druidry! This is not a book about Druidry.

“It is about how I stopped overconsumption consuming me, and on that journey discovered a connection with nature that led to me becoming a student of Druidry, and about how those beliefs and practices helped me to rebuild a more authentic, creative, enchanted life.”

In 2021, Katrina was a runner-up in environmentalist group Extinction Rebellion's Solarpunk Storytelling Showcase, an international short story competition.

Her father Norman authored two books – Trashed and Lethal Response.

Born in Oxford, he moved to Andover in the 1980s. Fascinated by renovating houses, Norman moved around quite a bit in Andover. He had lived in Enham, Roman Way, Pilgrims Way and Weyhill.

His first job in Andover was at Express Dairy as an assistant manager. He later decided to branch out on his own and became Andover’s first independent milkman.

Many would remember the Townsend Milk Services and his milk van painted in psychedelic colours.

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Norman did a variety of jobs in the town since then. But the most important of those was his role in helping Enham Candles enter the Guinness Book of Records for the world’s largest candle.

Norman later worked around tips and waste industry, managing the Andover Recycling Centre.