AR (Tony) Traylen (1927-2008) was born in Hartley-Witney, Hampshire, and was educated at Wellington College. He was the only child of a professional soldier in the Lincolnshire Regiment - the family originated from Spalding - but he showed no inclination to follow in his father's footsteps. Instead he seemed to favour his relative JC Traylen, one-time architect to the Diocese of Peterborough. In fact, he attended the Brighton School of Architecture for three years before deciding that the profession was overcrowded. Rather than design houses, Tony felt he would be more satisfyingly employed in building and restoring them in the traditional manner. To this end he conducted a survey stretching from Cheshire down to Buckinghamshire, his eye eventually falling on Rutland. He married Patricia Loake, a Derbyshire girl, in 1962 and they moved to South Luffenham in 1964. As a property developer he restored many cottages and shops in Rutland and Stamford. He also established Uppingham Yarns which is now run by his son Nicholas. Uppingham Yarns was founded in 1980 by Tony and his family in a small shop in Uppingham to sell industrial yarns to home, trade, and club machine knitters. The firm thrived, and moved to larger premises in 1984, a two-storey warehouse on the site of an old bus station and garage in North Street East, Uppingham. Twenty years later it moved to the present location fifty metres away in the same street. However, Tony's great and consuming interest was local history. Shortly after arriving in Rutland, he joined Rutland Local History Society, which at that time met above the library in Gaol Street, Oakham. By 1971, he had become chairman of this society. It was a chance remark which sparked off the crusade which culminated in the original series of booklets recording the histories of Rutland villages. ‘What a pity’ somebody said, ‘someone did not record the stories of old Rutlanders, as the young do not listen to their parents' and grandparents’ reminiscences as they used to before the days of radio and TV.’ The booklets covered all the parishes in Rutland and were later brought together to form the first volume in the ‘In Rutland’ series. This series now extends to eighteen volumes: 1. Villages of Rutland, Parts 1 & 2 2. Soldiers, Police and Firemen 3. Railways of Rutland 4. Wings over Rutland 5. Turnpikes & Royal Mail in Rutland 6. Oakham in Rutland 7. Uppingham in Rutland 8. Traction Engines in Rutland 9. Maps of Rutland, 1579 to 1845 10. Windmills and Watermills 11. Churches of Rutland 12. Dictionary, Dialect & Traditions 13. Old Motors of Rutland 14. Life of the Gentry of Rutland 15. Old Trucks & Buses of Rutland 16. Old Village Schools of Rutland 17. Notable Citizens of Rutland 18. Ancestral Houses of Rutland As can be seen, Tony was a prolific writer. He gave all the royalties from his books to The Rutland Trust, a charity that gives grants to individuals and organisations in the county. In fact, our Society was a recent recipient of an award from this charity as a contribution towards our publications programme. We are grateful to Audrey Buxton for allowing us to use information from her 1980 interview with Tony, which was published in Rutland People.