Alan Sutton has been well known as a publisher for more than four decades during which time he has produced many thousands of titles of local history, transport history, military history as well as archaeology and ancient history. The diaries of Agnes Witts and her son Francis take him into the realm of transcription and research, and since 1980 these diaries have been his weekend and evening ‘relaxation’. In total the diaries exceed four million words and in addition there is an index to the diaries of Francis which exceeds 1,000 pages. A labour of love, Alan refers to it as a life sentence, and it is all likely to be completed during the next ten years.