DISCOVERING a World War Two banger might sound like a case for bomb disposal experts - but for one butcher it has proved an unlikely recipe for success.

When butcher Greg Hull was renovating the preparation room at his Rishton Lane shop in Great Lever he was astounded to find a handwritten recipe wrapped in a newspaper from the 1940s wedged between the tiles.

At that time rationing was at its peak and a trip to the butchers was a rare treat. Butchers knew the importance of keeping their recipes a secret and it was during this time the prize sausage recipe would have been hidden.

Frasers Butchers has been around for more than 100 years and neither Mr Hull or his staff have any idea who created the recipe.

But without hesitation, he made up the 60-year-old recipe and had the sausages on the counter alongside his other award-winning varieties the following day under the heading Old - New English sausages.

They went down a treat with customers and have become a regular feature in the shop. Mr Hull, who has owned Frasers Butchers for 12 years, said: "It's lucky really, we had already been pulling bits of newspaper out and throwing them away, but this one was folded up neatly, so one member of staff, Alison, opened it and there was a handwritten recipe inside.

"It must have been hidden there by a previous butcher. That's what they used to do to keep their recipes a secret."

Now it is Mr Hull's turn to keep the ingredients of the pork-based sausage under wraps as he prepares to enter it into next month's Sausage Championships taking place at the Reebok Stadium.

He said: "I will only say that they contain no artificial ingredients. I think that's why they have gone down so well with the customers, they like the natural ingredients."

Mr Hull has assured customers that the wartime treats will be available for National Sausage Week (October 25-31), when customers will be able to take advantage of a 'buy 1lb and get 1lb free' offer, with all extra profit going to the Cystic Fibrosis Fund.