AN Astley grandmother has written a touching history of 20th century life in the village as a lasting gift for her family.

Dora Rawlinson, who celebrated her 80th birthday on Tuesday, spent many hours reliving her past to present 118 unforgettable pages of childhood recollections to her three sons Lance, Roy and Grant.

Dora, born at Cross Hillock, the only child of an Astley Green miner and millworker, took up a friend's suggestion to put her memoirs in print, and in "There Comes a Time" takes a fascinating look at her idyllic childhood before the village spread to become commuter territory.

Dora, who returned from a 10 year retirement on Anglesey to live in Blackmoor, was married to Roy, who in 1960 started a motor repair business in front of the hillock -- playground remains of an old mine.

She recalls people and places with humour as though the events only happened yesterday.

She says: "Sadly now a lot of the green fields are covered by modern estates and as each year passes more and more green is lost, so too are the sounds of the countryside, no skylarks, no lowing cattle, no cock crow, no horses hooves."

Her work tells of amusing and tragic incidents, lost facilities and the days of donkey stones, flock mattresses, clogs, peg rugging, popping tar bubbles and when a treat was a trip to Leigh on a blue Corpy bus.

Seventeenth century cottages and a coachhouse built next to the Kinema in Manchester Road played a huge part in stages of Dora's life and she and Roy eventually made it a labour of love turning the old houses back into one before selling when they ended up rattling round in the 10 rooms.

She recalls the fight to save common land, church and school life, the farms, shops, floods, wakes and divi day at the Co-op among many other topics.

There's also a fascinating look a childhood games when the "cart roads" were filled with kids playing without the fear of being run over.

Son Roy said: "It would be lovely if a publisher picked up the work so it could be shared with the village."