A FORMER Chorley teacher has used his experiences of local history and heritage as the basis for a children's adventure story.

Gerald Rigby, formerly of Stump Lane, Chorley, got the inspiration for his book The Ring to Rebellion from walking around Lancashire with his grandchildren and has in fact based some of the characters in the book on them.

In the book the children travel back nearly three centuries in time to the Jacobite Rebellion of 1715.

The reader is taken to the barricades in the streets of old Preston and visits the Unicorn Inn at Walton le Dale, a hotbed of Jacobite conspirators.

The characters travel to Cuerden Green where the militia is assembling, only to see the King's army approaching from Wigan.

Finally they witness a vicious battle on the streets of Preston.

The book is illustrated by Rod Hamm of Penwortham.

Mr Rigby, who taught at Primrose Hill primary school, Euxton, said: "I think we should be proud that our part of the country is steeped in so much history.

"Events here have shaped the destiny of Britain, and we must never forget the people and places that are part of our heritage."

The Ring to Rebellion, price £5.99, and Mr Rigby's first book, The Ring of Tima, £3.99, are published by Birchwood Books, and are available from WH Smiths in Chorley and other good bookshops.

Gerald Rigby was set to read extracts from the Ring to Rebellion to pupils at St George's CE Primary School, Carr Lane, Chorley, on Monday (November 12).

Another book of local interest is Those Were the Days: Lancashire in the Forties, Fifties and Sixties, by journalist and broadcaster Ron Freethy, published by Countryside Books.

The work is a collection of the author's personal memories and those of nearly 1,000 people who replied to his appeal for information on local radio and newspapers. It tells the story of what it was like to live in the county during three decades of change and how people remember them.

It includes recollections of Lancashire's industrial contribution to the Second World War - aircrafts including the Lancaster bomber were designed and built at several sites in the county.

It takes the reader from the days of rationing to the availability of a multitude of luxury goods for the home, to the 60s when Lancashire talent took the country by storm with artists including the Hollies, the Beatles, and Frankie Vaughan dominating the airwaves - and includes the screening of the first episode of Coronation Street on December 9, 1960. The book is available, priced £7.95, from all local booksellers.