A book about two neighbouring Wigan communities is to be re-released

David Smith, 80, is a former police officer and since retiring in 1993 has since written a series of books chronicling the history and landmarks of various areas around the North West.

Now he has returned to his tome About Aspull and Haigh which he first penned in 2001 and is now reprinting with extra material about both parishes.

This includes information about the property auctions that used to be held in Haigh during the 1940s.

The initial version proved relatively successful as he managed to sell all 1,500 copies that he had printed.

During that time printing was evolving from block printing to CD storage, as a result his blocks were destroyed and he thought that he had lost his work entirely as a result.

It was only by a stroke of luck that a dust-covered CD was found with the entire contents on it because, unbeknownst to him publisher Amadeus Press had transferred the contents onto a CD 20 years ago.

With that David began looking into the possibility of re-releasing the book in physical form.

He was informed that for binding purposes the number of pages must be divisible by 16, requiring 12 additional pages worth of material to be added.

So this gave him the opportunity to include more material including the trophy presented for the best managed farm within the district of the Haigh Agricultural Society.

David has agreed to print 1,000 copies and the book will be available onlin and in book shops at £15.