Jean Illingworth has just published her book "Growing Up In Sowerby...And More", a nostalgic look back at her childhood growing up in the village in the 1940s, 50s and 60s, with some historical details about it.

The well-illustrated, with photographs, book focuses on the major change which the building of estates at Sowerby brought to the area and looks at which landmark building survived the change and are left now.

Jean says it is also a social history of Sowerby, with much information taken from interviews she had conducted with older residents of the village who could remember people and places there from the 1920s and 30s.

But while Jean was sure of her subject matter and what she actually wanted to say in her book, she was unsure how to go about it, seeking advice in the upper Calder Valley.

Firstly journalist Margaret Woods, of Hebden Bridge, a former colleague from Jean's days working in the library of our sister newspaper the Evening Courier at Halifax, helped Jean "block" out the book, giving advice on format and headings.

Jean had learned how to use a computer at Sowerby Bridge Library under guidance from Heather Karpiki who suggested she make contact with staff at the Bookcase in Hebden Bridge

And the end result has been that Jean has been able to self publish her book through the Bookcase's Royd House, with particular help from Felicity Potter and Kate Claughan.

Jean said: "I'd like to thank them specially, Felicity for her editing skills and Kate for her photography," she said.

"I thoroughly enjoyed the process and we worked very well together. By self-publishing it I have been able to have a say in how it has been presented. It's been a huge learning curve but very interesting and I would say it's never too late to take up something."

Jean's book is on sale at £9.99 from a number of local outlets including the Bookcase, which is in Market Street, Hebden Bridge.