BOLTON is set to celebrate the life and work of one of its most successful literary sons.

A £40,000 funding boost will be bringing the stories and writing by internationally acclaimed playwright Bill Naughton to life.

Community arts organisation Live from Worktown has been awarded the funding by the Heritage Lottery Fund to provide a programme of activities and resources about the writer of stories over the next nine months.

The project focuses on the legacy created for Bolton by his work.

Dubbed The Bill Naughton Season, it commemorates the 25th anniversary of the writer’s death.

Live from Worktown chairman Paul Blackburn said: "This is a wonderful opportunity to let a new public into the world of Bill Naughton and into a Bolton which has largely disappeared.

"As an Irish immigrant living in the town from the age of four until he was 30, Bill had an acute eye for the behaviour, speech and social practices of local people, characteristics which can still be observed today.

"We had never applied for Heritage Lottery money before so in some ways it was a step into the unknown. To receive the funding is fantastic.

"It means we can work with our partners on stuff we really wanted to put on, we have events coming up next year that we couldn't have done otherwise!"

Naughton’s legacy is largely overlooked in modern Bolton but his film scripts for Alfie, Spring and Port Wine and The Family Way, helped make them classics of British cinema.

Live From Worktown is working with the Bolton Libraries and Museums Service, Octagon Theatre and University of Bolton on the project.

On the list is the creation of an exhibition which will tour community centres, schools, and clubs.

It will also open an information shop, provide guided walks of Naughton’s neighbourhood, as well as commission a DVD incorporating the memories of older Boltonians who shared the writer's experiences.

Next year will also see former Canon Slade pupil turned jazz musician and music teacher, Jamil Sheriff, creating a piece of music to commemorate Naughton and the money will fund the publication of the first Bill Naughton biography.

His extensive archive of notebooks, drafts, diaries and memorabilia bequeathed to the town on the death of Naughton’s widow Erna in 2014 will also be opened up in Bolton Central Library.

In addition performances are planned of some of his short stories, together with a gala showing of Spring and Port Wine, which was filmed at Bolton Little Theatre.