A RETIRED teacher is realising his life’s dream after becoming an author and writing about his home town.

Les Jones, 67, has written three books set in Accrington in the 18 months since retiring from teaching .

The former Blackburn College and Rhyddings High School teacher used Lancashire dialect and comedy in his first book, Flat Caps and Muffin Baps, which is a collection of short stories centering on the town.

The computer teacher, who is married to Trisha, also penned A Fateful Abberration about the Altham Moorfield Colliery dis-aster and Blood Chords about a young ’70s rocker, set in the fictional town of Oakington. Les, a father-of-two who was a teach-er for 40 years, said penning the stories had give him a new lease of life.

He said: “I am getting such an amazing response, particularly from Accrington people, who say that reading the books is just like walking down the street. I’ve been able to include a lot of fam-iliar place names and I think that adds to the experience if you know the town.

“It was fantastic to wite about Moorfield Colliery and the really very tough working conditions people faced. Blood Chords was only released this week, but I think people might find Oaking-ton very familiar.”

A Fateful Abberation explores many different themes including gender and class in Altham during the 1880s.

The comedy book Flat Caps and Muffin Baps follows a group of characters, including Bulldog and Agnes, who is ‘built like a brick privy’ and their experiences at the local working men's club.

The books are available at www.amazon.co.uk