A book about the history of east Bristol has raised £3,326 for Bristol's St Peter's Hospice.

Mother Keeps A Mangle was written by amateur historians Jack Williams, 79, and his friend Chris Humpries, 8, who were both grew up in east Bristol and went to the same schools.

Jack, who now lives in Pettigrove Gardens, Kingswood, decided to donate proceeds from the sale of the book to St Peter's Hospice, which cared for his beloved wife Eileen in the final weeks of her life in 2007.

He said: "I still get upset. Eileen was a wonderful lady. They treated her very well at St Peter's.

"We haven't made a penny for ourselves from the book, in fact it cost us money to have it published.

"But we have had some wonderful reports about it.

"We sold more than 400 copies and it is now sold out."

Jack and Chris first met at Easton Road Junior School and went on to Hannah More School in Trinity Road, St Philip's. Both schools have been demolished.

The east Bristol of their childhood has long since vanished but photographs from generations ago remain and 450 of them have been used in the book.

Eastville Stadium, the former hallowed ground of Bristol Rovers, has been replaced by a retail park, which includes the giant Ikea store.

Old names have also disappeared. One area in east Bristol area was called Moorfields but that is no longer on maps.

Moorfields was a very close-knit community of small tightly-packed homes set in ecclesiastically-named streets such as Canon, Bishop and Dean Street.

The houses have all been demolished now.

The area was also served by its own local cinema called The Globe where children used to pay two old pence to see a Saturday matinee.

Jack and Chris also wrote about a 665ft long 58ft high viaduct called the "Thirteen Arches" which was literally blown up to make way for the M32.

The huge brick viaduct at the junction of Stapleton Road and Muller Road carried the trains of the London and Midland Railways since 1874.

The title of the book came from Victorian times when some children had to leave school under the age of 11 to help out at home.

Several entries in school records give the reason for leaving as "mother keeps a mangle" which referred to the fact that mothers took in washing to boost income and they needed help to turn the heavy wheel of a mangle which pressed water out of clothes.

Jack and Chris, both former members of the now defunct East Bristol History Group, started researching their book about four or five years ago.

The book was written initially on Jack's electric typewriter and then on computer.

Many of the photographs in the book have never been seen before and make up a unique record of east Bristol life.

Jack and Chris said they are not planning to print any more copies.