Bristol at war book raises £1,000

A book telling the wartime experiences of people from the Bristol area has raised more than £1,000 for the Royal British Legion.

Echoes from the Front Line is a collection of stories from those who served their country in different ways during the Second World War.

Written by South Gloucestershire local historian and author Jackie Ashman, it was published last year as a sequel to her Echoes from the Home Front, which was produced to show how children from Bristol and South Gloucestershire lived through the war and how youngsters evacuated from their homes in Britain coped through the dark days of the conflict.

Jackie's follow-up book features people's military stories from wherever they found themselves in the war.

They include a prisoner of war, members of the Bristol-formed Air Transport Auxiliary, a man who served in Normandy and a young woman who worked at Stanmore, an out-station of top-secret Bletchley Park, which worked on decoding the Germans' messages sent through the Enigma machine.

Jackie presented a cheque for £1,100 to Reginald Hall, chairman of the Staple Hill branch of the Royal British Legion at a ceremony in Yate Heritage Centre.

The £5.95 book, published by South Gloucestershire Council Museums and Heritage Service is available from bookshops, the Heritage Centre, museums and South Gloucestershire libraries.