The daughter of former Denholme mayor John Hanson has made his last wish come true by getting his book about the village he loved put into print.

Elaine Ward said her father had always hoped that his work, Denholme Through The Ages, could be professionally compiled so others could share his memories and knowledge of his home.

She has had it re-typed and bound and plans to put copies in Keighley and Denholme libraries in the next couple of weeks.

Born in Denholme Clough in 1913, Mr Hanson was Mayor of Denholme six times.

He devoted much of his life to his community, particularly furthering the civic fortunes of the village and was branch treasurer of the Royal British Legion for 35 years.

He started his writing project when he was nearly 80 and, after penning the first version, he painstakingly typed up more than 100 pages on a manual machine.

His daughter Mrs Ward, of Long Lane, Harden, said although his eyesight deteriorated he was determined to fulfill his ambition.

"How he had the patience I will never know, but it was something he really wanted to do and it kept him going really," she said.

"He had a lot of knowledge of the village and he wanted it recording.

"People were always asking him things and I think he did the book to preserve that information."

Mrs Ward said her father would not have wanted his work published to make money, but as a record for the older generation of the village to reminisce and for schoolchildren to learn about village history.

After her father's death in 1997, Mrs Ward got in touch with a woman called Shirley Ward - who had been the town clerk when Mr Hanson held office - and the book was born.

It contains chapters and photographs which chronicle village life from the 12th to the 20th century, and focus on a variety of subjects from farming and the gala to the village brass band.

"When I think that he was 83 when he wrote it and he left school at ten without a vast education I feel very proud," said Mrs Ward.

Pauline Barfield, of Keighley Research Library, said the library had a good local history collection but any new books were welcome.

"I have material on the history of Denholme and a lot of people read local history, but everyone adds something different to it.

"We would be very pleased to have copes for the library here and at Denholme."