A BOOK which was inspired by a hugely successful history exhibition in Northlew and tells the story of the village from Saxon times is nearing completion.
Residents past and present are eagerly anticipating this first ever book to be published on the parish of Northlew with Ashbury but they will have to wait until the autumn to get their hands on it.
The team of seven writers and researchers has been led by Jenny Voden, whose husband Ray was the former vicar of Northlew.
'We have really enjoyed this project and are so grateful to everyone who has contributed photographs and recollections,' she said.
'We had to sacrifice some of the words to get more photos in and there will be about 400 in total.'
An exhibition held in Northlew in 2000 to celebrate the Millennium was a hive of activity and received a fantastic response from the local community.
It was as a result of this that Mrs Voden decided to proceed with a book — and the photos and memories came flooding in.
Eighteen months on and the finishing touches are being put to the history book of Northlew with Ashbury entitled 'The People of the Land' which is being published by Halsgrove as part of their community history series.
The village population is around 600 and many have contributed to the book including the several families who go back five generations.
Mrs Voden said she and her team had managed to get hold of old school log books and minutes of parish council meetings going back to the 1800s.
In Northlew more men were killed in the First World War per population than anywhere in the country — hence the book includes quite a lot of information from this time.
Some of the material in a book written but never published by Canon Harvey in the early 1900s about the village has been incorporated into 'The People of the Land'.
'We hope people will like it — it's been a real community project,' said Mrs Voden, who added the team would not make any money out of it.
'It has certainly attracted a lot of interest.'