Ambleside Remembered - People and Places, Past and Present, by Rose Steele, compiled by Anne Bonney.

Helm Press, £8.50.

FIFTEEN years ago Rose Steele began collecting old postcards of Ambleside, the town where she was born in 1935.

Her collection grew so large and interesting, she decided to share it with others who love Ambleside by putting some of the photographs into a book.

The highly successful result is Ambleside Remembered, which is filled with black-and-white images dating back to the early days of photography.

This pictorial journey back through time is enlivened by snippets of research, along with features on the characters, clubs and institutions who have contributed so much to Ambleside life over the years - the Hayes family of garden centre fame; artist Alfred Heaton Cooper, who imported a log cabin from Norway as his first studio, which today houses an upmarket restaurant; Langdale and Ambleside Mountain Rescue Team; chemist and renowned photographer Herbert Bell; nonagenarian cobbler 'Tickle' Otway; the Armitt library; Ambleside Rushbearing; the cricket, rugby and football clubs; sculptor Josefina de Vasconcellos; and many more.

The pictures capture the spirit of Ambleside through the ages - from the Great Freeze of 1895 when revellers skated and enjoyed the carnival atmosphere on Windermere's frozen waters, to elegantly attired tourists stepping into their open-top touring motor car in the 1920s; from wartime evacuees to the charity car pull up the Struggle to Kirkstone Pass Inn.

The author adds a personal touch with her own entertaining memories of growing up in Ambleside - sneaking into Brown's coaches' tin shed to play on the old horse-drawn coaches; dances at St Anne's Church; flying down Chapel Hill at great speed on her home-made wooden toboggan; and treats of gingerbread and parkin from Viponts Caf.

This charming book cannot fail to appeal to anybody who has ever visited Ambleside, or made the town their home.

l Ambleside Remembered is available from local bookshops and The Westmorland Gazette shop at 22 Stricklandgate, Kendal, price £8.50.

It can also be ordered direct from the publishers for £10 including postage and packing (cheques made payable to Helm Press) - Mrs A.

Bonney, Helm Press, 10 Abbey Gardens, Natland, Kendal, LA9 7SP.