ANOTHER millennium project has been successfully launched - a book about Blandford.

Peter Andrews and Michael Le Bas, curators of the town museum, did much of the research.

Town councillors Lynn Lindsay and deputy mayor John Tanner, who both grew up in Blandford, have spent many hours interviewing people for precious recollections.

Extracts from a diary by John's father, Thomas, give a glimpse of life during the Great War while Lynn's account recreates a 50s and 60s childhood spent outdoors from after breakfast until tea-time when her mother summoned the children home with a whistle.

The book includes plenty of black and white pictures to reinforce the nostalgia.

The final section of the book is a summary of a small band led by another councillor - Mike Owen.

Families were posed outside their homes and workers outside their business for Portrait 2000, a major exhibition aimed at providing a snapshot of the market town at the turn of the century.

Blandford Forum - a Millennium Portrait at £19.95 is available from bookshops in the town and direct from publishers Halsgrove on 01884 243242.