AN author who spent his early years living in Bury has put pen to paper to describe his life in Africa during the 1950s.

An Affair with Africa, by Donald Barton, recounts his years as a district officer in Tanganyika in the post-war Colonial Service and describes his many encounters with famine, poaching, smuggling and witchcraft.

The former officer, whose mother and father grew up in Ramsbottom and Tottington, has maintained his strong roots in Bury over the years and regularly returned to Ramsbottom to visit his grandparents. He still makes the trip up from his home in Hampshire on an annual basis to catch up with his remaining relatives living in Walshaw.

An Affair with Africa is available through most bookshops and online bookstores.