BUDDING historians will be able to take a trip down memory lane as the Malverns are brought to life in a book of pictures on the area.

Images of England - The Malverns has been compiled by historian Brian Iles, of Bank Road, Malvern.

The book features a collection of more than 200 archive photographs documenting life in the Malverns from the 1860s until the 1950s.

The area is renowned for its mineral water and became popular in the Victorian era.

The 1930s saw the heyday of the Malvern film and theatre festivals, which attracted actors such as Errol Flynn and Stewart Grainger. And the publication captures some of these moments, as well as aspects of everyday life, including shops and businesses and work and leisure over the war years.

Mr Iles, aged 56, is a keen local historian and is also heavily involved in the town's museum as vice-chairman of its management committee.

Mr Iles has been collecting photographs of Malvern for 30 years and has about 3,000, including postcards, images from guides and ones he has bought on e-Bay.

It took him about eight weeks to compile the collection, and he now plans to work on similar publications for the future.

He said: "It's something that's been on my mind for ages and I'm quite pleased with it. There are quite a lot of pictures in it which haven't been published before and I've already had comments from people asking for copies of images to frame them."

The book, priced at £12.99, was released this month, with some of the images going on display recently in the town council offices as part of Malvern Pride Week.

Mr Iles will be signing copies at Beacon Books in Malvern's Worcester Road, on Saturday, September 3 from 11am onwards.