ENCOURAGING early sales of a book on the history of Chester-le-Street have prompted the author to try to get the book into every school in the North-East.

Raymond Selkirk believes his book, Chester-le-Street and It's Place in History, would make an ideal learning tool for youngsters.

Despite not yet having its official launch, 170 copies of the 500-page book have been sold.

Mr Selkirk's two-year labour of love charts the town's rich and bloody heritage that has, in more recent years, been hijacked by places such as Newcastle and York.

It proclaims Chester-le-Street as the ancient capital of the North and includes evidence of previously undiscovered Roman roads criss-crossing County Durham.

Mr Selkirk, of the town's St Cuthbert's Avenue, said: "I'm writing to all schools to see if they might have it in their libraries. I think it would be an ideal book to help people learn about the region's history."

The book, priced £29.95, will have its official launch at Chester-le-Street Civic Centre on Friday, May 4, at 7pm.