A BOOK about how World War Two affected a local school is to be published in Otley.

Prince Henry's - A School at War tells the story of how Prince Henry's Grammar School fared between 1939 and 1945.

It has been written by retired teacher Graham Shutt, who taught at Prince Henry's for 42 years and describes the book as a seven year 'labour of love'.

Running to 375 pages, Prince Henry's - A School at War will be unveiled at the Otley school at 3.30pm on its publication date of Wednesday, June 13.

Mr Shutt said: "It is not only about the 463 ex-pupils and staff who were in the Armed Forces, 41 of whom were killed in the war; nor only about those who were wounded, prisoners of war in German, Italian or Japanese hands, or who were decorated.

"It is also about the impact of the war on the 998 pupils who were at Prince Henry's at the time, some at the school for the length of the war.

"It is dedicated to everybody associated with Prince Henry's before and during the Second World War - lest we forget."

Mr Shutt had plenty of archive material to sift through for his research.

He added: "I had access to all the school magazines and governors minutes, and looked through a lot of old Wharfedale Observers, so I had more than enough material to draw on.

"The book has taken about seven years altogether and has involved a lot of work with all the research, proof-reading and so on.

"The reason for doing it was really to keep me occupied in retirement, and I also didn't want people to forget the past pupils who died in the war, or how it affected everyone at the school."

Published by Pool-in-Wharfedale based Fisher King, the hardback book is available for pre-ordering now on Amazon.