Alternative tale set to be retold

SADDLEWORTH novelist and TV writer Jan Needle is relaunching his most popular book... with a raised glass of ale and a recipe for toad in the hole.

A specially-brewed local bitter will be served for the launch and Mossley songwriter Eliza P will sing a comic ditty she has composed at Uppermill Conservative Club on Wednesday at 8pm.

Jan’s book, “My Wild Wood”, is an alternative version of Kenneth Grahame’s masterpiece “The Wind in the Willows”. Instead of being the heroes, Toad, Ratty, Mole and Badger are unthinking rural fatcats who drive the hard-working Wild Wooders to revolution.

Though the book was marketed as a children’s story when it was first published in 1981, Jan never intended it specifically for young readers.

Many of the characters are named after his favourite beers, including OB the Chief Weasel, and JW Lees of Greengate.

In his revised version there is a beer recipe — formulated by Tony and Mary Harratt’s Greenfield Brewery — and another for toad in the hole.

“My Wild Wood” is out now, (£9.99).