THE granddaughter of a famous Bolton author is organising a tour of the region's windmills as a tribute to him.

Bolton-born Charles Allen Clarke, who was famed for his Lancashire dialect humour, wrote about the Fylde windmills.

One of them, Little Marton Mill, was donated as a permanent tribute to Mr Clarke by miller Cornelius Bagot after it stopped working in 1928.

There was a plaque to him inside the tower, now visible on the outside as local residents led by Mr Clarke's granddaughter campaigned to have it moved in 2002.

Now Mr Clarke's granddaughter, Shirley Matthews, aged 60, is organising a tour of eight windmills in the Fylde area as a way of remembering her famous grandfather.

She said: "My grandfather did windmill trips in the 1920s, as did my father in the 1930s, so it seemed fitting that I'm carrying out this family tradition.

"It's so important for me to get the people of Bolton and Blackpool to see what my grandfather was like because he was an important part of both their pasts."

Charles Allen Clarke was born in Bolton in 1863, and is best known in the town as "Teddy Ashton".

His numerous writings included the hugely successful Teddy Ashton's Journal, novels, poems and articles.

Right up until his death in 1935 he was writing a weekly column for the Bolton Evening News under the pen name "Old Boltonian".

In his youth he worked as a "piecer" in the mills until his rise to fame as a novelist. During the June 10 trip around the windmills, which will take place on a classic bus loaned by Lancastrian Trust Transport, visitors will be able to take in eight sites, including Marsh Mill, Lytham Mill, Little Marton Mill, Staining Mill, Clifton Mill, Pilling Mill, Treales Mill and Craggs Mill.

On September 9, Mrs Matthews, will also be opening Little Marton Mill up to the public for only the third time in the last 75 years.

In the future, she hopes to open the mill permanently.

Local schoolchildren's work will be on show, as well as an exhibition celebrating the life of Charles Allen Clarke.

For more information on the trip and the open day, contact Mrs Matthews on 01253 408650.