OUR literary past will be brought vividly to life as part of the borough's Adult Learners' Week celebrations.

A huge book will be erected outside Marks and Spencer and at 12.50pm each day next week you can hear extracts from classic works by authors with a local connection.

The readers and children from St Mark's Primary School will dress in period costume to add to the atmosphere.

Featured authors include Richmal Crompton who wrote the Just William books, Dodie Smith who wrote The 101 Dalmatians and Frances Hodgson Bernette who penned Little Lord Fauntleroy.

Bury Libraries, Bury CVS, Age Concern, Bury College, Bolton and Bury Chamber, Bury Lifelong Learning and Bury Metro training department have joined forces to provide a week of entertainment and information designed to encourage adult learning.

The fun kicks off at Kay Gardens on Monday, May 17, where you can watch Chinese brush painting, flower arranging and porcelain flower making, all by adult students of Bury Lifelong Learning.

On Wednesday, at Kay Gardens you can watch the culinary experts of Bury College's catering department preparing vegetables and piping (between 12.20pm and 1.45pm) and a display of art work by students at Bury Lifelong Learning (1.50pm to 2.30pm).

Thursday sees the action move to the Mill Gate Shopping Centre (next to Marks and Spencer). Students from Bury College's sports therapy course will perform a shoulder massage (11.45am to 12.15pm). Then it's the turn of Age Concern members who will perform Tai Chi (12.20pm to 12.45pm) and American Line Dancing (1.25pm to 1.45pm).

Between 1.50pm and 2.30pm you can have your portrait drawn by Bury Lifelong Learning students and then Bury College's music department will perform some gentle acoustic guitar playing.

Thursday is also Learning At Work Day when such sessions as time management, stress management, training, quizzes, workers' rights and taster sessions are planned to be run in the workplace.

At 10am on Friday Dr Helen Gilchrist, Bury College principal, will start a readathon on the steps of the Market Street Centre, to raise money for local charities.

Over at the Mill Gate Centre you can see a demonstration of nail care from the college's hair and beauty therapy students (11.45am to 12.15pm), more culinary delights from the catering students and a variety of art work (1.25pm to 1.45pm).

And between 2pm and 3pm you can have a free portrait done by a photographer who will paint you with light!

Throughout the week a team of experts at Kay Gardens and the Mill Gate Centre will be around to give advice and information on Lifelong Learning.

Bury's new Learning Shop, at 12 Crompton Street, will open for the first time to give adults educational and careers guidance. It will also run short courses in IT and the Internet as well as providing a CV service.

The shop, rented by Bury College and Bury Council's Community Education Service, will be open from 9am to 5pm weekdays and 9am to 4pm on Saturday.

The week concludes with an open day for adults at Bury College next Friday. You can have a chat about what's on offer, enjoy a free lunch and pop into a class to get a taster.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.