FANCY going back in time this summer?

Harrow Heritage Trust is launching a series of heritage trails to help Harrovians learn about the history on their own doorstep.

The trails are walks of up to two hours, and colourful booklets provide fascinating facts about the five areas covered: Harrow on the Hill, Hatch End, Grimsdyke, Pinner and Stanmore.

Ted Hayden, chairman of the trust's Work with Young People committee, explained: "The trails were intended for the nine to 13 age group, but the more we researched the material, we realised they would be of interest to older people too.

"What we are concerned about is encouraging young folk to take an interest in their heritage. Heritage is not just about old buildings, it's the people who lived here and the stories about them that make it fascinating."

The trails have taken two years to put together, including four months of research by Ted's small committee. Jointly funded by a Lottery grant and the local John Lyon's Charity, the booklets have been professionally printed and illustrated. They cost just 50p each and will be available at all libraries in the borough from Wednesday next week.

Fascinating facts to be learned on the walks include: The War Memorial on the corner of Lowlands Road and Grove Hill in Harrow, built in 1921, has only one woman's name on it, Dorothy Goodman, a war nurse.

Harrow School's bookshop was once the home of Prime Minister Robert Peel.

The churchyard of St John the Baptist's Church in High Street, Pinner contains the 18th century grave of a man who died aged 118.

The organ in St Lawrence's Church, Stanmore, was once played by composer Handel.

A "coal post" in Oxhey Lane, Grimsdyke, marks an entry point into London designated after the Great Fire of 1666, and coal merchants had to pay a tax to pass.

Harrow Arts Centre in Hatch End was built in 1855 as a boarding school for orphans, and opened by Prince Albert.

The Grims Dyke Hotel was once home to Sir William Gilbert (of Gilbert and Sullivan) who drowned in its lake in 1911.