A FAMILY from Sedgeberrow have collected more than 100 letters from their mother's time in Malaya in the 1950s and published them in a book.

Robbin Rennie, of Barn Lane, found the letters in a suitcase after her mother passed away.

Her grandmother had kept them all and, rather than see them collect dust and be forgotten about, the family published the book in memory of their mother.

Mrs Rennie said: "The book gives an interesting insight into life in Malaya in that period in the armed forces and a look into the Eastern way of life."

Her father was sent to Malaya, now Malaysia, with the Royal Electrical Mechanical Engineers as part of the Government's response to the Malayan Communist Party revolt.

Her mother, Joan Francis Mills, and brother and sister Guy and Susan, who were two and 10 at the time, went with him.

Mrs Mills' letters to her parents date back to 1955 and describe a very different world.

Susan's son Adam typed the letters so they could be published. It has taken five years.

Mrs Rennie said: "It's the sort of book you can easily dip in and out of."