CONVICTS who have had the book thrown at them have made their own book for a Blackburn school.

Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School can now boast a brand new "Book of Benefaction" thanks to inmates from HM Prison Lancaster.

Prisoners produced the leather-bound book, with the school's name embossed on the front cover, in the prison workshop.

The idea came after a discussion between Stewart Hopkinson, a former QEGS pupil, who is head of resettlement and partnerships at Lancaster and QEGS director of appeals Joanna Lavelle at a reunion in the school.

Stewart said: "The lads who produced the book were thrilled to be doing it and Joanna was thrilled with the result."

The book will be used to recognise people who have helped and supported the school in the past and in the future.

Mrs Lavelle said: "The book is a really professional volume and I hope it will also serve as an inspiration to others to follow their example.

"It is a reminder that QEGS is a school that has contacts with so many different aspects of the community in Lancashire.

"The way the school has been developed over the years for the benefit of its pupils has only been possible because of the generosity of local people."