A CHIPPENHAM school teacher has put his love of writing to use by creating a book which he hopes will inspire others to take up the craft.

Geoff Hill, a teacher at St Paul’s Primary School for 14 years, has written Draugr, a fictional book which is based on the Vikings and was recently released by publishers Mirador.

The 45-year-old, who lives on Cranwell Close with his partner, Kim, and eleven-year-old son, Joe, has always had a passion for writing and decided to put pen to paper for his first novel following the death of his dad, William.

“A couple of years ago in school we were doing the Vikings as a topic and as a Year 6 teacher you look for a fiction text that you can read that compliments the topic but I couldn’t find anything suitable,” said Mr Hill.

“So I sat down and wrote this one and since then I’ve done two more in the series, their intended to be for people 10-years-old and up.

“My dad died in October 2014 and that was a big part of the reason I did write the book, I needed something to alleviate the misery and the books have been a massive help, it’s something creative and a little refuge where you can go.”

As well as all royalties being donated to the school from any sales, four illustrations designed by Mr Hill’s pupils have also been included in the book.

Copies of the book will be on sale at the school’s fete from 3pm on Wednesday (December 14), with Mr Hill hopeful that the other two books in the series will be published.

“For me it’s not about the money, I’d much rather people were reading the stories,” added Mr Hill.

“I’m very hopeful the other books will be published but Mirador said let’s just see how this one goes first.”