Anne Marshall, used her four grandchildren as leading characters in the book which tells stories of her own childhood visiting her granny’s cottage in Ireland.

The 57-year-old dedicated her book, The Wee Scullions of Courhoor, to her friend Celine McGown, of Dumbarton, who died suddenly when Anne was writing the book.

She said: “I never set out to be an author I just wanted to be an illustrator. The idea for the book came about because my grandchildren, Melissa, eight, Kai and Annabelle, who are five, keep asking me to tell them about what I got up to as a wee girl.

“I was telling them about my holidays at my own granny’s home in County Galway, Ireland, and decided to write the stories down.

It was quite easy in a way as I had so many happy memories and it certainly had the grandchildren laughing. And once I’d written the stories I illustrated them using pen and ink drawings. That’s actually my real passion, I really enjoyed it. I’ve kept the stories short so children don’t lose interest and tried to make them funny. The stories are based on my own experiences but I have obviously used a bit of artistic license too. I wanted to dedicate the book to Celine as I worked with her at Greggs. She died suddenly when I was writing the book. She had a couple of wee grandchildren and another has been born since she passed away.”