London-based children’s author and screenwriter John McNally returned to his roots last week with a tour of Pembrokeshire schools.

John - who writes the successful Infinity Drake series of books – was educated at Grove (now Gelli Aur) and Pembroke schools and these were among the ones he visited on his four day visit.

He proved a captivating speaker with the main message to his audience being not to be afraid of making mistakes.

His talk also included some scientific content which interested the pupils and demonstrated how knowledge of subjects can feed into creative writing.

John – whose father ran Pembroke’s Lion Hotel for many years – also visited schools at: Monkton Priory School; Pembroke Dock Community; Pennar; St Mary’s in Pembroke Dock, Lamphey’ Tasker-Milward in Haverfordwest, Haverfordwest VC and Milford Haven.

Pembrokeshire County Council’s Basic Skills and Literacy adviser, Eva John, arranged John’s visit with support from the Victoria Bookshop in Haverfordwest.