WHILE many visitors to the Longfield Centre in Prestwich may be getting their Christmas shopping under way this weekend, they would be rewarded for making time for a fascinating history lesson.

For amateur historian Craig Brisbane has organised an exhibition at Prestwich Library which looks into the intriguing past of the Heaton Park and Sedgley Park areas.

Taking centre stage in the exhibition is the infamous Petrocokinos family, who hailed from Greece and lived in Sedgley House — the modern-day Sedgley Park Police Training College in Sedgley Park Road — at the turn of the 19th century.

Mr Brisbane added: "The exhibition also features a range of letters, documents and objects documenting Prestwich's history, including a set of photographs of the Sedgley Park area from around about the 1930s."

The exhibition is open on Saturday and Sunday from 9.30am to 1pm. Entry is free.