UNIVERSITY of Brighton graduate and former member of indie rock band The Maccabees Orlando Weeks has created an illustrated children’s book about a man who grits roads.

Orlando graduated with an Illustration BA(Hons) degree back in 2006 but the city and the university are still very much part of his life:

He said: “I had wonderful time at Brighton. I made friends there that are still dear to me now.

“I worked alongside people who I still look to for inspiration. Brighton was a place that encouraged creativity and was full of people making things, starting bands, having exhibitions.

“It was at Brighton that my tutors pointed out that anything I was doing in one discipline could and should feed into other areas.

“This one piece of advice has stuck with me and The Gritterman is my attempt at combining the types of making (drawing, writing and music) that I enjoy the most.”

Orlando spent a decade with the Maccabees and in 2016, when the group disbanded, he started writing The Gritterman, his first book.

The story is about a seasonal hero and the work he loves. He uses his vehicle as an ice-cream van in summer but it is in the winter when he is a gritterman that “he comes into his own” until the council insists his services are no longer required.

The book is out next month with an accompanying album narrated by comedian Paul Whitehouse.