AN Evesham man has combined the two hobbies he is most passionate about - and is using one to raise money for the other.

Visitors to next month's Stratford Poetry Festival are likely to hear extracts from Spirit of the Vale, Poems from nature and life in the Vale of Evesham by Bob Woodroofe - which is the third part of his poetry trilogy in celebration of his beloved local countryside.

The book marks almost a decade of Bob's thoughts on the world around him as well as development as a poet and comprises a collection which evokes childhood memories of growing up in the Vale and celebrates the cycles of nature.

But how did he begin putting his thoughts on the countryside down on paper?

It all began for Bob, now aged 53, when his daughter was studying poetry at school.

"She was doing quite well and I was giving her a hand. Then I found a voice for myself," he said.

From there he started attending writing circles around the area and even met his partner, Sue Johnson, at poetry classes. Now they both attend writing groups in Redditch, Worcester, Pershore and Malvern. They also attend workshops with established poets and will be reading their work at the open session of the upcoming poetry festival.

Bob's first poetry collection, Nature of the Vale, was completed in 1993.

Reflections of the Vale was published in 1997 and Spirit of the Vale is Bob's work to mark the millennium.

The books have been published from his Greenhill home and sold in local bookshops.

They all follow Bob's love of nature, but he says his style has developed as he went along. The first was written not long after his interest in poetry began and follows a traditional rhyming verse style.

The second is a mix of poetry and prose and the third a more sophisticated collection of thoughts and feelings which have come together after further development of his craft.

Bob adds that his writing has also co-incided with redundancies from work, giving him the chance not only to get his teeth into it but also to give himself a break from job-hunting and filling in forms.

He works in manufacturing management by day - he is currently a stores manager for a local firm - but he escapes his office work in his spare time by working outdoors as a volunteer for the Worcestershire Wildlife Trust.

"I'm into the environment in a big way," he says. He was born in Greenhill and has returned to live there and particularly cherishes the Vale landscape.

He is also helping the environment by selling the books. The first two were sold to raise money for the WWT and profits from the latest one are being divided between the Cleeve Prior Heritage Trust and the Vale Landscape Heritage Trust, both of which he is involved in.

He manages the WWT nature reserve in Cleeve Prior and when villagers wanted to save an old orchard, he joined the campaign and the Heritage Trust was formed which has now secured several pockets of valuable habitats in the village.

The Vale Landscape Heritage Trust works towards similar aims of preserving valuable land, but on a larger scale across the whole of the Evesham and Pershore area.

"My poetry comes from working out in the environment," said Bob. "It comes from exploring and looking at the wildlife. Some of the stories in the book are about common garden flowers, but when you look into the stories of them, you find out all sorts of amazing things about them - it's amazing to me anyway!"