CHRIS Yeats, of Hartlebury, has made his own bit of history by being elected head of a Worcestershire-wide group.

He is the new chairman of Worcestershire Local History Forum, an organisation in which people from throughout Worcestershire can pool information about the county from down the centuries.

It was founded in 1994 and its aims include promoting interest in the county's history, recording it providing mutual support and advice on matters ranging from research to publications.

Mr Yeats, 66, came to Hartlebury from County Durham in 1972. A founder member and former chairman of Hartlebury History Society, he described his interest in history as "a lifelong thing".

He added: I trained as a history teacher many years ago. I began my career as head of history in a school with 800 children in Wallasey, Merseyside."

He continued in teaching until taking early retirement in 1988. "Since then," he explained, "I have been involved in a lot of voluntary work."

When Hartlebury villagers decided to set up a history society in 1997, Mr Yeats, who is married with three children and six grandchildren, was initially elected vice-chairman before, eventually, taking over the chair.

Over the past eight years, the society has organised a local history exhibition at Hartlebury Castle, set up a website with funding from the Lottery and produced a bi-annual magazine, Discovery, for which Mr Yeats was the original editor.

In his new role as chairman of the forum, which has 60 members, from the Black Country to the Vale of Evesham, he hopes to raise the profile of the organisation.