A RETIRED computer programmer from Bussage has designed a beautiful new book to raise much needed funds for marine conservation.

Peter Wormington is launching a crowd-funded project to publish a short illustrated book in aid of Ross on Wye charity, the Marine Conservation Society (MCS).

"The book is about strange birds that fly over the sea and strange creatures that live in it, said Peter.

"No creature is more surprising than the one that is half fish and half bird and hunted by all the others – the flying fish!"

Peter described how the book came about: “I came across this poem whilst sailing in seas full of flying fish, and the birds and fish that eat them.

"I used to do a lot of sailing in the seventies, and I recently read a report which said that since my sailing days, the number of fish in the sea has halved; and the number of big fish has fallen by three quarters.

"The Marine Conservation Society can do something about this."

Crowdfunding enables people with a great idea to ask the general public for funding to set up or expand. People can make pledges for small amounts of money in return for a reward, in this case a copy of the book. The basic pledge is £10 - £5 to cover printing and postage and £5 for the charity.

Peter designed the full page illustrations which were created by a company in Argentina.

The text is an extract from an old poem, famous in its time, by John Henry Gray. The book has been typeset by Mach 3 Solutions of Bussage. The video on the web site below is by Bandaloop Productions in Chalford.

Peter concludes: “This is a good book with wide appeal and MCS is a good cause. I'd love to bring other neglected poems back to life. So please go to my crowd-funding page at http://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/the-flying-fish and help make this project a success!”