LOCAL historian Norman Reeves, now in his mid 90s, is still working actively on his researches.

He is the author of the two important books 'The Town in the Marches' (a history of Leominster) and 'The Leon Valley' (a study of three villages in north Herefordshire.)

He has long been interested in church history and his latest publication is 'Cosmas and Damian', with special reference to the church dedicated to them at Stretford, near Ivington.

In this important new book (published by St Leonards Press, Corve Street, Ludlow), he traces the cult of the saints in Britain and in other parts of Europe and the Near East. In England, there are only four other similarly-dedicated churches. He examines the possibility that the church at Stretford might have been established during Roman occupation and points out that the holy well there is of great significance.

The book shows how Cosmas and Damian came to be the patron saints of medicine and why the little redundant church at Stretford deserves to be more widely known.

There are photographs of the other churches which relate to the saints and other diagrams and illustrations.

Copies can be obtained by writing to Norman Reeves, St. Thomas, Stockenhill Road, Leominster, HR6 8PP, at a cost of £3.50 (with 50p postage) or from local bookshops.