HIS ability to turn daily observations into poetry has seen George Hunter compile a massive collection of some very funny poems and others very serious, about local life and situations.

Brought up in Hill of Beath, George has lived 'just along the road' in Crossgates for many years, but his poetry covers all the former mining communities of the Cowdenbeath-Lochgelly area.

At Cowdenbeath Rotary Club on Thursday George gave a taste of his work.

He said: "My dad was a miner and worked at Mossbeath and Fordell collieries, and I have penned a few about the men who worked the black diamonds but also others on the opencasting that went on around the area.

"None more so than the Crossgates, which seemed to be surrounded by opencast mines for about 40 years, the last of which was Muirdean".

George read several of his poems to the attentive club members and these ranged from 'The Pit Piece' which he remember from his dad, about he sandwich made with cheese and jam to be eaten a break time at the colliery!

Then 'Beware of the Man From the Opencast' about the dust and and mud of the days of opencast mining; and 'Among The Craws', which was actually about the days of the Lochgelly Tawse providing discipline in local schools!

The poet, who was a self employed mechanic, also has written poems on things like the visits from insurance men and the effects of drugs on local communities.