KAY Taylor is so involved with village life she felt qualified to write a book about Sutton Benger.

Mrs Taylor, who has been a village correspondent for the Gazette for 16 years, has been a member of just about every committee and organisation in Sutton Benger since moving there in 1978.

"I have been interested in the village's history since I moved here," said Mrs Taylor, who has just had her book, Sutton Benger From Saxon Times To The Dawn Of The 21st Century, published by ELSP of Bradford on Avon.

She started researching the book in 1988 but a busy family and village life meant it took a lot longer to complete than she had envisaged.

"A good excuse for never actually starting to write the book was there was always an aspect of an incident I needed to follow up and I accumulated so much in the way of snippets about the area it seemed an impossible task to organise the material in a coherent way that would be of interest to everyone," she said.

"Other excuses for not finding the time or discipline to write my book revolved around my growing family.

"And over the years my village activities have seen me involved as a committee member for every organisation from the Mother and Toddler Group to a term as president for the Women's Institute."

Mrs Taylor, even went as far as enrolling on a history degree course at the University of the West of England in Bristol to help learn how to handle historical material, and graduated three years ago with first class honours.

The book catalogues more than 1,000 years of Sutton Benger's history, including the church, schooling, and the tale of a 19th century murderer whose victim lies beneath All Saints churchyard.