Photographer collects images for new edition of A Shropshire Lad

An updated edition of acclaimed poetry collection A Shropshire Lad includes dozens of images taken by a local photographer.

John Hayward is part of a family photography business. He was approached by Ludlow publisher Merlin Unwin Books to provide shots of Shropshire to accompany the words of A. E. Housman, who was born near Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, in 1859.

A Shropshire Lad - Housman's first book of 63 poems - was published in 1896 and has never been out of print.

BBC presenter Nick Owen is a lifelong lover of Housman's work, having been introduced to it as a Shropshire schoolboy by his father Bertie.

Owen, who still owns a pre-War version of A Shropshire Lad, agrees with the photographer that Housman's words still resonate with people, reflecting a "county that has such a strong place in my heart".

A film by John Bray