THE station manager of Coleford Fire Station Roger Pickett will be immortalised in the next Andrew Taylor thriller novel as a corpse!

Firefighter and haulage firm boss Roger, 55, from Berry Hill, was chosen by the bestselling crime writer as the winner of a HOOF competition run by The Forester, asking people to say in prose why the Dean is so special to them.

Roger, a prop for Berry Hill RFC during their 1980s glory days, wrote that he trained for rugby in the woods, and also went 'tree grumbling'.

He said: "When we were kids we used to spot rotten trees in the woods and charge into them. Woe betide us if the tree turned out to be solid!"

Now Roger will have a place in Andrew's forthcoming book, which has the working title The Loyal American. The author said Roger had plumped for the character of a corpse in the novel which is set in 18th century New York against the backdrop of the American Revolution, and many of the characters are British immigrants.

"There was a very strong field of entries and we did agonise over who should win," said Andrew, who judged the competition with The Forester editor Viv Hargreaves. "I think we found the right winner in the end. I liked the sense that Roger knows the Forest not just as it is now but also how it shaped his childhood and will play its part in his future.

"It's been wonderful seeing the range of people who obviously feel the Forest is very much a part of them. That's why it's so crucial we continue to ensure it belongs to all of us."

Roger's winning entry: The Forest has been here for as long as ever I can remember. I played Robin Hood in the woods, made bows and arrows from twigs, dammed streams, made dens. We used to train for rugby in the woods, grunting and snorting through them like crazed wild boar. We ran into rotten old trees investing the sport of "Tree Grumbling". I track deer after rain and know with fresh prints they are in the shadows silently watching you.

I feel that these woods are mine as much as anybody's and I want them to always be here for my children.