WHEN John Roe first started to communicate via email around the turn of the Millennium, he had no idea it would turn him into a poet.

Living in a remote farmhouse at Coalcleugh, near Carrshield, John and his wife Eileen decided it would be a good way to keep in touch with their family.

Using the couple’s newly-acquired ‘emailer’ device, John’s very first message to his five grown-up children was in the form of a poem about the new “electronic miracle.”

Poetry became a common theme in John’s messages, to the point where he eventually began to write a book.

But while working on his witty and uplifting paperback It Aint Necessarily So, retired clockmaker John died in June, 2014, aged 73, after losing a three-month battle against cancer.

Now, with the support of illustrator Gary Hogg, his widow Eileen has published the book, with proceeds from sales set to benefit Macmillan Cancer Support.

Eileen, who now lives in Haltwhistle, said: “John sent the first email as a poem and things just went from there. The family and other people would reply in the same manner.

“He had a wonderful sense of humour and amusing observations about all sorts of things, and he was a natural at putting these observations into word form.

“His intention was to write the book to keep a record of all the emails, but in getting it published, I hope it can raise some vital funds for a worthy cause which provided support for us when we needed it.”

In his self-written introduction, penned in 2013, John said: “We’d gotten this emailer, so I thought I’d give the family our contact address by writing a little poem.

“And so was born a new era in the family, especially when we heard of all the deeds, and misdeeds, which tickled my funny bone enough.”

The entertaining compilation of poems include Nau Sea, The Kirkcudbright Mermaid, Gargling Gordon from Goole, and Hare Today, Goon Tomorrow.

The collection includes John’s observations on things like losing one’s socks, household clutter, flying ointment and the North Pennines’ midnight sky.

To purchase a copy of It Aint Necessarily So, contact Eileen Roe on (01434) 622783.