Simon Ratsey, who counts WWN weather correspondent among his roles, has released his first book at the age of 71. His family moved to a farm near Wellington in 1950 when he was very young – they shopped in Wellington and it’s where he went to school.

He later lived outside the area for some years but moved back 30 years ago. It’s safe to say he loves the town and feels a part of the community. Steve Jenkins, pastor at the Life Central Church, spoke to him.

Steve: So, Simon, what kind of activities have you engaged with in the Wellington community?

Simon: All my life, in work and leisure, I have been aware of the beauty of the creation I see around me. Since I retired from my gardening business, I’ve been closely involved with Swains Lane Nature Reserve and with setting up our community orchards. That linked in with my role as tree warden, and, for some years, as a Wellington in Bloom committee member.

Steve: With eco-credentials like that, presumably you are keen to let people know about related issues.

Simon: Absolutely! And that’s why I am part of Transition Town Wellington, trying to make a positive difference in the life of the community. It’s a fundamentally Christian principle.

Steve: That’s a lot of activities to be going on with. Surely you don’t have time for anything else – do you?

Simon: Well, I do write a weather report every month for the Wellington Weekly News! And then there’s the book…

Steve: Okay! What motivated you to write a book in the midst of such a busy life?

Simon: I didn’t set out to write it. Winding down my business gave me more spare time and I decided to write about something other than the weather. So I started looking at the Bible, trying to distil the essence of the whole story as simply as possible. With the same approach, I then focused particularly on the New Testament. But when I came to the Book of Acts, it got a lot more complicated. It was a fascinating historical narrative, but it needed unpicking, so to speak.

Steve: Even though your book describes the journeys of biblical characters in the Roman Empire nearly 2,000 years ago, it’s written like an internet blog. Why?

Simon: I was inspired by David Suchet’s television documentary ‘In the Footsteps of St Paul’, where he read from the Bible in the very places where things had happened. This made me wonder what it would have been like to be there at the time. Saint Luke took part in some of those journeys, and it occurred to me that he probably kept a diary – a travel log.

Steve: Now that you have unpacked these stories and studied the lives of the characters, how do you now feel about these people in the Bible?

Simon: It’s made characters in the Book of Acts become real to me. They’re now like a cast of actors in my mind’s eye and I even get into the way they think! So this has made it a very real story for me and it’s my hope that it will have the same effect on people reading my book.

Steve: It’s all very well for people who are into the Bible, or go to church and get this stuff, but why should anyone else give this their attention?

Simon: It’s a good story! A great series of adventures with excitement, confrontation, jeopardy – all that is expected in historical fiction.

Steve: Sounds like a great read to me. Thank you, Simon.

Simon Ratsey’s book ‘The Little Blog of Lucanus’ has its launch event in Coffee #1, Wellington, on Friday (September 22) from 6pm.

The book is available for pre-order on amazon.co.uk and is on general release from October 1.