A FORMER Army chef is now cooking up treats of a different kind - using high-technology to feed the minds of local children.

Keith Marshall retired last August after almost 30 years cooking for soldiers at Catterick Garrison, in North Yorkshire.

But as well as food, his other passion is for nature and the 65-year-old is now capturing it on his computer to help local school children.

"When I retired I bought a computer and a digital camera and enrolled at Darlington College at Catterick to learn how to use them," said Mr Marshall, who lives in Richmond and is known locally as Wildlife Keith.

"I did an introduction to computers course and desk top publishing and it was absolutely fantastic."

With his new found knowledge, he is now photographing wild animals and plants, and producing laminated reproductions of the pictures for a nature trail for a local school.

"Carnagill Community Primary School, at Catterick, asked me to do a nature trail for the children," he said.

"So I am taking pictures of birds and plants and tidying up a bit of scrubland to turn it into a nature area. I am also putting up bird and bat boxes and the whole thing fits in nicely with the national curriculum."

He added: "The course also came in handy as I can now use email and am sending out lots of them to various organisations to try and get grants."