A BIZARRE meeting in a pub led to an avid sportsman giving up cricket, football and the pub for three years.

Eddie Hooper and his wife were living in a caravan in Norton Fitzwarren as they couldn't afford their own home.

So when he spotted an advert for a meeting in Taunton's Crown and Sceptre about forming a self-build group, he was there quicker than one of his dribbles down the wing.

Speaking today about that meeting in 1980, Eddie, now 80, said: "The room soon emptied apart from six of us when the presenter said he wanted everyone to write him a cheque for £200.

"He said, 'No-one in their right mind would give a complete stranger £200, but I've got rid of the timewasters' and explained how to establish a self-build group.

"I was a carpenter and joiner and I got a group of people together with skills like an electrician, plumber and bricklayer.

"We formed a company and got a government loan, which we had to repay once we'd finished."

Then by chance, as he read his County Gazette, Eddie noticed another advert saying the council had a plot in Norton Fitzwarren available for a self-build project.

Next morning, the group descended on the council offices - and the rest is history, with 12 houses going up in Coppin Road, Norton Fiztwarren, over the next five years.

"From the start, I made it clear we'd have to be totally committed, working three evenings a week and all day Saturday and Sunday for three years," said Eddie.

"It meant no sport, no going down the pub, no holidays.

"We did all the work ourselves except for the plastering, which we sub-contracted.

"One of our rules was no sloping down the pub at weekends.

"But once we'd put the chimney stack up on a house, we'd have a few beers on the roof and drop the cans down the chimney to celebrate finishing the house."

Eddie, who still plays five-a-side despite a heart attack, said the wives' support was essential.

"We couldn't have done it without them as we had to commit so much time," he said.

As each four-bedroom semi-detached house was completed, the owner moved in, although Eddie sold his caravan and occupied his home before it was actually finished.

The total cost of building each home was £24,000 and Eddie, the only one of the original occupants still in Coppin Road, reckons they'd fetch ten times that today.

He added: "It was hard work, but it was worth it to get out of the caravan into our own home."