According to him it is is fate which got him into flowers and brought him to Calderdale.

He was working as manager of a stately home in Cheshire and helped organise a flower festival.

"It struck me that I could do a better job," says the 54-year-old, who admits he was never academic at school but always had a creative streak which was going to waste.

So he went to night school to learn all he could about flowers and after 22 years in the trade has just opened his first flower studio, Cassons in George Street, Halifax.

Roger, who was born in Ashton-under-Lyne, spent most of his career working in Manchester and Cheshire but like a lot of Lancastrians, on a trip to Yorkshire, fell in love with the beautiful Hebden Bridge countryside and 18 months ago bought a house with his partner, Ian, in Pecket Well.

He ended up working for Sue Worthington who opened Cassons Florist in Halifax town centre 25 years ago. "Sue told me at the end of last year she was putting the shop up for sale and was I interested? I jumped at the opportunity because it is such an established business. I was obviously meant to open a shop in Halifax," says Roger who moved the business round the corner into newly- renovated premises last month and swapped roles with Sue, who is now working for him.

His eye-catching contemporary window displays have certainly caught the eye of the Calderdale public because he is already rushed off his feet with weddings, funerals and other special events, and contract work is beginning to filter through. He is supplying flowers to a local bar and restaurant, a hairdresser and several hotels.

Weddings and hotels are his specialised areas and where he learned his trade. For 12 years he was resident florist at one of Manchester's most prestigious hotels, The Midland. It was where Mr Rolls met Mr Royce and has always been a celebrity haunt popular with the likes of Manchester United footballers. "David and Victoria Beckham often came in to dine and I met them on several occasions," says Roger who provided flowers for both weddings in the hotel and any stars staying there.

Shirley Bassey, Elton John and Pierce Brosnan were just three guests Roger made spectacular bouquets or stylish sculptures for, and the last celebrity wedding his flowers were on show at was footballer Gary Neville's. Gary got married at Manchester Cathedral and had his reception at The Midland.

Roger did a six-month stint at Claridges, London, to learn the `London ' style. While he was there he rubbed shoulders with celebrities like Madonna, but while she might have impressed him, the flowers didn't.

"There is no such thing as far as I am concerned as the 'London style'.