John Nelson, from Kelso, a mature student at Newcastle University, where he is studying contemporary photography, embarked on the project in September last year.

John, who is in his second year of the course, said: "Each semester, we're given a project, based on a vague title, and are told to interpret it how we want.

"The title for this project was 'The Location.'

"Because I live in Kelso and travel to university in Newcastle, I was going to do the drive to Newcastle down the A697 and the countryside and places I go through, but after discussing it with my tutor, I decided it was too big a project to do in just 12 weeks. So, I decided to do it on the first village I come to on the journey - Cornhill.

"I decided I should concentrate on the people involved in the village and build from there, and it was an amazing 12 weeks.

"I took about 1500 photos of people and places within the Cornhill area and spoke to dozens of people to get information on the history of the village, and its present."

Having ended up with thousands of photographs, John had to decide what form his project would take.

"I had to cut it down to a small project and decided on a book as I could put in more images than I could on wall space," he said.

"The book has about 40 images in total and leaves the journey of the book up to the viewer who can determine how they interpret it.

"I've not put the history of the village in, or current information about the jobs of people in it, but if people want to know more, my contact details are in the book and they can contact me or the respective groups or individuals in the village featured."

On Friday he presented the book to the committee, who met in the Collingwood Arms, the village hall's main room being out of action following roof damage caused by the recent heavy snow.

John said: "I handed the book over to the village hall committee so it can become a keep-sake for the village - a representation of what the village meant between September and December 2009, so hopefully it becomes more of an archive.

"Everyone I met in the village was more than accommodating in showing me around and explaining how the village works in terms of the community and the social enterprise there."