Poets Show Work at Top Bookshop

A group of residents have turned their memories into touching poems.

Now the work of the senior wordsmiths from the Gwern Alyn care home has gone on show at the Waterstones book shop in Wrexham.

People can read the poetry or buy a copy and all the money raised will go to the Hope House children's hospice.

The Poetry Group saw residents of the home, working together to turn some of their fondest memories and most difficult experiences into verse.

According to Waterstones manager Ged Armstrong, the poetry is already proving very popular.

He said: "People have really taken great interest in it. We are finding customers sitting in the shop and reading through it. I think many are touched by both the way the poems are written and of course the subjects."

Gwern Alyn's activities coordinator, Yvonne Moran, said: "We set up the Poetry Group as a way of stimulating interest and getting residents to think and talk to each other.

"The main thing is each poem we have written is relevant to a member of the group. Some are humorous while some are very touching and some extremely thought-provoking."

"It's been a wonderful experience and I feel very privileged. It really shows that older people have so much to say and we should never forget that."

Resident Marian Williams, 91, absolutely loves being part of the Poetry Group and really enjoys hearing the experiences of her fellow residents too.

She said: "It was really great fun sitting down and talking with my friends and reminiscing about what we used to get up to."

I have lived here at Gwern Alyn for about a year now and I really like it. I have lots of friends and we can be as busy as we want, there is always something for us to do.

"It's wonderful to see our book on show here at Waterstones, whoever would have thought. We might be famous yet, who knows!"

Tom Wynn, 88, penned War, a poem which draws on his wartime experiences of fighting on the front line.

He said: "I was called up at 18 and was originally sent to Algiers and later Italy. I saw things I don't like to think about and I suppose my poem is anti-war."

Tom's daughter, Susan Clutton, said: "I think it's a brilliant poem and I am so proud of him. It really brings it home what the war was about then. Perhaps we don't realise today quite what it was like."



Climbing Trees and Walls.

Girls weren't allowed to climb trees and walls,
Wrapped in cotton wool we weren't allowed to take falls,
But a burning desire, to climb ever higher,
Made me careless and my parents hairless,
My brother swung from tree to tree,
My dad said he was a chimpanzee,
They let him climb the walls and didn't object,
But I had to study books to raise my intellect,
I envied my brother the freedom to climb,
But as soon as I started I got caught every time,
Now that I'm older and freedom is mine,
Looking at trees brings everything to mind,
There has been talk and plenty of rumours,
That I did climb many a tree and showed off my bloomers!



War.

From eighteen to twenty-four,
No hiding, no escape, no peace only war,
My body became the best it's ever been,
My hearing excellent,
My eyes supreme,
Friendships are made and lost,
Freedom comes at an incredible cost,
No time for beauty,
The birds or the trees,
I have no time,
Because I'm fighting for these.