How long have been a Barnet Homes resident?
I’ve been a Barnet Homes resident all my life. I live with and care for my grandmother who has been a Barnet Homes resident for over fifty years.
Tell us a little about yourself?
I have started a creative project that aims to get old, forgotten poems out of books and into the public. People enjoy poems on the Tube, so why wouldn’t they enjoy them everywhere else?
How did you first become interested in poetry?
I never used to like poetry but in 2010, the London Borough of Barnet piloted a project in partnership with The Reader Organisation who are based in Liverpool and I became involved soon after. I have delivered shared reading groups across the borough along with a remarkable group of dedicated volunteers. It is an incredible project and has helped so many people. I didn’t know any poetry before I became involved with The Reader, except what I learned at school and I know this is the case for so many others. I am now a great lover of poetry and want to share it with everyone.
How do you share your love of poetry with others?
I just want people to know that poetry isn’t supposed to be easy but it does get easier with the more you read and then eventually, reading poetry becomes a thoroughly enjoyable experience. If I can make the poems unavoidably large and easy to read, they will get a chance to be seen by someone who might never have seen them. It is as much of a chance for poems to be seen by people as it is for people to see poems, and that is important to me.
What are the benefits of poetry in community settings?
I have seen the benefits from a number of sides, working in care settings with people living with memory loss and seen the power it has to recall seemingly forgotten memories and in public libraries within the community where complete strangers have shared deeply personal thoughts and feelings with each other. I have seen the cathartic nature of those moments.
Tell us about the project at Fosters Estate?
The project at Fosters will be a set of large print, illustrated poems set alongside each other to make a poetry corner. If people like the idea and enjoy the poems then we can find some more poems for some more places and see what happens. It is a developing idea and it will inspire other ways to present poetry in public places where a temporary space such as hoarding, or a more permanent place like a wall, could host a poem. I think everyone at Barnet Homes, Hill Construction and Sage Homes are looking forward to seeing people’s responses to the poems. Me and my nan are especially looking forward to seeing them as I have chosen them from a selection we have both been enjoying for years.