I had this note from Terry Wills.
My name is Terry Willis and I am a retired Head Teacher. All my teaching career I ensured that poetry and performing poetry was an integral part of the work in my classes (teacher) and my schools (Head Teacher). After retirement I started to write children’s books, two of which were poetry books and I visited schools and children joined in reading poetry with me. Then lock down. I believe with all my educational heart that poetry is a wonderful vehicle for helping children to find their voice and I believe we should start encouraging pupils, right from Nursery, with rhyming stories and rhymes.
So, for lockdown, in order to support children and families at home, I created a YouTube channel so that all stories and poems could be freely accessible. It became a project called A Poem a Day. It has grown and is now A Poem a Day -Phase 2 and is also on Instagram.
These are the links.
https://www.youtube.com/
https://www.instagram.com/
I would be so pleased if some of you poets would send record and send us your poems to upload onto the channels. It would be marvellous and offers a new opportunity for your poems to be heard.
We now have poems in French, Portuguese, Spanish, Basque, Chinese, Arabic, Japanese, Jamaican patois and English.
I was delighted when the author and poet, Sophie Hannah, agreed to record a poem. Her reading opened Phase 2. Then Jo Brand responded and sent me a video of her reading a poem. Since then John Hegley actually came and visited me so that I could record him as he could not record himself.. Benjamin Zephaniah and Bernard Young (poets) Alison Steadman, the actress, Elly Griffiths and Ann Cleeves (authors) have all sent us poems of their choice.
If any of you wish to contribute poems they can be recorded and sent to poems@terrywillis.co.uk
or via WhatsApp on 077 533 25345.
I would be so pleased if this could happen.
In hope,
Terry Willis
077 533 25345
