FIVE Forest poets were given a standing ovation on the final day of the recent Gloucester Poetry Festival.

Festival organiser and newly-crowned Gloucestershire poet laureate Ziggy Dicks had spotted the wealth of talent and the story local poets had to tell when he took part in a poetry recital at the Mitcheldean Festival last July.

He said then that if they could put together a programme offering a snapshot of the Forest –its past, people, life and language – he’d be happy to feature it at Gloucester. 

For the poets, proud of their heritage and eager to share it with the wider world, the chance was too good to miss, and so Keith Morgan, Annie  Cavill, Dick Brice, Carol Sheppard and Maggie Clutterbuck put together a showcase celebrating all aspects of Forest life – from the triumph and tragedy of life down the mines to the beauty of the landscape and the unique local language.

This was captured in dialect poems, which had the audience calling for a dictionary and wondering what a ‘ship’ was doing in the Forest.

Keith replied that more often than not they’d be blocking the road, but he had a phrasebook handy that would make everything clear – and the audience discovered that ‘ship’ in ‘Vorest’ meant ‘sheep’.

The poets hope their festival success won’t be a one-off and look forward to a repeat performance next year.