AN afternoon of displays, presentations and discussions on the 'Gifted Sons Of The Severn' – poet FW Harvey, Herbert Howells and Ivor Gurney – proved a sell out.

The event, in Gloucester, attracted 140 people and was opened by Dame Janet Trotter, Lord Lieutenant of Gloucestershire.

The audience learnt about the friendship between Frederick William Harvey, Herbert Howells and Ivor Gurney and how they shared a close friendship in the years before the First World War.

All three went on to make outstanding contributions to the cultural life of Britain in the twentieth century. They walked and talked together in the beautiful Gloucestershire countryside surrounding the River Severn, drawing inspiration from the landscape and from each other.

There was a moving account of how the First World War changed their lives forever. Howells, who was too ill to serve in the war moved to London and found fame and recognition. FW Harvey, the 'Laureate of Gloucestershire,' a solicitor, poet and broadcaster settled in the Forest of Dean where he became a legendary figure because of his generosity and advocacy. His great friend Ivor Gurney was to spend the rest of his short life in an asylum.

The talks presented by Professor Kelsey Thornton, biographer Anthony Boden, Maurice Bent, Roger Deeks and Teresa Davies were illustrated with recordings by FW Harvey, Herbert Howells, Brian Frith and Dr Bill Tandy. The highlights were a moving reading of two poems, one written by Gurney in 1917 in the belief that his best friend had been killed – he had in fact been taken prisoner – and the other by Harvey in 1928 realising Gurney was destined never to leave the asylum or recover from his mental illness.

The afternoon also included the launch of Selected Poems of FW Harvey edited by Kelsey Thornton and Anthony Boden and published by Douglas McLean of Forest Books at Coleford.