Ferring pensioners’ poetry published in booklet

Joy Barker, 86, set up the Ferring Retirement Club Poetry Group about five years ago and has watched it grow to 15 members.

A selection of their poems has been published in a book, called Poems, Pensions and Poets, to coincide with the club’s 35th anniversary.

Joy said: “I lost my husband six years ago and I was very low without him. I hadn’t written poetry before but I started writing to him and it turned into poetry, that is how the idea started.

“I wanted to do something outside the house but not something active so about 18 months later, I decided to set up the group. We started with five people and it blossomed from there, which surprised me.

“I didn’t realise there were so many people interested in poetry. We are from all walks of life and our poems are very different.”

They get together at the club, in Greystoke Road, Ferring, fortnightly on Friday mornings and read out the poems they have written based on a theme picked at the previous meeting. The book is priced £3.50 and it is available at the retirement club.

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