Cherrie Taylor and Geoffrey Winch share new poetry in Chichester

Organiser Barry Smith said: “Cherrie lives in Worthing, and the coast and seashore are important parts of her life. She was told that some of her first words were written in the sand! She has enjoyed writing stories and poetry since childhood. In 2012 she studied creative writing with the Open University. She has won prizes for her poetry and short stories. Her work has been published in UK magazines and anthologies. Cherrie is an active member of local poetry and creative writing groups. Her debut poetry collection was Stepping on Shadows (Dempsey & Windle, 2021). A collaborative collection with Geoffrey Winch Coffee at Coburn’s was published in 2023. Her new collection The Colour of Memory was published in 2024.”

Looking ahead to her reading, Cherrie said: “I will be reading poems from my new collection. The title poem is about my mother and other poems have the theme of love, loss and family life. Grandma are you in prison? is a poem I wrote during lockdown when my grandson aged four said these words – wondering why I couldn’t visit the family. The poems Crossbones Girl and Middle Distance look at two women in history from a new perspective. Poems about Arundel Mincing Lane and Where to… reflect changes to the town in 1750 and in 1895. Subjects such as loss of life and injustice feature in Ruth and Conflict. But the collection is not always serious and there is a quirky playfulness in Letter of Consideration and A Froggie went a-wooing.”

Geoffrey Winch was born and brought up in Reading, Berkshire, but has lived in Felpham since 2001 when he and his wife retired from the South Midlands where they had worked for more than thirty years. His poetry has been widely published in journals and anthologies in the UK, US and online since 1992, and he has been associated with a number of local poetry and creative writing groups in West Sussex. His recent collections are Velocities and Drifts of Winds published by Dempsey & Windle in 2020, Coffee at Cockburn’s published by Felworth Books in 2023 – a collaboration with Cherrie Taylor with whom he also co-founded the Swanbourne Poets group in Arundel – and Encounters with Oscar published in 2024 by QQ Press.

In the second part of the evening, local writers will get the chance to share the platform with Geoffrey and Cherrie and read their latest poems.

Barry added:‘It promises to be a stimulating evening. The guest poets both have a distinctive take on life and experience which is reflected in their engaging poetry. We hope this will inspire old friends and newcomers to share their own poems in the open mic. Those who prefer just to sit back and listen are equally welcome.”

Open Mic Poetry, Wednesday, May 28, 7.30pm, Jubilee Hall, New Park Centre, Chichester. Entrance £5 on the door.