When Helena Cavan organised a children’s poetry competition back in 2011, she had no idea what it would lead to. Seven years have passed since that first event, and now the Winchcombe Poets are looking forward to showcasing their poetry at the Winchcombe Arts Festival. The Poets will be performing their ‘As Night Falls’ show on May 24 at the Encounter Church in Winchcombe.

Helena, who lives in the small hamlet of Greet, a mile outside of Winchcombe, says poetry has been her passion since her early childhood. “I started writing poetry when I was very young and had my first poem published when I was 12. Music is another major passion of mine – I trained at the Royal Academy of Music – and I love writing poetry that is inspired by music.”

Helena’s skill with the written word was noticed by the management at Coughton Court, the imposing Tudor house in Warwickshire run by the National Trust. “They commissioned me to write poetry inspired by their wonderful gardens. That was a real thrill, the gardens were so beautiful, it was easy to draw inspiration from them. The following year they commissioned me to write poetry inspired by objects inside the house and the poems were then displayed in each room.”

A classically trained musician, Helena has been writing poetry since her early childhood, says she’s thrilled with the enthusiasm shown by the people of Winchcombe towards poetry. “Back in 2011 I organised a junior poetry competition to be held at the Winchcombe Arts Festival. I was overwhelmed with the enthusiasm of the children,” said Helena. “The quality of the poems blew me away, they were outstanding. There was also a lot of interest from adults as well and that’s where we had the idea of launching a monthly get together where we could meet and read our poems. We meet once a month, it’s always great to see so many friendly faces who are all so enthusiastic and share a love of poetry. I’ve made many friends, we all get on so well. There’s so many distinctive voices and personalities which makes for a great evening.

“One of our members – Peter Firth – hadn’t written poetry for many a year before he came to the Winchcombe Arts Festival and fell back in love with writing. He’s now writing hundreds of poems a year, all of them to such an incredibly high standard. Peter’s daughter, a hugely talented musician who performs cabaret in Paris, will be joining us for our performance at the Winchcombe Arts Festival . We’re all so excited and are counting down the days.”

The Winchcombe Arts Festival begins on 21st May and finishes a week later on the 28th.