A group of local writers met in public for the first time since the lockdown measures were relaxed.
Members of the Isle of Man Poetry society gathered at the bandstand in Noble’s Park on Sunday afternoon for an outdoor session of public reading, including Muriel Garland, the fifth Manx Bard Annie Kissack, Phil Gawne and Poetry Society chairman Bethany de Legh-Runciman.
The outdoor event was the first time poets from the society had met face-to-face since the measures were introduced and was one of the first public performances held on the island in more than 10 weeks.
’It was very nice to be able to meet with friends again after so long,’ said Bethany.
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’We normally meet at the Archibald Knox pub, in Onchan, on Sunday and this must be the first time we have all met up in around 10 or 11 weeks.
’I was concerned with encouraging people to keep writing during the lockdown and have been holding online reading sessions with as many people as I could, but it was nice to actually meet up again.’
The deadline for the Isle of man Poetry Society trail runs out at the end of this month.
The poetry trail sees a selected poems printed and hung around the town and Bethany said with the deadline to enter being Wednesday, July 1, there is still time to enter a poem for this year’s competition.
Details on how to enter are available by emailing [email protected] or see the ’IOM Poetry Society’ Facebook page.