Lover of language Gyles Brandreth is spearheading a national campaign to prove how powerful the written word can be when it comes to bringing different age groups together.
Whether nine or 90, the Poetry Together project, supported by Dukes Education, will encourage school groups and care home residents to learn a poem and meet up to recite it in unison.
The BBC Radio 4 Just a Minute star is urging schools across the UK to sign up via the www.poetrytogether.com website and will provide every participating school with a signed copy of his new anthology of poems ‘Dancing By The Light Of The Moon’, due to be published in the autumn.
The author and broadcaster launched the campaign at the National Army Museum in Chelsea where children from four London schools met up with Chelsea Pensioners from the Royal Hospital to recite poetry together.
Gyles Brandreth says: “I love poetry and want to share the joy of learning a poem. The idea is beautifully simple – to get young and older people to learn the same poem and then get together to perform it and have tea. It’s free, it will be great fun and will bridge the gap between generations to the benefit of everyone.”
The Chancellor of the University of Chester and former MP is no stranger to performing poetry and has been in love with verse since he was a young boy. His fondest memory was when he performed ‘Macavity the Mystery Cat’ to its author, T S Eliot, who was 70 at the time.
Last year, Brandreth made a radio programme about the value of learning poetry by heart featuring research that showed how learning and speaking poetry benefits both younger and older people. This was the inspiration for Poetry Together, which has been backed by Dukes Education, a group of schools and education organisations united by outstanding teaching and learning.
Founder and chair of governors for Dukes Education, Aatif Hassan, says: “For young people, learning and reciting poems boosts their confidence, speech, memory and attention; for the elderly it can improve brain capacity and reduce memory loss.
“We’re really excited that Poetry Together will bring communities together over a shared love of learning to tie in with National Poetry Day in October.”
Interested schools, both primary and secondary, and care homes should contact each other, choose a poem, practise and get together in the two weeks following National Poetry Day on 3 October to recite their poem together and share videos, if possible, across social media.
