Saddleworth teacher turns poet for new book

A SADDLEWORTH-BASED teacher may have a sideline as a poet on the go after being published in a new anthology.

Abigail Warburton’s work will be printed in Poems for a Pandemic, which will raise vital funds for NHS Charities Together.

And she cannot wait to see her work when it is released on Thursday, June 18.

Abigail, who teaches in Chadderton but lives in Lees, is joined by 99 other poets from around the world in the e-book.

Poems for a Pandemic comes from an idea from Angela Marston, a retired Palliative Care Nurse who spent nearly 40 years in the NHS and hospice services.

She wrote her first poem while self-isolating with Covid-19 and, when she recovered, collected poems from other key workers and people affected by the virus.

She created an anthology of poems from nurses, doctors, and teachers; pharmacists and journalists; child protection officers and food bank volunteers.

Writers range from the age of nine right the way to 92.

It is a valuable collection of first-hand accounts – of love, of grief, of fear, and of hope – that explores the global effort to rescue humanity from the teeth of an invisible enemy.

Families have been devastated, livelihoods lost, and economies crippled. Amid the heartache, shock and worry, everyone has had to find their own path through the crisis of Covid-19.
With help from the duo behind the viral You Clap For Me Now short film, Poems for a Pandemic was put together with contributions from nurses, doctors, teachers, pharmacists, journalists, child protection officers and food bank volunteers.

“This is history in the making,” Angela said. “These poems record for all eternity the thoughts and feelings of ordinary people at an extraordinary time.”