Pighog poetry, Youth bank grants, Libraries and Lemn Sissay...

Applications are being invited for the local Pighog press Moss Rich poetry competition which celebrates Britain's oldest working poet. Moss Rich lives in Hove and in his 101st year he's still captivating readers with his unblunted brand of satirical verse.

The theme of the poem is 'Root and Branch'. Poems must be no more than thirty lines long, the deadline is February 28th. The competition is open to students at secondary school, college or university in Sussex and to anyone who lives in East or West Sussex. Details and application at www.pighog.co.uk

Listening to all the sad plans for library closures last week I remembered my long conversation on a train with Lewes poets John Agard and Grace Nicols who praised the valuable role of local libraries... encouraging reading for all and... nurturing the writing of budding writers...

A neighbour has kindly forwarded details of the East Sussex youth Bank which is currently offering grants of £500 to £2,500 for youth led community projects, applications deadline 21st february.

Support with applications is offered by tracey.johnson@eastsussex.gov.uk

With my slowly developing computer skills I’ve finally managed to upload a video of the great Lemn Sissay poem which was shown at the eARTh exhibition at the Royal Academy last year ...What If?... as inspiration...