A collection of ‘political, thought-provoking and humorous’ poems will hopefully raise a lot of cash for the local foodbank.

Dee Howard, a St Leonards resident and regular contributor at monthly Sheer Poetry,  has published a booklet containing 16 of her poems with all the profits going to Hastings Foodbank. 

The foreword was written in verse by Hastings Mayor Councillor Nigel Sinden who can be seen in the picture below with Dee (far left) and some of the Foodbank volunteers.

Here's the Mayor's poetic contribution
I often visit our Hastings Foodbank, to thank all involved, 
And cheer those attending, some not very old. 
I find that I must be frank, it’s a problem we must solve. 
To show that we have a heart, the story must be told. 
If you have plenty, please give to those that have not.
We all can then be happy and keep them from the cold.

Dee said: “Knowing that many Hastings residents, whether unemployed, disabled or even in full-time work, are in food poverty at the start of 2020 brought the realisation that austerity was not going to end any time soon so I decided to take action. 

And here is one of Dee's poems  
The sky is as grey as she feels inside, 
With shame and fear that she tries to hide. 
Her full time job should be enough, 
To feed her kids but it’s really tough, 
Her bills are high, her stress is too. 
With not enough money what can she do?

“The little booklet is priced at £3 minimum, not much more than the price of a cup of coffee, so hopefully as many people as possible will buy it and support the foodbank.”

Copies are on sale in Hastings Tourist Information Centre, Bookbuster in Queens Road and The White Rock Hotel but can also be obtained online by sending an email with your name and address to dee-howard1066@hotmail.co.uk putting ‘Foodbank’ in the subject line, and paying via PayPal using the same email address and clicking on ‘Friend or family’. 

Dee would also be interested to hear from anyone who was willing to sell any of her booklets through their work or organisation as she says: “The Foodbank certainly needs every penny it can get.”

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