A picturesque town with more than 900 Grade II listed houses and public buildings, Port Sunlight was founded in 1888 by the industrialist William Lever as a self-contained community for his soap factory workers.
The village today is an immaculately preserved example of early town planning. A prototypical garden city, Port Sunlight’s manicured gardens and parklands offer abundant green space for the village’s residents and visitors, while cultural institutions like the Lady Lever Art Gallery and The Gladstone Theatre provide access to the arts.
With just 2,000 residents, Port Sunlight is home to a small but thriving community
Poems of the Pandemic is a poetry book I wrote during the first COVID-19 lockdown in Spring 2020.
I found inspiration in isolation, and so the poems are a collection I wrote exploring themes such as isolation, grief, and ultimately, hope. Each poem is based on observations of the human side of the Coronavirus crisis. I believe the COVID-19 pandemic has shone a light on trauma – whether the collective suffering from this generation-defining crisis, or personal traumas, amplified by the uniqueness of the situation.
The coronavirus pandemic has acted as a global trigger-warning. It has ignited long-suppressed feelings, for many, and it would not surprise me if it caused a mental health pandemic. I hope these poems can shine a light on difficult subjects and provide both comfort and recognition of the emotional price we have all paid during this crisis.