IT been a tough 18 months for the arts and hospitality industries. In Sandford a local, not-for-profit arts organisation, Poetic Licence Events, is teaming up once again with local hostelry, The Lamb Inn, to bring live poetry back to the pub.

Poetic Licence Events is presenting a poetry reading on September 9.

Prize winning poet Chrissy Banks will be reading from her new pamphlet “Frank”, described by Fiona Benson as “immediate, straight talking, humane and hard won” and Ysella Sims will be reading from her pamphlet of poems, about people and place, memory and belonging, inspired by her move to West Devon.

Poetic Licence: Poetry in the Pub, began as a one off for Crediton Festival in 2019 before developing into a regular open mic night with headline performers, at The Lamb Inn.

During lockdown they produced shows as part of the Crediton Arts supported Share in the Square scheme, attracting national and regionally recognised performers like Matt Harvey, Jackie Juno and Robert Garnham.

Ysella Sims, of Poetic Licence Events, said: “It’s important for people to have a platform to share how they feel, never more so than now.

“Poetry and spoken word can do that. We’re dipping our toe into the water with our reading in September, to gauge the appetite for live events and hope to be back with our regular open mic sessions in the autumn. We’re incredibly excited about the poets that we’ve got lined up for workshops and readings in the next few months.”

Landlord and pub owner of the Lamb Inn, Nick Silk said: “The past 18 months has been really challenging; we’ve had to learn new ways of operating to keep our staff and customers safe, while diversifying and increasing our offer. We couldn’t have done it without our brilliant team and the support of the local community.”

Keeping the pub at the heart of the community and providing a space for events has always been top of Nick’s priorities.

Nick said: “It’s great to see people feeling safe enough to return to the pub. We’re looking forward to putting on music, poetry and comedy events as well as beer and cider festivals and even occasional ferret racing! Poetic Licence always proves popular and we’re really glad that they’ll be back in September.”

All current government Covid guidelines will be adhered to at the event, but if you want more information, have a question to ask, or want to book tickets, get in touch with Ysella at Poetic Licence via their socials or on Eventbrite.