What inspired you to start writing poetry and join this group?

I lost four family members in five years including my 87 year-old mum in 2012. I started writing then and it's been a big stress reliever.

I have always loved writing ever since I went to Juniors and I have got really strong memories of writing and being able to read whatever I wanted. I started writing as an adult in 2006 and I was published in The Sheffield Star. Since then, I have been involved in lots of different writing projects, like ROMP (Rotherham Open Micers & Performers)

I got more time to be creative after my husband passed away and when I didn’t have to be looking for work anymore. I retired when I was 62 and found a freedom in that. I wrote about my Eric and I wrote about my 15 year old dog, Lucky-Duke, I lost.

Joining the Spread The Word writing session at Grimm & Co, I felt like I was joining a group of like-minded people. It was friendly and we were all sharing, you know, a lovely group.

Have you got a favourite poem?

I wrote this in 2012 about my Mum, “Dorothy-May”, she was the love of my life and she's gone through bloody hard times. I mean, she had six kids. I think that's where I get my strength from. She got like this early dementia and she didn’t know what’s what.

How would you say being part of a group in general influences your writing?

Well, this is to do with the sharing thing again. You might think something's not right with your writing and others in the group will boost you up, they share their knowledge. The sharing feels like an important part as well as all the people sharing all their different styles.

What themes or topics do you find yourself most drawn to in poetry?

Memories both good and bad. I think they're the biggest part of my art. And people. It could be about my next-door neighbour or me Grandad.

Have you got a favourite poet?

I like Wordsworth and Longfellow and my favourite is a War poet, Wilfred Owen. It’s the way he describes things, it brings me to tears. I were about eight to nine and one of my uncle's had bought a new telly and I remember seeing the beginning of a programme called “World at War”, the music, the flames and then showing these people in black and white stripes. Even then, I felt, “What the heck?”. I didn't understand it and we watched “World at War” for year after year after year and that is what introduced me to the War poets. I got to understand what it was about as I got older.

I wrote one for this, called Alice Hertz-Sommer, and she survived one of Holocaust camps by being a musician, and she played a piano til she was 109. I called it “Lady in Number Six”. She used to say “music is beautiful, life is beautiful”. She was a survivor and I identified with that.

Can you describe your writing process? Do you have any specific rituals or routines?

I sort of like, write it down in rough off top of my head. I’ll then maybe wait a bit and then read it back to myself and think, does that need to be dealt with? Then I'll type it up. I'm not one of these that goes through it and through it. When I'm satisfied, I think that's it. Yeah, I'm happy with that. I don’t overdo it.

How and where do you find inspiration to write?

Oh, now then, where do you want to start? On a train, on a bus, in me back garden, I write in a cafe. I observe and listen and experience something that other people are doing and I write about that. I wrote about a little girl I saw drinking a milkshake the other day. Sometimes I find an image to go with my writing.

What role do you think poetry/creative writing plays in society or in Rotherham?

It has been a struggle in Rotherham ‘cos some of the groups stopped and then ROMP stopped because pubs have changed hands so many times. But it’s about going back to like-minded people again, somewhere where we can go so, we don’t have to go to the big cities.

It'd be great if, you know, if that [poetry] can take off and we can have different open mics. And that comes back to all that sharing again amongst lots of people.

How was sharing your work with the group impacted your confidence and development as a poet?

My confidence has been boosted ever since I first, you know, joined ROMP. So anything else I have done after that, it just adds to it, it adds to it all time. I mean, I'm 71 now.

What advice would you give to someone who's just starting out in character?

Don't worry too much about whether it's good enough. Don't try and have other people telling you that's wrong, “this is wrong”, don't ever let anybody tell you, you know. Your words are always good enough because they are your words. Everyone's got different tastes but that doesn't necessarily mean that what someone's done is wrong.

Brew order: Herbal tea or black coffee.

To find out more about Spread the Word visit: www.fluxrotherham.org.uk/projects/spread-the-word/