David was sponsored by Arts Council England, East Midlands, tomingle with fans from both sides while writing a poem on each day’splay in the five-Test series.
He said: “As an England cricketsupporter, the results on the field were disappointing, but as a poetit was an honour to have the opportunity to capture the many moments ofsuccess and failure, and to relate them to the world beyond theboundary.
“I have been really impressed by the interest that hasbeen shown in my poetry on both sides of the globe and that it’ssomething which is worth doing regardless of the cricket results.
“Awareof the cultural differences between the Australian and English fans, Ibelieve the act of writing the poetry helped bring the two nationscloser together.
“Everybody was tremendously helpful and from apersonal point of view it was a real opportunity to get an insight intoanother country.”
All David’s ‘dispatches from the Ashes’ can beviewed on his ‘Ashes Poetry’ website at www.ashespoetry.net. He is alsoin discussions with English and Australian publishers to produce a bookof his work.
David is pictured with Samit Patel and Jacek Laskowski, Literature Officer for Arts Council England, East Midlands.