Writerpublic speaker Jim Smith will extol the virtues of his home town to readers across the UK.
Mr Smith entered his poem Kirriemuir into a nationwide competition run by United Press, and while he has missed out on a £1,000 prize, his verses have appeared in a collection of the best entries.
Homeland showcases work about a thing or person from a writer’s area, and Mr Smith found the rules challenging no more than 25 lines and 160 words.
Mr Smith has dedicated it to local historian Sandra Affleck who, he said, “has done more than anyone to promote the memory of JM Barrie in his home town of Kirriemuir”.
He added: “It’s certainly not the best thing I’ve ever written but it seemed to fit the bill and I was delighted when they wrote back and said they wanted to include it in the book.
“I won’t make any money out of it, but one good thing is that having my poem published in Homeland does not infringe my copyright, so I can reproduce or re-publish it whenever I like.”
Encouraged by his father, Mr Smith has been writing and reciting poetry since he was a child and hopes to publish a collection of his own work.
During his career in the Royal Navy, Mr Smith often wrote “verses for special occasions”, mostly for his own amusement.
He continued doing that when he later joined the Association of Speakers Clubs, and many of them have found their way into the Speaker magazine.
He often includes his humorous verses when giving talks to clubs as well as when making after-dinner speeches.
Kirriemuir
The wee red town of Kirriemuir is steeped in history,
There’s kirks and wynds and Pictish stones,
And tributes to its famous sons.
So much to do and see.
It doesn’t have a cinema and it’s nowhere near the sea,
But there’s a pirate ship up on the hill,
Where Peter Pan is living still,
And children all play free.
There are festivals of every sort, music, dance and song,
If acting’s how you spend your time,
There’s opera and pantomime,
You really can’t go wrong.
The townsfolk have inventive ways of supporting charity:
Relay for Life and Swimming Splash
Have raised enormous sums of cash
For them to give away.
So why not come to Kirriemuir if you haven’t been there yet?
See the Gairie glide through the Den of Kirrie,
See a fairy fly at the home of Barrie.
It’s a town you’ll not forget.
Picture by Photos on Location