THE LIFE of Ledbury's most famous son will be celebrated this Saturday.

The John Masefield Society will mark the birthday of former Poet Laureate, John Masefield, with tea and its very own version of Poetry Please in the Burgage Hall, Church Lane on Saturday May 3, at 4.30pm.

John Masefield was born in Ledbury on June I, 1878. He went on achieve fame as a poet and author of the children’s classics, "The Midnight Folk" and "The Box of Delights".

And he was Poet Laureate from 1930 until his death in 1967.

Peter Carter, chairman of the Society writes: “Poetry Please is a long-running programme on the BBC’s Radio 4. Listeners request their favourite poems and, if they are lucky, they hear them read by an actor. Surprisingly, neither Masefield’s ‘Sea-Fever’ nor ‘Cargoes’ appears in the list of the ten most frequently requested poems, so we thought to put matters right by devoting our own homespun version of Poetry Please exclusively to requests for Masefield’s work."

He added: “Members of the Society have been invited to nominate poems by John Masefield which they would like to hear and, should they wish, to recite them.

“Non-members are equally welcome to turn up on the day, enjoy the tea and cakes and nominate a Masefield poem to hear or to read. Our hope is that this will be a popular, well-attended and joyful afternoon.”

Admission on the door will be £3 for adults, and children will get in free.