MEMBERS of a poetry group in Malvern will be sharing their work with Gazette readers with the launch of a new monthly feature.

From April, the first edition of the Gazette each month will feature a poem by a member of Spoken Word, a group that meets every Thursday at 7.30pm at Abbey Road Coffee to perform their work.

Francis Charters, a member of the group, said: "Creative writing in Malvern has come to Abbey Road for many decades. Thousands of creatively written letters have come to the post office with heartfelt replies arriving at the sorting office next door.

"In more recent years the performance of creative writing has followed the same geography. Next door to the sorting office, down the newly renovated steps to the Priory, Abbey Road Coffee hosts a spoken word poetry evening every Thursday night at 7.30pm.

"Abbey Road Coffee Spoken Word is a disparate group of local poets, raconteurs, storytellers and wordsmiths. Some are fearless, some fearful, yet they all have that creative gene which they express with their words."

For more information on the group, email arcspokenword@yahoo.co.uk

Here's a poem by Francis Charters, named Climbing.

I climbed to the top of the hill today,

The top of the Malvern hill.

I scrambled and gambled, and pulled until,

I could see the top was higher still,

But I climbed to the top of the hill today,

The top of the Malvern hill.

But I climbed to the top of the hill today,

The top of the Malvern hill.

I passed the place of the burnt black grass,

And I climbed, and I climbed, until at last,

I reached the top of the hill today,

The top of the Malvern hill.

God’s at the top of the hill, you know,

The top of the Malvern hill.

I stood alone with the wind in my hair,

And I had the time to stand and stare,

And I knew he was right, so I said it in prayer,

As I stood at the top of the hill today,

At the top of the Malvern hill.