It’s been a tough eighteen months for the arts and hospitality industries. In Sandford, Poetic Licence Events, a local, not-for-profit arts organisation, is teaming up once again with local hostelry, The Lamb Inn, to bring live poetry back to the pub.

Poetic Licence are presenting a poetry reading on September 9th. Prize winning poet Chrissy Banks will be reading from her new pamphlet Frank, described by Fiona Benson as “immediate, straight talking, humane and hard won” and Ysella Sims will be reading from her pamphlet of poems, you are here, about people and place, memory and belonging, inspired by the Tamar Valley.

Poetic Licence:Poetry in the Pub, began as a one off for Crediton Festival in 2019 before developing into a regular open mic night with headline performers, at The Lamb Inn. During lockdown they produced shows as part of the Crediton Arts supported Share in the Square scheme, attracting national and regionally recognised performers like Matt Harvey, Jackie Juno and Robert Garnham.

Ysella Sims, of Poetic Licence Events, said: “It’s important for people to have a platform to share how they feel, never more so than now. Poetry and spoken word can do that. We’re dipping our toe into the water with our reading in September, to gauge the appetite for live events and hope to be back with our regular open mic sessions in the autumn. We’re incredibly excited about the poets that we’ve got lined up for workshops and readings in the next few months.”

Landlord and pub owner of the Lamb Inn, Nick Silk said: “The past 18 months has been really challenging; we’ve had to learn new ways of operating to keep our staff and customers safe, while diversifying and increasing our offer. We couldn’t have done it without our brilliant team and the support of the local community.” 

Keeping the pub at the heart of the community and providing a space for events has always been top of Nick’s priorities. As well as offering wedding packages (including for intriguing sounding ‘elopements’) and introducing a new chargrill menu to appeal to vegetarian and vegan diners, the Lamb is welcoming back live events and their Friday night cinema club.

Nick said: “It’s great to see people feeling safe enough to return to the pub. We’re looking forward to putting on music, poetry and comedy events as well as beer and cider festivals and even occasional ferret racing! Poetic Licence always proves popular and we’re really glad that they’ll be back in September.”

Note from Poetic Licence Events:

We’ll be limiting numbers and adhering to government Covid guidelines at the event, but if you want more information or have a question, get in touch via our socials.

Book your tickets here.