‘It was a lovely evening wasn’t it?’ said the woman next to me, and indeed it had been. The Nicholson Gallery, hosting the event, had provided us with the perfect relaxed, informal ambience, comfortable chairs and a blazing fire by which to listen to our local poet Eileen Carney-Hulme read works from her two published collections, along with some poems that I’m sure will be included in the next one.

Eileen’s poetry is deceptively simple, images of cut-glass clarity painting backdrops of skies, seas, dunes, cafés, rain, or simple interiors, against which the events play out, moments of pleasure shared, sadness, joy, love and loss, obviously personal to the poet but also universal, recognisable to all listeners, evoking more than one laugh and one tear in her audience. She never lays a brush-stroke too many, never adds superfluous ornamentation.

The evening of poetry was almost unique in my experience of this small town where musical performances are more usual. It was sponsored by the local arts council . I hope there are many more like it.