Mobberley Landlord seeks verse fit for a poet laureate

Mobberley country pub restaurant, The Frozen Mop Vintage Inn is on the lookout for budding poets to represent the region in a national competition backed by former Poet Laureate Sir Andrew Motion.

The competition is running from Mon 17th Oct to Mon 5th Dec and contributors from the North West are being invited to co-author an eight-line poem inspired by Sir Andrew’s work on Vintage Inns’ latest national press campaign, which honours the Great British rural pub. He was born into a family of pub-owners/brewers and the natural choice.

Sir Andrew will judge the best line submitted each week, so they can be added to gradually complete the verse. Submissions are being sought from the North West region, plus six others in Scotland; North East; The Midlands; Wales & South West; South East and The South. Each winner will receive a framed copy of the eventual eight-line poem, plus a meal for four with wine at their local Vintage Inn. There are also 70 signed copies of Sir Andrew’s latest collection of poems, The Cinder Path, which has been shortlisted for The Ted Hughes Award for New Work in Poetry, with 10 to be given away each week (to the winning co-author plus 9 runners up).

This lyrical competition with a difference is being hosted via a ‘Poetry Competition’ tab on the Vintage Inns Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/vintageinns Sir Andrew will judge the best each week, which will be added to the poem and uploaded ready for the next line the following week – and the first two lines to start minds wandering are:

The muted brilliance of autumn leaves
The wind’s deep voice soft-tickling the trees

Dominic Dunning, landlord at The Frozen Mop says: “Our new advertising campaign is based on the idea ‘find your country side’ and it’s all to do with escaping from the stresses and strains of everyday life by visiting a perfect country pub like ours.We trust that as our guests arrive they get a taste of well-being, natural warmth and hospitality, so we’re hoping for some insightful and inspirational contributions.” – plus, of course, we’d love the winning North West line to be from one of our own.”

Weekly submissions will close on Thursdays at 5pm, but Vintage Inns Facebook fans can enter as many times as they like. The weekly winning line chosen by Sir Andrew Motion will be published the following Monday. The competition will then re-open for submissions for the next line. The poem should be in rhyming couplets, so lines one and two should rhyme with each other – and so on.

For those seeking inspiration, here is one of the evocative poems Sir Andrew has written exclusively for Vintage Inns, which is themed around discovering your perfect rural pub…

From the hassles of our working
and the tangles of our streets
we arrive in winding villages
where peace and pleasure meet.
All around us worlds of trouble
turn and tremble as they please.
We are rich in the fulfilment
of our vintage life

Submitted by Greg Rees

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