New resident poet appointed in Wellington

Wellington Town Council maintains a unique tradition of appointing a Resident Poet, and this year is no exception, with the appointment last weekend of Steve Fletcher who takes on the mantle from outgoing poet, Judi Anderson.

The position was created in 2020 to celebrate the town's identity and creativity and is funded through the generosity of the late Stuart Taylor's family.

The Resident Poet is commissioned to write eight poems over the one-year term. These poems mark significant local or national events and are often published in the This Is Our Wellington magazine as well as online.

For the 2026 appointment, the town council held applications with the theme "Memories of Wellington" and received 10 applications – indicating the town’s rich connection with poetry.

Steve, who was born in Wellington and educated at the Charlton School, says he was inspired to write by his English teacher Mr Simcox when he asked Steve and his friend David Lewis to take on the role of co-editors of the school magazine. From there he started writing poetry as an adult on his commute into Birmingham to mark friends’ special life events and it progressed from there.

He said of his winning poem, “I wrote ‘One Christmas Eve’ shortly after I lost my dad in 2021 and it recounts a particularly fond memory I have of an event that happened over 50 years ago, when I was nine or ten years old.  It will be lovely to be able to share the poem as a tribute to both my parents who always made Christmas time so special. 

I’m thrilled to be asked to be Wellington’s Resident Poet and I look forward to taking a nostalgic look back at how things used to be, and hopefully help to jog a few memories of how the town was when I was growing up as a kid, as well as embracing some of the changes that we see in Wellington today.”

Previous Resident Poet Nick Pearson frequently performs across the Midlands and has been published by Offa’s Press, and of course, the most famous poet associated with Wellington is Philip Larkin, widely considered one of Britain's greatest post-war writers. Although he is often associated with Hull, his time in Wellington working as the town’s librarian (1943-1946) was a pivotal formative period for his career.

Cllr Emma Holding, Chair of Wellington Town Council’s Events and Communications Committee said:

“We were so impressed with the quality of submissions for this post – it just shows the talent we have locally as well as Wellington’s literary connections. We look forward to hearing Steve’s work throughout the forthcoming year.”

The winners of the annual Peggie Harrison Poetry competition were also recently announced. This annual competition, which is open to all youngsters in Wellington, saw over 200 entries. The winners were given certificates and goodie bags by the Mayor, Cllr Reg Snell, at a prizegiving last weekend hosted at Wellington Library and Community Hub. Wellington Town Council would like to extend thanks to volunteers Sue Crampton and Helen Donaghue who have helped judge the competition since its inception.