MANY poetry fans have a soft spot for Steep because of Edward Thomas and his fondness of Shoulder of Mutton Hill.
But a writer and bookshop worker from a nearby village is following in his footsteps as her war poetry has been acclaimed by everyone from military leaders to the rich and royalty.
Barbara Kelsey has received several letters from the Duchess of Cornwall since The Petersfield Bookshop worker sent her a poem several years ago.
Her poetry has also been read out at battlefields in Burma and, most impressively, recited in Zulu to more than 25,000 by Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi of South Africa.
“I’ve had correspondence with Prince Buthelezi for over 25 years and in 1995 he read out one of my poems, which was translated into Zulu, to 25,000 people,” said the poet from Sheet.
“After that I started writing war poetry and sent them out to the Duchess of Cornwall, and I’ve had personally written letters back from her saying how moved she was.
“That’s how it started and I’ve had ongoing replies from her ever since.”
Barbara has written “thousands” of pieces since her love affair with writing poetry started in the 1970s when she sent some of her work to Cider with Rosie author, Laurie Lee.
The writer told Barbara that her work should be published but while many of her pieces have appeared in print, she has yet to achieve her goal of getting an anthology printed.
This is quite surprising considering some of her fans, with Mark Getty, grandson of industrialist tycoon John Paul Getty, among them. He told Barbara in a handwritten letter that he could “feel the emotions” in her poem, Rare Beloved Hands, while Colonel Mike Bradley has read her Second World War-inspired poems on battlefields in Burma and Normandy.
Actors Timothy Dalton and Alexander Newley, son of Joan Collins, have also sent words of praise while her poem, Red Poppies on a Winter’s Grave, was also the inspiration for a painting by Ropley artist Paul Treasure.