BREAKING COVER

  NO ILL WIND

In March 2018 a cold front from Siberia swept in over the British Isles bringing freezi   un-Spring-like weather conditions.   Such was its ferocity it was named the “Beast from the East”.

The photo which inspired this poem appeared in The Guardian newspaper on 28                  February 2018:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/gallery/2018/feb/28/beast-from-the-east-snow-in-pictures

 (Victor the polar bear enjoys the snow at the Yorkshire Wildlife Park in Doncaster,   

  South Yorkshire).

Grateful acknowledgement is given to The Guardian and the photographer, Danny Lawson/PA, who captured Victor’s joyful moments. (Permission applied for)

   Victor died of kidney failure in August 2020 aged 22.

    SANCTUARY

If you are interested in giving battery hens a happy retirement, contact the British Hen  Welfare Trust (BHWT) https://www.bhwt.org.uk/contact-us/  Or at

         https://www.bhwt.org.uk/hen-health/hen-helpline/

Pam Ayres wrote “Ode to a battery hen”, which is here acknowledged gratefully as an influence.  She can be heard reading it in a live performance at

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRreHrR3sm0

The poem begins at about 1:15

Another interpretation is by Jed Deadlock at

           https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hap9sW2S9m4

The text can be seen on the BHWT website at

https://www.bhwt.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Fowl-Language-resource-pack.pdf