The Black Pepper Carvery was packed out for Ledbury Scribes' evening of verse on Monday. By 8.15pm, all of the seats had been taken and special chairs were broken out to accommodate the audience, who were there for the only show in town that night.

Latecomers resorted to either squeezing in and standing, or peeking in then moving on, clearly disappointed that they could not find a space.

Festival director Alan Lloyd said he was delighted that the show went so well. He explained: "If people couldn't get in, that is some interest and can't be bad. Good for the Scribes!"

At the height of the readings, there may have been as many as 70 or 80 poetry lovers in the room, including some significant figures from the poetry world.

Among them was Harry Chambers of the prestigious Cornwall-based publishing house Peterloo, the published poet Ann Drysdale and Kevin Bailey, the co-editor of the Acorn Book of Contemporary Haiku anthology.

The size of the crowd had its shortcomings, because the heat rose quite rapidly on a balmy summer evening. The Scribes and their friends kicked proceedings off with an agreed programme. Then the floor was open to anyone who wished to read and have their moment under the lights.

The event rumbled on successfully until after 10pm. The Scribes expressed their great thanks to the restaurant which had provided the premises free of charge.

Gary Bills-Geddes