I WRITE in response to your article on the Ledbury Poetry Festival in last weeks Malvern Gazette & Ledbury Reporter (June 16).

The real triumph of the Poetry Festival is the way the community has pulled together to make the Festival what it is.

The schools and their teachers who invite poets to work with their pupils as well as the parents who support their children; The residential homes, who provide endless help and tea for those who gather to listen to the result of a week's hard work; The station manager who helps fix trains up for the poets; Those who supply hospitality and good cheer for our visitors; The kind people who invite the poets to stay in their homes, simply because they were asked to; All the restaurants, hotels and cafes that are full and busy and put in such extra work to rise to the occasion; The caretakers of the various venues who clean them as never before; Those who move chairs and steward the events to make sure they are safe for the public; The taxi drivers who fetch and carry some of the star performers; Sponsors, large and small and all the businesses in the town who have supported the Festival fantastically this year; Those shops that put poems up in their shop windows and those of you who read the poems and chuckle at the results; And not least of all, those who come to events or come to the free town party and have fun.

There are some individuals who have worked all year to set the Festival up, they know who they are. Ledbury must be thrilled at what can be achieved if we all work together in one community effort. Hurray!

Judy Lloyd, Church Lane, Ledbury.