Emergency Poet to set up shop in Bishop's Castle

Known as the Emergency Poet, Deborah has spent the last seven years travelling the length and breadth of the county in her old ambulance doling out poetical remedies to those who need a little bit of a pick-me-up.

A mix of the serious, the therapeutic and the theatrical, Deborah currently offers consultations inside her ambulance and prescribes poems as cures.

But now she is in the process of buying a former Edwardian ironmonger's in Bishop’s Castle where she hopes to set up a poetry ‘pharmacy’.

It still has the original fixtures and fittings, and, together with her partner, poet James Sheard, Deborah is preparing to turn it into a haven for those wishing to harness the healing properties of poetry.

“It has been two years since we first viewed the property and now it could be ours,” said Deborah.

“I lived in Ludlow when I first started as the Emergency Poet and the pharmacy will be an extension of that.

“The property is an old ironmongers and when I looked through the window I thought ‘I could have a poetry pharmacy there’.

“It will be a bookshop and gift shop selling art. It will look like a traditional pharmacy but there will be sections on health, love and grief. Things to make you feel better.

“There will also be a children’s section, a consulting room, a cafe, and a large space for writing retreats, workshops and performances.”

“We have not got the keys yet but we have got the mortgage so it will only be a few months until we are able to start work on it. I am thinking we will probably be able to open in a year’s time.”