Retired teacher of wide experience (all ages 3 to 18). I have had poems (and articles and short stories) published in various magazines and papers, including the Daily Mail (national daily newspaper) and Times Educational Supplement, and won a few prizes in Gloucestershire-based poetry competitions; my work has been selected three times to be read at the Cheltenham Festival of Literature; my single play (so far) was produced by an amateur group in a one-act play festival in Gloucester, and won the award for Best Original Play. I have self-published two collections of poetry and prose, which have sold enough at least to cover my costs, and a third is in the pipeline. It alarms me slightly to realise that my work covers a period of nearly 50 years, though my membership of U3A (University of the 3rd Age), particularly its Poetry Workshop, has been the stimulus for much of my writing more recently.