“WOW!!! - My first reading at an open mic event: what a marvellous experience! Julian, thank you for your warm welcome; your encouragement; your hospitality..... an event I will never forget!” That was the reaction of Dorinda MacDowell, a regular at Write Out Loud Stockport, who ventured across the Pennines on Sunday to join in the Write Out Loud poetry jam at Marsden jazz festival – and found herself reading first on the bill, after compere Julian Jordon.  Well done, Dorinda, for taking the plunge – and thanks for your lovely poem, ‘She Is’.

You can read a full report about the poetry jam here later today, when we have got our breath back – with lots of pictures, too!