Poet and arts promoter Barry Smith appointed patron of Horsham's Shelley Memorial Project

As well as poetry, Barry has a background in theatre, education and arts festival production. He has directed productions at the Edinburgh Festival, in Chichester Cathedral and in youth theatre.

Over the last decade Barry has been involved with promoting arts festivals, co-ordinating the Festival of Chichester and directing the South Downs Poetry Festival, as well as curating the poetry for Blakefest.

Barry is also a published poet, his latest collection, partly inspired by Lewis Carroll, is entitled Reeling and Writhing and is in the pipeline for publication later this year.

Barry said: “I’m delighted to be a patron of The Shelley Memorial Project and fully support its aim of establishing a permanent memorial to the great Romantic poet, Percy Bysshe Shelley, in his home town of Horsham.”

Project secretary Hilary Key said: ‘‘ We are very pleased to welcome Barry Smith as a new patron for the Shelley Memorial Project. He has a wealth of experience and was absolutely pivotal to our successful Shelley 200 Festival last year. We look forward to working with him more closely as we progress our project.”

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The Shelley Memorial Project is a Horsham based Community Interest Company run by a team of volunteers dedicated to promoting the life and work of the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley.

It aims to commission a permanent, public memorial to the poet, to be installed in Horsham, the town most associated with his birthplace and early life.

To find out more see www.shelleymemorialproject.co.uk or facebook page @shelleyMemProject or contact [email protected]