Following the passing of her late husband, a local lady has been inspired to write her own book of poetry, and will be giving all sale proceeds to Cancer Research UK.

Although she has always been an avid writer of poetry, since her husband Philip sadly passed away from oesophageal cancer last May, Shirley Gill has now found the confidence to share her writing with others and publish in his memory. Having been writing poems for publication for the last few months, Shirley picked up her newly printed book, simply titled Thoughts That Came Into My Head last week, and it can now be bought at Elaine Baker’s stall Bags of Style in Tavistock Pannier Market.

Shirley said: ‘People I shared the poems with said I should get it published and I thought I could do this in memory of Phil for Cancer Research too. The writing and creative process took a while. Everything just came into my mind, hence the title, and I’d just sit down and start writing, often in the mornings.

‘I wrote them all by hand and my friend was kind enough to type them all up.’

The poems in the book cover many different issues and subjects, some humorous and others serious, such as: bullying, friendship, injustice, acceptance and tolerance, climate change and even Shirley’s parenting memories from when her daughter was growing up.

Shirley said: ‘I have teenage grandchildren and some of the poems are about topics I think are very relevant to their age range. I’ve read most of the poems to them and they really liked them. I love it when people laugh and smile when they hear them. My granddaughter did some illustrations for the book too.’

‘I previously wouldn’t have even had the confidence to read a poem to anyone but I’ve found it now at 80 years old.’ An extract from poem Guess What I Found reads: ‘I don’t know where my confidence was, I think it must have been up in heaven, when Phil arrived he found it and sent it down to me in Devon.’

A good friend of Shirley’s, Catherine Meadowcroft, who has helped Shirley with printing and spoken with Cancer Research, said: ‘The charity has been really supportive. Shirley read me a poem, then some more and really valued my opinion.

‘People have laughed, smiled or reflected when Shirley has happily read her poems to them. It’s lovely that she’s doing this’.