Burnley man's 'Poems from Life' book aiming to put smiles on faces

Trevor Ryder, 71, has put 38 poems together in ‘Poems from Life’, a collection of his own experiences that he feels others can relate to and give them a smile when they most need it.

Burnley-born Trevor began airing his stories on 2BR, a former local radio station serving East and Central Lancs, in the mornings, initially as raps.

Trevor Ryder has put together a collection of poems called Poems from Life (Image: LT)

They became so popular, to the point where people would tell him that even their “kids wouldn’t go to school until they’d heard his rap” each morning, that he began to write them down ready to publish.

After initially being delayed by the Covid pandemic when the printers were closed, his collection finally came out in 2021, sporting Covid-friendly covers so people could wipe them and then share them with friends.

The poems were initially hand written as Trevor and his wife Julie, who did the illustrations for the book, did not own computers. But his friend Roger Frost, a former council member for Briercliffe, helped him by getting them typed and formatted ready to be sent to publishers.

The front cover of Poems from Life (Image: LT)

Trevor said: “2BR once asked me to do a rap and people loved it. Then they asked me to do another one the next week, and then they asked me to do one about garden sheds, and to make it humorous. Why not make everybody laugh?

“A lot of people who heard me on the radio station said they really enjoy it. I wrote them all down and thought one day I’ll do something with them.

“It was written before Covid but it was delayed because the printers were closed. We don’t have computers so it was all written out on sheets and Roger Frost, who gets a mention, said he’ll make it the right size because you can’t just hand in a notebook to the printers!”

Trevor attended St John’s, Ivy Street, and St Theodore’s High School as a boy before, at the age of 13, being sent to The Holy Family Boarding School in Darlington to train for a religious life as a priest.

This was not to be, though, and he worked a variety of local jobs before his retirement.

He continued: “The subjects are taken from everyday life, past and present, and I hope that they will strike a cord with at least some of the readers.

“It’s not making a lot price-wise but people can afford it.

“I think the more people that know about it, they’ll like it. There’s a lot of depression going about with what’s happening to the world and they want their lives changing.

“When they’re feeling down and out they just need to read this and it’ll cheer them up. It’ll jog some happy memories, I hope.”