Former boxing champion celebrates Barrow project success

Matt Windle, who is also a former Birmingham Poet Laureate, joined the Barrow Dreams project earlier this year, working alongside BarrowFull.

They have been running workshops encouraging people to tell stories of the town’s past, present and future as part of BarrowFull’s aim to increase participation in the arts.

Matt, who wanted 'everyday people' to be at the heart of his work, took it upon himself to spearhead the 'present' element of the project.

Read more: Boxing champion uses poetry to inspire artists in Barrow | The Mail (nwemail.co.uk)

This recently culminated in a night of poetry at the Barrow Underground Music Society which saw several men take to the stage for the very first time.

A night of spoken poetry was held at Barrow Underground Music Society (Image: Matt Windle)

Matt said: "Eight months ago, none of them would have believed that they would be stood on stage performing a 10 minute poetry set at one of Barrow's best music venues and I'm so proud of them.

"They have worked alongside professional artists, had their work exhibited across town, have been on the radio, and wrote an acrostic poem onto a professional EFL football pitch."

Over 70 men have got involved in the project (Image: Matt Windle)

When Matt started in January, he and the BarrowFull team had no idea as to how successful the scheme would end up being.

"They [BarrowFull] knew what a big ask it was to engage local men in a poetry project," he said.

"It was said that if we managed to engage half a dozen men, then that would be a success - well, during the course of the year, we have managed to involve over 70 men."

The project has been running since January (Image: Matt Windle)

The boxing champion thanked a number of local organisations that have given their time to the project.

These included Barrow AFC, Mind in Furness, Andy's Man Club, The Forum, St Mary's Hospice, and Barrow Library and Archives.