A RETIRED police officer from Bury has penned a book of poetry, detailing his thoughts and reflections through lockdown.

Richard Easton’s new book, Rambling Through Lockdown is to be published on National Poetry Day today, at a special launch party at the Unsworth Centre, Sunnybank Road, Unsworth.

Rambling Through Lockdown is Richard’s second book, following Words, Thoughts and Observations, which was written during the first lockdown.

Proceeds from the book will be donated towards several charities, including Guide Dogs, Bury Hospice, Help for Heroes, young Lives vs Cancer and others.

Mr Easton feels the title reflects the creative process, whether that was rambling on foot or via a keyboard.

He added: “I like it and it also leads to two of the areas of poetry that I cover. nature and the Covid-19 experience, but there are others too, related to policing, technology, football, love, compassion.

“I have taken on board some feedback from readers and I have made my poems shorter because some were too long.

“I have tried to make the police poems seem more relatable to a non-police audience and I have tried to move away from the melancholy and introduce more humour.

“But the reality is that I write from my experiences and so many of the themes are repeated, but I would like to think that I have done so in a more mature and developed manner.”

The father-of-three first tried his hand for a school magazine, in around 1982 or 1983, with a piece on the nuclear arms race and East-West aggression.

He said: "I received praise from teachers and my parents and I got a sense of achievement from completing it and seeing it in print.

“After that, I left school, got a job, started going out, forgot about the poem and concentrated on getting on and met a girl so it just fell away.”

Also featuring at the special launch event will be Harry, the trainee guide dog, from Guide Dogs, to greet visitors.

Richard’s previous book, Words, Thoughts and Observations is currently available exclusively on Kindle.

Rambling Through Lockdown will be available from October 7.

For more information or to pre-order visit JeffersonPoetry.co.uk