CRICKLADE College's English department provided students with a fascinating insight into poetry with a visit from Jim MacCool of the Performance Poetry Society.

Jim, aged 47, spent the afternoon with students performing Ionan Tales, which he described as 'moral parables based on old-fashioned Irish tradition of the travelling storyteller'.

Jim, who is also a literary translator and playwright, said: "It brings poetry to life for them and they see it as a living art form and not something that is just stuck in a book.

"It's their first experience of something like this and there will be tremendous feedback in the classroom and that's what comes back to me."

Acting head of English Anna Phillips was pleased with the afternoon and felt the students had the chance to see how 'dynamic poetry can be'.