A collection of poems about life in lockdown has been published with £3 from the sale of each book benefitting the N&N Hospitals Charity and the Intensive Care fund.

The Lighter Side of the Lockdown is a collection of poems written by four friends, all self-isolating in Norwich, during the Covid-19 Coronavirus pandemic and was published by Paul Dickson Books www.pauldicksonbooks.co.uk last month, priced £5.

Vee Pond was the first to start writing, to help lift her spirits during the lockdown and posted her poems on Facebook, aiming to put a smile on the faces of her followers. Her poems inspired three of her friends, Linda Marie Augood, Kathryn Bryant and Carol Saunders to start writing as well.

Vee said: “Since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, I wanted to keep spirits up, so I wrote a silly poem. The next day I wrote another one to do with the situation. After two or three poems, three of my friends joined in and it started from there. We got comments on Facebook and our other friends looked forward to reading the poems daily. It certainly kept their spirits up.

“Now, thanks to Paul, our collection of poems has been published and we will be raising money from the sale of each book for the ICU at the N&N.”

Paul said: “Vee approached me in April, to ask if I would publish the poems and sell the booklet, in aid of the NHS. I was pleased to help get the poems into print. They give a lighter view of living in the lockdown, as the writers overcome their domestic frustrations and the day to day lockdown routine.

“But they also pay tribute to our front line workers who have kept the country going. The last poem in the booklet, particularly, pays tribute to our NHS heroes. There’s also a poem about Captain, now Colonel Tom Moore and his fantastic NHS fundraising success.”

Thanks go to Rebecca Osborne, who created the Captain Tom illustrations, for drawing the illustrations for this booklet and to Brendan Rallison, designer, for his support.

The Lighter Side of the Lockdown is on sale at Jarrold Norwich book department, Paul Dickson’s shop at Allthingsnorfolk.com and Amazon, or send a cheque for £6.80 (includes p+p) made out to Paul Dickson to Paul Dickson Books, 8 Bridge Court, Fishergate, Norwich NR3 1UE, www.pauldicksonbooks.co.uk