Please say “hello” to Linda Saunders. Linda and her husband George have lived in their higglty-pigglty home on Bloomfield Road for over 50 years. This time of year their house is a roadside attraction due to the stunning white wisteria which drapes itself across the frontage; the blossoms emitting the most amazing scent. Linda was born in a little town on the edge of the North Downs, the last stop on the southbound train from London. On leaving school, she went to art school, and then to university in Durham where she studied English Literature and French. Upon graduation, she worked for a time in a London publishing house. While living in London she met George. They married and travelled abroad for his career including a stint in America. They came to Bath when he accepted a position as Senior Lecturer at the University. Here they raised two sons, one of whom lives locally. Linda worked in adult education, teaching courses for the Workers’ Educational Association then, attached to Bath University, devising courses for Junior Year Abroad American students. Linda always wanted to write and began contributing articles to a fine arts magazine, including a series on Wood Engraving. She was soon approached by the editor of Modern Painters, a journal based in Bath and London, where she became associate editor. She also edited books on art and artists. This career brought together and drew on her love of art and of writing. And she was successful having been nominated for BP Arts Journalist of the Year award! Linda enjoys the lively cultural scene in Bath. She has made many friends through shared interests, and is a member of Bath Writers and Artists (BWA), who organise group events locally from time to time. Linda has always written poetry, but pursued it more seriously after retiring herself from journalism. A breakthrough came with the publication of her first book. She is now the author of 5 books of poetry which are collections of individual pieces around central themes. For example, the book entitled The Watchers is about seeing and perception. She says she started with the idea of 6 observational poems, from which a full collection evolved in different ways. Her most recent book, published in 2023, has now sold out, though some titles are still available online. She has always taken inspiration from nature particularly while walking in the Yorkshire Dales and Lakeland Fells, as well as from a silver birch tree in her garden in Bath: she reckons that this ‘sister tree’ must be about the same age as herself. It has been the subject of countless poems, including a sequence of ‘word paintings’ observing it in changing weather and seasons. As well as more ‘metaphysical’ themes such as time and memory, family is another persistent focus, and has included a sequence from her elder son’s long absence working in America, when she was thinking about him a lot, and another drawing on childhood memories of her beloved father, who died when she was too young really to remember him as an adult. Linda has shared some advice for budding poets: keep the pen moving. She advocates quick writing without pausing to perfect individual phrases or words; later, editing and revision is a vital part of the process. And it is critical to keep reading poetry: “people who don’t read poetry will never write good poetry”. Linda says that though writing poetry is a solitary activity you can’t do it alone. You need the poets of the past along with fellow writers to share and discuss work with. Always maintain a beginner’s mind, start by not knowing. “How do I know what I think till I see what I say?”, and what you say, what the poem says, can take you by surprise. It’s a process of discovery. At the same time, she hopes people find all sorts of things which she herself hasn’t noticed in her poems. Linda has shared her poetry with audiences, giving readings at book launches and by invitation. She has won prizes in competitions, including the Wells Festival of Literature, where a couple of years ago she was voted the People’s Poet. She was delighted to win first prize in the prestigious Teignmouth Festival international poetry competition. “You don’t get rich quick with poetry”, she says. But the prizes can be handsome. Poetry sustains Linda. It is the thing that makes her happy and keeps her going in difficult times. “There is nothing I enjoy so much as trying to shape a poem and make it work.” Most of all,“It means more than anything that I can pass books on to my children and grandchildren”. So if you are walking along Bloomfield Road one day and catch a gorgeous whiff of wisteria please think of Linda at her desk creating beauty for another day. She is One Amazing Neighbour.