Forres poet captures festival spirit

A FORRES poet will be enjoying a celebratory dram, after one of his works was selected by the organisers of the world’s biggest whisky festival to feature on their publicity material.

Keir Hardie, a member of the Forres writing group forWORDS, was delighted to contribute his poem ‘Barley’ to the Spirit of Speyside Festival’s brochure, and is looking forward to it being read by whisky fans across the globe.

“I am delighted that I have been included in such a renowned celebration of one of our area’s, and Scotland’s, most recognised products,” said Keir. “I wanted to write about whisky to support our local and national economy, and because the subject ties exclusively to our area. Also, because I enjoy a wee dram now and then, of course.”

Keir’s writing experience began while serving as a young Royal Marine in Northern Ireland in the ‘70s. He joined forWORDS over a year ago to learn from other members and to become a better poet. Subsequently, he and two other local writers submitted poems in an international online poetry competition and had them published by Musepress.

It took Keir several hours, over a few weeks, to write his latest work ‘Barley’ and said that he is delighted it has been chosen by the festival organisers.

“I felt I had to research specific but recognisable terms like the word “cask” as opposed to “keg”,” he said. “I visited a couple of local distilleries in the hope of picking up a feel, a vibe, of the manufacturing side. It really is an amazing process.”

Within a few hours of posting the poem on Facebook, Keir was contacted by a woman who offered to buy it from him. Later that day the Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival organiser Mary Hemsworth asked if they could use ‘Barley’ in their promotional material. Keir immediately accepted her offer and removed the draft from Facebook in order to spend further time perfecting it.

“‘Barley’ sits beautifully,” said Mary. “There’s heritage in it and It has all the elements of what the festival is about. It flows like a river and brings all of the aspects of whisky and the passion behind it together. It’s just a very beautiful piece of writing.”

Themed on whisky, food, music, the river Spey itself and the heritage and culture of the area, the Speyside Whisky Festival runs from May 2-6 with 370 events planned, 90 of which have already sold out. Attendees will explore the traditions behind the Speyside single malt whiskies and discover the passion which makes them.

The festival is expected to generate £1.3million for the local economy with visitors being welcomed from Russia, Australia, China, Japan and South America. Keir’s work is guaranteed to be appreciated by whisky lovers from Speyside and across the world.

“It’s a global festival,” said Mary. ““The poem will be used in our brochure and published online so that anyone who is interested can take copies. It will also appear in various handouts given to visitors at the event.”

Mary was told about the Forresian’s poem by a friend who had read it on social media.

“I had a look and thought that I would like to use it,” said Mary. “Keir had already been approached by other whisky people in the area but I made a convincing case and persuaded him to let us use it.”

The Forres poet will not be paid for the work but he feels that inclusion by the festival is reward enough. Just don’t expect him to read it out in public.

“I do not think I will be asked to read it,” he said. “Which is good - I’m a writer not a performer.”