SINGER songwriter and author Cerys Matthews will unveil a new nature walk dedicated to the works of beloved Stroud poet Laurie Lee on the centenary of his birth.
The six-mile circular walk around the Slad Valley will be called The Laurie Lee Wildlife Way and will include 10 free standing posts featuring poems by the Cider With Rosie author, who died in 1997.
Former Catatonia singer Cerys has written the foreword for a new edition of Cider with Rosie and will read the first poetry post at Frith Wood nature reserve during the unveiling ceremony on Thursday, June 26.
There will also be a speech by Roger Mortlock, chief executive of the Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust, which has funded the poetry posts through donations to the landfill tax credit scheme.
The walk takes in four of the Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust’s stunning nature reserves, including Laurie Lee Wood, which was opened last year by the author’s daughter Jessy Lee on what would have been her father’s 99th birthday.
Cerys Matthews shot to fame with Catatonia in the mid-1990s before going on to duet with a host of musicians, including Tom Jones and the Manic Street Preachers.
She currently hosts her own show on BBC Radio 6 Music and has written a series of children’s books as well as columns for a number of newspapers and magazines.
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