GLOUCESTERSHIRE poet F. W. Harvey became one of England’s most popular war poets, writing much of his work during the first world war.

Born in 1888, Harvey was imprisoned imprisonmented in seven different German prisoner-of-war camps during the first world war and was decorated in the field with the Distinguished Conduct Medal.D.C.M .

In his book, Comrades in Captivity, he wrote about his homecoming in 1919: “Now, at last, I am back in my own country and in my own county and I don’t care if I never leave either again.”

Now, 57 years after his death, in the centenary year of the first world war, interest in his work is growing and there is a flourishing society named after him.

This month sees the launch of a year long project – Gloucestershire Remembers World War 1.

The exciting programme of work will be presented by the Everyman Theatre, the Wilson Cheltenham Art Gallery and Museum, The History Press, Gloucestershire Archives and the Soldiers of Gloucestershire Museum, and will strive to reach out to schools and communities throughout the county.

A dramatisation of Harvey’s lost novel, Will Harvey’s War, can be seen at the Everyman Theatre until Saturday, August 2.

In conjunction with the play, there will be a reading of first world war poetry in Matcham’s Bar on Thursday, July 31 as well as a pre-show talk on Friday, August 1.