A NEWPORT schoolteacher and keen gardener won a poetry competition to be published in Gardeners’ World magazine.
Tony Scarfi, who teaches English and Italian at Rougemont School, will have his poem called Charlie’s Beans read out by TV gardener and competition judge Alan Titchmarsh at the Gardeners’ World show at Birmingham’s NEC arena on June 15.
Mr Scarfi also made a recording of the work, which was broadcast on BBC Radio 4’s Poetry Please programme last Sunday.
The keen gardener, who lives in Allt-yr-yn, has been growing everything from trees and shrubs to vegetables such as potatoes, tomatoes and beans in his back garden for the past 30 years.
Inspiration for Charlie’s Beans came from a former neighbour who inspired Mr Scarfi to take up the hobby because of the love and care he put into the crops he grew on his smallholding.
Having entered on a whim, Mr Scarfi said he never expected to win but felt privileged to feature in the Poetry Please show among literary heavyweights, including Thomas Hardy.
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