LISTEN: Jersey writer puts island history into rhyming verse

Donald has visited the sites and consulted the history books...

81-year-old Donald Brown is working with Jersey Heritage and Jersey National Trust on a rhyming tour guide of the island.

The project is over 100 pages of historically correct rhyming verse that has been fact checked by staff at each site, and is set to grow as more sites are covered.

The author, Donald Brown, has curated a diverse and broad portfolio since he started writing and publishing four years ago. It includes writings about the life and work of Sir Walter Raleigh and a romcom loosely based on the language school he founded at St Brelade's College.

He is no stranger to telling stories in fun and clever ways - previously rhyming his way through a history of the dinosaurs to man's journey out of Africa for children.

For his next project, he said: "I thought why not write a poem that was more based in Jersey?

"I visited a few sites and started working on a rhymed history on all of them.

"After going back to the Heritage and National Trust. without any firm plans for publishing I asked them if they could comment on my poems and point out any mistakes that I'd made.

"I found them very enthusiastic. The Heritage and National Trust staff were very interested and helpful, so I've had a lot of help there."

"So far I have come up with around 100 pages of rhymed history of different Jersey sites."

One of the completed poems 'The House at 16 New Street' tells the story of the National Trust Jersey's Georgian House.

Donald reads an extract of one of the completed poems 'The House at 16 New Street'

The extensive project is a work in progress, and Donald hopes it will be finished in the new year.  

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