In 2003 I took early retirement from my life as a primary school headteacher. After retirement I undertook an MA in Creative Writing at Manchester Metropolitan University’s Writing School under the tutelage of Carol Ann Duffy, Simon Armitage, Jeffrey Wainwright and Michael Symmons Roberts. I am currently working towards a PhD at MMU, researching the mother-daughter relationship in the poetry of Selima Hill, Sylvia Plath, Elizabeth Bishop and Jackie Kay. Work toward this PhD is the main focus of my weekly blog; that and how my poetry life determinedly carries on in parallel.
I am on the organising committee of the Manchester based group, Poets and Players whose mission is to bring Arts Council funded, high quality poetry and music events to audiences, free of charge, at the Whitworth Art Gallery in Manchester. I am also the co-ordinator of the Poetry Society East Manchester and Tameside Stanza that meets on the last Tuesday of every month at the Buffet Bar, Stalybridge Station. We have a dedicated FaceBook page: you can link to it here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/264023166946510/
I am a published poet, my work has appeared in Obsessed With Pipework, The New Writer, Envoi, The North, Riggwelter, The Interpreters House among other poetry magazines. In 2013 I was a winner in the Fermoy Poetry Competition and in 2014 I won the Wells Competition. I was placed third in the 2015 Manchester Cathedral Poetry Competition and my poem ‘Chiggy Pig’ was Commended in the Battered Moons competition 2017. My work has appeared in several anthologies, most recently in Noble Dissent (Beautiful Dragons Press Jan 2018) and Please Hear What I’m Not Saying (Feb 2018), an anthology to raise funds for mental health charities
racheld1607 
Reading at Nantwich Poets, 17th of May 2013
I have been to many poetry workshops sponsored by the Geraldine Dodge Poetry Foundation. The activities have helped me to write poems that I feel pretty proud of at the beginning. But sometimes I want to do the Nike thing, Just Do It! Thanks for the post. Good luck with your research. It sounds intriguing.
hello rachel, I am 61 and looking toward a PhD in poetry…did my MFA over 30 years ago. From your posts, I gather there is still time. Thank you.
I’ll not lie, it’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done. But it should be, shouldn’t it? And I’ve enjoyed it immensely. If you love poetry, how can you not enjoy researching it? Good luck. Keep in touch to tell me how you get on.