Celebrity voices on charity CD

Les Barker has written poetry since 1975

A poet who moved to north Wales for artistic inspiration has enlisted the help of celebrities to read his prose and raise money for charity.

Les Barker, 59, who lives in Bwlchgwyn near Wrexham, has released a poetry CD entitled Guide Cats for the Blind, to raise funds for the British Computer Association of the Blind.

His style is in the genre of nonsense verse, similar to that of Edward Lear, author of the Owl and the Pussycat.

"My ideas come from absolutely anywhere, I generally find the more information I can put into my brain the more is going to come out," he said.

Mr Barker was first approached for help a few years ago by his friend Clive Lever, who runs a folk club in Maidstone.

Mr Lever, himself blind, wanted to raise money for the association to encourage visually impaired people to use computers.

Computers can help visually impaired people

"Computers are the best things to happen to blind people since guide dogs," said Mr Barker.

"Being blind is something I can certainly sympathise with," he added.

BBC radio personalities Terry Wogan, Mark and Lard, Sarah Kennedy and Ken Bruce are among the famous names lending their voices to the cause.

Mr Barker, originally from Manchester, has written 70 books and said all the celebrities were more than willing to help his chosen charity.

He said his ideas come from anywhere and everywhere and he can write silly ditties about most subjects.

"I tend to start from one really ridiculous assumption and then make it logical based on that premise.

"There are quite a few poems written on a character called Cosmo the Fairly Accurate Knife Thrower.

"He's a circus act that gets a new assistant every two weeks or so," he added.

Money raised from the sale of the CDs will be spent on awareness days for people who have recently lost their sight.

They will be told about the benefits of computers and how the technology can help them.